johnny fair shed a tear a farewell curtain as the curtain falls on such a twenty fourteen winter games that will go down in history for its remarkable and record breaking performances. ukraine's interim president starts to campaign for the top job while the hunt is underway for the country's ousted leader and members of his former ruling party. rock obama's attempts to tame the n.s.a. have apparently failed as reports claim the agency snooped on hundreds of german officials after the president forbid them from spine on the country's chancellor. and with scotland in a panic referendum looming britain faces the prospect of losing the union jack. oh

you know. so many things would have to be changed party asks britons how they would feel about saying goodbye to the iconic national flag. was four pm in moscow watching r t international with me marina joshie the twenty fourteen winter games in sochi have ended in style sixteen days of tough competition to work out with a dazzling closing ceremony our very own and he's now entered the sochi studio was lucky enough to witness the games from start to finish and she takes a bittersweet look back at how it all went. this is sad and it's overwhelming we've seen so many big breaks and heartfelt waltzes cheers and tears here in sochi over the past weeks

a lot of nail biting competitions nerve wrecking races and great performances all of those are going to go down in olympic history and this great celebration of sport certainly was sealed with a finale to remember you were taken further on a journey through russian culture picking up from the opening ceremony it was a tribute to the russian greats in the arts music and literature and the organizers didn't miss the opportunity to poke a little fun of themselves over the infamous olympic ring that would open up the start of the games of course the biggest excitement came from russian fans after the host nation searched at the top of the medal count with a total of thirteen goals and a spectacular moment of course to the farewell show was the magnificent fireworks display. laying ceremony there and plenty of olympic moments to remember we've put together our top five sensations of sochi to begin with the dutch they managed to grab eight golds

and all of them in speed skating and actually twenty three out of the twenty four medals they want in sochi were in speed skating and number four a rising star of figure skating seventeen year old nick of a she became the first russian ever to take individual gold in women's figure skating i'm very proud to have won a gold medal at the age of seventeen it's such a great feeling it's a bus with everything including with myself. sensation number three the new russians korean born speed skater victor on he won three golds for his new homeland an american snowboarder vic wild who married a siberian and joined russia's the olympic team to become one of the gold medalist i didn't have any good for the united states and that was i'm going to reach the goals that. i want to. show is the opportunity to get people's. person station number two is norwegian biathlete although they are born die then he became the

most decorated winter olympian of all time a great performance for his sixth and final winter games and of course the top stop goes to team russia for their overall performance of the host nation making a victorious comeback from the vancouver games and making it to the top of the medal table at home with thirteen gold medals thirty three overall. sochi has also welcomed usual competitors to for them it was all about taking the podium but about enjoying the games and making everyone else happy and inspired artist has more on those athletes with a difference. for some athletes sochi twenty fourteen was simply about taking part take for example indian illusia shiva can shave in his commitment to his sport highlighted by his training regime winding his way down dusty tracks by passing go sonorities along the way. and i want some insight

yes he may have come thirty seven thousand and thirty nine but the him there is more state following accusations of corruption the indian and limpid committee were suspended by the i.o.c. in two thousand and twelve was lifted during these games meaning can shave and could finally compete under his nation's fly unfortunately there's a lot of politics played with the flag of india which i'm sure many people back home we're not happy with but that's over think that's a lesson learned for everybody. sort of thing this is. one of the more colorful characters of these games was prince you purchase of hohenlohe in london the fifty five year old is a descendant of a former german royal. he's also a way photographer the pop star who goes by the name of royal disaster. these are his sixth olympics the jewel nationality skis for mexico he's never won

a medal for the maybe deserves gold for p.r. i think of russia the only problem that he had this thing should have hired a p.r. person like me to be better p.r. before i mean you know it's a great place. on the floor but you know the for everything is really. the issue that just got a positive for my over to europe and to america that we're so negative it's time to make his debut in these games you know banani went in the luge to tell his real name mind as part of a sponsorship deal he changed his name to the german underwear company but he told me he wants to be known for his sporting prowess if i didn't qualify for their lives they wouldn't care at all what names i am so i think is the most important thing that i try hard in training hard to get to the. m d's any winter olympics complete without the jamaican bobsled the main attraction for press and. raising their own funds to compete missing a connecting flight losing their luggage on coming second last still didn't dampen

their party spirit proving that in amongst all this posing excellence there is still room for sports to be fun. searching. for the sochi olympics are broke and lots of records and it's not just sports we're talking about almost half of the planet was watching these games at some point with at least three billion viewers and talking about fans they set a surprising sound record with their vocal cords during one of victor on speed skating races but the cheers reaching one hundred ten decibels and here's another record quite an unexpected one thirty four babies were born in sochi on the day of the opening ceremony of the city's highest single daily total of newborns ever such a games will also go down in history for the weather becoming the warmest winter olympics in his. three we're certainly not complaining there's been lots of sunshine enough snow the olympics of course officially over we're left with a lot of things to look back at but we're also looking forward to the paralympic

games starting in less than two weeks earlier i had a chance to talk to the man who was in charge of making sure everything went like clockwork in sochi and now that the olympic flame is out dimitri chernyshenko shared with r.t. is personal feelings about his project. the biggest achievements probably for us for russians as the nation's. best games ever in the history of my country over us live was that we obtained the confidence that russia is capability to deliver ambitious project and the most important decide that of gold that we generated historical legacy for the generations to come well i have a games as you know russia has come under a lot of criticism so how do you feel about those reports i mean how the in any way overshadowed the games you know it's impossible to shadow the truth we were in the brick it's all of this types from the cold war and now it was broken everybody

who came and witnessed this. fish and transpired in a way hospitable they really change from day criticism to the cover and the real positive things a looking at the object of infrastructure that have been created in the city had all the games what can you tell us about how they are going to be used in the future the future of my native city oh so that she is very bright the plan for the legacy is very well. with the money allocated to maintain and given this but the most important. events place where host in a couple of months or so in the formula one the race in form. no more to come in the walled ball championships so sure in the from the ordinary soviet summer resort to the all the year round international sports and laser

convention distant nation. media attention for talking to me earlier well being a heartfelt goodbye to the winter olympics we asked you to submit your highlights and feel good moments of the games to our facebook page all. thanks for sharing of course your such moments with us no surprise you picked russian gold in the ladies figure skating there and some were also impressed by the national team's parade while others selected the sublime performance by russian figure skating and a limping darling yulia that needs cap. friends on our on line team has more on the winter games its heroes and most touching moments had sorted out com for more. right to see. first street. and i think the jury.

on our reporters were very. instrumental. in the. ukraine's interim leader has announced the start of campaigning for what he insists will be a fair and transparent presidential election where the country's ousted leader a victory on a college placed on the wanted list by the opposition what they call the mass murder of peaceful citizens is once powerful party regions has also been taking a battering seventy four officials have already withdrawn from the party saying they fear of reprisals the names of some members wanted for questioning have reportedly been circulated to airports and vehicles are being stopped and searched on roads around the capital. and while the new leadership considers banning the party able to gather some of those trying to speak out for the former government are being gagged. i shall we say yes sure yes still i feel that they did see in the

state this whole this whole of us. now this footage shows a protester who was earlier doused with and i septic when he tried to voice support for the ousted president viktor in a college in the western ukraine city of brotherly love the political tensions in kiev are showing no signs of dying down thirty two corpus can offer ports freedom democracy independence as mind on the heels of the dictator and mourns those killed in kiev a city or street battles and perhaps the way certain groups of the opposition have been acting all going to. partly because democratic around five hundred offices of the now ex ruling party have been burnt down those with a different political stance or physically attacked inside the parliament most of those which right now it's more about emotions rather than political rivalry the most important thing right now is to prevent all parties from being banned completely because then the situation would lose all the judum a-c. . the president has fled the capital saying

a coup has been carried out while the parliament passes new laws as fast as a printing press. taking down officials and appointing their old political rivals including putting a right wing hard liners even government holds such as i leave you from the nationalists the party taking charge of the prosecutor general's office. is just for a new regime is taking shape really quickly and with the use of strong measures it has nothing to do with democracy because those coming to power will go on with pursuing tough policies and they will conduct massive expansion of the eastern territories. among the first laws adopted the banning of russian as the second official state language despite nearly fifty percent of those living in the east of ukraine being ethnic russians the public is told from now on the right wing is going to be heavily present in ukraine's law enforcement at the moment the

situation in kiev is basically controlled by radical people with with us who are pursuing a very very militant agenda which is a political call i think he is an utterly discredited man he cut deals with opposition leaders who were quite obviously at a since the nineteenth of january no longer in control of the crowds and here there are reports that foreign journalists have been promoting different values from the rebels have now been put onto a wanted list as well as trying to temporarily ban a russian t.v. channels many are now raising the question if this is the type of democracy so many ukrainians put their lives on the line for. key of. meanwhile the e.u.'s foreign policy chief catherine ashton is set to meet ukraine's new interim leadership following europe's pledge to provide the embattled state with twenty billion euros once a new government is formed and the international monetary fund has also confirmed

its commitment to support key have spent a floundering economy former soviet leader mikhail gorbachev says the west has long since crossed the line when it comes to meddling in ukraine's affairs. no no don't really have you seen what's going on there it's outrageous you need a bulldozer to push all the consultants from the u.s. and the e.u. . they should let the people decide for themselves issuing recommendations to nations is unacceptable we shouldn't send. all sides need to head to the negotiating table and took one month or six months if needed they will come to an agreement eventually. they will say without international where we are closely following developments in and around ukraine and you can also find a timeline of the crisis and minute by minute reports on the line at r.t. dot com.

winter is when the sun comes to life. always is palm trees are being harvested. people are waiting for the biggest event of the yeah. the desert festival. this is true it is very out of this race leading camel races have spent the last year preparing for the grueling marathon. the day before the race there's a heavy sound still overcoming the power of nature is a never ending challenge. a desert winter the nazi. wealthy british style it's time. for. the. markets.

scandal find out what's really happening to the global economy for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines to name two kinds of reports on our t.v. . welcome back you're watching our national life from moscow barack obama's recent ban on monitoring anglo merkel's communications have forced the n.s.a. to turn to other sources of european data reports say the agency has switched his spine on hundreds of german officials including the interior minister and of has the details from berlin. the national security agency was allegedly monitoring three hundred and twenty eight people here in germany mostly politicians also business leaders and this is according to a german newspaper here built on tag which says it's info comes from a high ranking n.s.a. employee here in germany now that source was quoted as saying the agency had the order not to miss out on any information and that the n.s.a.

is no longer able to monitor the chancellor's communications directly the interior minister a close confidant of mr merkel was also allegedly watched as well as several firms such as s a p a competitor of the us company oracle this allegation was rejected by the u.s. national security council spokeswoman who said that the united states did not spy to give american firms competitive advantages the german interior ministry so far refusing to comment on what it called allegations of unnamed individuals but this is of course bound to make things quite difficult for on the merkel keep in mind revelations last year about mass u.s. surveillance in germany in particular of miss merkel's mobile phone had shocked this country sparking some of the most serious disputes between the two allies in a decade as a result we've seen a tougher stance here the german chancellor now pushing for a european communications network and also pushing for a so-called no spy deal with washington the german foreign minister is due to visit

the u.s. on thursday but he has built would have very much of an effect now in a region man has reportedly been arrested and charged with terrorism after returning home from a syrian war national media say accused of fighting alongside hadas and this comes off slow officials reveal dozens of people have left their home country for the syrian frontlines western analysts estimate that. at least two thousand volunteers from across europe are involved in a syrian conflict around seven hundred of them are from france according to the french government which says it's deeply worried about the trend meanwhile some two hundred fifty british citizens have recently returned from the war and one the now considers them a potential homegrown terror threat. well let's get some reaction from norwegian security analyst lewis joins us live now from thank you so much muscle as for joining us here on our team my first question to you would be what drives

norwegians and other europeans to leave their homes for the syrian frontlines. i think there are many reasons the conflict in syria and so truck so little. attention and emotion from people. muslims especially of course seeing this as the pontiff. and the motional issue for themselves but i think man much of the underlying motivation also comes from morgan those stations. and to some extent the distance that they had to do societies in which to find themselves in the investor and europe so syria is that sense that trigger but in general they are finding it difficult to do among the best. in society or how significant of a terror threat to these people pose when they return home. well i don't think they

should they exaggerate the threat they actually pose i mean it's a still of relatively small number of people the western security services are following them quite closely. i think also that the communities they come from do report on their activities to also or to some extent but that this very thing that they when they are in syria might get into and build come into contact with people on the very ground to cool idea of. internet for that that is very closely aligned with the eulogy of all the chance of very anti beston . agenda on the jewels of both the history and the means on the capacity and knowledge to actually carry out attacks so they get connected into networks that they wouldn't otherwise have been conscious of

a but and ignore. are the authorities able to track and monitor every single european who comes home from the war no you know they're not i mean this varies from country to country but. often these communities are difficult to penetrate i mean the security services are very much composed of i think europeans well these coming in it is so are very much immigrant so i think most of the security services have a difficulty penetrating them so know every single individual on nots moment or a moment of it but there's various from from from country to country but their lives it's very well given the difficulties that exist that you just mentioned to us is there any way at all for european governments to stop this outflow of volunteers to syria. no i mean in realistically of the different capacities that the system the legal framework that exists it can't be completely stopped some

countries have tried to make it illegal to do to join this fight in syria but it's very difficult to gather evidence and to prosecute so they try to you know have cooperation among the various intelligence services also in the region to try to stop at least some of them a moment or in their activity but not much of this activity goes on i think outside of the reader of the intelligence services all right live from oslo that was security analysts tell us here our team international. now. of all the many things that britain stands to lose if scotland breaks away in september is in a pan is referendum giving up the union jack would arguably be the most keenly felt and some have already begun tearing vision a flag that's been a cherished symbol of national identity for over two centuries or does or a smith asked one of the areas where they think about the new designs. the campaigns on both sides of the scottish independence debate the factions have until

september to sell their idea of how the union should look going forwards westminster says an independent scotland would lose the pound but hardly anyone seems to be talking about something even more simple legs that the rest of the u.k. could lose if scotland declared independence the union jack scotland's represented on the flag by the blue background and diagonal white cross but if scotland left the u.k. might have to get back old these flags would become obsolete and replaced with balls the u.k. charity the flag institute has multitasks and suggestions so let's see what people think that's the nicest looking want to see. who's got the overall kingdom so the current state sure kingman i. know is two things she got one. some of these are my favorite british one ok and what what you think of the idea

what you think of the concept in general i would have to try to do what is going to more. and everything so i don't want to change i suppose it makes more sense i mean there's some point to having a share in there of an impartial anymore that's quite a trick to pull the site she should kitchen dish and the old flag that you know be difficult for people to have any change really yeah i mean of be sad. so many things would have to be changed. it really was that do you think maybe. the union jacks enjoyed a resurgence in recent years becoming an iconic brand again apparently everything from high fashion to soft furnishings it would be haute for britain to discard it and indeed there are no firm plans to change it even if scotland does declare independence but david cameron and alex salmond might do well. it's a bet the flag in mind as this war of words save

a scotland gets dirtier and. and gas magnets may claim fracking is safe but as we report on line they won't put up with it anywhere near their homes and more on the conversely sparked by statement from exxon c.e.o. at or t. dot com. plus internet giant google claims robots will eventually be able to understand us better now we understand ourselves we get to the bottom of that futuristic forecast on our website. next winter in this hard desert a special report coming up here on our team of national.

transit route to vnukovo report you'll best way to the heart of most. judy cox a utah mother out of spite but an entire line of t. shirts at a popular chain store after a local mall the reason that she bought them was because she feels that the images of nearly naked women on them violate her local towns decency code she wants to make it clear though that she feels the store has the right to sell this type of shirt just not displayed in an exterior window ultimately her plan is to return the shirts on day fifty nine of the store's sixty limit let's hope for her sake they don't have a no return policy i bring this up because this is a great example of

a nonviolent form of protest that actually works cause the scandal and more importantly it will make the company lose a few dollars technically the girls on the shirts are even fully exposed believe me i checked thoroughly and i would even call them r. rated the local communities have the right to be more conservative than the rest of the nation if they want to be and it's good that judy cox actually did something rather than just sitting at home on the air complaining about moral decay across the country if a housewife from a small mormon community could stand up to the man what's stopping you but that's just my opinion. i don't see how european countries who are member of the european union can solve the problem without leaving the european union so it's obvious that countries like great britain or france you named friends especially with increasing poverty in my opinion they have a difficult they have

a difficult time to solve these problems but i think at least they should rearrange the principle rules of free movement of persons and improve the system. it's no accident that ali built his cafe on the very edge of the dead that. he knows that any adventure into the sahara will always take this road. he sells water coffee and coke but trading has been slow today. but on top of that he's heard worrying news on the radio unlikely though it sounds to snow in neighboring egypt. which could threaten that as its main event a festival that attracts thousands of tourists. a mild desert winter is when

business usually peaks and when the sahara really comes to life. geneseo a small way of shape slice in the north of perhaps the most famous desert on earth this small country is known as the sahara games. for fifty years the annual desert festival has taken place here it's an event that draws people from all surrounding countries. these people's lives a deeply intertwined with the desert. the many preparations for the festival began six months ago they've gone deep into the desert every day on.