that's the lead. up to. fifty. the sochi games are on having kicked off with a dazzling show and now a record ninety eight sets of medals up for grabs in fifteen different categories. parties keeping up rest of the winter olympics with its special extensive and extensive coverage live from our very own sochi studio. in street violence with crowds clashing with police and torching government buildings across the country angry they say it's soaring unemployment and corruption. and the hub of terror thousands of foreigners reportedly recruited by hard line islamists in syria trained for attacks as the war there rages on.

noon in moscow i mattress so good to have you with us winter games in sochi officially under way and the olympic schedule for the next sixteen days is a busy one r.t. international following the games closely and as before we go live to our sochi studios where our teams and us in our way is standing by with all the latest so and he said tell us more on what's been a memorable start to these games. it was a grand opening ceremony indeed took place just over my shoulder here along the coast with a spectacular fireworks display being one of the highlights of this. it

was a two and a half hour or so which kept. holding their breath but it took them on a journey through russian culture and history more than forty thousand spectators from around the globe packed into the fish olympic stadium to witness the extravaganza the ceremony featured the olympic creative nations this time with a different athletes entered the stadium from the science not as usual but marched right up from the middle emerging from the changing mound of the world and of course that firework display was a match to the dazzling show let's now cross lives artie's andrew farmer he's up there in the mountains where the can pop competitions i should say is about to kick off a stunning celebration we had to down here now it's time for the athletes to get down to business. it is because the first medals are up for grabs and the first ones to

be contested tonight should be in the men's snowboarding slopestyle final which takes place in about forty five minutes time with the stream unfortunately there won't be any russian interest in that and that's because alexy still full of failed to qualify for his semifinal this morning but he has left his mark on these games and that's because he put his phone number on the back of his helmet just to see what happens in the early rounds well the response from the public is very good he got two thousand text messages as well as pictures but the response from million people was very stiff and he had to remove it anyway yeah the biggest chance for russia to get a medal to days down the coast to cluster and it could be the perfect birthday present even the scope of the speed skater he turns thirty one today and will be competing in the fine thighs to meet his got a bronze in that event in vancouver four years ago and could do even better today particularly with home with phone teach. we've been able to cope with the media

pressure of course there's going to be much more attention to the olympics but also . there would be more fans supporting us pushing us forward for that's certain to give us additional strength additional energy to the mind and to the feet we definitely skate faster to the joy of the fans at the stadium to the millions watching the broadcasts. so he's one of many athletes trying to take home an adult the medals themselves are a very fascinating that got a great design and high they made it might surprise you to say i took a closer look. it's what all athletes in sochi a dreaming of podium finish and then a limb take medal around my neck and they say good enough to get one they'll be

taking hiding something. these guns reflects on cheese landscape leather jacket peeks in fresno or yana me to sandy beaches of the black sea is a design that will be useful lympics empower lympics with a curiously paralympians will get new medal for the efforts. to get. an olympic gold medal weighs an average of five hundred twenty five hundred forty grams a paralympic gold medal is about six hundred seventy just six hundred eighty grams but the reason for the weight difference between olympic gold medals is because the titles of different sport disciplines vary in length they have to be engraved which means that the longer the title of the disappointed the lighter them. no matter what their weight each one takes a staggering eighteen hours to make it starts on the late the medals are cut to the right size a special machine creates that icy looking center and the game's trademark

patchwork quilt pattern is engraved reflecting russia's cultural diversity all part . twenty five different manufacturing stamps recalled thirteen hundred medals have been minted in this way for the sochi games where twelve new events will make paralympic debut has been a big undertaking for a russian jewelry manufacturer adding mass they've needed two tons of silver which is the main ingredient and it does mean that when his medals are not there waiting jamie used as a final in fact their rules is just a few hundred dollars though and usually tell you they are in fact priceless. but another russian athlete hoping to get his hands on one today. he's taking part in the men's biathlon the sprints today he's got a good chance of getting on that podium so we'll keep an eye out for him as well.

you most certainly well andrew farmer reporting live from the mountain cluster thanks for that we have course we'll be joining you throughout the day but with a unique combination of snowy mountains like we just saw up there in warm seas you can see just behind me so it was practically built from scratch to host these winter olympics there are eleven brand new athletic venues they're divided between the coastal and mountain clusters connected by thirty minute rail journeys and that's the reason why sochi is dubbed as the most compact winter games in history. birthing the small you know to different age and everything gets closer we can go by wallach and there is not that big security so we feel free and we're fairly confident seems like they're going to put on a good show here in russia. like the scale of the courses. and i've found they say such as we were in general i think the russians are very enthusiastic about sport

and about the olympics so i expect them to play great hosts of the world and so far . had seen has been very impressive. spoken to hollywood movie star and martial arts expert steven seagal who has a close friendship with hooten he believes there's no reason to doubt the efficiency of the security measures in place here. i would agree with some of the folks who are saying that sochi is probably one of the safest places around right now and i think the world you know in all of the different countries that are participating in the olympics are all very concerned about trying to make this a wonderful experience and everybody's cooperating and working hard in their own respective areas so i think as the world we all support each other to try to make any human pigs anywhere in the world a secure wonderful event where politics are kept out of that.

we will be extensively covering the games here in sochi we're keeping a close eye on everything that's happening both the sea coast and the mountain cluster a little bit of everything in between back to moscow now and we're looking forward to all of it thank you very much artes and he's in our way live for us in sochi enter remember we're also keeping an eye on everything that is happening on air and online we also have our entire twitter team that's got things set up for you so check out all of that coverage our feed has a list section where all the sporting genres are sorted into categories click will tell you could be first competition men semifinal slopestyle that's already wrapped up with medal hopefuls now waiting to make their final jumps here's the u.s. snowboarding team photo tweeting from the scene beautiful bluebird day for a men's slopestyle young british athlete jamie nichols pose finals practice going down soon me and billy morgan are pumped right now thanks so much for your support and don't miss any of the action from the games follow our twitter coverage for all

of. so jane twenty fourteen promises we call timid and exhilarating winter in our team mates here in germany and it's now a make seven zero in on the rest of our lives take new strain for sochi twenty four take. all odds. taking a look now at some of the day's other top stories thousands of protesters in cities across bosnia storm local government buildings and clash with police is anger over unemployment and economic stagnation turned violent more than two hundred people wounded in demonstrations most of them police in the capital sorry of all rioters set the presidential building on fire plus police cars and tires burned authorities fired rubber bullets and water cannons and tear gas to disperse the angry crowds in other parts of the country protesters hurled stones at security forces and torched local government buildings unrest first started over the closure of several state owned companies that were privatized later file for bankruptcy analyst mark mason

says the violence he thinks could grow into a full blown uprising. forty percent of the population of bosnia they are simply employed without any work whatsoever so these conditions are like annoyed at all surprising that we have a mass popular uprising some of the police may come over and that's one of the back door that has been actually studied by thoughtful science to win about five percent of the population say they've had it with the government and they get some significant fraction of the police forces to say i'm through with this too i'm joining the protesters pretty much the end of it for the government so we want to watch that story closely. switzerland reading for a controversial vote to curb immigration or right wing politicians blame foreigners for the country's woes but some say the measures will damage the economy a closer look still to come. but first the leader recording of

a phone call shiny new light on washington's role in ukraine's anti-government unarrest as assistant secretary of state victoria nuland tape discussing how to solve the kiev crisis. so that would be great i think to help glue this thing and have the u.n. help glue it and you know the e.u. european union made no comment on the recording audio also captured nuland going over what role each opposition member would play in a new government there the state department hasn't denied the authenticity of the recording but said newlands already apologized for the comments german chancellor merkel called them unacceptable international affairs commentator rick rose off into conversations example of how the u.s. sometimes plots regime change. this story would not have gained traction it would not have cheap the exposure it had if that word had not come out i'm afraid that maybe obscured the actual content of the discussion which is all but you know presenting a blueprint for regime change at least significant words issued during the course

of the conversation with the u.s. ambassador is the one that has gained the notoriety for better or worse that it has what you're really seeing is just casually and callously of the u.s. state department lots political transformation in other countries outside the legitimate which is say the electoral arena. in effect engineers' regime change. even going down into the most mind my new particulars as to who should and should not be a future prime minister. coming up when recruiting becomes an army's number one goal. was. to launch a t.v. commercial after the break we were reported on why israel is taking to the airwaves to boost its combat you know.

join me. and. carry. on and. we will. play it about each. almost entirely in the olympic village. committees who will tell the

i.o.c. it will be. fifteen minutes past the hour syria's government confirmed its participation in the next round of geneva peace talks set to take place monday meanwhile radical factions thought to be gaining momentum in the war islamist thought to ever created tens of thousands of foreigners which potentially cause an intelligence headache back in their homelands are reports from london. a british heart is known as. tommy is believed to be the first brit to have carried out

a suicide attack in syria after a vehicle packed with explosives was taken to a prison allowing some three hundred prisoners to escape british citizens along with other europeans travelling to syria as young as sixteen and fighting alongside jihad as groups i've long been a concern for authorities believe now that there are about three hundred fifty britons over there making up the marxist contingent of some one thousand westerners and this is a new development reinforces of the urgency expressed by a governments here and having to deal with a specific group of jihad is scary their countries passport. information is finally come out they were seeing this actually happen in syria however given the trends that we've seen in syria over the past few years it's not surprising that we're seeing british individuals or foreign individuals more generally becoming involved in suicide operations on the ground i think if we compare this particular conflict in syria with the jihad battlefields you've seen around the world there were people with which you've seen the numbers of foreigners be drawn to the bow to field is

from my perspective i'm president of the numbers that would be there we're hearing questions about. the rich intelligence and it presents a very different picture for them to manage in sounding the alarm over this phenomenon authorities are regreasing be worried about what happens with these individuals return home group of britain's already threatened to carry out terrorist attacks in the u.k. and this is believed to be the first direct threats to come out of syria reporting from london i'm test. software suddenly crash there appear to be reason to worry that you're being watched from edward snowden suggest british intelligence use tactics to discredit those they've been spying on with banned cyber attacks among them are to dot com as more details plus. making feel almost. implanted nerve electrodes make it possible to give feedback in prosthetic limbs more on this breakthrough a click away. swiss voters set to decide this weekend whether to put

a cap on the country's influx of migrants a controversial bill proposed by switzerland's nationalist party plans to introduce quotas against foreigners some say though closing the borders could only cause problems for the economy to see caffein off reports. welcome to switzerland breathtaking views plentiful jobs and low taxes it's no surprise that the streets here are growing more crowded some eighty thousand new residents arrive each year a significant number for a country of just eight million our industry our economy meets immigration to a certain point but everybody under and miss underestimated the situation the number of people coming is much much higher than anywhere else in the world on sunday switzerland will ask its citizens whether to reintroduce quotas for immigration from abroad including e.u. members although itself not a part of the law switzerland has signed on to the e.u.

rules on freedom of movement if passed the initiative would pit the swiss against an angry brussels but supporters aren't worried the swiss parties the swiss said the political elite they were very enthusiastic about joining the european union ten years ago. but people change they saw the disadvantages they saw the immigration is tremendous much bigger than we thought and so there was also a change of thinking and anti immigration slogans are gaining more traction here in switzerland at first about a third of voters supported the initiative now that figure is over forty percent so what's behind this push to keep outsiders out of switzerland will some experts say and motion a lot to do with that. there is competition in the housing market competition. in treasury. and there is competition in the legal market so.

it's populist politics. in this field but as elsewhere in europe anti immigration messages seem to be resonating and pollster say even voters without political affiliation made vent their frustration comes sunday voters like this. swiss businessman who owns a cosmetics factory the name as a manufacturer i profit from this the more people i sell my products to the better but i'm also a swiss citizen i don't want to live like a sardine in my country switzerland is tiny and we simply can't accommodate all the immigrants the country can't take anymore. but the proposed curbs also take aim at highly skilled workers there is no way to run the hells or education system. because there's no way to do modern business in particular financial services franking south florida's in there's no way to run to rescind this out wages and

cooks from other countries switzerland is highly dependent on this work force for in ten companies in switzerland including nestle are founded by foreigners last year they created around thirty thousand new jobs for six to between at that no they are against the foibles because they need them i mean we are not stealing the jobs we are just taking the job they don't want to do so that's why i figured so this this put on i don't understand this sunday's vote is likely to strain ties with brussels but the fear is that it could have more economic consequences than the country bargained for reporting fourteen in switzerland and lucy catherine of. take a look now at some other global headlines the evacuation has started dozens of civilians were been trapped in the besieged syrian city of homs for a year and a half buses filled with women and children ferried at least eighty three people from the area after an uneasy cease fire between rival sides came into effect a pause in the fighting the first visible result of the geneva two talks trying

ending the country's civil war thousands or millions remain in the besieged city you know without food or medicine. in brazil a world cup stadium worker has been killed in a construction accident the portuguese national struck on the head while dismantling a crane becoming the. third person to die at the site and the sixth overall fatalities causing concerns about working conditions in the build up to the event many brazilians are unhappy with the huge cost of the world cup while they say social services remain underfunded. at least eighteen people dead in argentina after a bus crashed into a lorry in the western city of mendoza the truck being driven at high speed on the wrong side of the road local reports say it had brazilian license plates and had been stolen the bus was carrying thirty people on its way from cordoba and burst into flames upon impact finally on the bolan as israeli army recruiters say the numbers choosing to serve in combat units is falling the government has started to

look for new ways to pump things up a t.v. commercial the latest weapon in the military's arsenal is artie's policy reports. these really army has a new fight on its hand and numbers in combat units are down potential recruits are shying away from signing up for fighting it seems has lost its glamour the i.d.f. is concerned it's circulating videos like this online that celebrate the strain he's ready fighter in this one a week if to put claims his strong soldiers are as is the idea of the soul to be managed drinking strong coffee and this teenage girl is pounding strongly on drums both fits in with the catch phrase sound the idea is strong surely cause smiles when he watches the videos the twenty five year old served in one of israel's most prestigious fighting brigades he spent two and a half years in and out of gaza a close friend of his was killed there in the line of duty like others he's asking

of serving in combat was the right decision as it is sure what i did is important and needs to be done but i don't think it helped me in the long run not for finding a job and not my own creation i think i would do things differently if i had the chance again. and the stats seem to support him over the last three years motivation among youngsters wanting to serve an idea of combat units has dropped by nine percent more noise radius off thinking twice about whether they want to put their life on the line to serve their country you vile a lot is also fighting the statistics the is for special unit veteran runs boot camps encouraging high schoolers to follow his footsteps into the i.d.f. each squads will be you can see that in certain places over in israel the parents. prefer that their kids will see in much more safer places like the intelligence where you cannot be a danger the i.d.f.

spokesman peter lerner insists the drop in number doesn't change things. the idea if i can still keep the country safe is part of a situation where the types of threats have also changed it's also a result of an atmosphere where there are other units which also are substantial. in the type of defense that they supply for instance technological units the army stand on the comb through the cyber both and compute the thing you need the people that stand in front of their own enemy and this save the bow of the soul they do it will come back you may not be fighting that because bastion of the existence keeping the sounds. more news in about a half hour for us we take a closer look at global economics in boom bust and already international war if

you're watching us from the u.k. . sputnik i mean. the first recreational marijuana shops are now open in colorado finally the question of what effect legal marijuana will have on the american public can be answered with real world experience you know there are a lot of people out there with strong arguments as to why we should legalize this controversial plant firstly there are plenty of things just as bad for us as marijuana or worse like beer cigarettes anti-depressants and mystery fast food meats which are totally legal secondly young men are often thrown in jail for the absolutely victimless crime of smoking marijuana i could see punishing someone for

drugs like crystal meth which can and do turn people into maniacs but have any of you out there ever heard of someone breaking into people's houses on a weed rampage no no you haven't the downside to all this is that across america the world people are looking for change and they want to massive star rise but when the masses are stoned out of their minds it makes things in life that we shouldn't tolerate become very tolerable we now. allow us to make it through another day of our miserable lives so that we can live without going through all that effort of trying to make things better or challenge the system legalizing weed will just pacify the masses even more but that's just my opinion. with creating a sustainable operation focused on making it and what you are advocating my term self-interest sense of that is what you're talking about which is has always been the case and we have. businesses for hundreds of years without using the label

. but i think what got capitalism doing was this notion that economists brought to it which was the idea of profit maximizing the. air and this is boom bust i marinate and these of us stories are bringing for you today. accountability in the financial world never ever not well until now three senior banking executives from the now defunct anglo irish bank went on trial in dublin this week we'll tell you all about it coming right up and then author and investment banker first well it is a lot on the program today we're talking real estate and housing bubbles both past

and present and finally it's friday which means it's viewer feedback today here on boom bust and harrison and i address your questions some as concerns are live on the show you won't want to miss a moment so let's get to it. in dublin ireland this week the trial of three senior banking executives who almost bankrupted the country got underway now the former banking exacts all face charges relating to a loan scheme which attempted to prop up the anglo irish bank during the two thousand and eight financial crisis sean fitzpatrick will and william mcateer face sixteen charges of unlawfully providing financial assistance for the purpose of buying shares in the anglo irish bank now sean quinn

a star witness in the trial was at one time the richest man in all of ireland he borrowed billions from the bank to fund a global problem for the celtic tiger boom years however when property prices collapsed across the world when millions had to file for bankruptcy now the anglo irish bank was ultimately bailed out costing the irish taxpayer and european union tens of billions of euros now the case marks a rare criminal prosecution of banking officials involved in the two thousand a credit crisis and with hundreds of witnesses millions of documents and a trio of nationally hated figures the trial is. proven to be one of the most complex and controversial in the history of european financial crimes but here's the thing at least ireland is attempting to bring justice to those wrong during the financial collapse and here in the us home of the so-called masters of the free world nothing not one banking executive has been brought to trial sure there are.