the sochi games are on the how big picture with a dumpling shot and athlete start finding the funds from a record holder nice eight sets of medals bronze in fifteen discipline. parties keeping abreast of the winter olympics with its special extensive coverage from our very own sochi studio. also this hour bills me i had to go overnight is in gulf and street violence with crowds clashing with police and torching government buildings across the country here is that story and employment and corruption. on the hubble terror thousands of foreigners are reportedly recruited by a hardline islamist in syria and trained. as the war there rages on.

international news and comment live from moscow you're watching our team to national with me. hello and welcome to the program the winter games in sochi are now officially underway and the olympic shuttle for the next sixteen days is a busy one of course only international is following the games closely from our social studio setup to give you extensive coverage of the winter sports extravaganza and he said now is right there for it. the city is still low rumbling really can feel the energy in the air after what we saw last night with the opening ceremony of course kicking off the twenty second winter games here in the russian coastal city the two and a half hour show took spectators on a breathtaking journey through russian culture and history more than forty thousand

spectators from around the globe packed into the fish lympics stadium to witness this extravaganza the ceremony featured the olympic creative nations this time with a difference athletes not didn't enter the stadium from the side as usual but marched up right from the middle emerging from a changing mout of the world of course there was a grand fireworks display to offer. they are the discipline of snowboard slopestyle has already been and gone that saying the very first medals of the social games handed out his and her father reports now from the such a mountain cluster for. but to twenty four days does have its first olympic champion in its american sage kotsenburg picked up gold in the men's snowboarding slight style final unfortunately to his no a russian interest in that because alexis failed to get through the semifinal early this morning but we do have hope russia's biggest hype in my opinion is happening

softening and it could be a tremendous birthday present for the state's case and even scope it because he's turned thirty one today he's conflating the five times and they did what they took to get on the podium we got bronze in that event in bank a before years ago and there's every chance we could do even better if we take a lake with homeward bound take 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 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 you just one of many athletes trying to get his hands on a medal those medals have a fascinating design and also the way they in made my surprise sheet is our friend .

it's what all athletes in sochi adreno podium finish and in the limping medal around the neck and if they good enough to get one they'll be taking time something laid these goals reflects on cheese landscape by the jackie peaks of fresno yana he does sandy beaches of the black sea is designed that will be useful even some paralympics with a curiously paralympian. this will get you a medal for their efforts. to get the. electric gold medal weighs an average of five hundred twenty to 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 disappoint 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 special machine creates that icy looking center and the game's trademark patchwork quilt pattern is engraved reflecting russia's cultural diversity all part of twenty five different manufacturing steps a record thirteen hundred medals have been minted in this way for the sochi games where twelve new events will make their limpy debut it's been a big undertaking for a russian jewelry manufacturer add a mass they've needed two tons of silver which is the main ingredient and it does mean the winners' medals are not worth their weight in gold which is only used as a final coating in fact their rule valley is just a few hundred dollars although any actually tell you they are in fact priceless andry pharma r.t. . so with a unique combination of snowy mountains and warm sea is a song choice particularly and practically built from scratch so how is the way to

tell if it's there are eleven brand new classic venues divided between the pros who and mountain clusters and connected by a thirty minute rail journey on bass the reason why soldiers dubs the most compact winter games in history. birthing is small you know ordered a village and everything it's closer we can go buy a wallet and there is not a big security. we feel free and we feel confident seems like we're going to put on a good show here in russia. the scale of the course is insane and. in general i think the russians are very enthusiastic about sport and about the olympics so i expect them to play great hosts to the world and so far what i've seen has been very impressive. security is tight and saw a ready dabs the most extensive in l.a. behaves tree and was spoken to movie star and martial arts expert steven seagal

who's a friend of letting a patient on tape believes there's no reason to doubt the security measures in place. i would agree with some of the folks who are saying that tsotsi 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 of everybody's cooperating and working hard in their own perspective areas so i think that as a world we all support each other to try to make any olympics anywhere in the world a secure wonderful event where politics are kept out of the. under norway is just taken it's far as gold that's after a time to women's discount long race with suede and don't forget to check out what how twenty one has lined up for you for the games here and our feed has

a list section that we're sporting sorted into categories for example to check out how the women's chaotic long race was going to get their own scale list to see fast hound tweets that and here's the american teen posting a colorful froze her right from the competition a scottish sportsman shares his emotions saying that was the best sporting event and one of the canadian skiers tweeted it came out to support adding a moose to that fan club so don't miss any of the action from the game's fall out with a coverage of. the team twenty four team promising to be cultivated an exhilarating winter for. germany and is now a make seven zero and the rest of our lives take these teams to sochi twenty four take. on r.t. . that's move on now thousands of protesters in cities across most media stormed

local government buildings and clashed with police as anger over unemployment and economic stagnation turned violent. well than two hundred people were injured in the demonstrations most of them policemen in the campus so sorry you have zero riots as a presidential building on fire along with police cars and ties authorities fired rubber bullets water cannon and tear gas to disperse the angry crowds and other parts of the country protesters held rocks at security forces and told local government buildings and west initially erupted over the closure of several state owned companies that were privatized but lazar filed for bankruptcy political analyst dr mark mason says the violence is growing into a full blown up. 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 fact doors that has been actually studied by social scientists is that when 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 that's pretty much the end of it for the government so we want to watch that very closely. coming up late said switzerland is preparing for a controversial immigration rightwing politicians blamed for his football of the country's woes but some say such measures lonely dullish the economy let's take a closer look later in the program. a leaks recording of a phone call with a shiny new life in washington's role in ukraine's government and the rest of the system to u.s. secretary of state with tory nuland was taped discussing how to solve the crisis

and key it so that would be great i think to help blew this thing and have the u.n. help glue it and you know the e.u. . the european union has made no comment on the recording the us state department has and denies the authenticity of the recording but it has side unions already apologized to her comments which german chancellor angela merkel called unacceptable international affairs commentator nick rose off says the clueless asia is a clear example of how the u.s. plus regime change in other states this story would not have gained traction it would not have achieved the exposure it had if that word had not come out i'm afraid that really obscure the actual content of the discussion which is all but you know presenting a blueprint for regime change at least significant words she had issued during the course of the conversation with the u.s. ambassador is the one that has gained it the notoriety for better or worse that it has what you're really seeing is just casually and callously the u.s.

state department plots political transformation and other countries outside the legitimate which is saving a lot toral reno oh it 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. so the old hero countered victoria nuland talking about whoa opposition member should play in the new ukrainian government while the us keeps saying it's not involved in ukraine's political process the state department spokesperson was put in the hot seat by janet it shouldn't be a surprise that there are discussions about events on the exams more than discussions though this is the us midwife in the process there is a difference between private discussions that happen and the interagency process in the building and what we convey publicly as a u.s. government that's what you do as i'm somebody in my five years saying privately behind the scenes that you're cooking up a deal and then you're saying publicly that this is up for you creating incentives

those are two totally different things. coming up next when recruiting becomes an enemy number one goal down there's nothing left about to launch commercial after the break we're told and why it's taking to the at ways to base its combat unit stay with it. with creating these sustainable operations focused on that making it and from 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 had. businesses for hundreds of years without using the label. but i think was what got capitalism do to you was this notion that economists brought to it which was the idea of profit maximizing.

you're watching our scenes are national good to have you with us let's move on now the syrian government has confirmed this is a patient in the next round of geneva peace talks that are set to take place on

monday meanwhile radical factions are believed to be gaining momentum in the war islamists are sought to have recruited terms of thousands of foreigners which potentially cause an intelligence headache in their homelands tests are sealed and now reports. 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 of long been a concern for authorities it's believed now that there are about three hundred fifty britons over there making up the largest contingent of some one thousand westerners and this new development reinforces of the urgency expressed by 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 jihadist battlefields that we've seen around the world the repeated t. with which we've seen the large numbers of foreigners be drawn to the battlefield is from my perspective i'm president of the numbers that would be there we're hearing created about our news for british intelligence and it presents a very difficult picture for them to manage in sounding the alarm over this phenomenon authorities are regreasing be worried about what happens with these individuals returning home group of britain sub 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. sure your software is totally classed as reason to worry you are being watched pressure leaks from snowden suggest british intelligence special

tactics to discredit those they've been spying on or with bonsai of a tux and none of them had to ask for more details. until sold out online making a touch feel almost a real implanted electrodes are making it possible to give feedback in prophetic hands of this medical breakthrough just like. swiss watches are set to decide this weekend on whether to put a can on the country's influx of migrants a controversial bill proposed by switzerland's nationalist party plans to introduce quotas against foreigners but some say chanting this was border would only cause problems will be called to me as a loose account for enough 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 emmis under estimated 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 blog 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 changed 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 favors over forty percent so what's behind this push to keep outsiders out of switzerland will some experts say and motions a lot to do with that. there is competition in the housing market competition. in treasury. and there is competition in the labor market so. it's populist politics glady this anger in in this field but as elsewhere in europe and i immigration messages seem to be resonating and pollster say even voters without political affiliation may 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 any more. but the proposed curbs also take aim at highly skilled workers there's no way to run the holes or education system. because there's no way to do modern business in particular financial services for. research for years and there's no way to run this out waiters and cooks from other countries switzerland is hardly doing this for tools four in ten companies in switzerland including nestle are founded by foreigners last year they created around thirty thousand new jobs forty to be three at that no they are against the four years 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 so this. i don't understand it honestly 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 for r.t.e. in switzerland and lucy catherine of. the quick look now at some other global news and bring you the aid convoys are about to enter the long besieged syrian city of homs on the second day of a cease fire on friday buses loaded with women and children ferried at least eighty three people from the area after an uneasy truce between rival sides came into effect a pause as the fighting in the fighting was the fast visible result of the geneva two peace talks to try and end the country's civil war thousands of civilians are still thought to remain in the be safe city without food or medicine. and in brazil a world cup stadium worker has been killed in a construction accident the portuguese national was hit on the head while dismantling a crane and became the third person to die at this building site and the sixth overall if that's how it is

a cause and concerns about what i think conditions in the build up to the event many brazilians are unhappy about the huge cost of the world cup while social services remain severe. defended. as israeli army recruiters sabin 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 are the latest weapon in the military's arsenal as a policy ever for. these really army has a new fight on its hand numbers in combat units are down potential recruits are shying away from signing up fighting it seems has lost its glamour the i.d.f. is concerned it's circulating videos like this online that celebrate the strength of the israeli fighter in this one a weight lift up with claims he's strong. as is the i.d.f. this elderly man is drinking strong coffee and this teenage girl is pounding

strongly on drums both clips in with the catchphrase now the i.d.f. is strong smiley cause smiles when he watches the videos the twenty five year old served in golani 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 of 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 for my education 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 where he's off thinking twice about whether they want to put their life on the line to serve their country you value a lambs also fighting the statistics the if for special unit veteran runs boot

camps encouraging high schoolers to follow his footsteps into the i.d.f. each squads through the 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. in 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 the situation where the types of threats have also changed it's also the 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 combat units cyber is very important computer very important but you need the people that stand

in front of the our enemy and there save the border for all the glory it will come back here next may not be fighting the biggest fashion of their existence keeping themselves going. policy r t tel aviv. coming up next announcing internationally is breaking to sense what. you're watching. recently an online poll by the liberal doe's t.v. channel that's rain in english has caused quite a storm of rage across the country how could a stupid online poll cause russia wide anger while they pose the question was

defending living grad from the nazis worth it because retreat in their opinion could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives what is offensive from culture to culture differs a lot but from a russian perspective fighting to the bitter end to stop the german genocide machine was worth it this is basically like if a somewhat popular news outlet had a poll on martin luther king's birthday asking was slavery really that bad it was a bone for the economy but why would someone create this poll is because the people who wrote it are sick with the disease are types total self infatuation egoism and greed in other words were a generation mean mean mean these people could never imagine sacrificing the great and wonderful me for any cause sacrificed me to the dog seems a plus for me i'd rather kiss their boots and learn german but it wasn't for millions of russians put their self interest as a distant second then all those great and wonderful me s. would have been worked to death and shot a nazi death camp it pays to make a few sacrifices for society the fascist my opinion.

speak to language. programs and documentaries in arabic in school here on. reporting from the worlds hoax. six of the c.r.p. into the street interesting story to tell you. the. arabic for the visit arabic don't know it's called. the. what's up guys i'm abby martin and this is breaking the set of all systems secretary of state victoria no one's taken flack this week after saying f. the european union and reference to the e.u. as an action on ukraine's political crisis while speaking of geoffrey pyatt u.s. ambassador to ukraine on the phone granted it was supposed to be off the record but

actually the f. the new part of the scandal the least interesting part of the conversation during that phone call the two diplomats are overheard discussing what the role of ukraine's opposition leader should be and the need to solidify regime change in the country while talking about ukraine opposition leader vitali klitschko no one says i don't think that klitschko should go into government i don't think it's a good idea which piatt later responds in terms of moving the process ahead we want to keep the moderate democrats together. so if there is any doubt before that the u.s. is looking for ways to meddle into a sovereign nations internal affairs this lead conversation should confirm that suspicion look there's a revolution going on in ukraine right now in the outcome should be the will of the people not the u.s. and europe russia or any other foreign state actor so good luck to the state department at the damage control on this one it's about that time to break the set . of the.

it was a. very hard to take. i never had sex with the terror threat there. a. little. a little. little. little a. little. yesterday i spoke with pulitzer prize winning journalist chris hedges about the notion of crisis coltan the collapse of complex societies but we also discuss the nature of the economic machine that's responsible for this collapse this system is

fueled by profit and although its nature is so blatantly unsustainable humanity appears bound to it the insatiable greed that drives the gears the machine has never been more evident than today with global inequality at a record high it's a topic i was able to explore with hedges more in depth. talk about that new oxfam study that recently came out that shows how eighty five people control of the bottom half of the world's wealth what's your response to people who say that we just have to remove those eighty five people well it's it's a system of corporate power which is not necessarily driven by individuals so much as driven by corporate interests exxon mobil citibank goldman sachs so you can arrest and imprison the head of goldman sachs lloyd blankfein which is.