the downswing sultry twenty fourteen opening show is followed by inspired the dutch team occupying the entire podium in men's speedskating. equipment failure i could have room to trim the olympic gold with some germans gears and biathletes already if their russian opponents hadn't put a rivalry aside to help out. also in the broad street violence and girls bosnia herzegovina protesters clashed with police and seven government buildings a blaze i meet soaring unemployment they cannot make stagnation and corruption. and the suicide bombing reportedly carried out by a british citizen as syria sponsored crash b. is that hundreds a western volunteers could pose

a threat when they return from the war. and a very well welcome to our chief international twenty four hour news live from moscow my name is your national thanks for charting it and over the next sixteen days as a business showed you at the winter olympics in sochi international is following the games closely from our studio bring you extensive coverage of everything that's happening there and he is all season he said now with more on the spectacular of betting. this it is still 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 coal still

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 to the big stadium to witness this extravaganza this ceremony featured the olympic parade of nations this time with a different athletes not didn't enter the stadium from the side as usual but marched up right from the middle emerging from a changing now of the world and of course there was a grand fireworks display to match the dazzling show on the combinational the pheromone it was of course the lighting on the olympic flame with the owner going to two of russia's most celebrated athletes soviet hockey legend. and legendary figure skater it reno rodnina who shared her of motions without. years is a girl is going nice to see the logic of its call it seems is my destiny to do everything as a parent but it's a fantastic experience it's so great that we've been entrusted with such an honor i

have these games will be extremely exciting it's always exciting at the olympics everything is brand new year the weather is beautiful and it's creating a festive mood for everyone especially the athletes and it's very important because the olympics has long been about so much more than just sports it's. the men's ten kilometer sprint biathlon is now underway but the german team which is one of the favorites could have missed out on the chance for the big gold our correspondent assaultive post-college explains why. it's only day one of these games but the olympic spirit is very much on display now the german skiis and biathlon capacities were going to be under prepared for their event because a machine they use a special machine a high tech machine that's used to prepare this case had broken now they asked around a number of federations including austria who simply refused to help but russia came in and lends a hand lending them them a shame so the german athletes can be fully prepared for their event the russians

putting their rivalry to one side to help the opposition our the german olympic sports confederation president says that i have never experienced this kind of solidarity before in my time as an official said the olympic spirit firmly on display in such a plethora of medals up for grabs today five in total but let's find out more about those medals with my colleague andrew father. is one who actually since sochi adrenals the podium finish and an intake medal around. and they say good enough to get one they'll be taking time something lose these guns reflexive cheese landscape and the jacket seeks to transmit the to sandy beaches of the black sea it's designed that will be useful even some paralympics

with a curiously paralympians will get you measure for the efforts. to get. an olympic 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 discipline the light to them. no matter what their weight each one takes a stagger. in 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 limping debut it's been a big undertaking for russian jewelry manufacturer atomists they've needed two tonnes 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 the fact their rules value is just a few hundred dollars though any athlete tell you they are in fact priceless andry pharma r.t. . and add the moment it's a tie at the top of the medals table the dutch have called the no wagers after occupying the entire podium in men's speedskating the u.s. which won the first gold medal at these olympics are currently a fad and with security tightened sashi we spoke to one movie star knows all about keeping people safe steven seagal is a friend of let her patients out and a martial arts expert believes people should feel secure. 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 and everybody's cooperating and working hard in their own respective 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 there. and find out everything else that is happening from our twitter team and our feeds has a list section where all the sporting disciplines are sorted into council griese for example to see how the women's scaffolding race was going create their own scale list to see fast time tweets there and he is now the american team posting

a photo right from the competition and also a scottish aflat actually shares his emotions saying that it was the best sporting events that also one of the canadian ski is twitter's luker came out to support as being a moose to that funk so to keep across everything by falling out with the coverage of. the g twenty four team promise is the ultimate in exhilarating winter sports enough to. join isa now a make heaven now and the rest of our lives they can use team for sochi twenty four take. on r.t. . both hands woke up on saturday to streets of broken windows and smoke rising from government buildings the day before thousands of protesters across the country went on a rampage and clashed with police. almost

two hundred people have been injured in these days in a protest in a state where forty percent of the population is jobless and the countless oh sorry yeah balls authorities fired rubber bullets welsh academy until it got to disperse the crowds in other parts of the country protesters hold ranks of security forces and told local government buildings than west literally initially erupted over the closure of several state owned companies it was sold off and then collapsed on the private ownership and political analyst mark mason says the violence is growing 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 i'm not 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. and up ahead in the program and he should have a migration people in switzerland prepared to decide whether they can flex a boy and why because should big bad although critics say the economy would be the area that it's. it's damage control in washington after a leaks recording of a phone call to say she apparently involving the u.s. assistant secretary of state reveals the depth of america's involvement in ukraine's antigovernment unrest 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 use of strong language by victoria nuland was recorded while she was talking

to the u.s. ambassador in k.s. the remarks caused outrage from the german chancellor angela merkel the cold noonan's choice so was completely unacceptable international affairs commentator how weak rose the conversation shows america's overwhelming legs of the sovereignty of the state. 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 maybe obscured the actual content of the discussion which is all but you know presenting a blueprint for regime change least significant words to get issued perhaps 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 the u.s. state department slots 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. the u.s. state department did not deny the authenticity they were quoting saying that newman's already apologized for her comments but washington's continued to claim that it's not involved in ukraine's political process that the state department spokesperson flaming. it shouldn't be a surprise that there are discussions about events on the ground it's more than discussions of this is the u.s. midwife in the process there's a difference between private discussions that happen in the interagency process in the building and what we convey publicly as a u.s. government and that's what you do as as i'm certain you know if you're 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 an subside those are two totally different things. coming up later a facelift well the israeli army when that record numbers are down a good commercial just stuff it might do you think after

a short break or portal why israel is taking to the airwaves tape first it's called the unit. with creating the sustainable operation focused on call for making good on what you are advocating my term self-interest so i'm sure that is what you're talking about which is has always been the case and really have. businesses for hundreds of years without using the label. but i think what we're going to capitalism do who was this notion that economists brought to it which was the idea of profit maximizing.

again this is aussie international welcome back the un brokered cease find the syrian city of homes has been broken with both sides of the conflict blaming achad of the shelling it has delays the u.n. aid convoys on their way to help civilians bearing the brunt to war dozens of people were evacuated from homes on friday as part of agreements reached a big geneva two conference on the syrian government says it's ready to continue

talks with the opposition and the summit being mediated by the un but they will rebel demigods don't enjoy popular support inside syria or radical islamists domination defiance against assad hundreds a western volunteers have fills the ranks of the opposition fighters sparking fears they could bring terror back home with the best s.r.c. there was. 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 now british citizens along with other europeans travelling to syria as young as sixteen and fighting alongside jihad is groups of long been a concern for authorities believe now that there are about three hundred fifty britons over there making up the largest contingent of some one thousand westerners and this is a new development reinforces of the urgency expressed by a government's here and having to deal with

a specific group of jihad is scary their countries passport you that it's the information finally come out that we 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 jihadi battlefields that we've seen around the world the repeated tea with which you. the large numbers of foreigners be drawn to the vatican is from my perspective i'm president of the numbers that would be there we're hearing created about our new rich intelligence and it presents a very difficult picture for them to manage in sounded the alarm over this phenomenon of thought is our rig recently worried about what happens with these individuals return home a 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 tesser celia. and out of some other world news and a russian woman has reportedly been killed along with another person in a train derailment in the french alps it was traveling from the coastal city of nice officials say the train came over the tracks after a border smashed into one of the cars injuring nine other passengers emergency services and out of the scene and rescue operations continue. iran has resumed talks with the once nuclear watchdog on its atomic program the country's media says one of the issues is the heavy water reactor in iraq which to iran says it could modify it to produce less plutonium in ten days iran these negotiations with world powers on a final deal to a western is if not building bones the country has already altered its most sensitive nuclear operations and a preliminary agreement which won it some relief from sanctions. the swiss are preparing for

a referendum on whether to comp immigration polls show increasing support for the plan to limit the number of foreigners moving to switzerland but some warn that it could have backfired on the economy as arts his lisa confident has been finding out . 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 and 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 that favors over forty percent so what's behind this push to keep outsiders out of switzerland will some experts say motion a lot to do with that. there is competition in the housing market competition. in traffic. and there is competition in the labor market so. it's populist politics this anger in there in this field but as elsewhere

in europe and to immigration messages seem to be resonating and pollster say even voters without political affiliation may vent their frustration calm sunday voters like this. swiss businessman who owns a cosmetic 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 frankly without four years in there's no way to run to receive this out wages and cooks from other countries switzerland is highly dependent on this workforce four

in ten companies in switzerland including nestle are founded by foreigners last year they created around thirty thousand new jobs politics to be tweeted that no they are against the foibles because they need them i mean we are not stealing their jobs we are just taking the job they don't want to do so that's why i figured so this so this potential i don't understand how 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 for r.t.e. in switzerland and lucy caffein of the israeli army as has the number of people willing to serve in combat units is falling forcing the government in new ways to try and for things the media has been called on to help and now t.v. commercials raising militarist sad as have the candidates recreating weapon policy ever. 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 fighting it seems has lost its glamour the i.d.f. is concerned it's circulating videos like this online that celebrate the strain for his radio fighter in this one a week if to put claims he's strong. as is the i.d.f. the soldier be managed drinking strong coffee and this teenage girl is pounding strongly on drums both clips and with a catch phrase sound the idea is strong surely 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 as it is for 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 have 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 of thinking twice about whether they want to put their life on the line to serve their country you value a law is also fighting the statistics the air force 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 a much more safer places like be 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 the 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 combat units cyber is a very important computer very important but you need the people that stand in front of the our enemy and their save the border fall they glory it will come back here next may not be fighting the biggest battle of their existence keeping themselves going. policy r t tel aviv. and just ahead for you abby martin let's said the secretary of state's recess but.

recently an online poll by the liberal dozhd 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 poem 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 me these people could never imagine sacrificing the great and wonderful me for any cause sacrificed me to the. 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 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. the. economic down in the final. day the. sang night and the rest of the night so you meet every week. of the.

what's up guys i'm abby martin and this is breaking the set of all assistant secretary of state victoria no one's taken flack this week after saying f. the european union and reference to the e.u. is 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 part of the scandal the least interesting part of the conversation see 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 ukrainian opposition leader vitaly 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 and the outcome should be the will of the people not the u.s. 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. it was a. very hard to take. i never had sex with her right there. i. am. really pleased to it'll it'll eat

a. little to. the us. yesterday i spoke with pulitzer prize winning journalist chris hedges about the notion of crisis cults in 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 of 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 their quote in 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. 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 rest and imprison the head of goldman sachs lloyd blankfein which is where he belongs but somebody will take its place. to happen is that we have to break the back of corporate power which is now global. and break the logic whereby everything is about profit that nothing has. any value beyond its monetary value that's an extremely dangerous moment for any society to live in because when nothing has an intrinsic value whether that's water air or. human him.