were clearly not the safest. the first medals of soft cheek twenty four tina being handed out with norway and the netherlands making the most of day one. equipment failure could have ruined the dreams of olympic gold for some german biathletes already if their russian opponents hadn't put a rivalry aside to help them out. scenes of street violence in golf in bosnia herzegovina protesters clashed with police and set government buildings ablaze all amid soaring unemployment economic stagnation and corruption. plus a suicide bombing reportedly carried out by a british citizen in syria sparking fresh fears that hundreds of western volunteers

could pose a threat when they return home from the frontline. it's all the international live from moscow i'm rule re sushi welcome to the program today well we'd like to say that we are your lympics headquarters there the true headquarters is down south in sochi exactly where the international is kevin oven is right now in the thick of the air lympics nice to see it kev how's it going down there. nice to see you see you really think of it do you want a course of the winter olympics they want to fishley anyway in sochi drawing to a close now the sun's gone down the wall but it's pretty credibly successful day there for those norwegians over the mountains as you say and also the dutch town of the black sea coast as well to follow exactly whose dreams of olympic gold came true today with our roving correspondent paul scott the other pole as we say the

dutch low wages really got off to a flying start. yes well by athletes all i know beyond darlene has created history he's become the joint record holder for the most amount of winter olympic medals he now has twelve to his name and seven of them a gold he's also the oldest winner of an individual gold medal in winter olympics history at the age of forty this is after he won gold in the ten k. sprint event but there was disappointment for russia's anton should pull in he finished fourth and he was less than one second behind the athlete who claimed the bronze medal and mention there was also a remarkable display by the netherlands they secured a one two three gold silver bronze in the men's five thousand meter speed skating event in the arena spend kramer successfully defending the title that he won in vancouver four years ago but again disappointing for russia with dennis and even

finishing sixth and seventh respectively so there's been no medals for russia on day one but after the first round of the team event in the figure skating russia do currently lead the standings there now the owner of the first gold medal of the sochi twenty fourteen winter olympics went to american sage kotsenburg he won gold for the united states of america in the snowboarding slopestyle event so let's take a look at the medals table for what it's worth after officially the first day of these winter olympics norway lead the way with those two gold medals that they've got to their names while the netherlands are in second place with a gold says. braun's. shows a joke about flying dutchman nobody's used to pull anywhere there's already a real nice display of true spirit. yes well the athletes they would they were going to be totally underprepared for

their events because a machine that they used to prepare their skis this is going to affect the skiers and the biathletes basically machine was broken now they were scratching around and looking for going to other federations looking for some support looking for some assistance even in the austrian federation who are refused to give assistance to their rivals however russia came to the rescue they. are the german athletes. for their events and the president of the german olympic sports confederation has actually been quoted as saying i have never experienced this kind of solidarity before in my time as an official so the olympic spirit is on display here in sochi now i've mentioned the medals five of them are up for grabs throughout the course of today more exactly about those medals with my colleague.

who actually she my dream to even finish in the medal. in the same team to get elite sneaking feeling since. these goings conflicts she's still you could see you know this she's seen this design you. see. here recently she's looking. for that since. they got. the limping gold medal ways. 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 their 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 olympic debut it's been a big undertaking for russian jewelry manufacturer and 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 value is just a few hundred dollars although any actually tell you they are in fact priceless andry farmer r.t. . with every surprise that falls in sochi is of very familiar

face for a very different discipline we're talking about globally we're now vanessa mae she's qualified for the women slalom representing thailand she says she's hoping to deliver a virtual performance on the slopes this time. so it's played in that heat and here's a very days when it's flashback right so when it should be and by you can get it out of the tape leave the bay where that leaves off later after the race and had certainly to say that. we began really made me think i was going to be a plan for me a.j. it was something that was single minded with the i am serious moment it's easy but i got to get myself on a fresh shirt because it might not be easy with lots of it but nobody's looking at the way they can be educated in it. but always sporting action was

preceded by the duke's lacrosse course the opening ceremony of the shoulder the spectacular show give the audience a real journey through rush's unique and complicated history the culmination of the ceremony was as ever the lighting of the limping flame of getting sued over my shoulder burning bright the owner going to two of russia's were celebrated our fleet soviet hockey legend of tretiak legendary figure skater arena rogne no she did shared with us what it's like to be the final torch bearer in the longest limping relay ever. yes as a girl it means to them it's call it seems it's my destiny to do everything as a package 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 here 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.

with security tied to in sochi was spoke to one movie star knows all about keeping people stay for talk talk and steven seagal of a friend of let him approach and also martial arts expert he told us he believes people should feel secure. i would agree with some of the folks who are saying that 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 pro to supporting the olympics are all very concerned about trying to make this a wonderful experience and everybody's cooperating and working hard in their own perspective areas i think as a world we all support each other to try to make any of them pics anywhere in the world a secure wonderful event where politics are kept out of it. will be extensively covering the game series of course keeping a very close eye on everything that sampling both where i am on the black sea coast

down in the mountain cluster as well for now though back to rory in the studio in moscow. thanks very much for that indeed we can find out everything else that is happening from our twitter team in fact feed has what's called a list section it's where all the sporting disciplines are sorted into categories it's ultimately the simplest way to keep all the tweets coming from well people that are competing for gold and the army of fans who are willing to share their experience of sochi twenty fourteen for all of us on. the g twenty four team promising alternate exhilarating winter sports and. joining us now is make seven zero and the rest of our lives take justina to sochi twenty four take. on. the international is coming to you live from moscow bosnians 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 the rampage and clashed with police authorities are valid to prevent further violence after the worst rioting since the one nine hundred ninety. i i. well hundreds of people have been injured in three days of protests in a state left forty percent of the population is jobless and the capital authorities fired rubber bullets water cannons and tear gas to disperse the crowds in other parts of the country protesters hold rocks as security forces and torched local government buildings the unrest initially erupted over the closure of several state owned companies that was sold off and then collapsed on to private ownership political analyst dr mark mason he 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

a not at all surprising that we have a mass popular uprising some of the police may come over and that's one of the back doors that has been actually studied by social scientists is that when about five percent of the population say they have 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 very closely. still ahead here on the program here with international and an issue of immigration people in switzerland prepared to decide whether the influx of foreign workers should be curbed although critics say the economy would be the area that really takes a hit. for now it is the damage control in washington after a leaked recording of a phone conversation apparently involving the u.s. assistant secretary of state the depth of america's involvement in ukraine's

government 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 it was recorded while she was talking to the u.s. ambassador in kiev and the remarks caused outrage from the german chancellor angela merkel who cold newton's choice of words completely unacceptable international affairs commentator rick ross off he says the conversation shows america's overall neglect of the sovereignty of of the 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 maybe obscuring the actual content of the discussion which is all but you know presenting a blueprint for regime change at least significant words to get issued during the course of the conversation with the u.s. ambassador is the one that is game to the notoriety for better or worse that as what you're really seeing is just casually and callous as the u.s.

state department plots political transformation in other countries outside the legitimate which is say the electoral reno zero is in effect engineers regime change which even going down into the most mind of 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 of the recording saying that nuland has already apologized for comments and washington's continued claim that its not involved in ukraine's political process certainly left the state department spokesperson on the back foot. 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's 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 a i'm sorry my 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 ukrainians to decide

those are two totally different things. well still to come here at all to international a facelift for the israeli army. when the recruiting numbers are down a good commercial just might do the job after a short break here on r.t. international we report on why israel is taking to the airwaves to try and boost its combat units. to be possible for tasting should be done by janie tell you we we will. see you will know the whereabouts of the actually. they are almost entirely in the olympic village if they are not to the national committees who will tell the i.o.c.

where they are. good to have you with us here on the program tonight the u.n.

brokered cease fire in the syrian city of homs has been broken with both sides of the conflict blaming each other it has delayed the international aid convoys on their way to help civilians a red crescent truck has been fired upon and several people reportedly injured as well dozens of homes residents were evacuated on friday part of agreements reached at the geneva two conference on the syrian government says it is ready to continue talks with the opposition at the mediated summit but the rebel delegates don't enjoy popular support inside syria where radical islamists are now dominating the fight against assad and the militant ranks have been bolstered by hundreds of european volunteers sparking fears they could bring the terror back home with them . now investigates. how british you heart is known as. tommy is believed to be the first a 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 traveling to syria some 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 governments here and having to deal with this 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. this is 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 need their rapidity 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 certainly that would being 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 tester cilia. the swiss are preparing for a referendum on whether to cap immigration poll showing creasing support for the plan to limit the number of foreigners moving to switzerland. 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 needs immigration to

a certain point but everybody under and miss underestimated the situation the number of people coming here 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 said this will save 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 favors over forty percent so

what's behind this push to keep outsiders out of switzerland will some experts say and motions have 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. in this field but as elsewhere in europe anti immigration messages seem to be resonating and pollsters say even voters without political affiliation may vent their frustration calm sunday voters like a. 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 and 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 health or education system. because there's no way to do modern business in particular financial services for. south florida's and there's no way to run to receive this out this includes from other countries switzerland is doing this work. for him ten companies in switzerland including nestle are founded by foreigners last year they created around thirty thousand new jobs for sheets of between at 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 this potentially lose 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 catherine of the latest edward snowden leaks detail how

u.k. intelligence stops at nothing when trying to get the information it needs reports accuse british agents of using sex cyber attacks and propaganda to get to their targets for story for you right now on r.t. dot com also while you're there the mars rover curiosity captures an image of our planet earth taken directly from the surface of the red planet those pictures also for you right now on the website. for now the israeli army says the number of people willing to serve in combat units is falling forcing the government to look for new ways to try and fatten their ranks and now the media is being called on to help as paula severe 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 not 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 israeli fighter in this one a week if to put claims his strong soldiers are as is the i.d.f. this old to be managed drinking strong coffee and this teenage girl is pounding strongly on drums both clips in but the catch phrase of. the i.d.f. is strong surely cause smiles when he watches the videos the twenty five year old served in goal army 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 or 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 of thinking twice about whether they want to put their life on the line to serve their country you violate 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 so be you can see that in certain places over in israel the parents. prefer that their kids will see in a much more safer places. 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 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 but you need people that stand in front of their own enemy and their save the border all the glory it will come back here next may not be fighting the biggest battle of the existence keeping themselves going. policy r t tel aviv. are just a moment when r.t. international abby martin looking at whether capitol hill truly has been hijacked in ukraine's revolution though if you're in the u.k. stand by george galloway's buzzing in on his sputnik.

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 play it 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 we ramp age 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 storm 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 call 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. focused on. what you are advocating my interest. has always been the case and you have. hundreds of views about using the. i think what we're going to capitalism. was this notion that economists brought to it which was the idea of profit maximizing.

what's up guys i'm abby martin and this is breaking in the set of all assistant secretary of state victoria no one's taken flack this week after saying the european union and reference to the e.u. is an action on ukraine's political crisis while speaking to geoffrey pyatt u.s. ambassador to ukraine on the phone granted it was supposed to be off the record but actually the f.t.e. part of a 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 in the outcome should be the will of the people not the us 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 said. the first look it was a military hard to take the target. he ever had sex with the terror threat there are no such killers. to the touch the such utter utter.