success. the first winners in the twenty fourteen winter games a slide on to the podium to claim their medals after day one of competition. and equipment failure could have ruined the dreams of olympic gold for some german ski is. already that is if their russian opponents haven't put a rivalry aside to help them out. scenes of street violence and golfing both. protesters clashing with police setting government buildings ablaze all amid soaring unemployment economic stagnation and corruption. plus

a suicide bombing reportedly carried out by a british citizen in syria and sparking fresh fears that hundreds of western volunteers could pose a threat when they return home from the front line of the battlefield. a very warm welcome to you from all of us here in moscow i'm a live in the russian capital so let's head straight to sort of i know it is standing by in our special studio ready for a look at the first official day of competition at the winter olympics twenty fourteen. yeah hi there are you saying that officially day one of the winter olympics in sochi drawing to a close no courses but it could have. successful for the new agents up the

mountains and maybe the flying dutch down by the black sea coast a father exactly whose dreams of olympic gold so today let's catch up with our correspondent paul scott other polo begin to me as a really good russian success yet there before we talk about those flying dutchman . well there have been no medals for russia on day one of the winter olympics but they are in a good position to pick up their first medal of these games in the figure skating team event after five of eight rounds they currently lead the overall standings elsewhere by athlete ole i know beyond dulce and created history on saturday he has become the joint record holder of the most amount of winter olympic medals he has twelve to his name and seven of them a gold he's also become the oldest winner individual winner of a gold medal in winter olympics history this is after success in the ten k.

spring to vent meanwhile there was a fantastic display by the netherlands the dutch claiming a one to three gold silver and bronze in the men's five thousand meter speed skating event sven kramer successfully defending his title now let's take a look at the medals table then you can see that it's norway who are leading the way at the moment but that fantastic display by the dutch in the speedskating has put them right up amongst the leaders. more talk of a fantastic performance they're fantastic show as well as their poor those already been a display of true lympics spirit. yes well german athletes were going to be pretty much under prepared for there are events now for the skiers and for the by athletes there's a special machine that prepares their skis it gets them ready for competitions in the german machine it actually broke now the german federer. gratian was scratching

around looking for support and seeking assistance from other teams here with the winter olympics they approach austria their rivals he refused to help but russia did decide to help they put the rivalry to one side and assisted their opposition experiences shining through in fact the german olympic sports confederation president says that i have never experienced this kind of solidarity before in my time as an official a real sign that on day one of these winter olympics the olympic spirit is on display now mentioned a few moments ago the medals table let's find out a bit more about those medals here's my colleague andrew fama. he's one who will actually see sochi a dream to even finish and the million take magill around. and they say good enough

to get one they'll be taking trying something. these goings reflexive cheese landscape like the jamaican pizza translated from yana he does sound the beaches of the black sea his design that would be useful even simpler infix with a curiously paralympians will get you measure for the efforts. an olympic gold medal weighs an average of five hundred twenty five hundred forty grams the paralympic gold medal is about six hundred seventy just six hundred eighty grams but the reason for the weight difference between a limp eight gold medals it 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 stop some late the medals are cut to the right size a special machine creates that icy looking center. in the games 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 in peak debut it's been a big undertaking for russian jewelry manufacturer adam ass they've needed two tons of silver which is the main ingredient and it does mean that when his medals are not worth their weight in gold which is only used as a final casing in fact their rules is just a few hundred dollars although any actually can tell you they are in fact priceless andry pharma r.t. . for now i'm going to go for some sort she really surprised me a very familiar face for a very different discipline globally renowned violinist vanessa mays qualified for the women slalom representing thailand he says he's hoping to lure a virtuoso performance on the slopes this time around to be satisfied with that he

is a very days when it's russia right so why should he and divided it at every case but maybe days where i live up to the plate after the race and had a show that i have to say that it briefly got me made me think i was going to be applied for me out of a job it was something that i was serious single minded that the i am serious minister here it's easy but i got to get myself i'm going to say that pressure i'm sure of that it might not be easy which was it but nobody's expecting it how do you let it go way back to be educated it. because you know if you watch it yesterday all the sporting action was preceded by all the glitz and gloss over the shoulder there in the opening ceremony the spectacular show gave the audience a journey to russia's unique and complicated history the culmination of the ceremony was over the lighting of

a huge olympic flame again over my shoulder you can see a burning into the night the owner from lighting that going to two of russia's most celebrated athletes solving hockey legend vladislav tretiak and also legendary figure skater rena rodney now she shared with us what it's like them to be the final torchbearer in the longest a limping relate ever. yes as a girl is going with just a little bit of it seems is my destiny to do everything as a pair 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. we're told where the winds were poor but first medals in the twenty fourth in the olympics were awarded for slopestyle snowboarding the american rider and sporting

legend meantime shaun white decided he was going to pull out before the games began he said he was worried about the safety of the course so we asked billy morgan an athlete fourteen great britain what he thinks about the venues here and. it's been amazing considering you know there wasn't much here before before they started building society is actually ridiculous is you know everything you need is it doesn't seem like it is miss in the villages the villages goodell works the transport fine. it would be so easy to have lots of problems like you know have been something so new there's always problems but they've got around to the few problems they have heard it is well i've enjoyed it a lot so if they had problems with. the machinery on the slope which is a common thing if it's too warm you can get the machines on the slope but the next day it was cold enough and they got the machines on and it was it was super smooth the problem was they couldn't smooth out properly but it was all gone the next day so people turned up you know it was a bit scary but it was all fixed it's been brilliant ever since there's

a will there's a way they say this will be extensively covered the games course here in sochi keep in close on everything that's happening at both where i am here on the black sea coast and also up in the mountain cluster as well for now though back to moscow and laurie in the studio. kevin thanks very much for that you can find out everything else that's happening from our twitter team in fact our feed has a list section for all the sporting disciplines are sorted into categories it is the simplest way to keep across all the tweets coming from the very people that are competing for the gold and an army of fans willing to share their experience of saatchi twenty fourteen for all of us online. the g. twenty four dean promised the recall to midday an exhilarating winter in our team a team in germany and you see now i am a criminal and the rest of our lives take years training for sochi twenty four take . on oxy. and coming to you live from moscow here in oz the international bowls

indians woke up on saturday to streets of broken windows on smoke rising from government buildings and the day before thousands of protesters across the country went on the rampage and clashed with police authorities have vowed to prevent the violence of the worst rioting since the one nine hundred ninety s. . hundreds of people have been injured in three days of protests in a state where forty percent of the population is jobless in the capital sarajevo or authorities fired rubber bullets water cannons and tear gas to try and disperse the crowds and in other parts of the country protesters hold rocks at security forces and torched local government buildings the underestimation erupted over the closure of several state owned companies that were sold off and then collapsed under private ownership political analyst dr mark mason says the violence is now growing into a full blown up process. 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 doors that has been actually studied by social scientists 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 during the protesters pretty much the end of it for the government so we want to watch that very closely. so lots to come here on the program including an issue of immigration people in switzerland prepared to decide whether the influx of foreign workers should because although critics say it's the economy that's going to feel the effect. but although it is damage control in washington.

this author a recording of a phone conversation apparently involving the u.s. assistant secretary of state revealing 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 be you know the use of strong language by victoria nuland was recorded while she was talking to the u.s. ambassador in kiev the remarks caused outrage from the german chancellor angela merkel hold noonan's choice of words completely unacceptable international affairs commentator rick ross off he says the conversation shows that america's a continuing and overall neglect of the sovereignty of other states 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 we are 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 us ambassador is the one that it's gained at

the notoriety for better or worse that as 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 of 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. now the u.s. state department has not denied the authenticity of the recording saying that newton's already apologized for her comments but washington's continued claim that is 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 ground as more than discussions though this is the u.s. midwife in the process there is a difference between private discussions that happen in the interagency process in the building and what we convey publicly as a u.s.

government that's what you do as i was already in my 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 are much more news coming your way off to a very short break. an article at business insider brags for americans who feel insecure about their country in light of china's impressive achievements it may be reassuring to know that while the chinese would rather live to the united states to the stay at home yes rich chinese are getting green cards in record numbers do they love you for your freedom well not exactly for according to the headline china's wealthiest citizens are fleeing to the u.s. amid corruption crackdown yes you americans should feel so insecure because apparently america is the best place to flee if you are corrupt.

thanks for joining us here on r.t. international but the u.n. brokered cease fire in the syrian city of homs has been broken with both sides of the conflict blaming each other now 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 as parts of agreements reached at the geneva two conference the syrian government says it is ready to continue talks with the opposition at the un mediated summit though the rebel delegates do not enjoy popular support inside syria. radical islamists are dominating the fight against assad and the militant ranks bolstered by hundreds of european volunteers sparking fears they could bring the terror back home with. investigates. a british heart is known as. he 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 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 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 jihad that we've seen around the world. repeated with which we've seen the numbers into the battlefield is from my perspective on precedent to. me that would be they were hearing created about. their 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 return home group of britons already threatened to carry out terrorist

attacks in the u.k. and this is believed to be the first direct threat to come out of syria reporting from london. edward snowden leaks details. nothing went. trying to get the information it so desperately needs i reports accuse british agents of using sex. to get to the full story for you right now on our website. why you've got this one as well about the mars rover curiosity is an image of planet earth taken directly from the surface of the red planet. in the program the swiss are preparing for a referendum on whether to immigration polls showing creasing support for the plan to limit the number of foreigners moving to switzerland though some warn it could backfire on the economy as 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 missed underestimated the situation the number of people coming 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 said this will save the political elite they were very enthusiastic about joining the european

union years ago. but people change they saw the disadvantages they saw the immigration is tremendous much bigger than recalls and so there's 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 labor market so it's going to it's populist politics and it's just anger in there in this field but as elsewhere in europe and i immigration messages seem to be resonating and pollsters say even voters without political affiliation may vent their frustration comes sunday voters

like the. 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 frank in south florida is in there is no way to run to rescind this out this includes from other countries switzerland is doing this for us four in ten companies in switzerland including nestle are founded by foreigners last year they created around thirty thousand new jobs policy to between at that no they are against the

rules 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 for r.t.e. in switzerland and lucy catherine of wired to turkey for the r.t. wild update now where riot police used water cannons and tear gas at hundreds of demonstrators in istanbul crowds to hold firecrackers and stones of protesting legislation which critics able to tighten government controls on the internet others calling on leaders to resign twitter and facebook being widely used by protesters to spread the word during demonstrations last year. a russian woman has been killed along with another person in a train derailment in the french alps it was travelling from the city of nice officials say a boulder smashed into one of the cars injuring nine. 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 paula slip reports on the sudden role of the media. 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 strength of the israeli 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 catchphrase 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 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 way he's off thinking twice about whether they want to put their life on the line to serve their country you value a lums 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 much more safer places

like 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. important computer but you need the people that stand in front of the our enemy and their save the border for all they glory is also combat helix may not be fighting the biggest battle of their existence keeping themselves going. policy r t tel aviv

the kaiser report it's next. 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 when they posed the question was defending leningrad 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 well 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 we're a generation mean me me these people could never imagine sacrificing the great and wonderful me for any cause sacrificed me to the less 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. i marinate join me. in part and. very severe and much. only on them best.

welcome to the kaiser report imax kaiser an article at business insider brags for americans who feel insecure about their country in light of china's impressive achievements it may be reassuring to know that wealthy chinese would rather move to the united states of stay at home yes rich chinese are getting green cards in record numbers do they love you for your freedom well not exactly for according to the headline china's wealthiest citizens are fleeing to the u.s. amid corruption crackdown yes you americans should feel so insecure because apparently america is the best place to flee to if you're corrupt. they love us for our freedom to steal. and get away with it the shining city on

a hellhole that's been stolen. well china's wealthiest citizens are fleeing to us amid corruption crackdown is the headline amid a widening crackdown on corruption china's wealthiest citizens are increasingly seeking a better life abroad the united states is their favored destination so if they have a million dollars they can get a green card in two thousand and ten there were seven hundred seventy two chinese who received these green cards that increased by eight fold by two thousand and twelve to six thousand one hundred twenty four threats of corruption a crackdown is rising in china so the chinese while the chinese that are the jamie diamonds of their country are fleeing to america because they know that america provide safe haven for a corrupt banking larcenous to. no good mix and yes now part of the reason is they're also leaving because of the pollution that we have export and their american corporations export of the pollution.