i'm. the best of the best the first sets of medals are awarded in softly as day one of the twenty fourteen winter olympics comes to a close. a team of german skiers and biathletes reaches out for assistance after its equipment failed to find a helping hand in their russian opponents who decided to put bible re a side. street violence and goals bosnia herzegovina protesters clashed with police and said government buildings ablaze i made soaring unemployment economic stagnation and corruption. and a suicide bombing reportedly carried out by a briton in syria the first such attack by a u.k. citizen in the country sparks fresh fears that western volunteers good pose a threat when they return home from the war.

or watching r t international live from moscow. well it was a busy day in a limp exporter let's head straight to saatchi artie's kevin owen is standing by in our studio there he's got a look at the first official day of competition at the winter games. yeah. so they're just past two am sunday morning here in sochi we're still going strong anyway but the course those athletes those spectators resting before the next day of full competition begins eight sets of medals will be up for grabs later today well right now let's recap the results in day one you shall we which was a huge success for the norwegian team there spoke to our correspondent paul scott he's been following what how closely. well there are no medals for russia on day

one of the sochi twenty fourteen 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 meanwhile biathlete ole darling 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 become the oldest individual gold medal winner in winter olympics history this is after he claimed gold in the men's ten k. springs event there was also a super display from the netherlands in the speed skating in the men's five thousand meters they claim the one two three gold silver and bronze spend kramer successfully defending his title well let's take a look at the medals table then you can see that it's norway that lead the way at the moment but that fantastic display by the netherlands has put them right up amongst the leaders and we've seen the first awarding of the medals to the athletes

it's going to happen daily at eight fourteen pm in the coastal cluster in the medals plaza there of course it happens eight fourteen pm because that's twenty fourteen representing the small talk of a fantastic performance there fantastic show a kindness as well as their paulo's already been a display of true lympics spirit of. 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 and the german machine it actually broke now the german federation was scratching around looking for support and seeking assistance from other teams here with the winter olympics they approach austria their rivals who refused to help but russia did decide to help they put the rivalry to one side and desisted their opposition to the olympic spirit is shining through and we're all in our team have never experienced. and so out. of fair play

the russian friends were. harassed in the us they gave us handed over the key and so it was possible that our team last night. prepared the skis mentioned a few moments ago the medals table let's find out a bit more about those medals here's my colleague andrew farmer. i. think. it's what all ashley says sort of she's a dream to even finish a million take magill around. and if a good enough to get one they'll be taking trying something. these guns reflexive cheese landscape by the jacket he says translated for the young man he just sandy beaches of the black sea is designed that movies for the same hour lympics with

a curiously her influence will get a little for the efforts to take up back. at olympic gold medal weighs an average of five hundred twenty five hundred forty grams paralympic gold medal is about six hundred seventy just six hundred eighty grams but the reason for the weight difference between olympic 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 the most. similar to what their weight each one takes a staggering eighteen hours to make it starts on the ladies the medals are cut to the right size a special machine creates that icy looking center and the game's trademark patchwork quilt pattern is engraved reflecting russia's cultural diversity all part of twenty five different manufacturing stamps recalled thirteen hundred medals have been minted in this way. at the sochi games where twelve new events school may

carry in peak debut it's been a big undertaking for a russian jewelry manufacturer adam and. eve needed two tons of silver which is the main ingredient and it does mean that when these metals are not worth their weight in gold which is only used as a final casing the fact there are rules only it's just a few hundred dollars although any actually will tell you they are in fact priceless andry farmer r.t. . well let's talk more about those awards and the big stories the u.s. has won the first gold medal in the sochi games in slow slow style. slope style snowboarding that's the one but the event was missing a marquee athlete american sporting legend shaun white pulled out before the competition began he said he was worried about the safety of the course we asked billy morgan who's a snowboarder from great britain about but if you've got any concerns about the

venue in sochi. it's been amazing considering you know there wasn't much here before before they started building facade she is absolutely ridiculous there's you know everything you need it doesn't seem like anything as miss in the villages the villages goodell works the transports fine they would be so easy to have lots of problems like you know having someone so new there's always problems but they've got around to the few problems they have had it is work really 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't get the machines on the slopes 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 that was all gone the next day so we were turned up you know it was a bit scary but it was all fixed and it's been brilliant ever since. where there's a will there's a where this over no turning over into a sporting career thus a dream shared by millions of us around the globe but what if you already heard

a flourishing career you were extremely famous and it was in a completely different field where globally renowned violinist vanessa mae is in sochi to participate in the women slalom she's competing for thailand this is what should a say about a switch from the concert hall to the slopes. so it's my skiing have you know the day there are days when it's rush rush rush so much to do and the violin doesn't get taken out of its case but there have been days where i have literally hopped on a plane after a race and had a show the next day and i have to say that it brings a new dimension to my music i was groomed to be a violinist from a young age and it was something that i was serious single minded about skiing i am serious when i strap on a pair of skis but i don't put myself under the same pressure sure representing my country is a responsibility but nobody is expecting a podium from me so somewhere i can be entertaining on skis that will be a good thing for me as an entertainer. the multi talented

vanessa mae so the twenty second olympic games kicked off the shoulder there with the spectacular opening extravaganza the toward insisting but. as with any other opening ceremony for me because of the lighting in the flame wrapping up the longest told history you all are big on it was awarded to two of russia's most celebrated our fleet's hockey legend that is five pretty legendary figure skater we know what the now did she shared with a sneer motions that she felt. yes this is a girl with a willingness to swallow because it's all 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 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. and there's so much more to come to that though is the first competition done and dusted here at the black sea coast and also of course at the mountain cluster as well but it all starts going very very soon our team will continue to keep you up to date with everything that's happening in sochi in the coming days mccullagh and this is now you deal with this very studio at nine am local time that's five am g.m.t. just seven hours from now for me of about tomorrow night so for me kevin i mean hopefully see you again then back now to our studio in moscow in minsk. thanks a lot kevin i'll find out everything else that's happening from our twitter team it's very easy just head to our tease twitter feed you'll find a list section there all ready to go we have all the sporting disciplines of course ready ready to take you through everything that's happening there online all the latest news for saatchi they were created to help you navigate through this sea of

tweets on the games of course tons are coming in every second and we also have accounts of the athletes themselves as well as those of their most devoted fans. jean twenge afford to promise is the ultimate in the exhilarating winter. storm. i make seven zero in on the rest of our lives take these teams to sochi twenty four take. all the. protesters have gathered again in the bosnian capital sarajevo following the resignation of the local government's leader but demonstrations showed little sign of the level of rioting that in the days before saw thousands of protesters clashing with police authorities are vowing to prevent further violence after the worst uprising the country has seen since the one nine hundred ninety s. kicked off. hundreds

of people have been injured in three days of protests in a state where forty percent of the population is jobless and sarajevo authorities fired rubber bullets water cannon and tear gas to break up the crowds in other parts of the nation protesters hurled rocks at security forces and set local government buildings on fire going to rest initially broke out after several state owned companies that were sold and then collapsed under private ownership political analyst dr mark mason says the violence is growing into a full blown upright. 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 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 for he say i'm through with this too i'm

during the protest years that's pretty much the end of it for the government so we want to watch that very closely. a joint team of u.n. and syrian red crescent workers have delivered aid to the besieged city of homs despite heavy shelling earlier a ceasefire had been broken with an aid convoy coming under fire with several people having been reported injured mortar shells were fired with the government and the rebels accusing each other of violating the armistice dozens of residents were evacuated on friday as part of agreements reached at the geneva two conference and the syrian government says it's ready to continue talks with the opposition at the un mediated summit but the rebel delegates don't enjoy popular support inside syria where radical islamists are now dominating the fight against assad the militant ranks have been bolstered by hundreds of european volunteers sparking fears that could praying bring terror back home with them as artie's tests are 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 now british citizens along with other europeans traveling to syria as young as sixteen and fighting alongside jihad is 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 is a new development reinforces 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 battlefields that we've seen around the world the rapidity with which you've seen the number of foreigners be drawn to the battlefield is from my perspective i'm president of the number. that would be they were hearing about our . intelligence and it presents a very difficult picture for them to manage in sounding the alarm over this phenomenon authorities are regreasing me worried about what happens when these individuals return whole 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. considering whether to close its borders the country is holding a nationwide referendum to decide whether to restrict the number of immigrants allowed to enter by critics warn the move what hurt the economy the story and more after the break.

down in the final. and the rest. will be.

a pleasure to have you with us. washington has been left red faced after a leaked recording of a phone conversation apparently involving the u.s. assistant secretary of state revealed the depth of america's involvement in ukraine's anti-government unrest so that would be great i think to help glue this thing and have the u.n. help glue it and you know the e.u. the use of strong language by victoria nuland was recorded while she was talking to the u.s. ambassador in kiev the remark caused outrage from german chancellor merkel who called newman's choice of words completely unacceptable international affairs commentator records are says the conversation shows americans and i'm glad at the sovereignty of other states. and all of 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 many of securing 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 governor say she was the u.s. ambassador is the one that is gamed 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 say the electoral reno zero is 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 of the recording saying that new ones already apologize for comments but washington's continued claim that it's not involved in ukraine's political process let the sloughed the state department spokesperson flailing. it shouldn't be a surprise that there are discussions about events on the ground it's more than

discussions though 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 is as. if you're saying privately behind the scenes that you're cooking up a deal and then you're saying publicly that this isn't for you creating suicide those are two totally different things saudi arabia's gender segregation has cost the life of a female student a twenty four year old woman died of a heart attack after waiting for over two hours since the male medics on site are not allowed to examine her head to r.t. dot com for the full story. plus the u.k.'s immigration minister who launched a new tory a scope home or face arrest campaign has resigned after reports surfaced that he employed an illegal immigrant and i website we've got all the details. so us citizens are set to decide whether to restrict immigration in the country

a yes vote in a nationwide referendum would mean that only a limited number of slots would be allocated to certain national or occupational groups poll show increasing support for the plan to limit the number of foreigners moving to switzerland but some warn it could backfire on the economy as artie's lucic half an office 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 needs immigration to a certain point but everybody under a mist 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 the people changed they saw the disadvantages they saw the immigration is tremendous much bigger than we thought 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 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 bloody 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 comes sunday voters like this. swiss businessman who owns a cosmetics factory the name as a manufacturer i profit from this the more people i sell my products to the better but i'm also a swiss citizen i don't want to live like a sardine in my country switzerland is tiny and we simply can't accommodate all the immigrants the country can't take anymore. but the proposed curbs also take aim at highly skilled workers there is no way to run the hells or education system. because there's no way to do modern business in particular financial services franking without flooring is in there is no way to run to receive this out waiters

in 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 or between at that no they are against the foibles because they need them i mean we are not stealing the jobs we are just taking the job they don't want to do so that's why i figured so this so this potentially lou 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 in switzerland and lucy caffein of. some more news making headlines around the world now in turkey riot police have fired water cannons tear gas and hundreds of demonstrators istanbul's means for the protesters threw stones and firecrackers as they rallied against new legislation they say will tighten government control of the internet others were calling on government leaders to step down twitter and facebook more

widely used by anti-government protesters during demonstrations last year. two women were killed and about twenty people injured in a train derailment in the french alps the accident occurred while traveling on the coastal city of nice officials say falling rocks crashed into one of the cars and snow conditions hampering rescue efforts. tokyo has issued its first heavy snowfall warning in thirteen years after three people died and more than five hundred were injured in snow related accidents across japan hundreds of flights were canceled public transport suspended and more than forty thousand households have experienced power cuts according to the nation's meteorological agency is the heaviest snowfall the capital is seen since one nine hundred sixty nine. will be back with more news in about thirty minutes time but up next our takes a closer look at drug abuse on the streets wass angelus but if you're watching us

from the u.k. it sputnik with host george galloway. recently it 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 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 difference 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 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 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. in response to the intense law enforcement on skid row some of the local residents made it their job to watch the police. my mother am

a father both came to california in one thousand nine hundred six. and they both got a job downtown l.a. work in a bullish department store on seventh and broadway. my father had been living downtown ever since. but my mother she lives out in the projects the bad part of it was that i ended up hanging out in my mother's old neighborhood where i ended up joining the games and so for near i got into my diction my addiction landed me in front of the judge. because you're doing robberies he said you have to go to state prison so they say as soon as me to eighteen years state prison. when i was doing my time in prison i became really more radical i was on the revolutionary side before i got out you know i i promise all of that when i get out i would give back the room that i've been doing this gang member and grown up in my life so when i got out the first thing i did was i came back to steal

a role. so one day two bicycle security guards from the business improvement district called suburban shirts had just one twisted home up in the air and they was about to break the woman on so i say what are you doing man this is little woman cohen goes you crazy because like a shot a picture got by i say so you go to break because you got a pipe and i am so the lady was dramatic i know my mind i know i know right so she tried to run she mobile up her head to learn to go see my letter go so they let it go and she opened up her hand it was a nice lighter so i told myself when i was a homeless in medicine that we don't but it's preferred i'm still the general so i tell myself i've got to go get me some soldiers while i'm you know walking around and i talked to one of my friends and he told me man you need to go to l.a. can they do that kind of stuff. and so from him witnessing an injustice

a day later he's. gone through leadership development. and now three years later he's lead human rights we're going to my job is to is to keep trying to wake up the messes you go and keep you know exploiting you know standing with the system is doing. personal hero and i think the. general. and the reason i admire him so much is the reason i admire so many people . he's really somebody who grew up here. are always. trying to from the rights of other folks to their. general did nine years in the state pin six of those nine years in solitary confinement. is the individual that if you listen to the policymakers if you listen to people with money and wealth and power there's no rehabilitating. you know he's

a career criminal. i guess you would have said the same thing about malcolm malcolm x. he was a career criminal and now he's on a postage stamp. basic you. can't even. look in. a smile. i saw a big picture came from saul was going on now and that's what really helped me open my eyes far did every post my field today the reason why i get up and go do what i do every day you know when i go work for you but yeah that's me. as first responders to emergency calls the skid row fire station. to north america . back in the mid seventy's the city made a policy that skid row would be a contained.