from a reference to. the battle for the olympic podium into full swing in sochi with norway leading the race so far work keeping an eye on the sports extravaganza from our own studio in the heart of the winter games. it may be a celebration of sport at something bad happening in such media setting alarm bells ringing over the olympics raising eyebrows as well as questions of whether the panic and the criticism all are justified in the weeks ahead lie. and you know. reportedly coming from the u.s. assistant secretary of state as she reveals washington's plans for crisis rock ukraine in a leaked phone call. swiss deciding whether to keep foreigners out of the country of voting on a controversial bill introducing immigrant quotas. it's

nine am in moscow i'm mad trezeguet taking a look back at the week's news and giving you all the latest on the latest a lympics information competition the heating up at the winter games with eight sets of medals up for grabs on sunday let's go live to our own annie sonali now standing by in our sochi studios with all the latest developments from the host city and isa. morning to you matt it's the second day of the games and there's a very vibrant spirit here in the winter olympic capital there's certainly an atmosphere of rivalry but first and foremost a very festive mood with everyone enjoying the games so far norway is at the top of the medals table lose athlete skiers and figure skaters are among those hoping to

bag gold in the next twenty four hours but that cross my heart is andrew farmer he's in the olympic mountain cluster andrew a great act of show of sportsmanship up there tell us what's happening on the slopes and tracks. yeah that's right in d.c. you know the olympic spirit is alive and well last you've heard this story and that's because the russian team is giving a very big helping hand to the germans one of its main rivals for today's women's biathlon it's all because the german team forgot to bring special equipment to prepare their own skis and that was a major factor because they do need to smooth them over they went around asking many teams if they could help many of them including the swiss said no but the russian team said sure no problem have what you want and that scene the german olympic chief say he was very grateful for the very kind and pretty intact the school's main cheer. and that we're all in our team have never experienced such

a special situation and such. fair play the russian friends were. for us in the us they gave us handed over the key and so it was possible that our team prepared. your team the russian team said good night here are the keys and beds let's say moral as unbelievable our team managers discuss these two or three other teams and they said nor because you. will be stronger with good skis and the russian team of support. through. to grow let's say for excess. so heartwarming gesture their very magnanimous one from the russian team they will have to be at their very best to beat the germans and also the norwegians who are the favorites for today's race in the seven and a half a kilometer sprint and that takes place this evening russia does have

a couple of chances of medals elsewhere. in the loo she's currently second in the overall standings at the halfway stage he will compete to see final runs today and it looks like russia could get a gold fingers crossed in the figure skating event there leading that at the moment and that will also conclude today. in a few hours time will see the russian ice hockey women's team take to the stage they play the germans in their first game of the tournament and don't expect anything less than a tough game which you see in the men's that we caught up with the hardy skit for you katharina so many. well not all the girls and models some are tough you know what women are like i think any team sport is interesting in hockey you also have ice and hockey sticks so you can do some pushing and striking with your stick so it's very interesting you choose a sport depending on your disposition you have to be a feisty girl to play hockey

a few girls in women's hockey a soft and tender of course when we're not wearing our uniforms no one can tell we're hockey players but when we're out there on the ring we have to be tough. so there's plenty to look forward so you know it is every athlete dream isn't it to be at the olympics but unfortunately one american we fail to make the national team but he's an entrepreneur he came to sochi anyway and he's making waves. caught up with him. paul break will be going his full time journey to follow his childhood olympic wish in twenty thirteen determined to participating carry a flag at any opening a lympics ceremony he decided on the sporting activity of cross-country skiing and competed several months of training in australia new zealand austria and finland

i've been skiing on glaciers are you aware of the snow i was jumping on a plane because i need to get as much exposure to skis as possible i've never been on skis and about eight months ago my dream was to be a walk into the ceremonies as a participant not to watch as a fan so i'm there watching it and yeah i mean like i had maybe five or six friends carrying their flags and i knew maybe thirty forty athletes in there and yet it's kind of like bittersweet you're there but not quite there sadly he didn't meet the qualifying times needed for this year's competition so he's here in sochi to support his fellow sportsman. and i'm sure he will be watching the men's downhill event which is the first one to keep today's proceedings and that starts in a couple of hours time. all right and your former life from the mountain cluster where winter games held in a war zone under the threat of terror with saudi hotels and stray dogs roaming

around that's also to twenty fourteen is being portrayed by many western media outlets but will the criticism die down now that the torch is lit and the games have opened our teams and it starts here turk and that takes a look. hundreds of world class competitions involving thousands of top notch athletes but yet sports fans all over the world rejoice it's time for a limping game i want to get some pretty disgusting but why feed the excitements word of a possible new terror threat character a terrorist threat terrorist threat and your world champion and multiple gold medalist for buzz kill the western mainstream media we're lympics is a wonderful time for contraries to get together in order to despise each other and or treating each other like crap it's only happens once every two four years you know there's not a lot of time you've got to come together and hate each other and not

a second has gone to waste from picking any little thing that might be off to fifty toilets but not one that could be flushed to toilets side by side with two toilets right next to each other just spells party doesn't spell bad conditions three million to be exact one very tiny left a fifth paint their trashy things the problems that that come up in every olympic games these were unique to sochi olympic stadium has always. been accused of being an overpriced boondoggle that was constructed shoddily not ready until the very last second every single one that i can remember a media war against the saatchi olympics taken to a ridiculous extreme my impression of fox news is that they're just sitting around the office and they go hey it looks like no one's russian to get to sochi and my right i'm going to go eat lunch. fine there's definitely queer spinning tiny flaws

into viral sensations fact actual sports reporting be damned. it's really kind of unpleasant to watch more to the point it's pretty counterfactual as well going so far as to say that the games are being held in a war zone as opposed to what's really a black sea resort. even though plenty of work went into security hysteria reigns the airwaves threat of something bad happening in sochi well it's increasing by the day taking the fear of yes toothpaste to an extreme toothpaste containing explosive material it is terrifying all right did you hear all the tooth paste is going to explode it was even staging tests on hiding explosives and tubes were c.n.n. commissioned this test i stopped brushing my teeth i stopped flossing i think that might help solve the problem no matter how much the media after the doomsayers of

the games toothpaste will be toothpaste and nonsense will be nonsense in the end the olympics will celebrate joy excitement and victory there will be winners and there will be losers hopefully able to move on with at least some snippets of dignity you're not concerned at all now you're really not really truly can we piece about why and especially if you're going to r.t. new york. we're not going to let anybody kill our buzz here at the olympics the search the olympics will see and could see many athletes become stars but some are already are go are are like globally renowned violinist vanessa mae who's taking part in the giant slalom she's competing for her home country of thailand and we asked her what made her choose to take to the slopes this time and not the stage. i've been so inspired with with the skiing have you know the

day there are days when it's rush rush rush so much to do and divide it doesn't get taken out of its case but there's been days when i've literally hopped on a plane after a race and had to show the next day and i have to say that it brings a new dimension to my knees i was groomed to be a violent is from a young age and it was something that i was serious single minded about i am serious when i strap on a pair of skis but i don't put myself under the same pressure representing my country is a responsibility but nobody thinks making a podium for me so some way i can be entertaining and that will be a good thing for me as an entertainer i just don't see how it's going to play out for vanessa mae performing on sochi slopes here in sochi on our studio at the center of the winter games we will be bringing you all the updates and highlights of the olympics for now back to you in moscow salute lee artes and you so now live for us in sochi thank you for that update and we are covering everything here on our t.v. and on our website our two dot com following the sporting spectacle you can keep up

to date any time by logging on to our official instagram page we've got video and footage from the olympic capital and on our web site r t v dot com we're keeping a close eye on sochi the slopes track stadiums and parks counting the medals following reaction bringing you all the latest updates on air and on our website. g. twenty fourteen promise is the ultimate in exhilarating winter in our. social media and use the knowledge to make heaven and on the rest of our lives take these teens for sochi twenty four take. on. turning now to some of the week's news of a leaked phone call this week between top u.s. diplomats a revealed details of washington's involvement in ukraine's ongoing political crisis recording apparently featuring assistant secretary of state victoria nuland discussing who could form a new government in kiev and buckley dismissing the e.u. are reports in ukraine we stand for the principle that all people have the right to

express themselves freely in peacefully. and they have a say in their country's future as it turns out washington isn't just cheering from the sidelines. in this video posted anonymously on you tube my understanding from that u.s. assistant secretary of state victoria nuland and the u.s. ambassador to keep are heard orchestrating ukraine's political future playing a game of verbal chess with ukraine's opposition leaders i think yats is the guy who's got the economic experience the governing experience and he's the guy you know what he needs is clear on a book on the outside he needs to be talking to them four times a week the embarrassingly conversation goes from bad to worse when washington senior diplomat drops the f. bomb while dismissing the european union's role in ukraine 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 state department has shifted into damage control refusing to confirm the

authenticity of the audio while admitting that victoria nuland has apologized to her european allies for the profanity she's apologized for a comment to she's not admitting she made which is itself a confirmation that the comment was indeed made but will she hasn't apologized for the plans to mid-wife in trouble free you know which she says she's apologizing for cussing out but she's not apologizing for trying to overthrow a government in kiev calling it popular democracy the diplomatic scandal here as nuland arrived in ukraine for her second visit in less than two months back in december she was walking around independence square handing out snacks to protesters this time around the assistant secretary of state promised to feed the country with financial support if necessary political reforms are implemented at a press conference nuland refused to comment on what she called a private diplomatic conversation this is a devastating revelation and

a very important revelation because it shows. that washington is not only manipulating the washington is dictating who shall be in the government and they have taken the power away from the people. who are teat. mini's chance there are no merkel dismissed comments as unacceptable loading of an ost a former deputy speaker of the belgian parliament says the conversation is a demonstration of how casually the u.s. and allies orchestrate regime change. welcome to the real good of diplomacy behind closed doors this confirms the. stance of the united states and the e.u. by the way towards. dana to show floor for democracy the old logic countries this one small undermines the whole claim of transparency and democracy building and but to do building of political institutions these are all ideological efforts to into

ones politics in other countries and also by the way shows how casual these people can talk about the politics of another country. the new officials appalled they said a new report revealing levels of corruption across the block but some experts finding it strange wrongdoings within the news financial institutions are surprised more on this and more. with the economic down in the final. day. and the rest of life. if.

there's a saying you know when you're in the arctic you have the entire world at your feet she looks like a fairly simple ship but really she's not simple little. handful of people ever have access to the nuclear icebreakers the real king here is at the polar bear and ice breakers come second not a single complex expedition to the arctic can be conducted without the russian nuclear powered fleet of ice breakers we undertake a unique operation in. the northern sea route russia's arctic ice breakers. eighteen minutes past the hour switzerland is heading to the polls to decide in

a disputed or right wing proposal to introduce quotas on the country's immigrants if accepted the bill would jeopardize the swiss e.u. treaty on free movement critics say the country's economic prosperity could be at stake artes as he caffein off reports. well today is the day that swiss voters decide whether to put up new immigration barriers to their european neighbors a vote that could trigger the country's exit from the single european market the nationwide referendum could count the number of e.u. citizens who get residency permits here which would undo a longstanding deal that let's listen you nationals move really essentially an open borders agreement now to understand what's really behind this initiative you do have to look at the numbers switzerland has a population of just eight million people but it's seen a massive rise in immigration over the past decade in fact an estimated eighty eight thousand come here each year one fifth of the population is foreign born or that's simply too large according to the right wing swiss people's party which has pushed this referendum forward we think we have to responsibility to tell the

people we have to change our constitution we have to write that's what sort of controls to immigration again and that's what we're going to do now critics of the initiative say that it sends the message that foreigners aren't welcome they also warn that it could cripple businesses this economy is actually booming just three percent unemployment here and experts believe that's because of not just going to foreign labor especially folks who have skills to work in fields like health care or internet technology if you look at the arrivals from the e.u. between for example twenty ten and twenty twelve a large majority sixty nine percent in fact were highly skilled now there is also the issue of brussels switzerland isn't a member of the european union but it has signed on to a lot of the blocks policy in order to gain access to that single market i mentioned earlier where switzerland sells half of everything that it produces that access of course could all be at risk. very serious.

there will be erosion of the relations to european union. this initiative is not compatible with the treaties which i signed between switzerland and the european union so this will lead to. the erosion of the existing treaties the will be. there finish them and then switzerland is it is very very rich. because it depends highly on the european market well for now ponens of immigration are still a minority but opinion polls have shown the initiative gaining traction there could of course always be a surprise at the ballot box and will simply have to wait and see what is the evening's results to find out reporting in zurich switzerland i'm lucy captain of. the line active protest or threat of war the pentagon sounds the alarm over iranian

warships approaching u.s. maritime borders had to r.t. dot com for the full story there. plus a notorious heat immigration go home or face arrest campaign backfires on its mastermind details on what forced the u.k. immigration minister to resign just a click away. right on the scene. first struck. and i would think that you're. an army corps. instrument. in the. corruption pandemic sweeping member states brussels claims one hundred twenty billion euros have been lost to shady deals they figure revealed in a report by the e.u.'s home affairs commissioner who warned that the problem is far

reaching and getting worse philip plays an m.e.p. for the flemish nationalist party though says while highlighting bribery on a national level they report ignores brussels overall complicity. problems in some member states are huge and widespread and the problem within the european union is that all the member states are in danger of being contaminated by this problem because when you are in their euro zone for instance and when one of these member states in the eurozone has a big corruption problem well this problem will be felt by the other member states within the eurozone that's a problem with greece for instance so the problems in one country are becoming more and more the problems of the other member states would i find it surprising that with i fun interesting at the same time is that the european commission has made this report on corruption in the european union but it didn't make

a survey of corruption within its own institutions and didn't have any specific information about corruption with e.u. funded projects and turning now to some other stories making global headlines this hour. in turkey riot police clashing with hundreds of demonstrators in one of his temples main squares officers used water cannons and tear gas to break up angry mobs protesting government moves to impose curbs any internet the draft bill allows blocking web site for privacy violations without a court order it's been criticized as an attempt to gag the opposition twitter and facebook widely used by antigovernment demonstrators during protests last year. while in madrid three thousand protesters waved fliers and with fires during a rally against what they call state repression in spain demonstrators are happy

with the government's recent passage of legislation allowing protesters to be fined for filming police are participating in an authorized rallies several activist groups teamed up to organize the protest against. and to the u.s. state of north carolina where tens of thousands marched against what they see as aggressive right wing legislation protesters say voting rights medical care and education are being targeted making life especially tough for the poor and minorities they've drawn up a fourteen point agenda demanding a raising the minimum wage repeal the death penalty and the cancellation of changes to election law last year nine hundred people were arrested in what has become an annual march in the state. and established life interrupted by a subpoena a british couple fighting extradition to the u.s. on fraud charges are still you want to see the family who says their lives have been turned upside down by the law one morning fourteen months ago a life changing knock on the door with two policeman from scotland yard and i said

were. done and we've come to arrest you and your husband since then they've been out on bail and are fighting extradition to the united states to await trial after claims from the dunham's former company in the u.s. that they've bezel more than one million dollars in illegitimate expense claims something the couple say are without merit showing as evidence that they've gathered that some say they're not afraid of trial but their worst fears being sent to the states is the possibility of being denied bail and spending years behind bars apart from one another simply waiting for their day in court if we were away from this country needs is. for a very good chance he would have why we're confident we would win. because we are innocent that we would then be shipped but there's no compensation and. wrongful acts for patients. can you imagine coming back to this country you know three or

four years later no harm no money no job and you're now in you know sixty two sixty three years by and trying to rebuild your life controversy has long surrounded the u.s. u.k. extradition act of two thousand and three signed in the wake of nine eleven critics claim the agreement is biased against the u.k. if you're a u.s. citizen wanted by the u.k. government you have a higher standard of evidence that you need to provide in the u.s. and also as a u.s. citizen you have the opportunity to go to a u.s. court to think your case and unfortunate for british citizens there is no such opportunity to have your evidence tested in the u.k. court before you are it's true that i did and that's a basic unfairness to an independent review and twenty eleven found at the treaty quote does not operate in an unbalanced manner but this contradicts findings of the parliament's joint committee and human rights which called for a renegotiation to ensure british citizens get the same protections as americans

conservative m.p. who sits on the committee looked at nationalities of those extradited and found it thirty five britons have been sent to the us and steve thousand for versus just five u.s. nationals who made the opposite journey that seven times more but for every argument on this side of the atlantic a counter is thrown back the united states has never denied a request under the treaty where's the united kingdom has denied multiple requests from the united states if the relationship is in balance i would say it's imbalanced against the united states but that is little comfort to the dunham's and others like them who teeter on the edge of desperation knowing it's very lives at stake from the moment they put us on the plane. first opportunity we can't. my tests are sylvia r t london more news coming up in a half hour but first we take a look at big city life under the watchful eyes of surveillance state with.

possible far tasting should be done by gainey tell you. we we will. see you will know the whereabouts of the us each. a they are almost entirely in the olympic

village if they are not to the national committees who will tell the i.o.c. it will be all. right. first. and i think the church. for. instance. ambushes the perpetrators are older than is driven by the hatred of the government . has a religious fanatics. can

a society protect itself against the encounter level how should it react to attacks with retaliation. or like the citizens of norway and spain who opted for freedom and openness. london two thousand and five. on july the seventh four bombs exploded three in underground trains one in a double decker bus the result fifty six deaths and seven hundred injuries the attack is not from the outside nor from the. the four young assassins of muslims three of them born in the u.k. . a traumatic experience for the metropolis in the blink of an eye the entire city fell out of step its vulnerability visible tool.