the battle for the podium is in full swing with norway leading the race so far we're closely watching the extravaganza from our studios in the heart of sochi. the threat of something happening in sochi so a media setting alarm bells ringing over the games raising eyebrows as well as questions of whether the panic in criticism are justified also we'll look at the week's news. and you know. reportedly that is from the u.s. assistant secretary of state has she revealed washington's plans for a crisis right ukraine in a leaked phone call. swiss deciding on whether or not to keep foreigners out of the country voting on a controversial bill introducing photos on immigration. one

pm in moscow i'm good to have you with us our top story competition heating up at the winter games with eight sets of medals up for grabs sunday joining me now is art he's a nice in our way live at our sochi studios to give us all the latest from the winter games. it's the second day of the games of course and there's a very vibrant spirit here in the winter olympic capital there's certainly a not mishear of rivalry first and foremost a very festive mood with everyone enjoying the spectacle as for the competition so far norway tops the medal table but it's a russian athlete who stole the show last night figure skater. in her down.

formants in the ladies short program the fifteen year old showed she has the goods to win the gold and whether she takes the podium or not she's already an olympic star now sunday is a busy day for the sportsman in sochi lose our lead skiers and snowboarders all hoping to bag gold in the next twenty four hours and despite the rivalry there's been some great examples of sportsmanship as well our team is andrew farmer reports . in a deal in peak spirit is alive and well are to hear this story sensually the russian team has given a very big helping hand to the germans their main rivals are today's will inspire flown what happened recently germany's equipment they used to prepare their own skis just damaged in their trip over here so they are still the teams look can you help can you lend us your equipment all of the said no apart from the russians you said go ahead help yourself it was a very magnanimous gesture and one greatly appreciated by the germans olympic chief

and we're all in our pm have never experienced such 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 for the chance to go. to success so heartwarming story there to start the day with that event incidentally in the biathlon is the women's seven and a half kilometer sprint and i guess on the way. deceiving russia does have

a couple of hopes elsewhere for medal but never sits second at the halfway stage in the league that includes today as does the team figure skating event and russia currently leads now so fingers crossed to be some medals on the board by the end of tonight also today we will get off first glimpse of russia's ice hockey women's team they play that humans incidentally and expect again this is the toughest the men's we've been catching up to very hard with the russian catarina sentiments of. well not all the girls and models some of the top 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 very interesting each is a sport that pending on your disposition you have to be a feisty girl to play a few girls in women's hockey assault and tend of course when we're not wearing our uniforms no one can tell we are hockey players when we're out there on the ring and

we have to be tough of course every athletes dream isn't it to be at these olympics but not everyone can make it not everybody makes the national team modern entries caught up with the american who have had the misfortune of just missing out but he still enjoying sochi is really 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 here where 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 nine 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 you know it's kind of like bittersweet you get 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. a winter games held in a war zone under the threat of terror with shoddy hotels and stray dogs roaming around well that's how so g twenty fourteen is being protected 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 us to see a turk and takes on. hundreds of world class competitions involving thousands of top notch athletes sports fans all over the world rejoice it's time for a live big game fun again and some of them are pretty distressed but why feed the excitement word of a possible new terror threat character a terror threat terrorist threat and her world champion and multiple gold medalist for buzz kill the western mainstream media we're lympics is a wonderful time for

a contrast to get together in order to despise each other and or treat 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 two toilets right next to each other just spells party that doesn't spell bad conditions three million years to be exact one very tiny room left if that paint there trashing 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. to get to my right i'm going to go eat lunch. there's definitely who are spinning tiny flaws into viral sensations facts for 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 the war zone as opposed to what's really a black sea resort. even though plenty of work went into security hysteria reigns the airwaves but 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 changed i've stopped rushing mighty i've stopped the last thing i think that might help solve the problem no matter how much the media act as 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 you're really not really truly we piece about why and especially if you're going to r.t. new york. the social impacts of course will see many athletes become stars but some are already are like globally renowned violinists vanessa mae she's taking part in the giant slalom scenes competing for her home country of thailand we asked her what made her to

stick to the slopes this time and not the stage. i've been so inspired with with the skiing at the end of 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's been days where 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 music i was groomed to be a violin 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 on skis that will be a good thing for me as an entertainer. we'll see how it's going to play out for vanessa mae performing on sochi slopes here in the sochi studio at the center of these winter games where we bring you all the

updates and highlights of the olympics for now back to you in moscow all right thank you very much ortiz and he's in our life for us at our sochi studios and we are online and on air for you the archie team is following slow to closely with the sporting spectacle you can keep up to date any time by logging on to our official instagram account we've got videos and footage from the olympic capital join us on instagram dot com slash r t we're also keeping a close eye on so she it slopes track stadiums in parts counting the medals following reaction bringing you all the latest updates. the g. twenty fourteen promises the pulse in that day and exhilarating religious and. social media and use the knowledge to make heaven and on the rest of our lives take news team for some twenty four take. on. turning to some of the week's other top stories a leaked phone call between top diplomats in the us revealed details of washington's

involvement in ukraine's ongoing political crisis according to the recording apparently featured assistant secretary of state victoria nuland discussing who could form a new government in kiev and bluntly discuss dismissing the e.u. archy's marine important i has more in ukraine we stand for the principle that all people have the right to express themselves freely and 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 in the kieve 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 he's the 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 be you 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 made but will she hasn't apologized for the plans to midwife in trouble free you know the which she's apologized for crushing on you but she's not apologizing for trying to overthrow a government in kiev and 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 received walking around he's going to where 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 dictating who shall be in the government and they have taken the power away from the. poor night argosy. germany's chancellor angela merkel dismissed promises unacceptable load of a nose to former deputy speaker of the belgian parliament says the conversation is a clear demonstration of how casually the u.s. and allies orchestrate regime change. looking to be a little diplomacy behind closed doors this confirms the. stansell

united states and the e.u. but i do wait to watch the new conscious do these dana to show feel for democracy the old logic contest this one small undermines the whole claim of transparency and democracy building and to do building of political institutions these are all ideological efforts to influence the well at dicks in other countries and also by the way shows how casual these people can talk about the politics of another country. official said they're appalled at a new report revealing shocking levels of corruption across some experts find it strange though that wrongdoings within the financial institutions are suppressed more on this.

wealthy british style. market. find out what's really happening to the global economy. look at the global financial headlines to name two kinds of reports. secret lab or a tory to mccurry was able to build the world's most soon. which owns rigidly doesn't give a do not learn anything tunes mission to teach the creation of light should care

about humans in the us this is why you should want only on the o.t. dot com. seventeen minutes past the hour now we're following news that broke in the last couple of hours here on our t.v. a nun and churchgoer have been killed in russia's sakhalin island in the far east of the country after a shooting inside a cathedral a gunman opened fire injuring six other people the suspect detained after the incident believe me working for a private security firm criminal case has been launched against the twenty four year old shooter and investigation is now underway. in turkey riot police have clashed with hundreds of demonstrators in istanbul in one of his temples main squares officers used water cannons and tear gas to break

up angry mobs protesting government moves to impose probes on the internet the draft bill allows blocking websites with privacy violations without a court order it's been criticized as an attempt to gag the opposition twitter and facebook widely used by antigovernment protesters during demonstrations last year. while in madrid around three thousand protesters waved flares and let fires during a rally against what they call state repression in spain demonstrators unhappy with the government's recent passage of laws allowing protesters to be fined for filming police or participating in an authorised rallies several activist groups teamed up to organize the protest against the. switzerland heading to the polls to decide in disputed a right wing proposal to introduce quotas on the country's immigrants if accepted the bill could jeopardize the swiss e.u. treaty on free movement critics say the country's economic prosperity is at stake as artie's lucy cavanagh reports from zurich. 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 markets the nationwide referendum could count the number of e.u. citizens who get residency permits here which would undo a longstanding deal that led to swiss an e.u. 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 much according to the right wing swiss people's party which has pushed this referendum forward we think we have to responsibly to tell the people we have to change our constitution we have to right that's what sort of controls to immigration and that's what we're going to do now critics of the initiative say

that it sends a 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. terms of labor recruitment. there will be erosion of the relationship.

since this is initiative is not compatible with the treaties which are signed between switzerland and the european union so this will lead to. the erosion of the existing preachings they will be. there finish them and then switzerland is in is very very and fully were because it depends highly on the european market well for now ponds 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 evening's results to find out reporting in zurich switzerland i'm lucy kaplan of. a corruption pandemic sweeping new member states brussels claims losses to shady deals amount to hundreds of billions of euros. there are estimation that corruption costs in the us is no less than one hundred twenty billion euros each year

and that is the equivalent of an annual budget so it's a lot of money we're talking about figures revealed by the e.u.'s home affairs commission its first annual report agency agency's chief cecilia malmstrom called the problem breathtaking and warned that it was getting worse philip plays an m.e.p. for the flemish nationalist party says while highlighting bribery on a national level report ignores brussels overall complicity. problems in some member states are huge and widespread and the problem within the u.p.a. union is that all the member states are in danger of being contaminated the by this problem because when you are in the euro zone for instance and when one of these member states in the eurozone has a big corruption probe oom will 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 surprising them with

one 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. on line for you active protester threat of war the pentagon in may of the pentagon may have been caught by surprise to fight iranian warships at a u.s. maritime borders but argue dot com for the full story. plus a notorious anti immigration go home or face arrest campaign backfires on its mastermind details of what forced the u.k. immigration minister to resign. but away. a family interrupted by a subpoena a british couple fighting extradition to the u.s.

on charges of fraud and embezzlement artie's tests are so you went to visit 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 where i was sorry mr dunham would 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 us that they've more than one million dollars in illegitimate expense claims something the couple say are without merit showing as evidence that they've gathered the dumb 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 asked why we're confident we would win. because we

are innocent but 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 event is biased against the u.k. if the 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 plead 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 expected 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 in 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 at thirty five britons have been sent to the us and steve thousand and four versus just five u.s. nationals who made the opposite journey that's 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 whereas the united kingdom has denied multiple requests from the united states if the relationship is imbalanced 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.

musser cilia r. t. . coming of a closer look at life for drug users in l.a. skid row stay with. 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 of this is that across america while the world people are looking for change and they want the 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.

blocks which does not appear on any map of los angeles. you need new.

with. this new rule based meet. and she'll. this is good and bad but i see things here that you've been experiencing shit that there is just no way i mean it's no movie there's no book there's this is a real life experience i see people get beat up every night people get robbed us of people to step us and i've seen people get hit by a car you don't pay b.o.'s you don't know if you don't pay a car now you have no responsibilities we're not here because where homeless just less of a home baby my reality was that i was there you know skid row is the last house on the block at tipping.