the host nation wins its first medals at twenty fourteen with hopes that silver bronze will be followed by a gold later sunday they were side from the celebration of winter olympic sports. something happening in sochi and western media dishes out an avalanche of criticism raising questions about whether the hype and panic are actually justified plus in the weeks other headlines on r.t. international. you know. the message reportedly coming from the u.s. assistant secretary of state as a leaked phone call reveals the depths of washington's involvement in ukraine's political turmoil. and switzerland votes narrowly in favor of a controversial plan to put a limit on immigration and

a nationwide referendum. thanks for sharing your sunday with us here on r.t. international. live in moscow with the latest world headlines russian fans have plenty to celebrate on day two of the twenty fourteen winter olympic games in sochi the nation's first medal bronze was quickly followed by a silver in the women's bottle on and to tell us more his auntie's pulled scott standing by live for us in sochi paul good to see you sounded good early days yet what do you know. well russia have a silver medal to add to the bronze that they won a few hours ago i can tell you that. has just finished second in the women's seven . sprint the owner of russia's first medal at these games went to glad she secured

bronze in the women's three thousand meter speedskating in the adler arena however undoubtedly one of the biggest changes of these games so far came when one of russia's most famous sporting sons have any pushing to the ice in the figure skating team event is flawless display in the men's free program which helped russia extend their lead at the top of the overall standings with only two rounds remaining and they are there in no small part thanks to fifteen year old. who put in an equally as flawless display in saturday's ladies' short program so it does seem as if rochelle i don't want to be tempting fate could be closing in on that first gold medal meanwhile forty two year old illusia. has announced his retirement from the sport at the end of these olympics they are his seventh winter games and he wants to go out on a high he's currently in second place going in to the final of the men's loser event which concludes later on sunday the final round is later on sunday evening so

let's take a look at the medals table as it stands at the moment then you can see it is still norway who have a narrow lead out the top of the table but it's the united states of america and the netherlands who are not far behind so we all well in today to now of the sochi twenty fourteen winter olympics and at long last it is the athletes who are starting to make the headlines however these games are still being plagued by negativity in some parts of the american media as my colleague honest to see it now reports. hundreds of world class competitions involving thousands of top notch athletes sports fans all over the world rejoice it's time for a limping game finding yet some of them are pretty dismissed but why feed the excitement word of a possible new terror threat character a terror threat a terrorist threat and our world champion. and multiple gold medalist for buzz kill

the western mainstream media and the olympics is a wonderful time for 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 a mean 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 a five paint they're 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 russian to get to sochi am i right i'm going to go eat lunch. fine there's definitely who are spinning tiny flaws into viral sensations facts 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 the 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 terrified. all right did you hear all the toothpaste is

going to explode it was even staging tests on hiding explosives and tubes were c.n.n. commissioned this changed i start brushing my teeth i start flossing i think that might help solve the problem no matter how much the media does 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. well a little earlier political spoke to a man responsible for persuading american tourists to come to he says his job has been made much more difficult by the negative coverage in the media. we've had some

people back out because of what they've heard on the news see i mean why do you think there is such negativity in some parts of american media around so even if a year and a half is unjustified i think because of what they call the ring of steel i think this is a very secure place i think i would be more on secure in an american classroom that i would be in sochi itself just because of the security here when when some of those great time some of those tourists decided to fuck out did you try to convince them how did you sell so actions to them which will say well we told them that the place where we we would be staying would be in a very secure location. and one of the major parts here of the sochi have lurked at us like a lot and so i think those are about as secure as you're going to get let's talk about the infrastructure that has sprung up around this so she region the sochi set to become a tourist hot spot off to the games you think is going to be a legacy of tourism here while they're in better position certainly because they build new highways they've got

a great train transportation now. in there they're more up to date with the electricity grid and stuff like that so i think they're prepared but as with any city that's going to give birth to a modern resort you're going to have labor pains and you were up in the mountains i believe last night watching this right of course is the name because it is about the sport what about the venues how they look up how they holding up to the beautiful of the ski jump we we saw a men's short short jump last night and i was incredible when you're going up the gondola and overworking the ski jump there is just it's quite magnificent it was awesome to be a great time but we had a chance to speak to a lot of the russian hockey legend on torchbearer at the twenty fourteen sochi olympics. those who ignite the limping flame go down in history for many years to come because it's a task that is only given to the most popular and the most worthy sportsman it means the world to me because i'm representing the team of my youth the hockey team

that is an eight time limpy champion i feel honored now out of all the players they chose me it's unbelievably beautiful here to see palm trees and snow i think these are going to be one of the best games of ever been held we were commentated in prisons in the united states staying in not the most favorable conditions in my opinion a very good infrastructure was put together for the athletes here in sochi and everything is very compact the facilities are located conveniently close to each other no public transport is needed it's very aggravating when buses are late whereas here everything's very well put together and the athletes are satisfied. and we heard there are referring to the one nine hundred eighty winter olympics in lake placid new york where athletes including him and many other global sports stars were little surprised to find themselves housed in the barracks of a future federal prison well the r.t. team is and of course are closely following the sporting spectacle you can keep

fully up to date anytime by simply logging on to our official instagram page here we've got videos and footage from the olympic capital and you can join us on instagram instagram dot com slash r t we'll continue our keeping a very close eye on all the sports so just south of moscow down on the site you see coast and slopes tracks stadiums and parks counting the medals following the reaction and bring you all the very latest updates on air and of course online at r.t. dot com. the g. twenty four promises to make exhilarating a winter. storm. make every now and the rest of our lives take news team for sochi twenty four take. on. now this week a massive gaffe by a top u.s. diplomat revealed washington's true ambitions for the anti-government protests that have split ukraine as well as its attitude towards other european partners this

report now to want to use more in a fortnight. in ukraine we stand for the principle that all people have the right to express themselves freely in peaceful way. 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 the species the guy you know what he needs his cleats into 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 your problem. you know which she says she's apologizing for cussing i do 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 defended 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 should. 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. real point nine our c p a. well victoria nuland use of strong language has caused outrage from germany's chancellor angela merkel who has i dismissed the comments as unacceptable load of state for my deputy speaker of the belgian parliament he says the conversation is a clear demonstration of how america really regards other states to do real good keep it going see behind closed doors this confirms the. stones will deny to state that you going to wait to use the loo conscious does dana to shool truth would be democracy which you do so with you're going to contest this one small

undermines the whole of transparency and democracy building and to do building of political institutions these are all ideological afterwards to influence politics in other countries and also by the way shows how casual these people can talk about the do politics of another country are still to come here at r.t. international the corruption eating away at the e.u. and you reporter feels the shoes are levels of money being lost leading some to wonder why the wrong doings in europe's our own financial institutions are not being made public on that just ahead for you. as the media leave us so we leave that maybe. by the same motion secure. your party

there's a goal. which is that no one is asking with the guests that you deserve answers from. politic only of our team. choose your language. choose the consensus. choose the opinions that you think are great. choose the stories that him. choose access to your office or.

on a busy day for news or analogy international thanks for joining us the latest polls suggest that switzerland has voted narrowly in favor of limiting the number of immigrants allowed to come and work in the country and a plan could put switzerland at all with the e.u. one issues of free movement but critics warning the measure might also harm the country's economy as points. twenty stand 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 if new residents come here each year one fifth of the population is foreign born or that's simply too logical according to the right wing swiss people's party which has pushed this referendum forward we think we have to response ability to tell the people we have to change our constitution we have to right 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 a message that foreigners aren't welcome they also warn that it could cripple businesses this is a colony 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 in all right to be very serious problems in terms of labor recruitment and even more threatening there will be erosion of the

relations to european union 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 preachings they will be. finished and there is in this very very slowly. because entirely on the european market. now french foreign activists rallied in paris against the all female protest group femen accusing it of provoking the country's christian community hundreds gathered in the center of paris calling on famine to shut down its headquarters in the french capital and return to ukraine full story on the web site for you right now at odds he dot com. also while you're there the story here it's revealed just exactly how edward snowden managed to get his hands on such a vast amount of classified n.s.a. data find that story as well on the web site right now.

right see. first street. and i think you're. on a reporter's twitter. instagram. a new e.u. report this week pointed to a wave of corruption sweeping through the block brussels believes that losses thanks to shady deals amount to billions of euros their estimation that corruption costs in the european union 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 the figures were revealed by the e.u.'s home

affairs commission in its first ever annual report on the subject of the agency's chief called the problem breathtaking and warned it's eroding trust democracy philip clay is an m.e.p. for the flemish nationalist party says that while highlighting bribery on a national level the report ignores brussels overall complicity. problems in some member states. spreads and the problem within the european union is that over the member states. this are in danger of being contaminated 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 problem world 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

what i found interesting at the same time is that the european commission has made this report on corruption in the european union but 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 a british couple of fighting extradition to the us have accused the government of kowtow into washington the dunham's face life behind bars in america on charges of fraud which they vehemently deny and the pair claim that british officials are refusing to stand up for their rights as artie's tester on syria reports. one morning fourteen months ago a life changing knock on the door with two policemen from scotland yard and i said where i was sorting was 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 us that they have

more than one million dollars in illegitimate expense claims something the couple say are without merit showing as evidence that they've gathered the german 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 here is behind bars apart from one another simply waiting for their day in court if we were away from this country is . for a very good chance he would have. we're confident we would win. because we are innocent but we would then be shipped but the u.k. there's no compensation and. wrongful acts for tyshan. 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 were 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 in balance i would say it's imbalanced against the united states but that is little comfort to the don imus 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. yes there is still u r t london are still to come here with international no sex please with japanese we investigate why the land of the rising sun is seeing a decline in intimate relationships which could cause the population to dwindle. or i live here in moscow stepping aside for katie pilbeam she's the host of venture capital program it's next.

creating these sustainable operations focused on making him like you are at night and self-interest i'm sure that is what you're talking about since has always been the case and had. businesses for hundreds of years without using the label. but i think what we're going to capitalism do who was this notion that economists brought to it which was the idea of profit maximizing. redistribute buying process is to really do is was told to lean on the science because it is a market economy and still total budget of the european union what we're talking

about is not more than one per cent off the cheetah appeal to europe to do it the total budget is about the size of that bunch of finland and if this is called a socialist concept then look at the size off welfare states on the national level this is totally ridiculous what's ridiculous about it but you know the legislators who were to close about the e.u. marching in more or less to greece and to cyprus to study tiddly socialist most site you'll recall meanest i would just say to to talk about reading people's private bank accounts to support the european union and this is what they're talking about people of a falling over themselves immigrants are falling over themselves to get into great britain because they know the rest of europe is the boss. right to see. first rate. and i would think that your.

when i read what. i learned this is magic hour though i'm paid to go with a warm welcome to you coming up with the. kids told by does quite often get a proud blame for all of the recent financial crunches whether it be the great depression and to the recent crash of two thousand and eight described as greedy ruthless of having integrity and costing taxpayers billions of dollars i'm tired of all but i believe that the so-called top all the ready to change that attitude with

the help of god yes i've been putting the serious details to come but heard me on that one plus international sports stars off. finally the so she gave i have forgot who and while we're going to be joining our reporter he's in such a talking about money that he got lloyds on the white jampacked show i did not move a muscle now so people in general well they don't toss back because often accusing them of having no call gins all credibility don't. get to change this and i'll turn into gold for help in doing so yeah buts right dodge bangs all ninety thousand of them will now swear an oath to do the most to preserve it halts confidence in the financial services industry now this is paul of the dutch government's aim to change it to take the overinflated industry with assets of more than four. times

the size of the country's economy and if you're thinking that maybe it's just a p.r. but apparently if the new code of conduct is broken then the guilty banks get blacklisted all face a fine and is not just banks making moves to clean up the image of the banking industry ashtray this week malke is chief antony jenkins he waived his four point five billion dollars bonus and that was for the second year in a ride but no banking chiefs are taking the moral very snow off very favorite if you morgan's jamie diamond he took code when he was twenty million dollar paycheck last year despite the abundance of fines we know that his bank has been dealt with but the point is overall it seems if it's all be. added to this lloyd's another british banking empire has bowed to the female star from twenty eight percent to

forty percent in would this make the banking industry more moral to talk about we've got by. refusing biases will some men who at the prospect of more women in the male dominated industry so does all of this all together does it mean a social moral movement in the banking well while others search you up these numbers what on earth is going on at the moment with our friend kenny right here who's involved in the financial world in london from a friend of the oh you've taken by the banking system is this g.d.s. or is it total nonsense. i think it probably there is cause for somewhere in between the two i think when you look at. the reputation of the financial sector since the financial crisis i think it is quite important that we try and change the point of view of some of the employees of banks and i think in some respects.