the host nation wins its first medals at sochi twenty fourteen with russia's figure skating team taking gold but aside from the celebration of winter olympics on the sports. track of something happening in sochi a western media. launch of criticism raising questions about whether the hype and panic justified in the weeks other top headlines on r.t. international. and 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 true involvement in ukraine's political. and switzerland votes now really in favor of a controversial plan to put a limit on immigration this in a nationwide referendum. international

news team here welcome to the program. live in moscow and down to the black sea coast we go for your latest winter olympic updates with my colleague kevin. yeah hi there rory hi everyone that day two of the twenty forty winter olympic games such as getting russian fans plenty to cheer about fireworks are certainly will all of all of a good sort as well athletes from a host nation of won medals of all colors including the most precious gold in the team figure skating competition as to where this is my colleague paul scott also inside she has been a great night for rushers and said gold and silver. it certainly has russia's

first gold came in the figure skating team event they saw off the competition the challenge from canada and the united states to take the top spot and they were helped along the way by a foolish display from one of russia's most famous sporting sons if gainey pushing blew the competition away in the men's free program a magnificent display when you consider in recent years he's been plagued by injury and is undergone surgery no less than twelve times. no less than twelve times in recent years meanwhile a new star has been born in the sport fifteen year old. impressed in both the ladies free and short programs with peerless performances and in the process she has become the youngest ever winter olympic gold medal winner she is six days younger than the previous record holder american tara lipinski elsewhere on the day two there were three other medal successes for russia forty two year old veteran lucia albert them competing in a record breaking seventh and final winter olympics he missed out on

a first ever olympic gold however he did claim a silver bowing out of the sport with that silver medal another silver medal winner for russia was olga she won silver in the women's biathlon seven and a half case sprint meanwhile the honor for russia's first medal at the sochi twenty fourteen winter olympics came early on sunday and they went all good graph you claim to bronze in the women's three thousand meter speed skating event in side the arena now let's say. a look then at the medals table and how it stands out the moment and you can see but it is still norway who lead the way from the united states on the netherlands but russia lowly creeping up the leaderboard so as day two draws to a close it is the athletes who are making the headlines however these games are still being played by negativity in some parts of the american media as my colleague honest to see a joke and now reports. hundreds

of world class competitions involving thousands of top notch athletes what sports fans all over the world rejoice it's time for a limping game fun again and some of them are pretty distant but why feed the excitement word of a possible new terror threat character a terrorist threat a terrorist threat and her world champion and multiple gold medalist for buzz kill the western mainstream media and the olympics is a wonderful time for a contrast to get together in order to despise each other and in order to treat each other like crap it's only happens once every two or 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 toilet side by side two toilets right next to each other just spells party that doesn't spell bad conditions three

million to be exact traps one very tiny room left if that paint there trashing things the problems that come up in every olympic games as 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 the. they're just sitting around the office and they go hey it looks like no one's russian to get to my right i'm going to go eat lunch. fine there's definitely quirks spinning tiny flaws into viral sensations facts or 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 remains the airwaves threat of something happening in sochi well that'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 toothpaste is going to explode it was even staging tests on hiding explosives and tubes were c.n.n. commissioned this test i stopped rushing my teeth i stopped flossing 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 now you're not really not really truly we piece

about why and especially if you're going to r.t. new york. well a few hours ago paul scott spoke to a minor sponsible indeed for persuading american tourists to come here to salt she says his job has been made much more difficult by the negative coverage of the media. we've had some people back because of what they've heard on the news do you think gee i mean why do you think there is such negativity in. some parts of american media are 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 the security here went up when some of those great. to back out if you try to convince them how did you sell stocks into 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 is the sochi. 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 the region such a set to become a tourist hot spot after the games you think is going to be a legacy of tourism here while they're in a better position certainly because they build new highways they've got great a great train transportation now. you know there are there are more up to date with the electricity grid and stuff like that so i think they're prepared 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 how are they holding up to the beautiful of the ski jump we we saw men's short short jump last night and i was incredible when you're going up the gondola and overworking the ski jumper is just it's quite magnificent it was an awesome day a great time. but we

also chose find out what a russian ice ok legend thinks about the game so far as well he was the torch bearer let's not use a limpid cold and alongside the iconic figure skater and we know rugby now. 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 in the most worthy sportsman it means the world to me because i'm representing the team of my youth the hokie team that is an eight time an impi champion i feel honored to be out of all the play is 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 limpy games they've ever been held in my opinion a very good infrastructure was put together for the athletes here in salt. 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 we were commentated in prisons in the united states staying in not the most favorable conditions of. well we had the vote for him to the nines in the winter olympics course in lake placid new york we're off including him and many other global sports stars were little surprised for themselves then i was in the barracks of the future of federal prison maybe it's just history repeating itself. now we're continuing our extensive coverage by talking no to know whose whole foot from watching the figure skating tonight big gold rush you saw it. it was huge i think we can say that playing on the home field as they say really benefited russia tonight there were tons of russians in the audience we were quite high up and our whole section was it was full of russians and everyone had a good skate but i think this is the olympics where we're going to say that russia's back and they. actually do have a selfie. in the huge stadium when it when it kicks off it's buzzing it's buzzing

of course the russians when they came on to the ice and i'm sure anyone who was watching it at home felt the advantage of having the home support i mean the crowd was going wild and i think that helped man a lot of confidence. to come as well. tonight as world and she did she was a little disappointed that they're doing the medal ceremony separately so we didn't get to see the actual medal ceremony wrap the first russian gold medals but perhaps we'll have a chance to see that tonight but i think this is not going to be the first. of course he's a veteran only thirty one one of the old if you're absolutely wrong here great show just phenomenal and of course he's been having horrible back trouble and injuries and then young you did just phenomenal i hadn't seen fifteen years old i hadn't seen her skate and this is her of course olympic debut i think personally she's a great chance at the gold and then the pairs as well they didn't score as high as some of the russians sitting next to me thought they scored because i thought they were quite phenomenal but as a team the russian skating team is just really really strong even for

a little while back in vancouver and so this olympics of course at home is about taking it back down. on the small no question about rosa. it's so exciting the adrenaline just keeps going to the moon yeah yeah it's excellent i think it's going to be a great run see you tomorrow this is now in the good stuff ok well as you know about moscow's but a great day for russia the silver and the gold. thank you very much indeed so the r.t.e. team is insult you to closely follow the ongoing sporting spectacle you can keep up to date any time by simply logging on to our official instagram page we've got the videos and photos from the olympic capital can join us instagram dot com slash see here is some of the pics for you right now being loaded up. by the hour keeping a close watch on the slopes tracks stadiums counting the medals following reaction

and bringing you the very latest updates that will be both on air and online with our web site. the g. twenty four team promise is the ultimate in exhilarating winter and. joining us now a make over now and the rest of our lives pick news team for sochi twenty four take . on. or we're coming to you live from moscow this is our to international this week massive gaffe by a top u.s. diplomat revealed washington's true ambitions for the antigovernment protests that have rocked ukraine as well as out of two huge wars other european partners are an important story 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 you know 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 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 wasn't indeed made but will she hasn't apologized for the plans to midwifery new government in ukraine you know the words she's she's apologizing for cussing out to you but she's not apologizing for trying to overthrow a government in kiev and calling it popular democracy diplomatic scandal hit as nuland arrived in ukraine for her second visit in less than two months back in december she was seen walking around kiev's 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 shows it. 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. r t. well the tory newlands use of strong language has caused outrage for many including germany's chancellor angela merkel who has dismissed the comments as unacceptable the. former deputy speaker of the belgian parliament he says the conversation is a clear demonstration of how america really regards sovereign states. open to do real good diplomacy behind closed doors this confirms that in the long stanzel united states and the e.u. by the way towards other countries do these dana to show feel for democracy you do so with the old logic countries this once more undermines the whole cream 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 do politics of another country so loss to come for you here on the program on r.t. international including on the corruption truly eating away at the e.u. our new reporter appeals the huge levels of money being lost leaving some to wonder why the wrongdoings in europe's own financial institutions are not being made public more on that story in just a moment. is the media leave us so we leave that maybe. by the same motions to the. way the party years ago. says that no one is asking with the guests that you deserve answers from it's all on politicking only of our team.

speak your language. programs and documentaries in arabic it's all here on. reporting from the world talks syfy ip interviews intriguing story to tell you. the. arabic to find out more visit our big teeth. thanks for sharing some of your sunday with us here on r.t. international switzerland has voted narrowly in favor of limiting the number of

immigrants allowed to come and work in the country the plan that does put switzerland at all does with the e.u. on issues such as free movement and critics warning of the measure might also harm the country's economy and this report now without ceasing to seek out. two hundred 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 eight thousand 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 peoples 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 was a colony is actually booming just three percent unemployment here and experts

believe that's because of not despite 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 lived to be very serious problems in terms of labor recruitment and even more threatening there will be an erosion of the relations to the european union. 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. finished and switzerland is in this very very slowly. because. really the europeans. are on the website right now all to dot com french far right 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 power calling on from end to shut down its headquarters in the french capital and return to ukraine story for you right now on our website. as it is this story it's revealed there's exactly how edward snowden actually managed to get his hands on such a vast amount of classified n.s.a. data and intriguing get disturbing read that's also on the web site for you right now. right see.

first street. and i think that you're. going to. be in. 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 that were revealed by the e.u.'s home affairs commission in its first ever and you will report on the subject the agency's chief called the problem breathtaking and warned it's a roading trust in 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 all the member states 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 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 surprising and what i find 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 that circus government is pushing through new internet laws that would allow a thorough he's to block websites without a court ruling the internet providers would also be asked to store data on what people are looking at online at the measures spog street clashes between protesters and police on saturday crowds hurling firecrackers and stones or security in response police used water cannons and tear gas at the demonstrators this happening in central istanbul i think you're a base journalist use of connally he says in reality it's the or thirty's who lives . thirty years old literalistic good causes says. you to look for moves. as you did you know to go

a little bit is getting. on movement. that dot accordingly i'll give do this to people's reactions to the good that. they may both sides. they've closed other liberals would be doing the guy would. realize. it's good to have more i usually releases last week showed that optical be a bull's eye anyhow but i believe that by the government there is all lies in the media. the edge of a that is you want to be there to all go over the spot till the government is closing after this will fall all right well the time here on the program to yemen now where a bomb planted under a car seat has killed a senior intelligence cone or wounded two others and the blast happened outside the oil ministry building in the capital islamist militants with ties to al qaeda could be to blame. around three thousand protesters waved flares and lit fires during

a rally against what they called state for oppression in madrid to demonstrate is unhappy with the government's recent legislation allowing them to be fined for filming police or joining rallies or spain suffers regular protests because of austerity measures and huge unemployment. to owners of a bangladesh clothing factory denied bail after they surrendered to warthe already as the husband and wife are facing a homicide charges for a massive fire that killed one hundred twelve workers two years ago the couple could face life in prison the top three in fire considered the deadliest in a nation that relies upon cheap labor and gama to exports to the west all right there for you here on the program we tour the backyard of the city of angels where life is far from the. can dream.

big. over. did you know the price is the only industry specifically mention in the constitution and. that's because a free and open process is critical to our democracy albus. will. in fact the single biggest threat facing our nation today is the corporate takeover of our government and across cynical we've been a hydrogen lying handful of transnational corporations that will profit by destroying what our founding fathers one school class i'm charging and on this show we reveal the big picture of what's actually going on in the world we go beyond identifying the problem try to fix rational debate and a real discussion of critical issues facing america five different feel ready to join the movement then welcome to the big picture.

skid row is a neighborhood of fifty plots which does not appear on any map of los angeles.

you. do. not. stay room basically. and that's still.

this is good in big clashing 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 to see people get beat up every night people get robbed at bus ticket because. 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 the car no it's your new 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 g.o.p. we're just in my neighborhood you know i. basically almost left on every street down here at one time or another i think i would never ever live in a way else you know skid row is my home. as many as eleven thousand men and women make their home in l.a. scattered around. about two thirds struggle with mental illness trying to text.