the host nation wins its first medals at twenty fourteen with russia's figure skating team taking gold. from the celebration of the winter olympic sport. the western media dishes out. criticism raising questions about whether the hype and panic had justified. the week's other top headlines on 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 involvement in ukraine's political turmoil. in favor of a controversial plan to put a limit on immigration this nationwide referendum. a

very warm welcome to you from all of us here at the international live in moscow with the top headlines of today and of the week or so day two of the twenty fourteen winter olympic games in sochi has given the russian fans plenty to cheer about athletes from the host nation have won medals of all colors the most precious gold in the team figure skating tournament followed the events for us. the celebrations beginning with the fireworks behind me. from canada and the united states to take on they were helped along the way by a foolish display from one of russia's most famous sporting sons. if gainey pushed

blowing the competition away in the men's free program a magnificent display when you consider in recent days he's been plagued by injury and has undergone surgery twelve times meanwhile a new star has been born a fifteen year old sky impressed in the ladies' free programs with peerless performances i mean the procession has become the youngest ever winner of the winter olympics gold medal she is six days younger than the previous record holder american tara lipinski elsewhere on day two there were three other medal successes for russia forty two year old veteran lucia. competing in a record breaking seven and final winter olympics he missed out on a fuss to have a gold medal but he did claim silva date olga beluga in the women's biathlon seven and a half k. sprint meanwhile the all not for the first medal for russia in the twenty fourteen winter olympics went to all good groff early on sunday she claimed bronze in the

women's three thousand made to speed skating events in the arena so let's take a look at the all important medals table then and you can see that it is norway who still lead the way but the united states in the netherlands and not far behind and russia starting to make their way up the leaderboard. let's go back to the russian team's success in figure skating that certainly left competitors far behind earlier my colleague kept it over and talked to a nice in our way she was lucky enough to watch the performances of the iceberg skating. 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 where we're going to say that russia is. actually better than the. huge stadium when it when it kicks off its buzzing it's buzzing of course the russians when they came on to the ice and i'm sure anyone who is

watching it at home felt the advantage of having the home support in the crowd was going wild and i think that helped manage a lot of confidence. of course he's a veteran only thirty one one of the old. great show just phenomenal and of course he's been having horrible back trouble and injuries and then young you did you 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 is a great chance at gold and in 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 in through tomorrow well back in vancouver and so this olympics of course at home is about taking it back. so a winter games held in a warzone under the threat of terror with shorty hotels and stray dogs roaming around. twenty fourteen is being portrayed by many western media outlets but will

the criticism die down now that the torch is lit in the games of open of the medals are soon to be dished out an associate look. 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 fun again and some of them are pretty distressed but why feed the excitement word of a possible new terror threat character a terrorist threat 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 or 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 that no one that could be flushed to toilets i buy that i miss you toilets right next to each other just spells party that doesn't spell bad conditions three million to be exact one very tiny room left if that paint their trashy things the problems that 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 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. there is fine there's definitely who are 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 a war zone. as opposed to what's really a black sea resort. even though plenty of work went into security hysteria remains the airwaves the threat of something 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 toothpaste is going to explode it was even staging tests on hiding explosives and tubes were c.n.n. commissioned this changed i've stopped brushing my teeth i've 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 you know you're really not really truly we piece about why and especially if you're going to r.t. new york and just a few hours ago a poll scot spoke to a man responsible for persuading american tourists to come to starchy 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 do you think the i mean why do you think there is such negativity in some parts of american media around such 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 an american classroom that i would be in sochi itself just because of the security here when some of those great time some of those tourists decided to back out did you try to convince them how

did you sell stocks into them which will say well we told them that the place where we were we would be staying would be in a very secure location. and one of the major parts here of the sochi adler. 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 such a region is 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 their 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 this but what about the venues how they look how are they holding up to the beautiful of the ski jump we saw men's short short jump last night and i was

incredible when you're going up the gondola and overlooking the ski jump there is just it's quite magnificent it was awesome it's going to be a great time. now we also had a chance to find out what a russian ice hockey legend vladislav tretiak thinks about the game so far he was the torch bearer who. cauldron alongside the iconic figure skater in the. those who ignite the olympic 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 hockey team that is an eight time limpy champion i feel honored 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 they have ever been held 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 is very aggravating when buses a late whereas here everything's very well put together and the athletes are satisfied we were commentated imprisons in the united states staying in not the most favorable conditions now we heard just there from a. referring to the one hundred eighty winter olympics in lake placid new york that's where athletes including him and many other global sports stars were a little surprised to find themselves housed in the barracks of a future federal prison so the r.t.m. was in sochi to closely follow the sporting spectacle so you can keep up to date though with all of the all the footage and all the video and all the photos do so from our official instagram page that is where we are keeping you totally updated in fact are we keeping a very very close eye on slopes its tracks the stadiums and parks we're counting the medals for you following the reaction and bringing you all the latest updates on air and online of course that's at r.t. dot com.

twenty four promises in the exhilarating winter. storm and it's now a make over now and the rest of our lives take used to sochi twenty four take. on. the latest from sochi and the latest from around the world this is r.t. international this week a massive gaffe by a top u.s. diplomat revealed washington's true ambitions for the antigovernment protests that have rocked ukraine as well as his attitude towards other european partners and here's marina poured. in ukraine we stand for the principle that all people have the right to express themselves freely in peaceful. 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 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 wasn't indeed made but will she hasn't apologized

for the plans to midwifery new government in ukraine you know the which she's a she's apologizing for cussing out 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 was 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 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. our teeth.

well victoria nuland the use of strong language has certainly caused outrage from many including germany's chancellor angela merkel who has dismissed the comments i was totally unacceptable. for my deputy speaker of the belgian parliament he says the conversation is a clear demonstration of how america really regards other sovereign states looking to do real good diplomacy behind closed doors this confirms the. stance of the united states and the e.u. but i do wait. for democracy. to countries this once more undermines the whole of transparency and democracy building and building of political institutions these are all ideological afterwards into one's politics. and also by the way shows how casual these people can talk about the politics of another country. a quarter past the hour here in the russian

capital thank you for joining us still to come for you the massive corruption eating away at the e.u. and you reporter feels the huge levels of money being lost leading some to wonder why the wrongdoings in europe's own financial institutions are not being made public the big story is just around the corner for you. with the economic downturn in the final. thank you so long. and the rest. makes you believe if we.

only. need to get to for you here an aussie international thanks for joining us switzerland has voted no really in favor of limiting the number of immigrants allowed to come and work in the country the plan put switzerland at all does with the e.u.

one issues such as free movement with critics warning of the measure might also take a chunk out of the country's economy. points. voted to shut the door to european union workers setting up a showdown with brussels as well as a potential exit from the single european market now the so-called stop mass immigration initiative was the brainchild of the right wing swiss people's party which wants strict quotas on foreigners for switzerland to essentially abandon its free movement of people treaty with the e.u. and supporters the we've talked to say that they're worried immigration is driving up rents that it's undercutting local workers and that is burdening public services no opponents had argued that immigration caps would in fact cripple economic growth and experts do say that the swiss in column e. is. not despite foreign labor especially when it comes to folks who have skills to work in fields like health care in i.t. where there's a big need for skilled workers but despite the very real economic concerns despite

the fact that unemployment here is just three percent many voters were ultimately swayed by the argument that switzerland simply cannot take in any more people now in order to understand why you really do have to look at the numbers about a quarter of the country's eight million residents aren't swiss there's been a huge uptick in immigration in fact about eighty thousand new immigrants came to switzerland last year alone the vote will likely mean severe repercussions with brussels you have to remember that switzerland isn't a member of the e.u. but it has signed on to a lot of the blocs policies in order to gain access to the european markets for switzerland sells more than half of everything that it produces and with five hundred million customers there's a lot of money at stake here a historic vote that is likely to have a significant impact on the swiss economy as well as on relations with the country's european neighbors reporting in burn for our tea and coffee no. stories for you for example french far right activists rallied impoverished against

the old female protest group femen accusing it of provoking the country's christian community. hundreds gathered in paris calling on famine to shut down its head cold in the french capital and to ukraine a full story on the website for you right now. this one as well it's revealed just exactly how edward snowden managed to get his hands on such a vast amount of classified n.s.a. data it is an intriguing if not disturbing read it's waiting for you right now if you dot com. right the sea. search for you and i think that you're. on a reporter's twitter. instagram. to be in the.

next joining us here when i see international new e.u. report this week pointed to just a massive wave of corruption sweeping through the block brussels believes that losses thanks to shady. of euros have a listen there are estimations 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. home affairs commission in its first ever annual report on the subject the agency's chief called the problem breathtaking and warn it's eroding trust in democracy a fellow claes an m.e.p. for the flemish nationalist party he says while highlighting bribery on a national level the 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 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 surprising that what i find 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 the e.u. funded projects. the turkish government is pushing through new internet laws that

would allow authorities to block more websites without a court ruling internet providers would also be asked to store data on what people are looking at online and the measure of spock's street clashes between protesters and riot police on saturday crowds hurling firecrackers and stones of security response police using water cannons and tear gas to the demonstrators service in central istanbul and ankara based journalist yourself a kindly he says in reality is the authorities who are losing business fact. he didn't even turkey is all it is directed causes a sizable lead about and. you had to struggle for moves to get close to business as you did you know to government is getting. unlimited love don't need to be done accordingly o'callaghan do this to people throughout history ted that. they may both sides. they've made it cools them

other mentors to be driven you've got woodman it is and realize that it's getting more and more isolate at the releases last week showed that optical be a balls out anyhow but i believe that by the government there is all lies in the media and therefore you have to be that is you want to be there to all go well this bottle that the government is losing after it does so far. a british couple fighting extradition to the us have accused their government of col towering to washington that dunham's face life behind bars in america on charges of fraud which they vehemently deny and the pair claim the british officials are refusing to stand up for their rights the story right now has tester our city. one morning fourteen months ago a life changing knock on the door with two policemen from scotland yard and i said i was sorry miss dunham with 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 dumb say they're not afraid of trial but their worst fears be sent to the states as the possibility of being denied bail and spending for years behind bars apart from one another simply waiting for their day in court if we were away from this country if it's. 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 there's no compensation and. wrongful acts for the ocean. 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 plink your case and unfortunate for british citizens there is no such opportunity to have your evidence tested in the u.k. court before your expert i said 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 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 we will both take the first opportunity we can and. does are cilia r t london. still to come on the program here on r.t. international please we japanese. the land of the rising sun is seeing a decline in intimate relationships which calls the population to dwindle.

in moscow stepping aside coming up next with a breakdown of the latest business headlines it's. the head of the sober russia program wants to bring back russia's sobering stations which are like a hybrid hospital and police station and american we call these a good old fashioned drunk tank and in russia their history dates back to the early years of the twentieth century to two thousand and eleven when they were all closed putting the burden of alcohol abusers health and local hospitals despite the amount of alcohol consumed per person in russia steadily declining over the last few years alcoholism remains a big problem but will privatized drug tanks work no no they won't let's think about it what is business motivated by money big government contracts in countries

around the world are often abused and if you get paid per alcoholic served then pretty soon companies are going to incentivize the police to round up as many people with a hint of booze in their blood as they can or look at it this way what is more profitable helping cure an alcoholic or treating him with fat government contract money every week for the rest of his life there are some things the private sector is not suited for and this is one of them but that's just my opinion. sky.

somebody this is going to come to do i'm paid to build a mobile while continue coming up in this site i'm kidding told by does quite often get a bad crowd blamed for all of the recent financial crosses whether it be the great depression and to the race across a two thousand knights described as great a ruthless so.