russia's figure skating team claims the host nation's first gold and the second day of the winter games wraps up and so on but aside from the celebration of winter olympics sports the threat of something happening in such the western media dishes out an avalanche of criticism raising questions about whether the concerns and panic are justified plus in the week's other headline. assistant secretary of state has apparently been caught on tape trying to direct ukraine's political future. you know. at the same time what's believed to be victoria nuland comments have also caused outrage with the german chancellor calling them unacceptable. and switzerland both narrowly in favor of a controversial plan to put a limit on immigration in

a nationwide referendum. and broadcasting live direct from our studios in moscow this is r t i'm sean thomas glad to have you with us now the second day of the two thousand and fourteen winter olympics has brought on the first gold to the host nation in team figure skating russian athletes have delivered impressive performances in other events as well winning silver and bronze medals as a result russia is now tied for fourth place in the medal table with canada our correspondent paul scott who is in sochi now breaks down the day's results for us. the celebrations beginning with the fall i walked behind me russia's. biggest skating team event. 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 suns. 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 beauty a late night sky impressed in the ladies free on short 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 limb big gold medal but he did claim silva date olga beluga in the women's biathlon seven and a half k. sprint the more they all know for the first medal for russia in these sorts of twenty fourteen winter olympics went to old graf 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. for us there now let's go back to the russian team's success in figure skating that left competitors trailing far behind ortiz and he said now i was lucky enough to catch the competition's at the iceberg skating palace earlier she joined kevin owen in our studio to tell us what it was like to watch the performances in person. it was huge i think we can say that playing on the home field as they say really benefited russia tonight there were hundreds 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 what we're going to say that russia is. actually putting themselves. 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's watching it at home felt the advantage of having the home support in the crowd was going wild and i think that helped mad 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 know it's 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 the gold and then the pairs as well they didn't score as high as some of the russian 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 three no well back in vancouver and so this olympics of course at home is about taking it back for them. russian ice hockey legend of blood is loved it is

also in sochi now the olympic cauldron along with iconic figure skater. in the opening ceremony he shared with us his impressions so far about the games. 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 hockey team that is an eight time limpy champion i feel honored that 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 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 was very aggravating when passes a 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 you heard of a lot of. is referring to the one nine hundred eighty winter olympics in lake placid usa indeed a number of athletes were accommodated in the barracks of a future prison today some of the western media are actually calling the such an olympics a war zone overflowing with minor problems and having been neglecting the competition itself artie's honest as he looks at why so many news outlets across the atlantic seem to cast a cloud over the event. 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 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 but not one that could be flushed to toilets i by that i miss you 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 fifth paint they're trashing things the problems that that come up in every olympic games as them 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 but my impression of fox news is that they're just sitting around the office and they go hey it looks like no one's russian to get to sochi and i write i'm going to go eat lunch. there that is 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 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 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 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 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 really not really truly can we piece about why and especially if you're going to r.t. new york. well the extensively negative coverage has been scaring off some of the american tourists who planned on visiting sochi that's according to the man whose job it was to make sure that u.s. spectators come to the games here is what he told r.t. paul scott 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 sochi 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 but 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 back out did you try to convince them how did you sell such and to them what you 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 in 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 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 hey well they're in better position certainly because they build new highways they've got great

a great train transportation now. but there are 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 well what about the venues how they look up how they holding up to the beautiful of these ski jump we saw 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 i got a great time. well we have our team in sochi following the competition at all times and it to get an even closer look at of the winter games you can visit our instagram page there you can find an assortment of videos from the very onset of the games that is at instagram dot com slash r t.

the g twenty four team promise is the ultimate in the exhilarating winter sports and our. security and use in our way to make seven zero and the best of our lives take years to the sochi twenty four take. on. this week a major gaffe by one of america's top officials has left washington red faced a scandal erupted after a leaked recording apparently involving the u.s. assistant secretary of state comments caught on tape revealed of the depth of america's meddling in ukraine's anti-government unrest artie's more important reports 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 that 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 he's the guy you know what he needs his cleats into 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 the e.u. the state department has shifted into damage control refusing to confirm the authenticity of the audio while admitting that the tory 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 is the plans to midwife

a new government in ukraine you know the way 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 the diplomatic scandal here as nuland arrived in ukraine for her second visit in less than two months back in december she was walking around independence square handing out snacks to protesters this time around the assistant secretary of state promised to feed the country with financial support if necessary political reforms are implemented at a press conference nuland refused to comment on what she called a private diplomatic conversation this is a devastating revelation and a very important revelation because it show. that washington is not only manipulating but washington is dictating who shall be in the government and they have taken the power away from the people. r.t. . victoria nuland use of strong language was sharply criticized by germany's

chancellor angela merkel who called the comment unacceptable load of former deputy speaker of the belgian parliament says the conversation is a clear demonstration of how america really regards other states oakum to do real good diplomacy behind closed doors this confirms the long stance of the united states and the u. by the way. dana the issue for democracy. under countries this one small undermines the whole of transparency and democracy building and to do building of political institutions these are all ideological efforts to include ones politics in other countries and also by the way shows how casual these people can talk about the politics of another country. so it's a wonder has voted a narrow yes to cap the influx of immigrants with e.u.

citizens among of those denied access but critics warn the move would hurt the economy and relations with the bloc plus. the song apply in. china to make and. push to the edge of desperation a british couple tell our team about how u.s. extradition request shattered their lives as they begin a legal fight at the high court in london these stories and much more after a short break you're watching r.t. international. new york. london. the whole world is on the. complete truth of the original one a further one down the end. of the courts building at the end of the street another one a more transparent society gets the money or in the pot the tears become we see military

and police forces mobilized against people who blend into the city the city the more people trust electronic devices the more defenseless they are the fear that has a thousand on. welcome back you're watching our two year international now switzerland by

a narrow margin has voted in favor of putting a ceiling on foreign immigrants including e.u. citizens the result of a nationwide referendum could adversely affect the nation's ties with the block burn now has to renegotiate treaties on the free movement of workers adopted over a decade ago the decision is also likely to hurt the country's economy. reports. and 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 us undercutting local workers and that is burdening public service says no opponents have argued that immigration caps will in fact cripple economic

growth and experts do say that the swiss in column e. is booming because of not despite foreign labor especially when it comes to folks who have skills to work in fields like health care an idea 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 blocks 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 this was

a qana me as well as on relations with the countries in european. reporting and burned for our team for now. is shooting has occurred on the russian island of soccer lean gunmen burst into a cathedral and opened fire killing two people and wounding six the suspect was apprehended on site in had to r.t. dot com for the full story. plus the u.s. is ready to accept refugees who may have terrorist links or could have given limited support to terror groups on our website we've got all of the details on washington relaxing its rules for potential asylum seekers. the turkish government has a pushing through a new internet laws that would allow authorities to block websites without a court decision internet providers would also be asked to store data on what people are looking for on line the measures that sparked clashes between protesters

and riot police on saturday crowds of demonstrators hurled firecrackers and rocks at security forces police responded firing water cannons and tear gas at hundreds of protesters and he stumbles that main square car based journalist yousif calmly says that in reality the authorities are losing the battle. that he did to you duties only to visit two thousand is a sizable we're divided. to. moves to get close to because as you. noted the government is getting. unlimited to claim that the duduk really ok i'll give do this to people throughout history good that. they may both sides. they've made it cools the other middle is going to be. even the government which is realizing that it's getting more and more isolated the religious last big show that public will be

a balls out and nobody believes that by the government there is all lies in the media devil the edge of a that is evil to do their job over this bottle that the government is closing after it is so far. a british couple fighting extradition to america has accused the u.k. government of count towering to washington the dunham's face life behind bars in the u.s. on charges of fraud which they vehemently reject the pair claim british officials are refusing to stand up for their rights as artie's tests are silly reports one morning fourteen months ago a life changing knock on the door with two policeman from scotland yard and i said where i was soaring was stunning 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 embezzled more than one billion 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 years 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 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. and trying to rebuild your life controversy has long surrounded the u.s. u.k. extradition act of two thousand and three signed in the wake of nine eleven critics claim the agreement is biased against the u.k. if you're a u.s.

citizen wanted by the u.k. government you have a higher standard of evidence that you need to provide in the u.s. and also as a u.s. citizen you have the opportunity to go to a u.s. court to think your case and unfortunate for british citizens there is no such opportunity to have your evidence tested in the u.k. court before you are extradited and that's a basic unfairness to an independent review in two thousand and 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 it thirty five britons had been sent to the us and steve thousand four versus just five u.s. nationals who made the opposite journey that seven times more but for every argument on this side of the atlantic

a counter is thrown back the united states has never denied a request under the treaty 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 doms 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 rick and. jess are cilia r t london. well some more news making headlines around the world for you this hour three spectators have been injured in a shooting outside a world cup stadium in brazil supporters of the local club america were leaving the venue and were shot at by two gunmen on motorcycles and violence has been on the rise as the country prepares to host the world cup in june. eight people have been killed and over a dozen wounded in an attack in pakistan's port city of karachi gunmen threw

grenades at a religious gathering and then opened fire on praying sufi muslims it is not yet known who carried out the assault although the taliban and rival muslim groups are suspected last month militants killed six people at the sushi shrine in the same city. hundreds have gathered again in bosnia this time calling for the release of about forty people detained during friday and saturday as riots officials denied protestors claims of police brutality and added that all but ten of those arrested had been released anti-government rallies in bosnia have been fueled by high unemployment corruption and or living conditions across the country. we're coming up on our international we look at whether security cameras and sensors are actually making life any safer in big cities stay with us watching our to the interim.

the head of the sober russia program wants to bring back russia's sobering stations which are like a hybrid hospital and police station in america 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 a 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. and exhilarated when. i make heaven and the rest of. the sochi twenty four take. on.

sissy's of the culmination of globalization. nowhere else in the world a conflict so strongly concentrated as here. cities are of the ebus and design via bustling with possibilities yet vulnerable. those wanting to hama society ambushed the city and its daily life a. city is a defenseless against this form of terrorism. their inhabitants. how do cities respond to this threat. and how does fit change our open lifestyle.

cities are excited to see incredible cities all of human life. sediment haitians of all of human history they all landscapes of power. london once the hearts of the british. along with new york and home colm still in the center of the global financial industry. symbol and driving force behind the international monetary flow. twelve million inhabitants over three hundred languages countless ethnic.