russia's figure skating team claims the host nation's first gold as the second day of the winter games wraps up in sochi but aside from the celebration of winter olympic sports. something happening inside the western media dishes out an avalanche of criticism raising questions about whether the concerns and panic are justified plus in the weeks other headlines. the u.s. assistant secretary of state has apparently been caught on tape trying to direct ukraine's political future and you know. at the same time what's believed to be victoria nuland comments have also caused outrage in the e.u. with the german chancellor calling them unacceptable. and switzerland votes 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 recapping the week's top stories this is r.t. international with the weekly. now the second day of the two thousand and fourteen winter olympics has brought the first gold to the host nation in team figure skating russian athletes 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 scott who is in sochi now breaks down the day's results for us. as far as gold came in the figure skating team event they sort of challenges from canada and the united states to take top spot and 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 star has been born fifteen year old beauty a late night sky impressed in the ladies' free i'm sure programs with peerless performances i mean the procession has become the youngest 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 but then competing in a record breaking seven on final winter olympics he missed out on a. gold medal but he did claim silva as date olga beluga in the women's biathlon seven and a half case sprint the more they all know for the first medal for russia in the twenty fourteen winter olympics went to ole 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 are not far behind and russia starting to make their way up the leaderboard. force there now let's go back to the russian team's success in figure skating left competitors trailing far behind trees and now he was lucky enough to catch the competition's at the iceberg skating palace earlier she joined kevin zero in 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 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 soviet. in 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 them manage a lot of confidence shows with minimal goals as well. 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 in injuries and then young you did you know it's just phenomenal and 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 in through tomorrow well back in vancouver and so this olympics of course at home is about taking it back for them. russian ice hockey legend vladislav tretiak is also in sochi now he lit the olympic cauldron along with iconic figure

skater you know. in the opening ceremony he shared with us his impressions so far about the game's. flame go down in history for many years to come because it's a. task 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'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 blood is love is a referring to the one nine hundred eighty winter olympics in lake placid usa indeed then a number of athletes were accommodated in the barracks of a future prison now today some of the western media are actually calling it the sochi olympics a war zone overflowing with minor problems and have been neglecting the competition itself and he's an associate you're going to look 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 limping game fun again and some of them are pretty dismissed but why feed the excitement word of a possible new terror threat character a terrorist threat terrorist threat and your world champion and multiple gold medalist for buzz kill the western mainstream media 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 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 buy that i have a shoe toilets right next to each other just spells party that doesn't spell bad conditions three million years to be exact trapped one very tiny room left if that paint there trashing 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 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 threat of something bad happening in sochi well it's increasing by the day taking the fear of yes toothpaste to an extreme toothpaste containing explosive material it is terrifying all right did you hear all the tooth paste is going to

explode it was even staging tests on hiding explosives and tubes were c.n.n. commissioned this changed stop rushing mighty stop loss and 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. about why and especially if you're going to r.t. new york well we asked some of the athletes in sochi what they think about the alleged security issues as well as the overall atmosphere of the games so far everything has been amazing it's running like clockwork and everything's just going really really well there hasn't been any problems as of as of today my parents have

been a little bit worried they just like to just be careful what you do and they really wear the uniform when you have to you know when you don't need to just be a bit half of the security is really good so it's better than we thought it would be i had a really great time here and i have nothing bad to say so far well organized and people are really friendly here and having a good time. well we have our team in sochi following the competition at all times and if you want to know more or see more from the winter olympics well you can head to our instagram page there you can find an assortment of photos from the very onset of the games that's at instagram dot com slash r t. the g twenty four team promise is the ultimate in exhilarating winter sports in our . history and it's in our way to make seven zero and the rest of our lives take these teams to sochi twenty four take. on. well this

week a major gaffe by one of america's top officials has left washington red faced a scandal erupted after a recording was leaked apparently involving the u.s. assistant secretary of state comments caught on tape are revealed the depth of america's meddling in ukraine's anti-government on rast parties report my reports in ukraine we stand for the principle that all people have the right to express themselves freely in peaceful and. and they have a say in their country's future as it turns out the 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 he's 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 is the plans to midwife a new government in ukraine you know the way she's she's apologizing for cussing at 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. r.t. . retore newlands use of strong language was sharply criticized by germany's chancellor angela merkel who called the comment an acceptable load values to former deputy speaker of the belgian parliament so the conversation is a clear demonstration of how america really regards other states oakum to do real

good. behind closed doors this confirms the. stones will deny to state and the e.u. going to wait to. do this dana the issue of free will so democracy has to do so with your going to this one small undermines the whole of transparency and democracy building and to do building of political institutions these are all ideological afterwards 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. coming up later in the program pushed to the edge of desperation. for the son applying. to take the opportunity to make and. a british couple tell are talking about how the u.s. extradition request shattered their lives as they begin a legal fight at the high court in london plus. we investigate why the land of the

rising sun is seeing a decline in intimate relationships which could cause the population to dwindle. 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 bloc berna 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 as reports. 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 now opponents have argued that immigration caps will 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 and 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 first

what you and 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 r t c catherine o. . turkish government is pushing through 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 at online. 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 on the protesters and the stumbles where a car based journalist yousif calmly says that in reality if there were these are musing about. the intended in turkey's oligopolistic took thousands of sizable lead

to bad. you tube struggled for bugs to get close to busy in turkey not to government is getting from an element to clamp down the internet the datta khel truly i'll can do this to people free access to it ted that. they may buy the sites new sites will be open they may close them other mentors will be developed the government it is realizing that it's getting more and more isolated the real issues last week showed up to copy a bull's eye anyhow but a belated by the government there is all lies in the media therefore you have to be to see what the bit is there to all of a couple of the spot till the government is closing after this oh fuck. shooting has occurred on the russian island of soccer lean a gunman burst into a cathedral and opened fire killing two people and wounding six the suspect was

apprehended on site you can head to argue dot com for the full story. 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 european commission has unveiled its first e.u. anti-corruption report this week which pointed to a wave of graft sweeping through the block brussels estimated the losses caused by shady deals amount to billions of euros there are 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 chief of the ears home affairs commission has called the problem breathtaking and warned it's eroding trust in democracy

earlier i spoke to karl dolan you office director for transparency international he thinks that all governments should have the capacity to assess corruption risks on their own. in many of the newer member states of the e.u. there's still a lot of corruption that citizens paying small drives for access to basic services like health care. but in other countries the the the main corruption which so to do with political corruption that's the kind of conflicts of interests that are in the dealings that politicians have with business the commission says that it. self assessment would not be credible. we don't think that's the case we think any government should have the capacity to assess corruption risks in its own institutions luckily transparency international is conducting its own assessment of

integrity problems integrity risks in the e.u. institutions and will be publishing that shortly. it british couple fighting extradition to america has accused the u.k. government of countering 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 our two stars 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 sitting with this done i'm 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've more than one million dollars in illegitimate expense claims something the couple say are without merit showing as evidence that they've gathered that some say they're not afraid of trial but their worst fears be sent to the states the possibility of being denied bail and spending years behind bars apart from one

another simply waiting for their day in court if we were away from this country needs is. for very good chance he would have 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 plead your case and unfortunately persistent since 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 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 and 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 and 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 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 a plane. for the first opportunity rick and. tests are cilia r t london. well some more news making headlines around the world for you this hour eight people have been killed and over a dozen wounded in an attack in pakistan's port city of karachi gunmen threw grenades at religious gathering and then opened fire on preying sunni muslims it is not yet known who carried out the assault though the taliban and rival muslim groups are suspected last month militants killed six people at a sufi shrine in the same city. three spectators have been injured in a shooting outside a world cup stadium in brazil supporters of local club america in the tall were leaving the venue and were shot at by two gunmen on motorcycles violence has been

on the rise as the country prepares to host the world cup in june. hundreds have gathered again in bosnia this time calling for the release of about forty people detained during friday and saturdays riots officials denied protesters claims of police brutality and added at all but ten of those arrested have been released and government rallies in bosnia have been fueled by high unemployment corruption and poor living connection conditions across the country. well sex sells but not in japan where a growing number of people are opting out of physical intimacy the trend has sparked fears of a demographic crisis in a country which already has one of the lowest birth rates in the world some japanese are blaming their government for the sexless phenomenon as artie's alexy are reports. thanks but no sacks says these japanese woman in her mid thirty's she's known her second marriage but intimacy with her husband is the marital menu.

after i had a child with my first husband i lost interest in sex we divorced i remarried but my second husband lost interest in having sex with me so i have actually got used to having no sense at all this is becoming a trend which now has its own name in japan sexless according to. and polls more than sixty percent of unmarried man and near half of women aged eighteen to thirty four are not in a relationship more over forty five percent of women and a quarter of men aged sixteen to twenty four were not interested in having sex at all for the country with one of the world's lowest birth rates this spells huge demographic trouble we used to have a very large population but now we're rapidly shrinking and if things carry on as they are japan's population will be half of what it is now by the year twenty fifty that would be seventy eight million we have indeed struggled to find many couples openly showing their affection in the multi-million capital of tokyo and what makes

the situation even more bizarre is that japan has always been a world heavyweight when it comes to the matters of sex but your show our area in tokyo is one of the all this red light district in the world for centuries that has been thriving now its streets are practically empty for almost four hundred years it has been restricted to the locals now with japanese people having less sex the businesses here had to open their doors to foreigners. she used to be called queen love and worked in one of those brothers now runs a special course called sex counseling she helps people resuscitate their basic instinct sometimes through hypnosis she even urges men to dress as women to make them understand what the opposite sex feels like she says the government is partly to blame for the situation taking on. the government's put stricter regulations on sexual content even sixty commercials disappeared from t.v. these first young people to go there show in their sex lives that now they have

more interest in social media and dating becomes annoying to them. not only social networking but also high unemployment among the youth generates this widespread celibacy and sexual reclusion say researchers many simply have no money to date and get married. yama manages to help up to one hundred people every month but with growing numbers of those are interested in intimacy in population of one hundred sixty million this is just a drop in the ocean lets us s.t.a.r.t. reporting from tokyo in japan or coming up after the break it's cross talk with hospital of eleanor's guess you're watching r.t. international stay with us.

please please take the i'm very hard to take a plunge again on here there's a plug in there that would make their lives. one.

please please look. look look look look look look look look look look look look look look look look the purple. there's a medium leave us so we leave them to be. other seemed to suit your. play your party years ago. wear shoes that no one is asking with the guests that you deserve answers from it's all on politicking only on r t.