gold on ice russia's athletes skate away from their rivals and saatchi grabbing first place in the team figure skating event with a sublime performance from a teenage rocky archies on standby for all the games highlights from our very own softer studio. switzerland moves to keep foreigners out as voters narrowly backing bill limiting immigration but it puts a free movement deal with the e.u. into question plus. there's a lot of us that have been forgotten or are just collateral damage americans living in central arkansas are struggling to get their lives back to normal after an oil spill disaster that happened nearly a year ago. you're

watching our two international live from moscow i'm lindsey france thanks for joining me. russia has scored its first medals that they saw lympics placing fourth in the medal table and blowing spectators away with the performance of its figure skating team now handing it over to anderson now in our studio at the heart of the winter games and it's tell me where you are lucky enough to witness the figure skating last night. i was indeed it was my first olympic event but it's not about that it was of course the first victory for russia at the sochi games that was spectacular one russian figure skaters hit the ice with a series of breathtaking performances in fact the gold had already been guaranteed even before the event was concluded the victory secured by veteran skater you're going to person cohen a teen prodigy half his age fifteen year old. she became one of the youngest

athletes to ever win a gold medal at the winter olympics thanks to her extraordinary but looking performance it really was stunning now on top of that russia now scored two silver medals in the lose and by a full on and a bronze in speed skating parties and two farmers following the events from the sochi mountain cluster and he says russia having won the figure skating gold now has its sights set on hockey and speedskating. straight to see russia off the mark it was also a highlight for me to see president putin to the entire team off the ice school see what you could they won't vote today some of the biggest names of the games will arrive in time. and they will touch down in sochi. obviously the one to win as far as russia is concerned and we caught up with one soviet legend who said that any one of six teams could win the eight when the competition gets underway in three days' time there are many strong teams that these games can

endure the u.s. finland sweden in fact all of them are very strong it's hard to predict who's going to win the hokies definitely going to be very interesting and i think we're about to witness. one of the best told them and recent years but elsewhere today russia could get a medal from a place where it's never grabbed one before short track speed skating is pinning its hopes on a chap called fix i know his name doesn't sound very russian that's because he's actually from south korea but he took up russian citizenship just a couple of years ago after falling out with his country's coaches he's actually competing in the fifteen hundred meters when we spoke to him he said he was very pleased with his adoptive country when i came to russia two years ago for the first three months i missed career but then i met other athletes and things became better i like being here and i like the food the culture it's all very interesting so good luck to him and also good luck to the biathletes. he's in the competition

and actually did see gold slip from his grasp in painful fashion just a few days ago in the spring so he will be desperate to make up for that. meanwhile lawmakers in washington are assuring security warnings over the winter games one republican congressional leader went as far as claiming he's never seen any greater threat in his life time we spoke to athletes in sochi we don't actually share the view. sepah everything's going to mazing 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 you know when you don't need to just be a bit careful but this security is really good so it's better than we thought it would be at a really great time here and i have nothing bad to say so far well organized and people are really friendly here having a good time. from the mountain cluster to the coastal cluster

and everything in between our two sochi studio has it covered but for now back to you and me. thank you a nice analogy from such a studio where of course on top of the latest from saatchi not only in our studios but online as well keep up to date by heading to our official facebook page here you got a chance to view comments and make your views known also share your views on the sporting spectacles if you happen to be in saatchi and you can also submit any questions you'd like to hear from athletes to answer in their interviews with r.t. now following their reaction and counting the medals stay with r.t. for your olympic news coverage the entire time and a couple of hours we've got our sports special coming up with all the updates on this weekend's sporting victories. the g twenty four gene promises the ultimate in the exhilarating winter sports in

our. joining me and you see no way i'm a clever though and i'm the worst of all the hate news team for sochi twenty four take. all ought. swiss voters have narrowly backed proposals to put a cap on the number of immigrants to the country including those from the e.u. the move jeopardises free movement agreements a country has with the block and critics say it could lead to unprecedented economic problems marches lucic half an office in this was capital. what's will 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 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 this was an economy is booming because of not despite foreign labor especially when it comes to folks who have skills to work in fields like health care and 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 the swiss economy as well as on relations with the country's european neighbors reporting in burn for r t m d c catherine oh oh. the immigration issue has been polarizing europe with the most wealthy states fearing an influx of workers from eastern european countries far right parties have been gaining power in france the netherlands and norway in recent years all supporting tough and immigration policies and in countries like the u.k. and germany the most pressing issue is the lifting of barriers for workers from bulgaria and romania britain's prime minister went as far as threatening to veto any new countries from joining the e.u. unless tight immigration restrictions put into place. and coming up when crime doesn't necessarily mean a punishment. and there. is my cold it's like the freedom of things we had in our ways most luxurious prison with fluffy towels

in it solves unpacked library even cooking courses no surprise then that no one's ever tried to escape coming up after the break. the european union lots of think of itself as one of the brighter and fairer parts of the world the european commission report on corruption the first of its kind betrays a very different picture in every single member country there is corruption in some cases on a massive scale so what can the e.u. teach the world a corruption. we speak your language anybody will not advance. news programs and documentaries and spanish more matters to you breaking news a little turn it into angles keep the stories. you hear.

then try to alter the spanish find out more visit eye to eye. teeth. caught up in the middle of an environmental disaster people in the u.s. state of arkansas are finding themselves bogged down in barrels of trouble almost a year after a pipeline rupture caused a massive oil spill people are still suffering from the long term effects caused by breathing toxins on a daily basis and if huge health risks weren't enough some are finding it hard to leave the contaminated area as artie's guyana chicha confound out. almost

a year after two hundred thousand gallons of heavy crude spilled onto their streets residents of mayflower in arkansas are striving to leave the town here in mayflower for sale signs are everywhere almost every house on the street is on sale before the spill this was a place where people wanted to move in to enjoy the beautiful nature around many didn't even know there was a pipeline running on their houses and now they just want out many have already left and jerrel one of them i tried to stay here i tried to just be away you know as much as i could but if it rained i could not stay here because it would all see through the. all again you know the where the ground was dry it would kind of i guess in case it and then when it rained all those vapors would come back she says like many other residents of mayflower she started having constant headaches and coughing after the spill i have friends that live just behind me that are still

here that don't have a place to go they have just small children you don't have to look at the kids in in twenty years when they get sick or find out something is wrong and they say well why didn't we leave mom why everybody healthfully well some people just aren't able to pick up and leave like that exxon wrote back to us saying that a unified command comprised of exxon representatives as well as officials from the state and federal environmental services has deemed all areas affected by the mayflower spill now safe to live in but many of the residents don't buy it and their homes are not selling i would say that the number of homes sold in my flower has dropped at least fifty sixty percent but arkansas spill is only a fraction of a new oil pipeline leaks it's estimated that between two thousand and eight and two thousand and twelve u.s. pipeline spilled an average of more than three point one million gallons of hazardous liquids per year plans for the keystone x.l. pipeline

a massive project that would. from canada soil since two refineries in texas have caused many to worry that they may become collateral damage in the way of big oil like the residents of mayflower arkansas there's a lot of us that have been forgotten we're just collateral damage in mayflower i'm going to check on our team. let's take a look now at what our team has lined up for you on our web site as the deadline for the pullout of american troops from afghanistan fast approaches washington is accused of offering a sweetener by pumping some three hundred million dollars into what they're calling the end of war economy add to our to dot com for more details. also there with a p.d.f. coming under the scrutiny of finnish police who've been questioning whether the online encyclopedia is illegally clucking money from its donors or on this story just a click away. right to see. her street. and i think that you're.

on our reporters' twitter. instagram. to be in the cold. i marinate join me. in that impartial and financial reporting commentary interview and much much. only on the bus and on our. wealthy british sign it's time to explain the money. to the. markets why not.

find out what's really happening to the global economy cars a report on our. economic up down in the final month stay the. night and the rest because i hate to leave everything we need. is obviously more for the ladies because it's paying. women wanted to avoid rape they really need to buy guns and learn how to use them. this is the one that i want to go with but once again it's the fear that. women are definitely the target of

the gun lobby you don't kill them not when you're killing money but if somebody would you would just prefer. i'm noticing more and more is this really scary marketing tactics which implies that women have some sort of moral obligation to own guns to protect their family and young girls shoot out here too so we do have a pink or. more kids young kids choke on food than are killed by firearms if being armed made us safer in america we should be the safest nation on earth. were clearly not the safest. welcome back you're watching our two international live from moscow in norway some criminal criminals may lose their right to freedom but not jogging trails salmon steaks and flat screen televisions two hundred fifty two million dollars in the

making one jail resting in a tranquil forest plays host to law breakers and conditions many would consider a blessing rather than a punishment marches they were pissed off reports. and here. is michael that like with the freedom of thing. has been living here for nearly four years getting an education working as a car mechanic and serving his fifteen and a half year long sentence in jail we caught up in the morning talk show thank you brooke first go to drop old school. to school you have. relaxed it with you like normal life just we are back ward this is holden one of the most humane prisons in the world bills in two thousand and ten it's an example of norway's new experimental approach to penitentiary facilities. i hear the roughly two hundred fifty prisoners it houses cook for themselves and

for staff members with beef sound and beer steaks among the items on the menu take walks in the park pray and make art do outdoor and indoor sports we can howl like you see here the betterment. we can. make a place for for maybe one of all of this is going to be a good place to call just to relax. get out from their cells you know hold on has a library and a school for those who want to either to continue the education they were getting before going to jail or getting a new one all together yeah you have some of them to question her literature history math chemistry physics you name it all are taught to the inmates . room and that plays on the stove for the next ten years to continue to. inmates also have access to the photo shop a grocery store workshop and

a mechanic's shop and even. my personal favorite sound studio. didn't have a system in this life that was loose when the screw loose in the working life never thing. and they come in there and learned so far the prison hasn't seen one riot or an attempt to break out and when we were inside i couldn't really see why anyone would ever want to frankly i'm stunned it's going to take time for me to process what we've seen here today but what's clear is that even though this is one of the most humane prisons in the wall it still is a place to punish criminals with strict rules security and limitations and since it's been operating only for a few years right now it's too early to see how effective this new penitentiary format is you've got us going off forty reporting from norway. they are paying

commission recently unveiled its first e.u. anti-corruption report which pointed to huge problems throughout the entire block brussels estimated the losses caused by shady deals meant to billions of euros later today fear lavelle and his gas but the issue in the spotlight. i mean the european union self is a corrupt institution from beginning to end but they haven't added to their books for some years about every failed politician in any european country when he's finished making a mess of his own country then she was who often get a job with the european union the fact that we now have a number as part of the state's credit you have the european commission to motivate people like us to sit in studios and to reflect how we can deal with an urgent problem of corruption that certainly exist but it's not out of the nature of the european union that has been existed for centuries the report is done by the year you commission but if you go one hundred twenty it's what they do indeed it's just

a president of countries that did know this they used to corruption in do you countries while. that's not the direction developed do you notice the corruption in europe itself that's misdirection like anybody any good magician you don't watch that he's presenting to you you should be watching the other hand you don't see and that's what we're trying to do at the moment they're trying to give us a bunch of dismissed erection so that you don't see the corruption at the heart of europe itself. some more news making headlines around the world now and attack in pakistan's port city of karachi has killed eight people and injured more than a dozen gunman threw grenades at a religious gathering and then opened fire on praying to a few muslims yet it's 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 super shrine in the same city hundreds are back. in the streets of bosnia this

time calling for the release of about forty people detained during the riots on friday and on saturday in fact officials deny the protests. the protesters claims of police brutality and added that all but ten of those arrested have been unleashed and. government rallies have been fuelled by high unemployment corruption and poor living conditions across the country. a snowstorm described as the worst in decades is still battering japan with eleven people reportedly killed in weather related accidents and more than a thousand injured the fatalities were mostly caused by drivers crashing after losing control of icy roads hundreds of flights have been canceled the roads have been closed and some train service is suspended across the country. no matter that it's more news in about thirty minutes but coming up as promised it's cross talk with peter lavelle and his guests right after a quick break. 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 coal these are good old fashioned drunk tank and in russia their history dates back to the early years of the twentieth century to twenty eleven when they were all closed putting the burden of alcohol abusers health on local hospitals despite the amount of alcohol consumed per person in russia steadily declining over the last few years call is a remains a big problem but will privatized drunk tanks work no no they won't let's think about it what is business motivated by money big government contracts and 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. but they are feeling better location a voicemail river. to the dwellers of the high texan said let's stop this storm we might think you know my people will die cold.

wealthy british style.

markets why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's culture the no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to cause a report on our. hello and welcome to cross talk where all things are considered on peter lavelle the european union likes to think of itself as one of the brighter and fairer parts of the world but european commission report on corruption the first of its kind but creates a very different picture in every single member country there is corruption in some cases on a massive scale and businesses complain but to do business government connections are often necessary so what can the e.u. teach the world about corruption.

cross-talk corruption in the e.u. i'm joined by my guest broken are in berlin he is a political analyst and a professor for european studies in london we have david coburn he is a u.k. independence party regional chairman and here in moscow we cross to john hell of a big he is a managing partner at the group all right gentlemen cross talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it david if i go to you first in london let me just read some of the high points eight out of ten believe that close links between business and politics lead to corruption almost all firms in greece spain italy believe corruption is widespread four out of ten firms surveyed describe corruption as an obstacle to doing business sixty four percent of british respondents said they believe that corruption is widespread in the u.k. and the top it off the cost of corruption it is estimated to the e.u.

economy is equivalent to the blocks entire annual budget i think the term was breathtaking what's your reaction. well yes i mean the european union itself is a corrupt institution from beginning to end but they haven't added to their books for some one thousand years so they're not exactly a good example to set fire to business or to politics it is quite a dreadful organization every failed politician in any european country when he's finished making a mess of his own country then seems who often get a job with the european union or the european commission only in berlin how do you reflect upon this report it's quite damning it's really quite extraordinary the extent of corruption particularly in some countries of the e.u. . but first of all the report does not presenting the picture of what actually is corruption but how corruption is perceived and that shows that

there's a much greater sensitivity for things that are going wrong which is a clear sign that our democracy is working well because this is about checks and balances all right john how do you react to the report so democracy is working in the e.u. . well i was very surprised that they. finally wanted to come out and meet that they have corruption on their home ground because they wanted to portray russia as to corrupt the country for all these. years so it's a good opening although i don't think that the report shows that all the real level of corruption which is much much higher. you must remember that in the you there is . a great deal of the corruption if institutionalized is such a kind of come corruption that you don't see here it's like lobbying it's like tailor made directives to support certain businesses and so on ok

david i know that the report does talk about perceptions but it seems the perception is that business and politicians it they've institutionalized their cozy relationship at the cost of an estimation again of one hundred twenty billion euros a year that's quite a staggering number well they are under twenty billion a year i think has sort of disappeared into the you get somewhere there's a heck of a lot i think the the budget three hundred fifty three million or something in the question is something like a third of the budgets go walkies that's really not good enough and the european union itself as i said before is a corrupt institution every field politician or business man ends up in the european commission or whatever and. they are setting the example for the rest of europe one can only be surprised. i don't see why we should continue to put money at least agree.