the. hungry for gold russian fans pin the hopes on the country's record breaking figure skating duo amid fears that the weather may be getting too good for the winter games. european commission's vice president says the brits are too ignorant to vote in any referendum on the e.u. membership or cast ballots in the upcoming euro parliament vote. a lot of the early hours sleep a little bit and i think that we have the. time. r g travel to south africa as the nation reels in corruption crime and poverty after the passage of the iconic leader nelson mandela.

eight pm in moscow i'm at present very good to have you with us day five of the sochi winter olympics and r.t. continue special coverage from the heart and heights of the resort could be action packed on the slopes and track some socially but for russian fans it's figure skating that's in the spotlight tonight russia is starting to look to a return to the days of dominance on the rink that enjoyed in decades past given the country's performance so far in these games that dream could be within reach joined live by our teams paul scott now who is in the coastal crust are joining us so all the fingers crossed now the competition is underway tell us more. yes russia have high hopes for another gold medal later on wednesday evening touching on the. trunk of the overall standings going into tonight's final round of the figure skating has events the free program is just getting underway inside the iceberg. skating palace now they set

a world record in the short program on tuesday evening to put themselves firmly in medal contention they of course already have a gold to their names having secured a top spot in the team event over the course of the weekend but a realist with sky one of russia's most decorated female figure skaters says we shouldn't take success for granted. these are my full of the limpid games here and the first in which i'm not participating as an applet but now that i'm one down the side i can say that the media does have an impact on the athletes and it's not always positive the media tends to exaggerate things and take people for granted but they must understand that we the athletes are not robots who to make mistakes which can trip up while simply walking on the pavement the media must show greater restraint and understanding towards sports. meanwhile russia's men's curling team are currently in action against canada they're looking for their first ever victory

at the winter olympics well it's a case of play for one to last two for russia's female colors they were done for two japan earlier on today. five days since the start of the game is now what's the mood in sochi. well it's nice that we were finally talking about the sports and the sporting successes the build up to these games was of course plagued by controversy yet here we are a week into the games. running smoothly. around the venusian the many live sites around the sochi region. however there are some concerns up in the mountain with the mild conditions the mild weather is causing some problems with some of the ice and snow melting however the international olympic committee not concerned by the conditions at the moment meanwhile according to reports. these games the viewing figures the global viewing figures around the world. nearly ten percent. four years

ago. and almost twenty five million people. throughout the world any olympic games it doesn't run smoothly without the volunteers. they are the unsung unpaid heroes of the olympics and staging such a gigantic event without volunteers like these would be unthinkable more than one hundred eighty thousand people to join up twenty five thousand of them made the cuts a small army of on hand among them thousands of foreigners to bridge the dozens of languages right now hailing from the united states canada and the u.k. many have already been here for several weeks prepping the black sea resort in what

for most is the first visit to russia. come from. experience. i like everything here and it feels great knowing that i'm contributing to such a large scale event. from helping out with crowd control to keeping things moving at the security screening areas they are vital to the day to day running of this event running like clockwork and in their bright uniforms such spectators can't miss them like the competing athletes their roles require commitment patience and in jordan's the love of taking part rather than cash reward. is me hello i'm here to see the men's hockey game where do i go so these competitions are held in bars. and you can get there by close and this is a treat then turn to the left and you will see the big building in front of the

right to drop it's very big and very beautiful very nice and you speak english russian and voyage yes german very good or to have a show so good thank you very much part of our. city sickly just under half the help is our women and the average age is twenty five in reality though this giant team has volunteers of all ages. they call the older people silva volunteers it's a reference to how advanced age a friendly face and knowledge of foreign languages and knowing how to get from a to b. are just some of the skills these guys will need to out the games in the paralympics long days demanding work but a red chance to take part in one of the world's largest sporting events and their name to the roster making such a twenty four team something to remember parts of andrew's party sochi from you tube videos or twitter blogs many athletes documented their experiences and so she hears what they've been telling r.t.

. i'm definitely impressed with the russian did everything is the. taking very good care and i think that's all that matters for the games so close it feels like just a big family. is very exciting the night of the crowd they are there. by before you come over and you know really sure what to expect and. you know everything's been great so far whether it's you know the food or their commendations or their rooms or you know the village seems to be. from the outside and going in and cracks in and so they have a great set up you know in the village it's been great so far. we're going to. push the food every day and we get to meet with other athletes and it's been a pretty good sort of. we're getting all the latest results rumors and happenings in sochi on a special section on our website you can find that twenty four to our team right

now we're reporting there on how the russian president is entertaining foreign guests in the olympic host city and of course bring you all of the live updates on all the events. hundred days till the next european parliamentary election but people in one country are too ignorant to vote on the e.u. matter that's according to a senior blog commissioner and it's not the only choice they're not qualified to make according to our commissioner laura smith joining me now live with all the details so laura who is this person and what exactly are they referring to. with these a comment made by vivian reading. justice commission is a really a top u.s.

special and it's british people that she's talking about here she says don't know enough about the european union to be able to vote in a referendum on whether to stay where the person should stay in or come out of it not only does she think that rates are too ignorant to vote in a referendum she's also question their ability to vote in the european elections which will take place less than one hundred days from now in may she's urging britain essentially to spend more time on debate about the e.u. before a possible referendum is announced and basically accusing people of not knowing what they'd be voting about and of sleepwalking into making a deeply uninformed decision to illustrate that she says that brussels has even been blamed for the floods that are happening right now in britain she jokes about it she didn't know that she was so powerful that she could make the rainfall it is a little bit hypocritical of her because she doesn't appear to be particularly well informed about the european union herself she maintains that seventy percent of

u.k. laws are actually made in the european parliament the house of commons study has shown that that number is vastly exaggerated and of course all of this is playing into the hands of the anti you know b. and political parties like the u.k. independence party those who would like person to leave the e.u. when a top e.u. official suggests that people in any country aren't sufficiently qualified to vote in those elections it sort of has a whiff of elitism and a sort of with the lack of democracy which of course is what the e.u. skeptics are constantly saying about the european union and it also made to discourage people from very senior. pen election it's well well they think if i don't really know enough of someone telling me i don't know enough and they vote it's a they will have to see how that pans out. all right artie's laura smith reporting live for us from london thank you very much for that update while writing off

internal splits to ignorance that you seek to expand trade links with an upcoming pact with the u.s. but some critics say it's all at the mercy of mega corporations that could tie government's hands and expand their profit focused interests that still to come after a short break. there's a see you know when you're in the arctic you have the entire world at your feet she looks like a fairly simple shit but really she's no simple little. handful of people able to have access to the nuclear icebreakers the real king here is the polar bear and ice breakers come second not a single complex expedition to the arctic can be conducted with the russian nuclear powered fleet of ice breakers we undertake in a unique operation in. the northern sea route russia's arctic

ice breakers. science technology innovation all the least developed from around russia we've got the future covered. thirteen minutes past the hour now the e.u. and u.s. are mulling what could become the world's biggest free trade agreement looking for more economic power ups the sides are discussing the deal on the transatlantic trade and investment partnership treaty but as are his main important i reports the document could lead governments falling into corporations pockets the night i'm

announcing that we will launch talks on a comprehensive transatlantic trade and investment partnership with the european union because trade that is fair and free across the atlantic supports millions of good paying american jobs. grand promises minus any explanation it's been one year since the us president announced the establishment of a trans atlantica free trade agreement known as taft they had been negotiated in total secrecy away from the congress and the people. the bit about six hundred corporate executives corporate lobbyists. negotiating the deal with the united states trade representative with the other countries sweeping u.s. surveillance has cast a cloud over negotiations as germany threatened to pull out outraged over washington snooping on its european partners but if the free trade treaty actually

goes through it promises both sides of the atlantic massive gains of up to one hundred fifty nine billion dollars as more exports are expected to create more jobs but the profits could come at a cost to citizens critics say the treaty would get rid of policies put in place to protect the people danger here is that this will amount to deregulation that basically will be a race to the bottom and health and safety standards will be diminished in an attempt to create some kind of huge market with the same standards for example genetically modified foods are not labeled in the u.s. while in europe it's mandatory but in the name of free transatlantic trade any regulations against g.m. rose is an impediment to trade and therefore. simply no longer coal they're simply removed by these trade agreements so then europe is ordinarily good. and true regardless of what the

european people walk under the treaty cars and pharmaceutical drugs could reportedly i got being tested only once by the exporting country instead of the current standard of dual testing be it fracking banking or flying taft critics argue will leave governments with no choice but to change policies that better suit the business needs of private corporate power what their hope is is to have to find the lowest common denominator between the u.s. and and and standards that then make it more easy for there to be quote unquote trade big call our regulations and our standards that hurts. health and safety trade irritants they're called as opposed to barriers and and we believe that those many of those standards are there for very good reason public support for safety standards and regulation may be the very reason american and european citizens have been kept in the dark about what may turn out to be the world's largest free trade

agreement arena port ny r.t. new york or some perspective on this i'm joined by joe edwards a writer on economics politics and social justice live for us in and barbara so less regulation and more trust between partners usually means healthier commerce is in this beneficial to all sides here including the consumers. well i think you have to look quite carefully i suppose that the whole policy is not as it's not really been discussed in the mainstream media and the world what you're what you're looking at here is an agreement which is basically going to deregulate it's going to allow corporations to be involved in government policy and domestic government policy breaking diving for a more and they're in place as you already said we've been discussing the concepts in g.m. food protections the e.u.

has quite high standards food safety policy and this is all in place to protect citizens and of course giving this idea of having more of a free trading environment obviously means that these policies have to be broken down to enable corporations to be able to trade. with countries to be able to extract things like natural resources and exploit them without having the problems of the movement that in some countries they're having to overcome and these problems essentially are. a lot of them are civil liberties that obviously civil protection is already placed by domestic government and critics in us will end up heavily influenced by corporations should this deal go through such a concern then why is it still on the table. i think it's definitely a concern i mean we can see in many countries at the moment that there is governments that are already serving corporate interests and what little

protections citizens have are is a place of the mess that governments and their ability to be able to protest their ability to be able to place petitions the free speech and i centrally what could happen is that corporate interests are going to be alive and so that the profits can be maximized and of course this will mean that essentially governments will be. what protections that they are offering citizens at the moment you know these are being loaded slowly and this could essentially take away any and any protections that citizens have and against corporations and we'll have a david and goliath situation where these huge multi multinationals will be will basically be up against ordinary citizens who have no resources and none of the capacity to challenge many of the activities that will be undertaken and the

countries and ball all right joe edwards thank you very much for speaking with us. the country set or rather kids not all right according to belgian protesters the country set to remove age restrictions on euthanasia and allow the controversial practice for children i know more about on our website. and a cyborg future drawing a little closer as scientists manage to put microscopic motors inside human cells find out what could come from all this at r.t. dot com. the south african opposition is reportedly been struggling to make their voices heard in their protest against corruption rising crime and poverty unrest see that in the post mandela country as the nation seems to be edging toward a security crisis artie's post reports. we were about to enter one of the most dangerous townships in one of the most dangerous cities in the world this is the

south africa that mandela left behind there were no what to expect when you go out in the street some days will be quiet some days you just up and down there are a lot of downs in south africa now days away from the cameras all is not well in the land of mandela twenty six year old constable corrode burma later knows it all too well for five years he's been patrolling the streets of johannesburg to try and instill some sense of order. and now we are entering. there's a large majority of. poverty. a lot of the purely artistic tool for a better life better way of the. crime. crime and the few places in south africa today where crime is more rampant or poverty more in demick than alexander township twelve kilometers northeast of johannesburg it was once the

headquarters of the african national congress and the same to of anti apartheid activism but it's as if time has stood still here many residents feel forgotten by mandela south africa it is quite frightening situation for us to. really make this effort this borning township is home to nearly a quarter of a million mostly black south africans sixty percent of them are grindingly poor and unemployed as we drive along the stench of mounds of garbage overwhelms us the stats are sobering each day on average more than fifty people are murdered in south africa another fifty attempted murders take place more rape happens here in a country or fifty two million people than in india a country of one billion the police are struggling to cope with hear. hear. if you can answer that truthfully. rajar you can say real sufficiently trained or care but it's up to us to.

obtain that training the police and so they have reacted. and understaffed and according to a new poll a staggering eighty three percent of south africans believe they're also corrupt which means the good guys like a robber and his partner often put their lives on the line without sufficient backup do you think that state or make any difference to the right situation. we can only hope. for to those days but. the residents of alexander though are too busy battling the daily reality to worry about what life without mandela will bring twenty years after he came to power they still waiting on promises of jobs and economic prosperity policy r.t. and xander township south africa and the old saddam are from an opposition party in south africa things this country is dealing with the same problems that had twenty

years ago. these protests and sort of flick of a very basic kinks i don't think that the protests that happened after the death of nelson mandela south africa has been the world capital of protests but it does a last few months we've seen a heightened. militancy of those a protest because it's a response to a government which basically its policies deep in poverty and it does unable to respond to today needs of the people they need to skid at increasingly the government is using the old up out of date of racist methods in dealing with legitimate demands of people twenty years later the ruling party has not been able to dismantle up out of the you know towards their racism that keeps our people apart where black people are poor and white people are taken care of a judge has died in central ukraine after being shot by unknown assailants police

believe the attack may be linked as professional activities alexei or share of skin or says what these activities could be. the interior minister of ukraine is still koyo on what exactly they meant by professional activities but we do know that the thirty four year old judge. from the town of clement you consensually crane was killed by two presumably two gunshot wounds and those believed to be fired from a shotgun it's not the first time of course that a judge is killed in ukraine but given what's happening in ukraine right now with all these riots protests take over of administrations the fact that he recently dealt with some of these rioters is certainly causing huge attention he dealt with two of those rioters who were part of the attack on the local administration building he placed them under house arrest and have been charged with inciting riots but not yet convicted he also dealt with many civil cases like. returning of debts like inheritance and different property splits it also may have been the

reason for his assassination but certainly given the intensity of what's happening in ukraine right now the connection here between the rioters and him is something discussed by the media that has no chance of dying down i spoke to all sides of this protest and if you talk about the anti-government protest it is split within itself already there is a peaceful part of protesters who believe themselves to be peaceful you are activist as they call themselves and there's a radical part and i read an interview apart from my conversations with the guys at the governmental quarter who are completely radical i read an interview recently by the leader of the right wing sector this is the core of the rioting and of the protest and he said that they do not listen to orders from the opposition they are not controlled by anyone they are all on their own and one quote from that interview is particularly concerning that he said that should the authorities use live rounds against them against the rioters against the right wing sector they have something to respond with so this is creating a genuine concern that they have weapons they're storing them in all the buildings

they have taken over i haven't seen any weapons with the right to expect with my own eyes but there are numerous pictures proving that they do have well. but it's on their hands so definitely the situation is still very very much burning despite being something of a standstill at the moment. they're with us here on our team breaking the set coming your way next. is obviously more for the latest because it's pink. women who wanted to avoid rape they really needed to buy guns environ how to use them. this is the one that i want to go with them once again it's the fear factor for women definitely the target of the gun lobby you don't kill them when you killing money but if somebody would you

would piss with her. i'm noticing more and more if that's 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. we likely to see any sort of call to revolution aimed at preserving traditional maybe even a charcoal gender all of the islamic religion is one very powerful counterforce awards maintaining traditional marriages and values just as they become more western liberalism becomes powerful and we have to

sort of major civilized nations. collision course. means speak to a language. will use programs and documentaries in arabic it's all here on all t.v. reporting from the will talks about six of the ip interviews intriguing stories for you to. sleep in trying. to find out more visit our big teeth don't call. those the media leave us so we leave that maybe. by the same potion security play your party there's a goal that pushes that no one is asking with the guests that you deserve answers

from it's all on politicking only on our team. the. what's up guys i'm abby martin and this is a break in this set last month a report on the u.s. military's plans to build yet another base on the japanese island of okinawa keep in mind there are already thirty two existing u.s. military bases which occupy twenty percent of the land although what some call a military dictatorship but the island is already existed for decades the new attention on okinawa is also shedding light on another longstanding problem the hundreds of sexual crimes involving u.s. army personnel documents recently obtained by the associated press through a foyer request show not only the rampant scale of abuse by service members but also the high level of impunity for the crimes due to these cases being tried within the military chain of command the report cites infractions by all three

branches of the military but adds that quote the air force is by far the most lenient and one hundred twenty four sex crimes over the course of eight years and the only punishment given to twenty one offenders was a letter of reprimand look eyes it's clear that the continued occupation of a sovereign land is deeply hurting the people of okinawa not only is it undermining their culture but the culture of impunity surrounding the military sends a stark message to those on the island one that this country should and support and let's break the set. it was a. very hard to take. well i never had sex with her there.