love on the slopes of sochi valentine's day and olympians and spectators alike paused why are the darlings of the two thousand and fourteen winter games interesting selection topping the chart. three years on tear gas but tongues and torture fail to halt bahraini pearl from active as they stand defiant we take a look at what the future holds for the country. migration concerns afflicting several countries knocking on norway's door the country increasingly worried about how to control the influx without infuriating brussels.

eleven pm in moscow i am at present good to have you with us day seven of the twenty second winter olympics now and our special coverage begins again from the host city of sochi kevin owen standing by in our studios in the heart of the city. yeah hi again old nice to see again welcome back to sochi kevin oh you joy this high above the park is of course the main seaside spalding but you can see over my shoulder there the limping flame burning bright into the night as you say we know we can into the games now what a journey it's been so far the celebration the upsets and yes even the heartbreak to the reporting yesterday pool scott sums up the day's events for us. well the russians have added a bronze medal to that tally on day seven eleven in a key to finish third in the women's skeleton event up in the mountains of krasnaya polyana it was the first. time the russian have a secured

a medal in the women's skeleton meanwhile alexander tretiak of is the man to catch at the halfway stage of the men's competition he actually set a new track record in his first run the men's event actually concludes with the final two rounds on saturday when r.t. caught up with him before the start of the games and he admitted that performing on home ice is an advantage. for more than a year and i've gone to know it like the back of my hand i know that everybody likes it including foreign athletes is considered one of the best in the world is design is very smart you conveniently spacious it has a warm up area large changing rooms and very good infrastructure well elsewhere russia's female koalas boosted their chances of progression to the next round they secured a six three victory over switzerland and i think it's fair to say that the team skipped it by former model of course an additional door of a really captured the imagination of an adoring russian public however this evening also saw the conclusion of the men's individual figure skating event of course if

gainey pushing was meant to be taking to the ice for russia but injury ruled him out now he is of course one of a number of athletes who it's fair to say have captured the hearts of the sochi public on valentine's day as my colleague andrew foreman our ports. deal is the sexiest athlete these olympics. mission go for us yet if you can. use a best goalkeeper. rushing the federation of cookie. pollution. jealous josh white or joe what's his name sean weiss retainer yes me american and let's ask snowboarder yes i think his very good looking he was the most attractive athlete at these olympics. it's going to be. like i'm me no no no no nancy ok

russians good. early ali yes killing of cost cutting. cost of ice from team germany currently. it's a fast these very good looking isn't a nice little note hey why the rich in this so i see them volunteering one hundred people to go on facebook to inviting sites like you everybody happy valentine's box he only sees us nice little be doing anything about it so we all will do it go on say say to your wife now to search a site smarty could like back in the u.k. happy valentine's day i know the games i want to work and what it can do. so there you are romancing me and i'm going to say happy valentine's to my fiance moscow. yes you say not just the love of sport of the air this valentine's day well while andrew was a busy up on

a mountain cluster our team was quizzing the folks down here in sochi coastal cluster this is what they had to say about their favorite sports personalities to. when you see. i'll tell you this the whole team russia all two hundred twenty three of them i saw their great entrance at the opening ceremony they're all smart and beautiful the men and ladies alike. when they move in here for so long now we get up in the morning and come here to watch the games and cheer is very hard enough but it's great. i like the japanese women's hockey team the girls the really beautiful which is a shame their helmets hide so much as they say sister but yeah you like all the girls don't you're. russia will be everyone. see everyone. be in trouble now but he also spoke to russia's four medalist in the figure skating pairs events and after wishing us all he well as well they stressed how important

the support of loved ones was to them and to athletes in general but everyone likes to get valentine's day it comes from childhood and i wish everyone happened this life is going to save the world but. i said we had. i wish everyone celebrating this holiday to spend the day in a romantic mood just the weather is great and saatchi you could go for a walk to the seafront and have fun. but i saw my mom came a bit early to the opening ceremony the thing is i have to celebrations on that day the start of the games and my birthday so my mother came to support me. or my mother also came to sort she she was very nervous maybe even more than i was she said she couldn't watch our performance she had to turn away or even go out she could tell how we were doing only by the sound by the applause. family support me such a lot of those guys all thoughts there from the athletes thoughts too as well today from the international olympic committee they've released

a number of statements of how the games ago and paul's got more on that. well despite reports of some empty seats in some venues and melting snow up in the mountains of krasnaya polyana the international olympic committee have moved today to praise the venues on the organization of the games with one eye you say official even suggesting that many critics are simply seeking negative things seeking problems to criticize the games of sochi twenty fourteen while organizers have also said that a million tickets of being sold as we approach the halfway stage which is slightly down in vancouver four years ago but the figure is up from the games into reno in two thousand and six well as he has been speaking to some athletes and officials to gauge how they think the games ago and as we approach the halfway stage for me was perfect i love this slushy snow when it stopped outside so i'm nothing to complain about the thing to do you know your job so i'm happy to ski into the first snow in the sun we have done it's

a question of outdoors for our climate here as you can see it's a rather challenging ride now two weeks ago we have been totally winter even here. everything is running ok this is a big event no one wants to organize bad games dutch for sure everyone everyone tried to book their forte meanwhile excitement is now building ahead of saturday's big ice hockey showdown between the usa the two old rivals go head to head in their second group match but both sides had comfortable victories on the opening day and these u.s. hockey stars are expecting a tough challenge you know how tough that game's going to be against russia. on their home turf and on their own soil so it's going to be. i think all the games will be fun but their game saturday night will be pretty interesting so it's fun playing the russians and probably the one thing. we have the opportunity to play

canada in canada and i think that's all. always a special thing regardless of where we were if you have an opportunity to play the host country. that's always a fun game to be a part of it's just it's one of those there's so much excitement and energy in the building and. we were lucky enough to do it in canada now we get a chance to play russian russia which i think is always special. things before you come over and you're not really sure what to expect and. you know everything's being very it so far whether it's been you know the food or they commendations of rooms or you know the village ice rink seems to be. unbelievable just from the outside and going in and practicing on it so. you know i'm sure a lot of it's born out of proportion but as far as you know in the two days we've been here everything's been great so far yes so much to suppose in here head of that big faceoff tomorrow oh you're on a spoke to american ski jumper jessica jerome she's here in the studio with me she

seemed confident of a u.s. victory over the red machine she also told me about her first experiences in sochi to. so publicized the all the negative press in the lead up to this deal put you off for to just make your own mind up and get on with it you know it was hard not to pay attention to how much negativity it was getting but i was trying to stay optimistic i knew i was coming here regardless and so far i have been so pleasantly surprised good news good news we heard earlier on some awfully saying how important is to have support in the crowds etc you know loved ones all just your supporters waving flags how much does it mean to is not being waved on not that. it's huge and i was super lucky i had seven of my family members of my events and they had big like two feet by three feet signs of my face and i was that they and they loved it and i was a little embarrassed. yeah exactly.

just go with it on the show you are going to see a very nice person i want a topic of fun camera crews out and about in the games village of film this story of some fierce looking creature that's been trying to make some friends take a look. at it twenty forty two winter olympics or you want to. think of one is like a not me despite his mean appearance titan apparently is not remotely interested in world domination we all breathe a sigh of relief in fact he's more to music than street entertainment this very clever contraption spends its time telling jokes dancing and making friends with the locals but not quite everyone has grown to trust him. back i'm going to what. it is that you're going to. be able to keep in touch with tightness the progress that hopefully his batteries won't go flat but of course he's just one of

the entertainments around the city every day we've been speaking to the leading athletes about their experiences there is what they've been telling us today. it's just great here and after this success for race and winning the silver medal it's just been it's great and we just have been great great here so yeah it's just great it's fun to slide yeah it's not too hard not to be. i think it's a very good track and. when. you know this is the most advanced a bit since the last winter olympic games the organization is top class as well as the sporting facilities some of the best in the world. now an expletive as it related to the lives of tall bit silly takes the game slogan a faster higher stronger heart was the higher bit look at these pictures these russian their devils managed to climb the shanghai tower it is the second highest building in the world it almost six hundred fifty meters with no safety gear or

permission needless to say course this is not something you should try doing but it's a great pictures of the tower still of the construction look above the clouds there they are but it provides a grand vista nonetheless that is of course initial scared of heights there are you tube video has hit already seven million hits the watching it could make you a big queasy dizzy to say the least if your palms are sweaty enough and you feel out watching that again head over to our website r t v dot com for the link and if you want to point our facebook pages well we've got a contest running where you can submit your questions to limp gas leaks and then see the best answered on air without food hearing from you we'll see you again next hour then with a lot more from sochi tonight look forward to it. the g. twenty four team promise to be able to meet in the exhilarating winter. storm and it's now a make over now and the rest of our lives make news team for sochi twenty four take

. on r.t. . turning to some of the day's other news protests that erupted in the outskirts of bahrain's capital friday i've been aquash by police using tear gas at least twenty nine people arrested activists in menominee marking three years of pro reform dissent that has reportedly seen scores dead and police crackdowns are things like sara show ski reports. it's three years since the arab spring gripped the gulf state of bahrain violence still shakes the streets of its capital mamma as protesters against the sunni led government fire molotov cocktails the police respond with tear gas and flash bang grenades and thing is that the government is using it as a while and a lot are being tortured house raids i just know of living in cities and i lived in but. you can hear helicopters armored by shooting

at people and throwing it here yes here and they're making people think he why not even practice outside the street at least eighty nine people have reportedly been killed in the sheol position strive for reforms hundreds of thousands have been injured some lost limbs and eyesight protests have been held on almost daily basis and i witnessed some of those i went to bahrain a little more than a year ago we met with different government officials who told me that despite seeing the protesters as radicals and hardliners they were still looking for some sort of compromise but the most sensational statement came from the country's information minister so i made it our job i think the bahraini opposition is a main ally of the west the terrorist members of the opposition and their leader have close ties to foreign embassies in bahrain wiki leaks a veiled many documents proving it i talk to the americans and clearly ask them to speak to their friends in the. down that bahrain cannot be ruled by an ethnic

sectarian party or bahrain's opposition say the allegations are laughable if that was true they say then why is there no action from the western states the u.s. navy's fifth fleet stationed in bahrain and washington's close ties with saudi arabia may be among the reasons what is happening in terms of human rights abuses is happening in russia the whole was all come up with the whole media would have cleared up because everything in that region. close to saudi arabia they keep quiet about it they give a blind eye i haven't seen for in three years one single guy that has condemned over your eyes well these were the scenes of the second anniversary of bahrain's uprising with thousands protesting peacefully in the streets this time it is already a lot noisier with the opposition planning

a three day long protest and the authorities beefing up security. and. we reiterate our main demand secure for rights without any hesitation we are ready to make new sacrifices for this in the name of our homeland we will demand just retribution for all those who killed our sons and those who ordered the killings last month bahrain's crown prince salmond called for another round of negotiations to end the violence with with two failed attempts already and the royal family refusing to budge and protesters demands hardly anyone in this gulf state believes there may be any breakthrough soon alexy russia r.t. . reform campaigner a doctoral also far as president of the bahrain nursing society described how activists are treated in her country. there's a lot of injuries such as a bird prod charge gun which people which the ministry of interior is using against the people in bahrain broken bones head traumas and some of them of course they're

very bad wind up we have to send them to the hospital to be treated but you know for a fact once they go into the hospital they will be interrogated they are all different kind of people they are in jail at the present time with the political prisoners to such as eleven photographers there are journalists seventy sportsmen and human rights defenders there are still massive an excessive use of tear gas they're still hitting women they are at using everybody in the country and they will have to stop all these attacks on the villages and the home raids on a daily basis and the tear gas that they're using and detention of our men and you think kids in the country then we will say there's a good deed and let's talk and we sit down and talk. for the last three years we've been closely following the uprising in bahrain you can find a big picture of what's going on there on our website or t. dot com. british government casting about for ways to keep its citizens from going

to fight in the syria stay with us for the story of how a forty one year old man left his family behind to fight and die in that or in a war that and more still to come. the olympic games his very name means athletic excellence and extravagant showmanship this has been traditionally the case when we were at the games in sochi have been treated differently western media has attempted to politicize the games at the expense of sports and the host country on this edition of crossfire we explore the true spirit of salt you. know cholesterol pianist depression. these are three key words you do prove your lies. are you that's. one of those that's a. branding you on our team. twenty

one minutes past the hour the free movement of people may be one of the pillars of a common market but the issues driving a wedge between e.u. member states now calls for tougher regulations spreading wider drawing condemnation from brussels switzerland has just voted in favor of curbs on the e.u. migrants almost half of germans want to follow suit in france seventy percent of

the population think there are too many foreigners in the country the vast majority of britain to say they want to see immigration curbed as well in norway a record number of illegal immigrants were deported last year sarkozy group is going to reports calls for stricter measures are growing. this used to be a quiet suburban town in the outskirts of oslo where money is spent fourteen years of his life until he says along with most of his norwegian friends they had to move out because of constant attacks by teenage immigrant again he's. been in the ambulance five times or something so it came to the point where i didn't have the time to be robbed all the time i go to the hospital today three out of four students at the local school are foreign descent vast energy exports brought norway's some of the highest living standards in europe and made it very attractive for immigrants over the last thirty years their population has grown tenfold but high living standards mean high cost which not all newcomers are contributing towards many in advance welcome information africa they are low skilled and know

they don't have a labor market for them to often jobs for them so many and. to be depended on social benefits benefits include free housing a two year old integration course and an allowance also paid by the state during this time with n.g.o.s warning the spending may be too much even for the norwegian budget to swallow talks about cutting down the numbers have now reached parliament so we want to improve the. immigration system in europe and not get rid of it by closing the borders we have wanted to discuss now how to sort of get a more working good working immigration system how to respect the system but solving one problem may create new ones switzerland has just held a nationwide referendum in which over half of its citizens decided to limit the amount of immigrants living and working there causing outrage from brussels and

threatening trade ties with the e.u. hugo is going off r.t. . always more stories lined up on our website including relief for some debate for other belgium. becoming the first country to allow it and they were terminally ill children drooling immediately uniting christians muslims and jews in a wave of condemnation their. gender euphoria us space facebook users don't just have to be girls or boys anymore as a social network introduces fifty gender identity options one that click away at archie dot com. authorities in the u.k. scrambling to get out with a solution to prevent young britons from becoming radicalized and taking up arms in syria while the boyko looks at the troubling story of a man who reportedly blew himself up in the war torn city of aleppo. facts are sometimes stranger than fiction this is the street where abdul wahid the first

suspected british suicide bomber in syria is alleged to have lived it's called martyrs ave the forty one year old man that lived here is suspected of carrying out a suicide bombing in a truck in the city of aleppo last week after joining the fire to link to al nusra front the father of three is said to have quit is day job six months ago and joined a convoy running aid into syria he was reportedly in contact with his wife and children up until last week if his identity is confirmed it will be the first known attack by a briton in syria according to the center for the study of radicalization in king's college in london hundreds of u.k. citizens have traveled to syria to fight with jihadi groups recent posts on social media suggest that some of the brits fighting there have been involved in the saying and execution of fellow rebels while residents of martha's adding you come to terms with their reported neighbors suicide attack security services in the u.k.

of becoming increasingly concerned about the potential that brits fighting in syria could return and stage attacks on u.k. soil boyko artsy west sussex it with us here on r.t. international cross truck coming your way after a short break. the terror group wants to erect a statue to the lord of darkness in oklahoma city which is largely the capital of whole the cygnus want to build the monument of a gold had. devil in or despite a monument to the ten commandments that was put up in two thousand and twelve yet they maybe should have put up

a banner into the ten commandments on public property but does that mean that satanists not cease to honor whackos have the right to put up their own twisted monuments well that is it depends on how you look at things technically in western liberalism everyone's beliefs by law are equal even if ninety nine people are christian and they cannot impose on that one poor satanist which sounds nice but in reality that means that those ninety nine christians have to tolerate a monument to the infernal master and defiler of the innocent on their way to work every morning part of having a culture means having a group of people of common beliefs and values if you just include anything into the culture than you no longer have a culture all that remains are scattered individuals all i'm trying to say is that it's ok to rebuke the devil guys but that's just my opinion. there's a saying 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 symbol. and full of people ever 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 without the russian nuclear powered fleet of ice breakers we undertake a unique operation. the northern sea route russia's arctic ice breakers. hello and welcome to crossfire all things considered on peter lavelle the olympic games is very name means athletic excellence and extravagant showmanship this has been traditionally the case however at the games in sochi have been treated

differently western media has attempted to politicize the games at the expense of sports and the host country on this edition of crossfire we explore the true spirit of sorts. if you cross the media coverage of sochi i'm joined by my guest martin andrews he is our correspondent in sochi right now in london we have john good body he is a journalist for the sunday times who has been covering the olympics since one thousand nine hundred eighty eight and in washington we crossed or we can he is a comedian and an author i generally cross talk rules in fact that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it martin you're in sochi right now you've been there since the start here i'm going to ask you a very simple question what's it like and i know you are aware of what was being said about the games weeks and months before they opened up so please compared to me what you read in western media and what you've experienced to date in sochi go

ahead wow well as you can see we've got the olympic park behind us at the moment just behind us i think it's in vision you can see the olympic flame where you can see them but the entire park is on fire is on fire at the moment the atmosphere is just incredible and take my word for every single person from all around the world who is witnessing this sensational sporting event really says it's one of the best olympics they've ever had. and also your question regarding the. and the patrol of this olympic mess shambles ridicule i think it's personally horrific and the answer to that is that in my opinion it's just the old cold war mentality of you know going back centuries ago decades ago i get a taxi to heathrow airport in the taxi guy as they do they say to me oh where are you off to on holiday or on work and the minute i say moscow the minute i say russia they say they have to apologize for it it has a negative attitude in the west and hopefully the thousands and thousands of people

who are here they've realized that sochi is a beautiful place the money you can see in the facilities in the mountain cluster in the in the in the transport that they've built here of course there's going to be issues with new hotels that haven't been built that happens in every single live . in every single city center of course is going to be problems with with brown water it happens every single place but the western media has gone on about certain events like it's never happened before and it's a simple attack on russia rightly if i go to you in washington you know if you've been watching t.v. for the last week or so with the sound down you'd think this was about some kind of toilet exhibition. yeah you absolutely would i mean i've blown away and i'm pretty cynical and yet i've been blown away with the coverage of every toilet every you know you.