the latest headlines on the week's top stories here are to international fans and sought to celebrate russia shootout victory over slovakia in ice hockey after last night's disappointing loss against park rivals team usa. the euro net so infuriated by n.s.a. spying german chancellor angela merkel proposes a plan for a european online network to shut out america snoopers class. lives if you. leave this. party goes behind rebel lines and levanon wire jihad it's our brains to kill other muslims at home and across the border in syria.

you're watching r t international live from moscow islands in france thanks for joining me well we are well into the second week of the soccer winter games and the fans are certainly getting their money's worth let's go straight to the r t team in the olympic city to take us through the events. of the world day knowing of the winter olympics done and dusted no heading into day turn but day nine gave russian hockey fans a little consolation just twenty four hours after the red machine lost to team usa in a dramatic shoot series the crowd was up for more this time as soon as the extra period was over russia closed the door and slovak his chances of victory with. his full scope. was a victory for russia but perhaps not in the style of the fashion that they all

their fans would have hoped for they were made to work hard and pushed all the way by a stubborn and resilience slovakia it was nil nil at the end of reg. elation time and not even overtime could separate the two sides so for the second day in a row russia faced the lottery of a penalty shoot out but this time they were victorious it's actually american who finish top of group a this after a five one victory over slovenia however many observers are saying that the match between the usa and russia on saturday was one of the most thrilling in the history of the winter olympics and we do have the prospect of the two sides possibly going head to head later in the competition in a medal match and former russia star in all through enjoyed a successful career in the n.h.l. believes ice hockey gold is the one the russian public want more than any other high i.q. is the main event a good number i don't care what anybody said about he was kidding or have all the respect and other sports about hockey because you got so many superstars to play and a player gets a shower so it's not every time you can see. around the wall playing it's like

a walk up of soccer and the players to come and play and to be proud for their country so i think it's a make those kind of historic about one of the nazis paul scott despite the pride the players feel representing their country that legal talked about their hockey wouldn't be healthy of course without a little controversy maybe even big controversy that brewed on saturday there's been some not a mound of dispute over the decision to disallow what would have been a winning goal for russia or against the usa i spoke to russian hockey commentators who told me the wise thing would be to simply update the rules here. the goal was disallowed because team of the good of the nets was moved it was disloyal. moorings and the goalie was moving from one side to another side and he did it he moved the post to you but in this case i think it was one hundred percent unintentional on the side of the quick because he was just moving from one side and on to another

side and the situation was not very dangerous in terms of the goal i was just taught luck that there was an american refereeing this much is it why should that be thought of no in the future reassess i think probably yes just to avoid controversies like this probably that there will be just wise to take the decision and. not to have. referees from one country just working on the games with the national team in other limping headlines this week the hopes of millions of fans of course were dashed after russian figure skater going to push pulled out of the men short program at the last minute he announced his retirement after suffering severe back pain during training his breathtaking almost flawless performance in the team event helped russia of course to clinch is first gold at the sochi olympics pushing coas russia's only single skater at the games this decision to pull out now has triggered plenty of criticism we asked the gold

winning figure skater it makes him trunk off and also i saw the legend. what they thought about his mood. we all have great respect for pollution cause he's a legend in our sport and a great example for many worldwide i think the fact that he came out and helped when the team gold given his condition is a heroic achievement. i want to take my hat off and tell him that he's the greatest of accolades so everything he went through and everything he was unique few people in history could have equal to him. a second look at the medals tables now here from sochi russia surrendered its position in the total medal tally now to the netherlands to have one more of seventeen the dutch are also in second place behind germany in the golden sweep. now successful it just takes a careful preparation are always key to making a huge event like this go like clockwork of course language is another hurdle faced by the organizers who had to ensure that security stuff and volunteers had enough

interpersonal skills and skills to speak to support the host cities guests simon dunton from the english first language school help workers thousands of them in the run up to the games to share the details of this huge program with me we were looking for people all the local organizing committee were looking for intermediate level users but we found that some speakers were x. that they had really high quality english and some native almost level we designed this winter games english online so they could be really precise about the english they might need for example if they were going to be involved with pops lay or skiing or the words that even i as an aid to speak and the teacher didn't know we gave it to them but they've been quite keen actually even those again the drivers of the security guards who really got involved and we made it fun we really went for and we said look guys you really need to smile this is going to be great here and i think it's working if you go out there to be a part and you go to the security they really really really are enjoying themselves and they're smiling and getting involved. well we'll have more special coverage of

course of day turn including all the controversies and all the glories at the sochi twenty fourteen winter games so please get your updates from us through it all to you from the other part of the studio. thanks a lot kevin you can say a prayer all the olympic action by heading to our web site r.t. dot com we can also follow us on twitter to find the latest news and reaction on your favorite sport there you can find all of the tweets you need from the athletes themselves even tell them what you thought of their performance russia's hockey team captains also tweeted his appreciation to the many fans who have shown their support throughout their game their game so far that is and we will of course be bringing you the latest news from saatchi here on our team. the g. twenty four team promise is the ultimate in exhilarating winter sports in our team here so join me and use in our way to make seven zero and the rest of our look at

news team for sochi twenty four take. on art. well german chancellor angela merkel is proposing to break up the worldwide web by creating a pan-european network she wants to prevent snooping from across the atlantic the move comes after revelations from edward snowden showed that europe has long been a target for u.s. intelligence. and off reports the german chancellor is interested in effectively building up a european communication network to avoid e-mails and other data passing through the united states now it's not a separate internet so to speak but more of a way to prevent e-mails and other data from being harvested by u.s. intelligence agencies now this is just an idea at this point and it is one that merkel will certainly be discussing with the french president when they meet in france on wednesday merkel said also this weekend that she basically just approved of companies like google and facebook basing their operations in countries with low

levels of data protection while being active in countries such as germany where data protection is quite high this is been a very sensitive issue here in germany mr merkel has faced sharp criticism in the wake of the n.s.a. spy scandal for basically failing to take decisive action according to her critics to protect german users from surveillance of internet telecommunications traffic that's alleged to have been conducted by u.s. and british intelligence services it's also of course a personal issue for her to some extent remember that miss merkel's cell phone was reportedly monitored but this idea of all mine traffic effectively bypassing the united states isn't unique to europe in fact brazil along with several international partners is also currently in the process of trying to build an undersea fiber optics communications cable that would do just that it would basically reroute its online traffic directly to europe skipping essentially the u.s. and it's more than just an idea it's

a one hundred eighty five million dollars project construction on which is slated to begin in july and of course in brazil that also does tied by. to revelations that washington had been aggressively spying on brazilian officials including the president since those leaks had been made public brazil had made in terms of community and communications a priority so not just to europe they're trying to find ways to to effectively bypass the united states whether or not those proposals will really amount to any sort of concrete construction or policy changes here in europe of course is a matter of time benjamin sontag a co-founder of the civil civil liberties group do net believes germany should cut its collaboration with the n.s.a. if it wants to protect its citizens. we can see that the new k. the german service is. just here are in front of the services there are colibri believe they are listening to all good decisions they can create

a network specific network in europe it will only be true that will be listened to by just so this is again this is really a political stance and not something that won't to protect the european cities and it's communications the only solution can see if miss make a want to protect the communications of european citizens would be to ask for. from their own services. their services to protect our citizens and to protect companies in europe. still to come in the program the swiss vote to curb immigration sparks a heated debate across the new. people coming up from to your to come from your home i know you don't that's your problem because you don't brochures control your roles as. we have the details of the showdown between brussels and member states over immigration rules ahead of the european parliamentary elections that's up to

the break here on our to international. to what extent being held new down the success self the arab spring depend on the people in their region on the arabs and to what extent it still depends on b. big power brokers. pursued and i doubt that the influence of the outside powers he's getting gets stronger now because of the absence of a major country like egypt but i assure you the area will not be decided by iran by turkey or by russia or by america. in the absence of the read power in this region which is the out of the world.

but no peace deal in sight for syria the violence is increasingly spilling over the borders into neighboring countries lebanon is being hit the hardest sectarian divisions there are now threatening to grow into a full blown civil war. financial reports from behind lebanese rebel lines where to harness are being bred for battle. it. was the syrian conflict rages on neighboring lebanon faces a dramatic increase in sectarian violence in january alone for kabul killed dozens

in beirut and the town of hederman next to the syrian border the targets were a shia areas controlled by hizbollah lebanon's most influential force which also supports syrian president bashar al assad who traveled to the northern city of tripoli a sunni stronghold vehemently opposed in his bella visible in the midst of corners . and it's part by. his bella's military involvement in syria is believed to have given damascus the upper hand in the battle of god and has deeply angered assad's enemies do you think we're going to see more explosions like this while today i dare say. anything i can do for sonny brothers anything i can do for syrian brothers i will do anything i can do for these people suffering from injustice i will do anything he

unkind to affiliated to a new survey front claimed responsibility for these recent deadly bombings just days before a man calling himself an al qaida commander announced via you tube that the group had put down roots in lebanon people we've met her on the ground deny belonging to either of these groups but don't hide the fact that they share their views. no there is no al qaeda as an organization anymore but al qaeda as an idiology and it doesn't need money to spread it spreads by itself everywhere in the world not only in lebanon but in america britain serbia here radical ideas of bread from a young age. fighters hear colin card as bin laden a teacher and their fight jihad when twenty three year old meds returned from syria where he joined the free syrian army he continued his jihad here in lebanon

and. target the district where she'll leave tripoli is divided into sunni and shia parts ironically by the street called syria two years ago we filmed on that street by street in the city of tripoli separates the white and sunni neighborhoods in this part of north running like a merger between those who support the syrian president and his regime and those who want him out today we can't get. cacheris intention was. who do you fight against who is your enemy i am logic would be my fight against them for those those who don't carry that for go far eleven is probably the war spillover of the syrian conflict and while the world is hoping for peace to come back to that middle east country war seems to only spread further on. people here seem to be used to seeing fighters carry sniper rifles through busy markets

they tell us everybody here has a weapon and is ready to fight. it will come to this camp outside you will see every day to raise a look at first told us that it doesn't take well you know someone who is here experiencing become a real fighter. a week's training and you are in for a life time of obedience both are your rules for those who want to become one dr dean you have to forget about money and be ready to die or to be arrested and to accept that no one will take care of you or your family let jihadi flags on the walls weapons on the floor this is the life of a true fighter. it's tough and the rules are strict it was harsh the yard who introduced himself as a tripoli sunni leader says many yous are willing to join. me live from now until i grow up i'm ready to defend myself i'm ready to kill

a whites and syrian army and your agent killed for the other for the. years and while the syrian conflict expands a legion of fighters on to these deadly weapons and an even deadly ideology is on the rise. from lebanon on the u.s. government is going green as we report on our website newly released american regulations to help license marijuana shops deal with banks which have been reluctant to work with controversial businesses read the full story on r t dot com . also online for you ukrainian opposition activists leave the government buildings they've been occupying for weeks yielding to a deadline to an amnesty law can come into force at the latest on the situation in kiev on a website r.t. dot com. moscow is demanding immediate medical treatment for

a russian pilot jailed in america according to his lawyer constantine yarrow shank oh is choking and is apparently extremely close to one heart attack earlier we talked to your wife and she told us her husband has been unable to get decent medical treatment in prison. on purple. has just obtained all the time and finds difficult to breathe earlier this month he suffered from some sort of respiratory illness nobody knew exactly what it was because he wasn't examined he had a high fever and couldn't even get up for three days nobody looked after him and of course it was impossible for him to walk across the entire prison and wait in the line to see a doctor one constant and finally managed to see a prison doctor he complains that he can't move and his coughing was so intense that his inmates couldn't sleep the doctors simply said he could not sleep under a blanket the other day he was given a few pills to counter his fever and that was ruled constantini or shankar was arrested in liberia in two thousand and ten on suspicion of drug smuggling which he

denies he was then flown to the us tried and convicted in it in a new york court and sentenced to twenty years in prison russia called the move a kidnapping and has supported your defense anti-war activist richard becker says the case highlights america's disrespect for basic human rights this is something we've seen repeated over and over again the kind of arrogant attitude washington has toward other countries and particularly to other countries for not. doing what washington wants to dictate to them to do the prisons system in the united states has no terror are notoriously. disregarding of the rights of prisoners even the most fundamental rights including the right to to live in such a land has decided to jeopardize its access to the european single market in favor of backing tougher immigration rules and a nationwide referendum the new legislation invalidates longstanding agreements with brussels causing some high ranking e.u.

officials to call for a reassessment of relations switzerland's parliament has three years to put the referendum result into law a colleague rory sushi discuss the issues with to any peace. the majority voted in favor but look a quarter of people in switzerland were not born in switzerland there were eighty five eighty thousand migrants last year it only has a population of eight million people wages have been driven down this putting pressure on houses the health care system on transport quite frankly is the democratic wish of the swiss people that they want to control their own borders and do for them i wish we could do the same in our own country i see once again shaking your head switzerland's decision to limit the number of foreign workers perhaps the latest example of the growing feeling of nationalism where do you think this trend could be heading luxembourg certified percent of foreigners deliveries it very well because luxembourg is a growing economy growing service sector and you have seen the reaction of service industry today in the us three was upset with this very slight majority

because of the need to end this whole phobia ration is just disgusting. i mean if you have enjoyed your degree i'm here i'm not going to go. out all of. you are a lot of jobs that have been done by the polish well in your. view or your industry is totally different. just a mild death stick a water in a corner where i am i and what i'm on will hold your own and go on firstly let's not use looks embarrassed as an example it's not really a country it's like a small english town the fact there are more people in liverpool where i live than there's no whole of looks let's make one thing clear here we have a million young kids in this country in britain eighteen to twenty four who don't employed who got two point four million people who can't get work it makes no sense

whatsoever to saturate your job market even further by having an open door policy to the whole of the european union what we want to see in britain is we want to. borders with a point to pieces them if you've got the skills that this country needs yes come here where we won't allow to happen it's a people who have eastern your liberal who. are tall enough going to have been better control. coming not from the you are to come from your former and nobody to own your bra you can still brew shoes control. those or at least our guys are going to jump in just over humans we all have to play nice and all of that share our toys joe the introduction of quotas for foreigners would all be create more job opportunities for the swiss themselves i mean that's that's a good thing isn't it every country should choose their future and have their choice about to be have common roots and if you're member of

a club you follow the roots if you don't want to follow the rules then you have to leave the club that's quite simple and every club to it is the same thing. and search for world update here on r t in egypt's restive sinai pylint peninsula at least three south korean tourists and a bus driver have been killed by an explosion officials say the vehicle was traveling from a local monastery to nearby israel when it was attacked more than a dozen other tourists were injured in the incident militants in the region have been increasing their attacks since egypt's president morsi was toppled by the country's military last july. a bomb explosion on a train in southwest pakistan has killed at least eight people and wounded twenty others the blast cost several wagons to deal rail and ethnic separatist groups operating in the area say they carried out the attack. last week the same insurgents blew up three gas pipelines cutting off supplies to millions of homes.

rescue operations continue in south africa to pull a group of thirty illegal miners to the surface they've been trapped in an abandoned gold mine near johannesburg since saturday there still may be as many as two hundred more people underground mining safety is a major concern for south africa which has the world's deepest gold mines are often fought over by rival groups. hundreds of far right protesters marched through lithuania second largest city on independence day chanting lithuania for lithuanians a small counter demonstration was held nearby with some campaigners waving rainbow flags at the nationalist but when it is known for such marches with one court even supporting the use of swastikas during rallies. coming up the former head of the arab league gives his unique insight on the future facing egypt and worlds apart here on our two international.

i did first state of the city address new york mayor bill de blasio said that he would put forward legislation for the city to issue special municipal identification cards to undocumented immigrants he summed up his feelings by saying to all my fellow new yorkers who are undocumented i say new york city is your home too and we will not force any of our residents to live their lives in the shadows yeah that sounds nice but the reason these illegal immigrants live their lives in the shadows is because they immigrated illegally why should new yorkers bend over backwards for illegal criminal immigrants this is the same logic that if i catch a guy breaking into my house as a gracious host i should offer him a pizza because it's his home too this is not just a slap in the face to rule of law but also to the immigrants who do go through the

bureaucracy and headaches to become u.s. citizens the right way the legal way so the blasio if you're going to provide these illegal immigrants with some sort of document it should be a plane ticket back home with instructions on how to apply for a green card the legit proper way just like everyone else asked a fascist my opinion.

oh and welcome to worlds apart it's been three here since the arab spring found that big conventional order in the middle east three years of high hopes and bitter disappointments of peaceful rallies and violent clashes of precarious peace and a full blown war three years on is the middle east closer to democracy that it was before the revolution well to discuss that now i'm joined by the former secretary general of the arab league amr moussa mr melissa thank you very much for your time thank you now three years ago you siding to have the attack for a square protesters calling for political changes in egypt comparing the whole of syria had bags down both for him jeff and for the region as a whole to what has happened since do you now fail proud disappointed i might have

both the. one you call it the arab spring i believe it is a misnomer it is a movement for change it is a revolution against the old order so we have entered the league in the arab world in the middle east. have entered already a new phase in the political life of this region but it is definitely against dictatorship and in favor of democracy now the egypt for example moving according to a road map with a constitution written and approved by the people. the majority of the people we are about to start another phase which is electing the new president and the elected department then. putting an end to the transitional period and go

on and rebuilding the country so it needs time it's not a question of three years and you'll use the word legacy it is too early to talk about legacy it is a process on going process but in toto i believe that this is in paper of the future generations evolution a firm stand against dictatorship it's interesting that you say that because your sound was cautiously optimistic assessment seems to be very different from the one that is often expressed by pro-democracy activists in edge of people like for example. who like many prominent figures and that uprising now finds himself in jail and he just recently a road that quote everything collapsed and that january twenty fifth was exterminated that's what he wrote them he seems to be very.