the day's top news in the round up of the week's headlines here on r.t. it's a big day for the big games as saw two twenty fourteen braces for the closing ceremony there's still plenty of drama left at the top of the medal table we'll be bringing you all the highlights in just a minute. to watch them transform the deadly battles in kiev lead to the worst political crisis ukraine has seen with the opposition taking control of parliament in moves the president calls a coup also. fingerprints all over the current chaos and. fears that putin is study fleeing ukraine and russia rhetoric takes center stage in western coverage of events in ukraine this point the fact that you and the u.s. politicians who are the most frequent visitors during the protests.

and darts investigates the reasons behind the number of suicides among senior bankers to find out what could have pushed them to the edge. live from the heart of the russian capital this is artsy ensor national with me. welcome to the program it's sunday and the final day of the salt you winter olympics in russia the home team have excelled now topping of the leader table as you can see there there are still medals up for grabs norway is hard on russia's heels well it's over to our soldiers studio now for all the latest action.

it's a decisive final day for the russian team indeed two golds and a bronze on saturday and here in sochi you can feel that like never before thousands of fans here and all those watching around the world know that it all hangs in the balance even a hundredth of a second could deprive russian athletes of first place in the overall count in norway of course is not a team to underestimate when it comes to skating but for the host nation it's now or never to come out on top of the sochi games but now cross lives are andrew farmer he's in the mountain cluster about their chances wow andrew what a night it was for the russian team sportscasters almost jumping out of their boxes there. that's right and what a phenomenal we have today because russia has produced its best performance ever at a winter olympics in two decades and that means that going into the final day it is now choked with the medals type of the big question is can it stay dead and the

answer is yes he can if russia's men can win this morning's cross country skiing but if norway wins that and there's a good chance that could happen norway would then go top of the michael stipe but russia could regain top spot if it damn won the form. of the new nick carter lead through alexander to call for his team with so you runs their facilities exciting no one ever predicted this never mind the russians and he said. amazing stuff there but even if russia doesn't finish on top and two of this medals table they must be delighted with how things have gone so far especially after what we saw in vancouver four years ago. not sure what to say they would be delighted i think would be an understatement because as you say four years ago they produced their worst ever performance at a winter in. i think they came away from vancouver the poultry three gold medals

like more than triple that this time the reason is that there is a huge mike to vancouver it was a huge. personality sporting pages came in they also built fantastically facilities for their athletes and my they are reaping the rewards but whatever happens today you have to say these games have been record breaking from start to finish. the longest ever told igniting the most expensive the most compact and one of the most watched winter olympics in you. again stunning backdrops gripping stories of heartbreak and joy and the on a daily basis russia's red machine taking seconds to light up a nation's heart then deflating it days later with a quarter final exit. russian figure skaters left the world

with a veteran and a youngster helping them grab the seventeen goals but hopes of move glory buckled under a bad back in media hype heat on tiny shoulders the need for another star to sparkle and shine and take her country in fans to new a limp a kite the ups and downs came thick and fast. and so did new russians an american who married a siberian sped to snowboarding gold for the hosts korean slipped to glory in short track repaying the faith of his new adoptive country. these just some of the amazing hollywood like stories such as produced to keep millions chained in world wide and should be remembered long after the olympic flame finally goes over the black sea. and. so.

well the winter games have been full of unexpected victories and surprising disappointments and you get a test tell us what were the most memorable for you go to our page on facebook to post your ideas and remember fails on tough luck moments are also a part of a live pick history you can also share your opinion on twitter with the hash tag my sochi moments the best will be read out during our special coverage of the closing ceremony later today so here we are the last day of the olympics and there's some fantastic competition lined up like we heard all the excitement and emotion of the games carried right to the closing ceremony for you tonight will be here on our t.v. so stay with us for that. the g. twenty four team promise is the ultimate in the exhilarating winter and. joining us now a make over though is the first of all of these teams for sochi twenty four take.

on it. and we can sit here with other news now it's been the most turbulent week ukraine has seen in its modern history and less than seven days the capital of this eastern european country has gone through fire smoke and deadly clashes and scenes resembling a medieval battlefield then the police withdrew kiev fell into the hands of rioters and the opposition practically took over power and artsy crew has been right at the epicenter throughout including a look see at a ski who recaps it all for us now. all hell was breaking loose in kiev on tuesday compromise with seemingly reached all of a sudden ukraine's capital was plunged into the worst violence is seen so far almost two hundred dead the central streets of one of europe's finest cities looking like a war zone and snipers shooting from the rooftops including our group what we have now is that you have radical elements that we have read. many

times there which is somehow here and that driven by especially as we see using snipers and so on and which is not controlled neither by the opposition either by the west directly so everything went out of control just two days later it was a totally different scene to the president make the biggest concessions yet by offering an early election to an opposition led government and a return to bollywood free republic there were twenty four of the protests didn't buy it was still. there if the president does not resign by tunisia. i swear. by ten o'clock on saturday they were has nothing left to storm or the police were gone and the ruling party had completely lost control over the capital so this is the presidential administration building which used to be the probably the most protected governmental building in the whole of the of the biggest fight in the first stages of the protest happened here now as you can see

we are taking on an excursion that is no longer controlled by the police or the government the protesters have occupied this building as well this means that we see on the court which will never be back here as a protest the president made a hasty retreat to the east of ukraine and was stoutly defiant even after receiving news that cease to recognize him as needed my overwhelming majority and announced an early election decisions to the police who do all that is happening now which is the most part is than the easement crimes this is my strong believe that i will do everything to. prevent my country from splitting up blood should it went from bad to worse together for which with parliament leaving historic or will you go from prison sparking jubilation on the ground in square. she dreamt of seeing you as a force changed everything your heroes your is the best of this country has protesters are in high spirits. of the country are seeing different its leaders have the

governance and constitutional power. of a permanent break up in the country and they're. reporting from kiev ukraine now and here's a map to give you an idea just how much of ukraine is opposed to a change of leadership in the capital now the southeast here is made up all the time regions and it's home to a half of the country's population are sees many half a notion not gauges exactly where this part of the country stands in the face of what's been dubbed a coup. a nation turning team russia from is it starting today local authorities are in charge of all political decisions on the ground in these regions we have to protect our land should the sewers use of ukraine's eastern and southern regions gathers and how to perform emergency session and decided that they no longer take orders from kiev while in the capital parliament declare that these people must be brought to justice as separatists we think that the central authorities are

paranoid and that their decisions cannot be considered constitutional what happened in kiev left a local population base divided and dissolution and many fear that radicals from the capital could bring violence in their wake but others condemned the president's agreement with the opposition colonnade surrender. i'm shocked and disgusted by the actions of a president that i never thought he'd ever betray the craning people i thought that he'd hold on to the end of the opposition views which any minority here sounds surprisingly similar not the stalwart but we are fed up with our government we no longer consider your president as a party of regions or a bunch of thieves after deadly clashes in the key of things are heating up here too the man is quickly surrounded by those who don't share his opinion in the workplace is back that he came here from the capitals my have done rallies and i want to bring violence with him and then tries to assure everyone here that

hillary's one hundred girls have been really sorry just for the repeal of today's rally in the center of heart of brought together both supporters although sources and the opposition and was quite close call but here which recently became a symbol of players for many ukrainians and a source of great fear is less than five hundred kilometers away and no one can guarantee that its mood of and will not spread here results not seen from a lot of in eastern ukraine. a clear example of the division the new crane is how returning police officers were received and sound their new crane while leaders of the opposition are praising the rioters for the coup in kiev all the parts of ukraine are remembering those who support cyclops and order. officers who were given a hero's welcome by crowds of care and well wishers that had been sign says

reinforcements to help quell the violence in the protests that self in the capital much less well supports in southeastern part of the country with people they're hearing a rise of radical movements up to twenty policemen were reportedly killed in here when they went against where you can armed with just shields and batons. while many experts have been highlighting the roles the e.u. and the u.s. have played in ukraine's armrest but for most western media it's been the russian president's hand that's been there all along blaming russia for all the bad things happening in ukraine has become the main theme of mainstream coverage that's despite the fact that the prize the distance himself from the situation from the own sides are seasoned as the settled can explain. the blame game the west should mean stream media play and repeat as if hell bent finger prints all over the current chaos and the. deadly appetite government clashes in kiev have turned into yet another reason to obsess over. russian coverage of ukraine fits

a larger picture of the american media having cold war attitudes about russia he doesn't represent anything except. for an authoritarian state this a drumbeat they have marched to for decades to blame for everything. from the threat of terrorism to. the media are determined to criticize one man as if possessed the united states is looking to propagandize the population. as much as possible in making russia and specifically putin into the enemy never mind the fact that putin is essentially on the outside looking in especially considering the fact that they have tremendous financial investment on the line in ukraine actual facts have left the building contacts and in-depth analysis of our brushed aside it appears that putin is stifling ukraine not reported. why do they have to choose why can't we go in it's time economically and europe

that was rejected by the west instead it's headlines like these that are taking center stage then again superficial attention grabbing and hate driven media coverage is familiar especially when it involves events so far from the u.s. and so close to russia most americans who are in the media don't know anything about the ukraine they don't know much of anything about former countries that were part of the soviet union i don't think the american press including me has even accurately reported the latter mehr putin highly questionable as a battle of words aimed at one target trucks accuracy in the western media just as you took it out r t new york earlier we spoke to and civil activists brian backer who explained why he thinks russia is not the masterminds but the most likely targets of the hit in the behind the ukrainian crisis the united states and nato

and the together are using their combined forces to signal these demonstrators that we are with you and of course that emboldens them and john kerry and the e.u. in the nato leadership in the obama administration are neck deep in now a plan to carry out gene change in this extremely important part of europe trying to integrate a former soviet republic into the e.u. and of course into nato ultimately i think the united states government is playing a dirty game with other dirty game there. trying to do what they've been doing for the last twenty years which is to incorporate all of the former socialist countries in the eastern and central european bloc those that were aligned with the soviet union into an american western nato sphere of influence and you can see that it's going systematically and ukraine is a big prize it's a big country with a very big military and it's right on russia's border it's part of a new cold war against russia as well as political chaos reigns in ukraine the

country's economy is more fragile than ever russia is suspending its bailout payments on so a new government is formed and the international monetary fund has also said it's unclear who to talk to about providing financial aid their concerns are understandable as some of the protest leaders have of the serpent record and there are fears such people could end up in power now let's take alexander for example he's the leader of a far right nationalist party in western ukraine which of course played a key part in taken over kiev now he's long been a member of the ultra nationalist movements that's the spied me in the ukrainian citizen during the traction war and he went to the caucasus to fight against russian forces alongside the terrorists he's openly boast that he personally hit several tanks and armored vehicles russian media believe he was responsible for the slaughter of a group of marines he's also notorious for his criminal activity and is believed to

have been behind in assets nation attempts on his business partner and spent several years in prison for kidnapping this point this record them was that skull run for parliament just a couple of years ago and he's also known for national statements like this one as long as the blood runs through my veins all fights against the communists and as you can see there once again this person is now a leader of the protestors not sick over the ukrainian capital. well we'll be keeping you updated on the turbulent situation in ukraine throughout the day on air and online are websites r t dot com and there's also arts what have feet. and we'll have more news for you after a short break so do stay with us. as

a fellow when i close my eyes i see people. you know sometimes i think that. there's a face covered by. the people in both sides of the barricades with you. sometimes it feels as if all of ukraine. it's a. pleasure

to have you with us here on t.v. today i'm wrong researcher. this is our c ensor national live with the twenty four hours a day now with the african consonance increasingly in the sights all of the u.s. hundreds of millions of dollars are being pumped into its military presence there now let's take a look at this map american military bases are already spread across the continents with the main outposts in the north of somalia drones and thousands of soldiers are being poured into africa with the pensacola citing its fights against rising extremist groups bots as it sees policy reports that maybe some other agenda behind the military boost. hundreds of millions of american dollars are flowing into

africa as the pentagon upset spending on the continent there's plenty of war materials here nigeria a case in point the west african nation is america's fourth largest supplier of crude oil accounting for eleven percent of all u.s. oil imports they have made a lot of investment and they have invested so much in the oil sector and they need to protect that and that believes rafsanjani is the real reason for u.s. troop expansion in africa not to bring democracy not to help the local populations but to protect american interests and justify the reasons for being here the governess in syria. to you know the collapse of. you know accountability. and of course you know dubai is. different it's a show you kind of make up a crisis in the country. you know it is to me it in terms of american part of

policy reasons to actually come into nigeria africa is dotted with u.s. bases and a growing constellation of small american drone outposts camp limb or near north of somalia has been america's main facility on the continent for nearly a decade it houses about four thousand military and civilian personnel but at the end of last year it was forced to stop flying drones in the area after a string of crashes and growing anger from locals problem is u.s. forces are getting stretched very thin they're being tasked with missions that will be on their numerical logistics capability right now and the danger when they're going to go forward and. do conflicts expand and all the next thing you know the troops and money to sustain these missions. u.s.

secretary of state john kerry says it is happening in africa so exciting overall and we are really deeply. engaged. the president. has instructed us to really try to. light our fire under our efforts throughout the but what's not so exciting is the growth of jihadists and groups across the continent thousands of american soldiers are gearing up for missions as part of the pentagon's new strategy to train and advise african militaries to deal with the threat it's not impressing those who live here. the americans or feel to combat terrorism in afghanistan or anywhere else and the same will happen here in west africa it's likely that their presence even bring the terrorists to go for the president this is calculation saying well this will be a good friend of the united states maybe attract some investment or strengthen my security forces that from the point of view of the senegalese people we risk losing

on. a number of african leaders have expressed concern about the potential militarization of the continent fearful that america's expanding presence will bode badly for africa and her people. r.t. . lined up for you online fall in alle in space might not be a problem in the future as the scientists working on the so-called the robo doc capable of performing even complicated surgery on cosmic travelers find out the full story on artsy dot com. plus homemade pride tell you why america has been forced to purchase its flags from china but now says the time has come to produce the stars and stripes on home ground. a string of suicides has shaken the financial world five senior bank executives have killed themselves all within one week our correspondents are silly i investigates what may

lie behind that there are threats. there are untimely deaths grabbed headlines three of which happened within a week be it the big investment banks they worked for the senior positions they held the public nature of their deaths or all three once again it raised questions . about the industry largely blamed for bringing the global economy to its knees and a two thousand and eight financial crisis michael taylor a former goldman sachs bond salesman who calls himself a recovering banker knew this world well it's so extraordinarily competitive and so focused profit above all on so transactional that every moment like pressure turns carbon into diamonds you know extreme pressure can both accelerate human achievement and some cases break people the pressure and calling the shots the form of banking we've got at the moment has no interest in the papal it affects. because

in a sense and legally responsible to investors and stockholders you make a moral decisions without thinking about the impact that it has on the people job losses people losing their home and so on and so forth pressure to rake in profits or the pressure to put in more hours than your peers after the spate of recent deaths big firms did try to ease tensions by telling their junior staff to take more time off or at least to try not to work on weekends it's kind of a disconnect between how they have the weekend off will also make us a ton of money and ultimately making a ton of money is what's going to keep you around so now you strike me as a real solution you're a sly and spent a year demystifying bankers interviewing dozens of fine us workers on the condition of anonymity the degree to which bankers are trapped has been really a really important finding i think we keep on projecting this idea on bankers as monsters of the universe but we have everything we want but if you look at their

actual life they can be fired in five minutes this is a deeply dysfunctional and ought to be abusive system so there's this real taboo in banking like the army. to own up to one soldier but it. does or so you r.t. london. up next that's the story of the confrontation from both sides of the barricades in kiev to stay with us.

transit through to vnukovo report your best way to the hearts of most. recently swiss voters nearly passed a referendum to put a strict quota back on immigration switzerland is a relatively small country and some estimate that almost a quarter of the population is made up of immigrants from e.u. countries that is a lot of people and the swiss are worried that the increased foreigners will also mean increased crime rent prices burd the state and erode traditional local culture as modern immigration almost always does the swiss population's democratic choice to restrict immigration is next with being blasted by the e.u. brass what threats to cancel bilateral agreements how dare you have a different version of democracy than we in the you have switzerland how dare you i don't think this event will have much effect on the e.u. bureaucratic machine nothing could make them change their hyper liberal minds but i think the swiss anti immigration referendum will have

a huge effect on local populations of countries like germany and the u.k. which are seeing horrible effects of open borders and growing anti e.u. sentiment as i speak i don't like to make predictions by i think a lot of disenfranchised people across the e.u. are going to become quite jealous of the swiss move and demand the same type of changes at home but that's just my opinion. right on the seat. in the first row. and i think that you're. on a reformist twitter. and instagram. could be in the. on off.

when i close my eyes i see people in mosques with them talking to them but people are member best of all of the combat types and they're all wearing masks. sometimes i think that you are my gun itself is a face covered by a mosque was. just on me but if there are people in mosques on both sides of the barricades and you know sometimes the scene is that it feels as if all of ukraine is no mosque. yeah i'm from shia islam lived here all my life i have two children and a wife you know i love very much yeah it's interesting i want to say it because it's real history taking shape right before my eyes like what's happening now.