the giant bear sheds a tear of farewell as the curtain falls on such a twenty fourteen winter games that will go down in history for its remarkable and record breaking performances. ukraine's interim president kick starts a campaign for the top job while the hunt is underway for the country's ousted leader and members of his former ruling party. it's not great you need a bulldozer to push through the consultants from the u.s. and the. western politicians step up their a pilgrimage to crane with the e.u. offering a financial lifeline to win over the new leadership. of iraq obama's attempts to

tame the n.s.a. have apparently failed as reports claim the agency snooped on hundreds of german officials after the president forbid them from spying on the country's chancellor. five him in moscow watching r t with me marina joshie the twenty fourteen winter games in sochi have and in style sixteen days of tough competition were kept with a dazzling closing ceremony our very own and he's now in our team's such a studio was lucky enough to witness the games from start to finish and she takes a bittersweet look back at how it all went. this is sad and it's overwhelming we've seen so many big breaks and heartfelt losses cheers and tears here in sochi over the past weeks a lot of nail biting competitions nerve wrecking races and great performances all

of those are going to go down in olympic history and this great celebration of sport certainly was sealed with a finale to remember you were taken further on a journey through russian culture picking up from the opening ceremony it was a tribute to the russian greats in the arts music and literature and the organizers didn't miss the opportunity to poke a little fun of themselves over the infamous the limbic ring that would open at the start of the games of course the biggest excitement came from russian fans after the host nation searched at the top of the medal count with a total of thirteen goals and a spectacular moment of course to the farewell show was the magnificent fireworks display. as link ceremony there and plenty of olympic moments to remember we've put together our top five sensations of sochi to begin with the dutch they managed to grab eight golds and all of them in speed skating and actually twenty three out of the twenty four

medals they want in sochi were in speed skating and number four a rising star of figure skating seventeen year old nick of a she became the first russian ever to take individual gold in women's figure skating i'm very proud to have won a gold medal at the age of seventeen it's such a great feeling it's about when everything including myself are sensation number three the new russians korean born speed skater victor on he won three golds for his new homeland an american snowboarder vic wild when married to siberia and join russia as the olympic team to become one of the gold medalist i didn't have any good for the united states and that was a good to reach to go. that i wanted. to share was an opportunity to get people's. person station number two is norwegian biathlete all that are born die then he became the most decorated winter olympian of all time

a great performance for his sixth and final winter games and of course the top stop goes to team russia for their overall performance of the host nation making a victorious comeback from the vancouver games and making it to the top of the medal table at home with thirteen gold medals thirty three overall. she has also welcomed usual competitors to for them it was not about taking the podium but about enjoying the games and making everyone else happy and inspired artist paul scott has more on those athletes with a difference. for some athletes so she twenty fourteen was simply about taking part take for example indian illusia she can shave in his commitment to his sports highlighted by his training regime winding his way down dusty tracks by passing jokes and lorries along the way. my wife's insight yes he may have come thirty seven thousand and thirty nine with the him it was more

state following accusations of corruption the indian and limpid committee were suspended by the i.o.c. in two thousand and twelve was lifted during these games meaning can shave and could finally compete under his nation's fly unfortunately there's a lot of politics played with the flag of india which i'm sure many people back home we're not happy with but that's over think that's a lesson learned for everybody. sort of thing this is. one of the more colorful characters of these games was prince you purchase of hohenlohe in london the fifty five year old is a descendant of a former german royal delisting he's also a way photographer the pop star who goes by the name of royal disaster. these are his sixth olympics the jewel nationality skis for mexico he's never won a medal for the maybe deserves gold for p.r.

i think of russia the only problem that he had this thing should have hired a p.r. person like me to be a bit of p.r. before i mean you know it's a great thing they will want the full ten years before everything is really. the issue that just got a positive from my over to europe and to america that we're so negative it's time to make his debut in these games you know banani went in the luge to tell his real name mind as part of a sponsorship deal he changed his name to the german underwear company but he told me he wants to be known for his sporting prowess if i didn't qualify for their lives they wouldn't care at all what names i am so i think is the most important thing that i try hard in training hard to get to delhi. and is any winter olympics complete without the jamaican bobsled the main attraction for pressure and. raising their own funds to compete missing a connecting flight losing their luggage on coming second last still didn't dampen their party spirit proving that in amongst all the sporting excellence there is

still room for sports to be fun. such as. the sochi olympics are broken lots of records and it's not just sports we're talking about almost half of the planet was watching these games at some point with at least three billion viewers and talking about fans they set a surprising sound record with their vocal cords during one of victor and speed skating races but the cheers reaching one hundred ten decibels and here's another record quite an unexpected one thirty four babies were born in sochi on the day of the opening ceremony the city's highest single daily total of newborns ever such a games will also go down in history for the weather becoming the warmest winter olympics in. history we're certainly not complaining there's been lots of sunshine enough snow the olympics of course officially over we're left with a lot of things to look back at but we're also looking forward to the paralympic games starting in less than two weeks and earlier i had

a chance to talk to the man who was in charge of making sure everything went like clockwork in sochi now that the olympic flame is alledged shared with r.t. his personal feelings about his project. the biggest achievements probably for us for russians as a nation. the best games ever in the history of my country obviously of us that we obtain the confidence that russia is capability to deliver ambitious project and the most important decide that the gold that we generated to historical legacy for the generations to come well i have the games as you know russia has come under a lot of criticism so how do you feel about those reports i mean how the in any way overshadowed the games you know it's impossible to shadow the truth we were in the brick itself this types from the cold war and now it was broken everybody who came and witnessed this. fish and transpire in

a way hospitable they really changed from the criticism to the cover and the real positive things a looking at the object of infrastructure that have been created in the city had all the games what can you tell us about how they are going to be used in diffuse the future of my native city of sochi is very bright the plan for the legacy it's all these very well. with the money allocated to maintain in the event is but the most important. events place where host in a couple of months forced into formula one the race in four months and no more to come in the walled ball championships so sure in the from the ordinary soviet summers or to the all the year round international sports and laser convention vista nation now bidding

a hard sell good bye to the winter olympics we asked you to submit your highlights and feel good moments of the games to our facebook page and thanks for sharing your such moments with us. no surprise you picked russian gold in the ladies' figure skating there and some were also impressed by the national teams for a while others selected the sublime performance by a russian figure skating rupie and limping darling yulia that needs gap and in just under twenty minutes time kate partridge will be bringing a much more in detail drowned out of all the winter olympic action. right from the sea. first street. and i would think that you're. on our reporters very.

or ukraine's interim leader has announced the start of campaigning for what he insists will be a fair and transparent presidential election with the country's ousted leader a victory on the college placed on the wanted list by the opposition for what they call the mass murder of peaceful citizens his once powerful party of regions has also been taking a battering. seventy four officials have already withdrawn from the party saying they fear reprisals and the names of some members wanted for questioning have reportedly been circulated to airports and vehicles are being stopped and searched on the roads around the capital and while the new leadership considers banning the party altogether some of those trying to speak out for the former government are being gad. question we still say yes sure yes but they still dearly hope

for the soul of. this footage shows a protester who was earlier doused with the septic when he tried to voice court for the ousted president viktor in a cottage in the western ukraine city of rob now the political tensions in kiev are showing no signs of dying down there are now reports freedom democracy independence as mind on hayles won't be downing of the dictator and mourns those killed in kiev a city or street battles perhaps the way certain groups of the opposition have been acting can hardly be called democratic around five hundred offices of the now ex ruling party have been burned down those with a different political stance or physically attacked inside the parliament most of those which are right now it's more about emotions rather than political rivalry the most important thing right now is to prevent all parties from being bound completely because then the situation would lose all legitimacy. the president has fled the capital saying a coup has been carried out while the parliament passes new laws as fast as

a printing press. taking down officials and appointing their old political rivals including putting the right wing hardliners in government posts. from the nationalists the party taking charge of the prosecutor general's office. it's just . a new regime is taking shape really quickly and with the use of strong measures it has nothing to do with democracy because those coming to power will go on with pursuing. policies and they will conduct massive expansion of the eastern territories. among the first laws adopted the banning of russian as the second official state language despite nearly fifty percent of those living in the east of ukraine being ethnic russians the public is stalled from now on the right wing is going to be heavily present in ukraine's law enforcement at the moment the situation in kiev is basically controlled by radical people with with arms

who are pursuing a very very militant agenda which is a political course i think he is an utterly discredited man he cut deals with opposition leaders who were quite obviously since the nineteenth of january no longer in control of the crowds and here there are reports that foreign journalists have been promoting different values from the rebels have now been put onto a wanted list as well as trying to temporarily ban russian t.v. channels many are now raising the question if this is the type of democracy so many ukrainians put their lives on the line for. key of. meanwhile the e.u.'s foreign policy chief catherine ashton is set to meet ukraine's new interim leadership following europe's pledge to provide the embattled state of with twenty billion euros once a new government is formed and the international monetary fund has also confirmed its commitment to support kids floundering economy former soviet leader mikhail

gorbachev says the west has long since crossed the line when it comes to meddling in ukraine's affairs. move move you know don't really have you seen what's going on there it's outrageous you need a bulldozer to push all the consultants from the u.s. and the e.u. . they should let the people decide for themselves issuing recommendations to nations is unacceptable we shouldn't somebody. both sides need to head to the negotiating table and took one month or six months if needed to come to an agreement eventually. well stay away that are to international and we are closely following the developments in iran ukraine for here and can also find a timeline of the crisis and minute by minute reports online at r.t. dot com. meanwhile coming out here on our teen or national with scotland's independence referendum looming britain faces the prospect of losing the

union jack. by the end of the said. so many things would have to be changed. r.t. asks britain's how they would feel about saying goodbye to the iconic national flag . transit route to vnukovo report your best way to the heart of most.

well the british sign it's time to write. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy cars report. back to watching our team international rock obama's recent ban on monitoring angela merkel's communications a force to address a deterrent to other sources for european data reports say the agency has switched to spying on hundreds of german officials including the interior minister are just listed off and it has a details from berlin. the national security agency was allegedly monitoring three

hundred twenty eight people here in germany mostly politicians also business leaders and this is according to a german newspaper here built which says it's info comes from a high ranking n.s.a. employee here in germany now that source was quoted as saying the agency had the order not to miss out on any information and that the n.s.a. is no longer able to monitor the chancellor's communications directly the interior minister a close confidant of miss merkel was also allegedly watched as well as several firms such as s a p a competitor of the us company oracle this allegation was rejected by the u.s. national security council spokeswoman who said that the united states did not spy to give american firms competitive advantages the german interior ministry so far refusing to comment on what it called allegations of unnamed individuals but this is of course bound to make things quite difficult for on the merkel keep in mind

revelations last year about mass u.s. surveillance in germany in particular of miss merkel's mobile phone had shocked this country sparking some of the most serious disputes between the two allies in a decade as a result we've seen a tougher stance here the german chancellor now pushing for a european communications network and also pushing for a so-called no spy deal with washington the german foreign minister is due to visit the u.s. on thursday but he has said that he has doubts that such a deal would have very much of an effect well and a region man has reportedly been arrested and charged with terrorism after returning home from the syrian war national media say he's accused of fighting alongside jihad is and this comes as oslo officials reveal dozens of people have left their home country for the syrian frontlines. and western analysts estimate that at least two thousand volunteers from across europe are involved in the syrian conflict around seven hundred of them are from france according to the french

government which says it's deeply worried about the tran meanwhile some two hundred fifty british citizens have recently returned from the war in london now considers them a potential home grown terror threat security allis tahlia lewis says european governments are unable to stop their radicalization of their citizens. whether they are in syria might get into and be coming into contact with people very proud to cool i do with. the network. that is very closely aligned you know which you have zero chance of worry and. agenda on the jewels of. the history means some the capacity and knowledge to actually carry out attacks realistically of a different capacity is that the system the legal framework that exists it can't be completely stopped some countries have tried to make it illegal to do to join this

for it in syria but it's very difficult to gather evidence and to prosecute so they try to you know cooperation among the various intelligence services also in the region to try to stop at least some of them a moment or in their activities of man much of this activity goes on i think both sides of the remainder of the intelligence services now moscow court has handed down sentences to eight opposition activists ranging from a suspended sentence to four years in jail. the were earlier found guilty of attacking police during a mass anti-government rally in the russian capital in may twenty twelve prosecutors were first requesting jail terms from five to six years initially there were twelve to famines in the case but four people were recently released under an amnesty you know while outside the courtroom police detained roughly two hundred people were rallying in support of the defendants. oh. and

more news now from around the world. rain a funeral procession for an anti-government campaigner has turned violent activists through molotov cocktails at police after the reportedly interrupted the ceremony and attacked mourners for reform demonstrations in bahrain have been ongoing since twenty one and with thousands protesting against the sunni monarchy. three people were killed including two children when a grenade exploded and then to government rally in bangkok over twenty more were injured as leaders of the protest movement blamed the authorities for the attack island's prime minister has condemned the incident as an act of terrorism and defied calls for her resignation and more than twenty people have died in the opposition demonstrations that have been raging for the past four months. the german fire ride group has marked the anniversary of the bombing of the city of four times by the british air force during the second world war the commemoration

sparked an angry response from left wing parties or a thousand people showed up to protest against the new nazis and more than twenty were injured when police used pepper spray and clubs to keep the sides apart. is that israel or one of president maduro as most outspoken critics has engaged in an armed standoff with army officers who came to arrest him general of us who is accused of masterminding a trap that killed a government order students ground with an assault rifle. he refused to surrender you officers were then chased away by supporters at a government rallies across the country left up to ten dead violent clashes over the past few weeks. gas magnets may claim fracking is safe but as we reported line the wall put up with that and he were near their holdings in the controversy sparked by a statement from x. and c.e.o. at our t.v.

dot com. plus internet giant google claims robots will eventually be able to understand us better we understand ourselves we get to the bottom of that futuristic forecast on our website r t v dot com. now of all the many things that britain stands to lose if scotland breaks away in september's independence referendum giving up the union jack will arguably be the most kinley felt and some have already begun to revision a flag that's been a cherished symbol of national identity for over two centuries are just laura smith asked long the nurse what they think about the new designs. the campaigns on both sides of the scottish independence debate a hosting opp the factions have until september to sell their idea of how the union should look going forwards westminster says an independent scotland would lose the pound but hardly anyone seems to be talking about something even more simple legs

at the rest of the u.k. could lose if scotland declared independence the union jack scotland's represented on the flag by the blue background and diagonal white cross but if scotland left the u.k. might have to get back old these flags would become obsolete and replaced with balls the u.k. charity the flag institute has moped tops and suggestions so let's see what people think that's the noise she's looking when i see. who's got the kingdom so the current states who are king. no is to find she that one. some of these are my favorite british one ok and what what you think of the idea what you think the concept in general would have to do what is going to more. tax and everything so i don't want to change i suppose it makes more sense i mean that's one point of having a show in there of an impartial b.k. anymore that's quite attractive. she should could you show our flag you know be

difficult for people to have any change really yeah i mean i'd be sad. so many things would have to be changed. it really was that the many. you know the union jacks enjoyed a resurgence in recent years becoming an iconic brand again appearing on everything from high fashion to soft furnishings it would be haute for britain to discard it and indeed there are no firm plans to change it even if scotland does declare independence. alex salmond might do well to bear the flag in mind as this war of words save a scotland gets dirtier and. well k. thanks jill with all the sporting highlights from sochi.

judy cox a utah mother out of spite but an entire line of t. shirts at a popular chain store at her local mall the reason that she bought them was because she feels that the images of nearly naked women on them violate her local towns decency code she wants to make it clear though that she feels the store has the right to sell this type of shirt just not displayed in an exterior window ultimately her plan is to return the shirts on day fifty nine of the store's sixty limit let's hope for her sake they don't have a no return policy i bring this up because this is a great example of a nonviolent form of protest that actually works cause the scandal and more importantly it will make the company lose a few dollars technically the girls on the shirts aren't even fully exposed believe me i checked thoroughly and i would even call them r. rated the local communities have the right to be more conservative than the rest of the nation if they want to be and it's good that judy cox actually did something rather than just sitting at home on the air complaining about moral decay across the country if a housewife from

a small mormon community could stand up to the man what's stopping you but that's just my opinion. i think that in all of these areas where you have the rise of what is called the new right there was dissatisfaction with with left wing keep. my friends seem to be aware of how widespread this agenda he is and having spent the last forty years and in an academic lunatic asylum i assure you that. in many many quarters of american life. i was in academia for a while i managed to get a straight jacket as well a dime's let me go ahead jump in london yeah i mean i think spending time in the lunatic asylums is kind of affected his you know thinking a little. the point is that in the u.k. he actually across europe values have changed cultural values have changed more

broadly to become much more tolerant much more open much more liberal and space even in the united states. hello and welcome to the r t sports special all the news from a number of all final day at the winter olympics with me kate partridge plus the pick of the week's top sport and here's a taste of what's to come. good bye to some russia's maiden winter olympics close with another ceremony as the host country celebrates finishing top of the medal table with a record holder of thirty three. swedish testers rushed off set to face the slots and even have a break and sweden as the group draw for euro twenty sixteen takes place at a star studded ceremony in front. while

buying muni go nineteen points clear at the top of the bundesliga forty seven games on beaten with a cornell trial. and top gear formula one start run grow zhang talks testing rule changes and next season all sorts he prepares to turn from olympic venue to russia's first f one track. but first let's turn to sort of the way russia said goodbye to their maiden winter olympics with a spectacular closing ceremony after a string final day of sporting action to finish top of the table with thirty three medals and we have more on that so let's hear from our correspondent richard engel of late. well we'll have more well here lol yeah it was a fun time state games for. i.m.h.o. .