what international house. every green lower told in talk of. the new exodus iraq's christian community shrinks as thousands are displaced in the face of growing violence and the willingness of security forces to protect them. we are shooting with our missile defense because of the threat we face from iran from the soviet union and frequent bloopers by u.s. politicians hoping to democracy across the world only served to doubts over their expertise in global affairs was. going to the north so where is the number of populations over the age of sixty five to find out how pensioners here are coping with everyday problems a look at the heavy burden of all days in russia's provinces in our series.

nine am here in moscow this is r t welcome to the program now violence and intimidation have forced hundreds of thousands of iraqi christians to flee their home what experts view them as one of the biggest victims of the two thousand and three u.s. led invasion with a minority group a continued target of extremists sebastian meyer reports that every night miriam gets ready for bed with her family but it's not her bed it's not even her house miriam and her family are christian iraqis who have been forced to flee from baghdad to the semi autonomous kurdish region because they become targets of extremist groups in the country in two thousand and seven miriam was hit by a bomb that was planted outside her house the lack i'm going to put my arm just to buy some chocolate and come back i went out and didn't see anything i just heard the bomb and i fell to the ground i mean. it was lying in the street with her foot

dangling from her leg her father i had rushed outside. i saw my daughter lying like a groans it was eleven. my daughter was lying me growing and people were running on shouting everything was covered in dust and charges last so i picked up my daughter with her leg dangling i almost lost it i was shaking my daughter's gaited she's been hit by a bomb. luckily i had was able to get her to a doctor who could repair her leg but others have not been so lucky in october last year fifty six people were killed by militants when they attacked the our lady of salvation church in baghdad in the following weeks dozens more were killed in attacks across the country many fear that eventually christians will be driven out of iraq completely of the eight hundred thousand christians in the country before two thousand and three almost half of fled in the past month alone four thousand

have moved to the comparative safety of the northern kurdish region here they can worship and live in peace but in leaving their homes they've lost absolutely everything many like miriam's father and are forced to make a living cleaning toilets in bars and restaurants these women said i served for seven years in the military under saddam hussein i'm an iraqi christian and i don't have a square switch of land in my name why what's my crime many in the church feel that countries in the west are responsible. americans are liars we don't trust their reputation is terrible because everywhere that they have light and us train the sunni and shia and they just watch while they kill it is impossible not to see all these murders and they don't get him. it's the end of a long day and time for the family to go to bed everyone gets ready and eventually the lights are switched off in the darkness and uncertainty miriam and the rest of

her family are left to dream about and hope for a better tomorrow sebastian meyer r t so i'm in the iraq. and still ahead for you this hour people leaving a different country for an entirely different reason. if you wait he has one of the highest levels of every great should it be you many of the young people who i've spoken to here say they see their future employment beyond the borders of country we explore why one baltic nation is in the grip of a dangerous braintree that's a few minutes time. now a fresh wave of anti-government rage is sweeping across egypt as labor unions and state media joined the popular rebellion well the country's embattled regime has responded with threats and an ultimatum warning the protestors of dire consequences state run television and newspapers change sides virtually overnight backing the demonstrators but the government also lashed out at the u.s.

expressing its anger and frustration with washington betrayal of its longtime ally president hosni mubarak it comes amid allegations that america turned a blind eye on rampant corruption and human rights abuses for decades sara flounders from the international action center says that there was little the u.s. would not tolerate in return for mubarak's loyalty. well it's hardly surprising that it's coming out now but this is thirty years of absolute corruption and every u.s. corporation that did business in egypt and of course the u.s. military the cia they own knew that mubarak was their man in other words for payoffs he was willing to be a traitor to his own people who have ended up impoverished egypt underdeveloped in infrastructure in educational standards in employment for its young people and yet you know barak one of the richest men in the world and not only mubarak his whole

regime is for all this goes for silly monaco's for the generals the security apparatus every one of them are in on the take. and it's a well known fact it's known very well by the people of egypt just how corrupt it is and how much they have lost it's also true poor and working people here in the us need to know what it means when u.s. corporations and the u.s. government supports a dictator like this giving billions of dollars in aid again and again and it's money that goes both to mubarak and it goes to military contractors right here and never to the people of egypt. in an exclusive interview r.t. spoke to the secretary general of the arab league a mare mohamed morsi who says that the unrest in egypt is just the beginning of a region wide a people the arab world is in a state of change in a mood to change in

a mood of change with different degrees of change and different interpretations of the word change but in general i depend of the day it is a change everyone is feeling for the. demonstrations as a as it can be reduced to preventing the history perhaps not only. history of nations but it is an uprising of the people and by the people. it is new in this part of the world it happened and some countries before but this intensity. well you can always find more analysis on the developing egyptian crisis on our website that's r t dot com and online for you now trouble in egypt is likely to bring horrible consequences for the u.s. find out why in our blog from american expert and religious conflicts jake deliberate oh keep track of the latest developments of this and other top stories just log on to our team dot com.

it's. u.s. politicians aren't shy when it comes to offering opinions on foreign affairs that's even when it's obvious they haven't done their homework bloopers may be commonplace on capitol hill but as our reports it's the american people who have become the butt of the choke. advising other countries on democracy seems to be a must for any u.s. politician and some of them get so carried away that they confuse what countries exactly they're talking about commenting on democracy in belarus john mccain for some reason called it lease or any air i also want to thank the president with the

waning group of our members of congress visited with her yesterday in choosing great leader a but we also had the opportunity meet with members of the opposition many of whom have countrymen residing in prison have been beaten and tortured are. we had a chance of meeting during the same conference the former presidential candidate down one of the most influential republican senators referred to russia as the soviet union we all know that our missile defense brother modest or. earmarked and. we are proceeding with it because of the threat we face from iran not from the soviet union. but senator mccain's gaffes don't stop there i'm afraid that it's a very hard struggle particularly given the situation on the iraq pakistan border probably only in mccain's mind did pakistan share

a border with iraq but he's not the only u.s. politician who's quick to share their expertise in world affairs without checking some facts george w. bush will not prides himself on have. pushed democracy in egypt during his presidency thought africa was a nation africa's a nation or suffers from incredible disease the winner of hearts and minds of millions of americans sarah pailin two thought africa was a country some two years ago but now nothing seems to stop her from handing out advice on how to deal with egypt this is paling has further contributed to her credibility in foreign affairs when commenting on the u.s. stance with regards to north career obviously got to stand with our north korean allies were bound to create by trees and worry about by well the paradoxes is that politicians who really know nothing about these things have to appear to know something they have to speak out on all of these issues to be considered credible figures so sarah palin you know who could see russia from her door and her window

you know is now an expert on russia or whatever else the reason why us politicians feel free to make bloopers on your national issues could be that many of their audience is can't catch the inconsistences well it's very easy to manipulate people when they don't know anything so on foreign policy generally americans. indifferent they don't pay attention to world events and you can easily manipulate them because of their public ignorance or ghastly after waging wars in iraq and afghanistan for years figures show most americans still have difficulties finding the countries on the map the only. hope if the public is not able to notice the ignorance of their politicians they won't be able to hold them accountable for their decisions some say that is one of the biggest threats to democracy in america i'm going to check our reporting from washington r.t. . with a growing number of people leaving lithuania to head west for work this small

nation is in danger of getting even smaller and as the government prepares to carry out a major census fears are that the population has plummeted by half a mil. the last decade artie's peter all of our reports on lithuania losing its best and brightest young educated and point the rhenish cave which is a twenty four year old computer science graduate she can't find work in her native build this so is headed to another country in search of a job she's one of the lucky ones she'll be reunited with her mother and father who have already made the switch i have finished university here and i couldn't find a job because of their economic. situation in the country so my parents and they are living in ireland for a six year seoul already and i decided to move to ireland to live with them and to find a job there more and more lithuanians are falling victim to the baltic brain drain

young people finish their studies at home and then look for a job in western europe where salaries are high however the global financial crisis and feeling recession in countries like ireland means that the move abroad doesn't always provide the opportunity to once did its always so brazen but. it's now a days it's better to go to ireland and to find a job there. is job then sitting just here and doing nothing this. is carrying out a census in march to determine the current population demographic preliminary government statistics for twenty ten show that last year alone an estimated eighty three thousand people left the country many in search of work elsewhere lithuania has one of the highest levels of emigration in the e.u. many of the young people who i've spoken to here say they see their future

employment beyond the borders of their native country this is one of the reasons that the twenty eleven census that will take place here will be the most comprehensive in the nation's history. with question is in english russian polish as well as if you were in the department of social statistics said desperate to find out how many people are living in the country they expect to see the two thousand and one population of three point four million by almost five hundred thousand with no apparent end in sight to the exodus the long term estimates paint a picture of the next forty years. in the year two thousand and fifty. five million. the task of bill this is to try and keep the best and brightest from being lost to the brain drain to safeguard the future of social security the second is to provide

health security was the third maybe it was to provide conditions for people to study which now it's really difficult because it is becoming expensive for people spend money on something i mean after money and when i can do. that i think we have to rearrange that system access some sort of people for especially for young people any changes come too late for reno she's already made her move to pastures new and the search for employment in western europe these are all other bills. and no economic troubles escape the clutches of our financial guru max kaiser can enjoy a bit of global thinking in a show coming up later in the day. the russian flag will be flying high in formula one racing this season as a brand new car hits the track for its first test drive the car called was revealed

to the public at a packed media launch in london earlier this week the team is gearing up to drive it under the russian colors in just over a month when the new season starts president. banco says he's proud of his team's achievements. we managed to build here in tough conditions for a new modern and technically. started working for formula one and succeeded some of our undertakings but it means that everything responsible they're good at george we're going to you're going to be free from prison i'm going to be four four you want to live so far we've. created and we. want to know what you want to do and we sort of you deserve to be respected for what i do and where we stood by him for that and for a brief look at some other major headlines from around the world a teenage suicide bomber has killed nineteen people and wounded twenty six others

at a military training center in northwestern pakistan the boy is said to have detonated his vest as army recruits were going through morning drills according to early reports the attacker who was about team a school uniform no one has claimed responsibility but the taliban had earlier vowed to target the region. mid level talks aimed at easing tension between north and south korea have broken down all the two sides were attempting to negotiate conditions for higher level dialogue officials at the meeting reportedly failed to reach a consensus with neither side. i'd willing to make concessions and sold last year when the north responded to artillery far use their territory by shelling south korean island. prosecutors in italy have filed a request for the immediate trial of prime minister silvio berlusconi on charges of

sex crimes and abuse of power he's alleged to have paid for sex with a seventeen year old girl and uses influence to secure her release from custody on charges of scone he strongly denies any wrongdoing and says prosecutors are trying to destroy his career will be italian premier already faces the resumption of free trials for corruption and tax fraud next month. a leftist colombian rebel group has set free a thirty five year old councilman the first of five hostages it has promised to release this week well the man was reunited with his family after more than a year in captivity the move has sparked hopes that the government and the rebel group could hold talks and attempt to add four decades of conflict but the country's president said that there was little chance of peace unless the guerrilla faction released all hostages and halted its drug operations. now are close a team continues to discover the western europe is area as they get to explore the

republic and its capital city. this time to our team learns how russia's elderly struggle to survive in the four year old's villages where they make up the majority of the population with small pensions and poor healthcare the older generation is in desperate need of support food and medical assistance but in most cases they have to rely on their own strength and determination to go to school to listen to their stories. for many of russia's elderly their golden years seem to be anything but that a lot of them feel abandoned by their children who do not seem to pay enough attention to their parents they also feel abandoned by their government which they say does not supply enough aid in order for the pensioners to make it in their day to day lives so we wanted morsi aware significant number of populations over the

age of sixty five to find out how pensioners here are coping with everyday problems . already peculiar gets her daily exercise by breaking the ice in the well she'd much rather do without it but then she'd have no water in the seventy seven year old lives in her native village on her own. that self no no we don't mind living like this we don't want to die but we do have a huge problem with water tap water seems to be the main concern for these women but once they start talking more problems come to surface ask what if we can't get an ambulance out here probably because we're older and they think we're not important. out of thirty people in this village twenty are over the age of sixty we have no access to running water medical help or food so for them it's not so much about enjoying life as it is about survival the main problem of these women is their age miniscule pensions and poor healthcare make the lives of russia's elderly

all but unbearable but many say the way the elderly are perceived in the country is even more lamentable that you. did it for ins between russia and the west is that or not country old age is considered to be a time of loss and remainder where as in the west it's a time for new possibilities. you know he believes russia is in a dire need of more social programs to provide care for the elderly one woman in the service is already doing her part the eighty for a private retirement home came to natalya when her mother died and she was looking for someone to look after her father ben's and her high status job. terri and started her own business and when you see that you're good at what you do it's incredibly satisfying both people come in frightened at first and then they start considering you're a family member it's especially satisfying when you realize you doing something important new unfortunately these village women cannot afford to live in the

tiger's home like millions of russia's elderly they're forced to rely on their own strength in good spirits while they still have them for more on the issues which russia's elderly are facing today we are here joined by it is your uncle who is the director of the charity foundation united way to china thank you very much for coming to meet with us today to tell us which issues the pensioners in russia are facing at the moment. thank you very much for inviting me i would like to say that this a common package of the problems the elderly people are facing in russian federation this is not only the financial issues which are extremely important but this is also their social isolation the lack of social support there for medical and other possibility for the elderly people frankly speaking it's very difficult in russia to get funding to find out the money for the programs focus on the interest of the elderly people and from all our the people of the money raised annually it's about sixteen percent only goes for the grants through the end job providing

assistance to the elderly well stay for more of the close up coverage as we continue to cover the events of the north sea and we'll cover other issues in our future programs as well. further through the beauties of russia later today you'll have a chance to visit one of the oldest and largest protected areas in russia the caucasus nature reserve well this world heritage site can only be reached by helicopter but it's an experience you'll never forget. nature can give you.

the business update with kareena is coming up in a few moments. hello and welcome to business program good to have you with us they will have climbed five percent against the dollar over the past three months the best performer among twenty five emerging market currencies the currencies appreciation is helping keep inflation in check as it reduces the cost of imported goods but as alexandra you have to heat up only to be capital explains the russian settle back needs to balance its concern over rising prices against attracting unwanted speculative capital. well the central bank the tradeoff is really they need to they need some

appreciation to complete place by the same time they are they can't allow it to cost because otherwise they will treat it kept telling flows and it will make the problem of fighting inflation even more difficult so we're seeing the ruble against the dollar at twenty nine thirty by the year end which is not far from from where we are no credit much stronger against the bust get. so we in total for this year we're seeing just we see seven percent. against a bust. now let's have a look at the markets asian stocks down for the second day on concern that rising interest rates in china will hamper the global economic recovery depends on a case dragged by technical stocks word loss leaders among two makers hong kong has also extending also as after losing ground in the three previous sessions. and here in russia the markets will reopen in about half an hour buckets finished yesterday session in the red sea has had its last round half

a percent nationally in this is down more energy majors suffering from a fall and oil prices. we see russian stocks declining slightly and why why we've all price and correlates to the will produce which is most likely to improve the situation so what a structure for tolliver i think that. themes are going to be. played by mr stewart is the big play for. real the very deep emergency future of inflation percent which is expected for this year the market is expected to strengthen its scorching exporters but it's been through some domestic domestic. and staying with oil oil in north america is traded boys sleep recovering from yesterday's losses caused by a unexpectedly strong inventory's report of the united states reports gasoline supply was at its strongest for twenty one years brant crude for delivery in march

is extending gains that is trading above the one hundred dollars a barrel benchmark. and here in russia the prime minister urged all producers to maintain all food at the post soviet record level of five hundred five million metric tons in the coming years that's when russia's competition watchdog opened a case against all majors on price fixing and discrimination against customers diesel prices rose by fifty percent in the last four months while jet fuel surged over thirty percent prime minister also called to speed up work on tax breaks for new fields and of believe the government will play an important role in making this possible. but we do expect at least some relatively minor but important changes such as a redistribution of the tax burden between the upstream and downstream probably there will be some sort of pact or same place an agreement between the government

and the sector that in exchange. this. modest but sizable amount of free cash will not be paid out to individuals but mostly not entirely bogus and mostly reinvested that's all we have for you this hour but you can always find most stories on our website.