new accent is iraq's christian community shrinks as thousands are displaced in the face of growing violence and the end willingness of security forces to protect them . we are proceeding with our missile defense because of the threat we face from iran not from the soviet union frequent bloopers by u.s. politicians hoping to plot democracy across the world only served to doubts over their expertise in global affairs plus. we're going to the north sea always to number of populations already just sixty five to find out help here are coping with everyday problems a look at the heavy burden of old age and russia's provinces are to close up series . and in business the world will climb five percent against the dollar over the past three months the best performer among twenty five emerging market currencies

joining me for that and more business news things like the minutes. coming to you live from moscow this is r.t. thanks for joining us well first we go to iraq where 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. 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. bomb that was planted

outside her house the lack i went out with aren't 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 miriam was lying in the street with her foot dangling from her leg her father i had rushed outside. i saw my daughter lying on the ground it was a live in my my daughter was lying in the growing and people were running shouting everything was covered in dust and shards of glass i picked up my daughter with her leg dangling i almost lost it i was shouting my daughter's date 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. i served for seven years in the military under saddam hussein i'm an iraqi christian and i don't have a square foot of land in my name why what's my crime many in the church feel that countries in the west are responsible. some opinion americans are liars we don't trust their reputation is terrible because everywhere they've been they have like the us train the sunni and shia and they just watch while they kill us it is impossible not to see all these murders but they don't get involved. 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. 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 dark consequences state run television and newspapers change sides virtually overnight backing the demonstrators the government also lashed out at the u.s. expressing its anger and frustration with washington's betrayal of its longtime ally president hosni mubarak in an exclusive interview r.t. spoke to the secretary general of the arab league a memo hammad who says that the us rest of 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 interpretation of the word change but in general i did the end of the day it is a change everyone is fighting for. the most nations as a as it can be it is illegal event in the history perhaps not only we don't 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 not to this intensity. and still ahead this hour people leaving a different country for an entirely different reason. if you wait he has one of the highest levels of emigration in the u. 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 brain drain that's in a few minutes time on our team. now u.s. politicians aren't shy when it comes to offering opinions on foreign affairs even when it's obvious that 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 joke. 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 leads to any air i also want to thank the president with the way now a group of our members of congress visited with her yesterday and choose a great leader a but we also had the opportunity meet with members of the opposition many of whom have followed countrymen residing in prison have been beaten and tortured hard

about what. we had a chance of meeting during the same conference the former presidential candidate no one of the most influential republican senators referred to russia as the soviet union we all know that our missile defense rather modest. earmarked and. we are proceeding with it because of the threat we face from iran not from the soviet union and that senator mccain is 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 having pushed democracy in egypt during his presidency thought africa was a nation africa's

a nation has suffered from incredible disease the winner of hearts and minds of millions of americans sarah paling 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 korea obviously got to stand with our north korean allies were bound to. by treason worried about by well the paradox is 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 in her window you know is now an expert on russia or whatever else the reason why us politicians feel free to make bloopers on international 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 cos 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 they get in the way. for. if the public is not able to notice the ignorance of their politicians they won't be able to hold them accountable for their decision some say that is one of the biggest threats to democracy in america i'm going to check our reporting from washington are today. well you can find more on this and a lot of other stories on our web site that's our and here's what's. bad of. thirty. four days find out how the locals are.

discovered. with the help. 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 in the last decade or

all of our reports. losing its best. young educated and unemployed 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. and my parents and they are living in ireland for a six year solar a day and i decided to offer to ireland today 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 much higher however the global financial

crisis and crippling recession in countries like ireland means that the move abroad doesn't always provide the opportunity to it 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 lithuania is carrying out a census in march to determine the current population demographic preliminary government statistics for twenty ten show 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 a 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 four by almost five hundred thousand with no apparent end in sight to the exodus the long term estimates paint a bleak picture for the next forty years here so it's not so bright. but it's excellence. in the year two thousand and fifty. five million pounds 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 but how social security the second is to provide health security for maybe it is to provide conditions for people to study because now it's really difficult because it is becoming expensive

for people spend money on something when we have to money and when i can do it. i think we have to rearrange the access them access some sort of people for especially for young people any changes come too late for arena she's already made her move to pastures new and the search for employment in western europe these are all of our t. bills. and no economic troubles escape the clutches of our financial guru max kaiser will enjoy a bit of global thinking in his 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 a track for its first test drive the car called moto c i 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 with

a new season starts or the president of the motors nikolai flamencos says he's proud of his team's achievements. but which was part of the ridge we managed to build here in times conditions in new modern and technically advanced on a more direct connection when we started working for formula one and succeeded and some of our undertakings that means that everything responsible for good attitude towards a certain ones from the moment we presented ourselves in frankfurt even before for no one so far we've fulfilled oh we have cleaned. create a car and we did it when we promised we would perform and when we want to and we do so at least we deserve to be respected for without him i was applying for water now for a brief look at some other major headlines around the world a teenage suicide bomber has killed thirty one people and wounded forty others at a military training center in northwestern pakistan where the boy is said to have detonated his vest as army recruits were going through boarding drills according to

early reports the attacker who was about fourteen was wearing a school uniform although one has claimed responsibility but the taliban had earlier vowed to target the region. a leftist colombian rebel group has set free a thirty five year old town council money the first of five hostages it has promised to release this week the bad was reunited with his family after more than a year in captivity the move a spark hopes that the government and the rebel group could hold talks and then attack two and 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. that were close of team continues to discover the western europe is area as they get to explore the republic and its capital city.

this time the r.t. team learns how russia's elder least. struggle to survive in the far urals villages where they make up the majority of the population or with small pensions and poor health care 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 or to listen to their stories. for many of russia's elderly their golden years seem to be anything but that's 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 to seventy seven year old lives in her native village on her own. obvious 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. 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 old 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 of meant to be true. friends between russia and the west is that or not

country old age is considered to be a time of loss and remainder years whereas in the west it's a time. you know he believes russia is in a dire need of more social programs to provide care for the elderly one woman in the shift 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 effectively 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 your family member it's especially satisfying when you realise 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 in their shoes which russians elderly are facing today we are here joined by the time as

a doctor who is the director of a charity foundation united way at the time to 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 is a common package of the problems the elderly people are facing in russian federation this is not on 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 pull of the money raised annually it's about sixteen percent only goes for the grants through the ngo providing assistance to the elderly well stay for more of the close up coverage as we continue to cover the events of morsy and will cover other issues in our future

programs as well. well our t. will guide you further through the beauties of russia and next hour 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. discovering. and become. on the. whole i'll be back shortly with the headlines but first some business news with kareena.

hello and welcome to businesses and we stop we start without top story rushes in with all the watchdog has opened a formal investigation into three of the country's top oil producers full price fixing that's after prime minister put in question why prizes for jet fuel and diesel set i would also have gospel might look well have risen so much faster than the price of crude oil as it was and also urged oil producers to maintain output at the post soviet record level of five hundred and five million metric tons in the coming years and believe the government will play an important role in making this possible the prime minister also called for an acceleration and tax breaks for new fields that would 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 to stay in place that agreement between the government and the sector can exchange this. modest but sizable

amount of free cash will not be paid out in dividends but mostly not entirely with the same mostly reinvested. and guess what was posted a third quarter net profit of five point four billion dollars down nine percent from the previous year figures were in line with expectations russia's biggest company attributed the decline to long term debt interest payments and a decrease in demand from supplies and all of a quarter of europe's gas needs though its market share has dropped in the last two years due to the inflow of energy sources. has had a look at the markets asian stocks are down for the second day on concern that rising interest rates in china will hamper the global economic recovery demands nikky would drags by tech stocks with less leaders among chip makers hong kong has a lot extending losses following a decline over the previous sessions. and european stock

markets opened lower on thursday and the mixed asian markets the footsies down just under half a percent germany's dax is tweeting a quarter of percent lower shares of alcatel lucent job as much as twelve percent after the telecom equipment group said profits soared in the fourth quarter rising demand for broadband networks across the globe. from russians dogs declined for third day investors are shifting their assets out of developing countries concerned that inflation will hurt growth in emerging markets the r.t.s. is losing over one and a half percent this hour. is dollar point eight percent of energy majors are the main drag as the oil russian's main export earner drops to eighty six dollars fifty three cents a barrel its sixth day of decline the country's second biggest producers down point eight percent and gas setting one point seven percent. oil in

north america is recovering from yesterday's losses sparked by an unexpectedly strong inventories report in the u.s. the report showed that the gasoline supply was at its strongest and twenty one years brant crude for delivery in. marjorie's extending gains and is trading above one hundred barrels a dollars a barrel by truck. now the ruble has 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 a producer is the cost of imported goods but as alexandra de about from the t.v. capital explains the russian said some bag needs to balance its concern over rising prices again subtracting unwanted spectator capital. for the central bank the tradeoff is really they need to they need some appreciation to curb inflation by the same time they are they can't allow it to cause because otherwise they will

trigger 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 basket. so we in total for this year we're seeing just we see seven percent. against a bust. that's all from me but you can always find most always on our website r.t. dot com business thanks for watching.

it's a. new lease. on going on. this street still keeps its secrets but now it's time to move feel that the soviet finds

me keaton seems to often between black and white on oxy. well one one deals with war for us to realize that this tremendous amounts of damage that have done not just human damage but damage the physical environment in which the battlefield takes place tremendous amounts of damage done by aerial bombs by napalm boy chemical sims whether it's sonic boom city factory marine mammals or it's the burning oil field syria and iraq or destroyed reefs in the pacific for landing purposes the list just goes on and on the geneva conventions of nineteen forty nine states that there shall be taken in warm to protect and by against widespread long term and severe damage the united states although it is accepted almost all of the provisions of protocol one has taken

exception to that. hungary for the full story we've got it firsthand. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the. wealthy british stock. market. find out what's really happening to the global economy with. the global financial headlines kaiser report.