a domino effect in the middle east rest in egypt resonates across the region. demonstrators take to the streets in yemen and while the u.s. struggles to show its. promises of a new beginning a made us russia's foreign minister meets his british counterpart to try to put the past behind them and work on common interests. practical steps towards improving a rocky relationship towards developing a strong partnership i'm here in london to bring you. russia's security is back in the spotlight after fresh violence leaves five people dead in the country's

troubled north caucasus region. looking for a better future but accused of bringing other people's lives in the process. of multi-culturalism. seek refuge in your. life from our studios here in central moscow this is r t with twenty four hours a day the revolution in egypt has sparked an avalanche of anti-government protests across the middle east it's a strategically vital region for the u.s. which is now trying to balance its approach to the demonstrations while pushing its own agenda middle east correspondent paula has the latest. in yemen for the foot consecutive day violence broke out between pro and anti-government demonstrators it happened a number of cities a number of people were injured and analysts have gone so far as to say that the

next few weeks are critical the president abdullah abdullah saleh who has been in power for more than thirty years we witnessed also in the plane two protesters killed the other violence happened in a funeral procession that was marking the death of one protester yesterday monday and here too the violence is almost unabated between pro and anti-government demonstrators the problem of flame is that you have a seventy percent majority that is shiite and you have a small sunni monarchy and that is what the concentration is over we witnessing violence are certainly granted today members of parliament called for the execution of two leaders of the opposition parties they've charged them with. these empty government demonstrations on monday there were protests across iran tens of thousands of people taking to the streets there and the iranian revolutionary guard used veterans and tear gas injuring

a number of people and killing one person not each of two has not seen an end to the upheaval of the parliament has been disbanded the constitution is frozen while the army that is in control says it is reworking a new constitution the strikes in egypt are continuing and the army insistently calling for calm a lot of concern from the united states and israel and other people watching the developments here in the middle east the united states does not have a stronghold in iran and that is why we've seen harsh words from the u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton she called the radio regime hypocritical she said that on the one hand president mahmoud after dinner jab head ready behind the protesters on the streets but not when his witnessing it in his own country he's used harsh violence against him this is a big. and for the united states what to do with the rand and at the same time it's very nervous that as it watches events in egypt where supporters prison mubarak for thirty years it now has to redefine its role there and also send out

a message to other regimes in the region that it has bet that it will not leave them in the dark as a did many say in terms of mubarak now israel is very cautious about what is happening certainly is concerned more long term that there could be some kind of a radian state some kind of islamic republic now much closer on its borders then is . well the author and researcher adrian sole bucci believes the u.s. is pursuing its financial and political interests in the middle east. clearly the united states will support anything that will promote what they call regina change in iran especially considering that it ran in such a powerful country from the point of view not only of its potential military and also its potential with oil but also its potential as being a theocracy we're in the islamic world the as a whole is based in tehran hold great sway over the literally hundreds of millions

of muslims so whatever happens in rann is far more important than he even of what happened with saddam hussein in iraq we have to understand that what the united states now i believe is trying to achieve is a way to promote change in a way that will facilitate things for them the best instrument they have to control the country is so-called democracy because although they call it democracy it is basically a vote counting system handled by the mass media and we know that the guy who wins whether it be a president or prime minister or a senator or a deputy is the one accounting with all the support of the money power whether it be for his campaign for media and t.v. time and so forth so for example in the control of argentina democracy is the best way they have to control the country against the people's interest and i think when they hear that they are promoting democracy in egypt i tremble for the egyptians because it is going to be a democracy along the brand as it was promoted in argentina or elsewhere in the

throat of latin america it will only help to support both long term objectives in this global power structure operated from europe and from the united states and not the actual interest of we the people to say that in a vertical local and generalized manner. and that was agents of bull chee talking to a little earlier on the unrest in the middle east. the visit of russia's foreign minister to london the scene up promise of stronger future cooperation with the u.k. it's the first high level visit since ties deteriorated following the death of former federal security service agent alexander litvinenko in london in two thousand and six the british foreign secretary said disagreements between moscow and london should not stop them from working together or emirates has more. we have seen a series of meetings today which have really focused on the positive points in what has become a rocky relationship between russia and the u.k. and because of that a lot of what was talked about were economic ties and trade ties of course trade

between russia and the u.k. amounts to around seventeen billion dollars and russia is one of the u.k.'s most important trading partners foreign minister lavrov outlined six priorities for improving the trade relationship he talked about finance he talked about working together in the nanotech sector energy efficiency of course one of the big projects coming up for russia is the lympics so cooperating on olympic infrastructure strengthening the small and medium business sector in russia and also improving the business environment in general they also talked a bit about modernizing communication links between london and moscow this is obviously a lover off first visit to london in this particular official capacity let's hear what he said about those communication ties that they're looking to improve. this it's my first visit to london an invitation of you can government symbolises and you can see of our relations based on partnership interest economic cooperation

between our countries is on the rise the strategic b.p. rosneft alliance is among the latter examples we happy to look at the agreement on establishing a direct line between the british prime minister and the kremlin it's an important new elements of our communications that's meant to take it to a more high to levels and taking that relationship to a more high tech level is really symptomatic of how important russia and the u.k. are as partners together talked about how important u.k. was as its partner in it starlost with and with the e.u. and also the partnership that it has in dialogue with nato and on improving european security and william hague the british foreign secretary also underlined the importance of that relationship let's hear him. countries continue to see patient steady improvement in relations. giant leaps it is a very measured steps this welcome visit is an important part of the steady improvement

in relations which we initiated on our side when the coalition government came into office. working practically relationship bilateral issues and global issues it is undoubtedly on an improving trend but it does seem that in the past every attempt this been made to put this relationship back on track has been de railed in some way and the latest example of that is new carding the guardian correspondent who was refused entry to russia this month there was something wrong with his accreditation and that's why he wasn't allowed back into the country but of course that's not the only thing we're really this relationship was the merger of alexander litvinenko in london in two thousand and six and the british law enforcement main suspect is andrey lugovoy who is now a dealer deputy and it's against russia's constitution to extradite him that's something that the british have been calling for for some time now but it hasn't happened also there are forty people around about living here in the u.k.

who are wanted for crimes in russia and so far refusal to extradite them as well the most notable of them is bodies but is of ski the russian tycoon and also. the former chechen leader and alongside the bilateral relationship that these two countries have and are trying to improve there's obviously that cooperation on the international stage and in terms of that they have issued a joint statement on afghanistan which talked about the transfer of power in afghanistan also talked about troop withdrawal set atop assessing a sort of loose timetable for that and also the fight against the production of drugs in afghanistan which is a huge problem with russia in terms of transport routes they also talked about iran and the nuclear issue nuclear. russia has been an important negotiator with iran in terms of its nuclear program. said that rather than introducing further sanctions iran should join the nonproliferation treaty and should also try to become part of

the i.a.e.a. that and only that will convince the world this iran has no hostile nuclear ambitions that it does indeed want a nuclear program merely for domestic use. it's their reporting on the visit of russian foreign minister lavrov to london well still to come for you this hour speaking out on multiculturalism in a courtroom in austria. we have to respect individuals in our society and we have to ask them to integrate and we have to help them to find out what happened to a free speech activists to didn't agree with this viewpoint multiculturalism a failure. the first russia is taking new measures in its fight against terrorism in the latest special operation five militants were killed in the north caucasus region three policemen died and three were injured in the ensuing gun battle. has

this report. a number of terrorists were surrounded by a local law enforcement a gun battle ensued in which five militants were killed one is supposedly on the run and is being sought after as we speak in the gun battle and this of course is just the latest installment in the on go way battle against terrorism in russia specifically in the volatile caucasus region one of the a suicide blast that was a detonated in a village in the republic of the guest on that was a car that was detonated by a suicide bomber he himself was in the car of course and died on location another suicide bomb that also took place in that same village in the guest on a woman who walked up to a military outpost and detonated a suicide belt with a bomb of course killing herself killing one. security officer and injuring many

others russian authorities specific leave the russian president dmitry medvedev has ordered security forces to be stepped up a lot not just a notch on all major transport hubs in russia that's of course including airports train stations metro stations the investigation into moscow's airport bombing is still ongoing but we do know that authorities have now managed to confirm the identity of the suicide bomber and facts are coming out as soon as the identity of the suicide bomber was established the authorities of course are now gathering more and more information not only about the man himself but also about all of his accomplices who helped him put together the detonating device who actually made and if so make sure that he got to the airport that he detonated that device everyone and anyone of course who came into contact with this so side bomber is now under even further scrutiny from the security forces the president ordering heavier

police presence. a lot more devices such as metal detectors to be implemented on train stations for control to be doubled at airports and that of course is being implemented as we speak the full effect of those measures is of course yet to take place as it is quite a serious amount of work for the security forces. and that was artie's correspondent katrina czar of a reporting on russia's fight against terrorism. the controversial debate over multiculturalism in europe has now taken a new twist as more migrants flee their troubled countries and sturt such of stability and security europe is giving them the cold shoulder more than five thousand arrived in italy in this past week and its interior minister warns they could jeopardize the institutional and social structures of the continent it comes on the back of harsh criticism of multiculturalism by some western european leaders a free speech activist in austria who described it as

a failure has gone on trial for speaking out against religious groups though the charges of inciting hatred and violence were dropped she was found guilty of denigrating religious symbols elizabeth wolf is appealing we case in claims she should not be prosecuted for expressing her views parties or katrina covert looks at why some are free to speak held while others are not. just when i think of a european citizen peacefully debating islam with a muslim is nothing unusual in a multicultural country like france but it's a topic not always discussed in such gentle fashion and i advise you not to burn the koran about your reading. about studying what islam stands for we'll be learning how to. know your enemy elizabeth supper to channel has been on trial and a vienna court on charges of making what is described as a hate speech against islam a left wing all strand magazine recorded and published

a speech at one of his seminars lending who are you. i have nothing against people who want to practice their faith. but i would like them to do this in the privacy of their own homes your ideas she says are nothing new and when europe's political elite express them they are not prosecuted for the same views multiculturalism has failed this is nothing new. and my group and i have been saying this for years now all of a sudden. and others come out of hiding and agree with us i don't know why but elizabeth subject wolf opponents say she crossed the line here a speech is up raged not only the muslim community but also major streams it's not a matter of free speech that i can spread hatred about large groups of society you know we have to respect individuals in our society and we have to ask them to

integrate and we have to help them to integrate yet european leaders such as german chancellor angela merkel french president nicolas sarkozy and british prime minister david cameron say mostly culturalism in europe isn't working there are huge muslim communities but frequently such as in all strata they leave in their own areas a physical sign of non integration based districts in vienna is known as the little people here speak their native language they prepare their national dishes and wear the clothes which they are used to and this is exactly what hell is about subaverage wall found here a fellow like sounds taking a stance against self segregation at top which was once taboo is now at the top of the european political agenda with multiculturalism now open to multi criticism from some of the continent's most influential political leaders we've yet to see how their views might fully influence debate on the ground and the future shape of

your exiting the church over our team from vienna. a little later here in r.t. we get a glimpse into the future of a major sporting event it's a taste of what's to come in russian city of sochi as the host of the twenty fourteen winter olympics puts a brand new slogan to the test. before that let's have a look at some other world news this hour in our world update in turkey around two thousand kurdish protesters have clashed with police the demonstration marked the twelfth anniversary of the capture of a prominent kurdish rebel leader protesters held rocks and fire bombs at police and twelve cities and towns and demands for the release of a. sentenced to life imprisonment for treason these thirty demonstrators were detained. the seat of south sudan's ruling party has accused a lot of backing rebel attacks which killed some two hundred people last week the death toll is twice that of early estimates with most victims be civilians with

children among them u.n. secretary general called on both sides to immediately implement a cease fire agreement this comes one month from southern sudan voting to secede from the north the split in july. italian charges given the go ahead for the trial of prime minister silvio berlusconi he's facing charges he paid for sex with a significant number of young women including a seventeen year old girl and used his influence to cover it up but it's going to strongly denied the allegations he now faces three years in prison the phone guilty of paying miners for sex and from six to twelve years for abuse of power to try to begin early april and will be heard by a panel of three judges all of them women. that's a spacecraft stardust started beaming back the first pictures of a comet it's flown past encounter will give scientists unique information on how these great balls of ice and rock change over time the craft is taking more than seventy high resolution images of the first time the same comment has been examined

by two different spacecraft. the winter olympics in the russian resort of sochi may be years away but the city is already gearing up for the ground event training runs for the european cup of kicked off on one of the brand new slopes which will be the scene of the games in twenty fourteen and dennis blonsky is there for us. the resort is situated in the cross napoli on the mountain range about forty kilometers away from the central part of the city and it will be connected with the olympic village near the coast by high speed rail way and highway now what we see here today is one of the first field tests of the sporting facilities before the actual games to see how they perform under live conditions even though the olympics are three years away russian and european athletes already are getting a chance to test some of this key piece now during the two thousand and eleven alpine european cup and also domestic competitions while the mountains are covered

in snow now there were plenty of nerves beforehand organizers were very concerned about the weather since just a few weeks ago it was raining here in the mountains and everyone was waiting anxiously for the snow to fall and as you can see their prayers were heard and the steep mountain slopes are now in excellent condition for ski but if the weather fails to deliver enough snow there is always a plan b. in the form of recently installed snow making machines to ensure there's plenty for competition what we see here today is the initial stage of the l. point european man's cup the skiers are having a training day this tuesday and the main part of the competition will be held during the coming days a total of seventy four test events will be held in sochi before the two thousand and fourteen winter games twenty nine of them international competitions it's the start of serious testing of the olympic infrastructure not just the venues but also roads bridges tunnels and power lines the construction of most venues is still

under way although the organizers say it's answering the final stages and it's over the most difficult initial phase the organizers among them members of the russian government sports industry pros and construction companies will use feedback from these events to fine tune preparations for the olympics themselves. by the way you can head to r.t. dot com that's our website where online they're free twenty four hours a day additional material that's what you see here on screen and here's a taste of what you'll find there right now staying in space two russian cosmonauts make their first simulated steps on mars in an experiment replicating a mission to the red planet. it would actress jovovich is now a star of a russian language movie and check out lucky trouble at a cinema need a new. class finding a new home canada is sending thirty would bison to russia to help conserve this

endangered species those stories available on the web site. to bring you up to date with a summary of our main news stories in seven minutes from now in the meantime the business update is next with dmitri stay with us. hello do you welcome to the business news on r.t. moscow's chances of becoming a global financial center could be hampered if the bank acquires a bank of moscow without its head that's according to presidential coach he wants to buy a one hundred percent of one of russia's top five banks in the first half of this year raghav moscow's biggest shareholder the moscow city government estimates the

bank at six billion dollars decided to sell its stake in the bank in late twenty ten after the previous mayor of moscow you will scoff lost his position some minority shareholders say the bank should be worth up to nine and a half. the british banking giant barclays is planning to sell its russian retail daughter by the end of the head of its russian division says the company plans to focus more and investment business in russia barclays bank entered the russian market for the second time back in two thousand and eight when it acquired russian then the expo bank for seven hundred eighteen million dollars previously barclays quit russia after the default in one thousand nine hundred eight carrying a loss of around four hundred million dollars it was numbers off from unicredit securities believes that this move only shows increasing competition in the street . the competition in russia is intensifying. to be really successful american banking russia any kind of bank.

or local bank has to have a good scale has to have a presence and if i'm not mistaken barclays for scale back maybe half a year ago. it's retail business outside of moscow. deutscher birth as agreed to by n.y.c. as your next four nine and a half billion dollars long awaited deal will create the world's largest owner of equities in derivatives markets frankly based boss will control sixty percent of the new corp which brings us nicely to the stock markets we start with the u.s. where of course trading is on one and one half hours still left retail sales in january grew only point three percent that's harmful and this not expected and this is bearing worries about the pace of recovery of the world's largest economy and the dow and nasdaq have been ferrying in the red the mental session long retail gloom is limiting gains on the european markets closed of course footsie slightly

down the dax just a notch up however banking stocks another was strong with barclays in the lead up four point two percent at the close as it earnings reports were beating expectations. and there was a change of direction by the end of the session on the russian markets on tuesday in the series ended the session point seven percent down investors are not finding reasons for growth easily enough to see the ongoing decline a buying opportunity. more detail in some of the stocks come out as one of the most interesting stocks of the day it was leading the gains up to six percent of the close this is because ross technologies corporations adjusted the russian truck make sure to unite with belorussian right from us into one company and they did on tuesday russia's stock markets were highlighted by the release of inflation data from china and the u.k. bloody good can from financial corporation create explains why these figures are

very important for the russian equity platforms. the first things that we should highlight for sure is the all important inflation number in china which came at four point one percent or a little bit below the consensus expectations it is a very important number for russia because potential above trend inflation in china means a potential increased risk of aggressive tightening on behalf of the chinese central bank which means in turn a potential slowdown in china and a potential decrease in raw materials demand in china which is clearly negative for russia. bill golf is next with the headlights on the back and want to start.

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