official account is that fourteen people were killed in the shootings by soviet troops by an opposition party leader could now be tried for his claims it was orchestrated by lithuanians peed all over has the story. oh. january one thousand nine hundred ninety one fourteen protest is dying out the clashes with saudi troops the incident sparked international support for the demonstrators cause an independent state of lithuania however one local politician now faces a possible jail sentence to disagree with the bishop question of the events this polanski this is a member of the vilna city council and says soviet soldiers were responsible basing my opinion on the witnesses and on the book which was published by the former head of parliamentary the national security committee chair so he wrote in his book and nobody denied that but from this style were representatives of libyan and all

for a case where shooting down into the crowd. and other businesses for i know who lived in that area and still live pointed to valve's houses here on the roofs off which houses better people for their shooting and they sold them. for a ship unions on historical events are nothing unusual some are based on newly discovered evidence others merely conspiracy theories what's different is that mr polanski's his argument that it was lithuanian government that were responsible could land him in jail i am facing a charge of. up to two years in prison i mean i may receive a fine for up to two years in prison i think this is absolute from term in terms of human rights and freedom of opinion absurd or not it's the law in the few ania that also is what we call boards of our part the lithuanian penal code provides for

criminal responsibility for the public denial of genocide crimes against humanity or war crime was people who believe so these crimes are more victims should be held responsible in one thousand nine hundred. aggression against citizens falls under the definition of a war crime. as an elected official mr polanski is a mune from prosecution however he has waived this right and is prepared to stand trial local historians question plaits cases sources and back the official version of events for the most part i mean we're. on the one hand there were civilians who wanted self-determination on the other hand there was military might in my assessment of the events of genuine nine hundred ninety one were an attempt to solve a problem with the use of force claimed innocent lives. but should questioning history bring with it a criminal investigation. i don't think that this is a reason for a person to be prosecuted it's his personal opinion your thirties of overreacted

but it's up to the lawyers to decide it's a provocation but it's based on certain logic lithuanian authorities did make attempts to provoke the save you authorities and compel them to start solving the lithuanian issue. should he be found guilty by the courts in his native lithuania and gladys polanski says he will appeal to the european court of human rights an appeal he's convinced would be carried out from a jail cell history may not agree with the opinion of mr polanski when it comes to the events of january one thousand nine hundred however those same historians are unsure whether it's the role of the legal system to determine who can say what about the circumstances of the deaths of fourteen people here in vilnius peter all over lithuania now we're live in the information age and the air of the internet but for many people around the world russia remains a mysterious aramis understood land it's often portrayed as an evil totalitarian

state were only vodka helps people survive the eternal winter as a corpus going off reports it seems for me a fine dated caricature is a better story than the twenty first. truth. two decades have gone since the cold war ended but it's ghost seem to be alive and well in some western waters but it's the way russia has presented is often one sided or plain negative and if there's no proof sometimes authors just refer to their own previous publications it's absurd. translates foreign articles and blogs for a news website so russians can read for themselves how their country are seen and brought and quite often this is what she has to deal with. paranoid mischievous and heading in the wrong direction russia is an awkward prospect for barack obama russia the totalitarian regime in thrall to it's our who is creating

the new fascist empire russia is institutionalizing a state gangster culture which promises repression and ultimate economic failure for itself perhaps during the call the war the iron curtain which are either blocked or distorted most of the media reports made it easier to create a specific image of an isolated steed but times we have changed most foreign press has long been available either in its original language or in translation to anyone with access to the web the nonprofit internet domain in a forum publishes daily translations of articles about russia from ten countries and other material from up to ninety others. and judging by what's written russia is too often seen as a vodka drinking beer overrun by mafia seeking world domination. president's made a video on obama have been pushing horror that we stored in relations but it is the western press deliberately avoiding a restart of its own because cold war stereotypes are simply easier to sell. the

press as a hostage of macdonald is ation a product has to be easily understood and quickly consumed and if the reader is developing intellectual a basis he is he's problem as long as this type helps make some money and boost ratings the ryland war over twenty years ago but perhaps some coverage just doesn't want to let the facts get in the way of a good story now why do i tell you all the stuff you go to school of moscow. and coming up later in the program here in r t hungry for change as spiraling food prices are seen as a key trigger behind the rally is rolling up around the middle east for a look at which countries could be next. and with speculation of a change at the top among the occupying forces what makes what mistakes rather are still prevailing in afghanistan. the uprisings in tunisia and egypt

have triggered a domino effect of protests calling for reform across the arab world and he added riots continue for a fifth day between thousands of pro and anti-government demonstrators demanding the country's u.s. ally president step down to protesters in bahrain were killed and several others wounded while in stay there. he's had to use tear gas and baton to disperse the crowds in iran members of parliament called for the execution of opposition leaders they say orchestrated protests on monday that saw two people killed president ahmadinejad also allowed to punish the organizers while the u.s. strongly backed the opposition egypt itself is gripped by labor strikes we're entering power is now in the hands of the military which is rewarding the constitution but some experts believe with the ideological splits the army leadership has more to worry about from us interference. they will not want to fully democratize egypt they will not want the military to be subject to civilian

political control so they will be reaching out to civilian politicians who are willing to allow the military to continue to have. continue to have a very important economic over. the military will seek to ensure that it is those sorts of people occupied so whether the presidency whether in parliament whether in the media and so we can anticipate that there will be some office. arising from the civilian political force there is awareness that the concern with the business enterprise has gotten in the way of the military enterprise. the primary concern of the minister of defense and those around him is business not the military there are officers who are professional and who think the business of the military should be the military not business itself so the high command is going to have to wrestle

with that problem in the middle east is central to american foreign policy experts say the push for democracy is creating difficulties for washington as a tries to balance an approach to demonstrators with its own janda. the united states have been developing a global policy throughout the last decades global policy in which it came in to support most of the authoritative governments that you can see on the broad middle eastern scene the americans consider that defending their own interests in the region can't come without making as if they were really supporting the democratic processes that are prevailing in the region and that is why you could see that in the beginning when you had the riots in egypt they didn't really support the public opinion became much more with the position that was seen to what hosni mubarak wanted but when they noticed that they couldn't do anything against the result that

was taking place then they decided to compose with the public opinion in to tell them that it was in favor of democracy process but i think that anyway whether united states are willing to do is consecrating or is defending their own interests and that is why they try to anticipate things and they try to make as if they were the best friends of the public opinions that are present in the ground and the age of protests may have ended as an excuse me as a demand for democracy but it was the cost of putting food on the table. a part that actually drove many onto the streets food prices there became overwhelming for ordinary people and it's a problem being seen across the world are these corresponding kalen for it takes a lot. in egypt the revolution took to the streets. but it may have started at the table when food prices began skyrocketing for the more than forty percent of egyptians living on less than two dollars per day. and

it isn't just egypt around the world where there are billion people who are already hungry they spend more than half of their money on so these these kinds of huge world crop price increases grants they in twenty or thirty percent or more increases in their cost of. food prices rapidly rising beyond the levels of the two thousand and eight food prices are forcing americans to make tough decisions at the cash register to vote the fries we have to really have to learn how to improvise and do things like us because they don't know we don't get a raise. and everything means basic staples like milk be coffee and cereal which rose five percent in the last few months alone. it's going to be every summer going to fifty dollars and i get a lot of i mean if i want to eat. but decisions about who pays and how much aren't

made at the register says journalist frederick kaufman imaginary wheat being bought and sold by financial giants is controlling the price of real wheat they're made on wall street by big investment firms who distrust dollars and euros and instead hedge their bets on commodities who's winning you've got it goldman sachs j.p. morgan chase the largest holders a lot largest financial dealers in this they're doing very well as the u.s. pushes producers to convert corn crops to ethanol the crisis deepens around the world demand for biofuels has tripled over the past six years and will triple again by two thousand and twenty growing demand for by. challenge of increasing the amount of food we have to produce for people and. farmers are having a tough time keeping up but americans aren't as eager to push frustrations from the grocery store to the streets from work to take. you know we have got sick and tired

of being sick and tired of the we do do we do with thirteen point nine billion dollars in cuts to food stamp programs over the next three years means that the average american family will receive fifty nine dollars less per month bringing less food to their tables but it's unclear whether it will also bring them out in the streets here in florida part of washington d.c. . the new two thousand and twelve budget plan submitted by president obama has sparked heated debate over spending priorities some senators have hit by saying it will see cutbacks on health care programs at an increase in corporate tax hitting business grows it economics expert richard wolffe the university of massachusetts says the budget cuts will badly affect the people but won't harm government elites . i think we have a political system that is scholar rhotic and what i mean by that is all the beneficiaries of government spending the companies that get subsidies the military producers who sell goods to the government the working people who get some benefits

even if they're small all of them have mobilized to hold on to what they get to make it politically costly for any congressman or woman to go against them those people whose programs will be cut they will be hurt those people whose taxes will be raised they will be heard but these are very small potatoes the basic picture which republicans and democrats alike support is a budget that's going to be basically one and a half trillion dollars short the government is going to spend that money the republicans and democrats agree on all of that they're just squabbling over a little amount but the larger picture nobody addresses nobody debates and that's an economy that requires a huge amount of government support to keep probably long and debts into the future that we will suffer from much more than anything being debated by republicans and

democrats in washington today and remember there are always plenty of stories for you to explore it r.t. dot com in line twenty four hours a day here is a taste of what you'll find there right now. the concept of multiculturalism is criticized from the very top find out why european leaders are turning against the idea. and the winter olympics host city star she finally reveals the first slope ready for competition as preparations for twenty four teams began to take shape more on our website r.t. dot com for all the best videos log on to our. page.

side of when the top u.s. commander in afghanistan will leave his post newspaper reports the channel. he was appointed eight months ago as part of

a senior us staff in the country but our military contributor says that despite all america's number of mistakes. american occupation of afghanistan has already exceeded all possible saw that mistake in that country and accomplished even bellyful more than that in a negative sense and simultaneously having missed all the positive developments that were triggered and promoted by the soviet union intentionally or not in afghanistan i'm not going to justify the soviet military campaign in afghanistan however i do believe that the current american military campaign in afghanistan provides and ample evidence to exonerate the soviet political economic and military presence in afghanistan from the rays e g u of the united states information agency propaganda which rolled supreme during the cold war battle you

know afghanistan the economic objective was to distribute the farmland to farmers and that's why the armed forces of all fighting the landlords the united states do not fire the landlords the befriending the landlords and have turned them into the drug lords and the main negative success story for the united states occupation these that have been a stand has been turned deliberately. into the narco caliphate. and there is more analysis of data standards rampant drug production in today's interview. a former u.n. anti-drug chief told r.t. that it's not just the afghan government that's at fault he says nato itself is contributing to the problems. the contribution. you need to. offer going to these different.

their contribution to put up should be used the military logistics. they subcontract. you know from start to private companies. for the subform to. move through just. business over a couple billion dollars. for the companies who are comprised by world roads and sometimes even by the thought about. the growth of the security. of all your trucks goals for a couple. released on. huge amounts of money and the money that these for the media need to be to just do. more. of the. drug trafficking.

and you can catch the full interview in just over an hour here on our team. now let's take a look at some other stories from around the world and u.s. immigration and customs enforcement agent was killed and another hurt while driving through northern mexico on tuesday while most critically wounded and died from his injuries so again he was shot in the arm and leg remains in a stable condition it's not clear if the attack was related to the escalating drug violence in the country but u.s. and mexican officials are working together on the investigation. so. berlusconi has been indicted on charges he slept with an underage prostitute and then used his influence to cover it up the woman at the center of the scandal admits receiving money from there was strongly denies the slap together a job in the land gave the go have the trial of the tongue in prime minister to begin connie has rejected all accusations and labeled the case of bars. a

senior official from the south of sudan has repeated accusations that the north was arming the lucious operating in the region at least two hundred eleven people have been killed in a wave of violence over the last week in south sudan's oil rich state more bodies have been found in remote villages and the violence has highlighted security concerns in a region the last month off that overwhelmingly to declare independence from the north. police have clashed with protesters in south africa for a second day leading to the death of one demonstrator an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the death police say there responded with rubber and live bullets after demonstrators fired at them and it's thought the protests centered around a lack of public services. he was sports empowered by stalin's followers his predecessors called of personality and led the development of a soviet space program a little later

a look at the secrets behind the rule of nikita khrushchev. street still seem. to feel. the soviets eating some strong light. and again see that over five minutes time here in our team before that they will take a look what's happening in business with your. fellow

time to get the latest business news this week's news maker v t b which successful a sold ten percent of its shares on monday and displaying to snap up bank of moscow is expecting the record profits for twenty ten in addition to these positive developments bt b.'s deputy chairman get it morse says the non-performing loans have been steadily shrinking in the last year while its credit but follow is growing a bath the market. in two thousand and ten we close in the years a set i think we expect to grow above market. expectation will grow somewhere

in the area of twelve to fourteen percent for this year for two thousand and eleven we have you know fairly high growth expectations we think for for books will grow in line with market and we think that will be approximately fifteen percent. book will grow above the market and we expect to hear growth of about twenty percent what about baghdad's what percent do you think there will reach this year we certainly past the peak where now we've seen a steady fall in the last three quarters of two thousand and ten i think for this year we expect that for the to fall and we expect for the new loan portfolio cost of risk or percentage of reserves that we create against the bad loans will be somewhere between one and a half and two percent so freddie for a long number we think that's more new normal post crisis to realize approximately one hundred two percent of the bad loans of your credit but for. gas problem says

the demand for gas has gone up since the start of twenty eleven the company's gas production has exceeded planned volumes by about nine hundred million cubic meters of gallons that's due to the growing demand for natural gas for example bellows takes nine percent more every day than it's provided by the contract. let's have a quick look at how the markets are faring this hour most asian stocks ike's standing their games with tech shares benefiting from a jump in profits at japan's nikkei is gaining point forty five percent with cheap makers elpida memory and electronics rallying three point seven and seven point nine percent respectively hong kong's hang seng is up a bit more than half cent with computer producer learn of a group rising two point two percent ahead of its earnings results expected later in the day. and russia's markets saw it change in direction on tuesday

both archie s. and my sets were lower point seven percent as investors were not finding reasons for growth easily enough to see the ongoing decline at buying opportunity yet. and analysts say the oil and get sector will outperform in the coming weeks driven by expectations of the state tax reform but. from financial keep gratian at creech here believes the retail sector will also catch investors' interest. apart from the oil and gas sector what we've seen so far is a profit taking the consumer space the consumer names in the last twelve months before the beginning of this year have outperformed dramatically so this could be just pure profit taking and rebalancing in terms of allocations for major international funds we would expect some. rating in the consumer space as well because what we currently see in terms of their valuations for names like my next five percent they're treating below their historical average multiples which makes

them good buying opportunity. that's all we have time for knowledge join me in less than one out time for more business news here on our to get more story from our web site r t dot com slash business. in turn i know he's available in the. square hutto silver to look three hotels

bangkok's on the mend told one called a mockery watergate hotel and. princess hotel married called john hotel bankrolled by yuki suites hotel been called the imperial queen's pocatello married results and spun her to shuras in toto new supply and spun decide from her to golden cliff results and spun moto a one year old true sotto discovery beach hotel children to tie resume the sea mantra peer resume. barracuda build a magickal who turned out ok renaissance hotel ok real sweet toto pacific sylvan resort and spa. in israel ots available in cinema hotel time periods in hotels jerusalem. welcome back here with r.t. here's a look at the top stories in lithuania

a politician is facing up to two years in jail for dinner. the official state line . has claims that local authorities were responsible for the death of fourteen for testers in vilnius twenty years ago as the sawyer troops. has found evidence the western media is finding it hard to abandon the bestselling cold war stereotypes when it comes to depicting two depicting russia the country still often portrayed as an evil to tell a tarion state of bears. and a vicious for world domination. and soaring food prices are highlighted as major trigger behind the breast and street rallies in the middle east at the problem could also be spreading through the world's richest countries. while next we look back at one of the most liberal leaders of the soviet union. of contradictions and paradoxes for nearly two decades his name received in the

soviet press.