fourteen protest is dying after clashes with soviet 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 that disagree with the fish occupation of events goddess polanski this is a member of the vilna city council and says soviet soldiers would 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 tower 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 both houses here on the roofs of british houses there are people who are shooting and they solve them. fresh

opinions 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 live in 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 absent from term in terms of human rights and freedom of opinion absurd or not it's the law in the few wanita that was just because borders are part the lithuanian penal code provides for criminal responsibility for the public denial of genocide crimes against humanity or war crimes people who believe these crimes are more victims should be held responsible for the nine hundred ninety one aggression against lithuania and its 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 put to use the sources and back the official version of events for the most part i mean we live. on the one hand there were civilians who wanted self-determination on the other hand it was military might in my assessment the events of january ninety ninety one were an attempt to solve a problem with the use of force claimed innocent lives. but should question in 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 the authorities have overreacted but it's up to the lawyers to decide it's a provocation but it's based on certain logic lithuania knew 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 of a party with the way. and now we'll live in the information age and the air of the internet but for a man of people around the world russia remains a mysterious and misunderstood land it's often portrayed as an evil totalitarian state where only vodka helps people survive the turtle winter as a group is going off reports it seems for media finds dated caricaturist a better story than twenty first century truth. oh.

two decades have gone since the cold war ended but its ghost seem to be alive and well in some western quarters 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 that. 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 all 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 water goes about russia from ten countries and other material from up to ninety others and judging by what's written russia is still often seen as a vodka drinking beer overrun by mafia seeking world domination. president's made a video of an 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 if macdonald is ation a product has to be easily understood and quickly consumed and if the reader is developing intellectual a basis it's his problem as long as this type helps make some money and boost

ratings the ryland wall fell over twenty years ago but perhaps some coverage just doesn't want to let the facts get in the way of a good story to tell you you go to school off the moscow. and coming up later in the program hungry for change supplier food prices are seen as a key to or go behind the rallies rolling around the middle east we'll look at which countries to be next. now with speculation of a change of the top of mungo complying forces what mistakes are still prevailing in afghanistan. for alleged terrorists from the chechen republic have been detained by security services of moscow's busiest transport hubs three man and a woman who were about to board a train a railway station investigators are now checking how long they've been in moscow

and whether any potential attacks were being planned a special operation was carried under the president's plan to prevent terror acts rather than dealing with the aftermath. of visited the same station last week and slammed the measures being taken tougher security was put in place after last month's suicide bombing at the airport the left thirty six people dead at the uprisings in tunisia and egypt have triggered a domino effect of protests calling for reform across the arab world in yemen riots continued for a fifth day between thousands of pro and anti-government demonstrators demanding the country's u.s. ally president step down two protesters in bahrain were killed and several others when the violence here police had to use tear gas tongs to disperse the crowds in iraq members of parliament called for the execution of opposition leaders they say orchestrated protest on monday that saw two people killed. president ahmadinejad

also to punish the organizers while the u.s. fallback the opposition egypt itself a script by labor strikes were interim 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 the us difference. they will not want to fully democratize egypt they will not want the military to be so subject to civilian political control so they will be reaching out to civilian politicians who are willing to allow the military can to continue to have power and continue to have a very important economic power and the military will seek to ensure that it is those sorts of people who are occupied whether the presidency whether in parliament whether in the media and so we can anticipate that there will be some opposition

arising from the civilian political forces there is aware that the concern with the business enterprise has gotten in the way of the military enterprise that the primary concern of the minister of defense and those around him is business 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 it tries to balance an approach to demonstrators with its element janda. the united states have been developing a global policy throughout the last decades global policy in which it came into support with 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 they came much more with a position that was keen to what the 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 while the age of protests may have and it as a demand for democracy but it was a cost of putting food on the table that actually drove manning onto the streets

food prices there became overwhelming for in europe people and it's a problem being seen across the world artist correspondent 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 can translate into 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 price that we have to really have to learn how to

improvise and do things. because they don't know we don't get a raise to go into everything and everything means basic staples like milk be coffee and cereal which rose five percent in the last few months alone this. is going to be every summer going to fifty dollars and i get a lot of i mean if i want to. 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 weed 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 dealings 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 bottles oh my. government 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 earth to take on. the we have got sick and tired of being sick and tired you believe we are doing 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 are washington d.c. the new two thousand and twelve budget plan submitted by president obama has sparked heated debate over spending priorities some satyrs have hit out by saying

you will see cutbacks on health care programs and an increase in corporate tax hitting business growth economics aspart richard wolffe the university of massachusetts the budget cuts will badly affect the people but won't harm government elites. i think we have a political system that is sclerosis 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 of 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 little amounts but the larger picture nobody addresses nobody debates and that's an economy that requires a huge amount of government support to keep hobbling along and debts into the future that we will suffer a farm much more than anything being debated by republicans and democrats in washington today. remember there are always plenty of stories for you to explore at . the very top.

take shape.

at the pentagon says it's nod this side of one of the top u.s. commander in afghanistan will leave us a post there are reports that general petraeus will step down this year he was appointed eight months ago as part of a senior u.s. staff we are in ization in the country but our military contributor says despite all america's efforts the number of mistakes is only increasing. american occupation of afghanistan has already exceeded all possible saw that mistake in that country and accomplished even more than that in a negative sense and simultaneously having missed all the positive developments that war 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 the current american military campaign in afghanistan provides and ample evidence to exonerate the soviet political economic and military presence in afghanistan from their res e.g. 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 they're so armed forces will fighting the landlords the united states do not fire the landlords befriending the landlords and have turned them into the drug lords and the main negative success story for the united states occupation b.s. that afghanistan has been turned deliberately and not into the narco caliphate. well former u.n. anti-drug chief says corruption in afghanistan prevents the majority of aid money

from ever reaching its intended target painter a walk he told r.t. that nato itself is contributing to the problems. doesn't. cause its operation. the contribution of a few pretty sure the military personnel but you need to. offer going to these different. their contribution to put up should be used military logistics. they subcontract. you know from start to private companies. but it's subsequent to. immediately just. a business of a couple billion dollars. to offer the companies who are comprised by world roads and sometimes even by the thought about. the growth of the security of. the goals from kabul where you were in afghanistan in exchange of huge amount of

money and the money that these taken from the media. logistics is more. the money that takes from drug trafficking. and i 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 yesterday gratian income source an agent was killed and other hurt while driving through northern mexico on tuesday while was critically wounded and died from his injuries the second who 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 both u.s. and mexican officials are working together on the investigation. the leader of north korea's communist regime can ya tale has turned seventy crowds have started to gather in the capital pyongyang to celebrate his birthday the government

officially lists his age as sixty nine though records show he's a year older it's thought celebrations will be more a low key this year due to a food shortage in the country. the czech republic's health minister and a group representing the country's doctors have reached a deal to and the route over poor pay dispute hit a peak in samara last year when three and a half thousand doctors had a day in resignation letters under the deal hospital doctors are to receive the pay rise of around three hundred fifty dollars a month this year and next the deal still needs the approval of the cabinet and the doctors union. girls county has been died on charges he slept with an underage prostitute and then he used his influence to cover it up the woman at the center of the scandal admits receiving money from denies he slept together

a judge in the land gave the go ahead for the trial of the prime minister to begin with stony has rejected all accusations and labeled the case a farce. while crosstalk is on the way just over a five minutes time first it's the latest business news with a stable. hello time for your business update and this week's news maker of b two b. which successful a sold of ten percent of its shares on monday and just learning to snap up bank of moscow is expecting the record profits for twenty ten in addition to these positive developments deputy chairman get but moore says that non-performing loans have been

steadily shrinking in the last year while its credit but fall is growing above the market. in two thousand and ten we close in the years or so 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 book will grow in line with market and we think there will be approximately fifteen percent. told book will grow above the market and we expect to hear growth of about twenty percent what about what percent do think they will reach this year we're 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 long portfolio course the risk or percentage of reserves that we create against the bad loans will be

somewhere between one and a half and two percent so very very low number we think that's more new normal post-crisis two to realize approximately one hundred two percent of the bedlam of your crude but for. let's have a quick look at the markets now most asian stocks standard gains with tech shares benefiting from a jump in profit at dell japan's nuclear game point six percent with chip makers memory and bring this out so tronics rolling three point seven and seven point nine percent respectively in hong kong science one finished up point six percent with computer producer one of a group rising more than two percent ahead of its earnings results expected later in the day. ok and in russia the indices are going down in early trading as you can see from the graphics the r.t.s. and the my six so far continue their downward trend taking from tuesday and we can

have a look at something because right now despite high oil most of the energy shares are losing ground as best. two to push down stocks bucking the trend of gas from marginally. point three percent but to shedding point four percent resource shares are also dragging my sits down. and gas from says the demand for gas has gone up since the start of twenty eleven the company's gas production has exceeded blend volumes by about nine hundred million cubic meters of gas that's due to the growing demand for natural gas for example states nine percent more gas every day that it's provided by the contract. let's join me in less than one more business news here on our to do get more stories from a website archon dot com slash business. comes

. up.

on the run coming up. this street still keeps its secrets but now it's time to feel. the soviet finds the teachers whose job is to life right on the oxys. wealthy british style it's time to be right on. target. market so why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy in these kinds of reports on r.g.p. . the

watching from moscow these are the top stories in lithuania a politician is facing up to two years in jail for the official state line. claims that local stories were responsible for the death. and villainy of some twenty years ago so the troops. are. the western media finding it hard to bestselling cold war stereotypes when it comes to

depicting russia the country still often portrayed as an evil to tell a state of. and a world domination. down soaring food prices. unrest and street in the middle east the problem could also be spreading to the world's richest countries. so we had lines here up next. debate of whether there's enough food to feed the world. well. new the latest in science and technology from the realm plus. we've got the future covered. and if.