this is a possible jail sentence that disagree with the bishop the action of the events as polanski this is a member of the vilna city council and says soviet soldiers were responsible basing my opinion on the witness list 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 enough for a case where shooting down into the crowd. and other businesses for i know who lived in that area and still live wanted to build houses here on the roofs off which houses better people for their shooting and they saw them. fresh opinions on historical events and nothing unusual some based on newly discovered evidence others merely conspiracy theories what's different is that mr polanski his argument

that it was live in gunman that were responsible could land him in jail i am facing a charge of. up to two years in prison i mean i 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 as well because boards are part the lithuanian penal code provides for criminal responsibility for the public denial of genocide crimes against humanity or war crime rules people who believe so these crimes are more victims should be held responsible as in one thousand nine hundred gratian against lithuania and its citizens falls under the definition of a war crime you get those as an elected official mr plates case is a mune from prosecution however he has waived this right and he's prepared to stand trial local historians question plates cases sources. back the official version of

events. 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 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 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 suv 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 and appeal he's convinced it will be carried out from a jail cell history may not agree with the opinion of mr polanski 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 r.t. lithuania. nowadays we live in the information age and the era of the internet but for many 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 eternal winter now as you got this kind of reports it seems foreign media finds it dated caricature a better story than that of the twenty first century truth. 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 called war the iron curtain which 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 to 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 it's his 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 why do i tell you all the stuff you go to school of moscow.

all right now i still to come for you here on the program on the hungry for change spiraling licensors is a key trigger behind the rallies rolling around the middle east we look at which countries could be next. and with the speculation of change at the top among the occupying forces what the stakes are still prevailing in afghanistan. for alleged terrorists from the chechen republic have been detained by security services at one of moscow's busiest transport hubs three men and a woman who are about to board a train at the railway station investigators are now checking how long they've been in moscow and whether any potential attacks were being planned the special operation was carried out under the president's plan to prevent terror attacks rather than dealing with the aftermath to be treatment here that visited that same

station last week and the measures being taken tougher security was put in place last month a suicide bombing at domodedovo airport that left thirty six dead. now the uprisings in tunisia and in egypt have triggered a domino effect of protests calling for reform all 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 the work killed and several others wounded in violence the police had to use a tear gas and buttons to disperse the crowds and in iran members of the parliament called for the execution of opposition leaders they say straighted protests on monday that saw two people killed president ahmadinejad meantime also vowed to punish the organizers while the u.s. strongly backed the opposition egypt itself is gripped by labor strikes where interim power is now in the hands of the military which is reworking the

constitution but some experts believe the ideological. splits the army leadership has more to worry about from us into films. they will not want to fully democratized 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 to 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 awareness that the concern with the business enterprise has gotten in the way of the military entreprise that 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 of the middle east is essential to american foreign policy experts say the push for democracy is creating difficulties for washington as it tries to balance an approach to demonstrate his with its own agenda. 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 authorities 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 results that was taking place then they decided to compose with the public opinion in to tell them that it was in favor of the vote project 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. well the egypt protests may have ended as a demand for democracy but it was the cost of putting food on the table but actually drove many onto the streets food prices that became overwhelming for ordinary people and it's a problem being seen all across the world correspondent for takes a closer look 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 food so these these kinds of huge world crop price increases can translate 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 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 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.

is going to get some are 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 but 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 biofuels almost a challenge of increasing the amount of food produced 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 of america to take. you know we have got sick and tired of being sick and tell you that we get 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 all 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 the washington d.c. . well the new two thousand and twelve budget plan submitted by president obama has now a spot heated debate over spending priorities some senators have hit out by saying it will see cutbacks on health care programs and the increase in corporate tax is going to be hitting the business growth economics expert richard wolffe of the university of massachusetts says the budget cuts will badly affect the people but

won't harm the government elite. i think we have a political system that is sclerotic 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. but there are always plenty of stories for you to explore. twenty four hours a day. some of. the. culture. from the very top. videos. on you tube page.

is. the official. video. feed.

the pentagon says it's not decided top u.s. commander in afghanistan will leave his post. he was appointed eight months. in the country but. despite all of the. 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 their raese g.-u. of the united states information agency of 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 try 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 though considering that former u.n. drugs chief says corruption in afghanistan prevents the majority of aid money from ever reaching its intended target. she told r.t.

that nato itself is contributing to the problems. doesn't the. operation. the contribution of a. need or. of any stanleys different. their contribution to use the military logistic. they subcontract introduced you know from the start to private companies. subsequent to. the military will just be easy business of a couple billion dollars. to africa companies who are comprised by world roads and sometimes even by the thought about. to go to the security of. the goals from kabul. afghanistan in exchange of huge amount of money and the money that these taken from limited nato military logistics is more

i calculated the takes from the drug trafficking. and you can catch that entire interview in around ten minutes time right here on our c are now let's turn our attention to some other international stories making headlines this hour the u.s. immigration and customs enforcement agent was killed and another hurt when they were attacked while driving through northern mexico on tuesday one 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 incident was related to the escalating drug violence in the country but u.s. and mexican officials are working together on the investigation. the leader of north korea's a communist. regime kim jong il has now turned seventy crowds have started to gather in the capital pyongyang to celebrate his birthday the government officially lists his age is sixty nine records show he is

a year old is thought celebrations will be more 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 end a rout over paul pate the dispute had a peek into somebody's last year when three and a half thousand doctors handed in resignation that was under the deal hospital doctors are to receive a pay rise of about three hundred and fifty dollars a month this year and next the deal still needs the approval of the cabinet and doctors. ok let's get to business news now with you. hello and a very warm welcome to the business update this week's news maker ficci b. which successfully sort of ten percent of its shares on monday and is plenty to snap up bank of moscow is expecting to the record profits for twenty ten in

addition to these positive developments ficci b.'s deputy chairman get that morse says the non-performing loans have been steadily shrinking in the last year while its credit but for leo is growing a both the market. in two thousand and ten will 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 books 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 do you think they 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 long portfolio cost

of risk or percent that you have reserves that we create against the bad loans will be somewhere between one and a half and two percent so pretty pretty long number we think that's more new normal post-crisis two to realize approximately one of the two percent of the bad loans of your crude but for. let's have a look at the stock markets european shares are rising in early trade on wednesday heineken is not proved point six percent talk to the world's two largest throughout each market forecasts for twenty ten earnings us cost savings more than offset lower p.s. sales how the game is included french drug makers the north eventis two point three percent off the grid to buy its rival genzyme corporation for twenty eight billion dollars in cash. let's have a look at asian markets and most asian stocks extended the gains we share with the

techs shares benefiting probably jump in profit as. point six percent but chip makers healthy to memory and tronics rallying three point seven and seven point nine percent respectively. saying finished up points. six percent with computer produce alone over a quarter of rising more than two percent of its earnings results expected later in the day. and in russia the indices have crossed the line again going up this hour the indices are flat tracking asian gains also energy stocks are beginning to react positively on my oil that's on the one hand on the other hundred vestas are cautious after disappointing statistics from the us. most will be energy shares a gaining ground on higher well not is again up about one percent but they are buying is leading the gains on the r.t.s. point seven percent. now

gas from expects export revenues that see year to top the pre-crisis record natural gas prices increase and the demand for the fuel recovers throughout europe become piece of the total export revenue could exceed seventy two billion dollars this year which is two and a half billion more than in two thousand and eight. plans to boost its exports to europe this year expected european gas prices to rise fifteen percent gas from also said it is ready and it is already shipping ahead of showed you. the end of russian business week has kicked off in london it aims to address the most pressing economic issues facing russia and the world our correspondent laura emmet reports. it's an annual conference which brings together russian businessmen and foreigners involved with russia to discuss the business and investment environment russia is one of the u.k.'s most important trading partners with the route just thousand

british business is working in russia arms trades topping seventeen billion dollars as such participants drawn from the public and private sectors in russia will address opportunities with and for russian companies and how to strengthen the political and economic image of russia in the world they'll be presentations on the role of foreign capital in the oil and gas industry and also a look at the changing investment climate in russia as the country diversify is away from hydrocarbons and tries to beef up its technology and small business sector is they'll also be sessions on building and promoting mosco as a global financial center but human capital is also high on the agenda with an emphasis on preventing a brain drain in russia they'll discuss the importance of attracting talented people back to the country to encourage innovation in all areas of business economics and technology. business artie's laura emmott reporting and that's it for knowledge you and me unless one one's time more business news.

you can. be. with us.

this street still keeps its secrets trying to feel. like. it's. the headlines now in lithuania a politician is facing up to two years in jail for denying the official state line . claims that local authorities were responsible for the death of fourteen protesters in twenty years ago and not soviet troops. the western media is finding it hard to abandon best selling cold war stereotypes when it comes to depicting the country's often portrayed as an evil totalitarian state of. vodka.

and soaring food prices are highlighted as a major trigger behind. in the middle east and the problem could also be spreading to the world's richest countries. while half of all drugs coming from afghanistan and al being used by people in russia and the e.u. the number of addicts in russia has reached two and a half million most of whom use afghan heroin that's the subject of today's interview with former u.n. chief. his five year plan to eliminate drug production in the region that's coming up next. around like you thank you very much for being with us today now some experts would

argue.