yes yemen is an important american ally but rain is an important american ally i mean if we look at a place like the rain there the united states houses the headquarters of the u.s. navy's fifth fleet the big question mark for washington of course is iran because it does not have a strong american influence there in these clashes that happened today wednesday a lot of protesters were holding up and t. even with signs they were they were chanting anti american slogans and the feeling is growing within iran as it has been for some time against the american administration if we look back at what he spied a lot of these events the toppling if one can call it that of president mubarak in egypt the united states was given conflicting messages at the beginning of the demonstrations it seemed to support mubarak the u.s. had supported for thirty years it then slowly changed its support to the demonstrators and by the time a brick was overthrown it clearly put itself of the demonstrators the people here

asking the question this doesn't really change the u.s. influence particularly in egypt because now the army is in place and for four years the u.s. has been financing with billions of dollars the egyptian army so to some extent the army is really just the other side of mubarak's power to the u.s. watching these developments with increasing concern and needing to balance itself people here criticizing a american involvement and b. their involvement as being of double standards and then of course israel comes to the party it's all watching events israel increasingly concerned that it could see islamic republics erupting on its borders so as the tsunami continues to sweep across the middle east the u.s. and israel as well increasingly alarmed. russian president dmitri medvedev who's on the fischel visit to italy expressed hope that the key rights and liberties of people living in the revolution torn states will be observed and respected. it's a very difficult process we hope that all conflicts that are taking place in the middle east will be settled on

a legal basis through observing the constitution and fundamental rights and freedoms of people living there. or turn a visit to kid agreements were signed including one on military transit to afghanistan and an asset swap deal with an italian energy company business but if you will have more on some of these deals a little later for you. and us unconditionally supports the corrupt regimes of the region but switches sides a since that dictates that toppled well that's according to middle east expert coming m respect from protest stricken bahrain the us foreign policy is replete with contradictions of what they heal the virtues of democracy free markets free speech and these kind of things but in reality on the growing they've shown past and present to be fu's were behind regimes that are the antithesis of these values regimes that are brutally repressive regimes that are

corrupt elites regimes to destabilize the region through their misconduct abuse of the populations and the neighboring book publishers it's very telling in the very mature real position of the us regarding the demonstrations in egypt and elsewhere they do you have to give some sort of lip service understandable support to the movement for democracy is very noticeable that these support is quite warm and it is quite laggard really in its it's not so bad food some support for the demonstrators in my view. do so do this quite evident to walking a very fine line because of their bridges contradictions. experts say rising food prices were one reason behind the wave of anti-government demonstrations in north africa and the middle east the u.n. has warned of impending social upheaval in countries that are quite literally hungry for freedom issues also creeping into the u.s.

where food stamp programs are being slashed artie's according ford has this report . in egypt the revolution took to the streets. but it may have started at the table when food prices begin 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 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 the price that 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 the

coffee and syria which rose five percent in the last few months alone. some are 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 coffee 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 street from berkeley to table. you know we haven't got. the we get did 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 table but it's unclear whether it will also bring them out in the streets toward our washington d.c. . and staying with dollars in the u.s. we explain to you later this new budget proposal is making some americans feel i should say fear even more for their future. why they claim trillions in federal spending will fall in the wrong hands and will only benefit those in.

that's still to come for you this hour but first let's now move on to lithuania where disagreeing with the government can land you behind bars an opposition party leader faces jail off to blame his country's authorities for orchestrating a fatal gun battle with soviet troops two decades ago. takes a look at both accounts of that day. january nine hundred ninety one fourteen protesters dying of the clashes with saudi troops the incident sparked international support for the demonstrators cause an independent state of life you ania however one local politician now faces a possible jail sentence that disagree with the official version of events a good artist polansky this is a member of the vilna city council and says soviet soldiers would responsible basing my opinion on the witness list and on the book which was published by the

former head of parliamentary national security committee chair so he wrote in his book and nobody denied that but from this tower representatives of liftin 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 valves houses here on the roofs of fish 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 his argument that it was live you a me and gunman that were responsible could land him in jail i am facing a charge of. up to two years in prison i mean i have 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. the lithuanian penal code provides for criminal responsibility for the public denial of genocide crimes against humanity or war crime rules people who belittle these crimes or more victims should be held responsible in one thousand nine hundred gratian against lithuania and its citizens falls under the definition of a war crime. as an elected official mr play at this is a mune from prosecution however he has waived this right and is prepared to stand trial local historians question player to get his sources and back the official version of events but most that only when. 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 the problem of 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 thirty's have 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 savior thora tease and compel them to start solving the lithuanian issue. should he be found guilty by the cause. it is needed lithuania and gladys polanski's says he will appeal to the european court of human rights and appeal he's convinced it 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 r.t. if you weigh in here. the court in norway has ordered the russian nationalist be extradited back to his country for just that sequels and then in his mixed martial arts days as the ginger escaped from a psychiatric ward in russia and sought political asylum when the snow line crosstalk correspondent catherine is out of a who has the latest. for you know this isn't treating cases that tell us about the latest twist. well the latest twist in the saga of the redhead tarzan as he's known or just loved. as he's known to the legal system is that of course the courts in norway have agreed to extradite him back to russia a request was sent by the russian prosecutor general's office to norway asking that this man be returned to russia to stand trial he is of course wanted here in this country for a number of robberies he is also of course known for many strange and bizarre

acts like. growing apparently to norway in a rowboat cruise that is how the arrived in that country and asked for political asylum that was refused to him and he's currently serving a prison sentence there for illegal possession of an unregistered firearm and that of course so that prison sentence will continue up until may be received eight months behind bars so far it's been in solitary confinement as far as we know very comfortable charge you could climb and watch as soon as may just love that six may be extradited back to russia of course and his lawyers say that they will fight this decision by the knowledge of course still does it is already considering asking for political asylum in both law to be and the way he appeared up i understand that he used to be a mixed martial arts fighter and indeed quite a successful one so when did it all start to go wrong for him. bill

in this case it is very difficult to actually pinpoint where exactly it all went wrong for the just love dots of many indeed asking whether it ever went right because the man is certainly in the nick in the in a very bizarre and he says self-proclaimed is a relative to some sort of pagan gods that he believes to be of. russian descent he has called himself the lord of the mortal mst forest which of course is a region in russia has denied christianity as this country's religion has proved himself to be hard core neo nazi and even the fighters themselves of course not the m.m.a. fighters the mixed martial arts but perhaps other well known figures in the fighting community have all said that as a fighter and even as

a human being they just love dots that is not one of them and he of course continues to shock the public with his escapades the latest of course being that he broke out of a psychiatric hospital apparently allegedly tearing at the fencing with his bare hands and then rode in a boat to norway from st petersburg and asked for political asylum the norway in norway of course they were not exactly we used with such a potential addition to their citizens so they quickly agreed to extradite the man back to russia where he is wanted for attempted robbery of a cell phone store know of many of the theories were were existing as to why exactly a cell phone store was the targeted location some say that the six employee ran out of money on his phone and decided to not only put the money on his phone but also borrow that same money from the store he attempted to rob so

a very bizarre character in his saga and his fight is definitely far from over all thanks indeed for to us through this as you say quite bizarre story thanks very much indeed for news out of a reporting live on auntie. well some other international news in brief for you now this hour the iraqi defector who said saddam hussein had weapons of mass destruction has admitted he lied about it arjun rbs claims were among those used to justify the u.s. led two thousand and three invasion of the country he said he saw an opportunity to topple the old regime and bring democracy to a research group say the war has resulted in over one hundred thousand civilian deaths. a tropical low pressure system which developed into a category one a side clothing has bought of the northern australian city of darwin dozens of homes were due to the main roads have been cut off by floodwaters high winds and heavy rains lashed the city overnight operation trees are knocking down power lines

schools and the city's airport remain closed cycle and is expected to intensify to a category two as it nears the coast and will linger until friday. has been announced as the name for the world's newest country it will come into existence in july after a referendum last month went overwhelmingly in favor of a split from the north in much speculation of the territories name and among suggestions work kush and the republic the separation has had to end decades of conflict between north and south. and the rights activists in china are condemning a magic trick with synchronised goldfish and say cruelty was required to make the fish move in unison was made famous after being broadcast on state television jury lunar new year celebrations last month in the most watched program of the year the magician responsible says there's no abuse but refuses to give away the secrets of the tree. when it looks like something's fishy going on there u.s.

president barack obama has unveiled his twenty twelve federal budget proposal in which he highlights the country's financial priorities the plan includes budget cuts and tax increases all aimed at reducing the deficit over the next decade and while washington is calling for over three trillion dollars in federal spending experts say regular americans will not benefit from this. 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 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. and that was professor richard will two russian cosmonauts on board the r.s.s. taking of this year's second space walk site engineers or leg scripts current dimitry content have stepped into open space as part of the russians based program because most who work outside of the station and state of the art space suits which

have interactive displays that tell them what must be checked and what to do in an emergency occupied who should return asking six hours. away can log on to a website for much more news and videos you can also read our blogs from around the world and of course leave your comments always good to hear from you here's a taste of what's online right now at r.t. dot com the search is easily being put to the test of the twenty fourteen winter olympics. host city prepares to stage the european cars. and ever want to travel back in time all that fantasy was a part of a film called distant neighborhood based on a japanese manga comic spoke to the lead actor and you can find out what he had to say on r.t. dot com.

the pentagon is denying rumors that the u.s. commander in afghanistan will leave his post by the end of the year the british press only reported the general david petraeus is due to leave afghanistan along with a large share of u.s. troops washington's promise to pull all of its forces out of the country twenty fourteen quote come hell or high water military contributors says the u.s. failed to learn from the soviet campaign that. american occupation of afghanistan has already exceeded all possible solve it mistake in that contrie and accomplished even 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 propaganda which 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 it 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. the former u.n. anti drugs chief peter larky says international corruption in afghanistan is under reported and accounts for great problems in the country. out of forty billion

dollars that lived in afghanistan for the civilian aid all the eight of these forty went through the african bowl. is international the production international newspapers particularly western news being was never speak about this big piece of the cake base because the time about africa which is there of course but this is more slice these are the biggest corruption. that i discovered the steel from african people eighty percent there with international aid. so you can watch that interview lesson ten minutes from now here on r.t. but now let's get the business update with dmitri.

thanks very much bill gazprom is set to join the elephant oilfield in libya and an asset swap deal with italian energy company any the one hundred sixty three million dollar deal is expected to be signed during the official visit of russian president medvedev to italy on wednesday among other topics for discussion in the protests is the potential participation of any end nel in russia's high tech school cover and also the service stream project which is to carry fifty billion cubic tonnes of gas from russia to southern europe across the black sea. russia could quit the book as alexander ballou spoil pipeline project that bypasses turkey's bosphorus straits according to russian media russian partners comprising of tranced after gazprom that are about to officially end their financing of the project now this would effectively kill off the project that russia bulgaria and greece agreed on three years ago but almost three hundred kilometers of an oil pipeline to export

crude to european clients however trans now has denied this information saying russia doesn't intend to redirect oil deliveries to other pipelines but some analysts doubt the economic value of the whole project together with the completed one pipeline and together with the plan to be completed next year to pipeline i think currently. russia has enough expert capacity is probably distribution i mean geographical distribution of rules is not so diversified as russia potentially may want or put into the mini but i don't think that the construction of some. extra additional pipelines world is justified economically. so i go to the markets now u.s. markets are up as new home construction in the united states came in better than expected so go to the figures now or will you see that

a bit weakening since last hour. and nasdaq up point to one point four percent respectively process has ended wednesday's session on a positive note pushed by rising oil prices and optimism in the united states and europe banking stocks were in the lead with bad bank up one percent d.t.b. the biggest gain of the day almost four percent nor cynical was one of the biggest losers those pitch rating said it's reconsidering its outlook for the company as the buyback of roussel stake in the group could damage the quits in sevastopol is up one and a half percent of the close following reports that may cut steel supplies to car maker after that it's. and michael stein at financial corporation says investors continue to be a bit about russia. the my six is up about sixty basis points today helped by a combination of factors including the strong oil price strengths in european equity markets strengths in the u.s. equity futures and also better than expected u.s.

housing starts data sentiment towards russia remains quite positive rate now helped by the. oil price environment and also by yesterday's better than expected industrial output data which showed that growth in russia is actually accelerating right now. in other news possible merger of russia's heavy truck producer. bella reese rival is a step closer to reality of the deputy prime minister. russian technology is designed to consolidate your company potential merger would seek. to create a new company. so we're going to give them our shareholders forty nine percent stake. and retail diesel prices in russia for them by two point four percent over the past week the aviation fuel price to this came russian prime minister doesn't have criticized the oil companies for unjustifiably high prices and the headlines are next to go away.

we'll. bring you the latest in science technology from the realms. we. covered.

top stories live from moscow now here on r t egypt's unrest is resonating throughout the arab world with many in neighboring countries demanding political reforms and protests getting violent we wanted to run anti-government demonstrators are getting wavering support from washington but some say the u.s. is using the pretext of democracy but displaying double standards. led to a search for culprits with wall street in the for orchestrating food price hikes planting the seeds of revolution and say this was the original cause of frustration which forced people to take to the streets. a politician in lithuania may face jail for disagreeing with his government claims local authorities and not soviet troops were behind a fatal uprising twenty years ago he's even waived his right of immunity from prosecution to stand up for freedom of speech in the baltic state. one hour more

than half of all drugs produced in afghanistan consumed here in russia and the e.u. of the thirty thousand people die every year from drug addiction in russia alone with the former u.n. . chief and archie about a new five year plan aimed at eradicating drug production in afghanistan and that interview is next on r.t. . thank you very much for being with us today now some experts would argue that a legitimate economy has considerably weakened after the economic crisis facing the mafia have become more powerful in light of that the black economy and.