it is an important american ally but rain is an important american ally i mean if we look at a place like the rain there in 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 empty u.s. 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 and if we look back at what inspired 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 you're asking the question of 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 so 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 its role 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 on an official 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. well during a visit to kick agreements were signed including one on military transit to afghanistan and an asset swap deal with an italian energy company and business but it will have more on some of those deals a little later this hour. the us unconditionally supports the corrupt regimes of the middle east but switches sides as soon as the dictator is a toppled that's according to finn and cutting him who's an expert on the region he spoke to us earlier 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 the past and present to be fu's were behind regimes that are the into this is of these values regimes that are brutally repressive regimes that

are corrupt elites regimes to destabilize the region through their misconduct or abuse of their relations under neighboring book publishers it's very tellingly in the very mercurial positional of the us regarding the demonstrations in egypt and elsewhere they do you have to give so sort of lip service understandable support to the movement for democracy illusory news on the discipline is quite lukewarm and it's quite large virtually in its not so bad food some support for the demonstrators and my. goodness who do this quite evident the 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 the issues are also creeping into the u.s. where food stamp programs are being slashed art is cutting ford has this report. 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 vote the friends who are not there we haven't really had to learn how to if they do things like us because they don't know we don't get

a raise to go on 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 be every summer going to fifty dollars and i get a lot of i mean if i want to eat healthy food 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 of 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 bottles oh my. 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 on. you know we have got sick and tired of being sick and tired of the 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 are washington d.c. . staying with the u.s. we explain to you later this hour a new budget proposal that's making some americans fear even more for their future you can find the plain truth federal spending will fall in the wrong hands and will

only benefit those in power. that's still to come for you but first let's move on to lithuania now where disagreeing with the government can land you behind bars an opposition party leader faces julian 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 protest is dying after clashes with saudi troops the incident sparked international support for the demonstrators cause an independent state of bill if you win you however one local politician now faces a possible jail sentence that disagree with the fish equation of the band's good artist 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 authorities 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 the shooting and they sold them. for a ship in years on historical events are nothing unusual some are based on newly discovered evidence others merely conspiracy theories what's different is that mr polanski says arguments that it was live 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 was as well because both of our 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. action against syria and its citizens falls under the definition of a war crime if you can. 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 play it the sources and back the official version of events. on the one hand there were civilians who wanted self-determination on the other hand there was military might in my assessment the events of january nine hundred ninety one were an attempt to solve a problem 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 soviet 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 political 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. lithuania a court in norway has ordered a russian nationalist be extradited back to his country which is love datsik also known in his mixed martial arts days as the ginger tarzan escaped from a psychiatric ward in russia and sought political asylum catherine as a river has the latest. 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 he. self-proclaimed in relative to some sort of pagan gods that he believes to be of russian descent he has called himself the lord of the more forest which of course is a region in russia has denied christianity as this country's religion has proved

himself to be a hardcore 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 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 that is how he 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 that prison sentence will continue up until may be received eight months behind bars as

soon as may be just luck that six may be extradited back to russia he of course and his lawyers say that they will fight this decision by the region or if it's not does it is already considering asking for political asylum in both law to be and looking at. katrina czar of a reporting that now time for some other international news in brief for you this hour an iraqi defector said saddam hussein had weapons of mass destruction has admitted he lied. 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 iraq research group say the war has resulted in over one hundred thousand civilian deaths. from the low pressure system which developed into a category one cycle and is back at the northern australian city of darwin dozens of homes were deluged the main roads have been cut off by floodwaters high winds

and heavy rains lashed the city overnight trees and knocking down power lines schools and the city's airport remain closed to cycling commerce is expected to intensify to category two as it is the coast and will linger until friday. subsidised has been announced as the name for the world's newest country it will come into existence in july after a referendum last month overwhelmingly in favor of a split from the north much speculation of the territories name among suggestions were cush and the republic separation is hope to end decades of conflict between north and south. and the rights activists in china are condemning a magic trick with synchronised goldfish cruelty was required to make the fish move in unison and it was made famous after being broadcast on state television during new year's celebration is now in the most programs of the year the magician responsible says there's no refuses to give away the secrets of the tournament

results you do not know. looks a bit fishy to me now the 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 a three trillion dollars in federal spending experts say regular americans will not benefit from this i think we have a political system that is school erotic 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. that was professor richard wolfe two russian cosmonauts on board the taking this year's second space walk flight engineers. and dimitri have stepped into open space as part of the russian space program cosmonaut to work

outside of the station and state of the art space suits which have interactive displays that tell them what must be changed and what to do in an emergency. to last for six hours. by the way log on to our web site for much more news and videos you can also read blogs from around the world and leave your comments would be good to hear from me has a taste of what's online at r.t. dot com right now the search is the slated to be put to the test as the twenty fourteen winter olympics host city prepares to stage the european cup. for the want to travel back in time well that fantasy was a part of a film called distant neighborhood based on a japanese manga comic. spoke to the lead actor you can find out what he had to say on the website at 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 earlier reported that 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 by twenty fourteen quote come hell or high water well ati's military contributor says the u.s. failed to learn from the soviet campaign that. american occupation of afghanistan has already exceeded all possible saw that mistake in that country and accomplished even illegal 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 day raise e.g. you 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 it forces will fighting the landlords the united states do not try 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 b.s. that afghanistan has been turned deliberately and not into the narco caliphate. the former u.n.

drugs chief pina lucky says international corruption in afghanistan is reported and accounts for great problems in the country. forty billion dollars that lived in afghanistan for the civilian aid all the eight of these forty went through the african bowl that is international the production international newspapers particularly western newspapers never speak about this big piece of the key base because the time about africa which is there of course but this is most light these are the biggest corruption. that i discover the steal of from african people eighty percent there with international aid. and you can watch that interview in an hour from now here on the one now let's get the business news with dmitri that's coming your way here in moscow in just a moment stay with us.

only warm welcome to the program you're watching business r.t. with me to mr medvedev promise set to join the elephant oilfield in libya and another swap deal with italian energy company any the one hundred sixty three million dollars deal is expected to be signed during the official visit of russian president dmitry medvedev to italy on wednesday among other topics for discussions of potential participation of any end there in russia's high tech hub of skolkovo and also the south stream project which is to carry up to sixty three billion cubic meters of gas a year from russia to southern europe across the black sea. meanwhile russia could

quit the burger oil pipeline project that bypasses turkey's bosphorus strait according to russian media russian partners comprising of transnet draws nafta and gas from net or about to officially end their financing of the project now this would effectively kill the project that russia bulgaria and greece agreed to three years ago to build almost free hundred kilometers of an oil pipeline to export crude to european clients however trance now has deny this information saying russia does not intend to redirect world in the breeze to other pipelines but some analysts doubt the economic value of the whole project. together with the completed is pure one pipeline and together with a plan to be completed next year to pipeline i think currently. russia has enough expert capacity is probably distribution i mean geographical distribution overall it's not so diversified as russia but they may want or

potentially may need i don't think that. construction of some. extra pipelines world is justified economically. so you look at the markets now in the united states they are up as a new home construction came in better than expected also strong earnings results boosting the market from family dollar abercrombie and fitch and also genzyme is rising nearly two percent of french drugmaker standing here ventures agreed to by the u.s. biotechnology firm for around twenty billion dollars in cash russia ended wednesday's session on a positive note pushed higher by rising oil prices and optimism in the u.s. and europe banking stocks were in the lead was back up one percent p.c. be the biggest gain of the day of almost four percent almost like it was one of the biggest losers of the day as fitch rating says it's reconsidering the outlook for the company because the buyback proposals a stake in the nickel could damage the seven stars up one half percent of the close

following reports they make steel supplies to car maker afterwards and michael. says investors are continuing to be a speech about russian. 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 strength in the u.s. equity futures and also better than expected u.s. housing start data sentiment towards russia remains quite positive rate now helped by the firm 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 brief some of the stories a possible merger of russia's heavy truck producer kamaz with its fellow risk rival mask is one step closer to reality bellerose deputy prime minister blair. echoed wasn't acknowledges desire to consolidate but your company's central merger would see come as biomass to create

a new company ross. and it would in turn give them as shareholders a forty nine percent stake. in retail diesel prices in russia for them by two point four percent in a week with aviation fuel dropping in price to now this came after the russian prime minister was in a position criticised all companies for justifiably high prices. that's if i will be back in one i was timed with an update the headlines are next on our with bill don't go away.

it is easy to. see. the official t. application. called touch from the. video. old comes and says feed in the palm of your.

question on the dot com. good to have you with this is from the russian capital top stories now egypt's unrest is resonating throughout the arab world with many in neighboring countries demanding political reforms and protests getting violent meanwhile in toronto anti-government demonstrations are getting unwavering support from washington some say the u.s. is using the pretext of democracy but display double standards. all is a worldwide lead to a search for culprits. wall street and the dog orchestrating food price hikes and seeds of revolution analysts say this was the original course of frustration which forced people to take to the streets. politician with when you may face jail for disagreeing with his government claims local authorities and not soviet troops from

the uprising twenty years ago is even waive his right even unity from prosecution to stand up for freedom of speech in the baltic states. and that's in the meantime he was put in power by stalin's followers debunked his predecessors cult of personality and led the development of the soviet space program well next we look at the secrets behind the rule of nikita krushchev stay with us. a politician full of contradictions and paradoxes for nearly two decades his name received no mention in the soviet press many continue to remember him after his resignation. i think he was the best emperor of the soviet era yes he was. publicly vowed that the soviet union would catch up with america and do it he promised to fully established communism in his country by nine hundred eighty he believed it was possible and compelled others to show.