a t.v. appearance saying he was still in the country and one of gadhafi sons blamed exiles and outsiders for taking the country to the brink of civil war and he did not live ammunition was be used against demonstrators government ministers have quit over the use of force on civilians while some libyan ambassadors have resigned in protest and several are calling on the u.n. to intervene artie's get an education has more on how the trouble is being felt in washington. given all the big interests at stake in the region there is no more democracy chanting going on in washington there have been a few statements from u.s. officials calling for leaders of libya bahrain and others in turmoil to show restraint in hadley handling the protests and that's about it no more of that epic coverage of the democracy in making kind of things something that we saw a little more than a week ago when obama delivered all these passionate speeches on people of egypt making their voice heard and embracing democracy there is no more of that now with

the exception of iran of course the u.s. is for anything that's against the ukrainian leadership but the situation in some other countries seems to have spiraled out of control with egypt analysts say it was easier and safer for the u.s. to root for democracy and support the people because there is the army there which is very powerful and is largely financed by the united states and is now in control of egypt but in other countries in libya for example the u.s. doesn't have that same leverage so they are much more cautious calling for democracy in those countries i spoke to some experts here they say washington's biggest fear is that those uprisings in the region could bring about leaders who will be hostile to the united states and many analysts analysts say for the u.s. it's not really about supporting democracy in those countries it's about securing their interests just two months ago secretary of state hillary clinton pronounced herself very impressed by the progress that bahrain is making on all fronts she said that's quote there seems to be a strong the broadly held commitment to democracy. that was that was

before pro-democracy demonstrators filled the streets and the government responded with deadly force it leave you to experts say the u.s. would so much rather have things as they were could offer was never their favorite leader that's what for about some seven years ago he reached to open up a leave us all riches to the west and to let them invest in oil production so they kind of left him a little but now with protest spreading like wire wildfires across the region the u.s. seems to to have little control over what's going to happen next there as the region becomes increasingly unstable of the price of oil spikes on global markets it is now at its highest level since before the two thousand and eight financial crisis libya where protests are much more violent than they were in egypt or anywhere else now as the richest proven oil reserves in africa it is the twelve largest oil exporter in the world and it's reckless to disrupt supplies i mean all these protests not only that but there are questions as to who will control the suez canal a major oil shipping lane americans have their fleet in bahrain to patrol the canal

and keep an eye on iran but bahrain is now in deep crisis and nobody knows what's going to happen so the u.s. might be losing control there experts say if the on rescue teams and the crude oil prices keep growing as they are now the u.s. is going to be hit really badly especially now that it's struggling to climb out of recession there are there are reports that a number of western oil corporations might temporarily gain from this spike in oil prices but the political unrest in the region makes it all too unpredictable john loughlin from the institute for democracy and cooperation in paris says that by supporting the uprisings in the arab world the u.s. only gives the appearance of change. the american double standards in the middle east are so breathtaking that. one doesn't really know what to say in the case of egypt and as in the case of the other countries the interest of the united states is to present the appearance of change while maintaining political control that is what the americans are about revolution to legitimize

a continuation of the status quo effectively you may remember in the great novel and film the leopard there's the famous saying everything must change so that everything stays the same and that's really the motto of the americans in these situations they're trying to keep a lid on the situation in the middle east they're trying to legitimize new versions of the old regime but of course that's not to say that there are no social pressures autonomous social pressures themselves there are of course considerable pressures pressures in these countries. that was john laughland from the institute for democracy and cooperation in paris now foreigners living in there and working in libya are leaving the country several european countries including russia are sending special planes to bring their citizens back home let's get more of this from our team sara first well hi there sara now what have we heard from moscow about how critical the situation in libya is. what we've heard from the foreign ministry that that evacuation has now been launched russia. the russian nationals

living and working in libya. specialist a working on high profile investment projects and we know that that's not going ahead as he said special planes have been dispatched to aid that evacuation we can hear now from russia. to libya he commented on this. and his ministry was successful we. understand. it's hard to do with all the current situation at least it will lead to one common reason for social political. of a new generation of better informed that have been brought up by television someone and to some extent the internet ready to take responsibility for the country's street. she. does statements on the foreign ministry website has called for an end to the violence in the country and the political

dialogue is one that's really been this and this one political dialogue that we've seen the russia's response to the situation in the middle east is being markedly different to the approach taken by other western countries especially as we've been hearing in the u.s. so they had this big pro-democracy rhetoric and we heard the bush's foreign minister sergei lavrov saying that warning western countries really that this. revolution for the sake of revolution and pro-democracy talk can be counterproductive to actually the focus should be on the stop machine now these democratic processes in the country so what he's won the western countries is not to interfere in the regions internal affairs that these countries have the right to define their own future now and there wasn't much need to be very careful that they're not using me as the first of their own chiefest who gave was ok well let's put the relationship between russia and maybe into perspective how big is russia's

presence in libya. we'll soon see energy rich country open for investment we've seen a russia make the most of these opportunities right back in two thousand and eight payton who is then the president of the country first to chip play and signed a three point five billion dollars deal for a high speed rail way link in the country that runs between garcia and i now that's scheduled for completion in twenty twelve but of course as we've heard they said especially the engineers working on that project now of course being evacuated now we know also that there are many russian oil. pinney's working in the country months in gaza from is also a release a statement saying that there would be thing some of the people that working in the country that the. as part of the invest in fact. in fact just last week i was assigned to deal with it and i pull

a joint venture with the oil field the elephant oil fields in libya bit of cool with the potential eva so i know. it's really cooling into focus the foreign investment in that country have a thank you very much for that update sorry furthur porting from central moscow. well we will have more on the fallout from the uprising said north africa and the middle east shortly but first let's look ahead as we deal with martian matters later this hour stepping onto the red planet in the moscow region the mars five hundred crew are set to walk on their box mars for the last time before heading. back.

well more now on the unrest in the middle east and north africa it's leading to a surge of illegal immigrants fleeing the trouble well italy is boosting security on its borders to cope with thousands of refugees whose numbers grow as the violence spreads. reports from the italian island of lampedusa. know

who will. the life of the refugees. to leave i can give them i should. see a familiar story here. a tiny italian island in the mediterranean around away from the coast of north africa it's always been the main route for refugees but since the recent revolution in tunisia it's become swamped by thousands desperate for a better life in europe who are willing to risk all. we got into a storm and. i survived six of us. these are some of the boats which were used by the refugees to get here and now they have these signs on them from the authorities saying their use is prohibited by italian law they've been only here for a couple of weeks so it's pretty clear their initial condition is far from seaworthy nevertheless sometimes up to two hundred people can cram on each one

bitterly and tunisia used to have an agreement under which most tunisian refugees were intercepted before even reaching. but now that the government has been drawn the floodgates have opened we're not ready for the recording to introduce as mir is becoming increasingly hard to keep the situation under control with scuffles between migrants and police. have been cases of robbery and vandalism it's really hard to identify them some of them may be criminals or even. most of the refugees are housed at a center where they're provided with basic help but it's equipped only for eight hundred people. we brought in additional staff members including police and even psychiatry one hundred people in total but that's still not enough. with

a wave of violence political unrest sweeping north africa and the middle east is warning of an exodus of biblical proportions it's calling for cash to help handle the influx of refugees but for now rome is planning to deploy its army to the islands to help. to europe. or to. all the turbulence in the arab world has drawn the full attention of the american media riots and demonstrations in libya and bahrain are dominating the news channels that prime time and the newspaper front page as well as artie's long list of reports while u.s. leaders fly the flag for popular uprisings thousands of miles away it's a very different story at home. these images of thousands protesting their government. are reminiscent of the scenes we're seeing in yemen oh orbach rain or any of the mideast

protests inspired by tunisia. and on a larger scale egypt where the people's will in many cases driven by workers struggles one out over ruling regimes but these demonstrations are going on in the u.s. state of wisconsin absolutely wisconsin is the new egypt their workers are fighting to maintain their wages benefits and bargaining rights unions and their supporters have been standing up collectively for a week and counting against politicians proposing to take those rights away this is one of the most incredible out short pouring of energies we've seen since the great depression and i think it could be the spark of the could rebuild the labor movement in this country we wouldn't know it walking past a news stand in the u.s. american newspapers featured the protests of other countries on their front pages right here this is bahrain no mention of the seventy thousand protesters right here on u.s. soil said may be a tiny side bar dedicated to the people right here in america fighting for their

rights are the hardest to get all remotely oval and american protesters challenge the story told by the most watched twenty four hour u.s. news network in the country critics accuse far good series that it was getting more and more aggressive and i fear that it might be some probably fear of being peaceful protesters as rioters and the safety of state lawmakers cannot be guaranteed while it may be true the struggles people face from the midwest to the mideast can't be painted with one broad brush because we do have a higher standard of living each not as bad as what we're seeing overseas in the third world developing world but it is a manifestation of the same global move that. manifestation is received very differently by u.s. press and politicians depending on where it's happening american media that shared in the excitement of egyptian protesters all day long in cairo the anticipation and

excitement were growing villainize the ones in their own backyard these protesters are some of the signs aren't so nice a little bit nasty are you feeling any aggression there on the ground the president sided with the democratic demands of egyptians on the street and called for this political social and economic reforms that meet the aspirations of the egyptian people meanwhile at home on the day that the egyptian military help liberate the egyptian people we have the governor of wisconsin threatening to call the national guard lawmakers in the u.s. were rallying the troops against protesters and the top republican in the u.s. derived of their tactics saying this was not a way to have an adult conversation egyptians seem to disagree a prominent union leader pledged support for the western workers in this video. you know and we watched the people of egypt celebrate their triumph now in cairo it was victorious friday a victory fought and won whose support of the u.s.

once a battlefield now a monument to their one week old freedom meanwhile on the battlefield of working people right here in america those fighting go largely undefended lauren lyster r.t. new york. now to some other news making international headlines new zealand's prime minister has confirmed that sixty five people died following a powerful earthquake in the city of christchurch the death toll expected to rise while the magnitude six point three quake brought down buildings in the city center injuring dozens of people the workers are continuing to search for victims trapped in the degree and rescue crews from around who zealand and australia have been sent to the scene a state of emergency has been declared in the region. at least thirty six people have died after a stampede at a muslim ceremony in mali officials say over sixty others were injured the crowd surged against a metal barrier in the stadium hosting the event for the country's president i do

to crave visited a local hospital where the victims were taken the crush occurred as tens of thousands of people were attempting to leave the ceremony. a suicide bomber targeting a government building in northern afghanistan has killed at least thirty people the man detonated his device near a group lined up to collect identity cards in be can do is province tell about it claimed responsibility saying the attack was intended for an army recruitment center this comes just days after militants in the eastern city of jalalabad killed forty and wounded dozens. germany's defense minister has given up his doctoral title following allegations he plagiarized sections of his thesis last week oral theodore's do good on burke said he would temporarily give up the title while his university investigated the charges who did berg has now asked the

university of beirut to retract his ph d. in law admitting he had made quote serious mistakes. now the final space walk of a simulated voyage to mars will soon be underway in moscow before the group or. their bags and head back to worth all the volunteers are halfway through a period of five hundred twenty days spent in isolation in a moscow laboratory the team can assess six volunteers three from russia and one each from china france and italy the experiment is designed to test the effects of long distance space travel alan smith from london smaller space science laboratory says the experiment is a vital step for future space exploration. i think is actually an excellent idea i think it's a lovely idea because it is internationalized is the problem because i think that's a wonderful thing that they've done there internationalize the problem and russia has chosen an aspect of the problem which i don't think is really been addressed properly in the most focus so far has been the technology that gets you to mars and

lands on mars and we can't simulate it in one go so what we have to do is separate out the various different difficult aspects of it and then try to isolate those aspects and then understand those aspects so the one of the real problems in going to mars is getting people to get on with each other for that period of time and still be effective when they arrive six or eight months later on the surface of mars and then come back again. and that's not a tall trivial so what the mars five hundred is trying to just isolate in their isolation and some of the issues which those crew. technology are going to see so it's not meant to be a perfect. simulation. it's meant to just tease out some of the real issues and some of the issues are things like the difficulty in communication with the growing time in the communications with the sense of general

sense of isolation the fact that they have only a limited amount of supplies etc so all those things have been well simulated. a famous russian cosmonaut explains how he deals with being so far away from his family and indeed his planet. with the world. it's difficult but it should enjoy and interesting scientific the main thing is to create a good psychological climate flew into time there were six people in our crew russians or canadian and american belgian and. a real symbol and everyone had their own traditions and customs but the best thing there is to find something useful that you know if you find it's easy. following the mars five hundred crew story on our website here's what else is keeping you up to date at our team dot com a lot of these jews face a fine for compensation for the property stolen during world war two as praise for

nazi collaborators redefined by the country as liberation in asia. and as the unemployment rate rises in the u.s. more and more women are taking any work going even in the porn industry we'll go to our dot com to find out more. along the way we hear about an upcoming risky trip to the arctic for two russian adventurers in our program spotlight but first here with all the latest in business. hello time for the business update their reli in that world price since the

beginning of the year is given the russian government new options speaking exclusively to r.t. finance minister alex it could ruin says the high revenues will mean lower boring. sure newspoll is only zero we're going to cut our initial plans for and borrowing. costs in this year's turkey it could be cut by around five hundred billion. we have an opportunity which we haven't used to foreigners with with money from asia so in particular this relates to projects in the far east siberia and the money could come in with. foreign direct investment through the placement of projects you. look at the markets now asian stocks are trading in the red this hour weighed down by political tensions in the middle east the nikkei is losing almost two percent over the weakness in the euro while related shares on the rise on the back of

strong well prices jumped to more than one hundred five dollars per barrel on monday as the political crisis in libya fuels concerns over world supply in hong kong construction stocks are shot to lower the engineering and construction down there are five percent and g.e.'s engineering and construction down four point eight percent. and in russia stocks saw their highest climb in more than a week on monday the political turbulence in the middle east let's just surge in the price of oil russia's biggest export that's in turn lifted energy shares on both my sets and r.t.s. the mice it's finished one point three percent higher its biggest gain in three days and take a look now at some of the individual. the country's biggest crude producer added twenty percent increased two percent gas problem was up one point seven percent. now the oil spikes are having a positive impact on russian equities but of

a nestle a strategist from. capital believes crude is a double edged sword and says investors shouldn't let their guard down. mr should be cautious because we are getting into oil super spikes and right we are are if you watch price. gets into the levels of. you know the tensions are going to continue or like higher prices it's good for russia's car to go on it's good for the russians it's makes them makes them welfare but it's insecure for mobile recording and general store in countries which are or imports or exporters will be more defensive than in the countries which are or exporters of russia will perform. this is a more defensive. you know market. in a lot of the scenarios so you. want to go through all stocks well from spinning

money to earning it the russian labor market is improving with the end of a wave of mets layoffs seemingly over russia statistics bureau says the show of employer we is among the country's total workforce fell from around four percent in december to roughly two percent in january and companies are hiring more than firing with the majority of workers leaving for personal reasons most of the layoffs take place in the manufacturing transport and communications sectors. and finally canadian circus companies so they will invest a record fifty seven million dollars a new show in moscow next yet to test the ground before launching a permanent show in russia by twenty fifteen more riyadh based company which draws a fifth or its one thousand artists from russia says the country is the company's fastest growing market entertainment company came to russia two years ago and is

now in the three russians that has also grown and st petersburg which will. get to work later this year. ok that's it for now you're up to date join me in less than one i'll stifle more business news.

welcome to the future. in a blizzard of winter blues get to slopes and try out some new tent brushes got a little bit caliber excitement in its southern melts just trainers to keep you in top form and watch lying on the goal line carving the trail to sochi twenty four teams one technology update here. we've got the future covered. if you knew the song from some stupid.

stunts on t.v. dot com. here's a quick some of the main stories we're monitoring for you today there are calls for the violence in libya as hundreds. of protests there were rumors that the libyan leader had fled the trouble but colonel gadhafi later made a brief t.v. appearance saying he was still in the country. russia is among the several other nations racing to get their people to safety special planes are being sent to the troubled country to ensure foreign workers don't get caught up in the clashes. and the mars five hundred crew are preparing for their final walk on

the martian surface before starting their long journey back home the volunteers are halfway through the five hundred twenty day project which they're spending in isolation in a moscow laboratory to test the psychological impact of deep space travel. a pair of russian adventurers who are about to take themselves through one of the most hazardous journeys through the arctic well that's in the spotlight here in our don't go away. hello again a welcome to spotlight the interview show on r t m algernon and today we're going to talk about traveling in the car. eighty years ago a group. decided to make a trip around the world by a laugh.