and in this final breach and as the west will.

fears of violence and overcrowding run wild in italy as the government braces itself for an influx of immigrants from the arab countries into. athens as greeks protest against all sterritt see measures becomes as billions of dollars of aid go to the middle east at the expense of europeans germany down your bushel for all the details. plus ukraine is hit with accusations of corruption and mismanagement. to the patients blame the health ministry for delays in the supply of lifesaving drugs. a very warm welcome to you this is our life from moscow italy fears an immigrant

exodus of up to three hundred thousand libyans in the ongoing revolt the country's southernmost point of lampedusa is the closest european shore to north africa elton ultimately the get away arab refugees from the troubled region thousands of tunisians have already flooded the european island after the overthrow of its authority and regime in january. reports on this. they don't call them to do so they get into europe for nothing you see this tiny italian island in the mediterranean is located just around eighteen miles off the coast of north africa and over the past decade many refugees came here looking for a better life and while we were sent to other european countries nevertheless this place still managed to remain. a peaceful isolated world populated mostly by fishermen and holiday makers but just recently the peace was disturbed after the recent revolution in tunisia in just two weeks the island became flooded with

a wave of refugees many spend their entire days this wandering around tell there have already been reports of thirst and vandalism and several have been arrested we've been talking to the locals and some of them or you know afraid to come out on the streets when it's dark it takes around three days to seal from tunisia to lampedusa and these are some of the actual boats used by the refugees to get here and you can see they're not really that big so it's really hard to believe that sometimes up to three hundred people can cram on each one and actually not all of them even make it to the island some get lost out there in the open sea and some sink dozens of refugees have already died this is the center where many of the refugees are being house you can see it's like a separate itself they're being given out food and water and clothes and the necessary medical assistance as well all on the state money the problem is it was

initially designed to house just around eight hundred fifty people while it had to receive in reality much more than that and another problem is it's really hard to identify all these people an official see that some of them could be criminals or even terrorists the e.u. foreign and interior ministers finally meeting to discuss the situation a resolution is needed fast because the violent protests continuing both in northern africa and in the middle east italy has already warned a new bigger wave of refugees can flood not only this tiny island but the entire continent is going off. italy. supporters of libyan leader colonel gadhafi appeared to be turning their back on him while the international community unites against the bloodshed the country's interior minister has resigned and joined the anti-government protesters after reports that is of three hundred unarmed civilians being killed in libya's second largest city that of benghazi he

accused gadhafi you're planning a wide scale attack on his own country many italian foreign minister told reporters that more than one thousand libyans may have been killed in just the past eight days alone the un security council demanded an end to the violence on tuesday the arab league suspended libya the french president has called for e.u. sanctions against the country nevertheless those could have asked a fight till the death and die a martyr in his homeland in his first major speech since the unrest began the leader of his supporters to attack the opposition who he claimed were bribed drugged and serving the devil professor of middle east policy studies dr rosemary hollis now joins us live from london to give up effective on the possible consequence of the ongoing crisis so as we've just heard it's really is the main victim now of the refugee influx but now mediterranean ministers they're coordinating the e.u.'s response what do you expect to come out of this meeting.

well you know since the ninety's the europeans have tried to devise a policy for their relations with north africa that would involve controlling the flow of migrants northward usually economic migrants but of course there have been also some dissidents some people fleeing persecution so this is a long story and just the latest episode in it now as opposed to receiving people trying to flee the regime in north africa we're now seeing supporters of the regime's dictatorial regimes who could looted and cooperated with the europeans on controlling migration it is they who now need safe haven in europe otherwise they will be victims of revenge inside the countries. they have previously ruled so you're saying these migrants they need safe haven in europe but let's let's talk about how to prevent the ongoing chaos here because france and germany they've or if threatened libya with e.u. sanctions over the bloody crackdown do you think that's a more effective way perhaps a more effective method of ending the bloodshed. well i think you also have some

other voices in europe being raised including in the united kingdom where they're suggesting that actually now is the time to intervene militarily in libya not in tunis here not in algeria and certainly not in egypt but in libya there is a crucial moment where the europeans need to be seen to be doing more for the safety of libyans and they should not be talking about sanctions because those can't be activated quickly and they're not going to have an immediate impact they can freeze the assets of gadhafi and family if they want to but again he's fighting for his survival he's fighting to the death he said so so something a little bit stronger than sanctions is called for ok so you're saying the sanctions would be ineffective but you're also suggesting the european powers should be more open armed setting the standard setting a precedent for incoming migrants here but let's talk about one of the economic issues and it certainly must be on the minds of many motorists out there the oil

prices they continue to climb with the ongoing unrest we know that libya libya holds most of the oil reserves of africa analysts are saying nearly one fifth of its production is already shot down just how it is going to hit us in the pocket. you know you say that i was actually advocating a more open policy towards migrants from north africa i'm simply saying this is an ongoing story and the europeans thus far even though they are an aging population in western europe even though there are dwindling population in western europe are not ready to receive more african migrants or arab migrants but you're saying it's mostly about european powers putting sanctions on libya will be ineffective that then what are the options here because you were suggesting that european powers set a precedent here. i'm suggesting that if they want good relations with whatever regime emerges in libya they need to be seen to have been on the side of that

regime sooner than now. if they look like all they're going to do is sit back and wait for the libyans to decide then they are not ahead of the game now in terms of oil contracts we've seen european countries the italians the french definitely the british as well as the americans working quite hard to get along with the gadhafi regime in order to have energy contract in libya and libya is one of the key suppliers of fuel to western europe and in the current circumstances yes there's going to be a rapid rise in prices because of the crisis long term a more equitable a more responsive a more democratic regime were it to emerge in that could be very good news for stability long term and any libyan will want to sell their oil but in the near term there's going to be a crisis and therefore a price spike or so you talk about the short term effects are going to be hitting

people in the pocket obviously you're covering the issue that there are a lot of western european economic interests in libya we know that china has a big old contract with sudan and all that but when we're talking about what to do with the migrants i think this is a very pertinent point here with literally hundreds of thousands fleeing the african continent. it can't be easy for europe to have a more open approach as migrants when we've heard from cameron sarkozy angle or merkel saying in recent weeks that multiculturalism has failed. yes the two things are connected and also in the mix is post nine eleven fears of terrorism now actually in terms of france. the danger of agitation within france was already manifest in the middle of the one nine hundred ninety s. you had bombings in paris which were attributed to french all of north african origin with links into north africa and as of the mid ninety's you saw

the french leading the way in terms of european policies towards north africa which had to do with security to do with combating terrorism and that got linked to migration and work the migrants could be fertile ground for anti regime activities inside europe so it's a complex mix and really unless you have. more equality between development and job opportunities on the southern shores of the mediterranean compared to the northern shores then you will not remove at least the economic motivation for migration and inside europe one of the motivations for. complete radicalization has been a sense that. predominantly christian white europe rejects minorities where you saw say the christian likely rejects

century islamists here but the leaders saying multiculturalism has failed and many saying it's an issue of integration the immigrants coming in they should learn to integrate into society now forgive me i'm running low on time here but the release of the lockerbie bomber two years ago it sparked accusations the u.k. was trading him off for lucrative relations with oil rich libya yesterday we were hearing that the u.k. even sold the military equipment to libya since the unrest in london's been calling for democracy condemning khadafi exactions surely this just smacks of. stanton's do you think. i think the british went a little too far in getting cozy with gadhafi and they discovered to their cost that he drives a very hard bargain and he's not incapable of punishing those who don't do what he wants he's saying it over migration he said three days ago that he was going to withdraw cooperation on migration across the mediterranean he said many things to the british clearly indicating that if the kind of cooperation that he wants from

the british is not forthcoming then there will be consequences for british contract so it's been a difficult relationship in some ways they may be to see the back of it. professor rosemary hollis from the city university in london thank you very much. well a second plane carrying russians evacuated from libya has now landed here in moscow it brought back more than one hundred people who described the situation in the arab country as a nightmare they say that on their way to board the aircraft they have to fight through huge crowds of desperate libyans attempting to flee officials say our final plane is on its way back and will land in moscow later tonight after completing the evacuation of. western nations are seeking ways to help conflict stricken north africa and the middle east but with a multi-billion dollar a deals being discussed some europeans are starting to fear this will harm their own economies and of bush is in brussels bringing us the latest on this debate and what it could mean for europe as

a whole. but climate has all the elements of a perfect storm for many citizens here in the u.s. the worst possible time to be pumping cash into uncertain regimes what with the economic tensions and the economic problems here in the e.u. at the moment not only in the soft underbelly of europe as we've been seeing reports this hour but it's richest states as well greece is paralyzed at the moment with a nationwide strike hundreds of thousands of workers have left the job to protest as the recession there goes from bad to worse and more than one in three young people there are a unemployed at the moment interior ministers of solvent e.u. states like italy and spain are meeting to find a way to stop the this brought migrants from north africa the middle east who are trying to come to the shores trying to battle and stem the flow or find a way of managing is something. called the chancellor of germany is giving

a speech today to say that the financial problems of many of those southern e.u. states will not spread to germany on the one hundred sure but on the other hand of concern the very fact that she has to be saying this speech in the strongest economy was coming to the office today there is a protest at the moment from our arab immigrants calling on the e.u. used to do much much more to help the new democratic regimes in the new democratic supporters in the middle east and north africa speak to the residents and citizens of the world and they will tell you now is not the time as the country battles and the e.u. as a whole battle's one of the worst economic crises it's ever seen now is not the time to be pumping cash to uncertain regimes more now on this from along the correspondent nor am it in the battle for hearts and minds in the middle east a new front pinned up influential voices from the heart of europe to wash. inten

are urging western politicians to take advantage of on rest by pumping in fast sums of money in aid to show the newly liberated people of the region that democracy does carry rewards but it's cash that many europeans don't feel they have brave their search for them with well give it a broader many of those shirts i think we should be close to on the football i mean obviously they did serve some money start helping to democracy but we need to get the council rule farce that's crazy should probably try to look after was put on hold first before you try that they can try and sort themselves out reading at this moment our country is going through these big cuts and that money i think could be used for foreign but that's the aid package being proposed by e.u. and us leaders is potentially debate since the end of the second world war it's

being dubbed the new marshall plan after the money that america gave to europe after the war to help rebuild a decimated economy and create jobs but robert oulds from the british group says we should be concentrating on trade not eight countries such as egypt and tunisia and other countries developing nations are hurt their agricultural policies are damaged as a result of the european union's policies we need to have trade policies which stop hurting the third world would stop hurting developing nations and that that would be the better way of securing a long term prospects. for countries that are these emerging democracies instead europe in the u.s. are talking about handing over billions of dollars to the middle eastern mediterranean to countries torn apart by revolution and unrest and despite the opposition in the u.k. there are also some who believe it's the duty of developed countries to help those in trouble we're lucky to have

a democracy. democracy israel i think the middle east needs our help it's going to. question transition that's the moment. to despise our problems are told we can't just close up we have to look at the worst place we lived but it may not be as simple as that unlike europe after the second world war egypt and. they're developing economies going through revolution and it's very unclear at this point who is going to end up in charge and who would take receipt of any aid package the government's made extensive attempts to build relations build up regimes which now being destroyed whether we're looking at military aid over the years to egypt or what we're looking at its big deal tony blair was shaking hands on just a few years ago in libya was gadhafi so we need to be really careful particularly when we don't know what the final road for the final government things there is

will be that we don't wind up with resources when we have the right one so if the muslim brotherhood takes over in egypt do we want them to be taking over with institutions which we've built up with western taxpayers money westminster has been the scene of ugly demonstrations against government proposals to cut funds to some of the u.k.'s most vital services while some undoubtedly believe it would be a sad day when western countries refused to help build democracy others say it's the wrong help potentially going to the wrong people at the wrong target for a cash strapped europe your average forty. more now on the term all across the world knock on effect of the crisis has led to all prices rising steadily that's not present current account in-depth analysis hockey arena so just how long will we continue to see this spike in prices here was hard to say where we were or prices have been particularly volatile as we know over the last year that we saw them one

hundred. forty seven dollars a barrel in two thousand and eight and then falling to thirty six dollars last december now analysts say when we see them rise to one hundred fifty dollars and even more however they also say that the situation if the situation in the middle east does not escalate further this could be considered a short term problem so far there's been no disruptions in crude supplies whatsoever now at the moment or illustrating a hundred dollars in new york and at the moment surging oil prices are a big challenge for airlines and industries that see fuel prices go up so i would say that was a low prices we have a knock on effect on like ordinary consumers ordinary people leading to soaring costs energy heating food et cetera and you need energy to make you know products and deliver them to shops so to put it in a nutshell we have a significant inflation pressures on the world coming up. certainly you know we were talking earlier about libya being the twelfth largest exporter of

oil in the world and we've got reports now that a fifth of its oil production is now actually been shut down during this ongoing tomo and chaos in the region so we're going to we'll get more from you are coming up in the business bulletin that's right minutes thanks very much. on the way here on r.t. life support find out why doctors are being accused of jeopardizing people in ukraine and what drugs have to do with. the hideout of suspected militants has been destroyed in russia's republic of korea it's part of a major anti terror effort in the region special forces are still searching for a group of suspected militants that opened fire on law enforcers overnight the men are suspected of attacking tourists last weekend when. the minibus heading for a ski resort on mount elbrus three tourists were killed two others were injured. in other world news now here on r.t. rescuers in christchurch new zealand continuing to try to pull survivors from the

rubble following tuesday's devastating earthquake seventy five people are so far confirmed dead but nearly three hundred are still missing a national state of emergency has been declared as hundreds of rescue workers including foreign teams rushed to the city the tremor measuring six point three is the country's deadliest natural disaster in nearly a century. at least ten soldiers have been killed in fighting between the forces of two political rivals in ivory coast some reports suggest the real figure could be as high as forty the violence was some of the heaviest since the country's disputed presidential election nearly three months ago the fighting was concentrated on the stronghold of. internationally recognized as the winner of last year's poll incumbent president. who was ruled the country since two thousand and two continues to refuse to resign alleging voter fraud. the u.s. military says fifteen somali pirates detained after killing four americans could

face trial in the united states the victims a married couple and their two friends had been hijacked on their yacht off the coast of oman while attempting to sail around the world u.s. . military forces have been training the vessel and trying to negotiate with the pirates but on tuesday they stormed the yacht after hearing gunfire however three of the hostages were found dead and the fourth died later from her wings. or ukraine's health ministry is under fire for failing to provide hiv sufferers with a vital life prolonging drugs supply cuts have been blamed on government corruption the country has europe's worst aids epidemic and as artie's alexy got our stuff he reports many hiv positive ukrainians are resorting to risky medication changers just to keep themselves alive ever since you learn they learned she was a child be positive her life has been a nightmare and the last few months have made matters even worse

a local aid center which had been providing iliana with medication told her that they no longer had even a logical serum for her three year old son and dre also infected with a deadly virus. they told me that i have to give my people with adult ones two hundred eighty and that i have to split each peel into three how can i split it into exactly three parts and how do i know if his body will accept these people late last year several ukrainian regents reported a shortage of immune strengthening drugs used by hiv positive patients experts point the finger at the country's health ministry it wasn't them that of official say this happened because the beating for the purchase of drugs happened too late not in the summer but in the winter they received funding too late this whole system of buying drugs by tender is corrupt through and through. following this delay in supplies some hiv patients have had to alter their treatment and find

alternative medication doctors say they have no choice but such changes can pose a grave danger but i knew that he said when a boy that has got used to one drug we replace it with another it took or is another adaptation period we never know whether a patient's body will accept a new drug if it doesn't then they can be different outcomes from a rapid growth all virus else to allergy and even imminent death. experts say ukraine which has one of the highest hiv spread rates in europe can hardly afford to take such risks ukraine's health ministry reports of at least one hundred thousand h.i.v. positive people in the country however experts say this number is diminished and the real amount of the infected may go to three hundred and fifty thousand people. official say for the present the supply crisis has been dealt with is a need for now all regions have received the required medication the only drugs

which are still on their way to children's bills between a stand there will be delivered within a few days but doctors say within six months the hiv positive may feel the damaging effects of the recent halt in supplies and round about that time they are expecting another shortage of anti-viral medicine you know hopes she and her son will be able to make it through all of this once more alexina show of ski r.t. reporting from key of. ukraine. or cross-talk is on the way shortly after the business news with kareena. i welcome to business oil prices continue to surge as the unrest in the middle east raises fears over disruption to supplies light sweet crude is trading just over ninety seven dollars a barrel while brand land is currently fraction under one hundred ten dollars per barrel on monday gazprom c.e.o.

aleksey miller said the turmoil should know how how reliable russia was an energy partner earlier i spoke to jack who john on the chicago board of trade and we asked him how he assess the risks to energy supplies from the middle east when we're talking about certain situations libya for example we have about three percent of the world oil supply that's being taken off and disrupted but i think that when we make comparisons we have to be very careful not to group all the arab nations for example into one pile i think the situation in saudi arabia is going to be much different than it is in libya where we had an oppressive regime in saudi arabia is the difference between the rich and the ultra rich as opposed to the rich and the poor which are the divisions politically that we're seeing a lot of these places movements are temporary but we are looking at a situation where we are looking at a global in fake inflation being driven by demand that global growth story is still very much intact but it's being fueled of course by these macro economic events now

oil and gas stocks have had the best of the week here in russia they've benefited not just from the rising oil price but also from speculation in the media that upcoming tax reforms could see them operating under a more favorable regime. there's a secular theme in russia of the tax reform which seems to be finding support even in this difficult environment. of the market sell off and we think that. all names that are exposed to the crude exports such as you have to. look oil could be out the former in the market towards the end of the week. you know it's have a look at the markets here in russia it's a national holiday so the markets are closed but elsewhere in europe the markets are open and the european stocks are falling on concern about the unrest in the middle east banks that were providing one of the bright spots by what was the result from commerce bank in the u.k. barclays rose two point four percent on news a lawsuit filed by lehman brothers. u.s. stock stumble on wednesday.