at least is the era of dictators coming to an end in this vital region and as the west.

fears of violence and overcrowding are running wild in italy as the government braces itself for an influx of immigrants from arab countries in turmoil. renewed clashes rock fans as greeks protest against all steroids the measures becomes as billions of dollars of aid go to the middle east the expense of europeans germany down your bushel for the details. plus ukraine is filled with accusations of corruption and mismanagement positive patients blame the health ministry for delays in the supply of lifesaving drugs.

this is r.t. here in moscow nine pm here in the russian capital and seven pm in italy where rome has been raising the alarm about the potential influx of up to three hundred thousand libyans but the country in the throes of a possible civil war italy's demanded the e.u. share the burden of the so-called exodus stemming from the unrest in north africa thousands of tunisians have already flooded italy's southernmost point of lampedusa the closest european shore to the troubled region europe is going obvious there with more. 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 the we refugees many spend their entire days this wandering around town there have already been reports of an vandalism and several have been arrested we've been talking to the locals and some of them or even 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 bullets 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 town 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 and official say that some of them could be criminals or even terrorists with 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. the libyan leader colonel gadhafi is fighting to retain control of the capital as he's faced with more defections from his own regime much of tripoli is currently deserted with reports of uprisings in the air by towns in the nine days of revolt stemming stretches of taken over the eastern part of the country thousands of foreigners are rushing to leave the country with chaos at the main airport u.n. security council has demanded an end to the violence while the arab league

suspended libya the united nation's top human rights official has suggested imposing a no fly zone over libya to protect civilians from government s. strikes three hundred people have been reported killed in those strikes but the italian foreign minister says that the real death toll could stand up more than a thousand adults should move from the baltimore based foreign policy in focus think tank told r.t. that gadhafi is losing control of his country. obviously gadhafi did not want to devolve the entire country remained tribal there are four five six large strong and control vast areas of leave you know which is unfortunate that he did not in forty two years do anything to do all of the country and the rebels are really in control in great part of east. as well as benghazi and the surrounding area and there are some of the vaults in. tripoli itself so i don't think he's

in total control and now he's bringing. african mercenaries to suffer as the people . western nations are seeking ways to help troubled north africa and the middle east but with multi-billion dollar aid deals being discussed some europeans are starting to fear this will only call them is daniel bushell has more on this from brussels. 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 riches states as well greece is paralyzed at the moment with a nationwide strike with 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 disparate 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 itself and merkel 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 around fifty meters as i was coming to the office today there is a protest 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 which speak to the residents and citizens of the here as well 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 ever seen now is not the time to be pumping cash to uncertain regimes more now on this from along the correspondent nor it is in the battle for hearts and minds in the middle east the new front end up influential voices from the heart of europe. washington are urging western politicians to take advantage of our rest by pumping involved 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 through their search i don't with the i'll give it a broader many of those it's i think we should be close to it on the football i mean obviously they did serve someone needs our help to democracy but we need to be the captain or arse frizzy should probably try to look after us but on a whole first before you strike 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 our own ben it's the aid package being proposed by e.u. and us leaders is potentially the biggest 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 hurts 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 which stop hurting developing nations and that that will be the better way of securing a long term by a c. for countries that are these emerging democracies instead europe in the us a

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 words as we live it but it may not be as simple as that unlike europe after the second world war egypt and. toward 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 the military over the years to egypt who are looking out big deals to me when i was shaking hands on just a few years ago in libya with gadhafi so we need to be really careful particularly when we don't know what the what shape or form for the final governments in service will be but 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 was institutions which were 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 type for a cash strapped to europe your average forty. well to explore this further i'm

joined by professor paul valet from the fletcher school of law and diplomacy at tufts university in massachusetts professor thanks very much indeed for joining us here on our team now we just heard in that report that europeans fear that a martial law and that aid plan for arab states could come at their expense but the thing is can the u.s. or the e.u. really afford something like this some given their their current financial situation. certainly when i have to work serve the the timing of this particular crisis corresponds it was indeed a very delicate passage in the recovery of both the european and the us economies it's been suggested that in fact the europeans and the americans should act in partnership that is also one of the reasons why we. see this dubbed as the marshall plan one of the year two sides of the atlantic would not be able to deal loan with the magnitude of the north african and middle eastern crises you need package.

as far as i've seen. is financial aid the right thing to do bearing in mind what we have what we saw in the last thirty years in egypt with mubarak apparently becoming one the world's richest men can we be sure that that aid money will go to the right place. that is also of course one of the big elements for hesitation right now because the transition in these countries is still an ongoing process and syria is very difficult for decision makers at the moment especially considering the situation in libya which is clearly now going to be a matter preoccupation of priority preoccupation alongside both egypt and tunisia how they how they evolve but libya is a situation that could also degenerate ways as we saw in your earlier report masses

of refugees perhaps the civil war and so forth so this contribution to stop the lies in the whole region and make it making it a very unsure juncture for a. not only of course a financial aid but also the correct way to engage politically and. diplomatically is the neighboring governments you talked about the migration problem destabilizing the region but what about europe as we were reporting in one of my main main stories today that italy is a current experience an influx of immigrants what could the impact be for the wider area not just the middle east. well certainly. for the last few years or so the european union has made important attempts to engage bilaterally and multilaterally the countries of the north africa and the

middle east it's. of course the union for the mediterranean barcelona process and of course now many of the governments that used to be key partners in this union have now gone they've been replaced there's of course no. indication that these countries have lost the will to work with the europeans but of course the europeans need to know who are going to be there are stores from now on killer james here italy is one of the most. serious story we're pressed for time just just briefly i'd love to know what you think from bearing in mind your expertise on law and diplomacy whether we should be seeing military action from the likes of the e.u. after all the libyans are crying for help lives are at risk aid is one thing but what about military action is not feasible. well that has it's starting to be discussed and certainly far as the evacuation of their nationals are several

european countries have a story started to take measures i know the british and the dutch have sent warships in the close waters there is this question has been broached at the u.n. about the no fly zone. to me still be one of the. first steps that they might eventually have to take but i will leave it that thanks so much for time here on r.t. professor at the fletcher school of law and diplomacy at tufts university in massachusetts thank you for your time. this is our team comes you live from the russian capital with you twenty four hours a day all the way this hour for you all a shock. must inspire the anti-government uprising in libya will disrupt global supplies of black gold more analysis of the situation with the markets in our business update that's coming your way in just ten minutes from now. also this hour find out why doctors are being accused of jeopardizing people's lives in ukraine. has to do with it.

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the news continues with news of a hideout of suspected militants has been destroyed in russia's north caucasus republic of korea it's part of a major anti terror efforts in the region special forces a still searching for suspected militants who opened fire on laurent forces overnight the same group is suspected of attacking tourists last weekend when to stop the many boats heading for a ski resort amount elbrus three tourists were killed and two others injured. time now for some other international news in brief this hour rescuers in the zealand's crisis continue to try to pull survivors from the rubble following tuesday's devastating earthquake seventy five people so far confirmed dead but nearly three hundred remain missing a national state of emergency has been declared as hundreds of rescue workers including foreign teams have rushed to the city the trauma was the country's deadliest natural disaster in nearly

a century. at least ten soldiers have been killed in fighting between the forces the two political rivals in ivory coast some reports suggest the real figure could be as high as forty the violence with some of the heaviest since the country's disputed presidential election nearly three months ago the fighting was concentrated in the stronghold alasania with tahrir internationally recognized as the winner of last year's poll incumbent president laurent gbagbo has ruled the country since two thousand and two continues to refuse to resign alleging voter fraud. u.s. military says fifteen somali pirates detained after killing four americans could face trial in united states the victims a marriage couple and their two friends had been hijacked on their yacht off the coast of a man while attempting to sail around the world u.s. military forces had been trailing the vessel and trying to negotiate with the pirates but on choose day they stormed the yacht after hearing gunfire over three of the hostages were found dead and the fourth died later from her wings.

ukraine's health minister is under fire for failing to provide hiv sufferers with vital life prolonging drugs supply cuts have been blamed on government corruption the country's europe's worst aids epidemic and as artie's election reports many hiv positive ukrainians are resorting to risky medication changes just to keep themselves alive. ever since you learned the learned she was a child 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 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 all of them that have official say this happened because the bidding 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 is that he says 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 patients body will accept a new drug if it doesn't then they can be different outcomes from a rapid growth of virus else too early 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 people to people in the country however experts say this number is diminished and the real amount of the fact it may go to three hundred and fifty thousand people. official say for the present the supply crisis has been dealt with is a big three now all regions have received the required medication the only drugs which are still on their way to children's bills going to 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 roundabout that sign 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. r.t.

reporting from key of. ukraine. before the business news with kareena let me just remind you that if you want more on any of our top stories or for all the latest features videos and blogs you can log on to our web site is our dot com is a quick taste of what's online right now sarah palin's x. eight is ruffling feathers with a forthcoming memoir the controversial politician manuscript is set to include a chain of e-mails highlighting paintings obsession with herself in. in the media. and the oscar goes to one if you want to be ahead of the game just days before this year's academy awards check out the online predictions of people going home with that coveted golden statue all available to take.

on as promised corrina we'll bring you the latest from the world of business that's in just a moment stay with us life here in moscow. welcome to business good to have you with me for oil prices continue to surge the unrest in the middle east raises fears over disruption to supplies light sweet crude has reached around ninety nine dollars a barrel while the brant blend has grown to roughly one hundred ten dollars per barrel on monday gazprom c.e.o. aleksei miller said the term all should show how reliable russia was as an energy partner only i spoke to jag john on the congo board of trade i asked him how he assessed that with 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 it's a 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 price movements are temporary but we are looking at a situation where we are looking at a global insatiate 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 well and gas stocks that have 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 selloff and we think that. all names that are exposed to the good exports such as. the could be out there in the market towards the end of the week. and here in russia markets were closed for a national holiday what's on wednesday european stocks finished in the red with investors concerned about the unrest in the middle east. for gas the way down the fourth seed losing over five percent in pretty and technologies last the most of the dax was off by four percent banks were the bright spot helped by well received from commerce bank in the u.k. barclays rose two point four percent the news it won a lawsuit filed by at lehman brothers. russian carmakers solo's and u.s. auto giant ford will invest one point four billion dollars in a new joint venture in two thousand and twenty the intention is to raise ford's

market share in russia to nine percent from a current four point seven percent the car makers hope to get a state secured loan reportedly from the non-bank with most of the money to be spent on launching new models locally made parts solar's reached an agreement with ford but hold the talks on a partnership. of the sides to agree on intellectual property rights. so we have for you but you can always find more stories on our website r.t. dot com.