in libya colonel gadhafi grip on power appears to be slipping away as anti-government protests this claim to have control over most of the country's major cities. and does violence spreads throughout the oil rich middle east the world faces a surge in fuel prices threatening to drag economies into a new meltdown. the wiki leaks founder slams british justice for handing him over to sweden sparking accusations of hypocrisy about how the u.k. harbors those facing more serious charges. plus it's a race for the hearts and minds of olympic russians are set to choose the mascot for the twenty fourteen winter games in sochi.

live from our studios in central moscow this is r.t. with twenty four hours a day of violence continues to spread across libya as anti-government protesters back on the streets demanding an end to colonel gadhafi as rule reports also suggested in the capital tripoli security forces are civilians loyal to the regime it comes after scores were killed there on friday as army forces once again opened fire at it's bringing the death toll to over one thousand if not discuss the draft resolution on sanctions against libya these people one of risk keeping across developments from neighboring egypt. it appears that kind of gadhafi is losing his grip on power in the country we're hearing from inside libya that most of the major cities outside of the capital are now under the control almost under the control of

anti-government protesters libyan soldiers are joining the protesters defecting away from kids out the. and we're hearing from those same protesters that this is a scene repeated in cities across the country now in tripoli gadhafi loyalists are arming civilians and they're setting up roadblocks at the moment it does appear that they can't and so it is quiet most of the residents of tripoli are remaining indoors afraid to go out onto the streets where those checkpoints manned by armed civilians are now on friday there was mass protests and violence in tripoli now this followed a address by colonel gadhafi to his followers in the capital this resulted in a protest where shots were fired by security forces at protesters now we're also hearing some very troubling comments coming out of tripoli suggesting that security forces pursued protesters to their homes in order to kill him and also that the

bodies of the dead have been very very very quickly in order to cover up any atrocities that are taking place there now the number of dead expected to be well over a thousand in the violence that we've seen in that country now on friday as well there was a comment from colonel gadhafi east bay bridge son saif these mouthpiece if you will to the english speaking media he said that his family will die in tripoli if necessary they will live and die in libya the e.u. have said that they will put forward sanctions in the next week in the coming week now this is from the this message from the e.u. they said that they will do this they will put forward sanctions in coordination with the united nations and the u.s. in order to try to squeeze the gadhafi regime and freeze their assets but also to freeze the assets of senior figures in the gadhafi government that follows unilateral sanctions that were put forward by the u.s.

. peter oliver reporting there in sub. president of the british based arab lawyers association says any sanctions against the country just an attempt to put libya under control in the future. sanctions. is absolutely meaningless this is. not about the world community wanted to deal with but we would have at least mentioning my name. and his family to put on trial to. action against him if he had been threatening right from the outset he personally as opposed to libya because i think what's being moment is to control the future of libya so as a government like we were lift the sanctions if we don't like the sanctions. he. has to have been made. and the people who are doing the killing.

and journalist in peril the former deputy editor of the british newspaper the independent says the armies of libya's neighbors could intervene to topple gadhafi because. it continues if the days turn into weeks i do think there is a case where it's possible that we might look to some of its arab neighbors to see if it's possible to come in there is very little army it's mainly the police. and c.p.s. just hold this season where people think yes it was very swift incursion. me they are now seeing as people who claim a pivotal role in getting rid of mubarak and they would be treated i think if they came in to try and get rid of it there is a possibility that they would be seen as a very very friendly force to come into such a job. the libyan revolt installed fears of skyrocketing oil prices that may affect

the cost of everything from transport to food with a barrel of the black gold approaching one hundred twenty dollars this week unless awarding a significant economic threats if the unrest spreads didn't. help the problem is playing else in the u.s. oil three little letters. could have dire consequences on any economy and here in the united states while it's sometimes also accompanied by three big words drill baby drill baby drill. and with those three words you got yourself a politically entrenched powerhouse we'll drill new wells sure we'll drill them and the crisis in the middle east has only inflamed it so what we have now are soaring gas prices and fears of a relapse in the already weak economic recovery and on the heels of the unrest crude is heading for the biggest week we increase in two years and when oil prices

soar the price of food also skyrockets and so a vicious cycle begins for many americans a reality that is once again rallied the base and its spokespeople but perhaps for the wrong reasons and whenever there's a crisis either here at home or abroad it's usually exploited politically by the government or the media it loves to hate khadafi is now threatening to burn up the oil fields experts are predicting a worst case scenario of two hundred twenty dollars a barrel if that happens i don't believe that this this particular interruption of oil supplies will last very long so if you're trying to tie drilling off shore with what's happening in libya i think it's a bit of a stretch a stretch that some are all too willing to make the oil fields are on fire and we have no backup plan. well he has lifted the moratorium in the gulf for drilling oil thanks to cass sunstein no new permits have been issued but permits and backup

plans aside what's really going to happen in an already ravaged economy are we see this in the middle east. and this in our very own midwest. so the last thing you need is the people who are. in the worst economic shape are the first ones to get hit by gas prices and this will cause a lot of discomfort to a lot of people who don't need it this bad news concerns of violence spreading to other oil producing nations in the region have been overshadowed and instead of asking how americans will cope with this are asking the question that never gets answered but at the same time seems to never get old who are our friends and who are enemies for our chief dina kosofsky and steve levine from the magazine foreign policy believes the oil market is unlikely to collapse anytime soon he says there are stable countries like saudi arabia can fill the gap created by disrupted

supplies. markets have been calmed down over the last twenty four hours saudi arabia has gone around and cry at least assured everyone we not only can add more value to the market but we have added the volume difference that will create a situation in which prices would really skyrocket is there another country when our clients are you lost a million barrels a day is our line from libya we have algeria which is also having trouble if it girls are right that would bring saudi arabia right up to its capacity to to substitute the law and then you would see i'm not sure two hundred twenty i think probably an arab trying to get headlines but but maybe one hundred fifty. which is still pretty high pretty morphia this here in r.t. including our weekly snapshot of opinion on the streets of new york middle class

and responsible it are for where the economy is that right now now and it's wall street members of the resident as in the big apple to find out what people there think about high taxes. that's still to come the first year in the sciences prepared to pay a london courts ruling that he be extradited to sweden on sex assault charges the founder of the whistle blowing wiki leaks website says the allegations of baseless and if he is handed over he will not get a fair trial or image has been looking at ryerson which is being extradited from a country which is home for many wanted on full more serious charges. wiki leaks founder julian our songs learns the court has ordered his extradition to sweden to face questions over rape allegations and he's got some interesting questions of his own why is it. that i am subject. to a non-problem free speech activists who are three hundred and fifty thousand

dollars bail. why is it that i am kept. under electronic house arrest. when i have not even been charged in any country he's not the only one asking not particularly as the british government has a history of granting asylum system fairly controversial characters recently the immigration minister admitted one hundred thirty nine suspected war criminals have been given the right to settle in britain permanently that thought to include former henchmen of saddam hussein an afghan official who tortured prisoners and rwandan genocide perpetrators basic tradition relating to asylum is that anybody can come here provided they are loaded provided they got lots of money we will let them in because we want them in with their money and therefore it's not particularly the russian not minutes and i only got so welcome here out of shakes.

i have a jew be a criminal record as it were torture yet they're allowed to swung around london knightsbridge bayswater wherever since the second world war the u.k. seen only two successful convictions for war crimes and despite recent retrospective laws that allow suspects to be brought to justice in this country according to n.z. torture campaigners redress so far nothing's been done people like that should be investigated by the u.k. police authorities. and if the fission evidence found for prosecution. should be prosecuted in the u.k. you always are bringing these people to account these suspects but it seems very little is being done the list of the rich and powerful on interpol's wanted list resident in the u.k. is low on and around forty people wanted by russia alone living here in two

thousand and three alleged chechen terrorists. was granted political refuge the same year asylum was granted to russian tycoon but he says that is not ski convicted of embezzlement in russia big shows here the hypocrisy of the british courts. he is quite clearly been involved in the math here over the years all sorts of very serious offenses which you may actually quite literally equate with terrorism and yet he is not being extradited and yet we see here what appears to be anyway a trumped up charge of rape which hasn't actually even come to charges in sweden this certainly does appear to show political interference in the court system here in britain and total hypocrisy from the british justice system while julian are stars looks set to be cast from the safe harbor of the u.k. into choppy waters it's unlikely he'll think for ptrace just yet he may not have millions in the bank to buy himself out of trouble so he'll just have to hate his friends in high places have influence and start his defense team has vowed to now

take his case to the highest court in the land in the hague that preventing his extradition meanwhile some of the world's nastiest people suspected talk to terrorists and war criminals remain at large in the u.k. under the protection of the state's law and it's r.t. . still to come on the program the olympic race is on but something other than medals will be once a day. the decision is in the votes have been counted and on who is lugar of the mascot contest well we'll give you the details coming up right here on r.t. . yes that's come very shortly here not even town police and russia's southern republican. have blocked roads after a series of volatile turks in the capital military authorities and also in the situation is under control. brings us the latest from the region in the caucasus. we're here at the back of

a gas station that was attacked early on saturday morning armed gunmen reportedly shot at the station and a deadly blast was prevented only signs to the fire crews arrival this follows a series of similar militant attacks here in the capital of russia's republic of korea just a few hours earlier that could have resulted in a major bloodshed after twelve people simultaneously attacked several locations including a traffic police post and the office of federal forces but the plans to cause havoc have clearly failed the fact that they will no fatalities and just one policeman injured shows that there has been a turnaround from the last week's dramatic events in the volatile group parbleu gruesome attack on a tourist minibus last saturday left three people dead and two injured further sells a cable tower at a skill leave in a resort was blown up and home tells in the village nearby a group backing ways and when a car bomb was discovered well the incidents forced their story just to close an

anteater operation on the region in their time and terrorist forces have already created a base with black on supplies and a makeshift explosive device now but as you know about her allies in the world little north caucuses islamist terrorists operating in the region could be behind the latest attacks some experts say the way they were carried out heat in several locations at the same time follows the pattern used by islamists operating internationally. anger is growing in the u.s. over the super sized tax burden for the middle class it's quickly come to a head as thousands have been protesting in one northern state over plans to cut public sector workers collective benefits and sweetheart he asked people in new york how they feel when they're required to make sacrifices and not the super rich . people across the u.s. are protesting proposed legislation intended to slash benefits for the middle class

i do really protesting the fact that every day people are being asked to make sacrifices while the last three years continue to profit even more this week let's talk about that i'm a member of the squeezed middle class and we say. we work for the obvious and first then friday we were for ourselves but think that's do you think that people in the middle class are responsible at all for where the economy is that right now you know it's it's wall street and bush. so why isn't wall street paying more why aren't they being asked to contribute more to health plans the government would prefer to buy their pay em often and bail them out the upper class probably pays ninety percent of the taxes and more in new york city and new york state it's probably the same thing in wisconsin i don't know the numbers but i think everybody's paying for it paying to keep the government moving so why are

there is that one riles up that if it if it seems like so clear cut to you why is everyone so in a fit right now where people don't want to give up what they've got were it not for the news coverage and or the social media and i'm not saying it's bad but we're not for the type of coverage. we it would not be neither of these things either of the middle east things or the things going on with the states would be quite as hot as they are no matter who you think should be paying for the distressed economy the bottom line is that if you ask the middle class to relinquish benefits it's only fair to ask the same of the upper class as well. just turning eighteen minutes past the hour here in the russian capital it's now check out some of the other major headlines. from around the world the death toll from an earthquake that struck new zealand has risen to one hundred forty five with as many as two hundred still missing rescuers will but the chances of finding any

more survivors under the rubble in christchurch are slim but it's the services of trying to restore power and clean water in aftermath of the country's deadliest natural disaster the eighty s. police are also on high alert amid reports of looting and warnings there may be more tremors to come. and attack on a nato supply vehicle terminal in pakistan has left five people dead but it isn't spotted parked vehicles destroyed eleven oil tankers in peshawar no group has claimed responsibility but the band pakistani taliban has carried out several such assaults on nato vehicles in the past three years about his supplies required by foreign troops in afghanistan shipped through peshawar. seven people killed and thousands wounded in clashes with security forces during anti-government protests in yemen support city of aden the death toll has now reached at least twenty four since daily protests started over a week ago against president ali abdullah saleh thirty two year rule loyalists and

opponents of the sixty eight year old leader told rival demonstrations in the capital sanaa after friday prayers. u.s. top military officials in afghanistan a wooden vest occasion in the claims of an american army unit psychologically manipulated visiting high officials rolling stone magazine published these psychological operations known as soil ops were used to get more money in troops for the war but a lot is military contributors says this further reveals just how not just the u.s. operation in afghanistan is being hidden from the public. inadvertently these latest revelations about the psyops scandal in afghanistan regarding the american leadership back in washington d.c. has also revealed their hypocrisy regarding their public coverage of the american occupation in afghanistan and by the fact that half a year ago their psychological operations has been rebranded into the military

information support operation and the essence of the whole american global information war to be precise this information campaign remains the say that is the most important and under reported part of these growing and unfolding drama regarding the american general unauthorized psychological operations against its political and military leadership back in washington d.c. . that. is.

the official ulti allocation giong phone on called talk to me on cue top story. on the good. video. of cheese mine. are a sense feed now in the palm of your. on the call to calm. well russians of cast their votes for who will be chosen as the sochi twenty fourteen winter olympic mascot very shortly we'll be finding out who the winner is joined by artesian sean thomas for more on how the selection process has taken place and also hopefully we'll find out very shortly who wins this conversation short so the voting has taken place and clearly we haven't got any

decision yet. the well that is actually partially true we do have some information at this point in time we have fire boy and snow girl they are the official winners of the paralympic competition they were in the running for the special olympics mascot so we know for a fact that they are not the sochi two thousand and fourteen winter games olympic mascot but they are fire boy and snow girl they are from their own planet and they are coming here to help champion the cause of the para a live picture and so that will be taking place in sochi as well but we are waiting in fact it is very suspenseful at this moment time to find out exactly who will not mask not be we know that it will not be far away and still grow and we also know that it will not be good models because for reasons of licensing as deadly gross as a cultural icon for russia he was part of the top ten he was honored to be

nominated but he had to be taken out of the running because basically russia did not want to give the international olympic committee one licensing agreement on good morrow so they took him out so that russia could own did rose all to themselves so we are now waiting to find out exactly who the actual mascot for the official olympic games will be that announcement coming any moment it just was like . for you we're also seeing out of speeches all the national t.v. shows taking place and clearly quite a spectacular event just tell us about before we hear about the winner of the actual process of choosing this mascot how digital stuff. well bill it's been six months in the making in fact at the beginning of september the russian olympic committee got together and they said look we want to mascot that is designed by russians and chosen by russians for the people by the people so they announced a massive nationwide competition at that point in time people from all over the country decided to send in their ideas in fact if you remember i tried to get

involved but i'm not russian so i couldn't have my idea chosen we sent sean chicken for that one but children from all of the country got involved artists from all over the country centered their ideas at that point in time it was narrowed down to the top ten by a series panel of judges made up of entrepreneurs politicians as well as celebrities as well that got you down to the top ten and then internet voting started and then tonight there was actually a celebration where the mascots performed with a celebrity they made a case for themselves wide bay should be the actual mascot and it was some audience participation as well some of that voting taking place even tonight so it was a six month process of the meeting making full of fun and fancy. at this point in time we are now waiting for that process to finish now what's really important is the mascot is not just

a cartoon character you may remember me sure the barry became a very beloved symbol of the olympics and the symbol of russia the word russia as well that was back in the one nine hundred eighty s. for the summer olympic games but this is also something that goes on to merchandising on do it becomes a symbol of russia it is going to be something that people will identify with russia with you with the games so this is not just a cartoon character it's a very important part of the culture of the limpets as well. interesting enough i'm here in the studio we're getting a lot from that national t.v. show so i would actually i know what the results are i don't know if you want to hazard. yes who you think actually we got first second and third place just announce who do you reckon won this. i'm going to i'm going to say the snow leopard is the winner but i'm not quite sure if that would be my guess the short term just show us almost the prize goes to you for the correct guess because you're absolutely right. it is indeed the slow leopard thought i had bought the put it up

and then the head so that is the result but i could guess from you you're absolutely right so that is the result this know that which is an interesting choice ofter all the snow leopard is a very rare species that in that part of russia was only four of them exist so it's actually a great symbol to promote the conservation of this endangered species. in fact that's actually true there are a lot of kids who are putting in their choices under still lumbered was a very popular choice among the children especially from the sochi area there are only four and they're living in a nature reserve down there and so the snow leopard although very rare is a symbol that was involved in by the people down there and so we now know the snow leopard will be the symbol of the snow she olympics two thousand and fourteen and i'm a lot in saying that probably the stuff that made putin he actually was hoping that was going to be one of that was his favorite. that indeed it was indeed it was so

he did get his choice and it is now the choice of the people as this was chosen by the people and it was designed by the people as well indeed it's is the first time in a look at history that this process has taken place where it has been so open. and i don't know we now know what the mascot is for the twenty four fourteen sochi olympics and clearly a bit of time now to go before the big event what all the preparations are now taking place before twenty four team. well now that the race for the mascot has been won and it has been decided there's another race that goes on actually this is been going on for quite some time ever since it was announced that so she would be the location for the olympics preparations have been underway the reason for this is that sochi is a widely known resort town it is a coastal area where people go to and enjoy the coast here in russia but the infrastructure has to be improved to bring on an international community not just

improvements in preparations for the actual events themselves and so we have steve johnson ski runs in different facilities being built for the actual olympic events of the sporting events but you also need hotels you need broods you need. infrastructure that will take the amount of electricity that will be brought in by the international media as well so you have a lot of construction a lot of building people coming down to sochi to make sure that it is ready for those olympic games ok sean thomas thanks very much indeed for that that's our correspondent there sean thomson just. that that is the mascot of the twenty fourteen sochi winter olympics summary about a new stories coming up in just a moment here on this.