you when those impose sanctions on libya as the violence continues in that country in a week that see more protests across the arab world. also in this week's top stories you are peers turmoil in the arab world will lead to a surge in uncontrolled immigration problem the region with it only the first to feel the effects of an influx of refugees. from. the boss as the u.k. court rules julian assange must be extradited to sweden over sex crime allegations that weaken leaks founder says it's a step towards his prosecution and the u.s. . space is no longer a place for comparable for it's now

a ground zero cooperation for the press the remains if everyone here in the west radical fully accept that. americans are split over the termination of the u.s. space shuttle program and future reliance on russian rockets to get crews to the international space station. eleven am in the russian capital you're watching r t with me marina joshua welcome to the program the u.n. has imposed sanctions on libyan leader colonel gadhafi and his inner circle freezing assets and restricting international travel it comes as violence continues to ravage the divided country in what's been the bloodiest of the uprisings in the arab world spawning in the region are all over as the latest developments. well over the past seven days we've seen violence flare across libya now the protest is

the one to get daffy forces if you will are in control of the majority of the country now they have their main force hold their base was the city of benghazi in the east of libya from there they tried to sway the across the country toppling the forces and say all major cities apart from the capital tripoli now we're hearing that inside the capital tripoli that gadhafi forces procured off the forces have been handing out weapons to civilians and that the majority of the citizens of. all of tripoli are remaining indoors inside their homes in order to avoid gangs of all the civilians that have been armed who have been setting up checkpoints there so there's a lot of violence continuing in the country we've also heard some some troubling commentary that came out of tripoli from. a lady who was inside the city now this came after friday prayers where colonel gadhafi delivered

a message to his supporters in the country the protesters the to get a few protesters then took to the streets they were fired out by gadhafi forces killing many people there the number of dead straight to be well over a thousand in libya the most troubling or as you described protesters fleeing to their homes being pursued by gunmen to sort of they could be killed inside their own homes also stories coming out that we can't exactly confirm just yet but we are hearing from protesters that the forty's all of the days are being very very very quickly to cover up the atrocities that have been taking place in the country now prime minister russian prime minister vladimir putin made a comment on the situation there and across the whole of the arab world suggesting that these countries that have had revolutions must be allowed to determine their own future. to. so you were concerned about things happening in libya please note the following the north african cell of al qaeda is also concerned about what is

happening in libya do you think this is a coincidence i'd like to go back in history a little bit the former leader of the iranian revolution where did he live he lived in paris and there's a whole he was supported by the western community now the entire western community fights against the iranian nuclear program i remember just recently our partners were very active in supporting the democratic elections in the palestinian autonomy and how mass one and immediately they declared how master terrorist organization and started fighting against it we need to give people a chance to determine their future themselves we need to give them an opportunity to take a natural way without any foreign interference to build their future we have seen some violent protests across the region in iraq on friday there was extremely violent demonstrations taking place in many cities across the country against the current regime government there. but then it is continued as well yemen also suffering problems with with violence on the streets and protests but to get back

to the most violent that we have seen appears to be an. issue of course was one of the the first of the arab states first of all the african state is throw off their picked a said their leader followed by egypt now in his ear we've seen many many people taking to the streets to protest against what they see as the incompletion of. the revolution if they wanted not just a figurehead of the dictator out they wanted the rest of the government out here in cairo a similar scene it must protest on friday here it to here square which was the at the center of the revolution that toppled phones in the park no protesters were back out there on friday to call for the resignation the standing down of key members of the cabinet who were. former members of the mubarak regime. and we've been gathering a wide range of perspectives on the crisis unfolding in north africa and the middle east political journalist anthony wilde told r.t.

that western countries are advocating the spread of democracy across the region to control the politics of the arab world western style democracy in its current state is far from what i would consider to be something that we should want in any of these countries i think i think if there's going to be democracy it should be democracy with a real change and a change that reflects democracy that actually benefits the people today's democracy is nothing more than a mainstream control mechanism through which the vast majority of the public who do not think are emotionally engaged in in situations that they don't even really realize what it is that they're voting for or approving and if you think that democracy which is supposedly what the u.s. is out there pushing and driving home for these people who who need so much the philosophy of what they have developed and put together in in the in the u.s. for example take a look at look at what they're doing in a building bases in hundreds of the over one hundred different countries you know basically putting at the end of a gun the word democracy and shoving it down their throats to me this is not

democracy this is abuse this is nothing more than a system that is doomed to failure and as long as central banks continue to stand side by side in a democratic system like we have printing endless amounts of money which is devalued by devaluing by the minute we're not going to have anything more here than chaos that is used to mask that devaluation process and hopefully distract people from the overall fraud that some perpetrated on western societies if that's democracy who'd want it i'm turmoil in libya has sparked fears of oil prices jumping to new highs with the cost of a barrel reaching one hundred in one thousand u.s. dollars this week alice have warned of the dire consequences further rises might have for food prices transport cost as well as national economies stephen from foreign policy magazine says that oil might reach an all time peak if the unrest in libya spreads to other countries in the region. markets have been calm down over the last twenty four hours saudi arabia has gone around and quietly assured everyone we not only can add more volume to the market but we have added these the

volume is different that would create a situation in which prices would really skyrocket if another country. so you lost a million barrels a day it is offline from libya if algeria which is also having it it client that would bring saudi arabia right to leave her past thirty two to substitute a volley and then you would see i'm not sure two hundred twenty i think that's probably an analyst trying to get headlines but but maybe a hundred fifty that that which is still pretty high meanwhile there are fears in italy it could buckle under the pressure of a possible influx of immigrants fleeing the trouble in levy and elsewhere thousands of people from unstable countries have already reached its shores in the last few weeks alone the government has estimated the possible one and a half million to try and seek refuge there as well as greece and multum corpus

cannot have a story. at eighty miles off the coast of north africa the tiny italian island of lampedusa has relied on fishing and tourism for its main sources of income for the first time in years the boats or harbor and the nets are drawing . but that's because you can't they're always out here we haven't gone out to sea for twenty days now since the recent uprising in tunisia the island has been flooded with wavy g.'s over five and a half thousand arrived in just two weeks sometimes up to three hundred refugees would grab on just one tiny fishing boat to make the perilous journey to the mediterranean. doesn't have all of you brown media of those who need it have nothing to lose turning local life here on its head with no money and no jobs because of all human cases of vandalism that we wanted to meet was started leaving

the lights on at night they always wondered around and none of the locals ever used to lock their doors now that this people i'm here with one comfortable due to its location like it was these familiar with refugees but remember so many in such a short period of time and with many voicing strong beliefs official say identifying the way he says is one of the biggest problems. that. we historically a free nation and we want freedom of islam we want to live like a prophet told us and holy books to live in an islamic state. most are housed at this refugee center where they are provided with food water clothes and medical aid all financed from the state budget is designed to house only around eight hundred people so under tight security hundreds of refugees are flown to the mainland think people are going to go off and we sent four planes yesterday but on average two

planes with refugees leave every day to. and. was. it really in tunisia used to have an agreement under which most with fiji's were intercepted before even reaching the island but now that the government has been overthrown the floodgates have opened i could boil unstinting to spread in both north africa and the middle east he's already wards other states up to three hundred thousand refugees. for decades long managed to remain a tiny isolated world of its own the locals with. the slow lines and no one was afraid to leave her for a long. time something she said the biggest wave of refugees may still be closer to the only known this tiny island but the entire continent you walk to school of

course you want to do it only what you actually live from moscow still happy this hour three of a kind as you characterise those in mascots for the such twenty fourteen winter olympics after the results of a live t.v. vote across russia learn more about them and why there were picked up a few minutes. on thursday a london court ruled julian assange should be extradited to sweden over sex abuse allegations and weeks founder who has to appeal says the court has failed to even consider the details of the allegations against him the scribing as a rubber stamping process are just killing for looks into the background of the case. when julian assange emerged less than a year ago with this video. showing u.s. troops going down unarmed civilians into reuters journalist video games he was

lighted as a hero of transparency. and anti war ally a human rights defender r.t. america interview just such on the day of collateral murders release what keeps people and more people. from growing as we understand how the world actually works . in the fourth grade to get information about the real world and the second step is to comment on it and to think about the. sources could get. through to the public and no magic computer access with the cache of two hundred fifty thousand classified cables assigned catapulted to the front page of virtually every newspaper in the country within weeks wiki leaks wiki leaks wiki leaks wiki leaks to his foes julian assange is a cyber terrorist in wartime he's guilty of sabotage espionage crimes against humanity he should be killed but to his stance

a soft spoken at this with the potential to radically reshape the geo political landscape goodbye to people as time's man of the year but our commitment to our sources is not just to protect. it's not just a populace that was used to get the maximum. possible but it's up today it's the political impact of the leaker and not the leaks that has gripped. allegations of sexual misconduct by two swedish women infighting within wiki leaks first and bank accounts stalled donations are to grieve the obama administration and the cia they want to start with you leaks they're doing. all sorts of extraordinary actions stop being. leaning on pay pal master card and other private corporations to allow donations to be made to wiki leaks the once heroic figure now starting butter stickers and t. shirts to pay his legal bills who profits from the mean meaning. obviously

it's the u.s. government which is really. makes no bones about it they're under the bus by the newspaper that once eagerly uses the initial impressions of. some in a list assigned and wiki leaks have been effectively neutralized consumed by litigation rather than leaks i think with the american government wants us to have mr assigned in custody so that ultimately he can be extradited to the united states to face charges for the release of those documents at u.k. court ruled that julian assange should be extradited to sweden but his attorneys say the next stop for the thirty nine year old computer programmer could be here in the united states. as you know is charges and even the best penalty as a stanch basis jail time the future of wiki leaks hangs in the balance and its ability to be a place for whistleblowers and it became of transparency hill and ford r.t. washington d.c. while the extradition decision has drawn criticism towards the u.k.

justice system and not only from a saga supporters foreign policy expert william spring says the controversial verdict has exposed the country's hypocrisy when dealing with requests to hand over citizens to foreign governments. dition relating to asylum is that anybody can come here provided they are loaded provided they've got lots of money we will let the mean because we want them in with their money and therefore it's not particularly the russian magnets and i already got some welcome here. shakes you may have a judicious criminal record as it were of torture yet they're allowed to stand around london and knightsbridge bayswater wherever and no problem whatsoever. jared biden a member of the european parliament for the u.k. independence party says the decision to send a surge to sweden is sent to america of a flawed system. what was the sounds costars illustrates the fundamental problems

with the european restaurant which i've been talking about no because it was introduced in two thousand and four he's an australian citizen who actually got to sweden but this affects every british citizen and anyone who is a guest in our country and what it does it removes the fundamental rights of the english courts to protect its own citizens and guests in our country because they are not simply not allowed to look at the promise that it's in a cold case like this and taking into account it's what a lawyer called to justice and i would now so i've been saying now for some time that vision which is now called judicial surrender has been reduced to a bureaucratic formality and now i'm saying that it's actually nothing better than legalized kidnapping how long is this going on that's been going on for months and i haven't figured out what the charges are yet an interesting thought and say about what's going to happen in sweden they're going to use a very very rarely used mechanism used to try this case in secret so we won't even be able to hear what's being said what the allegations are what the charges are and

all the full evidence because it's going to be done in a secret hearing which is absolutely astounding all we've got more on this story on our website r.t. dot com but there is also plenty of other news and features to have a look at what's there right now. it's an ambitious project to find out what the price tag is on the planned grade of the russian army as a budget for the next ten years is under bailed. out a look at why nato continues to function twenty years after its initial anime ceased to exist. america's longest serving space shuttle discovery has docked at the international space station it's said to be the ship's last trip to space as the u.s. retires squader of

a century old. the shuttle delivered ten tons of cargo and the scientific equipment to the ice says presented it was rare a photo opportunity as six different spacecraft or doctor says upon its return to earth it will be ferried off to a museum where it will soon be joined by its sister ships endeavor and landis it will effectively and man the u.s. base why he's going to found out the loss isn't sitting too well with many americans. by the end of this year nasa will no longer be able to send humans into space according to obama's plane responsibility will go to private companies which are expected to come up with cheaper ways to ferry astronauts to low earth orbit they know that they have a big step to take when they if they're thinking about putting humans into space and that's going to take a you know the next phase of their development so i have a fear oh gosh i. can even estimate exactly no one can say for sure when the

private american companies will come up with a new spaceship for years to come it will be the russians so use that's going to be the only means for people to reach the international space station which is perfectly fine with the leaders of russia and the u.s. but doesn't sit well with many americans how could this how. we could make it to the moon person it was wonderful equipment and then. and now we're we're reduced to being passengers on a russian ship and that's that's sort of it's zero zero wounded pride being wounded pride revealed itself in comments by some american lawmakers astronaut scientists and former nasa official comedians in the u.s. there's not we sat on poking fun at american sense of pride so reporting the cash they have to write on the hope of the backseat to take the wheel. yes you know you got to let us touch the radio they will let us eat snacks or stop use the

bathroom should have gone before we left. use but those the nasa who now actually work with the russians like astronaut sunny williams have different sentiments i could imagine when i was growing up walking through red square or going to a russian company and working hand in hand with my russian colleagues or going to their families homes and having dinner with them and likewise when they come to the u.s. and so. i think. maybe we're not competing but we're working together i think it's more of a time of joint cooperation and learning from one another that's just as healthy as the competition we had in the path it's not the first time americans have to rely on the russians to take their crew to space they depended on russian rockets during a two year grounding of u.s. spacecraft after the two thousand and three space shuttle columbia disaster columbia exploded during re-entry into the earth's atmosphere all seven crew

members died shuttles track record includes another tragedy in one thousand nine hundred eighty six the space shuttle challenger broke apart seventy three seconds into it right. now the russians so use proved to be the safest way to deliver people to space and now with the shuttle retiring it will be the only way we're no longer racing against an adversary we're no longer competing to achieve a singular goal like reaching the moon. in fact what was once a global competition is long since become a global collaboration the leaders of both russia and the who are sort of saying space is no longer a place for comparable for it's now a grounds for cooperation with the remains if there are ones here in the us ready for it i'm going to say there are two watch the. russians volatile north caucuses has been in the spotlight all week as a spike in militant activity raged in the republic of coverage you know bill caria

a group of up to twelve militants from alternately attacked several locations in the republic's capital now and check on friday a few hours later several gunmen shell the gas station but an explosion was averted thanks to the fire crews quick arrival the incident caused some damage but no fatalities at turnaround from last week's fermat its half a tourist bus that left three people dead local authorities say the plots were an attempt to distract and terror forces from special operations in a mountainous of the republic they say the situation is now fully under control but it's now take a look at some other stories from around the world and the confirmed death toll from the earthquake in new zealand has risen to one hundred forty six with more than two hundred still missing residents across the country have said prayers for the dead are missing emergency services in christ church are working to clear wreckage from the city as officials really aren't that many buildings may have to be demolished the earthquake was new zealand's deadliest natural disaster in eighty years and is likely to become its worst ever. ireland's opposition party has

claimed victory in the country's general election counting still ongoing but exit polls suggest the ruling party dominant for decades is heading for a crushing defeat if that is widely criticized for wage cuts tax hikes and loss of financial sovereignty after last year's sixty seven billion euro bailout from the e.u. and i.m.f. viewed as a national humiliation. now there's usually just one but russians have chosen three characters to be mascots for sochi is twenty fourteen winter olympics a cute polar bear a snow leopard and a figure skating bunny overcame some intense competition to win a live t.v. vote as it is then his blog to give reports is just the latest piece in the jigsaw ahead of the games. these are the first winners of the store chillin pics from now on a snow leopard the polar bear and the hare have won through to become the official

mascot of the two thousand and fourteen winter games a ray of light in a snow quake will represent the paralympics he is the ground prize winning places in any sports event first second and third and the main model or be lympics is not it's not big tree but participation there is some balls and the leopard and the bear each have their strong points that's why i think creating the team was a smart choice the winners were selected by members of the public from across russia in a phone booth televised on saturday become petition to devise them was also a public outward creations are the result of a nationwide competition launched last year with ideas the special website and version of artists amateurs and professionals alike rushed to the challenge the election of the olympic mascot started with hundreds of ideas and you can see some of these drawings here in sochi olympic information center and eventually it came

down to this stuff ten rate here these are the meskins that made it into the finals and won the entries are two bears really apart from the frost and the mayor of sochi is personal favorite of the ethanol scheme despite their card lee appearance the competition between damascus was almost as intense as for olympic gold traditional russian characters like father frost melted in the heat of battle and didn't make the point all caught not even to make over with the latest winter sports where passion was enough to sweep a rather hip set of russians much russia controls to victory will be a limp except only one winner become petition organizers for the mascot settle down three we'll go with the commercial possibilities to see who's doing the breathy you can journey is ahead for all the symbols chosen for the games they're just making their first steps on the. so the peak of their popularity in two thousand and fourteen and of course we're counting on commercial success and since these mascots

have been elected by a general vote we're counting on everyone to be willing to buy souvenirs and other licensed products in which they're included which will help finance the games. with three years left until the olympics sochi will now have to get used to three new theory honorary citizens at least one of them is no stranger to the southern russian city as for real snow leopards have recently found a new home at the local wildlife preserve the three winning best kids have a hard act to fall in matching the world wide frame won by misha their counterpart for the 1980's moscow olympics but still she will be hoping they'll become just as lot and will the the bosky are seen sochi. eric out of the week's top stories here in r.t. in just a few moments. the

. good samaritan. excellent professional. good looks travel budget possessing an extra ordinary car. the doctor who helped many people in his country. the political criminal responsible for thousands of deaths. was it an attempt to repent. or just escape

a fair trial. the other line far beyond among. our narky. the grandest thing you trisha and this is project on the price of healthy eating if we need to test these foods for times is the allergenicity immune response lower nutrition and for environmental contamination don't you feel like a lab rats some consider the experiment to shuman treatment ready idli significant differences between the g.m. fed that they both at the g.m. . bus they were treated so well themselves one question means one career you ask one question you get the answer and you might or might not be able to publish it but that's the end of your career.