when the supposed sanctions on libya as the pilots continues in that country and we did see more protests across the arab world and. also in this week's top stories here a few years turmoil in the arab world will lead to a surge in the intro them in gratian from the region with italy is the first to feel the effects of an influx of refugees some. last has a u.k. cord rules julian assange must be extradited to sweden over sex ronald patients illegally founder says it's a step towards these prosecutions in the u.s. and. the states in the longer a place but probably for the finale crowd the cooperation for the person remains

peace everyone here in the west ready to believe so that americans are split over determination of the u.s. space shuttle program and future reliance on russian rockets to get crews to the international space station. what you want to live from moscow marina joshua welcome to the program the u.n. has imposed sanctions on libyan leader colonel gadhafi and he's 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 over respond in the region here all over has the latest developments. well over the past seven days we've seen violence flared 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 just wait across the country toppling gadhafi forces in say all major cities apart from the capital tripoli now what we're hearing that inside the capital tripoli that gadhafi forces pro get off the forces of been handing out weapons to civilians and the majority of the citizens of tripoli all remaining indoors inside their homes in order to avoid gangs of all of 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 audio commentary that came out of tripoli from. a lady who is inside the city now this came after friday prayers where gadhafi delivered a message to his supporters in the country the protesters the protesters then took

to the streets they were fired out by gadhafi forces killing many people there the number of dead they could be well over a thousand in libya the most troubling or do you describe 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 four d.'s of the days are being very very very quickly to cover up the atrocities that have been taking place in the country now russian prime minister vladimir putin made a comment on the situation there on the cross the whole of the arab world suggesting that these countries that have had revolutions must be allowed to determine their own future. it was because of today we saw you were concerned about . happening in libya please know 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 and 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 much one and immediately declared how much a 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 though is extremely violent demonstrations taking place in many cities across the country against the current regime the current government there. but it is continued as well yemen also suffering problems with with violence on the streets and protest but if you get back to the most violent that you have seen appears to be. if you course was one of

the the first goal for the arab states first of all the african state is throw off their dictator their leader followed by egypt now in two days you have 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 there here in cairo a similar scene it must protest on friday here at play here square which was the at the center of the revolution that toppled phones and you know 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 archita western countries are advocating the spread of democracy across the region to control the politics of the arab world and western style democracy in its current state is far from what i

would consider to be something that we should want it any of these countries i think i think it is 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 need so much the philosophy of what they've developed and put together in in the u.s. for example take a look at look at what they're doing i mean 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 evaluation process and hopefully distract people from the overall fraud that's been perpetrated on western societies if that's democracy who would what the turmoil in libya has sparked fears of well prices jumping to new highs with the cost of a barrel reaching one hundred nineteen u.s. dollars this week alice have warned of a dire consequences further rises might have for food prices transport costs as well as national economies steve levin from foreign policy magazine says that oil might reach an all time peak if the and rest in libya spreads to other countries in the region. the markets have been calm down over the last twenty four hours saudi arabia has gone around and rightly assured everyone we not only can add more volumes to the market but we have added these would be the difference that would

create a situation in which prices would really skyrocket by another opec country when our minds are you lost a million barrels a day it is our run from libya you have algeria which is also having trouble if it goes up front that would bring saudi arabia right up to its capacity to to substitute a goalie and then you would see i'm not sure two hundred twenty i think there's probably and i am trying to get headlines but but maybe one hundred fifty 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 libya and elsewhere thousands of people from unstable countries have already reached its shores in the last few weeks alone the government has estimated a possible one of the half million could try to seek refuge there as well as greece and malta are choosing or piskun off has a story. that's eighty miles off the coast of north africa the

tiny italian island of lampedusa has relied on fishing and tourism for its mean sources of income for the first time in years the bolts are in the holder and then that's drawing. board they're always out here we have been going out to sea for twenty days now. since the recent uprising in tunisia the island has been flooded with refugees over five and a half thousand arrived in just two weeks sometimes up to three hundred refugees would crammed on just one tiny pushing boat to make a perilous journey to the mediterranean island dozens have already drowned and many of those who meted have nothing to lose turning local a year on its head with no money and nor jobs they have already been cases of vandalism and theft. you know that he has started leaving the lights on at night they always wonder around and none of the locals every used to look at their doors

now that this people here would feel uncomfortable due to its location like the doozies for millions with refugees but never so many in such a short period of time and with many voicing strong beliefs official say identifying genuine cases is one of the biggest problems. that we're historically a free nation and we want freedom of islam we want to live like our prophet told us in holy books to live in an islamic state. most or herald 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 each day. we sent four planes yesterday but on average two planes with refugees leave every day to control any body and pollute. italy and 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 before its have opened i thought while it's continuing to spread in both north africa and the middle east he loses already warned other evil state up to three hundred perils and with fiji's we libya alone for decades once you know them managed to remain a tiny isolated world of its own while the locals where he still lives and no one was afraid to leave their doors all the while five something changed and the biggest wave of refugees may still be out there not on this tiny island but the entire continent you know what this is all for what it was you know we. have been such a scenario from the danish institute for international study says the european union

should bring in urgent measures to stop immigration. even before all these. things the prospect of massive immigration has always been europe's wars tonight. in real terms it has never been substantial we have always been below thirty thousand. possible entries every year. clearly the overthrow of the governments poses a whole different set of issues and what europe will be able to do. it depends on the ability of actually cordy meeting among some of the governments that are most affected i mean imagine if into a month's time coral gadhafi is not overthrown i mean business cannot proceed as usual after this so something will have to be done. and we're going to live from moscow so i have for you this hour and three other times a trio of characters are chosen as mascots for the source of twenty four winter

olympics after the results of the live t.v. vote across russia learn more about them and why they were picked in a few minutes. on thursday a london court ruled julian assange should be extradited to sweden over sex abuse allegations that we get leaks founder who has to appeal says the court has failed to even consider the details of the allegations against him describing it as a rubber stamping process are to scale and forward 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 not as a hero of transparency. and anti war ally and human rights defender thirty america interview destruction and the day of collateral murders

release what keeps. people. from going through understand how the world actually works so. in the fourth period is to get information out about the real world and the second step is to comment on it and think about it but we need sources can get. through. and nomadic computer expert cache of the two hundred fifty thousand classified as such is the front page of virtually every newspaper in the country with the week's wiki leaks wiki leaks we can't make sweeping leads to his photos julius is a cyber terrorist and war time he's guilty of sabotage espionage crimes against humanity he should be killed but to his fans a soft spoken out says this with a potential to radically reshape the geo political landscape goodies by the people as time's man of the year our commitment to our sources is not just to protect.

it's not just to publish material used to get the maximum. possible but it's our city it's a political impact of the leak and not the leaks that has gripped. allegations of sexual misconduct by two swedish women infighting within wiki leaks prison fake accounts of the nation particularly of the obama administration and the cia they want to start wiki 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 hawking mugs stickers and t. shirts to pay his legal bills who profits from the meaning of meaning. obviously it's the u.s. government which is really getting him makes no bones about it they're under the

bus with a newspaper that once eagerly used his leaks special impressions of. set up some red flags some in a list say assigned and wiki leaks have been effectively neutralized consumed by litigation rather than leaks i think would be american government wants as they 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 i 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 where science could face charges and even the death penalty as the science faces jail time the future of wiki leaks hangs in the balance and its ability to be a place for whistleblowers and it beacon of transparency for r.t. button to d.c. campaigner sharon warrick claims the case against the son just trumped up and says sweden wants him behind bars as much as the u.s. us the. we think that this is more like

a school in charge of holding charge to get in and to sweden which has been known to be quite complicit and helping people back to the us it's happened in egypt for example to addictions in the past so we do believe that this is actually still in charge and we're much more concerned about what's going to happen with the u.s. and we're very concerned that if it goes sweden he will then be rendered to the u.s. and wiki leaks has embarrassed the swedish parliament because there have been some cables that have come out recently which have shown that sweden was having some complicit arrangements with the american government with their antiterrorism arrangements that they didn't want the swedish public to know about and they were trying to keep it under the radar so as i said the public in sweden couldn't scrutinize what they were doing so they've already been embarrassed by wiki leaks so i think it isn't it best interest to try and shut down. and we've got more on the story on our web site r t v dot com there's also plenty of other news and

features let's have a look at what's available there for you right now. and ambitious projects find out what the price tag is on a plane upgrade of the russian army as a budget for the next ten years these unveiled plus. we'll look at why nato continues to function twenty years after its initial ceased to exist. america's longest serving space shuttle discovery has docked at the international space station it's set to be the ship's last trip to space as the u.s. retires it's quarter of a century old fleet the shuttle deliberate ten tons of cargo and scientific equipment to the i assess it's also a prison that they're rare a photo opportunity as six different spacecraft are dogs at the i said upon its

return to earth it will be ferried off to a museum worry will soon be joined by sister ships and denver and atlantis it will effectively and manned us space flight and as our teams guidance to count found out the loss isn't sitting too well with many americans every year. by the end of this year nasa will no longer be able to send humans into space but 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 to say oh gosh i. couldn't even estimate exactly no long can't 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 it'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 earth to build this 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 it's a wounded pride thing klyde revealed itself in comments by some american lawmakers astronaut scientists and former nasa officials comedians in the u.s. did not miss out on poking fun at american sense of pride so reporting the cash but had to write on the hope of the backseat all the take the wheel. yes you know you got close touch the radio they were just eat snacks or stop to use the bathroom should have gone before we left. you used but those the nasa who now actually work with the russians like astronaut sunny williams have different sentiments i

couldn't 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 were to 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 past 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. space craft 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 shuttle straight record includes another tragedy in one thousand nine hundred eighty six the space shuttle challenger broke apart seventy three seconds into its flight was 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 them all. in fact what was once a global competition is long since become a global collaboration the leaders of both russia and the rise of saying space is no longer a place for comparable from it's now a ground cooperation with a group who remains here in the words. that. are to russia the. russians of all the north caucasus has been in the spotlight all week as a spike in militant activity raged in the republic of copper de novo caria a group of up to twelve militants simultaneously attacks several locations in the republic's capital knowledge on friday a few hours later several gunmen shelled a gas station but an explosion was averted thanks to the fire crews quick arrival

the incident caused some damage but no fatalities a turnaround from last week's dramatic a tad over tourist bus that left three people dead local authorities say the plots were an attempt to distract as a tariff forces from special operations in the mountains of the republic say the situation is now fully under control. but let's take a look at some other stories from around the world on the confirmed death toll from the earthquake in the one has risen to one hundred forty six with more than two hundred still missing and. it is across the country have said prayers for the dead and missing emergency services in christ church are working to clear wreckage from the city officials warned of marrying 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. islands opposition party has claimed victory in the country's general election counting is still ongoing but it exit polls suggest

the ruling party have been dominant for decades is heading for a crushing defeat it's been widely criticized for wage cuts tax hikes and a loss of financial solvency after last year's sixty seven billion you will be allowed from the e.u. and i.m.f. viewed as a national humiliation. well there's a there is usually just one but russians have chosen three characters to be mascots for sorties twenty fourteen winter olympics polar bear a snow leopard and a figure skating body overcame some intense competition to win a live t.v. vote as are teased and a lot of the reports is just the latest piece in the jigsaw ahead of the games. these are the first winners of the sochi olympics from now on the snow will hurt the poor there and hair one through to the gun bill fishel baskets of the two thousand election winter games a ray of light is no way to represent the paralympics he is the minister through on

the prize winning a places in any sports event the second and third and the main motorcycle the olympics is not it's not the victory but it was dissipated also into a leopard to him and the bee champion strong warning that's why i think creating a team was a smart choice the winners were selected by members of the public from across russia and who televised them saturday the competition to devise them was also in public afterward the creations are the result of a nationwide competition launched last year with ideas submitted just paschal website and pressures artists amateurs and professionals the wife 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 eventually it really came down to this top ten rate here these are the meskins that made it into the finals and one of the entries are two bears snarly apart from the frost

and the mayor of sochi is personal favorite of the ethanol skeet despite their commonly appearance the competition between the mascot's was almost present plans as poor olympic gold traditional russian characters like father crossed melted to them because you don't battle and didn't make the final cut not even that may call for with the latest winter sports where passion was enough to sweep a rather hip set of russians i trust god to victory will be olympics have already won winter the competition organizers for the mascot circles gone three will go with a night to commercial possibilities to see who's doing a breathtaking journey is ahead for all the series shows and really games they're just making their first steps on the. it is peak of her popularity and she doesn't forty people and of course it was counting on commercial successes and since these mascots are going to like to buy a general vote in the us and they were counting on everyone to be willing to buy souvenirs and other licensed products in which they are included which will help

finance the games of the show three years left on still be olympics so she will now have to get used to freedom to marry an honorary citizen of the place 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 free when he first did have a heart after a fall in matching the worldwide fame walk by misha their counterpart in the 1980's most grueling picks but still she be hoping she'll become just as love of well known the bosky argy sochi. but it brings us up to date here night here in cap of the week's top stories coming your way in just a few moments. good

some. excellent professional extraordinary. had. possessing an extra ordinary car. doctor who helped many people in his country. criminal responsible for thousands of deaths. was it an attempt to repent. or just a skate

a fair trial. the other life. on our team. down the official antti allocation phone on pod touch from the choose ups to. life on the go. video on demand parties mind broadcasts and r.s.s. feeds now in the palm of your. questions. call in the czech republic is available in a hotel as science central hotel for the nice and most trivial of them full stop by richard committees in both new and herzegovina available in hotels and bit of each. a to.