these food stamps on t.v. don't succumb. to the. u.n. has imposed sanctions on libya as the violence continues in the country and we could see more protests across the arab world. also in this week's top stories your fears turmoil in the arab world will lead to a surge in uncontrolled immigration from the region which is only the first to feel the effects of an influx of refugees. plus as a u.k. cord rules julian assange must be extradited to sweden over sex crime allegations but we can expound our says it's a step towards his prosecution in the us and. straits was no longer a place of comparable for it's now a ground operation but the remains if there are worries here in the west ready to

pull the separate americans are split over a determination of the u.s. space shuttle program and future reliance on russian rockets to get clues to the international space station. one pm in the russian capital you're watching r t m arena joshing 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 our correspondent the region pure all over has the latest developments. well over the past we've seen violence flared across libya now the protesters the see gadhafi forces if you will are in control of the majority of the country

now they have their main foretold their base was the city of benghazi in the east of libya that from there they wait across the country toppling a few forces and say all major cities apart from the capital tripoli now we're hearing that inside the capital tripoli that gadhafi forces proca duffy forces have been handing out weapons to civilians and the majority of the citizens of tripoli are remaining indoors inside their homes in order to avoid gangs of of civilians that have been armed to even 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 was inside the city now this came after friday prayers where he delivered a message to his supporters in the country the protesters the protesters then took

to the streets they were fired by gadhafi forces killing many people there the number of dead to be well over a thousand in livy at 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 forties 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. today we saw we were concerned about the. 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 democratic elections in the palestinian autonomy and how mass one and immediately they declared how mass 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 there was extremely violent demonstrations taking place in many cities across the country against the current regime the current government there. in fact then it is continued as well yemen also suffering problems with with violence on the streets and protests 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 of the arab states first of all the african states is throw off their picked a set their leader followed by egypt now in chile as you have seen many many people taking to the streets to protest against what they see as the incompletion of the revolution it be wanted not just the 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 at the here square which was the epicenter of the revolution a couple phones in the paddock 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 born or members of the particular regime. to all of our reporting there and we've been gathering a wide range of perspectives on the crisis unfolding in north africa and the middle east political journalist anthony while told r.t. that 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 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 their 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 over one hundred different countries you know basically putting at the end of a gun the word democracy and shoving it down their throats i mean this is not the marker see 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 wanted. the turmoil in libya has sparked fears of oil prices jumping to new highs with the cost of the barrel reaching one hundred nineteen u.s. dollars this week alice have warned of the dire consequences further rises might have for food prices transport costs as well as national economies steve eleven from foreign policy magazine says that the oil might reach an all time peak if an arrest in libya spreads to other countries in the region. the markets have been calmed down over the last twenty four hours saudi arabia has gone around and cry at really assured everyone we not only can add more value to the market but we have added these the volume the difference that would create

a situation in which prices would really skyrocket is there another country in our mind so you lost a million barrels a day is our line from libya here well jury which is also having trouble getting it grows out front that would bring saudi arabia right up to its capacity to to substitute for volume then you would see i'm not sure two hundred twenty i think that's probably and trying to get headline but but maybe one hundred fifty that that which is still pretty high. and while 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 a half a million could try and seek refuge there as well as greece and malta artie's a corpus cannot has the story. eighty miles off the coast of

north africa the tiny italian island of luck it was a has relied on fishing and tourism for its main sources or being caught but for the first time in years the boats or and the mets are drawing both of us acute ward 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 or have thousands arrived in just two weeks sometimes up to three hundred refugees cram on just one tiny fishing boat to make the perilous journey to the mediterranean. doesn't have all the ground menial bills will meet it have nothing to lose turning your head with no money and nor jobs they have already been cases of vandalism and theft. non-thinking who started to leave in the lights on at

night they always wonder around none of the locals ever used to lock their doors and now that these people are here we feel uncomfortable due to its location a lot of people is familiar 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 are historically a free nation and we want freedom of islam we want to live like their prophet told us and holy books to live in an islamic state like the mole storehouse 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 each day so i think we're going to go off and we sent for planes yesterday but on average two planes with refugees leave every day to crew tony mari and political

leaders. italy and tunisia used to have an agreement under which most were fiji's were intercepted before even reaching the island but now that the government has been overthrown the floodgates have opened i would while it's continuing to spread in both north africa and the middle east he was already warned other evil states up to three hundred thousand refugees could we libya a little more decades long you know that managed to i mean i pray any isolated world of its own accord with all the lives and no one was afraid to leave their doors all the while five something she said the biggest wave of refugees may still be out there the flood this tiny island but the entire continent you've got this i'm all for you. italy. if you're watching r.t.

live from moscow still have for you this hour three of a kind that's real character of the chosen as mascots for the sochi two thousand and fourteen winter olympics after the results of a live t.v. vote across russia to learn more about them and why they were picked up in just a few minutes. on thursday a london court ruled julian assange should be extradited to sweden over sex abuse allegations that we get weeks founder who's to appeal says acord had failed to even consider the details of the allegations against him describing it as a rubber stamping process archie's killing ford looks into the bad ground of the case. when julian assange emerged less than a year ago with this video. showing u.s. troops going down unarmed civilians in two reuters journalists video games he was hired as a hero of transparency. in anti-war ally and human rights

defender r.t. america interviewed a sandwich on the day of collateral murders release what keeps people and more people in management of civilization as we understand how the world actually works . in the fourth grade is to get information out about the real world. and comment on it and to think about it but we need sources good to get. through. i know matt a computer expert with a cache of two hundred fifty thousand classified cables has so much catapulted to the front page of virtually every newspaper in the country with the week's wiki leaks wiki leaks wiki leaks which leads to his foes julian assange 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 activist with the potential to radically reshape the geo political

landscape by the people as time's man of the year but our commitment to our sources is not just to protect. it's not just the populace that used to get the maximum. possible but it's our city it's the political impact of the leaker and not the leaks that has gripped have been. allegations of sexual misconduct by two swedish women infighting within wiki leaks frozen bank accounts stalled donations the obama administration and the cia they want to start with the leagues they're doing. all sorts of extraordinary actions stop being paid. pay pal master card and other private corporations to to not allow donations to be made to wiki leaks the once heroic figure now hawking mugs bumper stickers and t. shirts to pay his legal bills who profits from demeaning i mean.

obviously it's the u.s. government which is really getting him makes no bones about it then under the bus by the newspaper that once eagerly used his beak initial impressions of. some in a list say assigned and wiki leaks have been effectively neutralized consumed by litigation rather than leaks i think what the american government wants is 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 or 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 charges and even the death penalty as a stanch places jail time the future of wiki leaks pains in the balance and its ability to be a place for whistleblowers and it beacon of transparency in ford r.t. washington d.c. well the extradition decision has drawn criticism towards the u.k.

justice system and not only from the sounds of supporters foreign policy expert william spring says the controversial verdict has exposed the country see parker see when dealing with requests to hand over citizens to foreign governments. the basic tradition relating to asylum is that anybody can come here provided they are loaded provided they've got lots of money we will let them in because we want them in with their money and therefore it's not particularly russian magnets and all the gods are welcome here. shakes. who may have a jew be a criminal record as it were of torture yet they were allowed to swan around london and knightsbridge bayswater wherever and no problem whatsoever. about an hour member of the european parliament for the u.k. dependence party says the decision to santa sarge to sweden is symptomatic of a flawed system what was the sound case does illustrates the fundamental problems

with the european restaurant which i've been talking about no evidence was introduced in two thousand and four he's an australian citizen they want to actually go 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 course to protect its own citizens and guests in our country because they are not simply not allowed to look at the problem of. case like this and taking into account it's what a lawyer called to what justice and i would now so i've been saying now for some time that relation 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 alums it's been going on that's been going on for months and i haven't figured out what the charges are yet an interest if i can say about what's going to happen in sweden they don't use a very very rarely used mechanism here 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 that's it's going to be done in a secret hearing which is absolutely astounding. now you got more on the story on our website r.t. dot com there's also plenty of other news and features let's have a look at what's on the line right now. an ambitious project to find out what the price tag is on the plan upgrade of the russian army has a budget for the next ten years is on the deal plus. we'll look at why nato continues to function twenty years after its initial enemy ceased to exist. america's longest serving space shuttle discovery has docked of the international space station it's said to be the ship's last trip to space as the u.s. retires its quater of a century old fleet the shuttle delivered ten tons of cargo and scientific

equipment to the i assess it's also presented a rare photo opportunity ask are six different spacecraft are docked of the i assess caught its return to earth it will be ferried off to a museum where it will soon be joined by its sister ships and devore and a plant is it will effectively and a manned us space flight and as our teams guy image to count 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 plan 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 you know the next phase of their development so i have a. pretty good 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 air. national 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 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 going to cry one day clyde revealed itself in comments by some american lawmakers astronaut scientists and former nasa official comedians in the u.s. did not we sat on poking fun at american sense of pride so reporting the cash then after right on the hope of the back seat belt of take the wheel. yes you know you got to let us touch the radio they want to stop to use the bathroom should have

gone before we left. use ok 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 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 that 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 washington rockets during a true year grounding the fuehrer 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

project a nine hundred eighty six the space shuttle challenger broke up. part seventy three seconds into its flight with. 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 us are saying space is no longer a place for comparable for it's now a ground for cooperation for the remains if they're worth hearing the words ready to awareness to go are to watch. russia's volatile north caucasus has been in the spotlight all week as a spike in militant activity raged in the republic of coverage you know ball carrier a group of up to twelve militants simultaneously attack several occasions in the

republican capital now come 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 turnaround from last week's dramatic attack on a tourist bus that left three people dead local authorities say the plots were an attempt to distract and say terror forces from special operations in the mountains of the republic they say the situation is now fully under control. and now for a look at some other stories from around the world the confirmed death toll from the earthquake in new zealand has risen to one hundred forty seven with more than two hundred still missing residents across the country have said prayers for the dead and missing emergency services in christ church are working to clear the wreckage from the city as officials warn 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 is still ongoing but exit polls suggest the ruling party that have been dominant for decades is having the force crushing defeat it's been widely criticized for wage cuts tax hikes and loss of financial sovereignty after last year's sixty seven billion euro bailout from the union i met viewed as a national humiliation. and there's usually just one but russians have chosen three characters to be mascots for sochi twenty fourteen winter olympics i q polar bear a snow leopard and i figure skating body overcame some intense competition to win a life t.v. vote and thirty's and xbox to reports it's just the latest piece in the jigsaw ahead of the games. these are the first winners of the four children pics from now on the leopard a polar bear and the hare has won through to become the official mascot of the two

thousand and fourteen winter games a ray of light and in no way will represent the paralympics he is the through on the prize winning places in any sports a brand first second and third and the main model or be a little x. is not it's not victory plus it's a patient and some balls and the leopard and the bear each have their strong points that's why i think creating a team was a smart choice the winners were selected by members of the public grimm across russia in a phone booth televised on saturday the competition to devise them was also the 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 eventually it really came down to this stuff ten rate here these are the meskins that made it into the

finals and won the entries are two beers snarly apart for the fast and the mayor of sochi is personal favorite of the ethanol ski despite their commonly appearance the competition between damascus was almost as intense as for olympic gold traditional russian characters like father crossed melted in the heat of battle and didn't make the point of cart not even of me over with the latest winter sports where fashion was enough to sweep a rather hip set of russians much rush got balls to victory will be olympics have only one winner the competition organizers for the mascot circle con three will go with a night to 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. at the peak of their popularity in two thousand and fourteen and of course we'll counting on commercial success and since these mascots have been elected by a general vote yes they were counting on everyone to be willing to buy souvenirs

and other licensed products in which they're included will help finance the games. with three years left until the olympics so she will now have to get used to three new furry 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 to follow in matching the worldwide fame by may shot their counterpart for the 1980's moscow olympics but still she will be hoping it will become just as lot of wilder the bosky are sochi. that brings us up to date here nineteen time now for a short break after that outbreak here we capped off the week's top stories.

see. the. training of the. oxy.