video on demand. old girls. and history in the palm of your. comb. the u.n. has imposed sanctions on libya as the violence continues in that country and we did see more protests across the arab world. also in the week's top stories europe fears that turmoil in the arab world will lead to a surge in uncontrolled immigration from the region which is really the first to feel the effects of the influx of the refugees. plus as a u.k. court and julian are saundra must be extradited to sweden over sex crimes allegations the wiki leaks founder says it's a step towards his prosecution in the us and states the longer

a place for comparable for. the cooperation of the press through remains is whether one theory is. that americans are split over the nation of the u.s. space shuttle program and future reliance on russian rockets to get crews to the international space station. with r.t. as we are highlighting the stories that made headlines welcome to the program well the u.n. has imposed sanctions on the libyan leader colonel gadhafi and his inner circle freezing assets restricting international travel it comes as the violence continues to ravage that divided country and what's been the bloodiest of the uprisings in the arab world our correspondent in the region is peter all about and he 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 out the 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 just wait across the country toppling the forces in 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 that the majority of the citizens of tripoli are remaining indoors inside their homes in order to avoid gangs of of civilians that have been arms 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 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 to 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 who we are hearing from protesters that's the forty's of the days 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 with illusions must be allowed to determine their own future. it was because of today we saw you 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 the democratic elections in the palestinian autonomy and how much one and immediately they cleared 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 there was extremely violent demonstrations taking place in many cities across the country against the current regime the current government there in back then it is continued is welcome

again and 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 in tunis yet if you course was one of the the first gulf the arab states first of all the african state is throw off their dictator their leader followed by egypt now in chief as you we've seen many many people take 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 now here in cairo a similar scene it must protest on friday here attack here square which was the at the center of the revolution that toppled funds and now protesters will 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. he's bitter on the reporting we have a been covering a wide range of perspectives on the crisis unfolding in north africa and the middle

east political journalist anthony wilde told us here at r.t. that western countries are advocating the spread of democracy across the region in order 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've developed and put together in the in the in the u.s. for example take a look at look at what you're doing any 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 and from perpetrator in western societies if that's democracy who'd want it. now the turmoil in libya has sparked fears of oil prices jumping to new highs the cost of a barrel reaching one hundred nineteen u.s. dollars that's where you. have one of the dire consequences further rises might have food prices transport costs as well as national economies steve eleven from the foreign policy magazine says that oil might reach an all time peak if the unrest in libya spreads to other countries in the region. the markets have calmed

down over the last twenty four hours saudi arabia has gone around and rightly 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 another country when our clients you've lost a million barrels a day is our client from libya. algeria which is also having trouble getting it rose up front that would bring saudi arabia right up to its capacity to do so much to to cali and then you would see i'm not sure two hundred twenty i think there's probably an arab trying to get headlines but maybe one hundred fifty. 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 ago and the government has estimated a possible one and a half million americans who try and seek refuge there as well as in greece and malta secret as well as the story. that he miles off the course of north africa the terry italian island that has relied on fishing in tourism for its mean sources or being called out for the first time in years the balts or in the holder of the nets are drawing a robot. for a secure border 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 great fiji's over five and a half thousand arrived in just two weeks sometimes up to three hundred refugees with grandma just one tiny fishing boat to make the perilous journey to the mediterranean. doesn't have all of the frail medial bills for me to have nothing to

lose turning local life year on its head with no money and no jobs they have already been cases of vandalism and that nothing to me was started leaving the lights on at night they always wonder around none of the locals there we used to lock their doors and now that this people out here will feel uncomfortable due to its location like people who 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 he says he's one of the biggest problems that. we historically a free nation and we won't feed enough islam that we want to live like a prophet told us in holy books to live in an islamic state you know i did most of our house at this refugee center where they were provided with food water calls and medical aid all financed from the state budget is designed to house only around eight hundred people so under tight security hundreds of eighty g.'s are flown to

the mainland they say how many people are going to go off and here we sent four planes yesterday on average two planes with very few gees leave every day. and polluted with. italy and tunisia use to have an agreement under which most were fugitives were intercepted before even reaching the island but now that the government has been overthrown the floodgates have opened. i put violence continuing to spread in both north africa and the middle east he's already warned other states up to three hundred thousand refugees quote if we leave a little more decades limpy the managed to remain a tiny isolated world of its own wolf with. the wind and no one was afraid to leave their doors on long. time something she said the biggest wave of refugees may still

be out there. on this tiny island but the entire continent you've got this long for the one to do about you know we. need time to send hari from the danish institute for international studies such that the european union should bring in urgent measures to stop the immigration. even before these are prized things the prospect of massive immigration has always been europe's was the night. in real terms it has never been substantial that 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 months time coral gadhafi is not overthrown i mean

business cannot proceed as usual after this so something will have to be done. now you are with r.t. it's good to have your company and i still have for you this hour three of the crying the trio of characters are chosen as mascots for the sochi two thousand and fourteen winter olympics this coming after the results of on live t.v. vote across russia. about them and why they were coming your way in just a few minutes. richard in the sunshine lost his legal battle on a thursday against his extradition to sweden the wiki leaks founder is wanted that over rape allegations made by two swedish women says the accusations are nonsense believes the case against him is politically motivated scandal for investigates. when julian assange emerged less than a year ago with this video. showing u.s.

troops getting down unarmed civilians into reuters journalist video games he was hired as a hero of transparency. and anti war ally and human rights defender r.t. america interviewed as such on the day of collateral murders movies and what keeps people on earth and more people. as you understand how the world actually works. in the fourth grade used to get information out about the real world and the second step is to comment on it and think about it but sources can't get. through to the public and nomadic computer expert with a 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 which leads to his photos julius is

a cyber terrorist in wartime he's guilty of sabotage espionage crimes against humanity he should be killed but to his fans a soft spoken at the first with the potential to radically reshape the geo political landscape voted by the people as time's man of the year but our commitment to our sources is not just to protect the lost it's not just published a material used to get the maximum impact possible but it's our city it's a political impact of illegal 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 the obama administration in the cia they want to start wiki leaks they're doing. all sorts of extraordinary actions stop being. lenient on pay pal master card and other are private corporations to to allow

donations to be made to wiki leaks the once heroic figure now hawking mags bumper stickers and t. shirts to pay his legal bills who profits from the meaning of meaning truly of us obviously it's the us government which is really getting him makes no bones about it then under the bus by the newspaper that once eagerly used his leaks initial impressions are going to. set up some red for some analysts say assigned and wiki leaks have been effectively neutral or 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 where science could face as you know charges and even the death 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 beacon of transparency and ford r.t. washington d.c. . well company to share an award claims that sweden and the u.s. have conspired together to silence and silence wiki leaks. we think that this is more like a school in charge are holding charge to get them into 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 is still in charge and we're much more concerned about what's going to happen with the u.s. so we're very concerned that if he 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 so 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. well we've got more in our website on that story and many other stories and articles a column that has a lot of news and features and let's take a brief look right now i want to. get the fence in force examine the state of the art equipment to help modernize the russian army over the next ten years and it's rather the price tag plus it was expected to do but instead it expanded now as you have said nato struggle to redefine its mission twenty years after its original rival.

it would ask you live from moscow now america's longest serving space shuttle discovery has now docked with the international space station is 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 that delivered a ten tons of cargo and scientific equipment quick meant to be. but also presented a rather rare photo opportunity as six different spacecraft are now docked to the i associate upon his return to earth though it will be ferried off to a museum where it will soon be joined by its sister ships the endeavor and the lantus it will look affectionately end the u.s. space flight i understand he's got a chicken found out the loss is not 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 you know the next phase of their development so i have to say oh gosh i. well i couldn't even estimate exactly nor long 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 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 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 part of it it's so a wounded pride thing clyde wheeled itself in comments by some american lawmakers astronaut scientists and former nasa official comedians in the u.s.

did not miss out on poking fun at american sense of pride so we pour you the cash but after a lot on the hope of the backseat take the wheel. yes you know you got the last touch the radio you want to 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 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 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 the two year grounding of u.s. spacecraft after the two thousand and three space shuttle columbia. aster columbia exploded during re-entry into the earth's atmosphere all seven crew members dyke shuttles track record includes another tragedy a nine hundred eighty six the space shuttle challenger broke apart seventy three seconds into its right 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 the moon in fact what was once a global competition is long since become a global collaboration the leaders of both russia and the words are saying space is no longer a place it's now a ground for cooperation and

a quest for remains if there are one here in the wilds ready to fully accept it i'm going to take on our to washington d.c. . now russia is a volatile north caucasus has been in the spotlight old weeks as a spike in the militant activity raged in the republic of come out of. a group of up to twelve militants assemble tain asli attacked several locations in the republic scuttled check on friday a few hours later several government shelled a gas station but only explosion was averted thanks to the fire crews quite a rifle the incident caused some damage but no faith teletubbies that's a turnaround from last week's dramatic attack on a tourist bus the left three from their local authority said the products were an attempt to distract unseen terror forces from special operations in the mountains of the republic they say the situation is fully under control. all right now let's take a look at some other major headlines from around the world this hour and the

confirmed death toll from the earthquake in new zealand has now risen to one hundred forty seven there are still more than two hundred missing residents across the country except prayers for the playground of those still not found emergency services in christchurch are working to clear wreckage from the city as officials of the many buildings may have to be demolished the earthquake was new zealand's deadliest a natural disaster in eighty years and it's like me to become its worst ever. violent opposition party has claimed victory in the country's a general election counting is still ongoing but exit polls suggest the ruling party that has been the dominant for decades is heading for a crushing defeat it's likely being 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 the i.m.f. it's all viewed as a national humiliation no there's usually just one russians have chosen

three characters to be mascots for sochi two thousand and fourteen winter olympics there's a cute polar bear snow leopard and figure skating body all three of a cane some intense competition to win a live t.v. vote and it's obvious that it's one of the reports that's just the latest piece in the jigsaw and head of the games. these are the first winners of the sochi olympics from now on a snow leopard a poor bear and a hare have won through to become the official mascot of the two thousand and fourteen winter games a ray of light and no one will represent the paralympics he is the three on the prize winning places in any sport so burned first second and third and the main model or be lympics is not it's not victory but participation there is some pause 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 a public outward the creationists 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 mask and 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 methods that made it into the finals and won the entries are two bears snarly apart from other fast and then we have so cheese personal favorite of the ethanol ski despite their commonly appearance the competition between baskets was almost as intense as gold traditional russian characters like father crossed 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 rush controls to victory will be olympics have only one winner become petition organizers for the mascot said will call three no doubt with an eye to commercial possibilities to see who's doing the breath and you can journey is ahead for all of the symbols chosen for the games they're just making their first steps on the. asked at 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 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 act to follow in matching the worldwide fame won by misha their counterpart

for the 1980's moscow olympics but still she will be hoping they'll become just as loved and will the little ascii art scene sochi. right now just a few moments all the recap of the week's top stars. to. the. from.

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