un has imposed sanctions on libya as the violence continues in that country in a week that seen more protests across the arab world. also in the news this week as turmoil in the region drives thousands of north africans from their homes it's really is calling on the e.u. to help it cope with waves of immigrants. and. the wiki leaks founder is to be extradited to sweden on sex crimes allegations appealing the ruling given a son says the case is simply a pretext to get into the u.s. for a quick trial. and america has its wings clipped with the flight of discovery the travels of to be decommissioned soon and under obama's new space

program astronauts will have to rely on russian spacecraft to take them into orbit . with a look back at the week's top stories and the latest developments this is our duty here in moscow good to have you with us this hour and u.n. security council slapped sanctions on libya as leader moammar gadhafi and ordered an investigation into crimes against humanity following the bloodshed in the country over a thousand people have been killed in almost two weeks of the uprising against the regime correspondent peter out of areas keep your cross developments in the region . the u.n. security council voted unanimously to impose the sanctions regime that will take the form of a travel ban against colonel gadhafi himself as well as others close to him an acid free zone khadafi out is in a circle

a sixteen names on this list is also an arms embargo placed upon libya now the resolution it was brought forward by france the u.k. germany and the united states also contains a referral to the hague to the international criminal court there so that they can look into allegations of crimes against humanity committed during the two weeks of violence that we've seen in libya governments around the world have been doing the best to get their citizens out of the country but there's also been libyans trying to get out of the country as well as the other one hundred thousand are believed to have fled across the border into tunisia or here to egypt where i am now that many of the nations around the world being called so suspending diplomatic ties with tripoli we heard today on sunday that france suspend their diplomatic ties with tripoli the russian embassy in the capital of libya will be taking care of french citizens until the french government can work out

a way to get them out of the country or prime minister vladimir putin has said this the isa country libya should be allowed to determine its own future once this bloody violence has died down it was good today we said we were concerned about things happening in libya please note the following in the north african sound of al qaeda who's also concerned about what is happening in libya do you think this is a coincidence because i'd like to go back in history a little bit of scrutiny of former leader of the iranian revolution with where he lived but he lived in paris and there's a hole he was supported by the western community he would be driven out of the entire western community fights against the rainy uclear program i remember just recently our partners were very active in signal to the democratic elections. palestinian and hamas won and immediately declared a terrorist organization and started fighting against it we need to give people who was into them in the future themselves we need to give them an opportunity to take and not true way without any foreign interference to build their future protesters

take control of more and more of the country they're coming across the palaces of the gadhafi regime now one such palace just outside of outside of benghazi has become the command center of the center of operations for the movement against the libyan government against colonel gadhafi and discovering some interesting things is that in going through these palaces and not one of them being guarded or discovered a bunker there is designed to withstand a hit and attack from a non conventional weapon showing me the security consciousness the security paranoia if you will that was in place in colonel gadhafi mind now we are hearing that tripoli remains in control of loyalists to colonel gadhafi and they've been handing out weapons troops to be handing out weapons to civilians on the streets of tripoli and obviously in district about six kilometers outside of the the center of the capital civilians were manning checkpoints looking at cars searching cars there

and checking identification papers now and many of the citizens of tripoli have remained inside their homes locked in door scared of these these armed militia that are patrolling the streets there were the latest reports that we do have suggests there are just fifty kilometers outside of tripoli the city of his fall in to the opposition forces now this violence in libya has been the bloodiest across the region we've seen revolution here in egypt where i am and she also violence in other arab states and north african states now the. violence here though fast the passing anything that we've seen elsewhere. at least one thousand people believed to be killed so far artie's peter one of aaron london based author and journalist action returns he told me earlier that the u.s. and the european union are acting in their own interest by fueling the uprising in

libya. i have supported the dissidents here in london some of whom have been really asli related actually to al-qaeda in the past but i think what i was more referring to is the chance that u.s. and british and european special forces are now organizing things with certain elements of opposition groups undercover the western powers are not interested in democracy in libya what they're interested in now is the oil it's very interesting that the international criminal court after being brought into a resolution the united states of course is not a signatory to that resolutions are get up you can always hide out in washington escape i.c.c. subpoena i think the americans and i don't know people like tony blair would be very very frightened of nicolas sarkozy or mr berlusconi of italy would be quite frightened about an i.c.c. trial because then then the regime and the people that are still supporting him in tripoli in their bunkers would be able to tell the stories about everything from

lockerbie to how. american and british arms companies were involved in propping up that regime and then have a string of e-mail that have an e-mail trail i don't think the americans or london or brussels would very much want that to come out in court you. the libyan uprising a spark fears of the already high oil prices could skyrocket to levels never seen before reports that colonel gadhafi may suffer tardes the country's oil pipelines have added fuel to the suite of gold approaching one hundred twenty dollars and then this a warning of significant economic threat syfy unrest spreads some experts what is far suggesting oil prices could hit two hundred twenty dollars per barrel but steve levine from foreign policy magazine says this scenario is unlikely to develop. saudi arabia has gone around and quietly assured everyone we not only can add more volumes to the market but we have. to be different that will create

a situation in which prices would really skyrocket another country run our client so you've lost a million barrels a day is our line from libya. algeria which is also having trouble in it goes up why that would bring saudi arabia right up to its capacity to to substitute then you would see i'm not sure two hundred twenty eight i think that's probably an admiral trying to get headline but but maybe one hundred fifty which is still pretty high. meanwhile there are fears it's only could draw a number of wave of illegal immigration from the instability in the middle east thousands of refugees have already reached the countries island of lampedusa leading the government to declare a humanitarian emergency well it is you've got a lot of reports now on how locals of dealing with the situation. at eighty miles off the coast of north africa the tiny italian island of has relied on

fishing and tourism for its mean sources of income for the first time in years the bolts on hold and the mets are dry but that's because you can't work there always are here we haven't gone 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 crammed on just one tiny fishing boat to make the perilous journey to the mediterranean. doesn't have already many of those who made it have nothing to lose turning walkaway view on its head with no money and no jobs they have already been cases of. theft. nothing who started to leave in the lights on at night they always wonder around and none of the locals every used to lock their doors now that this

people out here will feel uncomfortable due to its location lumpy doozies 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 he's one of the biggest problems. that we're historically a free nation and we want freedom of islam we want to live like your 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 a few g.'s are flown to the mainland each day. we sent four planes yesterday but on average two planes with refugees leave every day to mari and political

leaders. 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 the floodgates have opened i think while it's continuing to spread in both north africa and the middle east italy's already warned other evil states up to three hundred thousand refugees could we libya along for decades once you know that manage to remain a tiny isolated world of its own the locals where all these lives and no one was afraid to leave their doors all the. five something changed and the biggest wave of refugees may still be out there not this tiny island but the entire continent you've got this i'm all for you what you do about italy. and. from detainee's institute for international studies says political changes in the middle

east have always had a major effect on european nations not just in terms of illegal 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 that we have always been below thirty thousand. possible untruths 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 called the meeting among some of the governments that are most affected i mean imagine if time coral gadhafi is not overthrown i mean business cannot proceed as usual after this so something will have to be done this is r.t. from the russian capital coming up in a few minutes there doesn't have to be only one hundred fourteen sochi winter

olympics will have three mascots chosen by russians and a country wide poll stay with us to meet the characters up close also. so we point. out but the backseat take the wheel. this americans are baffled by a new space program which they feel is the reins to russia in a race for the planet. they story still to come first year in the stands must be extradited to sweden over sex assault charges that's the verdict made by a u.k. judge earlier this week and we can expand it says he will appeal the decision as the court had failed to even consider the details of the allegations and charges called the whole hearing a rubber stamping process. forward gives us the background. when julian assange emerged less than a year ago with this video. showing u.s.

troops getting down unarmed civilians into reuters journalist videogame style he was not as a hero of transparency. and anti war ally and human rights defender r.t. america interview decides on the day of collateral murders release and what keeps people on earth and more people. are going to understand how the world actually works. in the fourth grade and use to get information out about the real world and the second is the common for them to think about it but where you need sources who can get you through. a 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 when he leaks wiki leaks wiki leaks wiki leaks which leads to his photos julius launches

a cyber terrorist and work time 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 our commitment to our sources. not just to protect them and we've never lost it's not just published material used to be a problem. possible but it's there today it's the political impact of illegal and not the leaks that has gripped headlines. allegations of sexual misconduct by two swedish women infighting within wiki leaks frozen bank accounts starved donations particularly in the obama administration and the cia they want to start with the leagues they're doing. all sorts of extraordinary actions stopping. leaning on 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 the mean meaning. obviously it's the us government which is really gives him and makes no bones about it then under the bus but the newspaper eagerly used his leaks initial impressions that if you're going to. read some analysts say assigned and wiki leaks have been effectively neutralized consumed by litigation rather then leaks i think what the american government wants is 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 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 clean as charges and even the death penalty as a sound 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. . a member of the european parliament for the u.k. independence party says the decision to send the we can expand it to sweden is symptomatic of a flawed system. what was the science coast guards 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 out to sweden but this affects every british citizen and anyone who's 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 problem of facia evidence in a case like this and taking into account it's what a lawyer called what justice and i would now sylar been saying now for some time that 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 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 are going to 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 been 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. well there's also plenty of other news and features on our website r.t. com in addition to what you see here on screen that's a quick look at what's online people right now future for spot about an ambitious plan to upgrade russia's military and the equally impressive price tag attached also online. very different but equally powerful weapon discovery and exhibit which explores the art and science behind it.

this week america's longest serving space shuttle discovery has lifted off for the last time after a quarter of a century in service the spacecraft will be put into retirement on saturday the six member crew arrived at the international space station delivering cargo and scientific equipment upon its return to earth they will be ferried off to a museum where it will soon be joined by its sister ships endeavor and atlantis inoffensively be the end of manned u.s. space flight until new craft introduced in ten years from now and that is going to teach can find 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 oh gosh i. couldn't 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 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 it doesn't sit well with many americans how could this happen you know we could make it to the moon burst and 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 it's going to pride wounded pride revealed 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 but reporting the cash then after right on the hope of the backseat take the wheel. yes you know you got to let us touch the radio don't let us eat snacks or stop to use the bathroom should have gone before we left i used 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 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 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 tragedy a nine hundred eighty six the space shuttle challenger broke apart seventy three seconds into its right 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 has long since become a global collaboration the leaders of both russia and the u.s. are saying space is no longer a place it's now a ground operation the remains if they were worth hearing the words ready to pull

the excepted. are closed. time now for a brief update on some other stories from around the world in our world update in bolivia at least one hundred fifty homes have been destroyed by massive landslide in the capital of there's been no reports of deaths but the infrastructure has been damaged forty four people have been killed in the region in recent weeks due to heavy flooding and rains the country's president has declared a state of emergency and allocated trichet million dollars for. the charter no other people are being detained for across the country after gathering the so-called jasmine rallies and demonstrations were organized online forums and a calling for more accountable government. peaceful action and encouraged people to . tend to pass by the rallies inspired by uprisings in the middle east to be vastly outnumbered by security forces. for the soul from the earthquake in new zealand has reached one hundred forty seven with more than two hundred people still missing

residents across the country are honoring the dead woman services rescuers in christchurch are working to clear wreckage from the city as officials warn that many buildings may have to be demolished if it was new zealand deadliest natural disaster in eighteen years and is likely to become its worst ever well they say teamwork is the linchpin of success in the russian public seems to agree on this having chosen not one but three mascots for sochi is twenty fourteen winter olympics competition is fierce but the snow leopard a polar bear and a hare on skates took the gold in the televised vote on saturday. reports on these latest additions to the winter games and are not. these are the first winners of the four chilean picks her no on a snow leopard a polar bear and a hare have won through to become the official mascots of the two thousand and fourteen winter games a ray of light and a snowflake will represent the paralympics he is there on the prize winning places

in any sports or burned for the second and third and the main model will be lympics is not it's not victory but because it's a patient there is some pause and aleppo and the band each have their strong poor and that's why i think creating a team was a smart choice the winners were selected by members of the public from across russia in the throne who televised on saturday become petition to devise them was also a public outward because relations are the result of a nationwide competition launched last year with ideas submitted to a special website and pressures 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 methods that made it into the finals and won the entries are two bears snarly acquired father frost and the mayor of sochi is personal favorite of the ethanol ski despite

their cobley appearance the competition between damascus was almost as intense as for olympic gold traditional russian characters like father crossed melted and the he taught battle and didn't make a point of cart not even a make over with the latest winter sports where passion was enough to sweep a rather hip set of russians much rush goodall's to victory will be olympics have only one winner become petition organizers for the mascot settle down three mill go with an eye to a commercial possibilities to see who's doing the graph and you can journey is ahead for all the symbols chosen for the games they're just making their first steps on the. and a peak of their popularity in two thousand and fourteen and of course we're counting on commercial success 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 poor real snow leopards have recently

found a new home at the local wildlife preserve the three winning best gets have a hard act to follow in matching the worldwide fame won by misha their counterpart for the 1980's more school lympics but still she will be hoping they'll become just as lot and will learn this bosky r t sochi. well i'll be back with a recap of this week's top stories in just a few moments stay with us live here in the russian capital is r.t. . to. come.

closer to spain to the currency and republic. center of russian defense production . now while she heads to central russia. candy crush sofa common industry. cold harsh winter to make schools even more enjoyable. and where everyone can train to be a stumping. for the other slum which. russia close out on artsy. good samaritan. excellent professional. medics travel much 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. monarchies. my mom or your family.