video. feeds. the week's top stories here on r t a british special forces soldiers released by libyan opposition as fears grow imminent military intervention in the country. think we'd be in iraq if the major export their broccoli experts say calls for military action in libya are being driven by skyrocketing fuel prices in the u.s. . we are in an information war and we are losing that war winning hearts and minds abroad hillary clinton asked for more funding to spread the u.s. message overseas as more people turn to alternative sources for news. and russian law enforcement gets a make over in

a bid to regain public trust major reforms and see the force renamed and officers restrain. broadcasting live from our studios in central moscow this is r.t. we're certainly glad to have you with us first to libya where british soldiers were released after being seized by the forces as more western warships and planes move closer to the country at least six special air service soldiers were in the eastern part of the country that's according to a diplomat who was supposed to negotiate with the rebels the opposition leadership said they were outraged by the incident seeing it as foreign intervention into libya's internal affairs this comes as the country slips closer to civil war with fighting intensifying reports of air strikes and heavy weaponry closely or has more . on saturday the libyan leader moammar gadhafi launched

a fresh military offensive he's trying to retake some of the towns he's lost in the past eighteen days of fighting there were some seventy people killed those are the latest reports we're receiving and more than three hundred people injured with reports of strikes and live ammunition and growing fears that libya is descending into civil war now many of the media in europe and in the united states it has been supporting the rebels there have been editorials in major american and european newspapers actually calling on the waist to support the rebels and attack gadhafi the latest word we hearing is that the western media is trying to portray gadhafi forces as a losing and the opposition forces as winning but as you can see from these pictures it certainly is not clear who has the upper hand there also analysts who are pushing forward the opinion that the western media is so empty could afy because he has taken such a strong stand in the past against western interference in developing countries the

latest word from the british government is that it is confirming that it is considering and is on standby to deploy its forces within twenty four hours and says that these forces will be used for humanitarian and evacuation purposes and not for any kind of military intervention the latest word we have from the u.s. is that its two warships have a lift crease and according to state issued they are part of the military buildup around libya not we also know that france and the united kingdom are putting pressure on the united nations security council to make a decision on a no fly zone. after. things western leaders who supported gadhafi in recent years should be brought to justice. the new liberal agenda that has been followed by many countries and which has led in the end to a kind of civil war all war situation new liberal agenda means selling oil

resources to foreign investors and basically. cutting down the spending on any kind of social program that's all part of the logic of all of globalization and your liberal agenda what should happen next. be nice to see some western leaders we have been in close alliance with colonel gadhafi for the last ten years or at least should be brought to trial. for castro jerald celeb case says it's not support for the libyan people but interest in the country's vast oil fields that's driving us rhetoric and action. the only reason they're interested in libya is about the you oil you hear anybody screaming and yelling about all those people last week they were killed in the ivory coast and i guess cocoa was that that you know if let's have a national priority they don't try anything but we already heard hillary clinton

say they care willing to do anything for anybody in libya that needs aid so they appear pretty good out there already that talking about no fly zones and they have cockers see is just beyond the police i mean for example they did has anybody called for a war criminal trials against mubarak as they are. you know in all of the world is the the western world of calling for his head but the other heads in bahrain and in yamin and in egypt you know they're ok chimneys you leave them alone but they're calling for gadhafi said why because its oil yet think we'd be in iraq if that major export there was broccoli as the arab world continues to sink into chaos the cost of oil is jumping to new heights experts claim the skyrocketing prices in the u.s. are threatening the country's economy and as artes nor lister discovered the hike

in energy costs could see the obama administration come under fire. ok tunisia. egypt. baja rain. algeria. and libya protest in country seeming to fuel one another unrest spreading like wildfire through the middle east and north africa all raging in all year rich countries that helped fuel the world's use of more than eighty four million barrels of crude a day. uncertainty over production has sent prices soaring meaning a shock waves from the middle east turmoil are being felt worldwide now the mideast crisis is hitting home for outrage americans or oil prices have skyrocketed so too have the prices people paper gasoline and now the price americans pay at the pump

is threatening to derail the u.s. economic recovery a surge in oil. prices will be the end of the u.s. economy not just an end to the recovery there's no more a reality peak oil expert michael c. rupert sees happening it or oil hits one hundred fifty dollars a barrel which he believes is inevitable this year others predicted going to two hundred twenty dollars it's so devastating because oil. fuels more than just cars. it fuels the entire global economy. though there's no doubt that if gas goes to five dollars a gallon for americans asked some predict there would be a high political price to pay for the obama administration you know gasoline prices go up and much and for a very long period. of your or. your political

impact there is no denying the u.s. has played a role in the events that have transpired in the middle east. every time u.s. president barack obama went to the podium calling for lists that there must be reform political social and economic reforms that meet the aspirations of the egyptian people and calling for egyptian president hosni mubarak's resignation he was calling for an end to the status quo which means a rise in uncertainty in rich region so did leaders weigh the toll it could take on their own economy some argue they don't have the power to kind of winning back up trying to push their back against an avalanche and i don't think we're going to hear a lot of success and that may not stop the u.s. from trying to take control some observers believe the u.s. may intervene militarily in libya or oil reserves are massive under false pretenses of helping protesting people has nothing to do with interests of the people but it

has everything to do with the interest of the u.s. . oil corporations military. profit either way analysts say the price of fuel going up will simply fuel public rage and the government is largely helpless the american people are going for a very nasty ride and there's no way out of it now but i can tell you the government understands that it's not laura mr r.t. new york still ahead for you this hour the man who changed the course of history for the u.s.s.r. . if you're a political media i don't agree with people say that historic you failed it didn't fail it was disrupted he looked into the legacy of the soviet union's first and only president mikhail gorbachev was celebrating his eightieth birthday this week. and we explore why the british are wary of it are coming at nationwide census over fears their personal information might end up in the hands of u.s.

authorities. hundreds of people flooded the streets of afghanistan. capitol to protest over the deaths of nine children killed in a nato air raid last week protesters directed their anger at the u.s. occupation and afghan government demonstrations for the country's president hamid karzai his condemnation of the protests are continuing. president obama officials civilian casualties are a sensitive issue in afghanistan where over one hundred innocent afghans have been killed in nato military operations in recent weeks. activist daoud sultanzoy explains why the alliance can't cope with its anti-terrorist genda making matters worse. it's very difficult to translate these apologies into into really meaningful. things to the victims families these are casualties that have been happening for too many years and there are too many civilian

casualties the people of afghanistan civilians are the victims of both the nato civilian casualties and the terrorists who come with suicide bombings and with. targeting of civilian areas and the people of afghanistan are tired of both the hearts of the people of afghanistan or in the hands of two incompetent players one player is the international community and one player is the afghan government and both players are incompetent and ignorant about the true meaning of hearts and minds the intention of this war was to fight terror but the people of afghanistan have become that victim of terror the united states and coalition forces have to do much better and they have to also hold the afghan side also at a higher standard in this case both the afghan government and the international community are held responsible in the eyes and in the eyes of the people of. that

was political activist daoud sultanzoy in kabul talking to r.t. earlier. hillary clinton says the u.s. is losing an information war to foreign media outlets including our t.v. this week of the secretary of state and asked congress for more cash to step up america's efforts to get its message across what he's going to teach you can reports war declared the u.s. is now officially in an information battle with foreign media which provide alternative views on world news views which often running contrast in the coverage of events by the u.s. news stream media we are in an information war and we are losing that war i'll be very blunt in my assessment al-jazeera is winning. the chinese have opened up a global english language and multi language television network the russians have opened up an english language network i've seen it in a few countries and it's quite instructive we are cutting back and the b.b.c. is cutting back some five years ago western media outlets including b.b.c.

and c.n.n. had a near monopoly in the coverage of world news things have changed since then more and more viewers across the world tuning in to various foreign media to get a fresh take on events clearly the united states feels on the good thing and civic clark because it can no longer monopolize not only the terms of you know the soroti in these countries but also the terms of the debate there's other information out there there are other points of view and those points of view are profoundly damaging to a country that believes that its point of view is the only point of view or should be the only point of view r.t. presence on you tube is one example almost three hundred million views as opposed to c.n.n. that has around three million archy's constantly growing audience he's already an indication to many that the days of media monopoly are over and people demand a multi-polar approach to news you know there's no real commitment to the kind of

freedom of the universe speech that we really need if we're going to be in a democracy at home and in a you know a community of nations overseas and now the administration is seeking more funding through us propaganda efforts of broad during the cold war we did a great job in getting america's message out after the berlin wall fell we said ok fine enough of that you know we've done it we're done and unfortunately we are paying a big price for it last year the head of the agency that manages the us government who are an international broadcasting asked for more money for his department we care allow ourselves to be out community by. anime's the list of enemies included question china iran and venezuela walter isaacson the head of the agency which runs voice of america among other media outlets later backtracked on this statement isaacson's pitch for more funding seemed even more unconvincing considering his agency has

a budget of seven hundred fifty million dollars and it's way more than the budget of r t iran's press t.v. and venezuela's tell us we're combining probably money alone can't provide global will be a cloud walter isaacson's speech last year says quite a hostile message to foreign media exposing the shortcomings of the us mainstream but secretary clinton statement made it a push for the us is fighting a global information war and its will so i'm going to stick our reporting from washington are to. now the last leader of the soviet union go to shove celebrated his eightieth birthday this week known as a die hard advocate for peace his name has become symbolic with the end of the cold war president medvedev marked corba shelves day by awarding him one of russia's highest honors seeking to create a more open and prosperous u.s.s.r. his initiatives range from introducing free speech to a massive overhaul of the state's economy he is also famed for his leading role in scrapping the berlin wall and the reunification of germany in one thousand nine

hundred his efforts were awarded with the nobel peace prize but barely a year later the soviet union collapsed some critics blame his unfinished reforms for the disorder and turmoil that plagued russia in the one nine hundred ninety s. while others resent him for destroying the powerhouse that was the u.s.s.r. but despite the criticism the former leader still says russia was in desperate need of change. if you feel i don't agree when people say the telestrator failed it didn't fail it was disrupted derailed stocks still perestroika achieved a lot of people realized they had finally got some freedom and an opportunity to act inside russia we. democracy free elections and freedom of conscience private property freedom to travel abroad everything in foreign affairs we put an end to the cold war we normalize our relationship with the u.s. we reunited germany we didn't send our tanks our troops there all our units in

eastern europe states where they work and it wasn't always easy and many things did not work out the way we planned but at the beginning when we made our first mistakes we didn't really explain to people what was going on and didn't get them involved in all those processes we were self confidence. and of course you can catch the full interview with mikhail gorbachev along with many of our other exclusives on our website at r.t.e. dot com. now the u.k. is preparing for a nationwide census to take place later this month the government says it will help provide the services and resources people need but involvement of a controversial u.s. defense corporation leaves many fearing their privacy could be violated artie's more and it reports. it's senses time in the u.k. when every household in the country is asked to provide detailed information about their lives to the government so they can keep track of what's going on and who will be in charge of this sensitive data.

yes it's controversial u.s. arms manufacturers lockheed martin and campaigners ranging from religious groups to peace activists to data protection lobbyists are really against it on ethical grounds to play on a number of oppressive regimes they also. the us heavily in the wars they fought in iraq and afghanistan opposed by the majority of people in britain even if supported by the british government kill vows to boycott the census despite the risk of prosecution he says he won't be alone look he makes land mines and nuclear weapons and contracts out interrogation of one ton of a day although it will be the u.k. arm that carries out the survey there's still a worry that the information could fall under the auspices of the us patriot act which compels personal data held by any company on systems in the us to be made

available to government intelligence the office but national statistics which gauged lockheed martin maintains its taken measures to make sure u.s. authorities can't access the data. well dance of processing will be carried out in the u.k. dance will leave will be held at any point outside the u.k. no lockheed martin staff will have access to any personal census data all data is the property of you and only u.k. owned companies will have any access to personal census data but it's that last point that's raise red flags for data protection lobbyists who say that all the private information collected during the census will be available to practically any organization that requests it any use on the any statute. any use by the security or intelligence services for national security purposes any use for the pursuit of pride any use in pursuit of an e u community organisations so

any e.u. rules pass information can be passed over so it's essentially any government use whatsoever of confidentiality is being accomplished and u.k. government agencies don't exactly have a great track record when it comes to safeguarding information three years ago a file containing secrets terror related documents was left on a train more recently the national health service lost the medical records of tens of thousands of people thanks to lockheed martin's involvement in the census it would be hard for the u.s. authorities to lay their hands on that information if they wanted data from the said says it is used by the government to ward grants to local councils and recognize new groups in society a sense is run by lockheed martin raises grave concerns in britain about ethics and it's a national security if a lot of people boycott this that says it will make it ineffective and a waste of money but the two hundred forty million dollar contracts amounts will go

into looking at martins pockets any way your average party runs it. still to come this hour. tension of russia's prime minister. some of moscow women the prime minister for their ladies at a party for you of course and how it's coming up in just a bit. now for a look at some other major headlines from around the world. several people have been injured after clashes between police and students in the capital of bangladesh officers armed with tear gas in but times charged the angry crowds after they began to smash vehicles the rest began over the death of a twenty five year old student in a road accident. japan's foreign minister has resigned after opposition uproar over a political donation he got from a foreign national. admitted accepting almost twenty five hundred dollars from a south korean citizen resident in japan the sun is small but japanese law bans

politicians from except in money from outsiders to protect the country from foreign influence his resignation strikes a blow to the current prime minister no to the con who sought mr me as his successor. fairway farewells to space crews and for discovery the hatches of the shuttle discovery and the international space station have been closed marking the beginning of the last trip for the oldest and most traveled american spacecraft discovery will undock later on monday and is scheduled to touch down in florida on wednesday the mission saw astronauts deliver the first ever humanoid robot into space to assist with scientific research shuttles endeavor and atlantis are planned to make their final trip next bringing the u.s. space shuttle program to one that starts with russian law enforcement was given a much needed make over this week with public trust in the four sinking to an all time low it's hoped new reforms and

a name change will return it to credibility and as our. reports there's a lot riding on the overhaul beyond paperwork and cosmetics. a change of title and hopefully a change in attitudes of these law enforcement officers are abandoning their soviet era name of me they're in favor of the world the recognizable police for the government it's a first step down a long road towards modernizing the service and arresting a sharp decline in public perception because trust of the boys in blue has been dealt a huge blow in recent years it's led to any zaya amongst officers and outrage from knows they're supposed to protect incidents like the supermarket rampage by officer you've sick of open fire an innocent shoppers killing two and wounding seven it was the final straw that fueled calls for reform but can changing their name bring about a change in behavior while some insist that any change is long overdue for others

it's purely cosmetic of the earth that there were so many accidents with police officers we're hearing illegally in russia during the years. this is not going to be changed by the change of the law because these illegal practices were concret of the previous legislation as well as call group of the current work the big question is whether there is the political will to really. take it under control the police themselves though are preparing for the can just to come up with a huge part of our ratings will depend on the people of this country how they evaluate our performance this kernel is already grasping the essence of modernizing the force her students seem eager to absorb as much information before their upcoming exams so the report was that everyone will be tested physical ability

knowledge of new civic duties all those are included in the exams there will be no in jordan says for anyone either past interest or leave the force other changes are mixed. blessing there will be a twenty percent cut in personnel but the remaining officers will get a pay rise there will be better screening of new recruits with every detail of an applicant's background put under the microscope but until all that takes effect officers have to knuckle down to the job in hand restoring honor to russia's police is a tough task and the public are no pushover judges but the force is determined to turn that around reexamining staff redesigning uniforms all those changes will talk a lot of time before the element is one of the first things to change all the signs like these which soon will feature internationally recognizable policing casuarinas our moscow course can always find more on our website hard to dot com and online right now for you we have some cool things. that russians are celebrating the last

day of muslim pancake week filling up before fasting. and see russia's latest fighter jet put through its paces on its maiden flight. a moscow nightclub has sparked controversy while hosting a putin party without the prime minister's permission organizers say the theme was chosen by their female clients as part of this week's international women's day celebrations and as sarah for found out the russian prime minister's name can really draw a crowd. night. at . the bank they say. by now all that. is exactly this type of. there is

a possibility of legal. mr prime minister himself and all of us working with him we are trying to be very careful about not letting his name being used. in a proper sense. he himself is favoring the cases where his name is used for the promotion of a healthier way of living for promotion let's say eight children for promoting whatever useful but certainly i mean using his name for promoting importing approaches in my opinion is proper. team of the party which was. the name of the prime minister was chosen by the public surpassing the names of tribute. this is not a commercial about we knew that it might be controversial but we decided to throw it anyway. some of the people here. they're only saying that they

think that that. amazed at. the nightclub has nothing do with mr oh i think it's a really good idea. i think if you. go back to washington. and i never got this tension i'd be making a ton of money that. they. think a lot of. strong. countries i had thought the guy the great guy. there's a body i want the private is that baghdad now and then appropriate when then i'd like to solve that then i said it is the crime in this that i added a look at myself bad bad if that is there's really a lot of it sad sad and a great fan of those. and i'll be back with a recap of the week's headlines in

a few moments.