cook your bond movie roles in circles if you will of the. ski patrol. in the arabian country club it's so boring sure to find this piece of the first book all sure can pinsky switzer chill doesn't hold built in let me go nuts come golden eagle chico to. freedom. and pull a spear in tripoli joining a few moments i'll give you an. france's attempts at a short sharp war in libya is getting president sarkozy's ratings boost he expected some saying it was motivated by imperialist accomplishment. as u.s. political parties keep bickering over the new budget credit agencies sell their love of the country's bad pouring habits saying it's a road straight to bankruptcy. and george's attempts to project

a democratic image of the state and its legal system but even lawyers are getting persecuted. and b.p. has encountered yet another setback in its bid to join ross now to explore the arctic shelf in russia this is a stockholm arbitration tribunal outhaul this injunction. more on that in our business but most of the. international news live from our studios here in central moscow this is our teachers past ten pm here in the russian capital and eight pm in libya where two russian journalists captured by libyan rebel fighters earlier on friday have been freed it comes as the front line continues to shift in the fight between colonel gadhafi forces and the rebels but our correspondent paula. joins us now with the

latest a bit in the capital tripoli paula this is not the first time journalists have been taken hostage jury in this ongoing conflict in libya we understand that two of those russian journalists have been freed do we know anything about the fate of the remaining two. well actually said it's not the first line of germans have been taken captive here in libya but it certainly seems to be the first time a journalist were taken captive by opposition fighters in the east of the country we have just heard the news that the two russian progeny extremely experienced as war correspondents have been freed but we also understand that there are a number group a group that works for russian television station and there were unlucky appears to be have no confirmation that they have been freed as world and what earlier the russian i was speaking earlier with the russian embassy here because the embassy is still operating and they have confirmed that they were in contact with the russian foreign ministry they say that the russian foreign ministry had earlier malian

appeal to the nato secretary general actually asking for mere assistance and what we understand happened is that the germans were working at the entrance to the town of a job yet when they were seized by the rebel fighters they were taken to the town of benghazi it's about seventy kilometers to the east village were questioned they managed to make a phone call from the satellite phone to the newsroom in moscow which is how we knew that the story had actually. at that point the russian foreign ministry did become involved basically they were extremely worried about the situation the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov same age that if the germans were not free today who were being considered approaching countries who reportedly have special forces here on the ground we also know that russia did make contact with the turkish and italian embassy in benghazi they have consulate offices there so this certainly has been a lot of work happening behind the scenes the good news at least now that at least two of those journalists so far have been freed as talk of our. campaign at the

moment we know that on wednesday the coalition mistakenly launched a strike against a rebel forces what's the reaction to the nato alliance as a response to the an incident but more and more what we are witnessing here is growing to. satisfaction with nature involvement in actor satisfaction is coming from the rebel fighters if you look back just two weeks ago when he is trying to again there was a lot of expectation from the rebels from the opposition and certainly in the first few days that rebels were able to make advances largely attributed to the mater it strikes but now we have seen. that actually gets opposition fighters as well to be providing cover for in the last two weeks in most cases incident five people at least were children or in twenty two people were injured but nature is safe and africa and it did not offer an apology but the nato secretary general did say that he regretted the incident which made the same problems it faces is because it's

really unclear on the skies to be able to differentiate between gadhafi forces and the rebel forces and he has not had the information in the last few days but the group also increasingly using the same kind of here and attacks there gadhafi was using so it's becoming increasingly more and more angry towards nature and one it clearly from the opposition forces paula thanks very much indeed for that update live there in tripoli. where with the u.s. cutting back its involvement in the airstrikes the mission has become hugely dependent on french jets and are as artie's bushell now reports a lot of a campaign loss and more french people themselves are beginning to wonder about the reasons for the country's leading role. france was among the first countries to push for a military solution in libya but now watch as a questioning its justification for going in and wants to get in on what i call the imperial condominium. of africa already having long term connections on the

continent paris can't forgive colonel gadhafi for fighting its military in neighboring chad in the 1980's and challenging its corporations in the region ever since the french quarter. is it a french policy or or is it a sarkozy. tried to do to convince the world that he is the man in this capacity to be their leader of the g twenty. and also. tried to survive in frost reports the pentagon was plotting an invasion already last year have prompted a kid's ations of revived imperial ambitions calculated as a vote for france's president the move has backfired french foreign minister island should pay since the invasion could last days or weeks but months into its third week war in libya is turning up longer and harder than wanted.

with gadhafi forces still standing firm rebel gains only come with the heavy hand of nato helping war in libya with both the french and british abroad congress nor the government the popularity authority instead of the public continues oppositional both sides is growing these demonstrators say they see through fraud these noble claims can claim humanitarian intervention but it's really inherent. in local elections nicolas sarkozy got stomped he's un people to be willing just nineteen percent of the folks the french president hope for a ratings lift from the wall. he's got the opposites. because of north. presidents for ever for the last forty duels given france's troubled history in the region maybe fear some countries may remember their common past and unite against

their former colonial master. countries that have genuine revolutions genuine up raising and then being able to unite i think that is something which the imperial powers don't really want to see with france facing a growing backlash and abroad any talk of a quick fix out of tune. the new push to see paris let's get some more analysis of this by crossing to washington now and susan lindauer she's a journalist author of the war activist joins me from there thanks so much for being with us here on r.t.l. i've read one of your articles in which you said that the u.s. and the u.k. have been planning this intervention in libya for well over a year now but many would ask why would they want to do that given that their relations with gadhafi had improved dramatically over recent years. well first of all we began to hear last summer he hasn't been quiet

a year last summer we began to hear that cut off he was pressuring the u.s. and british oil companies for compensation and reimbursement for the damages from sanctions in the one nine hundred ninety s. khadafi had been put under sanctions for the lockerbie bombing. the bombing of pan am one of three and the united nations have demanded that libya turn over two men for trial at the hague what happened at the trial was the united states paid witnesses four million dollars apiece to testify against the libyans and. that has it and those witnesses have now recanted their testimony it's the lockerbie trial made it clear that libya had nothing to do with that case and it has been a great embarrassment for the west and now he has last summer we began to hear that he was trying to. gain some compensation some kickbacks possibly some

fees from the oil companies and in october. occidental petroleum and chevron two u.s. two major u.s. oil companies pulled out of libya and i think from october on there was going to be something that would happen to libya to punish them for making things hard for us oil because definitely an imperialist action to gadhafi see this coming to have any idea about this possible action. i don't think that afi side coming but i think that last summer we were talking about how something how the united states would not be passive in its response so i would say from about june or july on words we knew that something was going to have to give because these two opposing forces and our peace claim is righteous the united states paid those witnesses so those

witnesses are western witnesses they've admitted they've been received payments if . you think of their few should be allowed to stay or is that the right thing that the u.s. the u.k. and france should try to remove him is this the right thing to do. well i tell you i think nato is putting out fire with gasoline i think that they're making this situation much worse threatening war crimes against any entrenched leader makes it very difficult for that leader to exit the stage gracefully and we want them to we want them to move out peacefully so that there will not be a need for military conflict is that light and knew when crimes defeat got a lot of experience you covered. united nations for hundreds of journalists you got a lot of experience and knowledge of libya and gadhafi really people are saying the only way out is the placebo is that really likely from his point of view. well i.

i think first of all that if you if nato if france and nato continue this it will go on for eighteen to twenty four months and then the following will happen i think that. me it will either become a protracted conflict or immediately the west will realize that it has it has india embarked on a tragic course and will back away from this is just. there is a way to do this just very quickly briefly and finally you were against the intervention in iraq are going to see something similar happening there in libya. i think that what has to happen is the red crimson and doctors without borders need to go into libya that requires is a dramatic reduction in the conflict so that they could say set it base there and then it's going to have to be france's then i hate this a peacekeeping force from algeria morocco tunisia very small cut

off he might be persuaded to accept local intervention whereby local peacekeepers would come in on the ground and would get in between these two warring parties until possibly elections could be wholly held in six months thanks so much for your time for joining us live in washington d.c. thank you. well still to come here on our team back to the square where they won egyptians have returned to his square calling for the prosecution of ousted president mubarak examine the reasons behind the uproar months after he was overthrown also still to come. one of the country's top credit agencies telling the feds something has to get this growing alarm over america's careless porringers credit agencies one of a possible downgrade of the country's rate. so those stories still come for you here on in the meantime a finnish priest is under investigation over his statements against one of the

world's most wanted men. an online piece of chechen militants pastor. was charged with inciting racial hatred right after his interview with us which he described as a terrorist. model himself and claimed responsibility for many of russia's worst terror attacks including the recent bombing of moscow's domodedovo airport and already has also been a longtime critic of a website called the care center where extremists from the north caucuses openly express their views now this web site is banned in russia or in many european countries but freely operates in finland terrorism expert phil reese told me earlier that the support of some states for militants exposes the notion of a global war on terror as a sham and the militants and terrorists in the caucasus have always had close ties to afghanistan and i think that unfortunately what this shows is while the globe and the world can talk about a war on terror in the face

a lot of countries still support other countries if they feel that their political interests and their leverage over that country may be helped by that and i'm afraid that's a tragic reality of global politics. georgia's legal system is under fire for failing to naches claims of democratic development number of prisoners a significant increase since president mikheil saakashvili came to power seven acquittals and twelve thousand legal cases over the last year noise claim it's practically impossible to get a fair trial. the people of georgia do seem to have the right to speak their mind. but if you're unfortunate enough to be detained it appears that for many all your rights only right out the window and should the case get to trial there can be very little hope of an acquittal no matter how good your lawyer is she just in the last three years managed to in only three cases if we were to look at statistics

thousands of cases heard in george's courts you would see that acquittals make less than one percent of the numbers. a recent human rights watch report on changes within georgia's legal system. yes there are a lot of concerns as well according to the w m m's like increasing the prison term for administrative offenses and thirty days to three months come in contradiction with all democratic developments as international organizations insist jill can only be used as a last resort debates about the fairness of georgia's legal system continue but the numbers speak for themselves last year alone out of twelve thousand guilty verdicts only seven were quit also various international service show that nearly half of the population has no trust and the country's traditional system even the lawyers feel it's a lose lose game understandable since a lot of them end up behind bars themselves. saakashvili doesn't want an

independent court system the prosecutor's office is dominant and police are the main instruments of power and political pressure there is no need for justice or lawyers he's trying to influence advocacy and when he fails in. arrests or discriminates against lawyers who don't cooperate ever since mchale's aggression really rose to power with the rose revolution his interests clearly pointed west in a legal system based on fairness and justice does not seem to be a priority according to some the justice system in georgia today actually in measures are worse than that of the soviet times. georgia holds first place for the highest number of prisoners per capita in europe which is a very somber fact i remember reagan used to call the soviet union the evil empire and then later george bush called georgia a beacon of democracy but how does this beacon have five times more prisoners per

capita than the evil empire. it certainly seems as though there are some areas where the beacon of truth does not want to share it cares who knows or about r.t. b.c. georgia. as well as what you see here on screen r.t. we're covering many of the stories on our website at. www dot com here's what else is going up for you right now at the moment a right royal mess a case of corrupt britain's prince harry after he won a charity expedition to get stuck there find out if there was a happy ending. for the white scarf and g.-mail may pose a potential threat to national security in russia the full story on that at r.t. dot com. if. you. feuding u.s. political parties are once again in deadlock over negotiations on the country's budget the dispute is threatening to shut down the government which would cost

taxpayers almost a billion dollars a day that is all too slow and mr explains the riff is that federal action could be the cause of yet another financial crash. and while u.s. lawmakers in washington bigger over the budget and hurled blame across the aisle for the gridlock calling opposing colleagues relatively small the string group of logs who wore an anchor dragging down the budget negotiation process. another group of decision makers has been weighing in on the to be one of the country's top credit agencies telling the feds something has to get done this debt ratings agency standard and poor and moody's have been warning for months that the u.s. debt could threaten the country's golden aaa credit rating telling investors in u.s. bonds essentially they may have to worry about getting paid the u.s. debt problem is big fourteen trillion dollars big and meanwhile the solutions

lawmakers are coming up with to solve this problem are small this tiny dot represents even the larger sixteen billion dollars in cuts republican lawmakers originally proposed meanwhile the u.s. government continues to spend a lot more than it takes then resulting in more than a trillion dollars in budget deficit so with all of this there rating agencies see as unsustainable and a concern and if the path the u.s. has been on for a while forty three cents of every dollar we spend this year. we've borrowed against the future of our children continuing on this trajectory of borrowing and spending however would not be an option according to financial analysts if the u.s. was downgraded so what would happen it would be another crisis it would create global shock waves and part because most models and understanding of the global investment landscape include a landscape. take is there sort of central banker the u.s. ten year treasury bond as the risk free asset as it is the interest the u.s.

pays on its debt is staggering it was one hundred eighty seven billion in two thousand and. it increases to eight hundred forty four billion that number would grow exponentially faster with a downgrade because the us would likely have to pay higher interest rates to borrow money meaning less money to spend it home then we have to start cutting really aggressively and for many things that are too important for americans really to to be able to agree to cut them right now drastic cuts in everything from energy to education to the military and whether the u.s. would really be downgraded is up for debate the u.s. has the exorbitant privilege after all of printing dollars the global reserve currency to pay its global credit card bill the scarier scenario may be that the u.s. has even reached this point a situation that once would have been unthinkable foreign minister r t washington

d.c. . tom let's bring you some more of today's top stories from around the world and first we go to germany in the world of. germany's claimed the lives of at least five people and injured dozens more of the forty vehicles were involved in the crash some of them caught fire including a tanker it's believed the accident happened during a sudden sandstorm which reduced visibility on the road in a matter of seconds. in syria at least twenty seven protesters reportedly being killed in clashes with police and state wide demonstrations against the government continue for a third week security forces are reported to have used to gas and live ammunition to stop the run it's growing from has become a traditional day of protest against across the arab. in egypt thousands of people are once again taking to the streets in protest it comes as a sign of increasing frustration at the military's lack of progress in removing top figures of the previous regime from office first in marco island than expert on the middle east at oxford told me earlier that the revolution has so far had limited impact on changing the contrary for the better. two months ago mubarak fell but the

regime didn't call with president mubarak and his closest associates are already rivals. out the constitution under arrest but in reality the people in iraq and senior aides who run their lives before so realize there were martial time target ahead of the military council controversy grice it was all her so she is one of the closest comrades and first so we've seen a musical chairs and talk of the former society it's got worse much worse economically the great problem is that people are impatient to change the economy's getting worse and worse tourism and so people in egypt are used to all the rigged elections so one of the sources and this concerned with are now people are saying it's not exactly who you voted on in september no government is just one person or even one two three and so the regime the system who are running the country says

the run economy has fundamentally changed since the. many of the leaders of the protests do seem who are older retired from the heart of this opens a very unstable country because you don't really know who who is authorizing remonstrations it is muslim brotherhood is it parliament the central group and it may well be you've got the lesson to people who determine staying power is all stars were looking to. get in on the street to disperse and i hope that isn't the case but i feel about seems to be the lesson of the last six weeks the lights installed are. things up there for the moment with the summit on a new story in about six minutes from now the meantime the business is next with dmitri. thanks bill now the very same court in london ruling on the legitimacy of a sixteen billion dollars share thought that would be the end what they have as help the injunction blocking the deal that's my view of this isn't appears to mark

another victory for our for access for nov of the peace partner. in the russian british oil joint venture. they are strongly objected to b.p.'s proposed tie up with was you have saying it broke their shareholder agreement and analysts are expecting to get some sort of compensation from b.p. however a large amount of those are not at the north capitol says it will most likely be in the form of physical assets to be finished the year with lots is not is extremely unwilling right now to pave the cash probably he would all for b.p. to buy. gas stations where not even say that you want to acquire the every piece gas station because i don't think it's it's adaptable it's reasonable but probably they would consider b p to solve them their network of gas station had a discounted price therefore team p. theoretically will be better positioned in the market of the retail gasoline.

speaking of gasoline oil prices have extended their rally with ongoing unrest in the middle east and africa weakening dollar is also contributing to the growth therefore we're seeing light sweet adding two dollars thirty five cents brands over one hundred twenty six dollars per barrel reports say an oil field in libya has been damaged fuelling concerns a civil war may destroy the country's wealth or something precious metals are also on the rise with silver wrecking the psychological market fourteen dollars that's yet another thirty year high u.s. stocks are down as economically sensitive shares come under pressure from high commodity prices at the nasdaq down point two point three percent respectively and here in moscow the markets closed friday's session on a strong note markets all of the rally in commodities bringing overall retail gains to two point two five percent for the r.t.s. point seven percent for tonight's x. a closer look at our primary session gazprom is one of the best performing heavyweight stocks it's up more than two percent after announcing it hasn't yet

purchased a stake in the libyan. if you will from any party that i was also struck at a two and a half percent on strike the precious metals shares of bank of moscow rocketed seven point six percent after the head of its main shareholding to be bank where it has a stake in the bank big enough to gain operational control. and russia is set to join the world trade organization by the end of the year however prime minister person says the country will only start to comply with w t o rules once it's a full fledged member it stresses of causal i've already said it hundreds of times we declared it everyone during the exhibition process we will only incremental beauty of publications when we become a full member but before that we can do as we wish if we start implementing w.g. obligations without being a member hopeless lose the incentive to get as exceptions to your scheme in your budget you can write we will be back next hour with one final update of the

business news this week bill is next with the headlines to stay with us. the books. the books. for the full story we've got it first hand the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers on r.t.e. . culture is the same i'm going to give each musician

a minute to mark latham logic or good logic of humanitarian interventions as would be uprising to stalemate well outside powers find themselves pulled deeper into this. when the news is not enough. when it's something really crucial. when you want to get down to brass tacks we bring you our special coverage here on in a place already synonymous with tragedy the world witnessed another disaster that left the country devastated. and united two nations in grief. question more on. me good evening.