it's drawn out rage from human rights groups with high profile figures questioning the n t c s commitment to the rule of nor our top stories this hour. international news in comment live from moscow this is. putting out of iraq washington express pride at what had been achieved and confidence in the democratic future but just weeks on violence is rampant and sectarian tension a boiling point while the prime minister pursues a seemingly personal vendetta against a vice president and caught in the middle of it all is journalism where the press is yet to discover its freedom sebastian meyer has this report. this spring iraqis inspired by neighboring arab countries began protesting against their government in a square in baghdad one which shares its name with the better known counterpart in

cairo. but iraqi journalists trying to cover these protests were silenced by the government security forces in today's iraqi journalists who speak out are routinely imprisoned beaten or just simply killed it seems to be a high level of intolerance or dissent or for public criticism of either government policies or particular leaders use it felt to me a freelance journalist showed some shocking you tube footage from the protests this february that explicitly show iraqi security forces targeting him because he's a journalist. he shouts which is arabic for a journalist over and over again but it makes the police more violent three or four maybe five. right police were around me one of them slide mean they had other one kick me in the and they grabbed me fast yousif managed to escape

arrest thanks to two foreign journalists who intervened but since the arrest of one of his colleagues he stopped covering protests altogether became hard for for example to go to. myself i don't go there i stop there a long time ago not because. i'm not scared to be arrested. you know i'm worried to be mistreated we tried to speak to journalists who've been arrested in baghdad but everyone was too afraid to appear on camera so we came up here to the more peaceful kurdish region to see if the situation was any different here i met a young photographer who was arrested while covering similar protests in the kurdish region but after the interview he called to tell me he was scared of reprisals from the government and asked to blur his face and change his name after his arrest in april and was in prison for four days and tortured. six men came to

the room and started to shout at me and beat me with cables then they gave me electric shocks they wanted me to admit that i hadn't been at the protest. when he was finally released after four days a friend took pictures of his wounds and published them in a local magazine immediately ahmed was rearrested as a punishment for publicizing his initial arrest. came and they held me for three days and made me sign a document declaring that i would not talk to the press again back in baghdad the government spokesman admitted to r.t. that individuals in the iraqi government were indeed using their powers to silence the press that an artist that people been. using there but this is again is not protected by the government the government. and you could see that there are people in the minister of interior for example they have misusing their power against the citizen and it is this year that is the culpable and some of them has been fired almost nine years after the invasion u.s.

troops are home but one of the country they're leaving behind with politicians using the security forces to silence journalists it appears that iraq lacks any credible press freedom and freedom that is essential to any democratic country sebastian meyer r t iraq. and if you like to see more of sebastian's reports you can find them on our website it's r t dot com iraq and also there we're running a poll asking where you think it pushed us to iraq is heading the prevailing opinion of the country is slowly slipping into chaos as we can see there on screen at the moment a third of you say that iraqis will overthrow the current u.s. backed government and make their way forward into the future just over a quarter of you believe that iraq's already hit rock bottom and things can't get any worse than just three percent harbor hope that it will develop into a western style democracy. and i had your voice. the u.s. and u.k. have called for syria to be expelled from two unesco human rights committees the

british foreign office representative says the country's presence in itself the u.n. bodies reputation meanwhile a former high ranking military chief who defected to the opposition has claimed syria won't be capable of confronting any international military action against the country he says the assessments based on confirmed information from sources within the syrian army and his own experience comes as tension in the country reaches boiling point after a suicide blast killed twenty six in central damascus the arab league observers that to be working in syria since the end of december will present their initial report on the situation in the country on sunday to deliver another list from kind of the base center for research on globalization things that caused by the u.s. and u.k. for the exclusion of syria from unesco committees are absurd as their leaders have blood on their hands and selves. this is something to think the credibility of the assad regime and it's quite absurd when you think the u.k. and the u.s.

have. more criminals running free i mean george bush and tony blair there is ample evidence they have committed crimes of the sort of the run free. so. they want to have serious from that from there if you have. is being in. the throne going to put someone in place to further the western interests and one of those and i want russia was an ally and then of course the next step would be regime change in iran. sudan's president omar al bashir who is wanted for genocide charges by the international criminal court has arrived on a state visit to libya al bashir was a bitter opponent of gadhafi who armed civilians in darfur to defend themselves against russia's army's human rights groups voiced outrage at the visit in question the n.t. sees priorities but patrick hayes a reporter for the online magazine spight told me earlier that he sees double standards. gordon brown shaking hands with get their feet in two thousand and nine

at the g eight summit in italy or for example tony blair shaking hands with gadhafi in two thousand and seven just outside of his hometown where he was killed in certain two thousand and seven so i mean i think yes there are double standards here but at the same time western leaders are very open to doing this and do this themselves as well did support the libyan rebels who were fighting against gadhafi and had good material reasons to do so for a long time sit down in libya get their fees libya. heads and you can understand why bashir wanted gadhafi out and why now having supported speedy the rebel uprising there would be some attempt to kind of welcome him into into libya not i must say that so many fan of the national transitional council most of the time they weren't even in libya at all the people on the council themselves so off cozying up and getting the approval of western governments to lead libya rather than orienting themselves for the libyan people and actually fighting for democracy

there i find it very striking that you have no question. criticizing the libyans for engaging with their neighbors and sorting out diplomatic relations i always just i'm staggered by the fact that these human rights groups basically wield a human rights as missionaries in the nineteenth century wilted the bible in the ten commandments to basically civilized these countries to be inferior and incapable of governing their own countries and people patrick he's talking to me a little early here in r.t. egypt's parliamentary election has drawn to a close with the muslim brotherhood claiming nearly forty percent of the vote closely followed by the radical islamist party and secular parties are quite only about a third of the seats when earlier i spoke to middle east blogger call shero who says an islamist led government is doomed to fail. look at egypt i mean. to be honest everybody anticipated a big big win for the muslim brotherhood and youth but having said results that nor

the party in specific as you achieved egypt bit of a surprise and i think where we need to look at there is specifically this inability of the more secular elements. of talking to the people and kind of guys in them and raising their support in the elections now what it does. if you like for the future i think it will be a combination of. conservative politics this is in. short. is the broad support that this. was a kind of. if you like liberal economic policies but i have my doubts about. this across the board to govern and i think it's a position shared by them as well and they will try as much as possible to form alliances

with other groups and bring in more people and you're likely to see why they're. taking power both in egypt and in other countries. also ahead feel this iron r.t. delving deeper into russia's industrial heartland. close up crew takes a look at the amazing fusion of ancient traditions and thriving business that's setting the region on the path to success. we don't just keep printing money we don't keep inflating government so that's why most of the european countries are having trouble it's because the government is sixty percent larger than it should be so why do you and i think and government leaders can't because we don't get paid by the people that are behind the scenes. what's wrong with the global economy and how would you fix it the resident aussie. on the streets of new york a little later here on r.t. . now we continue our pathfinder series bring you the stories of foreigners who are

successfully pioneering business in russia and today we meet the man who brings scores of world renowned actors and bands to the country bob van roekel used to be a restaurateur in los angeles until deciding one day to try his luck here in the country something he's never regret it. i basically ended up moving to russia all by accident in nineteen ninety eight i was asked by a russian friend in los angeles if i could bring a hollywood studio to moscow because mayor luzhkov was interested in building multiplex cinemas and wanted a hollywood studio partner i had friends that were running warner brothers they sent head of international theatres with me gosh my my first trip was very impressionable i couldn't understand how so many young people i was meeting were

making tens of millions of dollars a year and some of them millionaires before they were thirty and these were some of the things that made me realize there's a lot of opportunity here there's not a lot of people who are doing hollywood business there hasn't been a lot of contact and interaction with celebrities i love a challenge what could be more challenging than moving to russia and trying to develop and create a business here in the us with them. i didn't know any actors but i started meeting them just to bring them to russia or working on that project the russian comedy that's going to shoot in america steven seagal is already told me they'll do it a couple days for two hundred fifty thousand dollars well kilmer's interested in helping out. then wealthy russians started asking for other people and i just started calling everybody i knew in l.a. who knew a producer a new a director and i called them from russia after eight years i brought over eighty actors and bands to russia i think it's very important for you to go to los angeles

with me in the next few months we should meet with you hopefully make the roar of these and different actors you would like to do cameos in this film the biggest challenge to overcome is gaining people's trust and performing one exam. please recently i was asked to bring john claude van damme to chechnya for the president's birthday and day of the city and. yet evolution is that of the other one zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero in my heart. it's a place most people are very afraid to go to of course john clyde you know his expenses need to be paid and others for him to go there and it's very frightening dealing and working with chechnyan friends knowing that if something went wrong didn't come and money is paid. who are people going to come calling and looking for asking for the money back and it took a long time for me to win people's confidence that they would send money to an act

or a band in advance russia it costs more than a lot of other parts of the world because russians have been willing to pay more you know if the russians weren't willing to pay more celebrities would be coming for less but when they have people making such big offers just to get them how can you refuse so russia's been great to help push up their prices jennifer lopez gets two million dollars to go and perform you know in russia in kazakhstan and some other places if you're american in the u.s. we understand our system how to set up a business we can easily research any product or any idea we have to find out if it's been saturated or not in russia it's really different because it's so hard to get to the important people that make the decisions when i have to work with a person who works for someone here i get nowhere i can't do a deal because they need to see so much because their jobs on the line their names

on the line they're so afraid it just drags on and drags on whatever i'm talking to them about when you can pick up the phone and call the head of the company or someone on the board of directors i know in a week if i can do this deal or not with them rush is just. much more individual life you really need to know some important people here to have success you know i was thinking here from here which is a part of the reason i never learned russian is i just thought ok one year from now i'm sure something will come up back in the l.a. in the us i'll go back i'll start doing movies but it is so exciting here every day and so many new things and new deals and new opportunities and that i haven't been able to leave. so one individual careers may be flourishing whole countries are drowning in debt and next we head to new york where the president asked people in the streets there for tips on what should be done to rescue the global economy.

today everyone's upset with how the world leaders are handling the economy so how would you fix that this week let's talk about that whole country do you think is doing a good job. thing. you know now now and. what would you do to fix the problem in greece. injuries wow. i don't know how did that . because i know i say no no no maybe that's why it's going all around a good word to fix is each of our problems personally so for all out there working hard and spending money to local communities then. you know our way of part of building up each local community eventually the whole country gets stronger right yeah isn't it time maybe for the government to stop trying to fix it and let people

and companies fix their own wallets i think that's a good answer yes to fix the economy what should they be doing. they should be pumping more money into it pumping more money they've been pumping millions and billions and trillions and done a good so why is that the solution that we keep going back to the only thing we can do so we can also see just do nothing and let people sort it out themselves. people can sort of themselves not a matter of not throwing money into the economy it's a matter of living within means if you don't have enough revenue then you have to cut spending yes so governments are trillions of dollars in debt so it sounds like they have no money right well they have to pay obviously you can't stop everything all at once but you do have to you do have to pull back and you have to come up with a reasonable plan to stop the hemorrhaging but we don't just keep printing money and we don't keep inflating government and most of the european countries are having trouble because the government is sixty percent larger than it should be so

why why can you and i see business and government leaders can't because we don't get paid by the people that are behind the scenes and since i'm not running for. campaign ad campaign contributions by people that. politicians are just. really so what should they be doing better. other probably trying to change its economy from an oil economy to something else we've got heaps of people with lots of brains and we need to be doing something about the environment. people with brains are in positions of power. so it seems like with the system that's currently in place for how world leaders get elected it might be time for solutions to come from someplace else. now to some more international stories for you this hour in dayton a wave of attacks by radical muslims is continuing to claim multiple lives in

northeastern nigeria eight people were gunned down during a service at a church while twenty were killed during a town hall meeting is a mixed group boko haram which has claimed responsibility for the attacks issued a three day ultimatum for christians to leave the mostly muslim north of the country. three freight trains collided in a rural part of the us state of indiana starting a fire and injuring two of the six crew members involved one of the trains carrying mostly empty tanks was stationary when it was hit in the rear by another then ran into the carriages on the parallel track. there was no spill of any hazardous material from the wreck of the less they were the evacuation of several dozen houses near the crash site as a. close up series as we continue to delve deeper into the country's far east.

the region is russia's main gateway to the pacific and one of its most the rapidly developing industrial centers was artie's tom barton has discovered feeding the fuel hungry asian economies does not have to be at the expense of tradition. the have our us krege and russia's far east is becoming a growing center for export to the hungry economies in the south china south korea and japan increasing material exports of ward and coal are going out to the pacific and south and is that they were looking at in my report this monster called a coal stacker is the new face of russia's far east coast it can load over four thousand tons of coal an hour into ships at this rapidly expanding sea terminal this year they exported ten million tons of the stuff almost exclusively south to asian markets but we've noticed there's

a cold boom of coal consumption worldwide has increased so this ports covers almost all of asia. because it comes from some of russia's largest deposits five hundred kilometers inland he joins the oil and timber flowing out of the region in ever greater quantities tugboats maneuver the ships into place through storms and the winter cold and even the most modern tankers once on their way to helped along by a much older technology oh and this vast new ship internals are springing up to supply overseas markets the old see very foundations represented by this like house which mom for help makes a russia's gateway to the pacific hundreds of lighthouses dot the coast all the way from the border with north korea up to the arctic. victor has been manning his lighthouse for over thirty years but he's glad he's not too far out into the

wilderness. we're. close enough to the nearest town other lighthouse keepers are stuck out in the tiger without even roads sometimes a ship or helicopter deliver supplies but there's no other way to come or go big has not had a ship run aground since the early one nine hundred ninety s. he's seen bears moose and tigers visit his lighthouse and says he never grows bored of the ever changing seascape far from feeling lonely he talks of the remand to system of being at such a secluded spot on the coastline. i used to go down to the bay at four am catching crabs and start a fire then my wife and kids would join me and we'd have breakfast on the shore and watch the sun rise in the summer this whole field would be bright orange and blue if you could pick to retire next year he says he's come to love this robinson crusoe on his island and while he can remember the pristine beauty of his coastline

others are seeing it sail on into the future with his talk a little bit more about the bar often the experience of moving here from abroad is the main aholic that came here from britain our basket self is trying to upgrade itself trying to move into the out of the soviet times and into the modern and modern age where industry with the also working on a new cosmodrome what you know about the new developments here i know that is very very important to the local area and you know that it's improving transport links all the time people are finally investing in the far east which is obviously going to be very good for the economy i mean i'm here because my fiance is working for an oil refinery in the same or investment there and this cousin jane is going to i think any improve putin said it was one of the biggest and most important projects that's happening in russia at the moment so yes i think it's up and coming this. as someone who's come from a different culture from outside what would you say to other people who are

thinking. there is possibly business which changes but should i come here. what would you say to them. and then it's worth a try. how good during your rushing to get this important very few restaurants or cafes where they have an english menu and things like that i think when i don't speak russian people find it frustrating rather than bear that in mind prices ok so if prices are extortionate. you can go. even adventure well there we go that's an insight from someone who has made the leap out to the far east so bar ask it's not going to get any warmer here but it seems that with future with the development of the region it is going to get more connected to the outside world. reporting there live here in moscow still ahead for the codes are reports here to expose some of the scandals behind the global financial headlines but first a quick recap of our main stories after a short break stay with us live in moscow. to

fish if. now it's not about spilling blood. it's the war of the barricades from one side and fears blockade from the other. invisible border it has cut people from the land for twelve years. the conflict that divided sir. into two hostile parts is still not over.

i had a family i lived in a fairly nice community it wasn't rich it was an upscale it was just like you know archie bunker's society ok then they started showing up here what happened was my company decided i could get cheap labor and they got rid of us. through their long rows in the eaglets line legally we have to get up every morning we have to go to work and you know we have to pay our bills only have to do it and i get it that's just the american dream and if you want the american dream you have to go by the law as i figure is here's one of the major trails into the united states. i watch and they run run down my property and something about this noise the ball is a little gap between the car mortars from coming over the wire is protecting the country

i'm the kind of guy who doesn't mindedness pay and sturdy so i come out here you know we're all immigrants as well know that we all do something or else. wealthy british style sun it's time to run the free. market why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's cause or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to cause a report. on . the news today violence is once again flared up.

these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. china corporations are old today. this is the life here in moscow good to have you with us top stories now the front line of journalism descend withers away in iraq as the government intensifies its crackdown on protests and the press all against the backdrop of an increasingly perilous security situation in the country. u.s. and u.k. call for syria to be expelled from unesco human rights committees while tension in the country reaches a peak after a suicide blast kills twenty six in the capital. libya welcome sudan's president bashir wanted internationally on genocide charges.