the thumb of militarily they've tasted power they have massive economic interests in the country again everything that's happened in egypt really needs to be looked at from an economic perspective in that there's a group of cronies of one box and his government that were in power they've been moved out of power and there's a new group of cronies that are in place and central to that group of power hungry rulers today are the military generals and they will not just let go and hand over power like that without having guarantees that their interests will be secured. for some world news in brief for you now this out and eighteen story building has collapsed in the center of religion in europe this report says eleven people died dozens of firefighters and paramedics are working at sea in the can for survivors thick layers of dust and debris cover the surrounding area making the search difficult i would this is saying it was a strong smell of gas an explosion before the building collapsed. libya's defense

minister has arrived in the town of bani walid out in the midst of woman who didn't want to duffy seize control of the area on monday the minister has begun negotiations with militia men who drove out pro-government forces three days ago four people were killed and twenty five others wounded in the battle retaking of the town is the first major challenge when government's authority. one of the owners of the cruise liner that capsized off the italian coast denies telling the ship's captain to change the vessels route comes after captain francesco schettino told a friend he was pressured by managers to steer the ship to the area where the tuition occurred the company says the captain was going far too fast to be so close to shore tino is under house arrest facing charges of manslaughter and abandoning his ship before all passengers were evacuated from the vessel. the global oil prices are at risk of a thirty percent hike if iran is forced to halt its crude exports as

a result of u.s. and e.u. sanctions journalist and author john bradley has spent many years living and working in the middle east he says the sanctions are an ill conceived attempt to bring iran to its knees you can hear more of his ease in our interview next hour. what we're saying essentially is the first phase of economic warfare against iran and the problem is that the west has iran all wrong just as it has the middle east or wrong people leave the sanctions will increase the divide between the regime and the people. i also hopes that if there is serious instability as a result then because iran is very ethnically and geographically divided that certain groups will rise up against the regime or there will be a popular uprising but again it's wishful thinking it's not going to happen until the hawks are in washington paralyzing saudi arabia and israel are absolutely absolutely determined to bring iran to its knees and it seems like it's now or

never and they're going for broke. a russian progress cargo spacecraft has launched from the baikonur cosmodrome in kazakhstan and it's now on its way to the international space station it's the first space flight of twenty twelve expected to reach the highest since the two day journey because the ship is carrying more than two and a half tons of fuel food and equipment as well as personal packages for crew members from their families and currently six people station that the isis want to bring in conducting scientific experiments. and other farms over rule america produce around thirty nine percent of the world's corn every year but not all of it ends up on dinner tables instead of feeding the hungry almost half of the u.s. court supply goes to making ethanol in order to power american cars so it's easy christine for the reports this has many are asking which is more important food or

fuel. it is a process that comes. with the price. for the american way not just from farm to. but from farm to fuel and this is where it all starts where the thieves are planted and the corn grows it is the most simple part of a process that has become anything but simple the production and youth of ethanol one largely considered an environmental one has become very political being blamed for everything from the power of the state of iowa to world hunger fifteen percent right now of the food increases in this country that you've seen in the last year are directly associated with this policy and that policy a subsidy paid by the u.s. government to encourage the production and use of corn ethanol it lasted thirty three years and cost more than twenty billion dollars oklahoma senator tom coburn

led the charge to do away with the subsidy and won but the government mandate requiring oil companies to use ethanol is still in place so just about anywhere you go ten percent of what you put into your car is ethanol. even if your car is a race car. nascar's partnership with ethanol a sign that the pressure on the corn supply will continue forty percent of last year's corn crop. went to ethanol that leaves the other sixty percent to go toward food for people and animals and with the price per bushel more than doubling in the last five years it's no wonder food prices are going up when demand goes up the corn. farmers plant more corn. then they can't buy certain other

research scholar tim searching or says that leads to the shortage and increased prices of other crops and it's not just this country in other countries where people rely on corn meal as one of the only meal for their family. price hike has been devastated. ethanol farmers and plant workers argue that the claims are exaggerated since leftovers are actually used to make high protein animal feed everything else from the fiber from the protein. and the fat though the corn oil is left over that is what over and rated for animal feed and still it doesn't change the fact that one sixth of the world's corn supply is burned in american cars that is enough corn to feed three hundred fifty million people for an entire year. raising the question of fairness in the increasing competition between fuel and food. in iowa christine freeze out our teeth. with us as hannah with

a business. almost twenty five minutes past nine am here in moscow watching business on r.t.e. russian export as will be able to get cheap loans thanks to a new agency created by a giant state bank the it will give up credits had just three percent annual interest rate that's compared to an average nine percent russian banks charge now in an interview at the world economic forum in davos the head of the new holding peter frog over explained why now russian firms have a hard time competing with foreign rivals additional business is so simple it is clear for example in order to support what you're right from brazil but you're from canada it's a double the can of the brazilian a little to go with their exporters this three four percent. or two in future here

that's the deal so the russian oligarchs get a wide let's say civil aircraft of the forty for example where such resources were morici we are doing this because if you buy the shares or. we believe that start in three years' time be ready to call up to do the right thing. ongoing problems in the global economy and not stopping certain industries from returning to growth so given of course from there all cyclical says demand is strengthening across a number of sectors. the demand for our my posts is quite good so we're here for increased cost sales some production which translates into increased demand for our p.g. arms. there is some girls since dallas to production which is an additional source of demand for our make over him then look at how corporate which is a proxy for the global economy good or simple still so have some girls on the wall so some regions might be in trouble but you know overall the global economy is

growing. and now a quick look at the markets well first and it's heading higher this hour and i got a major boost on wednesday when the u.s. fed reserve kept interest rates at a record low the low cost of borrowing supports the u.s. economy boosting oil demand this hour that is topping one hundred dollars a barrel brant is that around one hundred now dollars and now on to equities asian indices a mixed tokyo's nikkei has slipped into bread sliding down from wednesday's close near a three month high in hong kong the hang seng is gaining value more than one percent this hour streeters come back after the lunar new year holiday and it's less than one hour ahead of the opening bell here in moscow the russian markets finished wednesday's trading session with gains thanks to rising oil prices the r.t.s. added more than one percent look ahead to thursday's trade in russia which moscow from alpha capital says the focus will be on external events. little going to sue rule of ball call for u.s. microeconomic data which is to be special too so it will happen initial jobless

claims will have home sales data will have your boat goods orders so all this should give us a bit clearer picture was going on in the us economy of course the market will be sensitive and also one thing the solution of the grid problem is to come out shortly probably says the measure factor which hinders markets from rolling. russian banks and crease their assets by a quarter last year and while the tb managed to grow almost sixty percent as a bank is still ahead of its rival its assets exceeded three hundred seventy billion dollars which is twenty percent more than the year before bank of moscow rounds out the top five it managed to increase its assets by forty percent after it went through a sanitation procedure and received a record state support. and that's at the sour i'll be back in fifteen that.

nature and discover its beauty.

communicate with the want to. test yourself and become free. see what nature can give you. credit let's take a look at the headlines now vying for votes online and new dynamic in russian politics as millions of people take to the internet to head of the presidential elections with viral videos and creative campaigning holding more sway than ever. the u.n. is under pressure to act on syria following the departure of six gulf nations from the arab league observers mission to the country the security council is expected to vote in the coming days on a resolution that calls on

a syrian president to step down. on plans to enforce an anti-piracy throwing poland prompts the thousands of people onto the streets the wave of starter attacks on government websites testers are saying the agreement designed to protect intellectual property rights will lead to censorship. talk show spotlight is next here in the arctic. my. goal again and welcome to the spotlight they interview show on hard to our in a rental they were talking about of lead a very potent election manifesto the current prime minister who runs for president in march has published a new article seen as part of this electro program this time he focuses mostly on

ethnic diversity immigration and national these are indeed very important issues in modern russia and they are among putting the biggest concern that how can these problems be tackled if put is elected and should we then expect toughening of the immigration laws all the more emphasis will be placed a multicultural education we're asking political analyst bill carcache and the wall editor in chief are the ones going. to the favorite in russia's presidential election race prime minister vladimir putin will not be participating in public debates with the other contenders for the office instead he's putting forward his vision of how the country should develop in newspaper articles which as soon as he's election manifestos the first one called russia concentrate challenges we must address was published a week ago and provided a broad outline of putin's election they janda in particular it was aimed at the country's middle class and was viewed as

a response to those who took to the streets in this somber protest in the do men action results this week's article touches upon the shoes of migration and xenophobia putin opposes the policy of multiculturalism and speaks in favor of uniting russia's multi ethnic society under the banner of russian culture and values. whole joe will walk into this show thank you very much for being with us well we just we just saw. this video about about the new and the other part of putin's. election strategy is well first of all do you agree that this is really his manifesto published chapter by chapter in the press well i would believe this is the election campaign and this is a short resource or because obviously put in try to pleasurable sites here for it to send a message to can i am official this should be fred at the same perm here send

a message to the russian ethnic majority this is should be afraid if their arise were protected against rights of migrants and so we'll just retore but no matter what is how to implement this or would you would you agree that this issue the this city issue may become the major issue of this year's election campaign i think it could be perfect later this year we'll probably see a shift towards economic issues because as we know there's this developing world crisis ridiculous from europe in the united states so it may be that now nationalism is high on the agenda but later in the year we might see. economic issues tying together with a national issue. and if if there are job losses then of course people will be concerned about. you know who is taking the brunt of this economic crisis whether

it is arsenic russians or or other people will let's go back to to to putin steps the text here's how the prime minister sees russia's historic model of interethnic relations. historically russia's been neither a monolith you steve moore a us style melting point where people are easily migrants brushwood you move through the centuries it's a multinational street you print you do need to look into right and connect with each other and mastic in professional moments and in from society as friends. well this point his own words put is consistently referring to russians not as all citizens of russia but to russians as an ethnic group rather than the world and i don't know the jews and others well what would it be better to call russians all

the i mean this is i mean there is such a problem in britain there are british people and english people so it's so so what are we creating the same problem in russia or where there's no problem with it. i mean yeah it's a good example to compare with britain because britain is somewhere that really has embraced this multi cultural as over the years maybe the current government wants to step back from that and i think that putin in his article said that some leading politicians in europe are stepping back from this multiculturalism now but i think there's a danger in that because even though put in says he wants to avoid division that if you make one ethnic group the dominant group and that is what you see running through his article again and again that the russians are the dominant group then you will tend to marginalize the other groups this is different from the soviet times when everybody was on a more equal basis well you see is there some other rees that he's missing while he point actually for russian identity as

a key was not at monza right of blood on the right of land because russia was. so-called i merely chose. when a russian in power. you had the right to be called the way i thought of scripture. bell famous here or beggar written here of the war for eight hundred twelve he was half armenian horror for georgia but he was a russian because he was a creature who didn't have this problem in the soviet union because all the people well so it took over thirty people and there were russians those barracks you you know i mean in europe they still call all of us russians including the ukrainians the jor-ai right for kaiser asshole i mean i think these russians from moscow are different from russians frankly of the of course yes but my tories the us the russian empower their russians for a united by itself a little squishy need to veil it really goes to the u.n. so he knew and they were united by so it was what what wages we should be united not well let's hear how putting formulates his nation building strategy.

we need a national policy strategy be used on civic patch which is a breeze no need for anyone living in russia to get their religion requires or to meet with the issues identity pointed to selves primarily as citizens of russia and take pride in that no one has the right to be religious interest is all glammed the same time nationals must take into account the specific characteristics you can have any religious group. as similarly said in one of the passages put in calls ethnic russians the state constituent people. that are there isn't it contradict the constitution of the russian federation which says that that russia is constituted by its multi ethnic people well as always if not for the fans but this is a matter of interpretation how it should end up because it could make a claim to z.

because if you should carry it in yet you can get its own interpretation which would be correct with wooden horse but in my tories there is no engine provided for z's russian nation to be combined because its new city is a key to bloodshed after this have several centuries when russians were called idols christians and so people so that means that as a result terrible ethnic mix called all the best techniques we just called russians and now he'll try to find ethnic groups or we will get the conflict very soon as got which of the new ones the time of the soviet union collapse to you you mention multiculturalism in europe well putin is stating as a known fact i quote the failure of the multicultural prior project and even a crisis of a nation state while i personally agree to this opinion which is expressed by many of my colleagues in the west but do you think it makes sense for a for

a calendar that. to the presidency to to to to choose this categorical option well i think it's very interesting that he seems to be playing a soft nationalism if you like not a hard nationalism card but i think that if you look down the road into russia's future demographics shows us that the people who are not the ethnic russians are going to become a larger and larger. percentage of the population you know that the migration routes are yes because people you know in every country of the world migrants eventually become citizens and feel a loyalty to that country but they don't necessarily buy into the ethnic composition they want to retain their ethnic composition i think that putin is trying to respect everyone's an ethnic traditions and religion but he's he's facing

a very difficult. situation because on the one hand he has the liberals who are criticizing him for being too author terry and on the other hand he has the nationalists who are looking to scapegoat certain groups from caucasus and central asia and he's stuck in the middle really it's quite a difficult situation and it's even more difficult when he has to to to take a decision during an election campaign well according to putin and i quote if our multi ethnic society is infected with the virus of nationalism it loses the strength and stability we writes putin must understand the far reaching consequences of indulging those who are trying to incite ethnic strife and hatred towards people of other cultures and states and quote but this this warning made by the prime minister in his article had out with with the nomination with employment

of the media of our boys in a no nationalist wayward way where who expressed his nationalistic views as a vice premier and one of the closest allies in the putin elections that oh you see it was an appointment is a clear message to the east but there's a part of society we just. would like to support zim already called russian nationalism risible right but have russian nationalists agenda another side of the problems that if you'll take a european history no one country. was able to balance for a long time on this age between the construct of nationalism with the wind who can because constructive constructive positive things and the age after all at the heart rate and the. other nations are starting to leave us a little bit of this sort of a balance maybe dangerous this sort of balance nobody will succeed to keep his balance in a long time well we'll talk about it in just a minute i just want to remind our viewers that our guests today are

a key. political analyst and moscow news editor in chief tim wall spotlight will be back short shortly after a break so stay with us don't go. we have seen the damage it has done to our environment mark and because what the park props we do not want anymore nor most. our core system is just there was a does more experience and i'm just just appalled but that's allowed to go on where . you're getting this unfortunately because we don't know what's in it for me there's no labeling there for it being used like the board to experiment

to be used as guinea pig. well now we have more questions than we have access to guards. like. is.

welcome back to spotlight i'm al gore and often just a reminder that my guests on the show today are a key deal cocteau's political analyst and the editor in chief of the moscow news tim wall what discussing let me put in a recent article which is considered to be. published part off is election program. platform or whatever. well one of the issue is that president touches in this in this article dedicated to the nationalities ethnic problem is he proposes a creation of a new nationality is a ministry well then there's a question why did put in closed out the special nationals ministry back in two thousand and one if it's a good solution to the ethnic problems well let's let's hear what putin writes about it. i believe that the federal government should set up a special agency responsible for its development interethnic who are an interaction

these problems are currently the responsibility of the ministry of regional development unfortunately with the overwhelming volume of how did you choose them to deal with these matters of group one pushed to the back this needs to change. well and i don't know about you colleagues but i see a contradiction putin himself closed this ministry. what about ten years ago when he was president now he proposes to open it again so but you know that that was a mistake so was go on how can you answer this question. well i think that we always have a different situation now from ten years ago in the big difference is that at the time there of course was the the war going on in chechnya and we've moved on from that time. some of the problems of the caucasus injection have been solved in our time and some of them haven't and other ones have arisen and there is still i would

argue this seventy official fostered you know atmosphere where people from the former soviet republics living in russia. and from different nationalities are attacked on a regular basis and very little is done to catch the killers or to really come about this if this ministry could do so. something about that could really foster friendship perhaps a little bit more the soviet model between peoples then it could be a positive thing but we have to see in the construction that i see in this proposal put in curial is that well by proposing to create a body create a ministry put in x. not like a politician not like a political but like a bureaucrat because you know the answer of a bureaucrat to any question is we will create a commission a ministry i want to yes yes and the other side is for ration of kind.