nicol geopolitical issue but was very much has economic ramifications as we see reports the davos investor is questioning what is the prospect of the change in the arab spring nations and what the prospects for investment are we've seen economic impacts of the geopolitical changes we've seen yields in egypt for example surged bar and cost be very high there so i think people are looking for answers to that and we have a number of events today they're geared towards discussing that very issue with some prominent leaders from tunisia and egypt here at the forum this year we've seen the occupy movement gathers that steam and really of course they would be expected to be at davos at the world economic forum the irony is that as i was reading one analysis they were saying it sounds a little like klaus schwab the founder of the world economic forum is channeling occupy and his rhetoric about the problems of capitalism the irony of course is that occupy protesters and activists are part of the conversation here at the forum . to reporting from davos ok let's go to the world for some of the international

headlines a brief of the central iraq know an explosion there has killed ten members of a single family as they slept two police officers their wives and six children died as the house was destroyed when insurgents plot to bomb around with three people killed in a separate building these are the latest in a string of attacks in the country since the u.s. military withdrew in december. the u.n. says it is concerned about the conditions in which some eight thousand five hundred people are being held in libya's detention centers several people have reportedly died after being tortured by militias or denied medical most of them were accused of supporting the toppled could offie regime. an attempted mutiny in papua new guinea is. up to twenty soldiers put the defense chief under house arrest and demanded the reinstatement of a prime minister who was in use when he went for medical treatment abroad the man

who replaced him said the crisis is making the country a joke among the international community is the latest incident in a power struggle between the two men claiming the south pacific nations top job. to high rise buildings have collapsed in the center of rio de janeiro three people have died at least twenty one is still missing emergency teams are working on the scene as we speak for survivors amongst the rubble i wouldn't say spoke of a strong smell of gas and an explosion just before the buildings collapsed. well the first a space mission of the year is well underway and it's got more than a few essentials on board a russian cargo space ship is now on its way to the international space station having launched earlier in the baikonur cosmodrome in kazakhstan the progress ship is expected to reach its destination in some two days it's carrying more than two and a half tons of food down to prevent one of the present from that place there currently

six people on board were monitoring and conducting scientific experiments. but of the phone with all of rural america produce about forty 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. corn harvest goes to making ethanol to power american cars and it's obvious that christina reports many are now asking what's more important food or fuel. it is a process that comes. with a price tag for the american way not just from farm to food. 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 use 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 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 one 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 and 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 . and all 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 meals for their families. the price hike has been devastating. 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 corn oil is

left over that is what over and ready to put 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 for south r.t. are in a sort of it's here dmitri now with the only part. welcome to the program good to have your company now the world economic forum may be about big ideas but it's the contacts and negotiations done on the fringes that are the attraction for many delegates. shadow enough is in the alps he's asked with developing the russian capital as a global financial center and says doubles provides actual opportunities for

promotion. it's very very important because that was the unique place where more than three thousand. from business from governments and organizations come together to discuss. different areas and it's the place where most core must be exhibited. to promote itself as a potentially interesting for all those people are going to. businesses and countries. financial business. markets are suffering the biggest capital outflows since two thousand ice in the past four months it reached two and three quarter trillion dollars with russia seeing record losses however the situation may not be as bad as the figures suggest the c.e.o. of financial holding our nation's group explains. firstly they're not relevant

they're not recorded on a relative basis in the record in absolute terms or they're not going to look we're happy of course relative to the size of the surface point secondly we're at that stage of the cycle where russia normally isn't doing very well i won't be told surprised if we see a big pickup in foreign direct investment a shift or be surprised if we see that capital outflow situation for someone as sentiment towards russia picks up russia is a high growth economy fundamentals a very a check the from the club standpoint and then the third issue is there are there are serious policy issues there's political risk so you know that will continue to a while when it's up and there's a there's a four story just. so you get the markets where the us the bad reserves we kept the interest rates at record lows to let least another for at least another two years till the end of two thousand and fourteen supported by the u.s. economy and therefore this is boosting oil demand and we're seeing light sweet up

almost two dollars that one hundred one dollars eleven cents to move over to the stock markets now in europe it's all our dates following that the fed reserve decision now markets in europe expect the potential strength of the u.s. economy to benefit close across the ocean a foot sea and the dax up around one now percent this hour move over to russia markets are continuing to climb the r.t.s. is that fifteen hundred seventy points its highest mark since last november or more around two and a half percent and the my six is also up around one percent circular good what's moving the my sex abuse in metals is pushing minus higher sevastopol has lost some ground but it's still up almost three percent norsk nickel is also strong up two percent and among banks which are also a strong second tier stock was theirs did is up almost ten percent this hour move over to currencies and the ruble is. continuing to strengthen against the greenback

around one of the hof percent stronger but it's lost as some positions versus the euro which is stronger versus little as you can see them global market. and other news russian tycoon victor vex a bit of has once again postponed the i.p.o. his gold assets he now says the listing of come chapter gold will happen no sooner than next year as the company is yet to finalize plans to improve production the i.p.o. is expected to take place in hong kong the headlines are next with rory. well

for some it's technology innovation all these developments from around russia we've got the future covered.

more news today violence has once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. trying to come up for a shelter on the day. if you're just joining us a very warm welcome to you live from. poland the country signed up to a global pact to take down internet piracy that covers everything from movies and music to fashion. but it's fear the deal will give big corporations too much power to take web users offline. heavy clashes in syria and troops.

after a confrontation with opposition fighters last week the un security council could vote in the next few days on a resolution. with creative thinking a new weapon in the arsenal of politics. videos of fast becoming. conventional t.v. debates. talk to the british middle east expert who actually predicted the revolution long before the spring erupted do stay with us for that discussion next. i'm talking to join all broadly he's a foreign correspondent who's dedicated his life to writing about the middle east to publications all round the world in the wake of the arab spring he says fall from the democratic pluralism that the west assumed would take over was in fact

rushing into the power vacuum is islamicists john albright the thanks very much for talking to us today now we'll start with the situation in iran because it's very much in the news that the mavens the e.u. has banned all new oil contracts with the country and it plans to extend sanctions on the iranian central bank how much do you think that's going to cost iran the e.u. and the global economy in general it's certainly going to cost to run we've seen today the real local currency. level against the u.s. dollar in history and the fact is that iran explore a sizable amount of it's all to the you and coupled with american sanctions unilateral sanctions are already in place against iran it's going to hurt but what we're seeing 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 all wrong people leave sanctions will increase a divide between the regime and the people and historically this doesn't happen

there's no proof that this happens whatsoever it's people feel pressured and they look where that pressure is coming from and that's the west and so it makes them more anti west and that's the only logical outcome he 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 at all and we saw years of sanctions in iraq didn't wait is that a comparison that you draw you know and then we saw a war on all. all of this is leading to war hawks in washington there are allies in saudi arabia and israel are absolutely determined to bring iran to its knees and it seems like it's now or never and they're going for broke so what will happen next you think well what does that usually involve what they're hoping for is that iran

is backed into a corner and some incident occurs whether by accident or design that makes it seem that the rain in the first hour as well and then because there is very little support in the west for unilateral strike against iran the fact is especially if it's done at the behest of israel and they need iran to do something whether it's the u.s. carrier a mine in the strait of hormuz or whether it's just rhetoric on the part of the iranian regime. it's everyone's up. to the extent that something has to happen and the americans wouldn't militarized to the extent that they have if they weren't expecting the final outcome outcome to be war do you see that that could be the iranians looking the straits of hormuz the gulf oil export reach is that now promising that they well you know though it's not saying that it will do

that just as a result of sanctions it's threatening to do that in the event that it attacked and that's just one of many things that iran is threatening to do and has the capability to do it you are very worried about ethnic divisions all through the middle east which you say it comes the fore in both iran and also in syria if sunni islamists gain control of most of the middle east what do you think the outcome could be for the majority shiite iran obviously all of this is news for iran i think if you look back at the arab spring the turning point. in late february when saudi arabia was given the go ahead by washington. what happened then is related very much to everything that's happening now because it's the only country that is a majority ruled by a sunny minority and iran has the story claims to the island and the u.s. navy's fifth fleet is based there crucial to containing iran and so essentially

what we've seen is a sunny shia divide reemerge in the middle east with washington clearly backing sonny powerhouse saudi arabia close american ally and saudi arabia and turkey along has taken control of the revolutions out swearin so for example its funding and into the main islamic party in tunisia the muslim brotherhood and more extremist groups in in egypt are on the record as saying they go substantial funds from saudi arabia the yemeni government has openly criticized for interfering in its internal affairs and funding radical islamists and of course in syria they are the main opposition is made dominated by the muslim brotherhood and the so-called free syrian army is dominated by not only radical jihadi is from within syria but also jihadi from throughout the region where we're told constantly that there's no real

threat because these are moderate islamic parties but of course the definition of moderate makes absolutely no sense in any rational because saudi arabia is often described in the western media as a moderate arab state and i lived in saudi arabia for three years and i can assure you there is absolutely nothing moderate about our country at all you say that that it is the miscreants who have stepped into the breach in many of these countries are you saying that these weren't genuine people's uprisings at the time. they idea . behind it is that they hijacked the revolutions and. precisely because they were in fact islamic inspired beginning in tunisia could never have been because it's rather in prison or and the muslim brotherhood in egypt openly came out against the revolution initially the problem is that the motivation for these revolutions was economic internees here for example it started in the deep south in. the south in

syria it started in a city near jordan which hadn't been experiencing a drought for three years and in egypt an extensive opinion poll carried out even among those who went to her just after mubarak fell showed that only nineteen percent of the free and fair elections and free expression and so on of the top of their gender their main priority sixty five percent was the economy now the people who provide revolutions foolishly declared their revolutions leaderless and they didn't have an agenda anyone who knows anything about revolutionary uprisings in the past and specifically you run the most ready for the seventy nine revolution in iran knows that what happens in the post-revolutionary chaos is that the groups that are most disciplined. and most ruthless politically then fill the vacuum and so when you couple that with the fact that they're then with the funding that we've been talking about from saudi arabia and qatar able to manipulate the electoral

process. they were perfectly poised to to step into the into the cap and fill the vacuum and that's what they've done what about the free syrian army is what they're fighting for a genuine democracy and you'll see whether or not they're fighting for democracy is an open question what kind of democracy we then have to us and i'm just appalled and go to the coverage that this jihadi outfit is being given you can't get a word in edgeways and trying to criticize it will trying to illustrate just what a horrible bun. extremists these people are very string of credible reports that are showing that. especially another gulf states have been funding jihad is not only from within the country but from libya for example and elsewhere and i find it very difficult to believe that. it's all to go western style democracy

employer is unwilling freedom is what we're seeing in syria basically and islamic revolution absolutely if we've been hearing constant greatly exaggerated predictions of the syrian regime's d. minus for eleven months now if a popular revolution was going to happen it would have happened already the fact is though they may have no great love for the cucumber face president. the. general feeling of better the devil we know and you talk about the arab league do you think that the mission in syria has essentially played into the hands of days to exacting pressure on the syrian all sources and it is overstepping its mark when it makes demands while the mediating the arab league essentially has no credibility on the arab street and everyone knows that it's the top of the g.c.c. and so it's a means not to create momentum that the arab league itself can then implement

although it counting and has imposed sanctions and they suspended syria and could possibly impose a no fly zone what they're going to do is what they did with libya before you remember before the u.n. resolution on libya the arab league and conveniently almost all of those who voted were from the gulf cooperation council in support of the no fly zone in libya what the arab league mission is trying to accomplish is get enough evidence concrete evidence about human rights abuses on the part of the assad regime to then take that to the u.n. and the evidence will be so strong that even russia and china. but as of now one month after this mission started they seem to know the monitors seem to know more about what's going on the ground than they did at the beginning and so it all looks like you know we're going back to square one and in contrast to libya so far western nations we not see adamant that they're not going to go into syria why do you think that's it doesn't have

a seaport. in the way that it's not on the coast in the way that for example. benghazi was on the coast in libya and so it's far more difficult militarily to get in supplies it's also not resort resource rich. you know obviously they went into living every because it has a great deal of oil and they continue to support saudi arabia and because they have a great deal of oil and gas there's no great payoff immediate payoff when it comes to syria but there is a great deal to be gained geo politically but they can buy time and they're hoping for an internal collapse or barring that the arab league somehow money she's to weaken the regime enough that we've had for example the. mayor of cutter saying that arab league troops should be sent in and so the west is quite happy for the time being for the arabs to do their dirty work john albright thank you very much thank you.

bill. so it's technology innovation all the it's developments from around russia we've got the future covered. league.

please. just see. the some pics if. f. f. . ing s. .

the headlines on r.t. . poland as the country signs up to a global pact to take down internet piracy it covers everything from movies and music to pharmaceuticals it's fear the deal will give big corporations too much power to take web users offline. heavy clashes in syria troops storm a densely populated damascus suburb a softer confrontation with opposition fighters last week the un security council meantime could vote in the next few days on a resolution of the escalating conflict. and the battle for russia's top job goes

viral with creative thinking of a new weapon in the arsenal of politics internet you tube videos of fast becoming more powerful tools than conventional t.v. debates. well you know in your world the sports is looking good these days the juggernaut that is. shows no signs of letting up tell you what rory the say things are certain death and taxes well i'm going to add another to that list. winning in basketball in europe more on that coming up in just a second. thanks for joining us head over the next ten minutes including. a russian. open title this year with the world number one ranking

also. doesn't. defeat. possible surely to stay perfect in the. final. month sister city over two legs but their place in the carling cup the cider for the work league side cardiff city. we begin at the australian open where there will be a distinctly eastern european flavor to the women's singles final this year and that is after maria sharapova booked her birth at the expense of patrick give each of us a few hours back the twenty four year old russian involved in a tough old tussle against the czech shot for the eventually wrapping up the win six two three six six four that means the world over for will now take on victoria azarenka. either the winner also set to take over the world alone ranking i'm currently are.