we've got. the biggest issues good voice ceased to face with the news makers. in soft news of the move bloodshed or leave yes colonel gadhafi launches a fresh offensive against rebel forces as the flight for the country rages on. rest in the oil rich arab world sounds shock waves through the u.s. economy as a protest and fuel prices soaring also. we are in an information war and we are losing that war. hillary clinton throws down the gauntlet to the u.s. media to up its game against other countries international media including our team . and many britons prepared to boycott the approaching nationwide census

outsourced to a controversial u.s. drone over fears all their personal info i could end up over some. russian r.t. coming to you live from moscow i'm marina joshua welcome to the program to our top story this week maybe you know where pro and i get out the forces have been flying over the strategic city of zawiya close to the capital tripoli reports say at least seventy people have been killed and around three hundred one that in a government attempt to regain control of the rebel stronghold. filed this report. on saturday the libyan leader moammar gadhafi launched a fresh military offensive he's trying to retake some of the towns he's lost in the past eighteen days of fighting there were some seventy people killed those are the latest reports we're receiving and more than three hundred people injured with

reports of its strikes and live ammunition and growing fears that libya is descending into civil war most of the fighting is in the key towns of libya such as zawiya which is some fifty kilometers from the capital tripoli and the oil rich port of rust in the north now in wrestling wolf the latest reports appear suggest that rebel leaders are in control slowly making their way towards the capital city of tripoli in zawiya itself at drawn the forces launched an attack they fired mortar shells they used machine guns and throughout most of saturday heavy fighting happened to their relations what we have from the rebel leaders themselves as they're they remain in control inside of the town and we're hearing from government forces that they're in control around the perimeter now this is an important town because it is so close to the capital and if the rebels are able to maintain a presence there they will have a better chance of attacking tripoli it is interesting though that some of the pictures we're showing you here on our t.v. have actually been distributed by the gadhafi regime it's really trying hard to

present its version of events it's using these pictures as proof that its forces are in control in most of these towns in the east it's very difficult to tell from these pictures in fact who is in control on the ground but it certainly is indicative that in addition to the fighting on the ground is certainly is a fight in the media and information war in terms of who is in control of what now many of the media in europe and in the united states has been supporting the rebels they have been editorials in major american and european newspapers actually calling on the west to support the rebels and attack gadhafi the latest word we hearing is that the western media is trying to portray gadhafi is. forces as losing and the opposition forces as winning but as you can see from these pictures it certainly is not clear who has the upper hand there also analysts who are pushing forward on the opinion that the western media is so anti gadhafi because he has taken such a strong stand in the past against western interference in developing countries the

latest word from the british government is that it is confirming that it is considering and is on standby to deploy its forces within twenty four hours and says of these forces will be used for humanitarian and evacuation purposes and not for any kind of military intervention the latest word we have from the u.s. is that it's the russians have lifted creased and according to a statement issued they are part of the military buildup around libya and we also know that two american planes have landed in tunisia they are reportedly here for humanitarian efforts we also know that france to the united kingdom are putting pressure on the united nations security council to make a decision on a no fly zone also they are reporting there on a former intelligence officer for m i five at a restaurant believe it's the people in libya who will suffer the most as the actions of what we're really as allies push it into becoming a rogue state. we've seen this happen in iraq before now where the insurgents have

been supported by special forces since the occupation and invasion and it's just not a good way to go it will create resentment it won't foster the local democratic will and it will give the dictator a pretext to crack down even harder so i think it's definitely a very dangerous path to go down i think for intervention for the libyan people will be a tragedy because we've seen what happened in bosnia we've seen what happened in iraq where the general population suffered it's not the government which you know sanctions initially imposed against its offices the general population there are already in dire straits they're suffering violence they're suffering hunger is well so they will be the ones that have to bear the brunt of any international intervention in terms of what might happen for the west well this is a difficult one it's very much dancing with the devil at a tazer who is who has nowhere to go now because his assets in prison you know best he can't flee he is now wanted potentially in the international criminal court for

war crimes so he's got nothing to lose he will fight to the death and even if you were to win even if he cracks down incredibly brutally and crushes the rebels in libya and maintains power yet again then we have a situation where someone who was welcomed back into the international diplomatic fallout is going to be very angry and very very cynical about his former allies in the west so once again it will become a rogue state will become a breeding ground for terrorists backers and things like that it's going to be nightmare. there is khobar is a roving correspondent for the the times says the good of the former allies are walking scared they're you know eventually speak out in the international criminal court against their. janine maginnis got. twenty four seven days to call admiration. libya with the care in the streets real that you know. that the international community all the shady deals

the walls all the shady financial deals with the police specially any which has invested at least fifty billion dollars in the oil interest in libya and the larger relationship so they're actually every european government much a nation of us an arms dealers from britain would be a fantastic short. johnnie's from the start of work hellish and says any outside interference and maybe is likely to do more harm than good as a people are better at managing a change by themselves they need to keep aren't the record of the western powers of the imperial powers generally in the middle east is one of disaster piled upon bizarre and of the very the very first lesson from bremer is that especially given recent events the people of the middle east are in favor of dealing with these dictators on their own terms we really don't need to see. the british here for the for the british army or the americans for america helping these people

write. themselves and of the papers on their own terms and you poor thing with those who people liberating the ruling out if the revolutionaries through the liberating they get to rule their own country afterwards if the eighty second airborne do it we know what happens when they get the run the country afterwards and you can get more on the developing situation in libya on our website at r.t. dot com the latest news developments and analysis from our experts. well the arab uprising sending a world prices to new highs this week it's thought this could be just the start of a very bumpy ride surging fuel costs in the u.s. are threatening to derail the country's economic recovery and as artie's lauren lister reports the political price may also be too high for the obama

administration. tunisia. egypt. by hurricane. algeria. libya protest in countries seeming to fuel one another unrest spreading like wildfire through the middle east and north africa only raging in or near the oil rich countries that helped fuel the world's use of more than eighty four million barrels of crude a day. uncertainty over production has set prices soaring meaning the shock waves from the middle east turmoil are being felt worldwide now the mideast crisis is hitting home for coverage americans as oil prices have skyrocketed so too have the prices people pay for gasoline and now the price americans pay at the park

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

has played a role in the events that have transpired in the middle east every time u.s. president barack obama went to the podium calling for this that there must be reform political social. and economic reforms that meet the aspirations of the egyptian people and calling for egyptian president hosni mubarak's resignation he was calling for an end to the status quo which means a rise in uncertainty in rich region so did leaders weigh the toll it could take on their own economy some argue they don't have the power to kind of reining back up drag or push their back against an avalanche and i don't think we're going to hear a lot of success that may not stop the u.s. from trying to take control some observers believe the u.s. may intervene militarily in libya or oil reserves are massive under false pretenses of helping protesting people has nothing to do with interest. it has everything to

do with the interest of the u.s. corporate oil. profits either way analysts say the price of fuel going up will simply fuel public rage and the government is largely helpless the american people are going for a very nasty ride and there's no way out of it now but i can tell you the government understands that it's time lauren mr r.t. new york. afghan president hamid karzai says washington isn't doing enough to prevent mounting civilian casualties caused by american and nato military actions in his country he will waste his criticism in a video conference with president barack obama thursday it calls nato's apology a day earlier for killing nine children and a preliminary alliance report shows the boys all under age of twelve were gathering firewood widely were targeted airstrike overall estimates suggest manos campaign in the country has caused over nine thousand civilian deaths since two thousand and

one political activist daoud sultanzoy says innocent afghans are becoming mere statistics in america's so-called war on terror. it's very difficult to translate these apologies into into really meaningful. things to victims' families these are casualties that have been happening for too many years and there are too many civilian casualties the people of afghanistan civilians are the victims of both nato civilian casualties and the terrorists who problem with suicide bombings and with indiscriminate targeting of civilian areas and the people of afghanistan are tired of both the hearts of the people of afghanistan or at the hands of two incompetent players one player is the international community and one player is the afghan government and both players are incompetent and ignorant about the true meaning of hearts and minds the intention of this war was to fight terror

but the people. have become victim of terror the united states and coalition forces have to do much better and they have to also hold the afghan side also at a higher standard in this case both the afghan government and the international community are held responsible in the eyes and and and the eyes of the people up on the sly. hillary clinton has said the u.s. is losing an information war to foreign media outlets including our t.v. this week the secretary of state asked congress for more tash to step up america's efforts to get its message across or he's going if you count reports from washington d.c. war declared the u.s. is now officially in an information battle with foreign media which provide alternative views on world news views which often running contrast to the coverage of events by the us news stream media we are in an information war and we are losing that war i'll be very blunt in my assessment al jazeera is winning. the

chinese have opened up a global english language and multi language television network the russians have opened up an english language network i've seen it in a few countries and it's quite instructive we are cutting back and the b.b.c. is cutting back some five years ago western media outlets including c.d.c. and c.n.n. had a near monopoly in the coverage of world news things have changed since then more and more viewers across the world can into various foreign media to get a fresh take on events clearly the united states feels on the finances in part because it can no longer monopolize not only the terms of you know the soroti in these countries but also the terms of the bait there is other information out there other points of view and those points of view are profoundly damaging to a country that believes that its point of view is the only point of view who should

be the only point of view r.t. presence on you tube is one example almost three hundred million views as opposed to c.n.n. that has around three million archy's constantly growing audience is already an indication to many that the days of media monopoly are over and people demand a multi-polar approach to news in a little real commitment to the kind of freedom of the u. verse speech that we really need if we're going to be in a democracy at home and in a you know a community of nations oversee is too many hillary clinton speech a few weeks ago on freedom of internet seemed contradictory to the treatment that sources like we can leaks are getting us legislators are not crafting a law that would give the administration increased flexibility to go after week in leaks and the likes and now the administration is seeking more funding to step up us up again efforts and brought during the cold war we did a great job in getting america's message out after the berlin wall fell we said ok

fine enough of that you know we. done it we're done and unfortunately we are paying a big price for it so last year the head of the agency that manages the us government one international broadcasting asked for more money for his department we can't allow ourselves to be communicated by our enemies the list of enemies included question china iran and venezuela walter isaacson the head of the agency which runs woods of america monger other media outlets later backtracked on this statement isaacson speech for more funding seemed even more unconvincing considering his agency has a budget of seven hundred fifty million dollars and it's way more than the budget of r t iran's press t v and venezuela's tell us we're combining probably money alone can't provide global media clout walter isaacson's speech last year sent quite a hostile message to foreign media exposing shortcomings in the us mainstream but separate clinton statement made it official the u.s. is fighting a global information war and i'm going to start our reporting from washington on to

. it as the war of ideas he'd stop observers say it's washington's own fault for being on the losing end christopher professor of media studies at georgetown university says real news is on its way out in the us press and ownership by big corporations. the corporatization don't mess to clean up america new has basically thrown out the whole need for news gathering and real reporting in exchange for punditry and entertainment and sensationalism because that's going to deliver the demographics to the guys who pay for the commercials what's happening is we've opened up these huge gaps because we're more concerned with reality t.v. and people arguing and people attacking the president than we are with having people on the ground finding out what the problem the problems are and when you do that you can produce a product that people here and around the world are going to respect the amount of

money we're talking about she could literally set up an entire. voice for america on steroids a real state run news network she's not that's not what's going to happen they're going to try to go into these countries and probably try to bind is basically a true propaganda arm rather than a news gathering and reporting which is what archie al-jazeera and the chinese network are going to be yes they're going to have their messages but they're real news networks they are pretty much where c.b.s. a.b.c. n.b.c. were thirty years ago before things fell apart and require protests. i was interested in your opinion so why not leave us your thoughts on the media worse than our website or its in dot com.

freedom is the basis of russia's he turn of our message came this week from president mitterrand the efforts that reforms are inevitable for the country. a lot of ways we can postpone our freedom should we fear that the free man might use his freedom inadequately yet that some believe that our country's tragic history in the twentieth century was a result of a failed injection of freedom they believe the skeptics who say grand scale reform is unsuitable for the russian people think differently a country should not be held together with titan screws it is obvious that in order that is excessively strict excessive number of controllers does not usually leads to the transfer of goods and not steve victory over corruption but rather to degrade ation of management therefore it's extremely important to give the society the chops to equalise itself. the president's message came as russia marks one hundred fifty years since the abolition of served on the decree was signed by

sorrow xander and second after a long struggle for form a society the country is not as a friend this have been out for for president to get its policies example into power. the u.k. is preparing for a nationwide census we're just starting out of the month the government says it will help provide the services and resources people need but a connection to a controversial u.s. defense or peroration means many fear their privacy will be violated or their personal being a falling into the wrong hands artie's lorimer courts. it senses time in the u.k. when every household in the country is asked to provide detailed information about their lives to the government so they can keep track of what's going on and who will be in charge of this sensitive data. yes it's controversial u.s.

arms manufacture a lot martin and campaigners ranging from religious groups to peace activists to data protection lobbyists are really against it on ethical grounds to play on a number of oppressive regimes they also. the us heavily in the wars they fought in iraq and afghanistan opposed by the majority of people in britain even if supported by the british government hill vowed to boycott the census despite the risk of prosecution he says he won't be alone look he makes now and mines nuclear weapons and contracts out interrogation. although it will be the u.k. arm that carries out the survey there's still a worry that the information could fall under the auspices of the us patriot act which compels personal data held by any company on systems in the us to be made available to government intelligence the office for national statistics which gauged pete martin maintains it's taken measures to make sure u.s.

authorities can't access the data. all dancer processing will be carried out in the u.k. no doubt it will leave or be held at any point outside the u.k. and the lockheed martin star will have access to any personal census data. well dart is the property of you and only u.k. e.u. owned companies will have any access to. this it's that last point that's raised red flags for data protection lobbyists who say that the private information collected during your senses a little to practically any organization that requests it only use under any statute. only use by the security or intelligence services for national security purposes any use for the pursuit is croyde only use in pursuit of an e.u. community organisation so any e.u. rules pass information can be passed over so it's essentially any government use

whatsoever with competition as is being accomplished and u.k. government agencies don't exactly have a great track record when it comes to safeguarding information three years ago a file containing secrets terror related documents was left on a train more recently the national health service lost the medical records of tens of thousands of people thanks to lockheed martin's involvement in the census it would be hard for the us authorities to lay their hands on that information if they wanted data from the said this is used by the government grants to local councils and recognize new groups in society the census run by lockheed martin raises grave concerns in person about ethics and international security if a lot of people boycott this that says it will make it ineffective and a waste of money for the two hundred forty million dollar contracts amounts will go into looking at martins pockets anyway you're an authority. as i'm now for other

news making headlines around the globe at least twenty six people have been killed and twenty injured when a passenger bus collided with a longer truck in the southern brazilian state of santa catarina police reports the truck driver lost control and crashed into the body which. forty seven passengers aboard and two thousand and seven two similar accidents on the same road claimed twenty seven lives. and amateur video has emerged showing the brutality of the continuing political standoff in the ivory coast seven women were shot dead and many others wounded by security officers were thursday pro-government forces opened fire at a rally against incumbent president who is refusing to step down despite of ambers election results the u.n. says at least three hundred sixty five people have died since the disputed poll. has her nato has ripped through a town in southwest louisiana leaving one person dead an injury eleven others the

severe weather system destroyed many homes and cause there were fifteen hundred people to be evacuated over fears of gas and. the soviet union's last leader mikhail gorbachev has been celebrating his eightieth birthday this week on the day itself he was awarded one of russia's highest honors the order of st andrew's medal recognizing his achievements as president for many people his name is synonymous with the end of the cold war they really knew the cation of germany and liberalism were his economic and political reforms he paved the way for democracy in russia is best known policy. aims to revamp the country without destroying the basis of socialism is initiatives also led to the cancellation of state censorship and the creation of free speech gorbachev received a nobel peace prize and nine hundred ninety a year later however a coup started a chain of events which led to the collapse of the soviet union and gorbachev departure his critics say the country into

a disruptive and chaotic reforms the effects of which are still being felt today despite the criticism though the former leader still says russia was in desperate need of change. that we were. allies from experience that it was dangerous to wait much longer that we have to take a risk because we couldn't postpone as we needed changes i don't agree when people say the perestroika failed it didn't fail it was disrupted the rails stopped but still perestroika achieved a lot inside russia we had democracy free elections freedom of conscience part of property freedom to travel abroad everything old so glasnost there was so much openness the entire country was affected people realized they had finally got some freedom an opportunity to act in foreign affairs we put an end to the cold war we normalized our relationship with the u.s. we reunited germany we didn't send our tanks our troops there all our units in

eastern europe stayed where they were it wasn't always easy and many things did not work out the way we planned at the beginning and when we made our first mistakes we didn't really explain to people what was going on and didn't get them involved in all those processes we were self-confident but in public politics i don't think we have ever lost a major battle nuclear arsenals were significantly reduced thanks to our efforts during perestroika today when the world is so divided we need to find things that bring us together for instance the g. twenty is a step which brings us closer it's an instrument and a mechanism for hunting the hardest and most challenging issues but we need more than that it's a matter of learning to live in a global world. and can find a full interview with. tom i'll be back with headlines in just a. year from the chairman of russia's foreign affairs committee to get its take on the uprisings in the arab world from.

come on. is he.