does it teach you couldn't build a magickal which a renaissance hotel located will sweep from pacific so brazil to spawn. in israel look he's available in some of the telltale periods so women who kill jerusalem. fighting continues around libya reports of heavy gunfire in the capital are dismissed by the government is simply pro get off the celebrations. arrest in the oil rich arab world send shock waves through the us economy as the protests see fuel prices soaring. we are in an information war and we are losing that war. hillary clinton throws down the gauntlet to us media to up its game against other countries international media outlets including our t.v. . and many britons prepared to boycott the approaching nationwide census ows to outsource to a controversial u.s. firm bored feel here is the personal info might end up overseas.

two pm in moscow on naturism bring you today's top stories in a look back at the week's news here on our t. libya where we're now we begin in libya where there are reports of warplanes launching an air strike on rebel forces earlier heavy gunfire was heard in the capital tripoli it's unclear whether it came from rebels trying to gain power or celebratory shots from supporters of the regime around two thousand procrit off the supporters gathered in the capital square to show their commitment to the ruling leader fifty kilometers outside circle the clashes between pro and anti-government groups reach the strategic city of zawiya still unclear who is in control of which territories with planes on or planes from both sides or his policy or file this report. on saturday the libyan needlewoman about feet long. 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 something kilometers from the capital tripoli and the oil rich port of ras in the north now in what's left of the latest reports of the suggest that rebel leaders are in control so you making their way towards the capital city of tripoli in the where itself at drawn the gadhafi forces launched an attack they fired mortar shells they used machine guns and throughout most of saturday heavy fighting happened to their villages where we have from the rebel leaders themselves is that they remain in control inside of the town and we're hearing from government forces are bearing 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 there 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 there have been editorials in major american and european newspapers actually calling on the west to support the rebels and at tak gadhafi the latest word we hearing is that the western media is trying to portray gadhafi 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 and also analysts who are putting forward the opinion that the western media is so anti could afi because he has taken such a strong stand in the past against western interference in developing countries relations with from the bush government is that it is confirming that it is considering and is on standby to deploy its forces within twenty four hours it says that 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 two warships have a lift crease and according to a statement they 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 finance in the united kingdom are putting pressure on the united nations security council to make a decision on a no fly zone. there's reports british diplomatic team is trying to make cards out

with rebel groups in eastern libya has been seized the group is believed to include a to say as troops along with a diplomat the opposition if yours could use it as evidence of foreign interference to raise patriotic support at home former intelligence officer for and i thought. believes it's people in libya who will suffer most as the actions of what were libya's 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 gratian 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 suffer it's not the government which sanctions

initially imposed against itself as if the general population there are already in dire straits the suffering violence the 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. who is rude who has nowhere to go now because his assets in prison in the west he can't flee he's 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 fold 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 it become a breeding ground for terrorists backers and in fact that is going to be nightmare . correspondent for the asia times says get out his former allies or risk.

of the international criminal court against them. jimmy magine it's got that. on a twenty four seven days it's the call that the racial libya we took care of the scrawny trio that you know brought back to the international community all the shady deals oldish eighteenth financial deals with italy specially any which has invested at least fifty billion dollars cd it's interesting leave us and good thoughts a relationship so they're actually every european government not to mention the us and arms dealers from britain would be a fantastic show with. china resume the stop the war coalition says outside interference in libya is likely to do more harm than good as people are better at managing the 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 these piled upon desire for the very the very first lesson for the president is that especially given recent events is that the people of the middle east are entirely capable of dealing with these big papers on their own terms we really don't need to see the british air force for the british army or the american marine corps the american navy how can these people like. paul. ruling and thousands of people would be through papers on their own terms and the important point about if is those who do the liberating the ruling afterwards if the revolutionaries do the liberating they get through their own country afterwards if the eighty second airborne do it we know what happens when they get the run the country afterwards. remember you can always find more on this developing situation in libya on our web site r.t. dot com you can always find there the latest developments news and analysis from our experts.

with the arab uprising sending oil prices to new highs this week it's thought that it could just be 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 lyster reports the political price may also be high for the obama administration. tunisia was going to. egypt. by hurricane. algeria. in libya protest in countries seeming to skew one another unrest spreading like wildfire through the middle east and north africa all raging in all year 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 i mean the shock waves from the middle east turmoil are being felt worldwide now the mideast crisis is hitting home for outteridge americans as oil prices have skyrocketed so too have the prices people pay for gasoline and now the price americans pay at the pump is threatening to derail the u.s. economic recovery a surge in oil. prices will be the end of the u.s. economy mark just in and for the recovery there's no more bailouts like a reality peak oil expert michael c. rupert sees happening it will hit 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 asked some predict there would be a high political price to pay for the obama administration's you know gasoline prices go up and march and for a very long period it could be a severe. your political impact if 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 their kind of reining

back up trying to push their back against an avalanche and i don't think we're going to have 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 call reserves are massive under false pretenses of helping protesting people has nothing to do with interest people it has everything to do with the interest of the us corporate oil corporations military. 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 civilian casualties caused by u.s. and nato military actions in his country he voices criticism in

a video conference with president barack obama on thursday this follows nato's apology a day earlier for killing nine children in afghanistan elementary alliance report shows the boys are all under age twelve were gathering firewood when they were targeted in an airstrike several estimates suggest nato's campaign in the country is caused more than nine thousand civilian deaths since two thousand and one political activist i would sultanzoy says innocent civilians are becoming statistics in the 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 the civilians are the victims of both the nato civilian casualties and the terrorists who said bombings and with and discriminant the 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 in 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 the 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 of afghanistan. hillary clinton says the u.s. is losing information war to foreign media lifts including our team this week the secretary of state asked congress for more cash to step up u.s. efforts to get its message across or he's got it should he has more from washington

were 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 u.s. mainstream 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 the b.b.c. is cutting back some five years ago western media outlets including the v.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 tuning in to various foreign media to get a fresh take on events clearly the united states feels on the defensive 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 day there's other information out there there are 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 artie'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 you know there's no real commitment to the kind of freedom of the you versed 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 overseas 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 leaks and the likes and now the administration is seeking more funding to step us propaganda 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 and after that you know we've. we're done and unfortunately we are paying a big price for it last year the head of the agency that manages the us government or an international broadcasting asked for more money for his department we can't allow ourselves to be out communicated by our enemies the list of enemies included question china iran and venezuela walter isaacson the head of the agency which runs with american monk other media outlets later backtracked on this statement isaacson's page 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 secretary clinton statement made it a push on the us is fighting a global information war and its will so i'm going to start our reporting from washington or to. now as the war of ideas heats up observers say it's washington's own thought for being on the losing end christopher chambers a professor of media studies at georgetown university says real news is on its way out in the us due to press and t.v. channel ownership by corporations. the corporatization don't mess to clean up american news has basically thrown out the whole need for news gathering and real reporting in exchange for punditry and entertainment and sensationalism because that spin to deliver the demographics to the guys who pay for the commercials what the settling 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 news basically to be a true propaganda arm rather than a news gathering and reporting outlet which is what our t. 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're pretty much where c.b.s. a.b.c. n.b.c. were thirty years ago before things fell apart and record. freedom is the basis of russia's future development that message came this week from president dmitry medvedev who said reforms are inevitable for the country. a lot

with but we can't postpone our freedom nor should we fear that the free man might use his freedom in adequately 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 i think differently our country should not be held together with titan screws and he's obviously that in order that is excessively strict and excessive number of controllers does not usually leads to the triumph of goods and notes to victory over corruption but rather to degrade a should have management therefore it's extremely important to give this a science the a chance to organize itself the president's message came as russia marks one hundred fifty years since the abolition of serfdom their fear was signed by sorrow xander the second after a long struggle for a form in society the country's modernization and liberal changes have been at the

forefront of president had its policies since he came to power. the u.k. is preparing for a nationwide census to start of the end of the month the government says it will help provide the services then resources people need but a connection to a controversial u.s. defense for means many fear their privacy may be violated with their personal data falling into the wrong hands or his or any reports from one. it's census 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 look he'd martin and campaigners ranging from religious groups to peace activists to data protection lobbyists are greatly against it on ethical grounds play on

a number of oppressive regimes they also are for 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 vows to pull he caught the census despite the risk of prosecution he says he won't be alone look he makes land mines and nuclear weapons and contracts out interrogation kuantan of a bay 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 in gauged lockheed martin maintains it's taken measures to make sure u.s. authorities can't access the data. well dancer process it will be carried out in the u.k. no dancer will leave will be held any point outside the u.k. we're not had martin starr will have access to any. all dancers the property of the

and only u.k. you owned companies will have any excess. but it's that last point that's raised red flags for data protection lobbyists who say that all the private information collected during the census will be available to practically any organization that requests it any use on the any statute. but only use by the security intelligence services for national security purposes any use for the pursuit is croyde any use in pursuit of an e.u. community obligation so any e.u. rules passed information can be passed over so it's essentially any government use whatsoever the computer of his being abolished 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 secret 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 sensors it would be hard for the u.s. authorities to lay their hands on that information if they wanted data from the said says it is used by the government grants to local councils and recognize new groups in society a sense that's run by lockheed martin raises grave concerns in britain about ethics and its national security if a lot of people boycott the fed says it will make it ineffective and a waste of money but the two hundred forty million dollar contracts amount will go into looking at martins pockets any way your emmett's r.t. loved it. time now for some other stories making headlines across the globe from. the street. demonstration in the capital of bangladesh angry crowds smashed vehicles while witnesses reported several people injured as it was called after

a twenty five year old student died in a road accident in the early hours of sunday. twenty six people have been killed twenty injured when a passenger bus collided with a lumber a truck in the southern brazilian state of santa catarina police report a truck driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed into the bus forty seven people aboard in two thousand and seven two similar accidents on the same road claimed twenty seven lives. in the soviet union the last leader mikhail gorbachev has been celebrating his eightieth birthday this week on the day itself he was awarded russia's highest honor the order of say andrew medal recognizing his achievements as president for many people his name is synonymous with the end of the cold war period occasion of germany and liberalism with his economic and political reforms he paved the way for democracy in russia is best known policy perestroika aim to revamp the country without destroying the basis of socialism isn't that his initiatives also led the cancellation of state censorship and the creation of free speech gorbachev got the nobel peace prize in one thousand nine

hundred year later however a coup started a chain of events that led to the collapse of the soviet union and gorbachev departure his critics say you plunge the country into destructive 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. because of the google put google boss we realized from experience that it was dangerous to wait much longer that we have to take a risk which we couldn't produce we needed changes and i don't agree with people who the poorest like you failed it didn't fail it was disrupted railed stocks stupidest look at the cheap a lot inside russia we had democracy free elections freedom of conscience plundered property the freedom to travel abroad everything to hold still glass most there was so much open. the entire country was affected people realized they had finally got some freedom and opportunity to act in foreign affairs we put an end to the cold

war we normalized our relationship with the us 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 but 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-confidence in the war 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 handling the hardest and most challenging issues you could we need more than that it's a matter of learning to live in a global world. you can find our full interview with macabre a bit about our website any time at r.t.

dot com i'll be back with the headlines in a few moments and i will hear from the chairman of russia's foreign affairs committee to get his take on the uprisings in the arab world stay with us here on r.t. . if

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