breaking news this hour french fighter jets begin patrolling the skies of libya so in force the un sanctioned a no fly zone. pro-government forces oppose you advance on the rebel held town of pain donkey just fine declaring a cease fire has colonel gadhafi rejects all calls for you in no fly zone. world leaders meeting in paris to use all the necessary military means to stop any aggression colonel gadhafi. president sarkozy or is the entrance of french fighter planes on libyan airspace to join us later for the details.

engineers are locked in a desperate battle to avoid a meltdown at japan's of tsunami damaged fukushima power plant the struggle to restore electricity. in terms of the cooling systems to be functioning some very small traces of radiation now being taken in tokyo said. it we've got a live from moscow french military jets are already over libya to enforce the u.n. backed no fly zone foreign powers meeting in paris saying they're ready to do whatever it takes to stop colonel gadhafi targeting civilian areas reports from libya suggest forces loyal to gadhafi are carrying out attacks on the rebel stronghold city of benghazi despite

a so-called government ceasefire let's get some more details on this hour from the three who is live for us in tripoli paula french planes now reportedly patrolling libyan airspace here and where you are. yes that is what we're hearing on saturday afternoon french fighter jets flew over libya they're waiting of course for the international call she inforce this no fly zone and that latest word from a meeting in paris is that they will be acting immediately now it is missing twenty four hours since the libyan government said that it was in force in any media cease fire on the ground intense fighting continues particularly in the rebel held town of bint ghazi but we're hearing there are very different stories coming out on the rebel side as opposed to the government forces the rebels insisting that they are being fired on by three friends they said of one of those fronts of the mediterranean sea they say that they have in a strike there is intense shelling and that among the targets being hit are civilians the rebels saying that many people have been injured and many more have been killed now the rebels did capture a tank belonging to gadhafi streets they've been parading this through the streets

there are still conflicting reports over a plane that was shot down there this morning saturday not yet clear exactly who it belonged to and shouted down the gadhafi regime for its side is insisting that it is appearing to just cease fire that it put into place on friday afternoon it says that it is the rebels that are on the offensive it is them who are breaking the cease fire and it is them that are intensifying the fighting on the ground to try and mobilize the international community to act as quickly as possible now state television here has also been reporting that the former libyan interior minister earlier to fix it to the rebel side to commander they find his has since returned the state television is showing pictures of him being welcomed by gadhafi and been reappointed in his earlier position but we're not clear if in fact these pictures are recent or if they've been filmed from before the rebels of course denying all of those kind of reports from gadhafi himself we are hearing harsh words he said that the international community will regret if they interfere in libyan affairs he

also said that this is an injustice this is a key aggression and it is uncultivated risk for consequences he is of course talking about the u.n. resolution one nine seven three at the same time gadhafi said. that this resolution was invalid because it is because the international community is not allowed to interfere in the internal affairs of a sovereign states we've also been hearing from gadhafi some say fall islam has also been talking on local state television he has warned against infidel it taks that's what he's been calling the uprising that is happening now in benghazi he also said there would it is time for people to join in the fight and it's not really clear what's happening in terms of the cease fire there are those i think that the government is insincere there are those i think that this is a sign of a crumbling regime trying to save itself but when we listen to what we will leaders and particularly the opposition are saying they say that essentially gadhafi is lying and he is trying to buy time. so the latest news we have is that the french fighter jets are officially patrolling libyan airspace so it's only part of what

the locals in libya saying about this are international intervention. when i talk to locals here of course those of you are completely against any kind of foreign intervention but even amongst the rebels themselves there is agreement that there are two areas in this resolution that are cause for concern but one area is the terminology all necessary measures and the other areas when it talks about the need to to faint people who are under attack or who might be under attack now these are very rule definitions there now for a lot of intervention to take place and that is why the concern here in libya is that what might be the start of international intervention here in the sense of a no fly zone could quickly develop into something that is much more long term and far reaching b b b m's are very much against having foreign troops in their country not least of all because this country was occupied by telling troops in the past they have seen the consequences of u.s. troops in iraq and in afghanistan and iraq particularly where there was a twelve year no fly zone people here do not want to see this no fly zone extended

and dragged out for that period of time at the same time we're hearing from the united nations human rights they said that they're very worried. they have no record of what is happening to be able fighters who have been captured they have no record of what is happening inside the prisons and inside the security services they say that they can be some kind of collective punishment that is under way here at the moment so essentially the international community support for the fighting to end on the ground is a question in terms of where it will end and one of the demands by the international community is also becky needs to retreat and people here are asking well what happens if people treats if you take these soldiers out of state some towns are going to be able to move forward into those areas and will back not only it's great but fighting on the ground. poles where they live in tripoli with the latest on this breaking news thank you. for being at paris french president nicolas sarkozy says they will use all necessary military means to stop any aggression from

colonel gadhafi let's get more of that meeting now from our r.t. correspondent daniel bushell who is standing by live for us right now so strong words from sarkozy what exactly can we expect to see happening in libya because we know that we know there are french five has patrolling libyan airspace what else can you can you tell us. president sarkozy made the announcement after the summit as you say attended by the big guns of world defense the decision has been taken at the top level u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton among them denmark and canada will supply fighter jets to the effort italy france and spain will provide air bases for support in the region while other arab states saudi arabia qatar jordan and the united arab emirates have said they do back the deployment of a no fly zone over libya near space and the main role along with those arab states will be played by the u.k. and france u.k. leader david cameron says that he fully backs the deployment of a no fly zone which will in effect the ground get out these jets and helicopters

and the arab states will pull to roll or basically key their support in the region france says its number one concern is to defend the civilian population and we're seeing all the western powers after this summit coming around to that point of view germany's angela merkel said that the fact that germany abstained from the u.n. vote on establishing a no fly zone does not mean they don't support that vote only that they will not use direct military intervention themselves germany will not be sending forces to the effort let's listen to exactly what nicolas sarkozy had to say. participants agreed to use all the necessary means in particular military means to enforce the u.n. security council decisions this way with agreement with our partners our air force will oppose any aggression from call no good i fear against the population they'll be going to as of now our aircraft are preventing planes from attacking the town is of no other friendship there really intervening against things our military calls

threatening on their own simulations. so growing unanimity between leaders here in the e.u. about military intervention but also growing concerns among the population at large if you speak to them about the double standards here many are saying a stay out of libya and b. if you're going to intervene in libya then why not the other places where this horrible escalating violence in the region and the concern is that libya is an oil rich place where the west the e.u. the u.s. have big commercial interests and other places like bahrain which is also suffering yemen ivory coast is seeing horrible violence the west is not so interested. parties are able to they're covering this breaking news life russell's thank you all with concerns that our no fly zone over libya could be a cover up for a foreign full scale in the gauge went and he were optimistic jim brown says the u.n. resolution one nine seven three is full of holes. you can interpret so many things

and then i mean what on earth you mean by protecting civilians presumably it means protecting civilians from both sides because there appear suggestions of atrocities on both sides and certainly not a one sided thing but of course i think the central point is that the whole thrust of the intervention is not it seems to me is not a principled thing and that accounts for the for the contradictions and the holes in the resolution i think the whole thing is a mess so the resolution itself is full of forward think because i think you have to question the whole process and once you start on a process that is the contradictory one you end up with more and more pitfalls along the way you have this thing that. for example stayed very dodgy out of it and then suddenly when the original post yesterday you make some very specific demands which clearly were not in the resolution that demands that for example the government forces pull back from

a series of towns that kind of thing so you have you have clear intentions to. different parties to make of it what they will and i think that we will see that process roll. not pardon since raging across the arab world but the un security council is only moved to act in libya while people demanding changes in countries like bahrain have been left to fend for themselves laura mr explores the difference in attitude now and you may find some images in this report disturbing. god is great. the final words of this imported peaceful protesters in bahrain. before he appears to be shot allegedly by behind the security forces since martial law was declared this week the bahraini government has crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. clearing them out of pearl square where they've been demonstrating. and viral videos the details can be confirmed have been surfacing on the internet

appearing to show police shooting protesters. point blank it's reminiscent of another uprising against an autocrat i want to address the situation. when images and reports of violence against protesters that could dockery's hands in libya reached the u.s. we saw the president take a stand. as lost legitimacy to lead. early on president obama called for plans heard over lies over libya now here at the united nations the security council has since taken the lead on that but meanwhile the united states has already sent warships along with humanitarian aid in libya's direction it's tough economic sanctions on the country essentially freezing it out of the u.s. banking system and reports suggest the u.s. has also played a more cofer role in the north african conflict an opposition that. is

right now. according to people in direct contact with activists on the ground in bahrain they too are begging for help from the u.s. . the u.s. has a military base in the island country the navy's powerful fifth fleet and six thousand troops are stationed there. and in response to the brutal crackdown the u.s. president has wielded his authority to pick up the phone and call the king of bahrain the president expressed his deep concern over the violence in bahrain and stressed the need for maximum restraint words the forces on the ground now backed by one thousand saudi arabian troops and don't appear to be listening to critics say the talk doesn't amount to any help for the bahraini people i denounce to this

absolutely there's a double standard in the way the u.s. deals with friend versus fellow unlike libya the brain is a strong u.s. ally in the oil rich persian gulf it's all about oil it's also all about geo political military strategy the u.s. says a lot of military assets in the persian gulf right now we want to make sure they stay there u.s. interests coming at the cost of people's lives and if it cost at the value of human rights and democracy the u.s. claims to care so much about all of the blood is worthless and the libyan blood is more important it's just a critical stand. because it is everything we believe in and this is the secret you're looking at american. gunships you know which are on armed protesters in the capital and that is where the united states stands on the issue tacitly behind autocrats. or against them depending on the threat to u.s.

interests not to lives lauren lyster r.t. new york. you can follow all the latest developments in libya on our twitter and facebook pages thanks to your videos and of course regular updates. he's. the official ulti allocation your i phone oh i pod touch from the. on the go. all t's my old girls.

and. now in the palm of your. call it without a lot from moscow let's turn our attention to japan that now there may be absorbing dangerously high levels of radiation but the fukushima power station are continuing so you were stored atrocity to the plants crippled reactors it's believed to be key to restarting the cooling system and of putting a nuclear catastrophe also is other than it is the latest. some power actually has been restored to parts of the nuclear plants not the crucial areas cooling systems in the reactors if that's what they're aiming to get but what that are doing and what they have done is connect our cables to reactor number two trying to get the other reactors electricity hasn't yet been turned on because if they do that they fear that it might now function so what they're doing now is doing the checks

seeing if they if their electricity will go through and without any problems if that does happen i think they will be a get leave to both cooling systems and cooling pumps will be a massive relief for those fifty workers who are doing everything they can because that's all that we try to do for the last eight days get those cooling systems up running get the temperature down and i mean some of they've done is trying to pour water into the reactors and to live hand again military fire engines on the ground shooting cannons of water into the spent fuel pools of the reactors number three in thought because the water levels in those believed to be dangerously low if it falls below the fuel rods and expose it exposes those to the air then there is there that radioactive substances huge scale as early as last saturday or we can get when there is news of the first explosion of the year one of the reactors at fukushima people who are buying bottled water involved even in tokyo as far as that

as that absent is came out and the government was issuing warnings people just in the area of saying don't bring them all through case of contamination so that it was spreading south to take you and you've had all the way up the coast there up as far as sendai where i was earlier this week a lot of water as it was in short supply even a few days ago and take it. in today as people were trying to avoid taking tap water frontiers of contamination of those this stuff as well and the government did their subjects on milk and spinach in neighboring prefectures difficult she met and they found radiation levels be above normal again no danger to. no one's health but there is is obviously now mr diallo the government spokesperson a jeep cabinet secretary has said that radiation levels outside the thirty kilometer exclusion zone and not harmful at the third human health but a lot of governments are believing that they're getting it their nationals out and also an image of really the fingers are being pointed now questions being asked who was to blame for this could have been avoided the main issue that's coming up now

amongst their exit experts worldwide is the issue of privatization of japan's nuclear power because. electric power company owns the run and the questions now being asked is safety compromised for profits no matter how hard they try disaster still looms at fukushima attempts to cool the reactors have been applauded for bravery but it's been a week since cooling capability was lost and there's no end in sight to this crisis the implications are that radiation already has spread a fair distance there probably will be an area around the plant like turn or more that will be uninhabitable for the foreseeable future could be a far worse than us but plants cooling systems may have been crippled by a natural disaster but some are now questioning the merits of the manmade decision to build reactors near the so-called ring of fire this is completely human made this aster because that should never have been located there in the first place and

citizens have pointed out the fact japan's nuclear industries also in private hands has led to accusations profits were put before safety fukushima's owner already has a questionable past with a history of falsifying safety records at the site back in the eighty's i think we also have to review the idea of privatized nuclear power because private a nuclear power means cutting corners and i think we're watching those corners being cut today but we'd like to see is the government take over these nuclear reactors phone private corporations because private corporations. only for existing is to next emerged profits and by next night it's in the nucleus yet it we're talking about you know my eyes in concerns but we can't see it and last private investors may be needed to get the ball rolling it's the other way around if things go wrong i think it's we're going to be inevitable in the prostate will take over in order to contain these plants though they're probably need to be covered with

concrete and sand watch like normal was and i think the state will take over responsibility for that and. i think whether the state does that or private companies do it it's very difficult for anyone to do history japan's no stranger its nuclear tragedies this is where the second atomic bomb was dropped to nine hundred forty five they're trying everything they can at focus she much prefers another disaster but it has nuclear watchdog is already expecting wider consequences the question is how many will be affected by the bennetts azzi micro-second while technicians and emergency teams working at fukushima know that their mission to avert a nuclear disaster could kill them right now thompson was involved in the three mile island a clean up in pennsylvania after a similar accident enlightened seventy nine now explains what risks the workers are facing. what the people in japan are going right here right now it's kind of hard

to tell because no one has access to them as far as i've been able to see and i fear for their safety in fact i fear for their lives sometimes the radiation is so high that a person going into us a hot room can only be inside there for maybe three minutes and then they have to come out someone else has to go in to finish their job so you can imagine the intensity trying to say trying to change of power you go in with a welding machine let's say and. it takes you three or four minutes just to bring that in there you haven't even plugged anything in yet when you have to leave you're you're done for the month we don't know the conditions inside the plant though most of us. from the industry confirm that it's very very dangerous i think pouring water in in massive amounts and they should be probably poor in work acid or boron in in massive amounts as well is that really the only country only thing they have left it's almost like a hail mary pass my only real regret is that the entire area was not evacuated

sooner as soon as the evolution started that would have been the moral thing to do and that is not an accomplishment for that i'm very disappointed mommy time robert how far as he is an expert on a car metal and energy policy he says that there are many things lying within the us stricken station making situation difficult to control. the. japanese authorities appear to not still have control over the situation they are taking measures that are of a desperate nature that are i guess you would call it from improvisations on the playbook and it doesn't appear at this time that they're working the concern to have had about this is the the hazards of the spent fuel storage pools the water has either completely or partially drained and it's likely that the spent fuel.

has is to catch fire is already caught fire cesium one thirty seven is really the bad actor in this because it volatilize is and it has a half life of thirty years it gives off external penetrating radiation so if it lands on the ground in any significant quantities and you're standing nearby the gamma rays coming off they are exposing your whole body multiple organs at once when it over time it mimics pap potassium and is accumulated by accumulated in biota in the food chain and so it sticks around for a long time the rule of thumb is that it takes about ten have lives for this material to do it became a down to levels that are presumed to be safe. supporters of nuclear power say it's a clean and relatively safe way to produce and itching but with the current crisis unfolding at fukushima it will being forced to balance the benefits and with

central dangers atomic stations as we head. as to pam struggles with the nuclear crisis are you concerned about the stability of nuclear facilities near you this week let's talk about that. the field is cold not when you click on in england but it's pretty safe you feel like it's safe o'flynn ourselves live across the river from a nuclear power plant virginia and it's it's it's it's it's a concern certainly it's better than spending a lot of tax dollars on a new energy is why some people you know it's like this go to you know you look at cell phones you know cell phone chargers radio waves if a report came out tomorrow that says cell phones cause cancer if you're going to the cell phones down no they're not so people take the nuclear energy if it is even works people are really interested in you know certain wins and different kinds of

alternative energies what you think about those. enough companies put enough money into the research and if there's enough research dollars that it's not going to be a viable alternative and what pays for those is katselas right correct so if we stop spending money on war we can start spending money on energy getting that would never happen. hopefully in my lifetime i find it amazing the amount of energy what's being used here in eric rose in light specifically here in times square so i think people are. maybe a bit too much used to use loads and loads of energy so i guess it's what's going to be quite hard to get them to use. to spend more on green energy because it's going to be more expensive do you support nuclear energy now why not. well because it's a disaster i think you think it's a disaster waiting to happen absolutely so what we do because we consume a lot of energy on idea i have no clue i go if you don't know then how can we rule

out nuclear energy why are so many people so afraid of nuclear energy i know that this is happening right now but most plants are pretty safe show i think it centers on people always thinking the worst and maybe that's the reaction from nine eleven even the people always think of it things that can get bad so i think there's that armageddon feeling whether or not you support nuclear energy the bottom line is that with all of our energy options there comes in one form or another a high price to pay. for it without a lot from moscow now let's take a look at some other stories making headlines around the world as our if you take part in a referendum on constitutional reform if approved the changes will shorten the president's time in power from six to four years and then i'll know more than two terms of to try gyptian you know hosni mubarak left for thirty years the reforms

will the same for parliamentary elections in june and presidential elections in september off this year. in gaza a member of hamas has been killed by an israeli airstrike after more than fifty rockets were reportedly fired into israel would say it was the heaviest attack by gaza militants in two years with two israel's reportedly being injured four civilians were also hurt and then israeli response to the attack by the latest according to the health ministry and gaza. former u.s. secretary of state warren christopher has died of cancer at age eighty five it has been a key negotiator in the former yugoslavia and was praised for his efforts in ending the bosnia herzegovina war he also tried to promote peace in the middle east while serving under president bill clinton after retiring from office christopher practiced in the war and toward international affairs. well we'll be looking at all russia's romance with the city of love in just a few moments to stay with us. for

. more news today violence is one.