on the dot com. one story dominates the use of night libya and an arrow but the criticizes the airstrikes as a multinational coalition launches an aerial offensive against gadhafi forces and dozens reported killed. has been snatched multimedia he steps up efforts to stop the production forces the libyan leader is handing out weapons to his nation to defend itself and police near him in the capital city of tripoli twenty in a few moments formal. moscow calls for an end to what it terms an indiscriminate use of force by foreign powers in libya and calls for military action to remain within the parameters of the u.n. resolution. they want american says its role in the we're trying to venture will be

limited but that's not stop comparisons to the beginning of the two thousand and three iraq invasion. polls show the majority of americans oppose the u.s. involvement in the intervention for more on this joining by nature take out in just a few minutes. this is r.t. it's now nine pm sunday night here in moscow my name is kevin owen and the top story the arab league criticize international strikes against targets in libya following reports of dozens of civilian deaths the organization was key to gaining international support for the u.n. but no fly zone but now says the military actions gone too far america's is us now large forces have now to hold certain offensive by colonel gadhafi forces against rebels in benghazi but fighting still being reported elsewhere tonight paul asli has the latest from the capital tripoli. we are hearing reports of new airstrikes

that are being carried out on the ground we're also hearing reports that military planes all been loaded with weapons at american bases in is unique and that british planes are on their way to libya now the american army has come through and that it dropped some conventional bombs from the two stealth bombers not yet clear what was the exact target of those bombs but certainly amongst there was libyan air fields we're also being told that wasted the coniston satellites out firmly keeping an eye on the southern part of the city of sets where there are ten tons of mustard gas now the american army has said that the first phase of this operation is complete it says it is well satisfied that a no fly zone is firmly in place that there hasn't been any libyan helicopters and aircraft in the skies indeed if it hasn't even been an attempt to take them out into the skies at this stage there are five countries that are involved the united states britain france canada and it to be the united states remains at the helm its

focus at the moment is to completely destroy all seriousness to a missile defense systems belonging to the gadhafi regime and at that stage it will hand over the reins of power to the coalition forces we are hearing reports that on the ground of heavy clashes intense shelling in the city of misrata which is some two hundred kilometers to the east of the capital tripoli this fighting has been ongoing for at least three days now now it's impossible for us to independently verify this we've been trying to reach the city people moving to newsweek's but it is in clamp down government forces have prevented any kind of movement in and out but i did this in the ground are saying one thing that and massacre was on the go the government's tanks are in the same target town and that they completely demolishing it we're also hearing from state television that the number of civilians who have been killed in these western is strikes has not increased from thirty nine to sixty four and

a hug. and fifty people the main engine some of the questions that are being asked here on the ground number one why is the fighting in misrata being able to continue why is there not more focus by the international community in terms of what is happening there and also the growing tally of civilian deaths how many more people are going to have to die before the situation here comes to an end gadhafi spoke for about fifteen minutes it wasn't actually his face to be sure but rather the image of a gold dust that was crushing an american trying to change his tone was incredibly defiant incredibly angry that he moved the libyans to defend themselves in the understanding that he will be opening we houses to make ammunition and guns and weapons available to the civilian population and that as many as one million libyans could very soon be arming themselves he also said that this was an act of terrorism to quote him he said we will not leave we will stay and liberate our country now we're also hearing from the taliban as can be expected they have

condemned this international reaction to what is happening here in libya they have urged the islamic world not to remain neutral but to step back and do something. about his policy or will moscow's called on coalition forces to refrain from using indiscriminate force in libya he's paid for all of us outside russia's foreign ministry the latest statement that's being released by the russian foreign ministry the ministry says that it's unacceptable for military force to be used for anything other than the protection of civilians in libya they also called them and what they see is the indiscriminate use of force by the coalition they're really know here part of that foreign ministry statement. we strongly call poll number eleven states to stop the indiscriminate use of force we believe it is unacceptable to use the mandate laid out in resolution one nine hundred seventy three part of security council a passing of which was rather ambiguous for purposes which are obviously beyond its provisions which were to protect the peaceful population all the stamen continue to

say that the foreign ministry here in moscow has received reports that dozens of civilians were killed and scores wounded in those attacks from the air and from boats from ships stations in the mediterranean they also said that they've received information that no military targets have been hit in these attacks on saturday night these include a medical facility as well as roads and bridges now russia has been against the use of force by foreign powers in the in the libya situation is pretty tiddly call for dialogue and not military intervention circular for all of the russian foreign minister is in the region at the moment this is part of a a double headed visits to see two of libya is very close neighbors to egypt and then to algeria well of course the it's inevitable that the situation in libya will play a part in not miss the love of all was initially in those two countries to discuss

bilateral trade and other talks between russia and egypt and algeria because the with them bordering libya the situation in that country will be watched very very closely and inevitably as they say play a part in missile of those visits to those two countries. for u.s. cruise missiles are the leading edge of the offensive in libya despite president of promising america's role would be limited he also promised no u.s. ground forces will be deployed though some are already pointing to similarities with the invasion of iraq in two thousand and three can i should you count as the latest from washington. if you watch american television you get the impression that america's involvement is a really good thing and that there was no other option but intervention but if you look at the polls the majority of americans of polls the u.s. involvement giving invention fox news sixty five percent they're already unhappy that their government is spending their tax dollars in inconclusive wars in iraq

and afghanistan and adding one more hot spot is the last thing they want officials here promise it's going to be a fast war obama said that there will be no u.s. troops on the ground productions military is no match for the capabilities of the coalition forces it took just hours to cripple his air defenses u.s. has launched missiles were made from the ships and submarines in the mediterranean targeting add his air defense systems clearing the sky to make sure that out he is not able to shoot down any planes that the coalition forces earlier french warplanes had carried out ground forces there have been reports of civilian casualties there by those attacks there are lots of questions as to how long the operation is going to last also as to the limits of intervention will be will be and now for the coalition forces to just bizarre him could be or will they go beyond that call and what will be the outcome those are the questions everybody is asking the wording of the you live resolution that was passed on thursday's basically all inclusive creation the official purpose of the intervention is

protecting civilians from gadhafi syntax but what everybody is talking about is the shooting down without his fighter bombers and attacking is other military assets is one thing it was authorized by the resolution but arming the rebels for example is something very different egypt's military began shipping arms over the border leading rebels and egypt's military as we know is very much influenced by launching those so it's not just the canal the army versus coalition forces but the fear is that it's going to turn into a full fledged civil war and that these arms supplies could even further inflame the situation history shows that army and the other side of the conflict usually result in more deaths and destruction the u.s. is very careful not to. here is the driving force behind of military action is also the fact that president obama did not interrupt his trip to latin america also kind of indicates that he doesn't want to be seen as the man in chief of this whole thing the leaders of the coalition forces stressed again and again is that it's not just western powers going to war in libya but that they have the support of the arab league as well but it was you just heard at the head of the arab league

criticized the international strikes because they feel to be only as they say the military operate our pollutions have gone beyond what the arab league backed what happened there first from the no fly zone objectives and they're also saying what we want is civilians protection not civilian deaths so you actually are for. oh for western powers for the coalition forces it was really very important we wanted very much of arab countries assistance so that it doesn't appear as if it's just the west cracking down on yet another arab nation but with this criticism coming from be it would be quite difficult to count on the arab league further support violence against protesters continues in other arab countries like bahrain and yemen while the coalition forces really focusing on libya stephen leatherman the chicago radio host of a political talk show says it's because the u.s. only of its political interests. it will be it's going to be attention because the

america supports the marquis and we're in support circus and star in yemen but just our support gadhafi it is very ironic because around two thousand and three. he established reproachful washington relations wolf he had meetings with u.s. officials including secretary of state clinton who expressed very warm regards for the recently to seeming interim because what's going on there are was playing many months and all tearing each one flake america undertakes does not just happen it isn't going in the way we heard two weeks and have been and this was planned months in advance you're a logistics to retire who's to pick out here a troop deployments and this is the massaging of public opinion in america

preparing the u.s. public for a mirror. to the two to go war illegally this is needed a gracious against another country but the american people have to be convinced that it's humanitarian intervention. british forces joined the action in libya from the very beginning submarines and fighter jets carried out multiple strikes against gadhafi forces our correspondent laura emmott reports next on what the u.k. public think about being involved in another conflict. what we heard before this started and what has actually happened now there's quite a big difference both in what's actually happened sounds in in the perception of a no fly zone sounds to your mind on the street like a relatively low key thing it just sounds like people won't be allowed to take take off planes but of course i think what people didn't fully understand was that in order to stop get out the planes taking off from would actually have to shoot them down and certainly what we've seen so far in this military intervention and we

should remember this is the only just the beginning is over one hundred cruise missiles fired at the u.s. it dropped forty conventional bombs on libya the u.k. alone they have fired missiles launched from submarines which are currently stationed off the coast of libya and we've also seen bombing from the sky from tornado jets which were flown all the way from the u.k. people are staying on the street why are we going to libya when we're not going to other places that is seeing large scale civilian casualties caused by governments and civil war we're seeing a lot of casualties thousands of casualties in the ivory coast where of course their main export is not for oil but in fact. and there are there's also been an extremely serious situation going on in some years in somalia and the situation continues that some very volatile again no intervention from the u.k. or from the u.s. and of course given the general economic backdrop that we see here people are talking a lot about the cost of war they have heard their government saying repeatedly over a series of months we have got no money we've got no money for pensions we've got

no running for public sector wages for higher education the cost of which is gone up by by three folds and yet the government has seemed to be willing to get involved and yes you know the war seemingly at the drop of perhaps even off the defense cuts have been made in the u.k. william hague the foreign minister has come out and said that there will still be a will still have the full theologists military capability in the world the british people are also worried about what's become known as mission creep happen. and in iraq it happened in afghanistan two wars in which british troops were involved over a long period of time and again it was agreed that what would happen was that troops would go in to establish stability and to ensure the equal distribution of power and arguably that hasn't happened yet in either of these countries so there is definitely a worry that we will go to libya and start military intervention there and just not not be able to leave for a period of years there is certainly a fear here in the u.k.

that this is just the beginning of this intervention perhaps the closest historical comparison to what's happening in libya right now as the nato campaign over you can solve your twelve years ago the bombing also launched with the aim of protecting civilians in this case the course of a minority and it resulted in hundreds of civilian deaths so it did manage to forcibly draw of yugoslav forces from kosovo let's talk to our balkans expert. to see if any parallels can be drawn. marco and we know it was a typo and yugoslavia at the time caused a lot of criticism from nations and human rights groups to do just justified such monetary admissions like we saw maybe like we're seeing now. i would say that such interventions are. never justified because they represent a huge investment on the part of those intervening and that they only justify themselves in terms of their ability to achieve the aims of the intervenors which are always strategic designs of position themselves into occupation positions in

strategically vital areas of the world so in terms of how they benefit the local population the answer is not at all in fact they are always very negative afghanistan in one thousand nine hundred ninety interventions then led to the thirty years and still ongoing instability in one thousand nine hundred ninety nine is still a fake state of desperate poverty and desperate crime in all that entire area bosnia was an opportunity for peace and diplomacy they didn't take it on a war ensued there as well iraq we know another nightmare we have and now we're building up to a new iraq in libya basically they are these interventions have never led to successful conclusions they lead to open ended western occupations and regional instability on the continuing the basis designed to justify those occupations that's what they're about so you're saying lessons have not been learned along the line by the u.s. and allied forces of these previous military campaigns. well lesson to be learnt

very well the people who are doing the campaigns are very well versed in the lessons they know for example were based on the experience of kosovo not to allow ceasefire monitors in because they can tell you who's breaking the cease fire now in the case of libya the libyan foreign minister accepted the reason lucian that it was passed the other day and said that he demanded of deserves to monitor the cease fire straightaway why wasn't my invitation taken up because if we want a genuine dialogue as the resolution calls for if we want peace and an end to violence then we need a ceasefire we need dialogue between the parties remind that in western countries you take five years to enable regime change and it's the outcome of a long process of dialogue over in libya and the middle east it seems that expectation is to create regime change in five days and to do it at the point of the sum of all crudeness art market what is your prognosis for this conflict gadhafi is promising a long war. just words of

a van with bruised pride or do you think he will fight to the last where it's going to go do you think. well with half the population as i would as i see it on his side libya really does look like becoming a new iraq i presume will be seeing depleted uranium missiles thrown by the benevolent humanitarian western aircraft onto the population there we should remember that the reason lucian calls for dialogue it requires two sides both to be around in order to engage in that dialogue so it shouldn't be about getting rid of colonel gadhafi if it is then this action on day one is already in breach of international law because it's in breach of the resolution by which action was of course we needed dialogue we need a ceasefire we've got bombs instead the bombs are not necessary for the peace what we need is a cease fire for the peace and that really should be the aim of this mission to the extent that it is not the end of the mission the mission has now become compromised

and should be stopped as soon as possible and is there any way do you think that they'll get gadhafi around the negotiating table i think has to. be very keen to get around to negotiating table to talk about what the future is and how the future could be shaped but the problem is they don't want him there in any condition to say anything other than where do i sign i mean they're looking to bomb him out of power rather than gauging the dialogue to create a new institutions that might more fairly represent the wishes of the libyan people and i think we should give the libyan people a chance to decide for themselves and i'm sure that if you ask the libyan people they would vote for a dialogue between the parties rather than the bombing of the parties they don't want their country to be destroyed by depleted uranium or bombing or occupied by western forces they want their country to be stable and peaceful and for that to happen the violence needs to stop on both sides and from the external side as well i can't know what your answer is going to be given next question but at the end of the day you think the people of libya will thank the coalition forces for intervening. has anyone ever thanked the coalition forces for intervening

except some with her with her with an incredible agenda do the afghanistani thank the coalition forces for intervening to the yugoslav the serbians to the iraqis nobody is grateful for those interventions because those interventions leave the people poor and impoverished and the victims and their countries are destroyed and turned into small states of the global power that isn't something anyone can be grateful for parker says balkans expert always a pleasure to have you on the program thank you. well the coalition acting in libya is made up of nato members but the alliance itself is not officially involved as of yet the europe correspondent for c daniel bushell's in brussels for us tonight where nato is deciding what its role is going to be. we're in day two or two of the nato meeting here in brussels and the first decision yesterday made was to enforce a no fly zone over libya airspace the next is to prevent the use of radar and air

defenses by colonel gadhafi his regime and then to stop the eastward advance of gadhafi into the rebel strongholds now this is where the group problems begin because of course colonel gadhafi does not have to just use he can also use ground troops and the risks the escalation. that is really on all fronts something that really america with this iraq experience doesn't want to get into and only now are they discussing about putting humanitarian issues first of course this was the key idea behind the u.n. resolution authorizing the no fly zone but only now are they talking about humanitarian issues first and that is the reason why there's growing concern here in the e.u. today there was a demonstration and she was demonstration just tells all of this building really the first signs that public opinion is turning against this war effort in what is seen as really cynical and double standards on both sides as the e.u. sides come together italy is offering its bases other countries like golden here

neverland's norway or rules saying they will take part but there is ambivalence there all splits appearing in the range germany abstained from you in vote authorizing a no fly zone it later came out the chancellor angela merkel said that she does support military intervention it's just that germany won't be sending any forces but you get a sign here of the growing devoid within the european community over this military intervention so you push all with the call from brussels there so here's a reminder that all of the latest developments live here on day two of what's going on there multinational forces say they are following the u.n. resolution there by carrying out military strikes in libya the arab league criticize the attacks by the u.s. u.k. and france because they cause civilian deaths russia's also called on international troops to end what is. described as an indiscriminate use of force meanwhile the allies claim they have affectively established the no fly zone over libya

washington says it expects more strikes on the country later as part of the operations and make colonel gadhafi respect the u.n. security council resolution demanding a cease fire for his part gadhafi has vowed a long war against the international coalition libyan officials say at least sixty four people have been killed so far one hundred fifty wounded in the allied assault . you can start today with all the events unfolding in libya on our twitter and facebook pages it's regularly updated there of course also on our you tube page to .

hear the big stories rumbling on japan at the fukushima nuclear plant crews have managed to attach power cables now they say to to the damaged reactors it could be an important breakthrough in efforts to try to prevent a catastrophe at the tsunami hit facility either bennett brings you up to date with the latest. even though they have attached power cables to two reactors reactors one and two there's no guarantee the cooling systems will actually work because they feel the electronics inside those cooling comes and they have been damaged in the earth and all the ensuing explosions at those reactors and so what they're doing is not just turning on extras t. just yet because they feel if they do it could mouth function even more in the pumps and they said that in very wary before starting a power supposed because they really need those plants to work and that's the only realistic way they're going to get the situation under control and the temperatures inside the reactors down what they're doing in the meantime they're still spraying

water into the reactors so good by the department for thirteen hours straight two thousand tons of thought into reactor number three but there's only so much that can do because already this evening we've heard that pressure inside reactor number three is increasing in so they're going to have that vented which means they controlled release of steam but with that release of steam is the escape or radiate radioactive substances as well now as for the radiation in the regions around fukushima we now know that there have been traces the radioactive substances radioactive iodine in fact found in the water systems in the next five neighboring great pictures including in tokyo even says traces of radioactive iodine it's not considered harmful if ingested just yet but will barring is that it's there it wasn't never thought this disaster happened in fukushima the radiation levels inside the water are considered to be harmful what's more it's also spread to food products from the region to taiwan is just reported but it's an important part of

things from japan do contain trace the radiation as well so it's a bit of a wind development there and that the anxiety now is regarding this radiation is now spreading to anger on the streets because today five hundred anti-nuclear protesters joined demonstration and your antiwar demonstrations in tokyo demonstrating against you. paudie holding blackguards calling for the end of nuclear power in japan they're unlikely to have that demand met at the fukushima plant once the situation is under control will certainly be closed because it's being rendered useless now calmly said the spring of what's inside the reactor it's it's a rescue operation is still ongoing but it's more of a salvage operation a search operation now because they don't know if the the chances of finding people alive are pretty slim ninety nine days since the earthquake and tsunami struck having said that they had what's being dubbed a miracle today an eight year old woman and a sixteen year old boy were found alive amongst the rubble in

a town in an iraqi prefecture called missional makea which was one of the worst hit areas at least two people have been found alive in gov the miracle because normally with these sort of things the search and rescue operations following natural disasters like earthquakes this incident after seventy two hours pretty unlikely to find the life five percent survival rate after ninety six hours these people survive for more than double that amount and that was even unseasonably wintry conditions and he said that though the death toll has been steadily rising it's now eight thousand one hundred thirty three and the number of missing is still over twelve thousand. renders figures there but i have a bet it was just a little bit of good news from where everything was going on there one world renowned earthquake expert told us that r t y they also predicted the sheer size of the most powerful earthquake in history before it happened. so you will see several negative factors coincide as first the japanese are perhaps best equipped in the

world against earthquakes as they are living on a continuous seismic hotbed and when they predicted an earthquake but nobody expected to my concern of knowing which is unique and normally magnitude eight is four gust the difference between eight and nine is in the rhythmic scale for each digit increment means a ten time increase of energy so that nature played a mean joke with them before the eleventh march quake a quake on the ninth of march in the same zone was considerably weaker only seven point seven which is still big. they decided the forecast had been fulfilled and they relaxed a much stronger quake occurred soon afterwards. i didn't find out what other bad surprises nature could be keeping up its sleeve for the years ahead the full interview with kenny roshan and the textile this challenge is to come from moscow this sunday night the twentieth of march.

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