rebels take a key oil town in libya from. claims of over one hundred civilians. the libyan government accuses coalition forces of taking sides from some team posing a no fly zone. actively helping the fighters on the ground. hundreds of thousands of people are converging on london to cry out against the government expected to be the largest demo of the country period in you. and in japan emergency teams are battling to stabilize the crippled nuclear plant amid reports the highly radioactive water is leaking from.

live from moscow now libyan rebels say they have regained control of the strategic oil town of. forces comes as the country's officials claim that over one hundred people were killed in the opening days of the coalition's strikes which have now lasted a week meanwhile nato is gearing up to replace the u.s. lead in the campaign. now has the latest from the capital. the capital city of tripoli is essentially in lockdown we're hearing now that within two days fuel supplies here might very well run out we're also hearing of chill teachers in food and water now for seven straight nights the city has come under fire from those airstrikes from the coalition the residents here are very very frightened many of them are choosing not to go to work to spend their days at home barricaded

in their homes because they are very frightened in terms of what will happen in the coming days now the state television is reporting that more than one hundred people have been killed if that's the figure at one hundred and fourteen people killed and some four hundred and forty five wounded in the first four days of a strikes it's not making clear whether or not it's talking about civilian deaths or fighters and certainly it is proving quite difficult to differentiate between the two here in tripoli we are hearing from rebels in the town of agita they have advanced there from benghazi and they said that they've been coming across civilian bodies women and children in the road but they're too it's difficult to discern whether the bodies were killed by coalition airstrikes or whether they were killed by gadhafi forces we are hearing from the rebels themselves that they have now taken over the town of they said that into the town through the eastern part and that gadhafi is men are now on the perimeter some two kilometers west of the city but we are hearing from rebels complains that they do not have enough weaponry or

sufficient enough weaponry to take on the heavy weaponry of gadhafi soldiers these reports have not been confirmed by the libyan army itself so we are very much relying on what the rebels are telling us but certainly if they have taken over this town it is a significant step in them being able to recapture towns and cities they lost in the last week we need to remember that this time last week it was a very real fear that the time of benghazi would be overthrown by gadhafi from him the situation on the ground though is such that it's taken the rebels a week to get this far so many people asking the question well for just how much longer is the international community going to be involved. in this conflict if indeed the rebels are struggling to actually advance with words back over land that they've already taken there was a press conference that was held here by the libyan government and their government was extremely critical of the coalition airstrikes and says that they are not simply targeting neutral sites they say that the coalition is not interested in only enforcing

a no fly zone but that they very much involved in actually aiding the rebels on the ground so this begs the question in terms of what will be the next step from the international community despite the fact that we hear the international community insisting that it's actually not going to get involved in terms of foot soldiers but the sense of the urgency on the ground here or more from what we're hearing from the rebels and certainly the criticism coming out of the tripoli government puts the suggestion on the table that there might be something that might be under consideration now nato is officially supposed to take command of enforcing this no fly zone on sunday but we're hearing criticisms from paris and other countries they're a little bit cautious in terms of how this will work on the ground in south rebel fighters also concerned that now that you have an enlarged leadership calling the shots essentially it will be a lot more difficult to carry out intensive united fighting on the ground the african union is coming to the party in terms of trying to facilitate some kind of dialogue between rebels and the libyan government they have been against a foreign involvement from the beginning and according to

a libyan delegation to the african union be here that gadhafi might be considering some kind of i mean a tease he might be prepared to meet with the rebels and possibly even call for early elections but the rebels themselves are denied this hour flight number one they don't believe it and number two they simply say that nothing short of gadhafi actually stepping down from power is something that they would consider. his policy reporting colonel gadhafi troops exchanged fire with rebels and coalition forces continue their strikes many libyans are fleeing their homes hundreds of thousands have already become refugees in the ongoing violence and more are expected to join them. going off now reports from the libyan egyptian border. so far the humanitarian situation hasn't really improved much thousands of people are continuing to flee libya each day looking for safety and better living conditions the main flow of refugees is on libya as

a western border with tunisia but many people are going to egypt as well we met this family we were from. they said that to be humanitarian situation in the city is critical at the moment they were saying how they're not actually fleeing because their home has been destroyed the zone feel safe there anymore and said that they were going to wait out here in egypt as he was going on there maybe come back when the things settle down when it comes to egypt actually even many towns and cities in the egyptian libyan border security has been strengthened there also there have been changes on the egyptian will be of water itself here as just several weeks ago it was patrolled basically only by egyptian border guards or people who are letting people in and out of the country now it's being patrolled by both sides there are representatives of the so-called national police in the libya hole so checking

documents of the people that are going through the border so maybe the opposition is gaining some more. some more control over the situation and perhaps just simply discipline them but judging by these figures spells of refugees each day and in total according to the u.n. over three hundred thousand people have already fled libya the situation hasn't improved much and to all of the whole military operation by the alliance which was to improve the lives of ordinary people and make it safer for ordinary people to live there at the moment in libya that still has not been changed unfortunately. you're going to miss going to reporting you'll find all correspondence first hand accounts on libya on our twitter feed and facebook page have a look right now and. they got this one off the tweet from the ground all the latest developments you can get the updates on civilian deaths the ongoing military

campaign. comes to follow the breaking news from our correspondents you can also find us on the updated page study on. what america has faced criticism for intervening in libya overlooking violence in other countries in the arab world political writer john walsh says the u.s. foreign policy in that region is completely inconsistent it is not about protecting the people or human rights because in egypt when people were being shot during the initial phases of the rebellion they're described as a good friend of the family the united states has taken no action bahrain it's a matter of fact at the same time this is going on. israeli planes are bombing bombing people. you know just enough it's not about human rights it seems to me that it's. interior arrogance and human finally the united states does not

need that oil it's not about oil it does not fit in with the united states master plan to dominate the middle east for purposes of oil and israel so it doesn't make sense it's a pasturing on the part of people so powerful they have no no no carrot for their consequences i think gadhafi and the world are going to take a lesson from this khadafi gave up its weapons get out of the trust in the west and look what's happened. the america's present position at the helm of the campaign has already led to a spike in and he will sentiment on home soil the highest recorded surge in decades that's according to a new gallup poll. he's a guy nature can reports the title of the operation could spell a long and painful conflict for the u.s. coalition is calling this operation odyssey dawn odyssey dawn odyssey dawn what's

in a name the names that the u.s. previously gave to his campaign is kind of make more sense like desert storm in the gulf war or operation enduring freedom ring of gametes then or iraqi freedom but obviously dawn on top of making no sense as a combination of words in itself if you interpret it it actually means something really lengthy in time or the word don could it possibly imply that what we have now is just the beginning we talked to the u.s. command in africa that was tasked to come up with two words and they say the title does not mean anything what happened is there is a group of planning officers led by lieutenant colonel the sit down in the early days of planning it came up and looked at the list and they decided to call it odyssey just because they like the sound of odyssey. the second part of the word and the second part of the nickname is basically chosen at random but amid the growing confusion that americans have over the alternate goal that their government pursues in the oil rich north african country the title suggests different

interpretations the title is confused and says the operation so is the public understanding of the operation so i think it's all it's all very confusing what's really unhappy is that if you think about the odyssey it's the story about these people wandering around the mediterranean for ten years not able to find their way and that seems exactly the wrong metaphor for what what they want to convey about this president obama said the u.s. will be in and out of leave yet in no time. the name odyssey dawn seems to be an odd choice for a quick operation considering a this is is ten year journey to return home after a ten year war it in some ways represents the lack of clarity as to what the objective of the mission is if americans in their own hearts could call it something it would be operation here today gone tomorrow for many in the u.s. odyssey dawn has become a joke polloi odyssey dawn. nearly name a combat operation after a yes album i want to see don. that's not

a military operation that's a carnival cruise ship i don't want and i was thinking. i know her but not only do most u.s. comedians poke fun at the name of the operation they also best express the growing public prostration over the u.s. involvement poll showing the last four decades americans disapproval of a military action has never been as high as it is now with the levy intervention the pentagon saying that. the activities in libya that we're only going to be in for a short time and then we're pulling out and they are many times where that our ladies were at war. oh do you many fear like homer's odysseus it may take the u.s. years to finish the journey. was going to check out our t. washington d.c. . well as the debate over the operations and name continues we are engaging

opinions on the legitimacy of the intervention in libya a little bit later this hour here on r.t. we head to new york where web journalist laurie huffman asked has been out on the streets to find out what the people there think about it. we do sides we don't know what the opposition forces we don't know if they're communists we don't know if they're democratic all we're saying is don't bomb them with heavy duty weapons when they have just pistols when the other countries the allies freed us from the from the nazi party that it was ok. but the modern was always with had with economic reasons then i don't think it's ok. a multinational coalition is leading the intervention in libya but as aunties and military contributor says the country's future should be stand by its neighboring

arab states libya in a slow mo dissembling from autocracy into a slow mo couse puts united states president in a very precarious situation when despite all the reasons he'll do the emotions of theories and authorized the humanitarian disaster slowly unfolding in libya mr obama should have shift leadership responsibility from the united states not to the bickering made to allies but a joint venture of arab league and african union and to persuade them that the future of libya. and the whole region is incumbent upon the lead neighbors the one thing there's never a change the humanitarian intent of the us foreign policy whether

it is live by a republican administration or democratic one at the end of the day it will also boil down to one cold war oil. without you life in moscow where it's now or just after quarter past the hour hundreds of thousands of people from across the u.k. gathering in london to voice their anger over the government's proposed massive slashes to public spending to protest against the eighty billion pound austerity cuts is expected to become britain's largest in years laura matters of the heart of the demo now joins us live let's cross over to more and hello to you i can see that you've managed to separate yourself a little bit from the protesters there were reports of thousands in attendance but you've had a man a chance to to mingle with some of them what are they saying at the moment. i have three i'm here in hyde park at the heart of the demonstration where we're expecting

more and more people to arrive throughout the afternoon they gathered around a mile and a half away from us now on the thames embankment and we hear reports that they're still arriving in the park we're hearing reports also that i mean the organizers of this demonstration were very coy about saying how many people they expect says they estimated around one hundred thousand people we're now hearing reports of four hundred thousand people gathered in london not just here in hyde park but as i say all the way down the embankment to protest against these cuts that people from a huge range of different interests groups different parts of society i've spoken to a few of them i've spoken to pensioners who are here to protest against changes in the way the pensions will be distributed there are also quite a lot of young families here and they're protesting against the cutting of provisions for young children and of course the thing that started all this series of demonstrations in the first place which is cuts to university education they want to protect their children's future to make sure their children don't have to

pay triple the amount to go to university when they go as students today do and there are also people from the police of course there are four and a half thousand police protecting and taking charge of this demonstration today but there are also members of the police force actually marching in the protest because of proposed cuts to policing across the country and of course there's a huge faction from the antiwar brigade if you like from stop the war from c n d and they're saying that there's been a whole new dimension added to this series of protests that we've seen which is that the u.k. is now leading the charge into a whole new war in libya earlier i spoke to john reads from the stop the war coalition and here's what he had to say. if we were to stop the wars in afghanistan i'm tired only be we would have. very very last portion of the british government's deficit dealt with a single blow we were told in the very first night of the attack on libya over one

hundred cruise missiles were fired at those cruise missiles one hundred million dollars worth all the resources blown up every day with every single weapon that doesn't take a large amount of imagination for people here to calculate how many places at universities that would mean how many libraries that would mean how many hospitals about which mean so i think it's very very graphic people have people here what the financial cost of places. now here in hyde park where i am this is a large city well it is a peaceful demonstration a very family atmosphere you might have been able to hear a brass band just playing in the background there but we are hearing reports from other sites the other side of town of minor scuffles there has been breakaway groups from the main process who have tried to get into downing street they've taken over bits of piccadilly circus as well and there's also a group that has gone to oxford street and is smashing apparently the windows of

shops that we've also heard a statement from scotland yard just in the last couple of minutes that processed this is throwing light bulbs filled with ammonia at the police force now we don't know how widespread that unrest is at the moment we've certainly had heard a lot of police sirens and there's a huge police presence here in london today but we'll be tracking that through the course of the afternoon there's also a little bit later movement schools tathra to trafalgar which wants to harness the power of those protesters that we still are in terrorist square and bring them to trafalgar square make it really a center of of people power that proposing a twenty four hour oaky patient of trafalgar square so again we'll be checking that as it as it progresses. of the reporting from the hyde park in london and as you were reporting we were looking at some live pictures there of just one of the thousands of people of protestors demonstrators in central london want to see how they compare to the student protests over november december two thousand and ten already looks like the numbers are going to war in comparison he said laura and i

thank you. of radiation levels in the c.n.a. japan's fukushima nuclear plant have spiked to more than a thousand times the norm it's been over two weeks now since the devastating earthquake and tsunami which caused the accident at the facility the official death toll from the disaster stands at over ten thousand people with many more missing or homeless emergency teams still struggling to control the situation at the stricken fukushima nuclear plant several workers sustained a radiation burns while installing cables as part of efforts to restore the critical cooling systems nuclear energy experts say the damage to the site is having a dangerous effect on the environment and to people's health. i think it's catastrophic i think that the narrative that we've had for the last week or so which is that we're trying to fix the problem or get it under control is misleading i think that there's evidence of radiation having entered the in my arm and in large amounts it's turning up in lots of places in water and food it's even being detected far

away what this could mean is that there is really a significant entry of radiation going on into the environment right now and that there doesn't appear to be any and he said any halt to it in the near future so that's very catastrophic this is not something that is a situation that may get out of control this is a situation that is having a catastrophic impact currently already i would say in significantly dangerous there's been high levels of radiation detected out of the twenty kilometer limit already in what you have it when you have radiation levels of that of that level is that in a week or two you'll have people that are experiencing the radiation exposure of nuclear plant workers and you know over the course of their career and these are people in a situation where there's been an earthquake there's been a tsunami there's a shortage of food there's a shortage of water so their health is already stressed their bodies are already stressed they may not be in heated homes at night they may not be getting elect.

city so the impact of these exposures will be even larger. so that to receive in the course of a week or two the exposures the nuclear plant workers receive in their entire lives is rather dire and these people should not be allowed to remain in such an exposure area and that was a nuclear energy expert dr jacobs speaking at that. well there are always many more stories on in-depth analysis on our website that's dot com and including there you'll find the enemy within three how immigrants in the u.s. descended on georgia's state capital outraged new legislation that they claim infringes on their rights. and turning off a first for our cities around the world we plunged into darkness tonight as they switch off their lights in a show of support for the fight against global. are now let's have a look at some other international news making headlines around the world this hour

unrest is mounting across the arab world in syria the pressure is increasing on president bashar assad at least twenty three protesters were killed on friday during a violent crackdown on anti-government demonstrations in the southern city. tear gas was also used against angry crowds in the capital damascus last week twenty five people died as state troops come down on protests tens of thousands turned out for the subsequent funeral march was. in yemen the country's foreign minister says he hopes for a deal on a transfer of power on saturday that comes off as president saleh announced he is ready to pass his role into. the legal step down by the years and after elections the country has seen two months since the government protests with the two demonstrators last week. in jordan two people have been beaten to death after pro-government loyalists attacked a vigil in the capital more than one hundred protesters all of whom were students

were wounded in the clashes forces used water jets to disperse over two thousand demonstrators who were calling for reforms and more efforts to fight corruption. the number of people killed by a strong earthquake in me in amman has increased to seventy five with more than one hundred injured many of the victims died when their homes were buried in a landslide. triggered by thursday night's trauma hundreds of houses and buddhist monasteries and government building absolutely strong aftershocks were also called in the thailand and vietnam. war now for some more on our top story it's been a week since coalition forces intervened in libya and there's a growing international concern about whether the action is justified journalist lori also known as the resident collected a stop short of opinion from the streets of new york.

as the situation in libya heats up foreign militaries are starting to get more involved should they be this week let's talk about that do you think we could ever know what it's like for the libyans there but we didn't choose sides we don't know what the opposition forces we don't know if they're communists we don't know if they are democratic or saying is don't bomb them with heavy duty weapons when they have just pistols i think it's ok to send troops to leave. i don't want to become a second iraq or something there. so do you support your country's decision to stay out of it i understand germany's decision because of course with our history when it's really difficult for us to send our troops to other countries how would you feel about another country coming into your country depends on the motive when they the other countries the allies freed us from the from the nazi party that it was ok . but the modern war so to say always with paired with

economic reasons then i don't think it's ok there's so many uprisings going on in the middle east why are foreign countries getting involved in libya yeah that's a good question. i mean i think it's really important that the united nations backs war like this or an attack and perhaps we should get involved. do you think the world has a plan for what comes next in libya probably not. but probably not though you think they should if they're going to go in there and try to oust the leader i think we have to if it's going to be a democracy obviously and that's what i'm going towards have to have to put in place elections in the nature but other than that it. it's a tough question to answer because you see what's going on over there and and you. it's kind of hard not to want to help whether or not you think foreign military intervention in libya is right the bottom line is that at this point world leaders

seem determined to get involved. all right i'll be back with the latest headlines offer a short break to stay with us. well for the. years after millions for slate the flames of speech race original

like grim new rockets need to do more in sight private companies now enter the flight to explore the cosmos skin very bright speciously one technology of. the future covered. roles in. the global economy. to name two. for the full story we've focused on the biggest issue. face to face with the new.

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