continues with claims of over one hundred civilian deaths. the libyan government accuses coalition forces of taking sides. posing a no fly zone. to be helping on the ground. russia's a top general says the coalition's strikes on libya. and it's likely the ground troops soon be on their way. hundreds of thousands of people are converging in london. the government cuts in what's expected to be the largest the country's experienced in years. in japan emergency teams battling to

stabilize the crippled fukushima nuclear plant and reports that highly radioactive water is leaking from its reactors. here with live from moscow libyan rebels say they've regained control of the strategic oil town of from colonel gadhafi forces it comes as the country's officials claim that over one hundred people were killed in the opening days of the coalition strikes which have now lasted one week meanwhile and nato is gearing up to replace the u.s. and leading the campaign. the latest from. they should be in lockdown we're hearing now that within two days fuel supplies here might very well run out we're also hearing of shortages 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 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 adj ws 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 is strikes 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 that they lost in the last week we need to remember that this time last week it was a very real fear that the town of benghazi would be overthrown by gadhafi some in 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 wolf of just how much longer is the international community going to be involved in this conflict if indeed the river. 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 it says that they are not simply targeting neutral sites they say that the coalition is not interested in any 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 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 a little bit cautious in terms of how this will work on the ground itself rebel fighters are 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 foreign involvement from the beginning and according to a libyan delegation to the african union did you hear 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 elections but the rebels themselves have 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. reporting . that after his troops exchange fire with rebels on the coalition forces are continuing 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 at all to use it you got pissed off reports from the libyan 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 of the 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 see what's going on there maybe come back when the things settle down when it comes to egypt actually many towns and cities in the egyptian libyan border security has been really strengthened there also there have been changes on the egyptian would be in voter itself if we hear of 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 thousands 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 the goal 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 . do you go to prison or reporting where you'll find our correspondents firsthand

accounts on libya on our twitter and facebook page these are for slayer and you go to a tweet from the ground with all the latest developments just search for r.t. underscore comments and follow our breaking news from our reporters you can also find us on facebook so do stay updated on our page. from the danish institute for international studies says this operation in libya is proving to be another key test for the e.u. and nato and there's no sign of how it will end. it is fair to say that there finitely there there is no clear understanding of what the endgame of this mission is supposed to be clearly all the big gambled aspirations about the e.u. playing the foreign and security policy role here are really being discredited i mean if there was one sealed and one a battleground where the e.u. should have proven its own visions this is precisely its backyard and clearly you

are seeing that this is not working and then of course the other issue is that who is left to do the job and then we are back at the old cold war style alliance that is the nato option if the idea of ground troops becomes actual their objective would become regime change rather than protecting the civilian population if ground troops are not considered the only other option by enforcing the no fly zone is really to try and give the opposition a fair chance to or thrown gadhafi by their own means so there we are in a whole different ball game as to looking at various options for supporting the opposition but clearly ground troops is not one of them and i think the libyan opposition or whoever is speaking for them at the moment has been quite clear about that they don't want western ground troops on the ground. well russia's top general

says the coalition's aerial operation in libya has brought no results so it might not be long before ground troops are sent and russia's envoy to nato meanwhile believes the alliance could find itself involved in another major war like what they have in afghanistan and in iraq right now we'll get more from our correspondent is really going to go to bring us up to date not exactly a ringing endorsement from the russian officials that no course not absolutely as you have said on saturday. russia russia russia said of the staff general by the pirates and said. judging by what's going on in libya at the moment the coalition forces are failing to delivery or at missing their role and the air strikes are not so great with the help there or he fears that ground operation is actually very likely to interest the sleep that's given his statements are being told by bursts out way too late it was just saying that it's. just about what he's hearing and

brussels and by the way the close leaders are behaving and the things they're saying it does look like on the crease is very likely to be conducted in the future and if that does happen that would be to reconcile eaten up security council resolution which does not say this does not sleep with the crowd. i think around the place they feel now and how much this points a leader says that he believes there are two things at play first lady who is going to be under pressure from the united states to carry out the ground operation in libya or in any other deal with an african state and he'll suppose it is something that he calls the plan to solitary tea that is at play here and he believes also that. this will be it is yet a third failing war and this is this these are his words four days away and as destiny for the united states in addition to the ongoing operations in iraq and afghanistan. now we also have to remember that the opposition leader of the

opposition forces in libya themselves up asked i think all this of course is not to get involved in any ground operation they did take them and carrying out airstrikes they say believe had been damaging to the doctors seem that they have written a letter to the heads of the coalition asking them to restrain from ground racing and also there have been some reports in russian media that according to you know they didn't hide the source of russia's intelligence the troops or the ground operation the u.s. troops and nato troops already here how ready been given the green light by that they are officials and according to that they're gathered that's my source the ground recently started in libya around april or early on this year still whether or not that actually will come to be if it will will come about we of course have to wait and see all or even if so the green light has been given we know the latest count is at least four thousand u.s. marines and sailors are on standby to march into libya party's course when i mean i

can assure thank you. but america has a present position at the helm of the campaign has already led to a spike in the war sentiment on home soil the highest recorded surge in decades this according to a new gallup poll and it's obvious that guy nature can reports the title of the operation could spell a long and painful conflict for the united states. 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 campaigns kind of make more sense like desert storm in the gulf war or operation enduring freedom and of gametes then or iraqi freedom but on a sea dawn on top of making no sense as a combination of words in itself if we interpret it it actually means something really lengthy in time or the word done 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 a lieutenant colonel to 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 or 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 of title is confused and so is the operation and 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

entourage 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 don has become a joke following odyssey dawn. nearly no combat operation after a yes album i want to see don't one. that's not a military operation that's a carnival cruise ship i don't want and i was thinking oh 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 libyan convention

the pentagon saying that the activities in libya that were only going to be in for a short time and then were 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. . the operations name continues we are gauging opinions on the legitimacy of the intervention in libya. we head to new york. streets to find out what people think about. we don't know what the opposition forces we don't know if they're communists we don't know. just the other countries. that it was

ok. with economic reasons. it's ok. hundreds of thousands of people from across the u.k. are gathering in london to voice the government's proposed massive public spending the protest against the billion pound austerity cuts is expected to become britain's largest in years laura. laura i can see you separate yourself from the thousands of people who are marching through central london the hyde park where you are right now but we've seen a massive police presence in central london here we are looking at live pictures right now they're being fierce the protests. any any sign of that kind of unrest. well i'm here in hyde park. taking place.

elsewhere in. the story is very different this is really. just to travel. up to five hundred thousand people participating in this march and a little bit. around full thousand people on oxford street which is london's main shopping streets and the police are trying to employ the controversial tactic of cataloging them say keeping them in a confined space that they can't do any damage at the police they're also dressed in riot gear but nevertheless people have been smashing windows they smashed the windows at the ritz hotel and also in a variety of shops along the streets and we hear that fourteen people have been injured during that protesters are throwing paint bombs they're throwing flares

that police and they're also using dustbins as projectiles and we've also heard just to seriously that waitresses have been throwing ammonia at police which could potentially blind and there's also as i say this huge peaceful demonstration behind me this is a demonstration that has been planned in the planning stages for months since december and there are people from oval to life who have turned out to demonstrate against these cuts that the government wants to introduce a very very short period of time maybe just four years and it will save lives this demonstration went into the planning stages back at the end of last year there's a whole new dimension and that is of course that the u.k. is now leading the charge into this new rule in libya there are estimates that the u.k. alone is spending up to four and a half million dollars a day on this military intervention in libya now earlier i spoke to john research from the stop the war coalition and he told me why he thought it was so important to turn out today to protest against that his that hit here. if we were to stop the

wars in afghanistan and the attack on libya we would have a 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 for those cruise missiles or one hundred million dollars were all resources blown up every day with every single weapon that doesn't take a large amount over much of a. for people here. so many places at universities that would mean. that would be. mean so i think it's very very graphic the people here. this is. a whole new dimension to this protest now that the u.k. is involved in. people here also drawing on the strength of scene in the middle east does it. bring the power

of. talking about. the isn't a b.s. . london is not the only place seeing protests over the past two days we've seen protests in brussels people. angry over a potential bailout of portugal once again here we are seeing live pictures on from central london it would seem that some of the crowds have dispersed to northern areas and possibly to the hyde park area but whatever the case we'll keep you posted on this. live from london thank you. for japan's government has criticized the operator of the radiation leaking fukushima nuclear plant for its efforts to control the crisis it comes amid reports warnings two years earlier of the danger of a tsunami posed to the plant were ignored it's been over two weeks now since the devastating earthquake and tsunami which caused the accident. the official death

toll from the disaster over ten thousand people with many more missing or homeless emotions the teams are still struggling to control the situation at the fukushima nuclear plant workers sustained 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 both the environment and out of 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 and get it under control is misleading i think that there's evidence of radiation having entered the in my room 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 says 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 and 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 electricity so the impact of these exposures will be even larger. so they. do 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. that was nuclear energy expert dr robert jacobson speaking right here and there always are more stories and in-depth analysis on our website that's r.t. dot com including the enemy. immigrants in the u.s. descended on georgia's state capital new legislation that they claim infringes on their rights. and turning off. our cities around the world will be plunged into darkness tonight as they switch off the lights in a show of support for the fight against global warming. right now let's have a look at some other international news making headlines around the world this hour and a syrian human rights activist says that over two hundred political prisoners have been released in the country the pressure increases on president bashar assad in the southern city of thousands of protesters are out on the streets the ruling

baath party headquarters has now been burned in nearby hundreds have been demanding the president step down on friday at least twenty three protesters were killed in the city during a violent crackdown on demonstrators. in yemen the country's foreign minister says he hopes for a deal on the transfer of power on saturday that comes after president announced he is ready to party as roll into trustworthy hands the legal step down by the years after elections the country has seen two months of antigovernment protests with fifty two demonstrators shot last. number of people killed by a strong earthquake in. seventy five with more than one hundred injured many of the victims died when their homes were buried in a landslide triggered by the tremor hundreds of houses buddhist monasteries and government buildings were damaged strong aftershocks were felt in thailand laos and

vietnam. well now for some more on our top story this week since coalition forces intervene in libya and there is growing international concern over whether the action is justified journalist also known as the president collected a snapshot 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 been 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 but. 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 with three 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. 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 and 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 a war like this or an attack and perhaps we should get involved in more countries 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 oh i think we have to if it's going to be a democracy obviously and that's one going towards have to go have to put in put in place elections and exact nature but other than that it at the time it's a tough question to answer because you see what's going on over there and you and. 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. but i do stay with us for a recap of the hour's top stories here in our. spotlight coming your way in just a few minutes.

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