backed by coalition airstrikes rebel forces in libya claim they've made more ground against colonel gadhafi forces. tripoli accuses the international community of taking sides and says as far as coalition partners go far from protecting civilians they're harming them on policy in the capital city join me in a few moments for more. russia's top general says the coalition's strikes on libya have brought no results and it's likely that ground troops will soon be deployed. hundreds of thousands of people have converged on london to try out against deep government cuts and the largest demonstration the country's experienced in years.

this is our team here in the russian capital with twenty four hours a day libyan rebels are claiming they've made further advances on the east of the country they say they've retaken another oil town off to regain control of the strategic oil hub of from colonel gadhafi forces it comes as the country's officials claim over one hundred people were killed in the opening days of the coalition strikes which have now lost a week or two's paula slim now reports from the capital tripoli. the rebels have taken the town of which is a strategically oil important town in eastern libya it is some one hundred and sixty kilometers from benghazi benghazi of course being the heartbeat of the rebel revolution the word coming through now though is that they were advancing beyond edge ws and that they were around the perimeter of brit ago which is some forty kilometers further on that much closer to the capital city of tripoli inside edge deb yet there are massive celebrations as can well be expected this is an important

town because it is the gateway to the oil reserves in the eastern half of this country now we're hearing though from the libyan government from the deputy foreign minister that the international community far from being neutral is taking sides in this conflict he went so far as to accuse them of siding with the rebels in the sense that there is strikes are actually causing this advancement and these claims have been backed up by the rebels themselves he is also warning that the longer the coalition powers remain involved the longer this operation will be torn out so essentially what he is saying is that the international community argued that it started this operation because it wanted to protect civilian lives but for the more time that this operation continues the more civilians are likely to be killed and we already know that some one hundred fourteen people were killed and more than four hundred fifty five in just the first four days of a strike so no doubt that figure is safe to climb a very different picture emerging from the western part of this country around the

town of misrata now there that this town has been held onto by the rebels for some time now it was the last town in the waste of this country that the rebels actually still maintain some kind of control we have now good that gadhafi forces have entered on the buses smarties of into the city on the western side and we've been hearing for days now that gadhafi is in and operating in a city in plain clothes using civilian cars we're hearing increasingly more and more reports like this now the american president barack obama says that he is satisfied with. this operation he said that it has saved many civilian lives but a very different would coming out of tripoli the libyan leader moammar gadhafi saying that he is promoting those of his soldiers who have been involved in this fight for their heroic efforts against the crusader enemies among the rebels themselves there is growing concern because the understanding is that as soon as you have the twenty eight member alliance calling the shots it's a muckle difficult to have robust stringent action on the ground so we are hearing

the stirrings of concern that as the rebels call for more weapons as they call for more airstrikes which is indeed what they are calling for and again that is why many here are starting to wonder just how long this operation is going to go on for if indeed the international community responds to those kind of course the rebels themselves also recently organized they have a very light within reach compared to the weaponry that gadhafi forces are using so people get very much suspecting that if the international community is going to remain involved in this conflict in what might need to be on the weapons and there's even the stirrings of the suggestions here in tripoli that despite the fact that that u.n. resolution one ninety seven three clearly said that they would be no ground forces it also said that they would be the use of what miss a series of measures which is why some people here in tripoli are beginning to suggest that that might mean the eventual deployment of ground forces now the african union is one of the latest bodies to come to the party they were against a military intervention from the start but they're now calling to facilitate peace

talks between both sides the libyan delegation to the african union has said that the deficit is prepared to make some concessions he might even go so far as to call for you but opposition leaders are rejecting this out find they do not believe the libyan leader and also they say that they will have nothing to do with him short of him actually stepping out of the political climate so they really want moammar gadhafi gone from the political atmosphere but if indeed these claims are correct in terms of the concessions he's prepared to make the international community again faces a whole host of questions how then can it argue. continuing with its operation if indeed it did need is put paid to meet some of the concessions that have been demanded of him. ortiz paullus leader there in tripoli well as colonel gadhafi troops exchange far with rebels and the coalition forces continue their strikes many libyans are fleeing their homes hundreds of thousands of already become refugees in the ongoing violence and more are expected to join them as often as you go to peace cannot 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 the western border with tunisia but many people are going to egypt as well we met this family they 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 things settle down when it comes to egypt actually many towns and cities in the egyptian libyan border security has been strengthened there also there have been changes on the egyptian will be in voter itself if we hear that 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 whole 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 . by the way you'll find our correspondents first hand accounts on libya on our

twitter feed and facebook page parties paula. you just saw there few moments ago they're keeping us updated with all the latest developments from where they are at the moment the search for underscore com to follow breaking news from those correspondents their interview you can also find us on facebook. on our page party . 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 conclude. it is fair to say that definitely there is no clear understanding of what the endgame of this mission is supposed to be clearly all the big air mold 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 on missions because 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 there 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 and still 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 of 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 in russia's envoy to nato meanwhile believes the annoyance could find itself involved in another major war along with afghanistan and iraq. has this report. the head of rushes the chief of staff general in the climate of did say that in his opinion the operation conducted by the coalition forces in libya is failing and that most most likely they will have to resort to use of ground troops and be and if that happens that will be a direct violation of the u.n. security council resolution which does not permit that sort of involvement in libya general makarios sentiments were echoed by the opinion of russia's envoy to nato meter goes and who did say that by what he's hearing and observing in brussels it does look like nato officials are also thinking in terms of the ground of very soon

as the most likely result of the ongoing situation in libya there also there's also information coming from the united states navy that around four thousand sailors and marines have been shipped off to the mediterranean in order to assist the ongoing operation in libya at the moment at the same time a state department also made a statement on saturday saying that the united states is not going to participate in ground operation in libya mr goes into russia is going to nato is saying that the operation nevertheless will take place on the ground and that is because the coalition and nato are caving in under the pressure from the united states and if that actually will have a result on the situation in libya it forces will be on the ground that that will. hinder goes into opinion that will put the united states into a third losing war that's alongside iraq and afghanistan also the the the heads of the opposition of their position forces in libya themselves have

thanks the coalition for the airstrikes which they believe are helping to undermine the conduct his regime but they have asked the coalition and major to refrain from putting troops on the ground so we have to see if that call will actually go unheeded by the coalition and nato or whether they will listen and comply with their resolution and. with a request from the libyan opposition. america's present position at the helm of the campaign has already led to a rise and he was sentiment on home soil the highest recorded surge in decades that's according to a new gallup poll and this is going to come 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 its campaigns kind of make more sense like desert storm in the gulf war or operation enduring freedom mean of gametes then or iraqi freedom but

odyssey 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 a lieutenant colonel the sit down in the early days of planning he came out 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 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 following odyssey dawn. nearly name a 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. 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 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. many fear like homer's odysseus it may take the u.s. years to finish the journey. is going to check out our t. washington d.c. . well as the debate over the operations name continues we're gauging opinions on the legitimacy of the intervention in libya and a little later this hour we head to new york where web journalist laurie hall from

this has been out on the streets to find out what people there think. we. 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 when the other countries the allies freed us from the from the nazi party that it was ok. but the modern was always with paired with economic reasons. i don't think it's ok. hundreds of thousands of people from across the u.k. gathered in london to voice their anger over the government's proposed massive slashes to public spending the protest against the eighty billion pound austerity cuts has become britain's largest india's. reports now from the heart of the ranee . what does it open the peaceful demonstration here in london on saturday has

turned into this hundreds of college close demonstrations gathered scale in piccadilly with the police using a controversial closing off technique that's not become known as catholic these demonstrations move down the street earliest smashing everything in their cars they smashed up the win days of expensive shops banks cash machines all sorts of buildings with that when they smashed out kate told you that they now hanging on into the evening they are just a few around about five hundred we estimate on the huff a million demonstrators who took to the streets of london today but nevertheless possibly it may be saying that these are the ones that will make them based impacts the ones that were way from the main right set on the ones that cause quite a significant amount of damage in the city of london of a whole new dimension it's been added to this process in recent days with the military intervention the person is now performing in libya had to make that war

and a half million dollars a day is being spent on bombing libya and the people here are angry about that angry that the government says it's got a money and yet at the same time it's entered into another expensive or it won't pull out earlier i spoke to joan priest of the stop the full coalition and he told me why he thought it was important to come down and present some say if we were to stop the wars in afghanistan and the attack on libya we would have a very very last portion of the government's deficit dealt with a single blow to total in livery for snoring fifty attackers appear over one hundred cruise missiles were for those cruise missiles or one hundred million dollars worth all resources blowed up everything with every single weapon that the take a larger fire over imagination for people here to calculate how many places a university stuff would mean how many libraries that would mean for the hospitals . that would mean so i think it's very very graphic brought home to people here

what the financial cost of this is i think they largely peaceful demonstration here in london on saturday but it may be the people here the people who are putting the damage to the people who have who are believed to get dressed up in that riot gave us during that during that very tough been thievin anything they can get their hands on that believe it may be these people here who have the most impact and you make them a overriding and lasting impression on the government and of course on the fact of how this protest is proceeded on saturday. in london to japan where the government has criticized the operator of the radiation leaking fukushima nuclear plant for its efforts to control the crisis it comes amid reports of research as warnings two years earlier of the danger 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 at the facility efficient death toll from the disaster stands at over ten thousand people with many

more missing or homeless emergency teams are still struggling to control the situation at the stricken nuclear plant several 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 the environment and 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 been in some of radiation having entered the environment 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 any any hope to it in the near future so very that's . 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 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 and one thing 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 these people should not be allowed to remain in such an exposure area. and that was nuclear energy expert dr robert jacobs by the way there are

always more stories and in-depth analysis on our web site at r.t. dot com online all the including no way back home a u.s. soldier could face the death penalty for desert unless he gets political asylum in germany also on the web site of the moment russian lawmakers have passed a new rule for themselves so now there's to be no mini skirts no low cut tops and even no smoking in the state dinner. time now to have a look at some other international news making headlines this hour first to yemen where the country's president has reportedly rejected opposition demands for his immediate resignation comes after the foreign minister said earlier that he hoped a deal on the transfer of power would be reached shortly president saleh has previously offered to step down by the year's end after elections he voted to say he is ready to pass on his role but only in two trustworthy hands the country seemed to mention anti-government protesters fifty two demonstrations shot last

week. syrian human rights activist says over two hundred political prisoners have been released in the country this is pressure increases from president bashar al assad in the southern city of toughness thousands of protesters have been out in the streets and the ruling baath party headquarters was torched along with a police station nearby talking or three people were reportedly killed when police opened fire on demonstrators on friday at least twenty three protesters were killed in the city during a violent crackdown. seven civilians including three children have been killed in a nato air strike in southern afghanistan five others were injured a car believed to be carrying a taliban leader along with other militants was targeted wherever it exploded next to another car carrying the civilians earlier this month nine children were killed by nato forces during an airstrike. and also in our world update this hour the number of people killed by a strong earthquake has increased so. 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 tremor hundreds of houses buddhist monasteries and government buildings were damaged strong aftershocks in thailand laos and vietnam. now for more on our top story this hour it's been a week since coalition forces intervene in libya and there's growing international concern over whether the action is justified journalist lori health and it's also known as the resident 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 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 but. i don't want to become a second iraq or something there you know so i think thirty 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 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 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 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 so 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 what we're going towards have to have to put in place elections and examination but other than that it. it's a tough question to answer because you see what's going on over there and you and me. 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 in bob's. so that brings up to date for the moment i'll be back with headlines in just a few moments stay with us here on r.t. .

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