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

this is r.t. here in the russian capital with you 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 to regaining control of the strategic oil hub of the beer 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 it a week. reports now 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 this 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 wu there are a mess of 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 drawn 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 from the 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 west of this country that the rebels actually still maintain some kind of control we have now good that gadhafi forces have entered on buses smarties of into the city from the western side and we've been hearing for days now that gadhafi has been operating in the city in plain clothes using civilian cars we're hearing increasingly more motorsports 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 an awkward 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

is types 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 here 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 first 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 all it necessary 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 deaf ears prepared to make some concessions he might even go so far as to call for live shows but opposition leaders are rejecting this outright 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 indeed is put paid to meet some of the concessions that have been demanded of him. ortiz paulus lee reporting there from 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 i 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 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 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 would be in border 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 the 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. and by the way you'll find a chorus. and it's first hand accounts on libya on our twitter feed and facebook

page paula and you saw a few moments ago will be keeping us updated with all the latest developments from where they are in libya just search for r.t. underscore com to follow the breaking news from those correspondents you can also find us on facebook and stay updated on our page it's our t.v. news. for but it's scenary 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 game ball desperations about the e.u. playing a foreign and security policy role here are really being discredited i mean if there was one field and one a battleground where the e.u. should have proven its ambitions well 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 throwing good duffey 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 in russia's envoy to nato meanwhile believes the alliance could find itself involved in another major war along with afghanistan and iraq. has this report. the head of russia is 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 in the libya 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 in 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 a variation 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 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 in 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. win or 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 the 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 they do 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 oh. with a request from the libyan opposition. does the u.s. tries to step back from leading the libya assault americans are showing signs of fatigue at the prospect of yet another potentially lengthy will opinion polls suggest opposition to the libya campaign is almost forty percent close behind the proportion in favor showing the country is sharply divided and is also is going to 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 and of gametes then or iraqi freedom but

obviously dawn on top of making no sense as a combination of words in itself if we interpret it actually mean 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 he came out to look 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 says 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 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. you really have 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 levy intervention the pentagon saying that. the yeah 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 lady where it war. oh dear many here 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 name continues we're gauging opinions on the legitimacy of the intervention in libya and later this hour we head to new york

journalist has been on the streets to find out what people there think. we are 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 from the nazi party that it was ok. but the modern was always with paired with economic reasons then i don't think it's ok. coming away a little later on. 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 pounds thirty cuts has become britain's largest in is. reports now from the heart of the rally.

what does it open the peaceful demonstration here in london on saturday has turned into day hundreds of college close demonstrations gathered scale in piccadilly with the police using a controversial at closing off a technique that's now become named as catholic these demonstrations move down the street earliest not seeing everything in that because they smashed up the windows of expensive shops bank machine old school buildings but that when they come out stand kate told her that they're now hanging on to it into the evening they've just to feel right about five hundred we have to make all the huff a million demonstrators who took to the streets of london today but nevertheless possibly it may be seen that these are the ones that will make them based in caps the ones that breakaway from the main street and the ones that hold hands like a significant amount of damage in the fifty m. plus it will be a whole new dimension it's been added to the paychecks in recent days with the minute she intervention the question is now before make in libya it makes it that

four and a half million dollars a day is being spent on bombing libya and the people here congress about that that angry that the government says it's not a money and yet at the same time it's entered into a not that expensive or it won't pull out any i spoke to children of the still full coalition and he told me why people say 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 steps it dealt with a single blow to total in the very first moments of the attack on the pier over one hundred cruise missiles were for those cruise missiles one hundred million dollars worth all resources blowed up every day with every single weapon that doesn't take a lot of fights over much nation for people here to calculate how many places a university stuff would mean how many libraries that would mean for the hospitals . which means so i think it's very very graphic be brought home to keep clear what

the financial cost of this is i think they largely peaceful demonstration here in london today but it may be the people here the people who are the polluting the damage the people who have the ability to get dressed up in that rocket he went during that during that very tough been thievin anything they can get their hands on them throwing at 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 process is proceeded on that day. and that reporting there from london to japan now 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 researches 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 if it will death toll from the disaster stands at over ten thousand with many more

missing or homeless and that is the teams are still struggling to control the situation at the stricken from nuclear plant several workers sustained radiation burns while installing cables as part of efforts to restore the critical cooling systems you can the 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 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 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 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 you of all of this 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 they're out there already stressed their bodies are already stressed they may not be in heated the homes at night they may not be getting electricity so the impact of these exposures will be even larger. so they. to 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 than in that analysis on our website www dot com it's online all the time a couple stories there for the moment no way back home a u.s. soldier could face the death penalty for dessert unless he gets political asylum in germany was on line russian lawmakers have passed a new rule for themselves find out why the state duma deputies will be deprived of cigarettes and miniskirts. let's have a look at some other international news making headlines this hour in our world update and 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 however it exploded next to another car carrying the civilians and in this month nine children were killed by nato forces during an airstrike. the number of people killed by a strong earthquake in memorising. 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 buddhist monasteries and government buildings were damaged strong aftershocks were felt in thailand and vietnam. a syrian human rights activist says over two hundred political prisoners have been released in the country this is pressure increases on 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 to three people were reportedly killed when police opened fire on demonstrators on friday at least twenty three protesters were killed in the city of bonn and crackdown. to yemen now in the country's president reportedly rejected opposition demands for his immediate resignation it comes off the foreign minister said earlier that he hoped a deal on the transfer of power would be reached shortly present day has previously offered to step down by the year's end after elections be quick to say he is ready

to pounce on his role but only into trustworthy hands the country has seen two months of government protest with fifty two demonstrators shot. but now for some 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 laurie harvest also known as the resident collected a snapshot of opinion from the streets of new york. as the situation in libya heat 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 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. i don't want it to become

a second iraq or something or. 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 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 a war like this or in a turk and perhaps we should get involved in more countries do you think the world

has a plan for what comes next in libya probably no. probably no no 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 we're going towards have to have to put in put in place elections and examine it but other than that it. it's a tough question to answer could you see what's going on over there 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. that brings up to date for the moment the headlines in just a few moments stay with us here on r.t. .

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