we heard the grand imperial. brothers and the colonel was so told treat. such. rebels are closing in on colonel gadhafi as they press on towards the libyan capital to reclaiming several key oil in the east nato members agree on taking command of the full military operations in libya while on the ground rebel forces make quick advances. in the capital city tripoli join me in a few moments formal. meanwhile moscow says the foreign airstrikes a result of gadhafi is crimes against his own people criticizes the coalition forces for recklessness over civilian casualties. also in the news this week hundreds of thousands of britons marched in london enraged over huge cuts protests

also gripped the e.u. as many were angry at. cash flows into the libya bombings. and in japan the operator of the fukushima nuclear plant apologizes for early reports that radiation levels there reached ten million times the normal the false claims led to the immediate withdrawal of emergency teams. from the russian capital with a look back at the week's past stories the top stories and also the latest developments libyan rebels are advancing west towards the capital tripoli after further gains in the east of the country they won back control of several strategic towns from the forces meanwhile nato has agreed to take over command of all aerial operations in libya replacing the u.s. at the helm of the coalition's campaign. reports now from tripoli. right most of

sunday we saw these rebel fighters advancing with almost and lightning speed westwards through eastern libya they're now in the town of bin jawad which is about a two hour drive from the city of sets and the reason why set is important is that this is the hometown of the libyan leader moammar gadhafi is where it is where he has his major supporter base now we know that the rebels along the way encountered very initial resistance this is partly because they were driving through the desert and also because we're hearing that gadhafi forces were treated to set a head of this rebel advancement of the soldiers simply abandoned their military equipment along the sides of the road so the focal point now will be on sirte when those rebels reach said we are expecting that they will be a major showdown between the pro and anti kadafi forces and this is where the role of the international community becomes so critical because we are hearing the rebel fighters pour on the coalition partners to continue with the airstrikes on sirte which they have been doing for several days now and to continue to give them

a power now the other focal point we've been watching throughout the course of the day is the city of misrata in western libya this is a city that is firmly in the hands of gadhafi is made and it has been for several days now the rebels simply on able to take over there and they are today calling on the international community to assist them with more a strikes nato countries have met in brussels where they discussed enlarging the nato command of this operation so what essentially we're going to see now is native taking control of the military operations on the ground here in libya from the coalition of the british the french and the americans until now there's almost been two parallel operations the one by nato that is essentially enforcing a no fly zone and the arms embargo and the one under the leadership of the americans which was essentially targeting ground forces and tanks so those now come together those military operations firmly in the hands of nato the sticking point at this meeting by nato members is of course the rules of engagement just. how far

can be international community go in terms of involving itself in what is happening on the ground and here the questions of civilian casualties making sure that civilians are not injured or killed in any kind of international action is what is being discussed on the table we know that the french are very much against nato taking over control of this whole operation and we know too that turkey would very much see this operation be very limited in terms of its scope it would rather just have the international community's involvement being that of enforcing the no fly zone and nothing more than that the latest news we have though is that the command and control center will not be based in western turkey in the town of izmir we also know now that once this whole operation is enlarged it will not be up to one country to say when where and if and a strike must take place that will now need this broad consensus what is important though about this nato enlargement and nato taking control of the full military operations here is that it certainly will send a message to the arab world and it will be much more tasteful for arab countries to

be able to come to the party in terms of a mission that is under the nato leaders ship in mind that is under the american leadership there is a summit that has been planned on tuesday in london there the contribution of the arab world will be much more thoroughly discussed in terms of what they bring to the party we're also hearing that the italians are proposing an immediate cease fire and the establishment of humanitarian corridor also that she will be clarified at this meeting on tuesday in london. reporting the author and journalist afshin returns he told me earlier that the fact that nato will lead the coalition's efforts in libya does not mean that the u.s. is no longer in charge. they say it's a nato operation turkey is expressing a lot of reservations and as to whether it's gone too far i think we can bet that there are already s.a.'s and other forces on the ground and as for a nato which is somehow european compared to u.s.

led in terms of this mission i think it's absurd the united states of course is still behind it even though robert gates and so on had a lot of reservations about it there were five abstentions for u.n. resolution one hundred seventy three and would have to the african union just not care about them because they unanimously didn't want what is going on now as for the arab league a very very iffy support for this although for them it could be a win win as were the autocrats who are in power the dictators who are in the arab league can now blame the protests in their own countries on zionist american conspiracies because after all when they come to help the protests in libya also they get to topple a dictator that hasn't been good to them because he's always looked at africa you wouldn't see any tunisian or egyptian help for this nato operation at all i think that that question needs to be answered by all these nato leaders why do you think it is here in egypt are not involved because they see a great danger of western powers trying to get involved with this oil rich nation

i'm sure that there are people on the ground in the coalition from western agencies already planning the future and what the future government will be i fear it won't be got a democracy that we saw in the natural revolutions as it were in tunis here in egypt. russia since the u.n. backed military intervention in libya is a result of colonel gadhafi his crimes against these people present dmitri medvedev also criticize the coalition bombing saying the no fly zone was meant to strengthen peace and that civilians should not be put at risk. just like everything that's happening in libya is a result of the shameful behavior of its government and the crimes against their own people we shouldn't forget that everything else is just a consequence of that we supported one of the un security council resolutions and allowed the other resolution to go through this was done consciously to prevent the escalation of violence but still the events that followed show that any decisions

of this kind should be accompanied by thorough consultation and as well as remembering that the use of force should be proportionate to what is happening the fact that as a result of these actions civilian targets were damaged and according to unconfirmed reports that innocent people have died shows that states taking part in the military strikes have achieved that i hope that as a result of coordinated actions by the international community there will be peace on libyan soil and full measures will be taken to prevent the conflict from spreading into africa and other states. if you put russian prime minister vladimir putin says he's concerned by the number of civilian deaths in libya he believes foreign air forces have been too reckless in their actions. there's a civil war going on in libya the proposal of a no fly zone was aimed at preventing gadhafi from firing at his opponents and so protect civilians such a decision applied to a sovereign state is a difficult one but the aim was well intentioned but what are we seeing now that it

is drags on the entire territory of the country and how can it be aiming to protect civilians such means are chosing to civilian death toll actually rises. the u.s. defense secretary was in moscow this week calling on the russian leadership to think about joining the military campaign in libya although moscow abstained from voting on the u.n. resolution which led to the no fly zone enforcement it ruled out getting involved in the coalition bombing obligates assured president video that measure operations in libya would scale back within a few days it wasn't the only military issue which came up missile defense in europe was also discussed moscow wants an equal partnership in the project saying any other option would be a threat to its own security gates promise russia's concerns are being taken into account. by the way our extensive online coverage helps to bring you up to date with the developments there in libya twenty four hours a day you can check out regular updates from our correspondents there on the spot

that's all on our twitter and facebook pages you also find all the latest videos on our you tube channel. is. a quarter of a million protesters took to the streets of london on saturday to voice anger over the government's plan to slash public spending demonstration against eighty billion pounds of cuts was britain's biggest in years there were hundreds of arrests as part of the rally turned violent and windows of shops and banks were smashed and doused with paint the demonstrators argued the proposed measures will destroy essential services in jumps a missile system necessary to reduce britain's huge deficit you can't help feeling

of anger follows a week which saw similar intense protests in brussels. and reports. no more layoffs to pay cuts no retirement the message from angry demonstrators pushed back with water cannon and pepper sprayed by riot police the protesters tried to get through to e.u. leaders meeting in brussels to slash spending this money was made. to be used for social security to be used for the health not just the bank so when you heard. that walter was moved to take ground because of the prison day goes across europe voters are saying no to the measures portugal's prime minister quit of the poll but voted down a fresh round of cuts because he has three months left to repay almost ten billion euro at

a time when its sovereign credit rating has been called. the only option left is national different. walt to tell linda's the country called pay back its loans or accept an e.u. bailout similar to greece and ireland it hasn't happened in the west since the second world war but the longer you postpone this necessary evil. the more costly it is it's going to be at the same time military intervention in libya is costing hundreds of millions of euros many a furious what they see as an unnecessary and expensive campaign somebody asked the chancellor of the effect of the finance minister about the financing of this and i think the overwhelming sense that you got from among the public in britain with skepticism with millions unemployed across europe people losing patience with politicians who seem out of touch with reality increasingly familiar sights on the streets of the e.u. with government built tightening leaves growing numbers out of work it begs the

question is now the right time to spend the money available on wars abroad don't you go short r.t. brussels. european parliament member nigel for large says people across the continent have every right to feel angry over cuts at home while their governments waste money abroad. we've had british troops on the ground in afghanistan now for over ten years i don't think there's any appetite for us getting involved in foreign wars where we cannot directly see our own national interest being threatened where frankly if we go in to support the rebels we don't even know who they are or what they stand for or what they want i don't think anybody has thought this through and if they are going to put ground troops in that i think they're going to find in all the member states involved in this a real strong level of opposition when people see cuts in front line services for whatever reasons when people see their retirement age is going up when people see

the taxes both direct and indirect they're paying going up they were right to question what on earth are we doing getting involved in an open ended commitment in terms of war with libya that could cost those goodness knows what else i do think that to a very close but i also feel as portugal is about to topple over as the next eurozone country requiring a bailout that that is actually going to cost each british taxpayer about four hundred pounds that actually the biggest effect on our pockets this week wasn't the chance of this budget but it was the fact that the portuguese government fell and they're about to be bailed out so i think people have every reason to be pretty angry that they see their own costs at home going up their services being up and money being thrown overseas in all sorts of projects that they wouldn't necessarily support. but the way you find more news features and then this is on a website com here's a quick taste of what's online at the moment the candidate for mayor of course is in the u.s. state of florida. grand dragon of the ku klux klan. the web site of the moment one

of the most elegant sporting contest in the world glides over to moscow russia's capital takes over the hosting of the figure skating world championships from earthquake stricken japan. and also there on r.t. dot com driving the first russian in the history of former. one takes his place on the podium after finishing third for team read out all the details on our website and also in our sports update with you in just thirty minutes from now here in r.t. . in japan the focus from a plant operator has apologized for reporting a huge radiation spike at the facility the operator tepco said earlier claims that radiation in the water at reactor number two had sort of ten million times the normal level or a mistake well that news led to emergency crews being immediately evacuated from the site japan's nuclear agency slammed tepco for making a number of mistakes in dealing with the crisis for consumers for reactors were damaged by the massive tsunami that hit the country earlier this month which led to

concerns of a nuclear catastrophe the battle to restore the facilities cooling systems a c three workers being exposed to dangerous radiation levels of bennett spoke to a man who knows firsthand what the consequences of a meltdown could be. this man has borne the scars of nuclear disaster for most of his life as a resident of nagasaki your shiri i'm a walk he has had liver and kidney problems since he was thirty five and he's already beaten cancer twice every time he falls ill now he feels it could be his last battle you sure do watch these events unfold at fukushima fearing the true nature of the disaster is yet to show itself so that the result of the contamination won't just end all for the event it will be handed down from generation to generation i have four daughters the first to have leukemia another has breast cancer the results of

a disaster will be shown in generations to come. you should know was just eleven when the bomb was dropped he survived the blast but was exposed to lethal levels of radiation on his two trips to the hypocenter first to find his father then to bury him despite everything he's pro nuclear power but still thinks fleeing from fukushima is the wise thing to do so then. i don't think the public or the government are overreacting in this situation i think people must take all precautionary measures they can to avoid the worst. the nygard psyche the stands today had to be built from scratch eleven square kilometers were jews to dust the cloud of its tragic past still hangs over the city into residence though know what it means to suffer and are willing to help those in need members of the international volunteer organization the lion's club here collecting for the

victims of the earthquake and tsunami everyone's desperate to give with donations already ten times higher than normal. we have a custom something happens in our nation will collect donations and we help each other especially the people in the recycling we're very sensitive to atomic power so we are very worried about what happened. and we want to help in. every way of turning like a sack it is a memorial to the seventy five thousand died when the atomic bomb was dropped here this one marks that exact moment now the city will forever serve as a reminder of the destructive potential of nuclear power and those here now praying that focusing or wherever in the same way now go psyche's transformation has been remarkable ground zero is unrecognizable the city would escape any radiation from a meltdown at fukushima but there is a nuclear plant close by and the incident has left residents living in fear.

people from nagasaki and hiroshima are very sensitive to the incident in fukushima we've never experienced such a devastating nuclear accident before and i think everyone is never free this could happen again i wasn't afraid of nuclear accidents before but now because i can see it's not under control. this memorial represents the water craved by so many after the explosion the basin's tranquility a far cry from the destruction wrought by the tsunami that has done its damage this place reminds us the ripples from a radioactive disaster extend for generations after bennett r.t. and a sucky japan's authorities are trying to calm the nation's nuclear crisis saying the levels of radioactive materials pose no immediate danger to health but experts say there's no such thing as a one harmful radiation. unfortunately there is no safe level of artificial

radiation in terms of its risk to humans if exposed to that radiation the international commission for a lot of protection declares as much now that's not a magical organization that's relatively crude nuclear but there is no c threshold for radiation of course long lived radiation exposure increases the chances that you will develop cancer in one of the examples i think the particular levels they're talking about and i had seen this in the city water and also was found in tap water in tokyo that has a relatively short half life so within about eight days you're losing half of the radioactivity but some of the reader claims that have been talked about will be being released into the environment we've heard of cesium one three seven that's around thirty years before it loses half its reader activity is a huge problem in terms of long term cancer risk but even other eyes such as plutonium which almost certainly there's some plutonium entering the environment from these reactors that's a twenty four and

a half thousand your flight so the long term health risks from this accident for the people of japan are truly horrendous. asian european and american importers have already banned a number of goods from japan amid fears of contamination and as artie's laura lister found out panic is spreading faster than radiation. as japan works overtime to avert a nuclear meltdown is another crisis in the making maybe maybe think twice second thoughts born of paranoia that radioactive remnants may reach far beyond japan's borders how worried about the seafood may be that the seafood is safe the radiation bomb in the water out what i'm going to be very wary of that for quite a while it's the fear of japanese imports going all the way to the top u.s. regulators have said they will increase screenings of food coming in from the embattled asian nation the european union has warned members to do the same and italy was the first e.u.

nation to ban food imports from japan all together in the wake of the nuclear scare it's fueling suspicion that besides the quake the tsunami and the nuclear crisis japan will soon have to deal with another problem becoming a trade pariah more than likely will for reasons that may not be entirely radioactive countries all over the world in tough economic times and they still are looking for ways to subsidize their own producers their own workers and so an incident like the one unfolding in japan gives them quite a good reason to do something that they may have been looking to do anyway this is bad for trade made worse for the country itself if made in japan comes to mean made a nuclear wasteland to consumers in countries like the u.s. we're here in times square and i wanted to come down here because it is where the rubber meets the road as far as advertising in this country and you can really see the brands to play a major role in the united states i wanted to see how many of them are japanese now

take a look at this center post of advertising from top to bottom you can see so many c.d.k. toshiba all japanese corporations playing a major role in the u.s. i noticed even our camera and my my clip from my microphone are manufactured by sony and with the nuclear disaster there is no telling what the oil. will be on but the manufacturing of companies like that but also their brand presence in countries like the u.s. and this data is the made in japan label that would be concerned about like televisions components that might carry the radio active materials. and japan's economy will feel it for a long time to trade suffers a major blow does this drag down an already near zero growth rate in japan if it does that it's going to have bigger effects internal to japan and globally and we don't know exactly what those are but they're potentially quite significant significant because in a global economy which made in japan matters for everyone many of the world's cell

phones laptops in cars rely on a poxy computer chips or auto parts from the country stoppages in manufacturing and trade consent shockwave through the system likely farther reaching than the radiation itself lauren mr r.t. new york times have a look at some other international news making headlines this hour at just twenty four minutes past the hour here in the russian capital syrian activists are calling for nationwide on rest with tens of thousands marching across the country troops are being deployed in the city of a talking to restore calm after twelve people were killed during demonstrations on saturday the government blames for the bloodshed the president is expected to address the nation soon and lift an emergency nor in place for almost fifty years. two palestinian militants have been killed and another was injured by an israeli airstrike in gaza it happened the day after hamas said it would agree a ceasefire with israel if attacks on gaza was stopped last week was increased

violence with at least ten people including civilians and children killed by israeli attacks. chancellor angela merkel's ruling party looks set for a humiliating defeat in a key regional election exit polls indicate christian democrats are about to lose in budden for six decades of conservatives being in power that it follows widespread opposition to lurkers nuclear policy and decisions libya and the euro. and not because the man widely considered to have won the country's disputed presidential elections has rejected the mediator chosen by the african union to steer the country away from civil war. said the candidate has personal links to the incumbent leader laurent gbagbo the statement comes after thousands of back both supporters rallied in the capital one million people have fled the country since once last november's election. russian energy giant says it will defend its

alliance with b.p. to pursue its exploration project this is part of swedish court ruling earlier this week the blocks the deal between the two all companies proposed b.p.'s russian based partners he said it would destroy their competitive advantage for both b.p. and say they'll still be looking for ways to maintain a partnership multibillion dollar share swap aside in january to exploit the potential for huge deposits of oil and gas and russia's actions. to bring it up to date for the moment i'll be back with a look at the main news stories in just a few moments here stay with us live here in moscow minority.

mom. it's the secret incursion into the country. it's the invasion by means of. tradition the language and he tell you that the best compete the beat didn't and culture. the thing is that the have a dillon's are still unaware of what's going on in their land from the last year i am more into the trap like nothing i don't know anything about them alaska the great guild on our cheek.

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