bringing you the latest. from the. cupboard. rebels are closing in on colonel gadhafi as they press on towards the libyan capital after 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. 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 many are angry. about cash

flows into the libyan. nuclear plant apologizes for reports that radiation reached ten times the norm the false claims led to the immediate withdrawal of emergency team. with a look back at the week's top stories and the latest developments this is our life in moscow libyan rebels are advancing west towards the capital tripoli off to further gains in the east of the country they've retaken several strategic towns from the forces but with the help of western lead meanwhile nato has to assume control of the coalition military operation in libya from the u.s. reports now from tripoli. 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 set and the reason why search 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 call 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 not 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 aren't 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 nato taking full 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 there 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 the mission that is under the nato leaders

ship in one 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 and immediate cease fire and the establishment of humanitarian corridor also that too will be clarified at this meeting on tuesday in london. reporting live reporting earlier should say from tripoli in libya now the former british intelligence officer told us that the coalition is giving growing consideration to killing gadhafi despite its claim the libyan leader is not a target i think they're a tangle seen as the whole uprising began in libya because they really didn't know which side to back in which way to jump of course the colonel gadhafi had been a historic enemy of the west for many many decades and suddenly he's been brought back into the international fold and. there were lots of nice juicy oil contracts and business contracts flowing out of libya towards places like the u.s. the u.k.

and france and italy so i think they're very torn for a long time so i think the different aims from different countries different vested interests within libya of the different countries and also different histories are all playing a part in this in this model and it is interesting as we're looking at the sort of conflicting reports coming out of the u.k. particularly about the endgame where the military chief of defense is saying absolutely not we're not going to get up decapitation of the libyan state we're not going to try to assassinate gadhafi and yet the government is trying to sort of hedge its bets on that front i think the temptation is going to get stronger and stronger certainly for the west the u.k. and france to try and get rid of gadhafi in an accident a bomb that goes off in the wrong place or something because of course they've made such a problem for themselves now even if they end up with a stalemate a war of attrition and particularly a partition situation between the east in the west of libya then we have a situation where gadhafi still has power now gadhafi is going to feel very betrayed by his ex best allies in the west of course because it's up to him over the last decade and gadhafi has experience and

a track record and also his stated intentions of carrying out terrorist attacks in the future if he stays in power so i think the west really is in a position where it has to go for the end game of getting rid of gadhafi for regime change but of course that is highly illegal under all sorts of international laws and is specifically excluded from the u.n. resolution. russia says the u.n. backed military intervention in libya as a result of colonel gadhafi as crimes against his own people were present dimitri medvedev also criticized the coalition bombing saying the no fly zone was meant to strengthen peace and that civilians should not be put at risk. it's just that 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 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 of million 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. 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. the. 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 is

drug use on the entire territory of the country and how can it be aiming to protect civilians such means are chosen to civilian death toll actually rises. unions the u.s. defense secretary was in moscow this week calling on the russian leadership to think about joining the military campaign in libya or the moscow abstained from voting on the un resolution which led to the no fly zone enforcement it ruled out getting involved in the coalition bombing robert gates assured president inventive that major operations in libya would scaled back within a few days when the only military issue which came up missile defense in europe was also discussed once 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 on the spot there that's all a twitter and facebook pages and you'll also find all the latest videos on our you

tube channel. it's. 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 the demonstration against eighteen billion pounds of cuts was britain's biggest there were hundreds of arrests as part of the rally turned violent the windows of shops and banks were smashed and doused with paint the demonstrators argued the proposed measures will destroy essential services and jobs and this is insist they're necessary to reduce britain's choose

deficit and comes out for an anger follows a weakness or similar intense protests in brussels daniel bushell reports. no more layoffs no to pay cuts no retirement the message from angry demonstrators pushed back with water cannons and pepper sprayed by riot police the protesters tried to get through to e.u. leaders meeting in brussels to slash spending this where there was made. to be used for social security. to be used for the health not drug the bank so when you heard they're bringing in that world for us to move to take brand because of the present day goes across europe voters are saying no to thirty 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 caught. the only option left is. national default toland is 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 well to work the big

question is now the right time to spend the money available on wars abroad don't you bullshit altie brussels. european parliament member nigel farrar 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 rich requiring a bailout that that is actually going to cost each british taxpayer about four hundred pounds and 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 cut money being thrown overseas in all sorts of projects that they wouldn't necessarily support. by the way a far more news features and analysis on our website that's r.t. dot com here's a taste of what's online there at the moment for you feel a lot on right now a candidate from there who says outrage in the u.s. state of florida over his past as

a former grand dragon of the klux klan. and one of the most elegant sporting contest in the world. russia's capital takes over the who's thing in the figure skating world championships from earthquake stricken japan those stories and others are valuable. well two weeks after the disaster hit the country in japan the fallout at the focus shima nuclear plant is still a concern the plant operator tepco has apologized for misreporting a huge radiation spike at the facility it had earlier claims the radiation in the water at reactor number two had soar to ten million times the normal level or a mistake well that news later emergency crews being immediately evacuated from the site japan's nuclear agency slammed the company 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 are seeing three workers being exposed to dangerous radiation levels our teams are the

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 you're sure 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 are watches events unfold at fukushima during the true nature of the disaster is yet to show itself so 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 two 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 its residents 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 we're calling the nation and we help each other especially the people and i guess i can be very 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 there is here now praying that focus well wherever in the same way now go psyches 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 naga circle 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 basins 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 the japanese government wants management of the focus of a plant to improve her information is released about what's happening at the stricken facility investigative journalist david lindorff says however that facts about nuclear incidents often stay hidden. every single case where there have been nuclear accidents in japan and in the united states and the soviet union. all the places that have had crises with nuclear power the initial response has been to lie

and cover up the seriousness of the problem so i don't know why this one would be any different and i would put zero stock in what official reports are and how serious it is how much radiation has been released what the dangers are the i.a.e.a. has a long long record of being a basically a tool of the nuclear industry in all the countries that have nuclear power the i.a.e.a. has a major flaw which is that as an international body it basically answers to the government's. hold its first strings and so it's very political he controlled organization that. asia and europe in american importance have already banned a number of goods from japan amid fears of contamination and as artie's lauren list 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 safety maybe but that doesn't it isn't radiation bomb in the water at 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 the star 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 us 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 were 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 have 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 its trade suffers a major blow this is dragged down already near zero growth rate in japan if it does that it's going to have bigger effects internal to japan 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 shock waves through the system. likely farther reaching than the radiation itself lauren mr r.t. new york well let's have a look at some other international news making headlines this hour in our world

update syrian activists are calling for nationwide on rest with tens of thousands marching across the country troops are being deployed in the city of latakia to restore calm after twelve people were killed during demonstrations on saturday the government blames gangs for the bloodshed president is expected to address the nation soon and lift an emergency law in place for almost fifty years. two palestinian militants have been killed and another was injured by an israeli airstrike in gaza it happened a day after hamas said it would agree a ceasefire with israel if attacks on gaza were stopped. by increased violence with at least ten people including civilians and children killed by israeli attacks. german chancellor angela merkel's ruling party looks set for a humiliating defeat in a key regional election exit polls indicate the christian democrats are about to lose in. after six decades of conservative being in power that it follows widespread opposition to merkel's nuclear policy decisions on libya and the u.k.

. to ivory coast where 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. the candidate has personal links to incumbent leader laurent gbagbo statement comes after thousands of supporters rallied in the capital over one million people have fled the country since violence following last november's election. russian energy says it will defend its alliance with b.p. to pursue its arctic exploration project that's despite a swedish court ruling earlier this week to block the deal between the two all companies the proposed share swap b.p.'s russian based partners who said it would destroy their competitive advantage but both b.p. and mostly have say they'll still be looking for ways to maintain a partnership multibillion dollar stance what with sun and generate to exploit the potentially huge deposits of oil and gas in russia's optic shelf. brings up stakes

for the moment i'll be back with a summary of our main news stories in just a few moments from now stay with us live here in moscow this is.

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