rebels in libya gain more ground on their way to the capital while nato rebels do is assume full control of operations. to medicine and food supplies are running low in tripoli as fears grow that this could lead to a protracted war joining me from the capital city in just a few moments from all the rubble celebrate our third troops are reporting recapturing the sound of the find out more from the rebels benghazi. as other violent uprising in the arab world draw little foreign interest questions whether coalition countries that are targeting libya brevet control of them to

protect its people. also this hour radiation the surges to one hundred thousand times above normal that the focus should be nuclear plant as japan battles to prevent a meltdown while struggling to lay thousands of tsunami victims of. a very warm welcome this is live from moscow now there are conflicting reports about just how far west rebels have advanced towards the libyan capital tripoli the opposition claims it controls gadhafi. by reporters say this is he is still in government hands well earlier i spoke to our correspondents who got to the paulist lee he's in the capital tripoli. city is in a state of shock the first reports we got in the early hours of this morning monday actually suggested that the rebels had taken over the city of sirte which is not

only a strategic city but it has a great symbolic value for the regime this is of course gadhafi is home town it's about six hundred kilometers to the south of tripoli it's about halfway between the rebel stronghold of benghazi and tripoli now what we're hearing from the regime is in fact very little there have been no press conferences no forthcoming on says all suggesting that the regime is incredibly worried as the rebel forces at vons closer and closer to tripoli they were never supposed to get this far this is the furthest the rebels have taken land in terms of they would advance and so it now seems increasingly that they threats to advance on tripoli although coming through some of the analysis and some of the assessments coming out of tripoli is that the reports about the rebels earlier that they had taken the city were as much for domestic consumption as they were for the international community the rebels have not made light of the fact that they need these coalition airstrikes they create a vacuum and that vacuum and lousy rebels to advance forward so they are calling on

the international community to keep up with its bombardment of towns the rebels saying that they believe this impact to advance further and further the situation in tripoli is dire indeed we're being told that in just a matter of days the city will completely have run out of fuel there are short supplies of water food and medical supplies so essentially the city itself is in a state of lockdown go to you on the rebel stronghold in the libya's second largest city but goals here how people they're responding to the advances further west first of all even though there are conflicting reports coming from the front if this home town of got out he was in fact taken over by the rebels or not i can tell you that the support of the country the eastern or of libya is on the slow control over the opposition and the rebels meaning that any anti gaddafi successful up. aeration is done by the rebels out there on the front or greeted here with applause in fact here in guys he every time there is news of

a successful operation done by the rebels out there on the front we hear these shots being fired into the ear as a sign of support of the anti god if you move as we were going from the egyptian border to being ghazi i saw a riot g of various troops from all the men carrying a really old outdated rifles two teenagers with a k forty seven's and even commandos were trolling the roads there are security checkpoints along the entire route so i think it's pretty safe to say that this part of the country is really under the control of the opposition so every positive news coming out there from the front if it's a successful operation against gaddafi that we did with great applause here paul i respect any concrete evidence with regard to the number of casualties the libyan state television as well as the government puts the figure at more than one hundred

and they say that the number of casualties continues to climb we know for example that overnight for the first time they were explosions nine explosions in the city of set we are hearing now of eight strikes near the city of misrata as well as in the same to the country inside all the time those reports of explosions and bring the risk of civilian casualties and the libyan state television is not shying away from a fourteen twenty four seven that the number of casualties caused by these coalition air strikes is climbing big gaz the is a mediterranean ports you know say an increased presence of coalition forces off the coast nato ships or are now patrolling the coast of libya to enforce the embargo and also the no fly zone operation itself and actually in this situation turkey thought. already said that several of its vessels can the port in this operation in patrolling the mediterranean including the

submarine and so i think it's four or five other a large vessels and also all the united states italy romania can and in many other countries are all keen to stablish their presence here in order to support the north fly zone operation but the question is where is this operation going is going to lead to a ground operation or is it going to end would be for. coalition air strikes have made it possible for the rebels to advance in the country that pattern change do you think when they take full come all nato will only take full come on tomorrow tuesday at a summit that will be held in london at that summit they will be the establishment of a steering committee to find much most people here are waiting to see whether in fact this changes the situation on the ground but certainly the sense i get from speaking to people here is that they don't really believe nato taking full control of the military operations in libya will make that much of a difference there are still outstanding questions outside outstanding concerns concerns such as for how long this operation will continue we're hearing the

timeframe of anything from three months to a year or two more years people on the ground increasingly concerned that this operation could just continue and continue the other concerns are the rules of engagement and still they doesn't really seem to be that much clarity in terms of when how and if the coalition partners can operate the fact that the united states was meeting this operation until now was something that the rebel fighters enjoyed and certainly for them they would prefer for this to continue they do understand that when you have twenty eight members now calling the shots it does pose a much greater struggle for robust action on the ground but the latest word from the united states is that it will be providing a support base some kind of support structure to kill any of the terms of the coniston and also in terms of jamming all communication lines. going off and well with the us being the military and economic backbone of nature experts say it will be hard for washington to play down its activity in libya

author and journalist general tansey says the lines has expanded role in the operation doesn't mean the u.s. is no longer in charge they say it's a nato operation turkey is expressing a lot of reservations as to whether it's gone too far i think we can bet that there are already as a sin other forces on the ground and as for a nato 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 a lot of reservations about it there were five abstentions for u.n. resolution one hundred seventy three and one hundred the african union we just don't care about them because they unanimously didn't want what is going on now for the arab league very very iffy support for this although for them it could be a win win as well you won't see any tunisian or egyptian help for this nature were

operational tool i think that that question needs to be answered by all these nato leaders why do you think it is here in egypt 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 the guy to democracy but we saw in the natural revolutions as it were in tunisia and egypt well that was also and less ashen returns and there were russia's foreign minister says the international coalition is acting outside the limits of the u.n. resolution on libya aesthetical other office also demanding independent verification into reports of civilian casualties in the foreign forces assault he says certainly i have these health. from the very start russia has been a reluctant participant in the what is going on in libya at the moment what worries the foreign minister right now in this statement he says that it appears that

coalition forces are taking sides in his worries come amid a nato statement saying that they will stick to the books and do what is stipulated there no more no less well let's look at the u.n. resolution it says there that it authorizes all necessary measures to protect civilians will their words all necessary measures could be open to interpretation but protecting civilians is definitely stated there as the goal and so what worries the a russian government is that the offensive is going beyond just protecting civilians that coalition forces taking sides is clearly not stipulated well let's hear more from the foreign minister sergei lavrov we should do. is taking part in a civil war in libya by targeting colonel gadhafi troops and those supporting the rebels this was not sanctioned by the u.n. resolution which stated that the coalition can only enforce a no fly zone and protect the civilian population should be concerned about the unconfirmed reports of civilian deaths caused by the airstrikes and we would like this information to be kind of the u.n.

has every means to carry this out and we are expecting this to happen as soon as possible so again it's a he's going back to what is stipulated in the a u.n. resolution and again when russia abstained from voting they clearly stated their position that they are against the use of force on civilians by the gadhafi regime however they did have a lot of questions with regard to the rules of engagement the limits of engagement and right now these are the questions that are coming forward and again as the accompli got unfolds in libya we can see a lot of the countries especially those that had abstained to keep looking at the actions versus what is stipulated and had been agreed upon on paper. to help to date with developments in libya online our twitter stream gives you accounts from our correspondents there also regular updates on all facebook page a web page video reports on you tube channel.

and is it into question. is being a. coalition leaders claim they are just in forcing the no fly zone over libya but have been engaged in widespread and heavy attacks on colonel gadhafi as ground forces and buildings and targets linked to his regime so what of the real motives for france the u.k. and u.s.

leading the attack on libya some say it's pure vengeance but they're certainly settling accounts and taking revenge turkey says it's disturbed by france's eagerness to invade but expose believe ankara shouldn't be surprised gadhafi is accused of ordering the bombing of u.t.a. flight seven seven two which killed fifty four french men and women in one thousand nine hundred eighty nine a u.k. court found that gadhafi agents the year before planned the bombing of pan am flight one hundred three over lockerbie which killed forty three british and a hundred eighty nine u.s. citizens he blew up his intelligence agency did a terrorist bomb very similar to the lockerbie bombing the u.k. was called flight seventy two and it blew up of an asia with the loss of everyone on board so i would argue that there's an element of revenge a very strong element of revenge now more recently gadhafi has hurt french commercial interests all well he's flying french will for a towel have

a billion dollars he also bought russian fighter planes instead of french or felt shits. but now coalition bombs are reported to be killing libyan civilians up to she really the worst is resorting to heavy bombing and civilian casualties are concerned. that could increase regional hatred towards the west after. be a way. of resistance from. critics say the western led military alliance is simply taking one side in what's an internal civil war where rebels. to overthrow an internationally recognized government western forces should be prosecuted not just for civilian deaths but also for killing libyan conscripts don't know why. people. saw.

as nato chiefs arrive to plan the next stage of the bombardment of libya there are growing calls for them to be held accountable for what they describe in war speak as collateral damage but which. means the death of innocent civilians the coalition no admits it's haunting gadhafi the original reason was only to impose a no fly zone the trouble is the more civilian deaths their causes the more they risk being accused of the same crimes as gadhafi himself. crossing. well syria's government is promising reforms following a wave of deadly protests in the flashpoint coastal town of attack your troops have been deployed after twelve people were killed there over the weekend amid calls for political freedom correspondent. in the capital damascus. we witnessed

a very tense weekend here in the syrian capital with thousands of people gathered on the streets there were huge traffic jams people were shouting and shooting we also saw dozens of people attacking the local bureau over our jazeera news channel as people here were saying that they were and happy with the coverage events unfolding here by the channel of course it is much more tense in the south of the country where dozens of people have already been killed in the clashes what people here are demolishing is for the country's emergency law to be lifted now the mercian sea law imposes restrictions on public gatherings it also authorizes the government to arrest anyone who is suspected of threatening the country's security and now of course their pricing is in syria began with a bunch of schoolkids in the south of the country who started writing and sorry governmental slogans on the walls and they were arrested after the third dozens of people took to the streets demanding that those school kids are released government

officials are saying that's the emergency law is to be lifted but they do not specify when exactly that's going to happen of course another reason for the rallies here in syria is the uprisings in other arab countries that inspired a local people to go to the streets however it is unlikely that we going to see a military intervention in syria such as the one taking place in libya for example as the u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton has said the situation in each our country is very different and is unique the main reason for the military intervention in libya for example is the fact that the country's leader is using air force a have the armory against its own people and according to hillary clinton the situation is not quite the same here in syria nonetheless syrian authorities have deployed. troops to the south of the country to stop the protesters. with the latest from syria

which is in the midst of anti-government protests over to japan now and its troubled fukushima nuclear power plant high levels of radiation have been detected in a trench outside one of the reactors the readings say it's one hundred thousand times above normal similar to the levels of the water used to cool reactor number two on sunday well earlier the plant operator tepco mistakenly said levels were ten million times above normal the japanese government the company for what it called an acceptable mistakes in handling the crisis fears of a nuclear meltdown began when the four reactors were severely damaged by the massive earthquake and tsunami the tragedy has claimed over ten thousand lives say far one over sixteen thousand are still missing. it's leading to strong communities struggling to cope with the. dead.

instead of a proper sendoff a mass grave the japanese always chromate their dead but what the crematorium is at full capacity. has been turned into merge and see graveyards. these people be buried in contravention to japanese tradition when there is an opportunity they'll have to be exuma and they need their cremated and start of a priest a town official conducts an impromptu ceremony is only just devised. this is horrible we're just trying to bring these people closure as best as we can get is a traditional fishing town after being struck by the earthquake and the tsunami it was then ravaged by fires that last the days that are at least five hundred dead in the biting when family members get just a few minutes before construction workers bury the coffins.

for the crematorium to be able to process these bodies probably several years. many of the relatives have themselves lost houses as well as their loved ones. on this list of other things for two weeks we search for my cousin and now at least we know what happened to her meanwhile soldiers raked through the remains of the untouched since the disaster they say there may still be hundreds of bodies below the rubble . of. japan. russia emergency crews who recently returned from tsunami devastated japan have been thanked for their efforts by president he hosted a reception for them at the kremlin and praised the crew for the work they aren't a turk the president said russia's help makes a great deal in relations with japan live two hundred and fifty five workers were sent to the country in the aftermath of the tragedy to help with relief efforts it

was the largest group of all the foreign crew sent to the stricken areas. to get more on the situation in japan do you go to our web site dot com has a full chronicle of events from when the country was hit by the earthquake and tsunami the concept of the nuclear crisis spread internationally now japan's having trouble with exports as people feared goods may spread radioactive contamination also online. seismologists sound the alarm but to bounce disaster is just the start of the decade of trouble from the pacific grid when. a brief look now at some other international news that's making headlines this hour an explosion at an ammunitions factory in southern yemen has killed at least seventy eight people and injured around fifty others that have been raided by suspected al qaeda militants you classed with government forces it was

apparently the looted by civilians medical and security officials say many women and children are among the victims. italy's prime minister is a period of court hearings where he faces corruption charges silvio berlusconi is accused of tax fraud over the sale of film rights by his mediaset company it's his first personal presence at a courtroom for almost eight years despite being involved in four trials including one for allegedly paying for sex with an underage girl denies the charges. germany's downtown nuclear green party is celebrating a key victory in a state which chancellor merkel's conservatives have controlled for always six decades it's being seen as a sign of widespread opposition to america's nuclear policy and decisions on libya and the euro it may bring in france president sarkozy's ruling party suffered a similar fate when opposition socialists took decisive local election where it had

pressure on sarkozy faces a presidential election in a year's time. now in just a few minutes the russian presidential advisor on afghanistan taliban for the naysaying mission there is on course to bring nothing but misery to the troubled country but fast all the nation's business deals for to me. thanks alice russian oil giants ross nafta and transnet want to take china's national petroleum corporation to court as they await forty million dollars they say the firm has failed to pay for january shipments alone the two sides signed a contract in two thousand and nine providing rosneft with a fifteen billion dollar loan from china in exchange for shipments of oil through the pacific ocean pipeline total sum the chinese side is allegedly fall and short of amounts to one hundred million dollars now because of that russia's oil pipeline

monopoly transnet is now in debt to rosneft for the oil that it bought from was there but the china sea m.p.c. is currently negotiating to lower the supply price by up to three percent. now to discuss this issue and the outlook for well i'm now joined by richard swan from platts energy agency richard thank you very much for being with us so what do you make of this dispute of russia's receive the credit transfer was promised according to terms of contract what is it not receiving now. well there is at the heart of this dimitry a lack of clarity over the us but oil shipments from russia to china no one really knows exactly what the price is the contract is never been published let's not forget it does seem strange that what should be a simple commercial arrangement should have this discrepancy over really quite big sums of money so this is a highly unusual but this is an unusual pipeline it's not unusual project the role of trans if it comes in here is the pipeline company they don't own the oil at the

start of the chain but they take delivery of it and push it all the way to the chinese border china seems to be lobbying and we're hearing they're kind of not happy with the price the implied price for the transport costs along the pipeline i think they think they should be paying a lower price than people who take the same oil but on russia's pacific coast when it comes out to cause me no now again there's no clarity over exactly how these costs are calculated and is the price china paid is it pegged to the urals export price back in primo scored an overseas or is it actually paid to the new cause me no price and when does that switch happen these are the details we're trying to get a bit more on so really a lack of information right now but i mean it's hard to speculate but what would you say are likely is that this case will end up in court or even the deal being blocked in the end it would be my first impression is it seems unlikely this is a highly significant deal and very important politically and economically for the two countries it's a big volume of oil it's not all of china's all imports by any means china imports

a huge volume of oil but it's very significant it's a new market for russian oil and it's strategically moved towards the east for russia's oil exports which the government and the companies are very keen on so i wouldn't think this is going to scupper the whole thing right well talk in general now about crude oil prices have been falling today does that mean we're closer to seeing stable supplies from libya what do you say. it could be closer but not that much yet but there's been some funny news over the weekend the rebels are essentially been advancing to the west sort of recapturing a couple of towns from forces loyal to gadhafi in libya particularly couple of oil ports now if they can can get hold of the oil fields and they have some production they now control the ports so they have the infrastructure in theory this could mean that they're capable of exporting oil but there are certainly legal issues around this companies are going to buy this yet there i mean libya is still subject to sanctions different sanctions from the united states from the european union

from the united nations let's not forget companies are going to be quite wary of who my trading with here who owns this all if i buy this oil i'm going to get myself in trouble so potentially bring things a bit clearer or a bit nearer some kind of resolution but it's not like the oil is about to flow this week or i will just a quick final question what's your outlook for oil in the mid to long to. move volatility i think the libyan situation is far from resolved and if you leave you alone can move the price let's not forget when libya when libya started moving the oil price when the uprising started against gadhafi regime it wasn't just libya it was the fear of wider on rest and irrespective of what happens in libya that fear is still there then throw in factors like european economic fears fears over stalling recovery high prices denting demand anyway people are a bit nervous out there all right richard swann from platts energy agency thank you

so much for your time and for your comments. all right finally in this program we have time to take a look at the markets the u.s. markets started the week on a positive note with the dow and nasdaq up around point three percent this hour general positive picture across the board with telecoms putting on some of the biggest gains boosted by better than expected increases and consumer spending. in europe the markets are still mix we're seeing the footsie up point two percent that is down point one percent that's their biggest rise in almost six weeks in the almost six months rather last week this is why we're seeing investors still remaining cautious on renewed concerns about japan's nuclear crisis and ongoing unrest in the middle east. violence take a look at russia and pictures improved slightly but still just a pretty flat so you can see they are. both positive point one percent my six point two percent these are driven by telecom stocks indeed to those some energy majors

down at this hour gazprom is bucking the trend it's up one percent ross never despite the ongoing conflict a possible conflict with china still up point five percent is burbank down as are most of banking stocks around the world point three percent. so we have time for we will be back next hour see them. a little bit.