it really is a so-called humanitarian intervention there so noble and straightforward must intervene. here in tripoli the regime is showing signs of crumbling and the reports that more and more senior at officials are defecting i'm twenty seven of capital city join me in a few moments about when you will. there will be no american boots on the ground in libya to receive press reports at least indeed the cia operatives on the. boots on the ground as i would define it for us top brass gets a grilling in congress but many still uncertain as to what the goal of they've been trying to paint is sound who's going to pay for it. and the integrity of america's motives are scrutinized as it ignores civilian deaths in gaza or south of setia

jumps at the opportunity to bring democracy to other nations and. also russia prepares for an anniversary spaceflights sending the new so used to me to all brits fifty years since mankind's first trip to the bottom front. around the world and around the clock with twelve news as it happens this is r.t. the u.k. has reportedly been hosting a senior aide to the libyan regime who is believed to be seeking an exit strategy for the leader moammar gadhafi some media sources suggest that more top ranking libyan officials have now fled the country following the footsteps of the foreign minister moussa koussa. is in tripoli. we know at this moment of at least two high profile defections the country's foreign minister mr mr

russo qusay is currently in london where he is meeting with british officials despite the fact that they say they will not grant him immunity and then mr. tricky he's also a former foreign minister of libya he was also an ambassador to the united nations where he served a term as president of the general assembly has also announced his departure now there can be no doubt that this is a psychological blow to the gadhafi regime certainly what we're hearing from london is that the regime is on the verge of crumbling but here in tripoli the government has actually lost all of these kind of suggestions of defections when questioned about what is the defection of the foreign minister the country's spokes person mr mousavi bring him said that this was an old man he was exhausted he was suffering from diabetes and he actually approached the government for a leave of absence in which he could seek treatment it would not mr receiver him say that they have granted the foreign minister this and he went so far as to say that if the foreign minister returns he will be welcomed back now when we questioned him about rumors we're hearing of at least another ten people who have

defected the latest news we have is that a group of libyan officials who travel to your for talks are actually staying there and among them are a former prime minister and also the current head of the country's parliament the government has said it is simply unaware of this now almost as important if not more important are reports that we are hearing that for the past fortnight one of the most trusted aides of the gadhafi regime has been in london where he's been holding secret talks with all four of these there over a possible exit strategy for gadhafi so the questions that people are asking and number one is gadhafi planning some kind of exit and secondly for just how much longer can his regime survive with the defection of such high profile members his troops are still advancing the current fighting is centered around the strategically oil important town of brega which is on the coastal road to tripoli now it is essentially fighting that's happening out in the desert. the rebels are fighting from behind. the strategy they use in small trucks from where they fired

rockets artillery they've been seen spotters with by law killers to go and see where those rockets landed and to report that we're hearing that they are the rebels themselves but they're still calling on the international community for assistance in the form of weapons fighting in the eastern part of the country in the city of misrata continues there in the last twenty four hours we've been told that at least twenty civilians were killed by government shelling in residential areas here in tripoli airstrikes and anti aircraft gunfire continues now for two weeks there almost nonstop demonstrations in support of the libyan leader moammar gadhafi and rallies being held one was held overnight thursday at his compound bab al aziziya at the same time we're hearing from the vatican's top envoy to libya that at least fifty civilians have been killed in the airstrikes in tripoli alone most of those casualties in the eastern tripoli suburb of tours europe and one such incident that we've been told about is going to house collapsed on

a family with small children inside libyan state television is also reporting what it says is a statement that is from gadhafi himself although he doesn't appear on television it is rather a news reader who reads out a statement saying that these nato airstrikes are just going to cause more civilian deaths and just rock a crusader war but meanwhile u.s. defense secretary robert gates chairman of the joint chiefs of staff faced a grilling in front of congress over the campaign gates served washington shouldn't since the rules and should instead the nation building to other countries. twelve days into the u.s. bombing of libya. u.s. congressmen were hoping to finally get some answers but after two hours of questioning the secretary of defense and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff there were still confusion about the u.s. is engaged i think a policy success would be the removal of the qaddafi

regime a military mission is a limited one and does not include regime change. who the rebels are we don't have much visibility into into those who have risen against gadhafi and each element has its own agenda. and whether the us will arm them discuss our plans if any regarding arming the rebels they seem to be getting their butts whipped but gates and mullen passed the buck on that one deferring to the white house but it was ok to decided to bristle and there are bits that we would clearly have a problem with that how long the u.s. will stay a bottom line is no one can predict for you how long it will take. for that to happen and whether the u.s. is at war at all these are combat operations were intended to be combat operations from the beginning i don't know why this administration has not been on this with the american people and if this is about regime change or your circular defense you ought to be an expert on what's an act of law act of war or not he told congress

the president actually did not make his final decision on what to do until thursday night less than forty eight hours before the first two hundred tomahawk missiles were fired we don't understand what he's doing still and i don't think he has the support of this congress when was the briefing of the armed services committee. there wasn't one what is clear that cost five hundred fifty million dollars in the first ten days alone and the estimated forty million dollars a month but not how it will be paid in terms of how to pay for this. there is a. we are in discussions with the white house would be very difficult for the department to eat this cost it's mel and repeated over and over again that there would be no american ground troops there will be no american boots on the ground in libya who is the person on the ground that is directing close air support missions

of his fortunes there's no one on the ground the recent press reports at least indicate the cia operatives on the ground so boots on the ground as i would define it and of other standing troops i guess is we'd all read about it in the newspaper at the same time i see that's my concern is that we read about things in the newspaper and then we get to come and ask the questions the u.s. formally handed control to nato today and you know operation odyssey dawn and beginning operation unified protector but newspapers quoting vatican sources said that forty civilians were killed in coalition air strikes guaranteeing that there will be plenty of more questions for a top american military brass here in washington in florida artsy washington d.c. well former u.s. intelligence officer philip giraldi explains why it's impossible to avoid a ground mission if you see contagion so already operating in the field the problem is if you have several thousand rebels who are not used to using weapons have no

idea of discipline or how to fight a battle a general is not going to make a big difference you need to have people training them and directing them at a lower level and the cia people are doing this at a lower level that means they will inevitably get involved in the fighting and this is what robert gates as recently as today promised would never happen boots on the ground. and later today people of elves cross-talk debate show discusses who's backing the rebels as a military campaign video rages on here's a preview. we have to be a little skeptical that that's a you're good u.s. strategy to go in and then hope for it is the idea as to be of hope i guess to quote the president's own saying to run a strategy like this how we're going to get into some and that sort of thing and hope for the best and i just don't see going to war in that way is responsible and i can't believe the us foreign policy establishment is supporting that type of a half baked option but this is not the u.s. against gadhafi in fact the u.s.

is taking a back about see through this is a forty three countries internationally the u.n. to get their family in country it is the u.s. against. providing most because i don't think this is my point please can i finish my point please five out of countries two of them are engaged in the military action and turkey norway and planted. another land sort of denmark for two three countries france britain you know this is not the us against gadhafi and we have not invited to you as to come in. as the first country to the launch air strikes over libya france has taken one of the leading roles that you actually against the gadhafi regime many now see it as an attempt to overhaul its image in the international arena and claim influence in the region. reports france was plotting war on libya already last

year a raising fresh fears over the country's global ambitions. of the french and the british first worked in or but the french are preparing british operations last november holding the small arab nation seemed like an easy way to put fronts on the map france wants to get in on what i call the imperial condominium a real kind of africa with nowhere to the invasion in sight and she war protests are rocketing across the european union. war in libya one of them french in front page abroad congress nor the government popularity at all instead of the big continues oppositional both boys growing demonstrators say they see through through all these noble claims against cranch claims humanitarian intervention but it's

really in paris. the results of record numbers saying no french president nicolas sarkozy. has become so most. presidents for the last forty years. french leaders who took a quick military victory would revive their reputation distinctly out of cheers don't you bushell party terrorists. are still to come on the program a craft perfected through time. by the fact that the basic life i was in coming to is like oh what's that great still people here can feel to make some things which are being hunted by watch collectors the world over rather than see watches to cold steel weapons across one of the urals show off their skill. latest russia subsidies. top officials across the

world continue to rally against the moderate of his actions some believe their reaction is inconsistent form a conflicts show that and leaders can sometimes get away with crimes they commit if they have the backing of the west but it's going to change again reports from washington. this is the warm welcome and firm handshakes for someone who just three years ago gave the order that led to the deaths of civilians in the republic of south the city of bam dealing with one of the great leaders of the world the georgian president with his fluent english as a welcome guest on american t.v. shows where he's never answered the question why in the middle of the night on august the seventh of two thousand and eight a georgia begin to me george tiller reborn bartman of the sleeping city of tskhinvali and other peaceful calloused. the region which georgia wanted to bring

under its control was razed to the ground. hundreds were killed in the attack joe maestas nearly lost his daughter in soccer street as bombings she was visiting relatives in one of the counties south of setia i believe scottish really should be removed from office i think you should be tried in international courts for rule crimes but when it comes to me trials like a street even though the e.u. finding mission determined that he started the war two thousand and eight and ordered the bloodbath in south of the georgian president is still supported in the west they have no strategic interest in. supporting his overthrow the notion that decisions get made on the basis of humanitarian concerns it's simply false it doesn't it's not the basis for the decision about libya it's not a basis for decisions about georgia about palestine about kosovo the question of who is held responsible and how is very much a strategic question it's not

a legal question as it should be to boost its strategic importance among other things georgia has dispatched one thousand troops to join allied forces in afghanistan and became the leading troop contributor relative to georgia's overall population step soundless and as this fox. interview shows almost on stoppable praise of the u.s. is also believed to have played a role in the west's according saakashvili no matter what his clients america's like because it's based on the great american archer and more and more even roughly broke through you have to really it's a mystery as a for a regulator of the bastards are here now is the world is the cleared a no fly zone over libya to stop gadhafi many wonder why a no fly zone was never on the table when the georgian tested launched a steadily campaign or when israel bombed the gas of three weeks in a row on the question for example of gaza where you had a blatant act of aggression clearly

a violent massive violation of not only international human rights norms but work crimes crimes against humanity being created fourteen hundred people killed of whom more than nine hundred were civilians more than three hundred were children it was a horrific situation that went on for days the problem there is that israel is the protector protectorate of the united states and the u.s. is not going to allow anyone the united nations or anyone else to actually engage in a serious way in stopping that massacre you would think if a leader commits atrocities he would be pretty like say could there be denounced banned from travel but that's not the way politics works but georgian president killed scores of civilians but was exonerated by the western politicians accept him as a friend as leaders are looking for the best in his country and it seems the grass is happy to continue turning

a blind eye to the blood of heads i'm going to check out reporting from washington r.t. . or get more news stories on the relevance for marti on our website you know it's he thought to calm down while she's committed rights council of the start of the problems and discover what plans law ahead for the user. read about the moving letter that russia's first night in space left for his family just days before the launch. and still with the final frontier the russian space agency has dedicated its latest so you spacecraft launched the anniversary of eureka gardens or veteran flight fifty years ago blasting off from kazakhstan in four days time when the launch will carry two russian cosmonauts and an american astronauts to the international space

station in these tests are all syria has a story. well it's a few days before the a crew of the t.m.a. twenty one it blasts off into space and as expected in the few days in the run up to the actual flight they are going through the preflight preparations and right now what you're seeing behind me is the actual capsule that will be taken to space this is the top part of the a space shuttle where the actual crew will be staying and the crew members that we have it for this flight are a child antibody circle and an american astronaut ron garan now what they're going through right now is actually called a check literally checking whether they fit into the seats that have been made as designed especially for them each astronaut cosmonaut has a different build a different weight different height and so be have to a customize everything inside the cabin crew area so that they're going to feel comfortable in doing the tasks are supposed to do now the blast off will happen in approximately about four four days and they're going to be doing about forty

experiments in space what's special about this if you can see in the background is that you can see a unity a good god in the first man in space a logo of him having a very special about this flight is that it's happening very closely i mean verse or even fifty year anniversary a few got its first white space that was of course april twelfth and mightiness sixty one all the preflight preparations are very precise and followed down to the last detail but it's not just the mathematics the science of the rocket science that is that they actually follow to the last detail but it's also the traditions that cosmonauts and astronauts have to go through a few days before the flight and today they had gone to the museum as have the other cosmonauts who had gone to space they visited the museum got a museum they put their signatures every single person that had launched a god gone into space had done the exact same thing they signed they went to u.t. oh good god it's a cottage as well be visited that and it's again it's even more special now that they're doing this because of the fiftieth anniversary of the first launch of utica

got. some other international stories. making headlines japanese officials are planning to pump out contaminated water from the stricken reactors that human problems authorities are hoping measure will help resume efforts to restore the facilities cooling system it's unclear when your question will start as radiation levels around the site of the. latest test for that's around ten thousand times the legal limit in the groundwater the plant. gunfire has broken out across ivory coast's little spite is attempting to unseat the country's entrenched president on the central asia rants on the city comes after forces supporting internationally recognized president assad or took control of the majority of the country regular army which are the resistance soldiers abandoned their posts the un has now introduced some sions placing an asset freeze and travel

only on the president. washington in general eduardo company has been sentenced to life in prison for his involvement in running a secret attention said to him the country's military group three other intelligence officers were also convicted for the murder torture under the prism and left wing political activists almost two hundred people were killed in that stream operation condor implemented in the one nine hundred seventy five again but crushing opposition difference. well now it's time for russia close up series with travels to the heart of the country's industrial power nestled on the border between europe and asia. yes we're in the cherry audience reach and enterprise powerhouse that has been

a vital cog in the gears of russia's economy for centuries now it's also one of the factory era producing everything from military watches to engrave metal works and there's another school discovered some of those ham lives of the past are experiencing something of a comeback that's correct is that the public tends to timeless classics. time stands still and looked almost. the time factor ironically it's like being in a time certainly anything has to here over the last thirty to forty years in fact when i look around here are some of the archives factories just like this one they are from back in my childhood they were made in one thousand six thousand nine hundred seventy what i think it was so what oh incoming what great still people here until you make things you can buy what the world over you may have heard of these russian divers watches they have been hard by collectors worldwide for several decades now but most can only get their hands on

costly replicas which have nothing to do with the originals the real deal is being made right here in the town of the most. we produced these watches until nine hundred seventy four for the soviet navy and we stopped because there was no need for them but now suddenly they become popular so we have really good production but at a very small cost now these are the famous divers watches which tell you what i was to watch bryant is known for of course there is nothing dainty about them they're extremely heavy and well frankly very bulky so i don't think i could pull them off but for any watch in those years to all there was in two big things this may just be the ultimate choice and it's not only watch fans taken care of here. has something to offer even from modern day swashbucklers it's true of some sort. from eight hundred fifty mm it's like most was the center of calderon's production in the country with the turn essentially supplied weapons to the entire russian

imperial army. these days the town supplies cold steel weapons widely used by russian special forces and military and state officials as state gifts and rewards for outstanding service. clients include the great russian federal security service and private collectors the cold steel weapons are more of a symbolic item now rather than a functional one they signify power and order to this day i think every officer should at least have a cutlass in his possession. so whether you're looking to reaffirm your status with a blade or to keep time with a heavy duty military watch is that the most of the town of ironworkers for managed to evolve with time but probably have what you want it in english courts he should have been screeching. it's great craftsmanship with all the latest business news with country hubs coming up in just a few months. thanks

for staying with us here on r t and it's time to bring you up to date with the business news for this hour the price of oil has reached a two and a half year high i mean new concerns about the situation in libya brant crude is currently trading around one hundred seventeen dollars a barrel while light sweet is at around one hundred seven dollars the chairman of germany's energy giant windows whole says the all price should hold around the current levels. we do see an oil prize which is in the order of magnitude of one hundred ten dollars plus per barrel i think the recent development you do see in the arabic wall and in japan we really keep the oil price on this for level we can

see right now but the volatility will increase pending what is really happening on our globe is therefore we have to deal with the situation at the level or in short i do see that. let's have a look at how the stock markets are performing now the nikkei average age low on friday was profit taking kicked in after it had a bounce through a two week high shortly after opening with investors came to light and recently built positions ahead of the weekend meanwhile shares of tokyo electric power company the operator of the think nuclear station plunged to twelve percent after initially climbed shortly after opening and hong kong shares advance to take gains into the third straight session with energy producers leading the way on the growing oil prices right now the markets are mixed and the nikkei is slightly down almost point five of the percent the hang hang same has it has raised after almost twenty four of a percent care in russia the r.t.s.

has just opened and is currently trading slightly in the red and the my six is about to open in a few few minutes it did close down around a tenth of a percent on thursday. proposals by president medvedev to have government officials taken off the boards of state companies has affected the russian markets on tuesday while the national verner capital says the changes will continue having an impact on the markets. today the market is really going to be focusing on. the results of what we saw yesterday you know coming to terms now with the president yet it's comments about the. board of directors what does this mean for what does this mean for how does it impact the companies that they're associated with and try to cry stop and it's difficult to pry something as off markets as those kind of comments investors will be looking at the government controlled companies it seems to be a lot that's changing at the moment in those government controlled companies pay off fundamentally some of the cheapest assets in emerging markets globally so if

there is likely to be any positive change there and that could have a big impact. well that's all the business for this out but you can always keep on to that online r t dot com forward slash business.

of. disarming saddam hussein. yes no charge of iraqi citizens. this event brings further assurance it's a treasure chambers and the secret police are gone forever. place nice again every embassy in kabul. chance too much occupied afghanistan. now to bicycles advantage on a mobile. made man day that is appropriate today in accordance as which is the case if he could be the good. face laughs no it's not if you can shoot him enough so that.