lines tune in to cause a report on or keep. on r.t. tonight as a growing number of senior libyan officials are reportedly fleeing the country the regime stands for with resumed attacks on a rebel held city. georgia wants the world to know it's going to come pay me to my past corruption so why is rooney cooks the businessman who georgia owes a hundred million dollars sentenced to seven years in prison all the details are coming up in just a few minutes here. people in this hamlet forty kilometers away are in danger and yet the government seems stunned shingly unwilling to move japan's authorities

are under fire for the way they're dealing with the fukushima nuclear plant disaster and for ignoring calls to expand the evacuation zone. watching r.t. from moscow it's now ten pm friday evening and it's eight in the evening in tripoli my name is kevin know it and first off more civilian deaths from coalition strikes have been reported in libya with seven people found dead after the recent bombing of the eastern city of brega and u.k. said to be holding talks too with a senior aide to the libyan regime who is believed to be seeking an exit strategy for colonel gadhafi for a series of high ranking defections result his policy reports from tripoli the government doesn't see ready to back off yet. it seems incredibly unlikely that the libyan leader moammar gadhafi will step down in face of these increasing defections

and also the offer from the opposition of a cease fire deal they are insisting that could not be first to back his troops from the waist in the cities of this country and also stop his appearance of in the east of libya they say that if he does not do this they will fight on and liberate this country now there is no reason why gadhafi would actually agree to the cease fire deal because his troops outnumber the rebels by ten to one and after two weeks of nato airstrikes the rebel fighters have been pushed a little way back to the oil town of radio and at this stage that is where the fighting the same to the round as far as the defections go the tripoli government is making light of the fact that the foreign minister was of course it is important that he has defected they say that he is an old man who is very sick and he asked for a leave of absence which they granted him now we are hearing rumors that as many as ten libyan officials people who are from gadhafi is in a circle could also be thinking of defecting they are in talks reported be with the

british we've also been told that a senior aide to gadhafi son has now returned to tripoli after holding secret talks in london apparently he has been discussing some kind of the exit deal for the gadhafi family and we understand the woman from the table insists that could a few steps down but so far the tripoli government tight lipped about all of that and those officials that we can get to talk some people deny it the vatican envoy to debian's says that the information he has puts the number of civilian deaths in tripoli alone from nato airstrikes at more than forty he says that most of these people have been killed in the eastern tripoli suburb of europe and he quotes one incident when the house when the roof of a house collapsed in on the family and small children inside that we're also hearing from a doctor on that front line the town of brega he says a seven people have been killed in airstrikes so the number of civilian deaths continuing to climb. obvious policy reporting from tripoli and then you can follow

us on twitter to get instant updates for up from her as well in one of the latest tweets in fact she says that increasing numbers of people on the ground say they feel a stalemate in libya could become a reality now follow or sort out see other school can also check up all those insights in a blog on our main web site r t v dot com. u.s. defense secretary robert gates something chairman of the joint chiefs of staff mike mullen who faced a grilling in front of congress over the libyan campaign both struggled to answer vital questions as to what is the exit strategy or how to cover the costs party's clearly in ford has more. 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 they were still confusion about the u.s. is the end game i think a policy success would be the removal of the cut off the 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 and of those who have risen against gadhafi each element has its own agenda. and whether the u.s. will arm them discuss our plans if you're any regarding arming the rebels they seem to be getting there but swept but gates in mind passed the buck and that one differing to the white house what if there was a qaeda decided to bristle in there and or because he would clearly have a problem with how long the u.s. will stay the 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 outposts i

don't know why this administration has not been on this with the american people that this is about regime change or your circular defense you ought to be an expert on what's an act of war i'm a act of war not hate filled 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 the briefing of the armed services committee. there wasn't what is clear the cost five hundred fifty million dollars in the first ten days alone and it 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 the discussions with the white house would be very difficult for the

department to eat this cost keep in mind repeated over and over again 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 against gadhafi forces there is no one on the ground recent press reports at least indicate there are cia operatives around so boots on the ground as i would define it and of other spending troops i guess is we'd all read about it in the newspaper 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 for an artsy washington d.c. adrian so research and also from argentina told me that u.s. involvement in the arab world mirrors regime changes it's already orchestrated elsewhere. we have new very clear for all the double standards that are being used by the western nations in this case so far france britain and denounce those because they seem to make a great differentiation whether we are raising is from

a bad guy government. or there is one of the good guys as we are seeing in saudi arabia which had made a lot of good suppose a good go back rain where the united states consists of fifty indian ocean fleet and there have been no invasions of saudi arabia or of a raincloud on the western powers. because it is part of the turf war that is being spread even on purpose i would say those cia operatives that we hear of oh well we know that way back in one nine hundred fifty three it was a cia that housed the most are they from iran because of oil so the story seems to repeat and just for the record i could i was speaking from argentina where the cia had backed military with oratory in coups in chile and in argentina and the consequences have been horrendous so every time i hear about the cia being pulled on the rebels i become very concerned for those people's livelihood. well as the military campaign in libya rages on questions remain over how far the coalition

might decide to go on the ground and next hour in cross talk on r.t. people of l's going to share their views about the issue. the reality is that obama despite him saying that the call is natural move could our feet on the ground that's what's happening in a course everyone anyone will tell you behind the scenes that is the goal if you look at the last twenty four hour news cycle you'll see that there are special forces on the ground in libya right now and in an afghanistan style scenario that is the first step towards ever greater and. involvement in the conflict on the ground. next seven years in prison that so doing business in georgia resent it up for one israeli investor ronnie folks was found guilty of bribery but police in court but his lawyers say he was in trouble to buy top officials so the government could

avoid paying one hundred billion dollars it owed to the businessman that is the current rich overexposed. a roni folks is not only a major investor in georgia he's also an on record so in turkey a position combining economic development and all the rock diplomacy he worked as an oil trader in new york for something fifteen years and yet see he invested huge amounts of cash in georgia back in the nine hundred ninety s. and of course uprising it for he wanted to go last year he received an invitation to visit george here from the prime minister of the country himself now why surprisingly because for some fifteen years rooney flukes has been demanding one hundred million dollars from georgia the money which georgia owes him for a bridge to grammont on construction of an oil pipeline back in the ninety's you know a court in london that year ruled that george indeed should pay the money back but

georgian authorities but obviously didn't want to pay that money to rony folks here believe that invitation is just a formality to put an end to this fifteen year old dispute now shortly before that is that in quite a read see a hotel room in turkey there was an official meeting between rooney folks and georgian authorities and there they reached a verbal agreement after drinking lots of cognac. would receive only seventy two million dollars instead of ninety eight with georgia owed him but on one critical condition in return he gives seven million dollars back now the agreement was reached only one for a melody was allowed to come over to georgia shake hands with the prime minister and finalize the deal now minutes after that happened in front of georgian t.v. cameras rony folks and his business associates were arrested for the question is how did it come that a businessman who georgia owes that huge amount of cash and are in a d.c.

prison now the lure of it was a trap. wisely set out by. himself there was in for a. cooperation a collaboration between four important ministries of the government and probably with the approval of the president of the ministry of finance the ministry of justice or the ministry of the interior and the prime minister's office all of which came together with the two and a few fuchs was then informed through diplomatic channels that he would not be released until the arbitration award was waived now shortly after roni foods and his business partner were they were all for it runs and what could be called a ransom was put on the table now georgia said that he could be released admitted guilt and if he gave the money back but rooney refused to do either now we know

that juror general wants the world to believe that it's on a war against corruption and really personally wants to attract foreign investment into the country so of course he has saved this one hundred million dollars obviously but the question is how much will he lose because now foreign investors will have to think twice before bringing money into this country. that's of course one of the country approach over holding their view with r.t. still to come this hour. ellis t.v. an engineer went missing in ukraine too late to resurface in an israeli prison scandal is gathering momentum with everything pointing to ask russia liberation by the assad which the crimean authorities had no idea but are likely a jet ski there is good all the details in our report from him from here for just a few minutes time and also can. you fight with anything was there was no incoming things like what factory still people here including you and me some

things which are being hunted by watch collectors the world over artie's close team visits the place where time seems to have stood still the thankfully that's not afraid to be graphic watchmaking joyous wishes you'll get later. we're going to japan know that bring you the latest from there and officials are spraying resin they say around the quake hit fukushima nuclear plant to try to avoid any further spread of radioactive substances it comes after radiation was detected in ground water near the plant for the first time the levels were ten thousand times higher than the legal limit authorities say they don't plan to expand the twenty kilometer evacuation zone despite the fact that radiation was registered forty kilometers from the facility american writer an expert on japan alex curse says the action of the government shows it's trying a safe place and. one of the biggest problems they're dealing with here is this whole thing is it left in the hands of the electrical company and in most of the

large countries of the world editor if you had a problem of this seriousness you have now the central government coming in with all the big resources at their disposal the army the navy the resources of this film company are not up to it they don't have the best cars in france is going to get to the side well them that big wealthy countries like japan. there are other ways to do it and yet the government seems to paralyzed unwilling to make a move beyond what some clear across in the electrical company are telling the to the many problems not only that ration it's one of the curious questions is why are they staying at a facility that is subject to radioactivity just five hundred meters from the site there got to have been ways to bring in tents to build temporary shelter say one kilometer or even two which would lower the amount of radioactivity that they're exposed to the issue is not so much what the electrical company did or didn't to

write the central government seems unwilling to step in and it's one of the weirder aspects of this that the japanese government seems unwilling to accept reality when it comes to serious danger outside the twenty kilometer limit actually it's not just the u.s. results even the japanese government's own results as published according to a. nuclear radioactivity testing facility which was reported about a week ago announced the same results so it's obvious the people in this hamlet forty kilometers away are in danger and yet the government seems stern shingly unwilling to move. i can only guess that it's something to do with face saving. maybe. the government doesn't want to admit. again jury has

gone beyond a certain artificial limit. right to an expert on japan alex curb there was a nuclear crisis in fukushima continues to unfold there's a worry that it might turn into another to nobble a disaster out that ukrainian reactor was the world's worst nuclear accident to acquaint yourself with more with it on our website you can find exclusive photos from the area around should overlook newly taken before you're twenty five years old using striking and indeed harrowing images and also follow our columns of blogs r.t. dot com. scandals flaring up after israel confirmed an abducted palestinian engineer is now awaiting

trial in an israeli prison. country uses of links with hamas disappeared in ukraine in february he's a lecturer jessica's got the details. this story has definitely more questions than answers and more mysteries than we can imagine the palestinian engineer. c.c. went missing in ukraine in the middle of february he was on board a train from height of to kiev when allegedly two men walked into his argument and removed the man from the train there had been no information whatsoever on his whereabouts until thursday when the israeli prime minister openly admitted that the man was kept in a prison on israel's territory now his connection to the hamas is being named as one of the reasons for such actions and he is waiting for charges to be put against him but his wife and himself are saying that these allegations are not true in fact his ukrainian wife. turned to the u.n. high commissioner for refugees to sort this issue out and she believes that this

alleged kidnapping was performed by the israeli intelligence service the mossad now what's interesting about the story is how exactly this man was removed from the cranium territory i spoke to one of the former security officers and he told me that in case of a planned operation between the two countries intelligence services this this usually is not a problem with a man is arrested then he is quietly deported from the country but in this case both the great intelligence service and the theory ministry say they had no idea of any actions by their israeli counterparts moreover the country's interior minister alexandr would you know if he's going to israel to sort this issue out so the country's interior minister has now a very difficult task to tell his israeli counterparts not to do anything like that on the korean territory without letting them know. world news in brief now at least twelve people have been killed as the u.n. office in afghanistan's mazhar actually floors attacked by demonstrators eight

foreigners and four afghan workers are said to be among the dead protesters reaction to the burning of the koran by an american pastor last month the demonstrators stormed the compound chanting death to the u.s. . in ivory coast fighters supporting the u.n. backed president elect al assad. laying siege to the residence of the embattled leader of. forces loyal to ouattara have advanced in recent days seizing a key port and the country's capital but both been refusing to step down following defeats in the embers presidential told the un's imposed sanctions against him including a travel ban and the freeze of his assets change of huge rallies that occurred in the capital of yemen is tens of thousands of supporters and opponents of the president taking to the streets with tensions high between the two camps hundreds of security forces deployed checkpoints across the city president alyea bill or sell a address the crowd saying that the rule in the country cannot be changed by through

the demonstrations going on at a stalemate in the streets with the opposition but a transfer. to me is past and now here in moscow change of pace for you and time to catch up with russia a close up team giving you a chance to get to know russia. and then take two of our travels were in the chelyabinsk region in the year rules it's not just real powerhouse has been fueling russia's economy for centuries among its trademark goods a highly sought after military what she is an engraved steel weapons that is really is their first. time stands still and looked almost. at this time through a right way is like being the time you heard me anything has to hear over the last thirty to forty years in fact when i look around there are some of the archives

here i'll catch phrases like this one they're from back in my childhood they were made in one thousand six hundred nineteen seventies but this by the there is a thing was the word incoming does not go with what three still people hear something you make up things which are being hunted by watch polar bears 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 that ost. we produced these watches until nine hundred seventy four for the soviet navy then we stopped because there was no need for them but now suddenly they become popular so we have renewed production. now these are the famous divers watches which the balls to watch planters known for of course there is nothing dainty about them they are extremely heavy and well frankly very bulky so i don't think i could pull them out of bed for any watch enthusiastic

albury was in two big things this may just be the ultimate choice and it's not only watch fans taken care of here like those have something to offer even to modern day swashbucklers. and not from eight hundred fifteen as lacoste was the center of calderon's production in the country the term essentially supplied weapons to the entire russian imperial army. these days the town supply is called still read widely used by russian special forces and military and city officials and state gifts and rewards for outstanding service to young. clients include the army russian federal security service and private collectors the cold steel weapons are more recent dollars item now rather than a functional one they signify power in order to this day so whether you're looking to reaffirm your status with a blade or to keep time with a heavy duty military watch as the toast of the town of iron workers who manage to

evolve with time will probably have what you want it includes carty children scrooge and now day three of us special report to morrow is well thought of travels in less than ten minutes tongue looking at where paris one can find russian cultural influence in a special edition of moscow out from the french capital but first let's get across the world business tonight unity. that's right time to get the latest from the world of business and business isn't russia could be in for a touch break president medvedev says the social tax rate which pays for health care pensions should below it it went up to thirty four percent at the beginning of the year and benny analysts say it's having a negative impact on all types of businesses however the part. to say surely is not the main issue for investors. i don't think the. investment while in

russia is a tax system i think that is not actually one of the. reasons why the russian economy is not as good as a real wasn't to be. good to research with such a short as a measure of impediment in growth investments in russian and foreign is broken multitrack system. time to have a quick look at the markets we're bearing the actual stock market has hit a new twenty eleven high on a title global optimism. on the price of finished up more than one and a whole percent i did you may just for it look like um five with gas proficient up more than two point six percent russian markets this week have. however the positive bias has prevailed and the markets are closing one hundred percent up well supported by the growth in the. context by around two percent as the military conflict in libya continues to be pressing outside of the oil price environment we

have seen this week is a mixed bag of statistics from the us europe and china today we have seen a very strong change in my numbers which came ahead of consensus and were thoughts of growth for the first time in four months we have also seen renewed concerns of the european sovereign debt crisis with portuguese debts trading at record high yields in the entire history of the european union. the creative now russian airports are about to take off will have big way the russian government is going to spend almost fourteen billion dollars giving them and create along with air traffic control president verted hopes this will also improve their health links across the biggest country in the world. but i mean you're the would be compared with ten years ago the number of civil airports is full and by almost forty percent i mean problem is the infrastructure of many airports does not meet existing requirements you need to improve the situation the government will spend one hundred seventy

five billion dollars on levy ation in general by twenty twenty that's ten times more than in the last decade. near the cheers. and canadian auto parts company magna may supply components for the first russian hybrid car the deal more build a car as there brainchild of businessman mikhail prokhorov it's aimed at saving energy and being cheap to buy and run production to start next year with plans to produce ten thousand cars annually it's expected the starting price for your bill will be around sixteen thousand dollars all the car world to abortions in a four door saloon that's a sporty cope a version like that suv with the prime minister of course a behind the wheel. ok that perhaps some of the business both have joined me in the last someone asked if more business stories here on our team and get more from our website r.t. for slash business. down

to your fish or on t. application your i phone i pod touch from the i choose our. geology life on the. video on demand r.t.s. minefield costs and the r.s.s. feeds now in the palm of your. questions on the t.v. telecom. there is not enough space for

them on the ground. zero down to. get things nonexistent under the sun. through the gamut of adrenaline to. discover deeply hidden secrets. they are seen to. fine tune. and even. talking to god. from. under the ground. to. consume team has been to the jaroslav the region where handicrafts have become a major industry. now auntie goes to form a top secret military stronghold. which today.