libyan rebels resume their battle for control of key cities but come under friendly fire from coalition forces. gadhafi loyalists step up a fight against the insurgency attempting to recapture the western liberal stronghold of misrata i'm going to see you in the capital city of tripoli toward me in a few moments and i'll bring you will. also this hour with brady ation expected to leave for several months ahead japan's trying to rise from the rubble of the quake disaster. and on the first anniversary of the moscow metro bombings the blitz operation strikes a serious blow to terrorism in the north caucasus. a

warm welcome to the week we here in archie our many sonali with the latest in a look back at the week's top stories we begin in libya where programs are few forces in the country are attempting to recapture the west the third largest city in a strong and the last rebel stronghold left in the west and has been under attack for weeks now are one of polls here in the capital tripoli with more. but word of bloodshed is increasingly been used to describe the situation in the last rebel held city in the west of this country the city of misrata now according to doctors on the scene they say that one person was killed and several people were wounded in the early hours of sunday morning when the government forces renewed shelling on a building in the city and we understand from the doctors that and turn a few days ago there were number of civilians being housed inside that building

they have been injured in recent clashes between pro and anti gadhafi forces but fortunately there have been evacuated before the shelling began we are also hearing from doctors that in the last week alone one hundred and sixty people have been killed in misrata itself from these battles are being told by doctors that in a month of fighting between six hundred and eight thousand civilians have been killed in the city so here the rebels have been in control of it for more than a month now because we are seeing increasingly is that the government troops are intensifying the shelling and more and more troops likely that the city wolf or to the hands of gadhafi is name ever since the united states handed over command of the military operations here in libya to nato the u.s. has been decreasing the number of combat missions it carries out yet we are hearing from top american military officials that it was are going to begin withdrawing the fighter jets the submarines and the missile ships now this does come across so it does come against the background of a stalemate in terms of fighting on the ground between those pro and thank you

duckie forces around the city of brega in the east of the country it also comes against the backdrop of increasing criticism from within the american president barack obama's own administration over questions in terms of the representation and the capability of those opposition fighters as far as the tripoli government goes that they continue to call those a quote a crusader who they say that these actions are illegal and immoral and they are not movie concerns that in the future they will be the supplying of weapons to these rebel fighters this will soon be followed by training and ultimately end in the deployment of foot soldiers. now washington is considering training and arming the libyan rebels despite claims that al qaida has infiltrated their brakes archie's a good school has been talking to opposition supporters in benghazi calling the recent nato airstrikes nearby that left thirteen dead. the general feeling here in the rebel stronghold is confusion lots of confusion around that incident because

according to some reports this attack plane on the rebels was caused for a good by god that the troops who sneaked in hmong the rebels that opened fire at the planes but other reports suggest that the rebels were celebrating and began shooting into the air best confusing the pilots and also free room them to react back but i can tell you that judging by the four level of wolf organization and framing of the rebel fighters both versions are possible because the rebels have been seen arguing and even fighting among themselves out there on the front many are teenagers who don't have any experience in combat and there is even speculation and lots of rumors of that egypt and the united states and maybe secretly training the rebels out there on the ground and also rumors that the cia

secret agents and media operating there as well trying to organize the rubbles since when it comes to god that these two forces there are much better trained they're much better equipped and apparently there's much more of them according to some bigger is the a ratio of the forces at the moment is around one to ten meaning one rebel fighter against then gadhafi soldiers as so the general understanding here in benghazi is that the only way the rebels could be successful is with this air support from nato . well many experts warn the military support of the grapples could mean how can the enemy in the long run i think and it's to can assess is what tangible consequences. the international community permitted intervention in libya to protect civilians from colonel qaddafi but washington wants to go further than that and is considering arming the rebels while officially denying that toppling khadafi

is the objective of its involvement in libya but broadening our military mission to include regime change would be a mistake president obama has reportedly signed a secret order authorizing covert american support for rebel forces seeking to oust the lead in leader critics of the u.s. taking sides in a civil war war of the consequences we help accelerate the chaos. and in creating more chaos we're to rethink somehow we're going to be able to direct the outcome it's the same hubris that has visited the united states in iraq the same hubris that keeps us penya and in afghanistan causes us to believe that somehow we are going to wreck events and the outcome in libya we cannot do that nor do we have the right to determine who the leader of libya should be many here radical forces could take advantage of the chaos in libya former

jihadists know my badman who renounces all kind of two thousand says he estimates one thousand jihadists are among the rebels in libya one lady and rebel commander has openly admitted his fighters have links other reports say terrorists seized libyan surface to air missiles when arsenals were looted nato intelligence reports claim flickers of al qaida and hezbollah have been found among the rebels in libya but maintained there is no reason to believe their presence is significant but a u.s. military study three years ago said lidia's made up the second largest group of jihadists in the world right after saudi arabia all of that seems to be discarded as the u.s. is trying to prop up the opposition in libya as some analysts say in an attempt to forge a relationship with them that would be favorable for the united states in the future but experts say as of now the opposition in libya hardly has a defined face or power these people. will not be able to take

control over the situation as soon as the current regime. goes off and that means that somebody else will be. tempted to take over the country and you know the village will. the world force in the region not in the country but in the region is unfortunately some say arming the rebels could backfire we've been in a situation in afghanistan one day we help people and the next day they shoot at us if we are cautious about military intervention so blowback or chalmers johnson johnson wrote famously about is sure to happen in libya in afghanistan back in the eighty's the u.s. had a narrow goal to help the mujahideen fight soviet troops subsequently the same militants turned their weapons and training against the u.s.

among those of them was osama bin ladin whose group of eventually evolved into al qaida cannistraro cia and alice is an operations chief in the 1980's says back then the us didn't see the dangers of arming afghan militants. and what we see were a tribal society. you know it's. leading to. some reconstruction composed well over two decades after arming the afghan mujahedeen america is now considering giving weapons to another rebel band with an unclear identity simply because of who they're fighting against. going to check out our t. washington d.c. . in syria president bashar al assad has appointed a new prime minister after dismissing the old cabinet in an attempt is the other rast of the country dozens have been killed in two weeks of fighting the government blames outside influence for the on ras about the situation has raised fears that

further foreign military intervention could be on the cards but this with independent journalist james corbett joins us live from japan thanks for being with us this sunday now as this on ras continues how concerned do you think the west is with the current situation and is syria do you think considered as important as libya in terms of strategy well i think syria is obviously going to be a very important. piece on the geopolitical just forward for the people who are who are going to be leading the current intervention in libya and we've seen obviously a lot of covert intervention going on behind the scenes before and during this crude humanitarian intervention so-called and i figure that's exactly what's going to be taking place in syria very geostrategic location starts to become destabilized in this wave of destabilization that we've been seen going on for the

past few weeks here how far do you think it will go do you think we could possibly see the same kind of information intervention rather as we're seeing in libya. well i think the president is being set right now with the libyan case and. if they're able to get away with it i suppose if the forces of western imperialism are able to get away with this in libya then it's really just a question of implementing just seems theme in syria and we've seen how it can be done by seeing and funding and training and arming and supplying the rebel forces in the country and basically covert attempt to implement regime change and i think something similar could be attempted in syria at this point obviously there is no there's no indication that there is any type of military intervention that's that's likely to take place but we've seen the the rhetoric building up for a no fly still no fly zone exactly the way that the libyan intervention has begun now we've seen our president assad dissolving the government in an attempt to calm

the situation do you think that that is going to work. i think it would be difficult to for him to really rely on the i don't think at this point that it's going to have a huge effect obviously it's just a band-aid type solution and i think playing a long term i think there are going to be much more difficult decisions to have to face in the future but i think it's it's the only step that i think assad could make at this point in a way of trying to prop up his is the tater ship which is reprehensible dictatorship you know there's no there's no doubt about that but i think we're being crammed into another false dichotomy of choosing between western imperialist interventionism in the region or supporting israel dictator and not being offered the third choice which is to allow the syrians to take care of the situation themselves we have touched on this a little bit hinted at it and there is widespread speculation that there's a wider goal here and that is to isolate libya perhaps syria and then perhaps

iran and force a regime change there is that something that you suspect as well. i think that's absolutely the way that the dominoes are falling and i think that's exactly what any intervention in syria would be about ultimately it would be to isolate iran obviously syria being an absolutely vital strategic partner and a long term partner of rand and providing that land link to. it and so it's absolutely a geo strategic location and it's very strategic for furman's so i would see if the if syria is the next country to fall under this imperialist intervention i think that would definitely be the long term goal would be to isolate iran to hopefully eventually in the imperialist eyes to overthrow are going to judge the regime and then it would be a question of encircling china and russia right james corbet independent journalists thank you very much for your analysis thank you. still ahead this hour

for you here on r.t. business behind bars we look at how a man out one hundred million dollars by the georgian government has ended up in jail. and as it's almost fifty years since mankind's first journey into space we'll bring you all the latest on preparations for a special anniversary flight. but first to pan faces the grim prospect of at least a few months of uncontrolled radiation release officials have said radioactive water continues to leak into the ocean from a crack in the fukushima plant second reactor following last month's earthquake after failed attempts to plug it with concrete emergency crews are now trying absorbent polymer. two workers killed by the devastating tsunami have been recovered from the reactor syllabi the massive wave that hit the country has now claimed the lives of twelve thousand people over two hundred thousand still live in shelters the authorities have given assurances they're doing everything they can to

help this place communities but. discovered many people feel their government has failed them. this is the first time many residents of. seen houses since the tsunami the search through them look at most little of value remains but subtle shinji is not trying to salvage material possessions. my house was totally destroyed and my husband who died in the tsunami now i'm honoring him by giving his personal things i just wish everything could go back to how it was. chingy has been housed at the local school with several hundred of those people here have been taking turns to volunteer as cooks and cleaners. but the cramped conditions mean that after nearly three weeks the communal spirit is fraying and. we're dissatisfied with your forty's we know there are temporary houses that will be put up. you will get them some areas are being faded over others. the government

admits that not a single temporary house has been constructed so far but even when they do finally go up they won't solve the far greater problem. the government excavators are moving the rubble as fast as they can but for the victims of the disaster even those lucky enough to get a temporary housing it will be years before they can come here rebuild their house and call a home many of the stricken japanese coastal towns will live for generations fishing and shipping industries livelihoods which no longer exist and there's little hope of ever getting them back. the government is good at solving problems but not the ones of a small people i do not think this town will ever be a rebuild as it was even if i restore what i have and no one will build anything next to my house. for the government providing food and temporary shelter was

a relatively straightforward part in helping victims cope with the disaster making sure people have a place and a community to return to will be much more difficult. now r.t. to japan. one of the biggest counter terror operations in the years left seventeen militants dead russians saw the republic of monday it was thought that not russia's most wanted terrorist or more could be among those killed but a number of forensic tests are yet to be carried out to verify that information during the raid security forces also destroyed a military camp where terrorists were being trained the operation took place on the eve of the first anniversary of the twin suicide bombings that rocked hostiles metro claiming thirty eight lives artie's medina a question of a call out for some of the survivors of the deadly attacks. it started off as just an ordinary monday morning for me to be true he like many others had a certain spring in his step knowing that harshman school winter was only little

but little did he realize the nightmare she would be thrown into just a few minutes later suddenly there was a very horrible sound as if something huge had formed. and i woke up and there was a small haze. people were shouting and rushing out of the car would meet me had heard was the storage of the worst terrorist attack in the russian capital in six years just before eight am the first of two explosions hit the moscow subway killing twenty four people at the crowded luganda station which lies beneath they had one of the federal security service forty minutes later the terror trail moved south targeting a station at a crucial city intersection killing twelve more. years i mean to replace it in

a thirty eight right in the middle of the rush hour it's up up the back of the train cars commuters try to get on board it was dark horse no like you and i just thought it was borders and that was. remained of them some of them were stretched on the floor of the metal crane and so it was horrible it was. just before your eyes and there was nothing that would save them with eight million commuters every day in school subways one of the busiest in the world that's made it a terrorist target in the past year ago in los to be talking once again a twenty year old student leave so that if you see the truth you sister lives in phoenix should you. feel something like this i think about this but in general i think we have a safe safety and. a year ago tires broad moscow to

a standstill by going to our reading life but they wanted to destroy people's spirits the goal was certainly know what it shift says a live gold zone and while a terror threat to millions both and must go on across the globe remains it's something people have learned to live with the question also moscow when israeli businessman bronnie perceived an invitation from the georgian prime minister to an informal dinner the last thing here was expecting was a prison sentence meeting was to finalize a settlement of a hundred million dollars owed to him by the georgian government and that foods have been trying cabin chasing rather for almost fifteen years because artist katrina czar over reports during pills with georgia can be a risky business. pick one israeli businessman one former soviet republic and the lot of potential profit from gas transit sounds like a winning combination which is exactly why running folks into newly independent

georgian ninety nine one and scored a monopoly on the energy transfer market with the subsequent changes of government saw folks down for paper fish and his investments turned into a loss so he did what any businessman would tip the case to court and warned that the difficult part was getting the georgian side to cough up one hundred million u.s. dollars it all started negotiations with officials to the minister of finance which . they just wanted to establish the payment of this get nothing. from georgian government to any immunity or any it was just story in the account and what was the word go over very informal drinks and unnamed istanbul which zero six worked out the details with none other than georgia's deputy finance minister the debtor plainly stated that one hundred million was not the kind of money georgia could afford to pay out and suggested an alternative five

million. seventy to go to folks and everybody's happy so in just a week later the businessman received an invitation from the georgian prime minister who was expecting to collect the dodge but instead was collected himself there was in fact 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 ministry of the interior and the prime minister's office all of which came together with a plan to entrap brown effects and trapped and now in prison the business and then apparently got sucked into yet more corrupt games after going straight to jail without. king is cash to look at his a get out of jail free card would cost him one hundred million dollars his own one hundred million u.s. fuchs was that informed through diplomatic channels that he would not be released

until the arbitration award was waived what signal does this send to anyone else who might be considering putting big money into georgia the odds of his succeeding in georgia are very very slim and point zero one percent so it's a good warning to businessmen who are thinking of investing in georgia that they should think twice and that they should be aware for now georgian may have saved itself a lot of money considering the fact last years for investment scheme just four hundred twenty million dollars avoiding pleading with nearly who would be turned in feet to keep. his economy. is not many investors like doing business with people who don't settle debts and film them with errors newspapers are already full of the potential political and financial consequences to this

convention and as long as ronnie folks and see if winkle stay in prison some businesses may well decide that this is the kind of georgian hospitality they do not want to invest into cash as our i t. ga. there's always more news views and analysis waiting for you on our website here some of what's online right now is power to the people but one process and your girths electricity bills have soared following of federal decision to allow energy providers to earn more find out why city officials are calling the move on the new ground. plus prime minister vladimir putin takes a green machine for a spin find out what he thought of russia's newest hybrid vehicle known as the you almost feel on our website r c dot com. look now at some international news this sunday hundreds of french troops are being sent to ivory coast as the power struggle in the country heats up and they are reported to have taken over the

airport in the main city of the job around a thousand people have been killed in violent clashes in the west of the country for days forces loyal to the u.s. recognize leader of the time you were far off are battling supporters of incumbent president laurent gbagbo refused to cede power. hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets in afghanistan and renewed throw times to the burning of the could run by a pastor in the u.s. last month demonstrators in kandahar attacked cars and shops in a riot that left at least five people dead at the protests have also spread to the city of talal of god comes after fourteen people including u.n. staff were killed after similar to. an american southwest airlines has grounded near the eighty planes for inspection and canceled three hundred flights nationwide the move came out for a section of the fuselage ripped open on a boeing seven thirty seven during

a flight on friday for it's going to merge into landing at a military base in arizona the jet with one hundred eighteen people on board was on route from phoenix to supplement when the cabin pressure suddenly dropped the pilot made a descent and none of the passengers were seriously injured. on the fiftieth anniversary year of the first manned flight into space russia was preparing to honor that epic achievement the crew set to blast off on board of science spacecraft on monday night on their mission to the stars says arcelor has more. well it's just a day before the launch of the so used twenty one to the international space station of course the crew they're going through the final preparations the spacecraft itself is already hoisted in its vertical position but they're putting the final touches but what's most interesting is the process the traditions that have the crew have to go through fall when the footsteps of the men and women that came before them were the most interesting thing happening today is the blessing of

the russian orthodox priest who's giving his blessing to the group before they go off on their mission and of course this was a practice. actually began when. a request for this before he went on his mission to the mir space station this was the t m a twenty two so you see on the twenty another interesting tidbit we found out is that the russian orthodox priest himself he actually wanted to be a cosmonaut but he did manage to achieve the closest he could get to dream is to working with the cosmonauts themselves so he's there giving his blessing so that's what we've been watching for today and another tradition that he had to go through has happened before. launching into space you have a lot of tourists here going to the different monuments go into the launch pad as well to have a closer look at the rocket which of course the symbol the face actually. for the fiftieth anniversary of his first space flight another interesting thing is that

we've been talking to the lives of the cosmonauts especially the two russian cosmonauts. but he said this is their first time in space and when you get when you talk to their wives they're actually the ones who are very very nervous about their husbands making this trip so again a very interesting atmosphere here what you don't see. maybe inside of a camera it's all the conversations that go on between the astronauts of people visiting just a very informative a very exciting atmosphere that we're experiencing here at baikonur and course everybody looking forward to the last. marking be a fiftieth anniversary of utica got its first space flight for. just a few moments we walk closer at washington's actions in libya and after a recap of our weekly top stories stay with us.

from. twenty years ago in the largest country in the. disappearance of. what i've been trying. to teach be gentle just. where did it take.