as los angeles sufi's by opposition forces in libya nato explosives were great for attacking little fine says i'm one of three in the capital city of tripoli joining me in a few moments and i'll bring you more. drop his attempts at a short sharp war in libya on giving president sarkozy the ratings boost he expected but some saying it was motivated by imperialistic ambition. as u.s. political parties keep bickering over the new budget credit agencies sell the alarm over the country's bad boring habits so it's a road straight to bankruptcy. and george's attempts to project

a democratic image are tarnished by the state of its legal system but even lawyers are getting persecuted. and b.p. encountered yet another setback in its bid to join ross never to explore the arctic shelf in russia this is out of the so-called arbitration tribunals i'll hold an injunction blocking the deal more about in twenty minutes time. international news live from our studios here in central moscow this is r.t. post nine pm here in the russian capital and seven pm in libya where at least four russian journalists have been captured by rebel fighters in the country russia has voiced its concern about the situation and is taking steps to resolve it including asking for help from a nato coalition a correspondent has the latest developments from the capital tripoli. two russian

journalists working for a popular russian newspaper have been seized by opposition fighters in the east of this country we are hearing that among them is also a captured russian television crew but we have no independent verification of this and we are receiving some reports of the crew and might have been released we have been told that the journalists are now in the city of benghazi the rebel headquarters where they are facing questioning they were able to put through a call from a satellite phone t.v. news and since then all communication has died now this is the first time that we are aware that rebel fighters have actually taken journalists captive normally if the other way around a grainy thing the opposition forces try the utmost to try and assist in this certainly we've seen a very different picture on the other side of the coin with gadhafi soldiers at the moment they have as these foreign journalists in big hands now the russian foreign ministry is following the story very very closely it says it is

a very war if this is what the russian foreign minister had to say. of course we are worried about the fact that our journalists have been seized in eastern libya by the opposition i think we can turn to the leadership of countries that reportedly might have their special forces on the ground this is a serious matter we don't want to miss a chance which when the law was successfully reduce our journalists. on friday the nato secretary general anders fogh rasmussen expressed deep are great for nato air strike that targeted opposition finds has earlier nato said it was not going to issue an apology at that stage if it might have mistaken me hits the rebel fighters but we are hearing from doctors on the ground that five people were killed and more than twenty two people were injured now what we think might have happened is the rebel fighters were trying to make some kind of surprise attack on good are these men they were equipped with heavy armor and we they were using tanks and this is what we're now hearing from reading from nato that they did not receive any

information before that the rebel fire. because we're actually using tanks and it's becoming increasingly more difficult for pilots from the skies to be able to tell the difference between rebel fighters and libyan soldiers because more and more they're using the same tactics and the same weaponry the feeling on the ground among those level fighters towards nato is there is growing from the solution meant to go but we're not hearing from some of the letters the rebel the that is that nato came to them and instead is actually starting to kill them this is the second time in two weeks that nato has made a mistake last week it killed some t.v. rebel fighters and a similar incident when if the air strikes targeted rebel fighters instead of gadhafi is then. with the u.s. cutting back its involvement in the airstrikes the mission has become hugely dependent on french jets and salty general bushell reports the longer the campaign lost the more french people themselves are beginning to wonder about the reasons for the country's leading role. france was among the first countries to push for

a military solution in libya but now watchers are questioning its justification for going in once again on what i call the imperial condominium a recurrent quest to africa already having long term connections on the continent paris called forgive colonel gadhafi for fighting its military in neighboring chad in the 1980's and challenging its corporations in the region ever since. is it a friend's party or or is it a sarkozy party see your way that he tried to do to convince the world that he is the man in this capacity to be their leader on day twenty. and also the way that it tried to survive in frost reports the pentagon was plotting an invasion already last year of prompted accusations of revoiced imperial ambitions calculated as a coach would have for france's president the move has backfired french foreign

minister a leisure paces the invasion could last days or weeks but months into its third week war in libya is turning out longer and harder than wanted. it with gadhafi forces still standing firm rebel gains only come with the heavy hand of nato helping war in libya would put him in french and britain feeds abroad and restore the government's popularity here forward instead as the bombing continues oppositional ball boy is growing these demonstrators say they see through fraud these noble claims that they can claim humanitarian intervention but it's really harrison in local elections nicolas sarkozy got thumped he's you had people keep winning just nineteen percent of the folks the fridge president hope for a ratings lift from the. he's got the opposite. because.

presidents for every of the last forty years given france's troubled history in the region maybe fear. remember they called the polls and it gives the. countries that have genuine revolutions genuine. and then being able to unite i think that is something which i. don't really want to see with france placing a growing backlash rule any talk of a quick fix out of it you. will see paris. and to discuss more in the situation in libya will cross now live to london and jeremy corbyn who is a british labor party m.p. thanks so much for joining us here on our team now we've heard that nato has expressed regret over this mistaken attack on rebel fighters just how damaging all of these incidents to the campaign there in libya are now. well i think they're

very damaging altogether because the west came in claiming to support a no fly zone immediately started a problem in the various libyan government establishment and military. then patrol the no fly zone but also continued broadening out the direction of the opposition forces in libya so what we've become involved in is a civil war in libya and they all went disastrously wrong earlier today when they bombed an opposition military point that was apparently advancing against gadhafi forces who were them taking over because the opposition forces had to retreat so i think it's very damaging but it underlines the lack of any clear purpose in this mission and the lack of any end game shouldn't there be a clear purpose now bearing in mind many people didn't want intervention in the first place but the fact it's happened people are concerned it's reaching a stalemate isn't it better now that the troops just get in your ground mission and

end this whole thing decisively. what is not quite as simple as that because david cameron said the british parliament that this was not about regime change this was about a no fly zone rather the same words used about iraq when cameron then went on to say he wanted to see the. funny secretary has been like a cheerleader for the opposition in parliament ever since this things is now talk of sending in the just tickle support vice and training on the ground and we are getting sucked into a civil war the parallels of not only involved. the norm action concerning the deaths of civilians in bahrain saudi arabia the gambling could not be starker really involved in the civil war largely because of the vast amounts of oil that exist in eastern libya and i think the result will probably be pretty a very easy partition of libya with a sterile break which will lead to constant conflict and. not versed in the future

what was the alternative to intervention the libyan people needed help. well the libyan people rose up in the east in part against gadhafi in part against his regime and there were protests in the various there were calls for restraint by the us and there was a un representative sent i regret that the u.n. didn't take a more serious approach why didn't you go for example to give some strength to the un's position on this and i think the reason was that all along on the french president of the french representatives at a year when we're determined to get involved it's going to have a no fly zone and determined to take over the eastern part of libya and indeed there's already been no oil exports from the eastern part of libya what we're seeing is the economic bonus already after only a month of conflict and we don't know who it is who are actually supporting in the

east it's a very strange conglomeration of people going to come together in the opposition quite quickly also about the domestic impact it has there on the british government you talk about make lots of causey his intentions we're reporting today that this could lead to significant damage of his ratings what impact could this have on the coalition government intervention this involvement by britain. well coaching government got support in parliament overwhelmingly for their participation in this libyan adventure but there was no great hostility to the minority of us that voted against and in the debates in parliament many m.p.'s expressed a lot of concern and reservations and the foreign sect and the prime minister had to do their best to try and create that opposition i think the deeper we get involved the more money that's spent on the more problems such as this disaster. then the less that there is for it and normally when british troops are initially

involved in operations. port for the operation goes up or listen there has and it's already there and continuing to go down and i suspect that over quite a short time the coalition government will recognize this isn't the opinion poll parents they thought it was going to get them and will try to seek some way out of it i hope that's the case and hope the libyan people are able to sort out their problems without foreign help and foreign interference and the day has to be a political solution a political solution you're talking about dogs some sort of diplomacy we understand that the libya contact group will be meeting next week to discuss this are you hopeful of a positive outcome. i obviously hope there is a positive outcome from that and i hope that the contact group works and that i hope the african union and the arab league are involved in that theater on the august you're dealing with gadhafi here surely isn't it all about him just finally jeremy it's on his own it's isn't it. well gadhafi has been there

a very long time and he's a great survivor but i think he recognizes the game is probably up and the mood music that's coming across from his representatives and from the opposition representatives is they're looking for a way out both sides have offered some sort of inadequate cease fire as both have offered inadequate talks but the signs are that people recognize there has to be some political solution to this otherwise the carnage will continue the losses will continue and western interests will increase and we look with the greedy eyes on these enormous oil reserves and indeed the market opportunities of libya are going to see the libyan people bring about their solution without western interference it's always good to hear your point of view jeremy corbyn thanks so much for your time there in london thank you. well coming up soon for you here naughty back to the square where they won gyptian every tahrir square calling for the prosecution of ousted president mubarak examine the reasons

behind the uproar months after he was overthrown also still to come this hour. telling one of the country's top credit agencies telling the feds something has to get this debt growing alarm over america's careless barring its credit agencies one of a possible downgrade of the country's rating. stories to recover first finish preached is under investigation every statements against one of the world's most wanted men model and an online piece of chechen militants past it was charged with inciting racial hatred right after his interview with us r.t. she described a model as a terrorist despite the fact a lot of himself has claimed responsibility for many of russia's worst terror attacks including the recent bombing of moscow's domino. theory has also been a longtime critic of a website called the center for extremists from the north caucasus openly expressed their views the website is banned in russia and many european countries but free

operate. in finland terrorism expert phil reese in support of some states the militants exposes the notion of a global war on terror as a share. of the militants and terrorists in the caucasus have always had close ties to afghanistan and i think that unfortunately what this shows is while the globe and the world can talk about a war on terror in effect a lot of countries still support insurgents in other countries if they feel but their political interests and their leverage over that country may be helped by that and i'm afraid that a tragic reality of global politics. georgia's legal system is under fire for failing to merge its claims of democratic development the number of prisoners and significantly increased since president because saakashvili came to power with only seven acquittals and twelve thousand legal cases over the last year lawyers claim it's practically impossible to get a fair trial. the people of georgia do seem to have the right to speak their mind.

but if you are unfortunate enough to be detained it appears that all your rights only right out the window and should the case get to trial there can be very little hope of an acquittal no matter how good your lawyer is. in the last three years they have managed to win only three cases if we were to look at statistics thousands of cases heard in george's courts you would see the acquittals make less than one percent of the numbers. a recent human rights watch report on changes within georgia's legal system. steps but there are a lot of concerns as well according to the w moves like increasing the prison term for administrative offenses from thirty days to three months come in contradiction with all democratic developments as international organizations insist jill can

only be used as a last resort debates about the fairness of georgia's legal system continue but the numbers speak for themselves last year alone out of twelve thousand guilty verdicts only seven work whittles various international surveys show that nearly half of the population has no trust in their country's traditional system even the lawyers feel it's a lose lose game understandable since a lot of them and they're behind bars themselves. saakashvili doesn't want an independent court system the prosecutor's office is dominant and police are the main instruments of power and political pressure there is no need for justice or lawyers in strength to influence advocacy and when he fails he arrests or discriminates against lawyers who don't cooperate ever since we actually rose to power with a rose revolution his interests clearly pointed west you know legal system based on fairness and justice does not seem to be a priority according to some the justice system in georgia today actually measures

are worse than that of the soviet times. georgia holds first place for the highest number of prisoners per capita in europe which is a very somber fact i remember reagan used to call the soviet union the evil empire and then later george bush called george and beacon of democracy but how does these beacon have five times more prisoners per capita than the evil empire. it certainly seems as though there are some areas where the beacon of truth does not want to cast rumors about r.t. b.c. georgia. well as well as what you see on screen here in r.t. we're covering many other stories on our website is r t v dot com online all the time here's what else is lined up for you right now the moment to feel love on a right royal mess a case of carry on up the arctic for britain's prince harry after here in a charity expedition team get stuck there you can find out if there was a happy ending. also why scavenge e-mail may pose

a potential threat to national security here in russia before story for you at r.t. dot com. feuding u.s. political parties are once again in deadlock over negotiations on the country's budget dispute and threatening to shut down the entire government which would cost taxpayers almost a billion dollars a day and as artie's lauren lyster explains there are fears that federal action could be the cause of yet another financial crash. well u.s. lawmakers in washington bigger over the budget and hurled blame across the aisle for the gridlock calling opposing colleagues relatively smaller string group of logs who are an anchor dragging down the budget negotiation process. for

another group of decision makers has been weighing in on the debate one of the country's top credit agencies telling the feds something has to get done on this debt ratings agency standard and poor and moody's has been warning for months that the u.s. debt could threaten the country's golden aaa credit rating telling investors in u.s. bonds essentially they may have to worry about getting paid the u.s. debt problem is big fourteen trillion dollars big meanwhile the solutions lawmakers are coming up with to solve this problem are small this tiny dot represents even the larger sixty billion dollars in cuts republican lawmakers originally proposed meanwhile the u.s. government continues to spend a lot more than it takes in resulting in more than a trillion dollars in budget deficit so with all of this there rating agencies see as unsustainable and a concern and it's a path the u.s. has been on for a while forty three cents of every dollar we spend this year. we borrowed

against the future of our children continuing on this trajectory of borrowing and spending however would not be an option according to financial analysts if the u.s. was downgraded so what would happen it would be another crisis it would create global shock waves in part because most models and understanding of the global investment landscape include the landscape take is their sort of central banker the u.s. ten year treasury bond as the risk as it is the interest the u.s. pays on its debt is staggering it was one hundred eighty seven billion in two thousand and nine. pozole it increases to eight hundred forty four billion that number would grow exponentially faster with a downgrade because the us would likely have to pay higher interest rates to borrow money meaning less money to spend at home then we have to start cutting really aggressively and for many things they're too important for americans really to be

able to agree to cut them right now drastic cuts in everything from energy to education to the military and whether the u.s. would really be downgraded is up for debate the u.s. has the exorbitant privilege after all the printing dollars the global reserve currency to pay its global credit card bill the scarier scenario may be that the u.s. has even reached this point a situation that once would have been unthinkable lauren lyster r.t. washington d.c. . twenty two minutes past the hour here in the russian capital let's bring you some more of our top stories from around the world at this stage of the day the e.u. commissioner has announced that portugal would need about one hundred ten billion dollars to stay afloat it follows a statement by the portuguese prime minister saying that the mystical sturdy measures had failed after greece and ireland it's now the third nation to seek a financial lifeline for of european neighbors with fears that spain could be next

. in syria at least seventeen protesters have reportedly been killed in clashes with police a state wide demonstrations against the government continue for a third week security forces are reported to have used tear gas and live ammunition to stop the rallies from growing friday's become a traditional day of protest against autocratic rulers across the arab world. in egypt thousands of people are once again taken to the streets in protest it comes as a sign of increasing frustration at the military's lack of progress in removing figures of the previous regime from office professor mark almond an expert on the middle east and oxford says that the revolution has so far had limited impact on changing the country for the better. two months ago mubarak fell but the regime didn't with president mubarak and a few of his closest associates were probably right all. out be a conservation group under arrest but in reality the people in iraq can see what

a today people run their lives the forces are running their lives and their own national crime authority the head of the military council mentioned controversial well what is one of the comrades and. so we've seen a musical chairs of the talk and at the bottom of society it's got worse much worse economic a great problem is that people are impatient to change the economy's getting worse and worse. and so the people in egypt are used often with a rigged election cycle for the sources of discontent with our people are saying what exactly will be voted on in september no government is just one person. and so the resume system will who are running the conferences run economy has a fundamental interest since of continue. many of the leaders of students not to protest a few simple problems retired from the public and this opens a very unstable condition because we don't really know who is all the rising remonstrations it is the muslim brotherhood is a president this isn't our group and it may well be you got

a lesson or two people who determines their power is the four stop work if you don't have to collapse and get rid of the dispersants i hope that isn't the case but i fear that seems to be the last six weeks right since all of our almost forty five minutes past the hour here now in moscow the latest business news is coming up very shortly after a short break stay with us. you know watching business hours he would need to be sure of that and go another direction course in london ruling on the legitimacy of the sixteen billion dollars shares for between b.p. and rosneft as up held the injunction blocking the deal of the tribunals the

session appears to mark another victory for our full access win over between its partners in the russian british joint venture t m k p p a r has strongly objected to be peace proposed tie up with rosneft saying it broke their shareholder agreement and that is so expecting a r to get some sort of compensation from b.p. for whatever loading that are not north capital says it will most likely be in the form of physical assets. b.p. finished the year with losses and he is not is extremely unwilling right now to pay the cash probably he would offer for b.p. to buy. gas stations or not even say that he wants to acquire the be peace gas station because i don't think it's it's adoptable it's reasonable but probably they would consider b.p. to solve them for their network of gas station at a discounted price therefore team key theoretically will be better positioned

in the market of the retail gasoline. similar commodity experience for me while prices have extended their rally with ongoing unrest in the middle east and africa weakening dollar is also contributing to the growth therefore we are seeing lights up today all the school cents more than one hundred twelve dollars per barrel bred one hundred twenty six dollars per barrel reports say an oil field in libya has been damaged fueling the civil war may have destroyed the country's workers and consuming. precious metals are also on the rise with silver breaking the psychological benchmark of forty dollars patroller out another thirty year time u.s. stocks are down as economically sensitive shares come under pressure from the high commodity prices the dow and nasdaq and on point two percent here in moscow the markets closed private session on strong note knocking follow the rally and not be bringing overall weekly gains the two point two five percent but the r.t.s.

point seven percent of my sex a closer look now at friday's session gazprom is one of the best performing heavyweights knocks out more than two percent that's after announcing it has yet purchased a stake in the libyan elephant feel for many poly metals also strong up to one hundred percent of the precious metals and shares of bank of moscow rocketed right seven point six percent after the head of its main shares with bt the bank declared it has a stake in the bank big enough to gain operational control russia is set to join the world trade organization by the end of the year however prime minister putin says the country will only start to comply with the rules once it's a full fledged member. it stresses of some skulls of i've already said it hundreds of times we could trade it to everyone during the exceptional process we will only implement w t a a big ations when we become a full member but before that we can do as we wish if we start implementing w t o big ations without being a member of partners lose the incentive to get sick separate your skin in your

bullshit you can eat which is actually the catalunya all right coming up next on our to the headlines with bill to say let's. give.