the week's top stories here on r.t. the echo of invasion western military action in north africa backfires at home with the french president already losing public trust for what's described as his colonial ambitions. which you truly want. one year after a major oil spill in the gulf of mexico coastal residents exposed to toxic chemical say that they've been left to deal with a severe health problems all on their own. and christians around the world are

united in easter celebrations in moscow thousands walk to a service russia's main author talks. with r.t. as we highlight the stories that made headlines this week now despite more than a month of allied operations in libya the word stalemate is now frequently being used to describe the situation there and for those countries involved in the action it's beginning to cause political trouble at home especially in france where the president is feeling the pinch party started pushing out reports on how the country's intervention in libya and its former colony of ivory coast has backfired for nicolas sarkozy with accusations of imperialism if nicolas sarkozy hoped intervening in libya and the oil every coast would boost his popularity it's big

foyers he's no boy for the most unpopular president in the history of fraud his fifth republic according to the latest opinion polls the main beneficiary has been . head of the national front party and he's expected to knock him out of next year's presidential elections because he wants to play. france will never again kill people in africa and a pen told me he's broken that promise. this past colonial reaction by france where behaving like a well it's beliefs man deciding who is bad and who's good the president's policies a myriad of former colleagues one inflexible personal style x. finance minister. lift the ruling party this month admitting they called to work together to form a human rights minister ram a year day has quit to sarkozy let colonel gadhafi use france he said as a match to wipe the blood off his feet by hosting him in paris now he's hunting the

same man down sarkozy also sacked his integration advisor for disagreeing with him the recommend that man told r.t. the president does know how to compromise. there's no place for twentieth century colonialism city but there should always be room for negotiation it's all leaves nicolas sarkozy with few friends just when he needs them it's become a lonely life inside the presidential palace but mr sarkozy not only a political opponent of pulling apart is for policy even for allies like nobody could be the talk of his period. to view plans work with the president for over seventeen years the former premier fears libya turning into another afghanistan a deeply unpopular war with no clear deadline we cannot go. any country without knowing when we will go out i think this is the listen that we did not

treat from afghanistan in its global diplomacy it's the same problem analysts warn france is facing criticism for what some see as heavy handed intervention in the ivory coast the result is a presidency expires morte at home and abroad for her. arrogance persons monarchical republican trailing both look pain and the socialists in his bid for reelection in twenty twelve because he looks on likely to mellow leaked memos from voices claim his only chance of winning is to make his policies even more extreme than usual azzi waris. meanwhile a massive flood of migrants from tunisia and libya is making france rethink its border free travel agreement last week a country temporarily shut its border to trains carrying african migrants from italy nicolas sarkozy is expected to address the issue next week when he meets with

the italian prime minister silvio berlusconi thousands of people have been fleeing the violence with italy claiming it alone has received over twenty thousand refugees. now this week britain france and italy announce they'll be dispatching military advisors on the ground in libya russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov warned against the move saying it will only cause more bloodshed with those are the latest developments in libya are not making us happy it's a clear launch of the ground conflict we consider these moves extremely risky which could lead to unpredictable consequences there's been cases in history when it all started with sending in military advisors and then it drags out for years and resulted in hundreds and thousands dead on both sides we call on everyone to respect the un resolution in solving this conflict meantime a journalist assignment must suffer says that nato is seeking ways to go beyond the

u.n. mandate well hiding behind so-called humanitarian motives. i think the original demand from the rebels inside of eastern libya and the area of the cities in western libya was simply no fly zone to stop most families coming in and some humanitarian aid the red line for them was ground troops and now we're beginning to see the first steps towards a creeping. critical arrival of foreign or foreign forces that this is exactly what happened in vietnam and in various other conflicts and it always starts with it's about humanitarian intervention and then where is that leading to and this i think is a very very dangerous move and what we're seeing in libya unfortunately is the best way to put it is really the west hijacking this revolution and in this process they are making very very difficult for the revolution succeed. now there are fears raging addressed in the arab world might jeopardize the global economic recovery as we report later in the program here. we are one shark away from

a full grown gracious what threats the world's financial system is facing including a summer coming from washington that's coming your way in just a few minutes. russian security forces dealt a major blow to terrorists in the north caucuses this week it's after the killed to talk a militant leaders who had links to al qaeda are believed to be behind many deadly attacks in the country and some of the question of reports. this week russia's north caucasus witnessed a number of successful anti terror operations last sunday a key militants leader is regularly john up was killed in that russia's antiterrorist committee says the most wanted man who has personally point of what is on the past the hand of militants. in october last year now it's also believed that religion of wasn't involved in almost every terror attack that happened in the

region and was also linked to the most all natural born makes last year she was among the four terrorists that were killed a week ago and does lead to hail the operation a success that the militants already understand the language of force. some of the militants willing to engage and they reject us when we urge them to lay down . peacefully. having committed so many murders in terrorist attacks they know you understand the language of force meanwhile and nothing the tourist terrorists figure was killed as saudi militants also known as smog and yet were soon identified as a chief al qaida agent in the north caucasus he was also preceded by the militants as the absolute religious authority as well as an influential field commander now russia's on t. terrorist committee says that he was involved in almost every terror attack that happened even russia in recent years now despite the strength of high profile

success russia's security forces still say there is no evidence that russia's most wanted terrorist martyr has been killed holds could be eliminated one of the operations in english it's here were shattered when d.n.a. task found no presence of him among the that meanwhile he has claimed responsibility for a number of terror attacks that russia enclosing the most cool matter of tween suicide strikes and the bombing of the capital the main airport still there is no clear. nation of just where russia's most wanted terrorists might be hiding in the north caucasus. now you can go to our website at r.t. dot com for more footage of the special operation pakistan are there you can also find the c.c.t.v. pictures of last week's attack on the metro in the russian capital that helps you are sol who was behind that atrocity. this week to extend the exclusion zone around the paralyzed fukushima plant to thirty kilometers

that was in addition to a twenty kilometer large site being declared an official no go area because of radiation risks those who could be subjected to fines or even jail workers at the plant continue to pump highly radioactive water from one of the reactors that's a key step towards easing the crisis thirty people have already been exposed to maximum radiation levels at the facility despite the ongoing crisis professor from the physics department at the university of sorry says japan has little choice but to stick with nuclear energy. so. it's all dependent and has very limited natural resources which is the reason one reason why it's become relatively reliant at least. significant amounts of its power come from for the nuclear sector my personal view is i think it doesn't have a choice i think it will have who could continue to have nuclear power there let's

not forget there are nuclear reactors. but reparation. since the very beginning of the nuclear crisis in japan parallels have been drawn with the noble disaster but you say the world will mark the twenty fifth anniversary of the world nuclear accident in history off of the worst nuclear accident now it's easily seen your school has seen from self the legacy of the disaster inside the exclusion zone. there's still remains their worlds biggest manmade nuclear disaster happened because of a fail. the experiment when the employees at the george w. kate moss nation tried to bring the reactor to exemplary stop and the experiment failed and resulted in an explosion the whole area around the plant to thirty kilometer radius was contaminated some parts of belarus and everywhere across the european continent traces of radiation were felt even reaching the east coast the united states indeed this is still remains a historical landmark still some people trying to draw parallels with fukushima

accidents and nowadays it's many experts agree that the accidents have been completely different not only in the causes of the disaster but also in the immediate aftermath because the levels of radiation which were detected injured in the chernobyl area twenty five years ago were still much higher than the ones that . are right now ukraine has managed to persuade several world countries to invest over five hundred million euros into building a new circle for gas which would last for another hundred years it was safeguard the chernobyl reactor from the more radiation to the atmosphere so indeed it's twenty five years old but the legacy of clearly lives on and the chernobyl story still making the headlines everywhere across the world but it's absolutely horrifying to be in the exclusion zone i've been a regular visits of the since two thousand and five. recently went for there for a week to film a fresh documentary which obviously was would be able to see on monday and walking through these dead empty streets always gives me

a creepy feeling despite that i've been there more than a dozen times the area is completely deserted and just thinking that this was a communist paradise a role model city for those who are living and working at the chernobyl nuclear power station now it's completely deserted and lifeless this feeling is of course a very frightful and horrifying indeed this area will never be inhabited again because the period of many nuclear particles can reach up to twenty thousand years and indeed we're just looking at the sound of. the exclusion zone in general you realize how costly how costly a man's mistakes can be and that is definitely the main purpose of the exclusion zone right now to remind the world that such mistakes must be made again so it doesn't actually i just mentioned that it's monday you will be able to catch an exclusive documentary terrifying taxi travel last well so stay with our two years we'll be bringing you extensive coverage of the twenty fifth anniversary of the disaster. twenty five years of fallout.

from the most devastating nuclear disaster in history. the culture of the century. dismantling of its mistakes. the legacy of chernobyl. on our t.v. . but this week saw another tragic anniversary a year since one of the worst environmental accidents ever recorded the gulf of mexico disaster killed eleven people that caused millions of gallons of oil to stream into the ocean and while b.p. is trying to shift the blame by suing some of its contractors it's the local people who are still suffering the aftermath of the spill five million barrels of oil in combination with almost two million gallons of highly toxic chemical dispersants

used to fight the oil spill a cocktail that contaminated not just the water in the gulf but found its way into people's blood a year after the disaster an environmental group tested the lot of dozens of cleanup workers as well as residents of coastal areas they found levels of benzene thirty six times higher than normal. are shaken true want to work in an open problem or even a. math error and worked as a boat engineer he says he was in perfect health before he was exposed to the toxic chemicals in the gulf now he's fighting a bouquet of illnesses cardinal flugel got a lecture visual for clayton is not alone in his fight george price owns a small boat yard in louisiana perfectly healthy just a year ago he has lost thirty pounds in the last few months george was diagnosed

with severe anaemia bus journey and must kill all the others story and will be no you really know dr michael robbie chum who's been practicing medicine in louisiana for forty years says he's never had such an influx of patients with respiratory and blood issues he fears the worst it's a distance truman authorities for calls robbie cha is one of a few doctors who is outspoken about gulf coast residents sometimes connection with the toxic chemicals that they've been exposed to many other doctors refuse to recognize the cause as dr robert shaw says either because they don't have the necessary training or they don't want to be called a core. group of writers and environmental justice group polled residents in several coastal communities almost half said they had experienced health problems like coughing skin and eye irritation or headaches that are consistent with common symptoms of chemical exposure it's very clear when you look

at the ingredients both of which is considered so. it is considered as rather a hazardous material coupled with the ingredients in the toxic dispersants and when you mix those together it actually creates a substance four times more toxic and these are exactly the types of the rules that are truly know literally in people's blood many of the fact that gulf coast residents and those involved in. cleanup of the gulf say fear alone in their fight with the consequences of last year disaster brain biologists are saying it's going to take at least twenty years for the gulf ecosystem to recover president obama signed a country's environmental agency to investigate health effects of the spill but many gulf coast residents are sure agency will do its best to sweep the findings under the rug i'm going to check out reporting from washington are. you watching the weekly here on our global finance we just want of the looming threat of a new economic crisis at the i.m.f. and world bank annual spring meeting but while some claim turmoil in the middle

east for stunting the economic recovery washington also came in for a fair share of criticism for its failure to tame a huge public sector debt and budget deficit has triggered calls to strip the u.s. official rights and your financial advice to others and saudis were no reports. and you will spring gathering about the world economy produced a dreadful financial forecast we are one shot away from a full grown crisis critics say through the establishment of the international monetary fund and world bank america has positioned itself as an economic dr to the world using the institutions to retain global domination and fulfill the business interests of large corporations craving resources belonging to cash strapped countries what they do very often pressure governments to report spending or raise taxes that can be very very dangerous slip back into

a recession we're hightail all too familiar to latin america the middle east. and most recently greece. where tens of thousands storm the streets protesting austerity measures public spending cuts and tax hikes. as the largest financial contributor washington also wields the largest voting power at the i.m.f. the fern of the i.m.f. it is run program by the u.s. treasury department with some input from the european countries there right there tells you most of the problem this is. something countries and it's run by just a handful or maybe just one and american has always served as president of the world bank since its creation in one nine hundred forty four but now with its own backyard in disarray america is hardly in a position to hand out financial advice to others in two thousand and eleven

america's financial management is best defined by a nonstop borrowing binge see the talk over there it's a running ticker of u.s. debt which has surpassed a ceiling of fourteen point three trillion dollars now the u.s. may want to consider investing in a bigger clock. with a few more digits on the display a problem so bad the us president can't ignore it and the government can't seem to solve it we have to live within our means we have to reduce our deficit republicans have refused to support measures such as raising taxes on the rich or cutting defense spending all eyes are now on the nation that sets the bar for others to see if it clean up its own bad debts at home or enough for niamh r.t. new york. you are with r.t. we've got plenty more to come for you this hour in just about ten minutes time our special report reveals the difficulties and dangers of living in black ghettos in

the u.s. where rival gangs continue to incite violence on the streets to live in a country that don't understand that there's more violence in the streets of this country than there are in the streets of baghdad. bracing. for this. and a special program is coming your way at about a terminus time here at r.t. now for the story of a convicted killer who wants death himself a russian a prisoner who is racked with pain from illness is pleading with the authorities to

be released from his misery the coast has reignited the debate over assisted suicide a practice that is illegal in the country or if an officer that's. twenty five and he's dying and insulin dependent diabetic is like sixty killings in ten months. now own blind he can hardly distinguish objects in the backyard of the jail where his son in a sentence for murdering his gangrenous lies heritage and doctors forecasts he won't need crutches for much longer in need of wheelchair. i can't live without pain killers. i'm always on drugs but if i didn't take them i don't able to walk at all a bit. you're a former sawyer and war veteran and i do no longer has the energy to fight for life when instead he's literally fighting for death. in that is how it has not always

been so bad a deteriorating rapidly after he was pulled behind bars in two thousand and seven he was sentenced to eighteen years in prison in other needs specialized treatment and care something he just cannot get here. to die or to me what else do i need i used to be a man now look at me i'm not even half of a man. a doctor to help him die is officially forbid in in russia that's. when i started being who could kill who could facilitate a suicide nobody even the most zealous euthanasia supporters said they would do it themselves because they would become murderers if they did an order from the point of view of russian legislation nor from the point of view of international law or ethic norms can euthanasia be justified. there is

a huge debate on whether terminal patients have the rights to and their own life to escape chronic pain as against euthanasia and they are the majority claim on other things that even hopeless cases can sometimes be the recklessly healed but a voice from behind bars where miracles rarely happen they change their perspective . if they know that the rest of their lives will be suffering but the reason to prevent them from doing that especially of those sentenced to life in prison and that many letters from these people they ask for death as life becomes unbearable conditions there are after all so why not. for a strong orthodox believe or euthanasia has been a hard decision and it won't be without its victims on the other side of the prison bars. no i will not allow him to die i will not. enough his mother can understand words to her son to sick dad but she country can

sell herself with the reality of bad decision. if you don't rise or die with him what would i leave for all who fall. in our history and why it is waiting wishing for death whether it's natural or. central russia party has come to you live from the heart of what's go christian believers are united in easter celebrations this year the event falls on the same day for all of them in moscow thousands of washable as well able to attend a special service at the main russian orthodox cathedral. or a fourth witnessed ground near us. there's over five thousand people have attended the service this year including president and prime minister putin and a lot of the families inside bringing their children it really is a family event a religious event that's marked by thousands and thousands of people every year but

so the cathedral and celebrate not only inside but also lined the streets as well with their candles just the take part in the ceremony. here to celebrate easter it's a russian christian holiday which has always been celebrated all over russia in moscow on a business trip and we just couldn't help but come here. is the first time you had a chance to celebrate this festival in moscow so we came to see the service here it's a joy to be here in this very interesting. we came here straight after it's a great holiday. now who's going to another church after we've seen it here inside the cathedral itself absolutely beautiful lots of candles and flowers as leads to service a major celebration this year as celebrated on the same day by both the orthodox church and the catholic church there are some traditional aspects to the russian

celebrations people make the traditional cake look and they also have occurred. it's actually the original name of the easter celebration itself now we saw the big procession from quite the savior cathedral its traditional recession that goes around the grounds with patriarch who are leading that they carry the crucifix and thousands of people are doing that before they go back inside to continue the ceremony all around russia families will be celebrating a religious holiday the two throughout the country will be marking with their own for many this is the main one in russia and of course everyone celebrating it around the world very happy easter from us here r.t. if you search for us right there you can log on to our website to read the russian patriarchs address in full article com you can also find out more artists coverage of this and of course other top stories.

he would r.t. now this week to me treatment where there's proof that he's a shake up but not only in the political arena but also on the dance floor a video of the country's top feeding with meat has become an internet sensation. the. video was a snap of a reunion party with the president's university friends one twitter user describe her style as something like her dad i think that watching the video had made her day the forty six year old leader tweeted back with smiles admitting that the music the partying and not surprisingly his dancing skills were totally colts.

minister initiatives in north africa are back dooring more details on that in just a moment we'll have the headlines for you in about one minute's time. he.