in the midst of colossal change. setting a new direction for a new country. saluting the state on. this week's top stories here in r t the lead in capitals been rocked by new year's heaviest airstrikes since the beginning of the military operations with dozens killed and the attacks and anger of foreign intervention growing on the ground and . moscow agrees to lift a ban on european vegetables if there are guarantees they are free from deadly e. coli bacteria the assurance came from president medvedev during russia e.u. talks. also the e.u. prepares a new rescue package for bankroll greece which sparked massive protests against further parts of the country and outrages the people in germany who say it's time the debtors leave big eurozone. amts people here in moscow prepare to celebrate

russia they will look back twenty years to when the country staged its first free presidential election. it is ten pm in the russian capital you're watching r t a marina joshie today we take a look at the top stories of the week now the conflict in libya shows no sign of letting up rebels and government forces clash in a western oil port city of zawiya some fifty kilometers from tripoli the libyan capital saw intensified nato airstrikes this week with the heaviest bombing since the foreign intervention began back in march and obvious government claims more than thirty people have been killed in the attacks some of them civilians comes as leave your leaders daughter filed a lawsuit against the french president nicolas sarkozy and nato for killing four members of her family in april military strike i didn't. if

a national spoke to some residents of tripoli caught up in the violence. saddam has been within a hair's breath of death the doctors have performed any a miracle and the young girl is back home with her family she took her mother's pills to kill herself. if someone wants to kill me i'm going to do it myself but who wants to kill the teenager somers native city tripoli has been under constant bombardment by nato forces for three months day and night always have been falling on the city with a population of around a million no one can ever say when or where the next one would land. they sweep in the most intensive air range yet there have been sixteen nato air strikes in just ten hours attacks against civilians must start khadafi must go and the libyan people deserve to determine their own future as frequently claim success and

the military operation is supposed to protect civilians but the libyan government has repeatedly protested the innocent civilians have been among the dead the claims have not been independently verified but one thing is clear since march nineteenth the life wouldn't really be ans has changed forever so much mother will never forget the day when her daughter who for death to this new life my girl told me before that she saw death as a good thing when i entered her room that day she was lying on the floor there was smoke everywhere and partly see what happened but i realized immediately was something terrible this is not fair they told us they want a no fly zone they never said they were going to be almost a promise to protect us but instead they scare us talking about who they are about work or saddam his father is more precise in the world no longer needs nato the second world war ended long ago and we try to live our lives will need storage wars and always intervenes in other countries problems we're tired of war our patience

is running out let us just live our life has just prolong its operation and leave it till september people here face months more terror from the skies well of nato is supposed to target gadhafi his military arsenal actually landed here in this district it didn't destroy the colonel's compound but it's almost damaged the lives of one family as you can see the building has quickly been repaired now the question is whether the people will ever recover. r.t. tripoli. this week a russian envoy began his mission in libya in the latest attempt to bring both sides of the conflict to the negotiating table be held or gallup who visited gaza for talks with the opposition says the coalition bombing campaign will not help resolve the turmoil we seriously think that airstrikes have never sold with political problems and we said it here very clearly that as long as the bloodshed

continues the longer it continues the more difficult it will be to build a national reconciliation process after the civil war so we are very much in favor of building political bridges so to speak and we are ready to help. as more claims of civilian casualties emerge anger and down grows among libyans over the true goals of the alliance in the country and nato secretary general anders fogh rasmussen insists only military bases are attack and exclusive interview artes and he said now i pressed him to clarify how nato it finds a legitimate target actually the u.n. security council resolution goes beyond a no fly zone cording to the un security council resolution we are mandated to protect the civilian population in libya taking all necessary measures and that's exactly what we're doing right now i just want to clarify for some of our viewers who have seen homes bombed they've seen civilian buildings blown to pieces those

daffy in a car on a phone or in a hospital on a phone constitute a command center for your purposes when you say any means. i would like to stress that we are not targeting individuals we hate lit believe military. targets. and of course common control centers can be used to plan and organize attacks against civilians show amount of control centers are legitimate military targets. now to find out how the nato chief handled other challenging questions over libya watches for interview on r.t. in about twenty minutes time. this week saw the continuing clashes between protesters and government forces in syria as a country faced double pressure from the west britain and france have approached the un security council with a draft resolution against syria both china and russia have said they won't back it

in addition the international nuclear watchdog has raised questions over whether an installation destroyed four years ago by israeli warplanes was a nuclear site syrian system was a peaceful facility but it target agency man's more evidence and threaten sanctions somehow looked are from the arab lawyers association told r.t. that washington and its allies are using the allegations as a tool to remove the current rule worse in syria now the syrian regime is under fire and this. trial has to be opened so that the international community the us yes the u.n. and the. to accuse syria of violating international law so they can take their mother to this getting canceled so that we can apply more pressure has. to be used on the international institutions for political project is whether it's a guy over there is this going to cancel this is what the u.s. is doing this is a building which has been inspected by the. member of the there they want to have.

this it is out doing they told them a number of times that this is a military installation and this is nothing to do with a nuclear. power or a reactor the saying since you're not telling us what else you're going to use it therefore it must be a nuclear facility and that's why we're going to take the matter to the security council. observers insist serious troubles are an internal problem and its people must find their own way british journalist simon ourselves has written extensively on the arab spring warning against former colonial powers reasserting their influence. it's a very very dangerous move by britain and france to defeat the syrian revolution because both countries have a very long history in this region palestine lebanon and syria itself and i think it will be seen very much as western interference in the internal affairs of syria

we have to remember that a revolution the revolutionary process that is taking place in the middle east is one in which ordinary people are taken time to take control of their society and this is an internal struggle if you like for the future direction of syria and you feel there's a sense now that from saw president sarkozy of france is moving like a demon to try and. place france back in the side a position of power inside the middle east and i have to repeat we have to remember that france had control over syria in from the end of the first world war and there was a very very long struggle for syria to get rid of the french for independence and so the idea that this is somehow some kind of benevolent force coming in to help the syrian population i think cuts very little ice so i think it's a very unwise move by the west to interfere. so they come in the program money for nothing. he would leave the worse trouble.

we ask what strings are attached to the three billion dollar loan the i.m.f. is giving to egypt. and three months after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in japan well look at the continuing radiation prices and social exclusion faced by nanny evacuees. rush is ready to put european vegetables back on supermarket shelves as soon as the e.u. guarantees of products is free from the deadly e. coli bacteria moves was just one of the outcomes of this week's russia e.u. tux. computer we are ready to live on european vegetables and we are provided with sufficient guarantees by even that much you see in russian and the european health officials are fully realizing this if it proves it's a fancy of the supply products this is a great result. apart from vegetables the leaders also discussed russia's accession

to the world trade organization was e.u. commission chief is a model browser saying it's possible by the end of the year and he also agreed that libyan leader colonel gadhafi has lost his legitimacy and should go this comes after may's g. eight summit in france or russia agreed to step in with ceasefire relation efforts in the north african country. but. they were peon union and the international monetary fund are preparing a second rescue package for greece which according to some estimates may total as much as one hundred twenty billion euros just one year after the previous rescue package the new bailout comes with conditions calling for the greek government to implement even more cuts tens of thousands taking to the streets of that in protest against yet another round of the staring measures there is also anger in germany where people are tired of the country paying for reckless neighbors as are teasdale bushell reports. the euro is dead long live germany says top lawyer markus

kerber he's suing the german government to stop it playing crop neighbors you cannot say that you. told the country you have to get rid of these these is no longer worth a candidate they rolled over the number of the european union nations labeled in the region by some as the pigs of europe portugal ireland greece and spain must drop the currency now before they drag down other members wards kerber. things last year raised the pension age to sixty five and could early retirement other countries believe that greek workers work less. we'll bail you out a second time says chancellor merkel but if you want cash in future you must work longer statements caused greece but they're not happy in the e.u.

cash capital frankfurt either believing the greeks have had it too easy because if we are going to kill sixty seven it's not possible to declare why other people should go with sixty five which are certainly not responsible for the deaths and if it's running or to go greece in the pit states raise the age when when the greek people retire. story all the people what we have to work along as well germans or wrote boiling point anger which could spill out onto the streets the powerful greens are now suing merkel's government claiming it hid facts about bailouts from the public people in germany i ask you do we have to pay it is so we have to give answers and the answers we don't get from our government even the ruling party's revolting close pizza will she's fighting all rescues since he argues leaving the eurozone is in the interests of the struggling countries to take

the chance to say ok we get out we. have our structures. for money for high interest rates some of the money. can qualify again for the maybe after ten fifteen years greece protests the euro's a straight jacket which blocks traditional ways to boost your economy like devaluing the currency or adjusting interest rates even greece's european commissioner says that the country's membership of the common currency is that risk on this athens takes the painful cost cutting medicine prescribed by the e.u. and the i.m.f. greeks now agree with germans who say they're out of control the question is will weak states quit the euro and reorganize. and bring the single cause the down with

the new bushel artsy. the i.m.f. has agreed to lend it to three billion dollars just four months after praising the ousted mubarak dictatorship for its economic achievements but there are fears the money could end up in the pockets of the rich and a country were many people live on just two dollars a day or he's closely or has been following the story. as if the international monetary fund doesn't have enough on its plate it's agreed to loan three billion dollars to cairo a move critics say is absurd but i think this is a bribe that the west is trying to give to the regime lest the new one lest it turns against the west but climbers insisting the money will help stabilize the country's finances especially now with mubarak on and the country going through a transitional period but observers say it's the same skin but only slightly different marketing these ingredients are being made with traditional transitional governments and these transitional governments have. become

a primarily from figures of the all regime they composed primarily because from your regime for example samir radwan the finance minister in egypt it really goes during this loan wasn't barack obama's promise in cairo a billion dollars more in loan guarantees and on top of that another billion indeed cancelation french president nicolas sarkozy has committed the g eight to providing actually ten billion dollars in direct aid it's a commitment the west says it's making to hopi gyptian get back on the feet of united states and the west are try to reduce the damage caused by revolutions v our. considerable financial contributions gyptian economy and the perfect ways through the i.m.f. which is heavily influenced by the united states for. many many years the i.m.f. has been considered as an orm of american foreign economic policies

this. is unstable. would could be considered is a waste of money on something that is very shaky what's more it comes with particular strings attached. and that the deal could in fact spell trouble over the years of. every. everybody except the worse trouble or. syria a country. just thirty or so western big. rhetorical operation seriously no. country but most egyptians fear is that the money will get used up long before it reaches the pockets believing it's likely to be only a small elite as well as international banks who benefit from the loans the last time the i.m.f. injected a large amount of money into egypt was twenty years ago but since then the number

of egyptians living below just two dollars a day doubled in february this year the i.m.f. praised the mubarak regime as the sound fiscal management in egypt as far as libya went if the ultra for the economy remains stable but just days later mubarak was ousted and tripoli was engulfed in and it just demonstrations so it's no surprise of many say the base or the i am it rates of country the closer the country is to having a way of illusion highlighting just how wrong the organization can be policy r t tel aviv and while egyptians fear the i.m.f. loan mainlander the parts of the rich are teen vesta gates how funds go astray later in the day we take a look at how the world's a tater's illegally boost their bank accounts. while. their people suffer.

how some take advantage of power that was given to them. see groups of big dirty money. on r.g.p. . to japan now it's been three months since the deadly earthquake and tsunami but there is still no end in sight for the country's radioactive crisis crowds took to the streets of tokyo yesterday to protest against the country's continued use of nuclear power reactors of the street in fukushima nuclear plants have released staggering amounts of radiation into the surrounding area and the leaks continue three months on meanwhile tens of thousands of evacuees remain in temporary shelters dr robert jacobs from the hiroshima peace institute says residents of the fukushima district have not only faced radiation exposure but also social exclusion . there are still people living in areas where there's high radiation and there's children going to school in areas where there's high radiation and so there's been

a reluctance to move as quickly as possible and a lot of people from the bush who even people who were born there but who live in tokyo are experiencing discrimination in japan by people who consider them possibly contaminated even though radiation is not transferable to other people but there are a lot of problems ahead if i can give one quick example in august there's a very important holiday in japan called in which everyone returns to their hometown because the spirits of ancestors come to their burial places where their actions are in turn and the family welcomes them these people exclusions and will not be able to observe this will they just holiday and welcome there the spirits of their ancestors who return and when people find that there are unable to carry out their familial obligations for decades because they can't return to these areas people tend to blame themselves even if there are structural reasons so there needs to be some work done to help people through not just the radiation exposure but the social breakdowns that photo radiation exposure is in communities

a trio of space explorers began a new journey to the stars and sunday the russian american and japanese crewmembers blasted off in the early hours of wednesday for a five month stay on the international space station now carry out over forty experiments including work on new cancer treatments at hampstead grow food in space artisans in france witness the spectacular alliance and tasks. the three men have been together for nearly two years prep or preparing for this trip and have traveled all over the world preparing in different models of soyuz and getting ready for what is really this this final push into space and what they say feels almost a little bit like home as cramped as it may be the soyuz is is something they've practiced in for so long now that it feels a little bit like cold and the three men say they will be taking very special items into space with them i'll be a very few items pictures of loved ones and so on to also be able to talk with

their families every day and we've talked to the backup team and they are very excited to watch this they say that it's something it's a an amazing emotional thing to watch let's check it out. loud what it's like the first just shook tremendously you can really sense the power in that as it as it took off like experience southwest it's so now there you have it three men on their way into the heavens in what is now the world's only highway to the stars the baikonur cosmodrome. but is it friends there witnessing the launch of us now take a look at some other stories from around the world and in pakistan thirty four have been killed and more than one hundred injured in two bombings in the northwestern city of peshawar an initial blast attracted emergency services and onlookers to the

site for a second more powerful explosion was detonated police have been quoted to saying it was carried out by a suicide bomber the double attack comes as president hamid karzai and cia director leon panetta meet in the pakistani capital islamabad for reconciliation efforts with the taliban. voters across turkey are heading to the polls for parliamentary elections on sunday two parties are battling for power this current prime minister type are gone running against the secular republican people's party a victory for every dance party would mean a third consecutive five year term in power russia celebrates twenty one years ago to the day russia declared independence from the soviet union beginning its break up just one year later of the country voted in the first free presidential election in its history. has more on russia today. june

twelve nineteen ninety one millions voted to make boris yeltsin russia's first president a watershed moment in the country's history. this was the first free election ever in russia the day after we left behind a totalitarian state and had a new job of building a democratic society that respected the rights of its people by the time the election took place the soviet union had less than a year to live but no one knew how it would disintegrate its fifteen republics began to declare sovereignty one by one while staying up or to use the saw provoking unrest and even armed conflict and moscow to leaders also competed against each other we held which i was the head of the soviet union chosen by communist functionary boris yeltsin was in charge of a new sovereign russia and promised reform but calling for an open election yeltsin challenged the authority of the communist party over russia. with this victory in

the election yeltsin prove that you can stand up to the communists establishment in an open and public manner he did not cut back room deals or try and protest with this victory ensured the soviet union could break up without armed conflict. unlike former soviet leaders yeltsin campaign like a democratic politician meeting their electorate and delivering stump speeches at factories and town squares. his rallies attracted hundreds of thousands when the election night came we were hopeful would win but we still weren't sure after all it was the communist party that counted the votes but soon enough the results became clear boris yeltsin defeated a communist candidate handily with more than half of the votes. when he led the resistance to a father and a coup late that at summer his popularity peaked but over the next decade the support fields and among russians. when billed as the country went through

difficult for forms surveys showed that as the anniversary of the election approached if you remember any even a few or care things you can get i don't have any emotions about it but i did vote for yeltsin then but i am far less political now absolutely from the voter but i can tell you these are all just politicians games they have nothing to do with me. it's not surprising that those who lived through the difficult times did not want to celebrate this occasion but hopefully the next generation will truly appreciate the historic significance of this moment and of yeltsin as of no russia's first president himself remains unappreciated with only one in five saying to have a positive attitude towards him many outside of russia said of the even today it's the wall crecy is not perfect and some inside the country so do they still yearn for the soviet union but one thing is very hard to argue against as a result of these changes twenty years ago russians are wealthier of more personal

and political freedoms either on a policy moscow. and friends i've made here in r.t.l. be back with an update of the headlines shortly stay with us.

twenty years ago it jade its first president. in the midst of colossal change. setting a new direction for a new country. saluting the state on the russian. to a substantial degree and one form or another socialism has spread the shadow of human regimentation over most of the nations of europe and the shadow ism croaking of all over. the early twenty first century military bases a network of military bases all around the forms of the empire that the united states is trying to get its astonishing most americans have no idea there are more than a quarter of a million more than two hundred fifty thousand u.s.

troops stationed on these bases all around us. we don't have power bases in america we don't have any british base we don't have any korean base we don't have any french bases or you know we just all american bases in cross our bases are fine as of the noises i would north of those bomb the us at all because they were our bases but for other people it's almost like a cancer here for these people. since the end of world war two the spaces i've been . working here to provide a safe and secure environment for everybody. the questions any of thing else you get everything you need. missions free credit conditions free transport charges free.