on our keen. in the movie. the main point of the attacks in tripoli for just sporadic is true breakdown the moral here and cause panic as libya's rebels claim heavy gunfire and explosions and certainly signal gadhafi is full is approaching some reports from there suggest it's just part of nature's plans a playhouse center. and other stories that shape the past week a surge of violence in the middle east with fears of a deadly exchange of plywood tween israel and gaza night leads to the jewish state launching a new ground offensive. also bridging fights back against the recent riots with harsh sentences handed to even those who just thought about taking process with many saying the government's disproportionate response will simply fuel public

discontent. and as turmoil in global markets gathers pace following the u.s. credit status downgrade explores the credibility of rating agencies themselves on top stories this hour. with a look back at the past week's top stories on the latest developments this is on sale life and moscow reports of tracer bullets some explosions over the libyan capital have caused many so i believe it's the beginning of the end all colonel gadhafi stronghold but dr franklin lambert the director of americans for middle east peace who's currently in tripoli told us on the phone a short while ago the city is quiet now and then he reports the rebels are making a move on the capital or false. i just got back to our trip wandering all over tripoli most of it there's no heavy fighting now there is

bombing our. little fire on explosion but it's clear that the rebels are not here they told the bob help that seems to be true that there were some. firing back some pockets rebellion. but now it's very quiet and the rebels are here is nonsense. nato is going to greenlight and if obama and other. leaders. like it'll be a process a lot of political analysts not enough democrat who is also in tripoli some sporadic attacks may actually be happening but his opinion psychological. the main point of the attacks in tripoli which is sporadic is to break down the morrell's year and cause panic in fact the media here at the ready so tell where i . actually is call this with

a now has been part of the information campaign they're talking about earlier the mainstream media would happen to be involved i can tell you right now reuters put out a release that was widely quoted one for national was killed two days ago when nato with casey gone to doing infrastructure and it didn't mention to doing infrastructure i want to add well they quoted at this point actually with the security card this information this was not correct it would change later they have been killing and eating the psychological war in this country. and later in the program we'll be looking at another country where the arab spring has dragged its bloody heels almost into syria. the west has been mounting pressure on president assad for his crackdown against protesters but auntie's course one of their found many are happy to see the government stop the demonstrations also this hour. the crowds on the ground this is an exciting spectacle but that's not quite the emotions going through my mind of the boy that's because i'm about to see what

happens from inside the cockpit. all the frills and some spectacular airborne stunts on the final day of the night's international. violence has flared up again in the middle east with israel and gaza exchanging five cents a day amount says it's called off at ceasefire with the jewish state due to the continuing occupation of palestinian lands more than ten people have been killed off the three days of attacks on each side israeli government is reported to be considering a possible ground offensive inside gaza with one hundred and twenty members of hamas already said to have been arrested in the west bank that's israel's been briefed by massive social protest for months now and as i would say is a full smear found out many protesters believe the escalation of violence with gaza could be used to silence public discontent. thousands of people are marching here in tel aviv holding town halls in memory of the victims of violent demonstrations

are happening not only here in tel aviv but also includes them and a number of other major cities around israel in stark contrast to the protests we've seen happening of the polish month the mood here is very somber people are very serious and effective in terms of what the latest wave of violence has caused now talking to protesters they say that they not rise by the recent spate of violence many telling me that they've been expecting it was some time they believe that the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and his government will use the latest conflict with dogs as an excuse. to bring people around here people are young many of them are immigrants and it. would be up to the point and white people here go very strong in that they are going to be demanding issues of social justice they really operative think for a living they're talking about it a case and they're talking about health services they talking about the. people here think that not only do they want great but they also want the israeli prime

minister. to step down the on scene television. and of course hear it out say we value your opinion of the events in the middle east go to a web site r.t. dot com where we're asking what would the reasons be behind israel's possible offensive against gaza well so far the majority believe that would be an attempt to divert attention from domestic problems a further think israel would try to prevent the creation of a palestinian state twenty percent feel a new offensive would be a designed to punish the master of the minority believes israel is just protecting its population let us know what you think cast your vote at r.t. dot com. four years in jail for riot status on facebook british courts are coming down hard on the writers who spread mayhem last week human rights group accusing judges are overreacting something ignored by prime minister david cameron who is determined to mend the country's

broken society i vanish reports from london. four years behind bars for the riot that didn't even happen jordan black sure and perry sutcliffe kenan were banged up for inciting disorder on facebook no one turned up after their invitation to riot which they later said was a drunken joke but now they face sentences even tougher than most looters and i worry is that it is an imbalance a four year sentence for example would normally be given to somebody for a previous bodily harm for holding someone up with a knife or even for. some form of sexual assault so it seems to me that that there is a danger that the courts are moving into disproportionate territory and that actually devalues our response to more serious crimes the governments encourage courts to dish out harsh sentences by using the public disturbance as an aggravating factor it's meant this man anderson fernandez could even be sent to

jail for theft of just two scoops of ice cream because like this one denying bail to most offenders and ignoring any claims of previous good character of the one thousand two hundred seventy seven people charge so far two thirds have been reminded in custody that's way up on last year's rate for serious crimes this is just ten percent some offenders even being made homeless as their punishment with local governments taking away their houses but many say it's all simply cause more harm than good i think this is very unwise the move to remove people from housing intern move benefits because actually if we are saying that some of the crime that we saw on the streets was an expression of people not feeling porter society not feeling port or communities and these measures are actually going to push it further away from society further away from our communities and far more likely to commit crime the facebook case is the first sign of the government's desire to crack down on social media sites like twitter were applauded by the west the

mobilizing the masses in the arab world but they were also instrumental in the u.k. riots so now the prime minister wants it to stop. we are working with the police intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence disorder and criminality when social media fuel revolutions in egypt and cheney britain called it democracy but now the shoe's on the other foot when troubles closer to home i'm very coy i mean you know they're really poor or. movement. we thought the. country was. the prime minister says this is where britain fights back put it this fighting fire with fire could only fan the flames of civil disorder after bennett's artsy london. and you're right video has been released showing nost men

reportedly shooting at ananda policeman lot on suan c dot com to want to release said the incident took place during the year because of the knife riots in the city of birmingham with more than tension. as we saw another attempt in europe to try and stop the deepening debt crisis as the leaders of the e.u. strongest economies matts in paris angela merkel and nicolas sarkozy called for the creation of a central economic body which would ensure euro zone members take more financial responsibility if they also pledge to harmonize corporate taxes political analyst and author after williams and sang dolls the lives they proposed measures just wait an illusion of stability species i think the collective economic government that

merkel and sarkozy are talking about is really a desperate political ploy to try to create the illusion of stability where the underlined stability doesn't yet exist there is no political will not in germany nor in the rest of the eurozone countries for as surrendering national sovereignty to a collective entity that has any decision power so that it's simply a shimmer that's been thrown out there to try to calm the markets the alternative really is is to get stable export market relations and i think above all with russia's of the central asian republics trying to and the rest of asia in the middle east and if that is is created then you can have a growth vector that leads you out of this debt impasse that the eurozone countries are in without that and so long as as the. dollar system dominates international financial relations that moody's standard and poor's do the rating on sovereign

debt for european union countries and that there is no independent european credit rating agency and there isn't is no. growth perspective not only austerity there is no up to this crisis. the meeting in paris failed to come for years now together with fears about the possibility of another u.s. recession and global markets to fall on friday china which is the largest owner of american debt is also feeling the pinch with rice brother joe biden is wrapping up his reassurance mission to the country he said chinese holdings are the treasury that i think your investment advisor says that washington's troubles are too big for its asian partner to relax plan is extremely skeptical they must be very low if i was the biggest holder of u.s. treasuries i'd be wary too because the us is in a terrible situation their budget deficit is piling out of control it's almost eight percent of g.d.p. the federal debt is now about ninety six percent of g.d.p.

and politicians in washington don't have any will to get the house in order all they know is to prolong the problem to push the can down the road and as long as that is the case we are going to see severe pressure on the u.s. dollar the economy is in a haze and generally speaking are in a lot healthier state than they are in the us or in europe and when mr bernanke it prints money this is the value of the u.s. dollar devalues the dollar and makes commodity prices go up and that causes inflationary headaches in asia ratings agency style and cause is facing increasing scrutiny in the u.s. justice department is looking into allegations dozens of mortgage bonds were improperly in the lead up to the crisis of two thousand night as m.p.'s being questioned after stripping the u.s. of its treasured aaa credit score two weeks ago lauren lyster reports on growing doubts over just how credible the credit rating agencies can be. breaking news the

united states has just lost its top notch triple a credit rating from it with a downgrade heard around the world in a strong reaction to the rating downgrade china has owned and u.s. well it's that standard and poor's took the u.s. from straight aaa student to one not a low for the first time ever bad marks were handed down for the nation's debt and politicians inability to agree on rein it in a tea party downgrade a lot of it has to do with the fate of the present united states i think this is a tea party for a greater in chief says the u.s. is becoming a bit more. a stoic response from the downgrade or that helped ratchet up the a yeah tricks of the debt ceiling debate with the help of the other ratings agencies of course stealing the show from bickering politicians with their eyes on the debt deal they nabi missing really a larger concern because there is growing evidence today that the u.s.

credit score is going to get hit now that the u.s. has gotten hit just how much does s. and p's mark actually count well not much according to some like investor jim rogers but it's not because the country isn't broke america is going down the tubes we're the largest debtor nation in the history of the world it's because of the source these low rating agencies have been wrong about nearly everything for the past ten or fifteen years don't pay any attention to them so just how does the report card stack up for the major ratings agencies themselves they are s.n.p. moody's and fitch let's assess test one the mortgage crisis of two thousand and eight these are the same agencies that rated the toxic sub-prime dead aaa so i mean how do we take them with any level of credibility after that. well let's see if they get any from test to the too big to fail banks and insurers during the financial crisis. the big bankruptcies they are investment. airstrikes writes

a very. aaa rating to almost the day the last good grades for firms that collapsed or were bailed out because of bad debt in fact the financial crisis inquiry commission said the three credit ratings agencies were key enablers of the financial meltdown and this brings us to test three ethics ratings agencies are paid by the investment firms they grade and moody's and s. and p. are publicly traded which means they may be more driven to increase profits for shareholders raising this to be right now you have the companies that are being judged for paying the bill and i come around. but mr buffett also pointed out the market requires it because these ratings agencies has been around forever so they're in shrine by government regulations which oh yeah they have a stake in test for objectivity frank legislation the financial reform has

restrictions on rating agencies and the rules are yet to be written and they carry a huge view about what those rules and up looking like sort of it would surprise me if they were trying to curry favor with politicians in fact they've spent a combined total of one point seven six million dollars this year lobbying washington over the regulations which brings us full circle to the downgrade of u.s. credit the u.s. was downgraded by ass impede because of government debt per member the governor ran up that debt in part because it bailed out the big banks and a i.g. back in two thousand and eight remember the one saddled with all of those bad mortgage bonds which the ratings agencies graded triple a when in reality they were a d or an after which makes you wonder if the ratings agencies themselves deserve a downgrade or a lister r.t. washington d.c. . there's you on c dot com for the news you want to watch when you want to watch it plus check anything you've missed on ads online there as well here's a quick look at a couple stories there for you close to collision some astronomers are warning of

comments will hit the earth later this year we asked a researcher what is worth repairing from doomsday. and a look back on the how the course of the soviet union took a major turn twenty years ago after an attempt to overthrow the reforming government stays on the streets of moscow. is a. good. thing because the top of the. street still keeps it secret for

denounce trying to reveal the human beings in the soviet files on. this week pressure has been mounting again on the syrian leader bashar al assad the u.s. and european leaders called for him to step down to russia refused to support the notion saying assad should be given time to implement promised reforms this comes in the wake of a crackdown on anti regime protesters but as are these many of the national reports from the front line while the west sees the government's action as oppression some in syria see it as liberation. job is done the city liberated there is zero in lease of the country has become the last syrian city beyond and left after clearing all extremists struck have been terrorizing his citizens for weeks the natural claimed. hundreds plucked their rights put up barricades it became a case it's all hiding with just like hostages. soldiers of the syrian army out

living the secure. iraqi border. officials are saying operation is over that the city has been freed from the words as you can see people are welcome in the soldiers as the way there is a trois tang's happening trying to make their way through jubilant crowds thousands of kilometers away in the white house decision has already matured president bashar assad is the one who's terrorizing the syrian people and that should end the transition to democracy in syria has begun and it's time for assad to get out of the way not everybody has agreed moscow has insisted that assad should be given time to implement promised changes his recent decisions to release political prisoners from people emergency law and allow peaceful demonstrations have indicated the right direction but external pressure groups to bury a fragile transitional. reforms would give forces to syria it will make the country

stronger but syria's enemies don't want syria to be strong america for instance seek an toroidal strong syria and they want to weaken it they don't want rebels they need instability in the fields to cross to country is only supposable and there pressure works for it with contradictory reports about policemen and security officers killed across the country and the army is continuing to crack down on protesters despite president assad's pledges to the un to stop military operations the syrian people no longer know who to trust and what to believe. with a country at the crossroads again he and himself with patience. hearty syria. journalist neil clark says the west is not really interested in peace and syria he thinks all it wants is to gain influence in the region but the u.s. and its allies really want regime change in syria and they're not really generally

interested in ending the terrible situation of the. dialogue between both sides and that's the reason it happened today because we had present sad said that it was going to small two party system in syria he said gratian suggests your position. and what do we get silly us a welder that's good that's a good move we get these course for him to step down and the great crime of the assad regime in those countries eyes really is its foreign policy it is friendly with iran he has gone into russia and the aim of the game is to try to remove assad from power and it's another kind of regime there and syria would have a more progress to life and while syrians celebrate the ousting of rebels from some parts of the country quite a different scenario is that helping in egypt say with r.t. in the next hour to see how those who fought for democracy helping treated and post back in. a spectacular show of death defying aerobatics performed by some the world's finest aircraft pilots that's all

scheduled for the final day of the next international airshow under way in austria the weather has been performing very well though it's raining there just now but as artie's cilia reports it hasn't put off spectators. we're here at the last day of the two thousand and eleven airshow the rain is still pouring out so are the crowds you can see they're still here to see all the bullets are aircraft. running through. very very close to the people. here we saw the fifty first generation stealth fighter. this is the first of its kind in private so we saw it for the sky see what it can do that was very interesting one of the test pilots it's often hard to but it's when you're ability is great you can do crazy stunts that old test couldn't do and also he said it's so safe so much so that it's see what flies tails first i'm standing here u.s.

air force display and right behind me this is the f. fifteen this is the same type of plane that the aerobatics uses. display show here at the max two thousand and eleven we've seen some of them and pretty amazing and david this is the closest i could personally touching this plane that's a close as i can get. my call. to get inside one of the military planes with a russian air about sixty one let's have a look. engine. instrument. runway. and then take a. bus to display eighteen. first class pilots. two hundred times in the past. andre is training to join the team he thinks he's nearly good enough but still

remembers his first thought as a so hard to believe without any warning they told me i was going to do the next flight on my own i had no time to be scared there was no longer an instructor to my back it was unforgettable takeoff you on your own controlling the plane then when you land you've done it. yes moves are always trying to home movies they practice most weekends thinking new tricks and practicing. for me but never the work of a company come up with stunts and pain research them but it often turns are you keeping them before nester of a russian not came up with the loop and all the other stunts are based on the lieut . however it always comes down to time and even with years of flying and training experience between them it never becomes easy the difficult with smoking when you leave the cockpit and you can squeeze

a gallon of sweat from your suit with your knees are shaking because it's extremely different than the stress and any will it will go through. so with that gut wrenching fear ringing in my ears i was told it was mine for the crowds on the ground this is an exciting spectacle but that's not quite the emotion that's going through my mind at the moment because i'm about to see what happens from inside the cockpit. we did the loop the loop all the planes just meat as part. of. it. but when it came to the fountain i nearly blacked out. white faced but not facetious i would still. keep hitting. the.

kick. kick kick. but i can do so see some of the strains that goes on here there's no escape and just you know the might be for the crowds but serial acrobatics aren't social to the pilots it's always a difficult job that terrorists are so next time you come up with them speedy planes spirit full of pilots and some. from bottom ninety. six pts. and there will be more from the max asher fraud today here on r.t. i'll be back shortly with a summary of broadway new stories that. some

. place.

it was tough. to. mrs tree still keeps its eclipse the balance time to move feel that in the soviet files obsolete. we'll. bring you the latest in science and technology from around russia. we've got the future covered. last time the close up team was anomalies where the gold rush still gets people hiked up. this time margi goes to zero three chicago. where the local government is giving power back to the people. where every our friends will be a dud.