hearing. the torturously. you can a little socialism there to see don't need to go and. read this in the candle was hotel as used to retreat. today's news and of the week's top stories of libya's tipping point as the rebels hunt colonel gadhafi after taking over tripoli their western allies are eyeing payback as a carve up of the country's oil wealth begin with. north korea will limit nuclear arms testing and production if international talks on security in the region resume pledge made by the country's reclusive leader on a rare trip to russia. and a lack of progress in unmanned a space ship ferrying the supplies to the international space station is missing after a crash in over siberia. and

recapping the top news and stories that shaped the past week and this is our team from moscow glad to have you with us it's the week that a decisive breakthrough finally arrived in libya's civil war when tripoli was the scene of a major battle between the rebels and forces fighting for longtime leader colonel gadhafi the opposition now controls most of the capital but can offer his whereabouts remain unknown the humanitarian situation in the capital remains dire as most of tripoli is without water and electricity and hospitals are running out of supplies pockets of resistance remain among some khadafi loyalists with the u.n. calling on both sides to bring a halt to the violence the rebels are now building their vehicle duffy's hometown of syria assisted by nato is aerial strikes meanwhile western powers have begun their own fight for libya's vast oil riches archies sarah firth reports now on the

nato states lining up to secure lucrative energy contracts. kill to the hearts of most modern was and you'll strike oil whether or not that's sayings true when it comes to libya well it's going to play a pivotal role in the country's future here we have to feel restruck interest me. the first interest to check each one. to rebel to find a way to try to live in government interest to restart selling all it's possible to this stranger to the concepts of friends with better. again he's been quick to casey up to the new transitional council inviting the public face of the great grill to italy. these closest you have here an ally in the nato a bombing campaign began back in april when a properly switch sides began courting the rebels in full the wall almost a third of its least daily energy needs were imported from libya and oil any with

the largest foreign operator in the country because many here have been doing all they can to safeguard these contracts with italy will be able to maintain its previously close business ties it's by no means a given in a post exactly libya the futility extremely uncertain and there are little guarantee one of the biggest problems italy and other western countries since the beginning of the wall has been a struggle to adequately understand the internal workings of the rebels themselves . amongst the rebels there are many factions islamist tunisian people. if. you are sick and many of these groups of rebels are former politicians. khadafi and can be completely change their face. as they see anything i think corrupt politician. personally on a number of occasions three business connections that's the most gay she returned

from a. explaining trip to libya with a handwritten letter she says was written by a tibetan skating in it he allegedly says he was surprised by your decision to join the coalition against libya especially after we signed a friendship and cooperation treaty between us he cites the cittie he's referring to he was fine just two months before the libyan uprising the letter goes on to why did you join our enemies without any to mattick dialogue or investigation fellas scaling down seems to be making me friends it was that maybe the final chapter it many feared the conflict will continue i would dare to see the fuck you if you talk for the cheese among the rebels there is no such. consensus no consensus within you to be an internal coup you actually have a person to talk to. be. with her foreign media now is

silly along with many in the west could well find previous lucrative relations may turn out to be just despicable but the rainfall the french. nato has vowed to stay in libya as long as it's needed with british jets firing missiles on colonel gadhafi is a command and control bunker in his hometown of sears this week archivist john reese says the self interest may be behind the driving force to be the driving force behind excuse me alliances intervention. nobody's going to shed any tears for that brutal dictatorship but i imagine that what most people in libya don't want is to swap the rule of prepare free for that of the western powers ability and see will come to power as the proxy use of the western powers and the western powers don't do this without asking for a payback and they will be asking for a payback if i were a libyan and i were listening to what nato said earlier that they want to assist

the transition i mean heaven knows what a military alliance supposedly assisting the transition to democracy is all about i would take those remarks as more threat but a promise that is a direct threat that they will use their military and economic weight to gain what they want out of a new government in libya the only chance of unity for the t.n.c. is that they do what most libyans i believe want them to do and that is to say that the future of libya is to be decided by libyans by nobody else but they do not require the assistance of nato they do not require the assistance of the major powers that they do not want their resources exploited by western oil companies that could be a point of unification but if they continue down the line of competing amongst themselves for who has the hero who has the greatest sway with the major powers then i really i really believe that that will further divide them and i were activist john reese there kind of thing on the libyan crisis. it emerged this week

that north korea is ready to return to international talks over its disputed nuclear plans with no preconditions you know it's been came as the country's reclusive leader met president dmitry medvedev in russia on a rare trip abroad kim jong il rolled across siberia in an armored train also to discuss a vital energy deal for his state struggling economy. was following a visit. a man of mystery north korea's kim jong il prefers to stay out of the media spotlight the great leader as he's officially known at home constantly fears for his life which is why you avoids planes has armored cars and eats with chopsticks designed to detect poisons but the fear of ongoing sanctions and tough financial times proved more significant as when kim jong il embarked on a widely publicized trip to russia making tracks from pyongyang in a special armored train gifted to kim's father by stalin the leader crossed the

border with russia and made his first stop in a far eastern town of cross on from there he traveled on the translator beren railway to the baikal region with the republic of borneo to as his final destination and a meeting with president medvedev his ultimate goal but before meeting with his current russian counterpart the north korean leader stopped to pay his respects to the first soviet leader this cost of lives in atlanta is one of the biggest in the world and by stopping here kim jong il has made sure that the entire world knows what might have been russia's past is still north korea's future as kim jong il's press service scrambled for their multitude of motion picture cameras to document the great leaders every word the two men get down to business. but let's look as far as i understand the democratic people's republic of korea is interested in the implementation of this trilateral project in which the russian federation and south

korea will also take part some technical matters are going to be settled now some time ago a gas problem delegation at the level of the vice chairman of the board visited the d.p. r. k. yesterday i ordered the chairman of the board alexey millet to tackle this issue the pipeline which would bring say actual gas to the hub of asia would mean money for the struggling north korea and a new market for russia and north koreans are not going to be able to pay a sufficient price for gas imports from russia would ever paid out because the building the pipelines the pipeline has to be extended into south korea so it's a south korean market but the formal state of war between north and south korea is a huge obstacle and this is yet another situation where russia has an advantage russia is in the perfect position to play this role because of their closer relationship with the united states over the past years because of the fact they are insane as allied with north korea china is and because someone has to as

a rule leader stand up and say this war has gone on for sixty years it had there's been a change a cold war has ended folks let's get on to the idea that you only build peace through engagement and relationship you know president obama once said that we must change our way of attention from what separates us to what unites us and russia plays a role right now to help lead the world in that direction and markedly different approach from some of the other members of the six party talks like south korea and the u.s. whose constant sanctioning has failed to bring results and results are what this free speech russia appears to have a choice. leaved with kim jong il's announcement of a desire to return to the talks and implement a moratorium on production and testing of nuclear weapons if the talks resume for

north korea it is a chance to recover from recent cuts of famine and get some much needed food aid but for russia it's a chance to do what everyone else has failed so far catherine as are about r t well on the day and still ahead for you this hour in new york prepares to weather the storm. the streets of the metropolis and stand empty as hurricane irene it sweeps closer leaving devastation in its wake. and france is feeling the pinch as dead surges and growth stagnate with fears of huge cuts could spill over into and rewrite. the hunter continues for the wreckage of an unmanned russian space ship that crashed on wednesday the progress vessel was carrying supplies for the crew of the international space station when it fell back to earth in siberia shortly after launch its crash spread fears that a toxic fuel could be dangerous for locals and the environment jake agreed to take

up the story. but the moment it's came crashing down. launched on wednesday from the baikonur cosmodrome three hundred twenty five seconds later the progress craft atop a soyuz rocket plummeted back to earth i thought it was a plane first but then i realized the coins never find them or quietly then it turned into some bright object and then suddenly it was sparkly and i heard a loud noise it was like three bangs one really loud and two quieter it was due to dock with the international space station on friday delivering essential supplies to the six crew members on board rocket malfunction has been blamed for the unsuccessful launch as a craft ascended into orbit a signal failure here meant the third stage in the sequence in this part of the rocket was an activated as a result it failed to ignite and propel the progress out of the earth's atmosphere . teams have be sent to southern siberia and altai republic to look for signs of

any wreckage amid fears toxic fuel may seep into the surrounding soil and water supply so far they've drawn a blank but already the repercussions of the bush mission of being felt much further afield with the question of how to resupply the international space station proving the most pressing. operation always keep in mind the possibility of cargo space ship not docking to the international space station for some reason so they go on board pairs of water and food supplies to survive on for another three or four months until another. craft arrive for the space station climb then maybe on the side of ross cosmos russia space agency but the loss has still raised significant alarm bells this or you as a rocket carrying. a crew is. much there. the

progress they're going to want to make sure anything similar could go on about what you want what happened we want to. apply those more turbulence of russia space program back in december when three globalist satellites the country's alternative to cheap p.s. plummeted into the pacific ocean with this latest setback was kosmos is before starting called the control in hope there won't be a repeat of the problems that'll be good news for the six nationals currently on board the international space station especially since after the scrapping of the u.s. shuttle program is now global importance on the success of the soyuz jigger griefs r.t. . millions of new yorkers who've chosen to stay in their homes despite mandatory evacuations are bracing themselves for hurricane irene the storm has already devastated parts of the east coast of the u.s. leaving at least six people dead and millions without electricity is among those

preparing to weather the storm. the big apple looks extremely eerie the streets far and businesses are either have boarded up their windows or put cheap along their windows the tropical winds are beginning to move into new york city at this moment and you could feel the wind increasing you feel the rain increasing the rain is coming down like sheets of water and new york city has also been put under terminator watch sold out five am sunday morning in new york city michael bloomberg did have a press conference stating and urging all new yorkers to stay away from their windows move away from their glass windows because he says the winds are going to pick up speed between now and sunday afternoon sunday evening these winds are expected to be as strong as eighty miles per hour if not more and con

ed may be forced to shut down power in certain parts of the york city between now and certainly evening if those areas get to flooding let's remind our viewers that on friday new york city michael bloomberg for the first time in history issued a mandatory evacuation of certain parts of new york city up to three hundred seventy thousand people live there all these evacuation zones a lot of people chose to not move chose to stay in their homes but overall there is a feeling of anxiety taking over not just new york but all the surrounding states as this as this hurricane hurricane irene is moving in we did get to speak with some people that were heading to the stores to buy up some flies saturday here's a little bit of what they have said i will go. one hold on one this is the only real one i really had. read your regular or so

here's three of you know something we don't know a lot going on around it. like going outside in the in my time in the water like hurricane katrina here's me the public transportation system in new york city has also been shut down that includes the trains the process is new york city officials are are now we see approach they're trying to monitor everything everything warn everybody but it is going to a tropical winds are moving in and everyone is just bracing themselves for this storm or he's more important in reporting for us that vary from new york now you are with are key and coming up a new president but all the problems. as the people of our cars here in the be caucuses make their choice of the ballot box we look at what lies ahead for the new leader as his republican struggles to rebuild after winning independence from georgia. and our close up team takes you to a russian city that knows how to party find out more about the spectacular festival

held in cuba every year. the richest sector of french society is pledging another three percent of its annual income this week to help the country battle its descent into debt as growth slumps of france has also announced the some twelve billion euro worth of cuts but as our g.'s daniel bushell explains the move could be too little too late with social unrest good fun. france enjoys a triple a credit rating but now put it one of the boys states ratios among the world's top rated states many investors bitterly to follow the u.s. and be downgraded just repaying interest on it this year has overtaken education and defense as the government's biggest spend this. causes presided over the biggest jump in debt levels in our history books that carry too much water soon. france has got a bit taller and it's

a prime minister for us as he explained you rolled up spending cuts this week but economists fear things are so bad those cuts go nowhere near enough really can compare it with people saying we're going to buy a lamborghini and they only buy a porsche and they call that austerity talk to small frauds these huge debt burden is really chronic underinvestment in schools and hospitals. getting. into. computers. very old. equipment old fashioned. out of the situations explosive say experts and frauds could be next to witness roy it's like those in britain with deprived regions the likely spot the inner part of cities and the suburbs. are socially segregated to stand for more so. or in germany

so yes unrest to come from the suburbs and sprint for nicolas sarkozy's flying a fall from france as he can on budget day to his pacific island of new caledonia with students climbing street protests over the cuts he's left the job of presenting them to his prime minister to let them take up. for hopefully unions students. can march directly in protest against their ministers while he's behaving in the sun so these absence in this time of crisis brought leading newspaper le figaro may be clipper politically but his failure to tackle because troubles know could be creating even greater problems for the future. to see harris the people of the carcasses republic of abkhazia have settled upon their choice of who they would like to run their fledgling country vice president alexander one the

presidential vote being two rivals he will succeed sergei who died recently from illness after playing a crucial role now causes a long and bitter struggle for independence from georgia. he promised to make a pause it a stronger state now it's on the run but has the power to do so winning fifty four percent of the vote in friday's presidential election had of some rivals has given him a clear mandate with some citizens of the small caucus republican willing to travel a long way to support their man. i came from crimea to go for our pub he help war veterans like me a lot when we had tough times. alexander was vice president one the man he succeeds as leader sort of gave a giant in office last may the two saw a pause in independence recognized by russia and a number of other countries in two thousand and eight with both men helping prevent

war with georgia the same year for almost two decades after a pause he had declared independence from georgia in one nine hundred ninety one military conflict along with fear and uncertainty marked life in the country the mood seems to have changed the early battle for the bandits led many scholars in the process capital you can see how badly that parliament building was damaged cleaning up the rubble and getting things back in order will probably be the toughest part of the job for the new president keeping good ties with russia and restoring the economy will be the top of one club's agenda. we have to admit it and it is true we see certain growth but it is no no we loans and serious investments on fox rivals foreign minister sergei shamba and opposition leader roll hodgin by one twenty one and nineteen percent of those respectively the campaign was monitored by more than one hundred international observers from countries including france austria and israel some like switzerland and terry and dominic beatty came

despite pressure not to do so from georgia when i was invited to. have. a very quick reaction from the georgian i was his oh no don't go there it's a part of your job. it's illegal completely. for in the election observers ignored the threats and gave the pool a clean bill of health safe from two minor complaints no other boil ations were found these elections have been very well crimes and have been off for the highest level as well as the results of the outcome has meant another positive step for democracy in the region according to the election monitors my ideals sereny true independence and i can exactly support what you are doing here you know because you are fighting for your suffering to go to an indian dependency democracy the new man faces stiff challenges and leading his country with a hostile leverage georgia and a legacy of difficulties following independence citizens will be hoping the man

they've chosen this president will help herald a new hero for their country. artsy support. and don't forget you can watch the news if you want when you want it right here at r.t. dot com here's a taste of what we've got lined up for you right now with. a personal account of nine eleven is the band a former f.b.i. agent who claims that the cia could have stopped the attacks and is prevented from publishing his upcoming inside story. and attacks from the deep the third man is mauled by a shark in russia's far east find out more about the search for the sea predator at r.t. dot com. now time for our close up series where we continue to take you want to journey across a vast and varied landscape of russia. this

week we've been in the very heart of the european part of russia the city of cairo of famed for its stunning scenery and countryside it's also known for its popular handmade toys which represent the country on postcards and in summer attract tourists from all over the world for one highly unusual first of all as archie's got on board for parts. it's the pride of the kirov region the annual cucumber festival the governor himself invited journalists from all across russia just to showcase the region's tourist potential organizers here make a bold claim that pickled cucumbers in this new job is stubbins all the best in the world. so while the players sing folk songs extolling the virtues of the green staple has only one stalwart actual vegetable can report be a bit of trouble eighty kilometers to be in this queue you know i'm curious about what it is that makes them so special but i'm

a bit disappointed i wasn't allowed to buy my disheartened by the long wait we decided to take our search to the locals it's the middle of the pickling season if you can do that but in brine. and mix with. the recipe to what makes them special is a strictly kept secret at the magic ingredients are gill garlic and horseradish. but the truly unique part of the local pickling process is that it's sealed barrels are dumped in the river for six months it serve the because water gives them a subtle chalky flavor luckily we found some pickles left over from last year's crop all this talk of cucumber has made me quite hungry for the local delicacy so i decided to give it a try myself. thank you traditionally the cure of region has been known for its then covered toys base an ancient pagan beatty's these clay figurines

have been handmade here for hundreds of years handicraft strip tradition described artisans most depict very specific subjects namely peasant women and improbably colored animals. this is not just a trademark a very chin this is russia's visiting card won't go well stick notice the toys can only be made by women and apprentices have to perfect their craft for years before they can be called as those are the must. before i became tommy for making the same things over and over again would be boring but actually they always turn out different and once i have most of the traditional teachers i my grandchild and. local authorities are hoping master classes like this one will become a tourist attraction and a recruiting ground for new craftswomen there's also talk of massive craft fairs

that promise to draw thousands now there's even a been core family statue in the city square but that was paid for by a mobile phone operator when my journey at an end i was charmed by didn't cover toys and pulled myself up on the local pickles but whether this is enough to turn the cure of region into a tourist destination well that's another question altogether. party cure of region. and i'll be back with headlines in just a few moments don't go away. from.

the beach and discover it's music. the. the the communicate with the want to. test yourself and become free the. see what nature can give you on all. the. mission free cretaceous free transport charges free from richmond free risk free stooge free.