well how did. the general. where did it take to. today's news end of the week's top stories at libya's tipping point as the rebels hunt colonel gadhafi after taking over tripoli and there are fears the country's chemical weapons could fall into the wrong hands. north korea will limit nuclear arms testing and production if international talks on security in the region resume a pledge made by the country's reclusive leader on a rare trip to russia. and a lack of progress in the unmanned space ship ferrying the supplies to the international space station is it missing after crashing over siberia.

nine o'clock on a sunday morning right here in moscow recapping the top news stories of the week this is our team it is the week that a decisive breakthrough 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 claims that now controls most of the capital but cut off his whereabouts are still unknown humanitarian situation in the capital remains that dire as most of tripoli is without water and electricity and hospitals are running out of supplies pockets of resistance remain among some gadhafi loyalists with the u.n. calling on both sides to bring a halt to the violence the rebels are now building up forces near gadhafi hometown of syria assisted by nato aerial strikes meanwhile the pentagon says it's monitoring the libyan sites containing stockpiles of chemical weapons and is pledging to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands as artie's of war and it

reports that is causing concern with some rebel factions that are said to have been infiltrated by islamic extremists. tripoli a city in chaos there's constant gunfire both aggressive and celebrate every and on the outskirts of the capital stockpiles of chemical weapons make sure you know very little about the people who might come to power. tripoli so now if you've got this cache of weapons of mass destruction that again people really don't know what's there and if this is fully going to the fans and people i mean the situation is. despite the heavy presence of rebels in tripoli the chemical stockpile appears still to be in the hands of what's left of kids or government that's both good and bad news following a series of meetings in two thousand and three moammar gadhafi agreed to allow weapons inspectors inside libya the first step towards abandoning his w m d program

in return for a normalizing of relations with the u.k. and u.s. they agree that he wouldn't use all move the material but now thanks in part to nato support of the rebels he's on the back foot and may feel he has nothing to lose by disregarding that agreement he's cry victory or martyrdom will strike an ominous note to those who know of his weapons potential given the violations of. national territory of libya by now you know would rebel forces i think that the idea that he would be beholden to these types of. remains would be off the table at this point and certainly he was called in a scene in early july that he would be willing to strike out in europe if tripoli was attacked so i think it's a fair assumption to say that if there is that capability that he would be looking at an option at this point at any rate but the alternative rebel control of chemical weapons is arguably worse according to many some of the rebel factions

have links to al qaida or a commentator abdel bari atwan says the west. it's got itself into this trouble now it has to decide how it will figure it out and the options aren't attractive we knew that the majority of the people who are fighting corrupt if you are a muslim extremist so how the people is going to be people off about remove all of connecticut i believe their post would be more proper i'm i think than. a few there are some indications nato is considering putting peacekeeping troops on the ground in libya regional experts warn back could be seen by parts of the free libya movement as an act of aggression but having supported the rebel movement nato must now deal with the consequences even if that w m d armed islamic extremists. you know has vowed to stay in libya as long as it is needed with british jets

firing missiles i printed off his command and control bunker in his hometown of see it this week activist john reste says that self-interest may be the driving force behind you why it is 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 prepare for you for that of the western powers that live here and so you will come to power as the proxies 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 a transition to democracy is all about i would take those remarks as more threats that are probably just as a direct threat that they will use their military and economic weight to gain what they want out of a new government in libya anti-war activists john briggs they're commenting 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 the announcement 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's struggling economy. was following the visit. a man of mystery north korea's kim jong il prefers to stay out of the e.u. spot like a great leader as he's officially known at home constantly fears for his life which is why your voice planes has armored cars and eats chopsticks designed to detect reasons but the fear of ongoing sanctions and tough financial times proved more significant as kim jong il embarks 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 the far eastern town of class on from there he traveled on the. trance a beer in railway to the bike call region with the republic of wheelchair as his final destination and a meeting with president of egypt 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 process of law is one of the biggest in the world and by stopping here kim jong il has bates' 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 that you men get down to business. but that's ok as far as i understand the democratic people's republic of korea is interested in the implementation of this trilateral projects in which the russian federation and

south korea will also take part some technical matters are going to be settled now some time ago gazprom 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 aleck similar to tackle this issue the pipeline which would bring say very natural gas to the heart of asia would mean money for the struggling north korea and the new market for russia the north koreans are not going to be. a situation price of gas imports from russia would ever paid up because the building the pipelines and the pipeline has to be extended in south korea so it's not the 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 bush 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

aren't seen as a lot i did with north korea as china is and because someone has to as a world leader stand up and say this war has gone on for sixty years and had there's been a change a cold war has ended let's get on to the idea that you only bill peace through engagement and relationship you know president vaclav havel 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. and its constant sanctioning has failed to bring results and results are what this brief trip to russia appears to have achieved. with kim jong il's announcement of a desire to return to the talks and implement a moratorium and production and testing of nuclear weapons if the talks resume for

north korea it is a chance to recover from recent famine and get some much needed food aid 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 a storm brewing in new york. the streets of the metropolis and stand empty as hurricane irene sweeps closer leaving devastation in its wake. and friends is feeling the pinch as debt surges and growth stagnate with fears huge cuts could spill over into angry rights. and the hunt continues for the wreckage of an unmanned russian space ship the 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 its toxic fuel could be dangerous for locals and the environment good grief takes up the story.

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 at first but then i realized coins never fly that quietly then it turned into some bright object and then suddenly it was promptly i heard a loud noise it was like three bangs one really loud and see 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 been sent to solve

a siberian out-i 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 book's mission of being fills 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 or the car was not booking put the international space station for some reason so that crew on board pairs of water and food supplies to survive on for another three or four months until their. craft arrived to the space station time then maybe on the side of ross cosmos russia's space agency but the loss has still raised significant alarm bells this story is a rocket carrying. a crew slightly different but not much there. what it was the

progress they're going to want to make sure anything that is similar could go on about what happened. why it was more turbulence of russia's space program back in december when three colonus satellites the country's alternative to g.p.s. plummeted into the pacific ocean with this latest setback was kosmos has been forced to tighten quality 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 to sell for the scrapping of the u.s. shuttle program there's now global importance on the success of the soyuz. greaves 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 nine people dead and millions without electricity reported is

among those preparing to weather the storm. the big apple looks extremely eerie the streets are and businesses are are either have boarded up their windows or keep along their windows and tropical winds are beginning to move into new york city at this moment and you can 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 attorney to watch showed up 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 speed con ed be forced to shut down power in certain parts of new york city between now and sunday evening if those areas get to flooded friday new york city michael

bloomberg the first time in history issued a mandatory evacuation of certain parts of new york city 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 and we did get to speak with some people down were heading to the stores to buy up supplies hot saturday here's a little bit of what they have said. my whole grandma this is the only real one it really had a married you're about to leave for so here's to a big nose of the no we don't know the whole thing around here out of like going out right in the i'm like. on the water like hurricane katrina like that for me the public transfer station system in new york city has also been shut down that includes the trains the buses at this point

a tropical winds are moving in and everyone is just bracing themselves for the storm. what is really important i reporting for us from new york and of course you are with r t coming up a new president but all. as the people of our cars in the caucuses that make a very choice at the ballot box we look at what lies ahead for the new leader republican struggles to rebuild after winning independence from georgia. and our cause of team and takes you to a russian city that knows how to party find out more about a festival with a difference 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 slams france has also announced some twelve billion euro worth of cuts but as artie's daniel bushell explains the move could be too little too late with fears social unrest could fall

. enjoys a triple a credit rating but now with one of the toys ratios among the world's top rated states believe it is better to follow the u.s. and be downgraded just repaying interest only this year has overtaken education and defense as the government. causes presided over the biggest jump and debt levels in our history carry too much water. france is going to the toll roads limit it's a problem is that your as explained when you rolled of spending cuts this week but to call them a spear things. those cuts go nowhere near enough really can compare it with people saying we're going to buy a lumber genie and they only buy a porsche and they call the. doctors board for all these huge hit birds and is really truly under-investment in schools and hospitals. getting.

current. computers. are old fashioned. out of the situations explosive say experts and frauds could be next witness roy it's like those in britain with the proved regions like the inner part of cities in the suburbs. are socially segregated to extend far more so than in the u.k. or in germany so yes unrest come from the suburbs and spread through nicolas sarkozy's flying a ball from france as he chatted 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 he'll let them take the flak for it and

hopefully unions students. can march directly in protest against their ministers but he's behaving in the sun so as these absence in this time of crisis brought leading newspaper le figaro may be clipper politically but his failure to tackle the country's troubles now could be creating even greater problems for the future of the new push to see. the people of the carcasses republic of abkhazia have settled upon their choice of who they want to leave their fledgling country vice president alexander one the presidential vote meeting to rivals he will succeed sergei who died recently from illness after playing a crucial role now cause he has a long and bitter struggle for independence from georgia in a last he has more. he promised to make a pause it a stronger state now it's on their own fault has the power to do so winning fifty

four percent of the vote in friday's presidential election head of rivals has given him a clear mandate with some citizens of the small caucuses republican willing to travel a long way to support their man as i came from crimea to vote for our problem he helped war veterans like me a lot when we had tough times. and extended uncuff was feisty president one the man he succeeds as leader sergei bug option died 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 in a declared independence from georgia and nine hundred ninety one military conflicts along with fear and uncertainty marked life in the country the mood seems to have changed the early battles were dependent slept many scholars in a policy as capital you can see how badly the 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 close in series investments. the campaign was monitored by more than one hundred international observers from countries including france austria and israel and i was invited to. have a very quick reaction from georgia always says oh no don't go there about my ideals or any independence and i can exactly support what you are doing here you know because you are fighting for your soren to autonomy independence democracy for an election observers ignored the threats and gave the poll a clean bill of health care. selections for a while crimes are not part of the highest law as well as the result the outcome

has meant another positive step for democracy in the region according to the election monitors the new man faces stiff challenges and leading his country with a hostile neighbor in georgia and a legacy of difficulties following independence citizens will be hoping the man they've chosen as president will help herald a new era for their country does bill of artsy school. and don't forget you can watch the news you want and when you want to at r.t. dot com here's a taste of what we've got lined up for you right now. a personal account of a nine eleven is banned a former f.b.i. agent who claims the cia could have stopped the attacks is prevented from publishing his upcoming inside story. and attacks from the deep a 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. on to some other international news in brief for you now. in

syria two more protesters have reportedly been killed by security forces with just saying there was sporadic shooting in separate cities it comes as its close ally iran has reaffirmed its support for president assad but said he should answer the legitimate demands of his people the arab league has decided to send a mission to the country saying it will no longer be silent on the crackdown against protesters over two thousand people have been killed since anti-government demonstrations began in march. at least five people have died in brazil after a tram popular with tourists derailed in rio de janeiro's more than thirty others were injured some of them even critically after coming off the tracks the tram skidded down the street before crashing into a lamp post investigators are trying to find out what caused the accident it comes to months after a french tourist died falling out of one of the trams as it was crossing a bridge. venezuela's president hugo chavez has announced he will start

a third round of chemotherapy at home instead of cuba where he had two previous courses of treatment as underwent surgery in june for a malignant tumor in his pelvic area the exact nature of his cancer has not been disclosed chavez who's been in power for over a decade is his party's only candidate for the two thousand and twelve presidential election. and now it's time for our close up series where we continue to take you on a journey across the vast and varied landscape of russia. this week we've been in the very heart of the european part of russia the city of a calf 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 festival as are

trees and one of the four. gets the pride of the cure of region annual cucumber festival the governor himself invited journalists from all across russia just to showcase the region's tourist potential organizers here made the bold claim that a pickled cucumbers in this knowledge of its job and all the best in the world. but well the players saying folksongs extolling the virtues of the green staple has only one store where the actual vegetable can be pulled out of trouble eighty kilometers to be in its q i'm curious about what it is that makes them so special but i'm a bit disappointed i wasn't allowed to buy 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 get the harvest to put in the brine. and mix with.

the recipe to what makes them special is a strictly kept secret but the magic ingredients are deal with garlic and horseradish. but the truly unique part of the local pickling process is that a sealed barrels are dumped in the river for six months and serve the cold water gives them a subtle chalky flavor will likely be found some pickles leftover from last year's crop all the stalk of cucumber has made me quite hungry for the local delicacies decide to give it a try myself. thank you traditionally the cure of region has been known for its them covered toys base an ancient pagan day tease these clay figurines have been handmade here for hundreds of years handicrafts trick tradition prescribed artisans was to pick very specific subjects namely present women and improbably colored animals. this is not just

a trademark of our region this is russia's visiting card the 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 masters of the must. before i became to make i thought making the same things over and over again would be boring but actually they always turn out different and once i have a lot of the traditional motifs i my grandchild and it's. 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 dim core family statue in the city square but that was paid for by mobile phone operator when my journey up and then i was charmed by them cover toys and filled myself up on the local pickles but what if this is enough to turn to kira region

into a tourist destination well that's another question altogether eager of no. cure of region and shortly we'll hear from both sides of the debate on capital punishment in the u.s. that's after a recap of the week's top stories right here. some

. mornings today violence is once again flared up. and these are the images the world is seeing from the streets and can. change hope for asians are the day. some. of them in. some.