asks for sea board as it slams into new york very high winds. coming to you live from moscow this is r t with the day's news and the week's top stories and we start in libya where rebels have given a resolute no to war market often is reported suggestion to sit down for talks all the national transitional council says all the colonel deserves is a rest not dialogue artie's many a financial house spoken to the rebels and has more from tripoli. we have been able to speak to the rebels information minister here in tripoli and he's made his position quite clear the rebels will not negotiate with the criminals the rebels will not negotiate with the killers they want to get our fee and they're running after him street after street they strict after district and as soon as they catch him they will throw him to jail this statement comes after the news solution use of

the feed that. gadhafi has information chief has apparently called a peace headquarters and has said that gadhafi is ready for talks with the rabble to form a transitional government and his even appointed his third son sided to lead the negotiations and this news comes just a week after a successful assault by the rebels on the libyan capital tripoli which became kind of breakthrough in the libyan six month long. civil war well meanwhile the rebels are progress and quite well they're currently control in most of the country and including the capital tripoli and they're now claiming that they are preparing for what they call this final battle an assault on kid off his native town city at the same time the rebels say that they go she ran to go in with. khadafi supporters

there in syria and if it's successful they will no be any military operation if only they agree to surrender if not. we'll start within the next two days while the people here in tripoli are struggling because currently the city is facing in severe sure the chauffeur electricity gas line medicine and water garbage everywhere on the streets because municipal services happen paralyzed people trying to deal with it themselves they are. taken out to the streets with brooms or. trash bags trying to clean them they also now live in fear of anarchy because there is no police but they also try to deal with it themselves come out to the streets and organize in kind of armed volunteers to for checkpoints so the situation is very hard very difficult here in tripoli. professor bethlehem

university dr mussina told r.t. the us some bush and to bring back its military base to libya has driven its leading role in the nato campaign. western powers have interests in libya. most important of course libyan oil and the us used to have a military base. they are very interested. in military power in libya so in that sense i see a problem in the structure of the libyan revolution and the way that. well clearly there are balls were created by the western powers initially there were few demonstrations that were being. and then of course the western powers need to feel. it is not just their military power in the air that they are pushing they have also increasingly weapons on the ground for their roles they have also

supported them with special forces from britain even the united states but are giving them training and this in some way diligent tomorrow is the rebels because it puts a foreign imprint on centrally what was before the rebellion like the egyptian rebellion or the tunisian rebellion. all nato allies have already spent millions of dollars of their participation and the coalition's campaign in libya are now racing to cash in on profitable oil deals are first reports now on the coalition members lining up to secure lucrative energy contracts. drill to the heart of most modern walls 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 two very strong interest that. western interest to the torah. but also to rebel to ordinary.

common interest to restore sanity morris possible a stranger to the concept of friends with benefits gagne's being quick to casey up to the new transitional council inviting the public face of the group made djibril to italy for talks was good duffy's closest european allies when the nato bombing campaign began back in april roma properly switch sides and began courting the rebels in the full the wall almost a third of italy's daily energy needs were imported from libya an oil giant any was the largest foreign operator in the country the government here have been doing all they can to safeguard these contracts but the if they will be able to maintain these previously close business is by no means a given in a post gadhafi libya the futility extremely uncertain and there are little guarantee one of the biggest problems for both italy and other western countries

since the beginning of the war has been the struggle to adequately understand the internal workings of the rebels themselves. amongst the rebels there are many factions islamist tunisian people. it's just organized and chaotic and many of these groups of rebels are from the politicians that before were with gadhafi and then they completely changed their face they went with the wind as they send it to me i think they are corrupt politicians. of all met gadhafi personally on a number of occasions three business connections less than a month ago she returned from a fact finding. to libya with a handwritten letter she says was written by gadhafi to bella's gain a in it he allegedly says he was surprised by a decision to join the coalition against libya especially after we signed a friendship and cooperation treaty between our two sides the treaty he's referring to he was signed just two months before the libyan uprising the letter gaze on to

ask why did you join our enemies without any to mattick dialogue or investigation ballasts gainey now seems to be making the friends the waltz that may be the final shot to take death a many things the conflict will continue i would dare to say there's a definite if you talk for which is among the rebels there is no art should. be censored. your concern seems to me to be an internal coup no actual person to talk to. you be. prepared for the media now is silly along with many in the west could well find that previous lucrative relations may turn out to be just as fickle as the rainfall fair weather friendships surf city. and coming up on r t we're on a storm watch the city that never sleeps and brings tropical storm irene as it sweeps of the u.s. east coast are moving through the big apple. now the russian government has ordered

a major shake up of the country's space agency after the loss of yet another unmanned mission a progress resupply craft failed to reach the international space station and burned up in the earth's atmosphere all six crew members aboard the i.s.o.'s will now have to ration out the food and water they have left artie's jacob grieves has more. 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 a first but then i realized cleans never fly and they're close or quietly then it turned into some white object and i saw that it was sparkling 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 delivery of century supplies to

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 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 bush mission are being felt much further afield with the question of how to resupply the international space station proving the most pressing. operation glamorous always keep in mind the possibility of a big cargo space ship not docking to the international space station for some reason so that go on board pairs of water and food supplies to survive on for another

three or four months until their. cargo spacecraft arrives for the space station time then maybe on the side of ross cosmos russia space agency but the loss has still raised significant alarm bells this story is a rocket carrying crew slightly different but not much that much different than the one that was the progress they're going to want to make sure anything that is similar could go on about why all happened when we should say oh it's like those more turbulence of russian space program back in december when three clone a satellites the country's alternative to g.p.s. plummeted into the pacific ocean with this latest setback roscosmos has been forced to tighten quality control and hope there won't be a repeat of the problems that'll be good news for the six astronauts currently on board the international space station especially since after the scrapping of the u.s. shuttle program there's now global importance on the success of the soyuz j.q.

greaves r.t. . well this week north korea announced its readiness to regime international talks over its disputed nuclear plants well the news came as the country's leader made a rare trip abroad to meet the president dmitri medvedev and discuss among other things a vital energy deal for both korea's struggling economy artie's gotten reports. 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 he 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 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 the far eastern town of quests on from there he traveled on the translate beer and railway to the by col region with the republic of video 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. is one of the biggest in the world and by stopping here kim jong il has made sure that the entire world knows that 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 two men get down to business. 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 in the pipeline which would bring siberia natural gas to the hub of asia would mean money for the struggling north korea. and a new market for russia the north koreans are not going to be able to pay a. price for gas imports from russia would over pay but because the building the pipelines of the pipeline has to be extended into south korea to the south korean market but the foremost 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 you know president vaclav havel once said that we must change our river attention from what separates us to what unites us and russia plays a unique role right now to help lead the world in that direction 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 brief to russia appears to have achieved 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 is a chance to recover from recent data 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 a day and millions of new yorkers decided to stay in their homes as hurricane irene swept through the city bringing partial flooding and power shortages all at savva downgraded to a tropical storm all public transportation will remain shop throughout sunday irene is sweeping up the u.s.

eastern seaboard and escalating at least fifteen lives already artie's medina portnoy reports now from new york. the city was prepared a way in advance before i renewed begat it's way down the eastern seaboard but at this point things seem extremely calm relatively calm the sun actually looking out of my window in the sun is beginning to come out here in new york city but that does not mean that there has not been any damage from this tropical storm now i remarked the hurricane but according to meteorologist when it was making its way down the eastern seaboard once it i went through plowed through north carolina it downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it hit manhattan we did see sheets of of rain coming down and the wind became extremely heavy it was downgraded to a tropical storm as you mentioned at this point there's been severe flooding along the hudson river in manhattan and they involve the outer boroughs of new york city there how out in our shortage is now on manhattan and all the emergency workers and

first responders are dealing with major flooding but for the low lying areas south of manhattan as we remember it was in new york city mayor michael bloomberg that order a mandatory evacuation of certain parts of new york city those are wrangled lying areas approximately three hundred seventy thousand people who live in all those different areas a lot of people evacuated and a lot of new yorkers chose to stay and our way out of the storm as it made its way to new york of according to what we are all just are saying this storm has now caused me york city is heading towards rhode island newport rhode island and new england and it could even become a little bit greater as it gains momentum heading that way but it did turn out to be a lot less than what was anticipated and what was hyped up and at this point it's just about cleanup here in new york. of course we're closely following the developments

all raveling on the east coast of america which has been hit by a wave of extreme weather. for you to travel to watch the most recent as well as the most impressive video from the hurricane site. now europe spreading debt crisis is threatening to grow enough for the government announce a new austerity measures earlier this week amid concerns it could lose its aaa credit rating well the deficit reducing package will see some twelve billion euros worth of cuts plus a tax hike for the rich daniel bushell explains the move could be too little too late with fears that social unrest is just around the corner. enjoys a triple a credit rating for now one of the toys ratios among the world's top rated states many investors bitterly to follow the u.s. and be downgraded just repaying interest on its this year has overtaken education and defense as the government's biggest spend was just. presided over the biggest

jump in debt levels in our history books that carry too much water. or. france is going to the limit admitted prime minister as he explained the new road of spending cuts this week but economists fear things. those cuts go nowhere near enough you can compare it with people saying we're going to buy a lamborghini and buy a porsche and they call that heresy doctors board for old seats huge debt burden is bringing critique of during this moment in schools and hospitals. getting. into current. computer. equipment fashion. the situation's explosive say

experts and for olds could be mixed to witness roy it's like those in britain with deprived regions the likely spark the inner part of cities and the suburbs. are socially segregated to very high extent far more so than say in the u.k. or in germany so yes unrest could come from the suburbs and spread through nicolas sarkozy's flying of all fronts as he can budget they taze pacific island of new caledonia with students planning 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 retirees can march directly and protest against the ministers while he's behaving in a certain because these absence in this time of crisis writes leading newspaper le figaro may be clever politically but his failure to tackle the country's troubles

now could be creating even greater problems for the future of the new bush you'll see. and still ahead for you this hour a journey through russia all the way to the cure all region where an unusual festival held in the name of a. vegetable is entertaining adults and children alike. but before that let's look at some news that made headlines today across the world on the us continues in syria with activists claiming government forces have opened far protesters in separate cities killing at least five people it comes as the arab league announced it will send an envoy to the country to hold talks with president assad and to seek an end to the violence meanwhile iran has reaffirmed its alliance with syria but warned that assad should listen to his people's wages and demands the two thousand have been killed since the government demonstrations began in march. a series of overnight bomb attacks is left six people dead

and injured at least seven in the iraqi capital baghdad the explosion stargate of a police patrol in one of the city's neighborhoods and more than half of the casualties were officers officials say at least two hundred fifty people have the killed by extremists in iraq in july alone. now a superstar football striker has joined the russian north caucasus club. some cameroon native and for time african player of the year will reportedly receive ten million euros a season and his arrival is a massive coup for russia's premier league and puts all g. firmly on the map as one of the world's most ambitious clubs a question of what has the details. i think a diverse group of people go much and for the next three years most of summer at those big games will be in russia this thursday the cameroon international left into milan and each leave behind flying in to join new club and.

i'm starting from scratch if it's possible in europe as a player and here i can start a new plus i've played with a bunch of crowds before and he told me a lot about russian football and i do look forward to joining the team at the three time champions league winner and the most decorated african player of all time lightening pace has made a one of the sport's most prolific goalscorers increased again this still signing has put this region of russia the north caucasus into the soccer world spotlight this is the innate says. it seems that until recently few outside of russia had heard off but which is now making sports have lines across the globe and it's in this unlikely setting that i team of world soap a stone house is being built the story behind this transfer began in january when the druggist on the clock was bought by still a month getting him of

a locally born businessman and one of the richest men in russia he found to turn gene into a contender hoping to transform the republic's image in the process a handful of promising acquisitions followed among them legendary brazilian to fund the cardless the current captain of the club the fact that one of the best wears in the world will be playing and there are some families. america very big in parts of the road from top of the game here in russia. i think we're given a very good image of ross and football because. he is one of the best where's there's a lot of the star of the past russian money in european football is nothing new. back in two thousand and three russian businessmen are more in the but are more of each english club chill city and transformed a mid-level club into you were a parent powerhouse i should have smart has also ploughed his millions into english giants arsenal but this time the situation is different here is that bit is to make

a little known russian football team known across the world this deal may herald a new reality in the european game where international football superstar playing for russian clubs are ask all men as those goals in the bush no r t reporting from the north caucasus. and now it's time for the latest in our close of series this week where in the region located around a thousand kilometers east of moscow now renowned for its folk arts and crafts in the summer it also hosts an adult festival celebrating a common green of vegetable. joys and the fun. it's the pride of the kirov region that annual cucumber festival the governor himself invited journalists from all across russia just to showcase the region's

tourist potential organizers here make the bold claim that pickled cucumbers in this village of stubbins are the best in the world. but while the players sing folk songs extolling the virtues of the green staple because only one store where the actual vegetable can be bought and i've traveled eighty kilometers to be in this queue i'm curious about what it is that makes them so special but i'm a bit disappointed i wasn't allowed to buy more 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 with the harvest that put in brine. and mixed with. the recipe to what makes them special is a strictly kept secret but the magic ingredients are deal garlic and horseradish.

but the truly unique part of the local pickling process is that the seal barrels are dumped in the river for six months it's served in the cold war to give them a subtle shawqi flavor luckily we found some pickles left over from last year's crop all the stalk of cucumber has made me quite hungry for the local delicacy so i decided to give it a try myself. thankee traditionally the care of region has been known for its dim covered toys base an ancient pagan day tease these clay figurines have been handmade here for hundreds of years the handicrafts trick tradition describes that artisans was depicted very specific subjects namely peasant women and improbably colored down in malls. this is not just a trademark a very gentle this is russia's visiting card who want the well to take notice the toys can only be made by women and apprentices have to perfect their craft for years before they can be called masters and ice those are the most before i became

a tall maker thought making the same things over and over again would be boring but actually they always turn out different and once i have mastered the traditional motifs i my grandchild and experiment. local authorities are hoping master classes like this one will become a tourist attraction and a recruiting ground for new craftswomen. eager of nerve. cure of region. well that's all for now but i'll be back in a few moments with a recap of the top headlines to save us.

all the back here is a recap of the week's top stories and today's main headlines are live in rebels have turned out reported offer by more market dothan to go shoot the power transfer as they prepare a final autopsy on the colonel's hometown. there's a bigger shakeup in the russian space agency after the loss of another automatic mission and scientists now rushing to resupply the international space station and prevent a disaster of. north korea's leader kim jong il and rolls through hostile russia by praying for a new date with president medvedev saying p.l.o. wants a resumption of international talks that will bring peace to the peninsula.