turning first to libya where fierce writing fierce fighting rages on between pro and anti kadafi forces loyalist troops are making their last stand in three cities that are under a heavy assault by the relentless fighters who are backing the country's new government search bani walid and are now witnessing house to house battles with hundreds of civilians caught in the crossfire it's thought colonel gadhafi himself still on the run could be hiding in one of the besieged cities meanwhile life is returning to a kind of normality in the capital but as artie's marie if an ocean reports there are some libyans who already hope for khadafy his return and months off to tripoli fell into rebels hands those who back to deal who remain defiant. in parts of the city the rebels triumphant campaign feels like it's never happened or did so somewhere else. who will do anything to moammar any moammar even if we have to give our own life's sovan support for the ousted leader just solves

once they see our camera. now we are telling me how could you tell the camera why. don't you it's the same situation with. because if he's hundred percent dude we don't want this revolution we don't know the rebels we want them to go away. we are from television so i couldn't tell it on camera no no thanks if i pee in front of the camera they will send the bullet to my well all the criminals you don't know them you call them the rebels hey guys do you remember the black guy he was arrested a few days ago after here appeared on t.v. don't do that new flags new slogans new speeches. the rebels were out celebrating again this week when the head of the national transitional council libya's new authority arrives in the capital before large crowds even libyans in no

doubt about who's really. those who don't support mr fahd those only you and who we used to see all across the city proudly waving green flags just weeks ago backing khadafi now trying not to leave their own backyards there. was. a very. tough it is effectively gone then you also have several down here in the capital tripoli people are chanting that is a new free country but it seems that there is at least one thing that still remains of all the beer fear. one youngster finally agrees to talk. tripoli is now under the control of the national transitional council and we don't feel we have freedom to talk or to express our opinion if we say something in favor

of gadhafi they can kill us and arrest us of course money and fear. the nineteen year old says many of his friends have been arrested recently for making critical statements about a new regime ironically we're talking just a kilometer away from one of gadhafi is top secret jails for political prisoners known as abu salim. the rebels they only represent themselves not the libyan people this revolution started with killings to intimidate through fear their homes are covered in blogs amnesty international has recently accused both gadhafi regime and the one which replaced it of committing war crimes including killings and torture of military prisoners and civilians fears are being felt by some here that more his in-store raef notion r t three pally libya. u.s.

was quick to support revolutions in libya and egypt as the expression as the democratic expression of the people's will and it shouldn't stop there with calls for syria's regime to step down to one that could leave iran out in the cold in its own neighborhood artie's got a check young takes a look as nations in the middle east and north africa are torn between the struggle to bring about change and the struggle not to let that change ruin their lives washington views the arab spring as an opportunity to finally see some of its longtime foes crumble you know. iran is not an arab country the arab spring to spread to absolutely. and i think in many ways it's a matter of time before that kind of change. and revolution occurs in the runs under the umbrella if arab revolutions washington is also beating the drums of regime change in syria iran's closest ally in the region violence within the country has been widely condemned countries like russia and china call for both

sides in syria to talk and end the bloodshed while america is blaming assad alone i think assad stays just like a dog for your number and let's hope that russia or assad is next in line they were overthrown khadafi they're going to have a proxy or client government in tripoli the next step is syria they want to overthrow syria next to take advantage of any movement that exists in syria to overthrow the assad government now they have a more democratic government a more humane government but a government that is allied with the united states and after syria the next target will be iran itself watching regimes go down one by one american politicians are filled with new hopes and aspirations some went as far as to predict the arab spring would spread all across the world what this is all about is the arab spring and bashar assad is next and even places like china and russia and other places they're very uneasy this is about people aspiring for freedom and that's what the libyan people have just achieved. that's wishful thinking on the part of john

mccain but it speaks volumes to where the real orientation is in washington not just of the republicans but the democrats too so they would like to overthrow the government in china they would like to overthrow the government in russia they would like to overthrow the government in venezuela and cuba or wherever people are independent of the dictates of washington but when it comes to syria and iran washington doesn't seem to be just fantasizing about revolutions by throwing its support behind revolution makers and only say washington the seeking to increase its influence and control in these countries let's look at how things have been in the control department so far it thousands protest against the u.s. backed military there that's still in power last week objections storm peace really embassy and rage by the killing of five egyptian border guards in lead a washington supported leadership is taking over but the country is that risk of plunging into a tribal war syria the opposition includes those with radical agendas so the

aftermath of the so-called arab spring remains very murky and difficult yet washington seems to be using the arab spring to fulfill its long time goals but the fear is that it might end up getting the opposite of what it wishes for and undermining the whole region i'm going to check out reporting from washington r.t. . moscow was reiterating its deep concerns over plans to house u.s. missiles in poland following the announcement that parts of the defense shield should be in place could be in place by twenty eighteen the foreign ministry in moscow said on saturday that urgent talks with nato were necessary as well as hard guarantees that russian security won't be at risk warsaw and washington's outline for putting missiles on polish soil follows a deal sealed this week with romania and turkey who agreed to host parts of the u.s. missile defense system america insists it's designed to counter a possible strike from iran or north korea but professor peter gurley you know from paris west university believes the absence of any real threat to the u.s. or its allies puts

a question mark over who the shield is supposedly protecting from. i don't think it's really a military necessity no one really believed that it was a possibility of you ran attacking europe its myside stude not reach could not reach western europe so it was the deployment was scrapped in the czech republic nod as a new deployment in rumania but i think this takes up surely political washington probably wants to reassure the former satellite countries that so huge union so it's a political move but hardly a military necessity and also considering the state of the us economy i don't think it's a wise move in financial terms one of barmah had this reset policy of would pressure at least he was achieving something corp russia and key issued but this new deployment is aware of antagonizing russia which is going to turn into maybe some kind of new arms race which is totally pointless not only because the effectiveness

of that shield is problematic a double but also because it's going to cost a lot of money and unnecessarily because frankly i don't think iran is in a position to attack anyone in the west. stay with us here on r t more still to come including the historical launch of iran's first nuclear power plant the right to build to share a facility is successfully wired to the country's national grid with a deal to spend to send it spent fuel abroad so it can't be used to make atomic weapons plus. so dream steam ahead european energy majors signed up to the second project to get russian gas directly into europe but some still want to keep their supply options open the explain. but first the u.k. and the russian made moves to patch things up between them with a visit to the kremlin by british prime minister david cameron this week leaders of both countries agree that they're on resolved issues shouldn't get in the way of

progress this is the first official visit to russia by a british prime minister in six years relations between the two soured over the murder of former f.s.b. officer alexander litvinenko in london in two thousand and eight but cameron and dmitri medvedev agreed the case should not hold back their mutual partnership dr patrick full of who worked extensively in science and technology projects between russia and the u.k. sees potential ahead. russia's taken the first steps in establishing the new business center at skolkovo establishing what is going to be i suppose a kind of silicon valley there and british involvement in that is going to be absolutely key in terms of development companies development business and helping russian high tech businesses expand outside russia into markets in europe russia remains a kind of aladdin's cave where there are all kinds of interesting things to be found the legacy of the soviet research institutes and

a first rate mathematics science and engineering education system means that there are all kinds of people ideas intellectual property that remain in russia to be discovered and exploited them that i think is really key to the interesting future that. russia has in store in this whole area as ethnic tensions on serbia's border with a breakaway kosovo amount belgrade's chief negotiator is urging for calm on both sides to find a diplomatic solution violence broke out after kosovo police backed by nato led forces took over two disputed border posts previously under certain control r.t. sorry for a thousand more. you can see the sign put up by the k full forces it's a warning to the ethnics that protest is ok for the nato peacekeeping mission has been working here at the border point with. they go that volved why a fence is out there go the sandbags as well and still

a number of protesters that have been staying at the barricade of these disputed border points not so many of the men and they've made it very very clear that if anyone tries to remove the barricades that they've made that they're willing to defend and they'll be lots more people coming to the defense as well to take a vote of these control points what they see the essex population here in the north as an extension of prishtina is control over the disputed territory now amid concerns repeat of what we saw in july when violent clashes over the course think of the making of me to try and take place resulted in the death of a policeman is actually relatively quiet what we've seen is a huge number of. i think tugging at these barricades but what we've got at the moment is the standoff situation is being called a war of nose because the base the checkpoints of the barricades. and then the case full force is at the actual crossing at the no one wants to make me i know they the

way it's being quite diplomatic from what we've heard them based sites those calls for calm and for peace but of course the actions the scene quite different and that's the seems to be a lot of hostility between both sides that needs to be resolved iran's first nuclear energy plant went on line monday the only such facility in the entire middle east the russian built reactors are working at forty percent capacity right now and should reach full power in december of last year says it will continue to provide help and fuel for the plant until iran takes full control in two thousand and fifteen western nations of long been worried about the country's atomic program claiming it's a cover for making nuclear bombs which tehran has repeatedly denied political scientist alley photo in a shot from the university of london tells our t.v. that the absence of evidence iran has the same right to peaceful nuclear energy. we have now a decades long standoff between iran and the west and over it the iranian

nuclear program this has been very hyped up. the nuclear issue for political reasons in order to be able to garner support to put pressure on iran if you cannot control or influence a country you might go for isolation and weakening of the country in the best way to do that is through economic sanctions economic sanctions and if we just listen to the most authoritative source when it comes to analyzing the iranian nuclear program which is the international atomic energy agency and if we read their reports we see that there is no evidence for any weaponization and also this is confirmed by numerously and on numerous occasions spies the u.s. intelligence services and very recently so as well so the world has to face that iran as other developed countries has a nuclear program which is peaceful according. to all the evidence that we have.

still ahead this hour the italian town that wants to run from rome but up with being battered by the rest italy's floundering to be one sleepy little community is deciding to go it alone plus. taking an exclusion excursion meet the sure noble tourists who are endangering their health for a holiday despite radiation risks. but first in latvia a party backed by the large russian community there won a majority in a snap parliamentary election with almost all the votes in the harmony center party won twenty nine percent it's the first time a russia supporting parties led the polls in the former soviet state since it gained independence but speculations are growing that rival latvian politicians may form a coalition to keep the pro russian party out of government about a third of the country's population are russian speakers many of them non-citizens who have no voting rights russia and its key european gas customers sealed a twenty five billion dollar energy deal this week the soon to be built south

stream pipeline will pump russian gas straight to europe year round moscow was spent the last four years hammering out the details with its partners who want guarantees of a nonstop supply flow had been disrupted several times in the past along current pipelines because of disputes between russia and transit countries belarus and ukraine south stream will deliver gas along the bottom of the black sea bypassing possible political barriers german french and italian firms have now signed up to the project which is due to be wrapped up by twenty fifteen and energy analyst julian lees says europe is still wary of though of becoming too dependent on russia . nobody in europe is suggesting that russia will not be a major and probably the major supplier of gas to europe now and in the future not seen dispute. what europe is trying to do is to add. variety to sources of gas supply it doesn't want to be overly dependent on

russian gas in exactly the same way that it doesn't want to become overly dependent on north african gas or indeed on north sea gas what he's seeking to do is to find a balance between a variety of supply as delivering gas through variety of routes and nobody's disputing that among that variety russian will ease and will continue to be the most important. greece's prime minister has canceled his trip to the u.n. general assembly meetings in the u.s. to deal with his country's worsening debt crisis greece has only enough cash to see it for the next few weeks and eurozone finance ministers are for now sitting on the eight billion euro second ballot payment they say the country is falling behind on its spending cuts targets and missed a series of deadlines greece will have to wait it out till october to see whether it'll get the second lower and says it's on the verge of being unable to pay the

interest on its massive debt experts though it's too late to save the greek economy and it must exit the euro zone for its own good. but the greek economy is in an outright depression now g.d.p. is shrinking at the moment seven to eight percent on an annual basis unemployment is officially at sixteen percent but in reality it's more close to twenty five percent what we hear from people from the i.m.f. informally is that the budget situation is out of control so there's no way that greek greece can escape from this situation unless there's a somewhat orderly exit from the eurozone followed by a huge devaluation of the new greek currency i think we have passed the point now where we can argue that we can see for greece within the euro zone greece will have to exit it can be organized in an orderly way but the risk is of course that there will be contagion in the direction of countries like for example poor to go maybe i

will and of course i'm not even mentioning here that would be an enormous problem countries like spain. meanwhile across the ionian see it always parliament has agreed a fifty four billion euro package of cuts to try and keep the rot from engulfing europe's third largest economy this includes changes to pensions reducing government spending and a tax on a rich but it's a step too far for us i tell you as i have a bennett found out in a town that's trying to turn it back around. welcome to filipino a small town in the middle of italy that also claims to be an independent principality and to prove it it's even started printing its own money the man on the new note says town mayor lucas a lhari now self-proclaimed prince i guess everyone dreams of being a prince when they're a little boy and so did i now i get to live that dream filipinos going solo in

protest over government plans to slash council funding he wants small towns to merge having the number of local authorities with a population of just six hundred philip tino and its mayor for the chop. it's a terrible idea because it makes no economic sense we have everything here to be autonomous and besides our neighboring towns are at least thirty kilometers away so it's not practically possible it wouldn't even save that much money most regional administrations do nothing to get rid of them instead italy's in deep debt one hundred twenty percent of g.d.p. the second highest in europe but unions a furious with the cuts accusing the government of punishing those already at their poorest even some of silvio berlusconi's own allies now oppose them with amendments piling up but filipinos fed up determined to be the next san marino a constitutional republic within italy that has no national debt

a rare thing in europe the methinks the town can live off its natural resources of wood and water but currently proffer. go to private companies there are constitutional hurdles but since autonomy is not illegal it could just be a matter of time at the moment these notes aren't legal tender just souvenirs but the plan is for two theory to be worth one euro and for this three the only currency they could be spent in the shops and restaurants here business is always been slow in this sleepy town but shopkeepers hope the new money will bring new cash. i'm sure that once we start using the new currency the economic situation here will significantly improve it will have a positive effect on tourism of course attracting more people to the town. far from being a p.r. stunt filipino means business and berlusconi knows it he's visiting the town later

this month to stave off the rebellion and he'll have a fight on his hands filipino is the source of rome's water supply and the mayor is threatening to cut it off if he doesn't get what he wants either bennett r.t. filipino italy. remember we're on air and online around the clock at r.t. dot com where there's a bunch of stories for you a click away including this driving the ball by the horns in lower manhattan as hundreds protest at the banking system that's left many jobless and homeless with the protest the occupy wall street boss. being seen to be green world carfree day coming up in russia even launched an eco week to get drivers to ditch the wheels and saddle up for cycling. the doomed jet that crashed in jaroslava killing an entire russian premier league ice hockey squad had suffered technical problems during takeoff there the first findings of the interstate aviation committee which is investigating the disaster its preliminary report says

the ak forty two experienced an as yet unidentified resistance that prevented it from gaining enough speed to take off properly the speed was so low that the aircraft only managed to reach an altitude of six meters investigators are now trying to find out what was holding the plane back from getting to its correct speed and height the plane was carrying the leading russian ice hockey team lokomotiv when it came down on september seventh forty five people were aboard only one survived. of all the places you might expect to appear on a list of the world's most exotic tourist destinations should obey nuclear disaster site makes a surprising appearance twenty five years after the world's worst nuclear accident the exclusion zone seems to be pulling people in rather than driving them away but as artie's like say or the reports from ukraine the hazardous holidays they may be a double edged sword. these cars were once heavily affected by nuclear radiation now the radiator for a different reason part of an exhibition in key of dedicated to the clear up of the nine hundred eighty six chernobyl fallout over the years the chernobyl museum in

ukraine's capital kiev has become one of the top tourist attractions especially in april this year when the world marked the twenty fifth anniversary of the disaster but for those craving for the firsthand post-apocalyptic experience looking at the exhibition here has not been enough. and there is an adventurous alternative to the contaminated zone around should a novel itself over the past decade tourists have been floor can hear more than ten thousand of them each year that's why forbes magazine named the dead zone one of the world's most exotic tourist destinations. alexander a former resident of the goes down a pretty good has been organizing these tours for several years he told us that visitors are always fascinated by what they see although all their motivations for making the trip have always varied. fuck. you people have different reasons. some want to see what an apocalypse could look like. someone to

feel the history. which for some it's their childhood like the atmosphere of the soviet union has been preserved but for me it's more important not why they come here it's what effect it has on them. but since june that this radioactive tourism has been suspended the prosecutor general's office conducted checks and ruled that the emergencies ministry had broken the law with these trips as well as making an unhealthy profit every tourist to the zone has been paying around one hundred u.s. dollars to do so equating to a multi-million dollar revenue every year. we urge the ministry to inform the government of every dollar earned by these trips we know that a lot of money has been made but we have no idea in whose pockets it ended up why not put the money into the budget and use it to solve the problems. that the

ministry is defined it says it stuck by the law it claims these troops are a vital way of educating the world on how to avoid such disasters the chernobyl zone will never again be inhabited but experts say it could still serve other purposes. due to decontamination procedures almost half of the area has acceptable levels of radiation that's why we can use this large spaces to build solar and wind power stations and even grow be a fuel their emergencies ministry has now filed a lawsuit in a bid to resume tours through the contaminated zone and the court is expected to start hearings in mid september ukraine's thirty kilometer nuclear wasteland will remain closed to the public until then but the debate remains very much open. looks you are set ski on c report you from kiev and to the noble in ukraine. stay with us here on r t coming up part two of our special report on how wars can leave fragile ecosystems struggling to survive first the headlines after

a quick break. well when one deals with water it has to realize that this tremendous amounts of damage that are done not just human damage but damage to the physical environment in which the battlefield takes place tremendous amounts of damage done by aerial bombs by napalm boy coming from the city whether it's on

a sonic boom say factory marine mammals or it's the burning oil fields near an iraq or it's destroyed coral reefs in the pacific for women purposes the list just goes on and on the geneva conventions of nineteen forty nine states that they are shall be taken in the war to protect involved against widespread long term and severe damage the united states although it is accepted almost all of the provisions of protocol one has taken exception to that.

eleven thirty am in moscow these are your r.t. headlines he's remaining supporters put up fierce resistance in three libyan cities while his remaining supporters in tripoli see their growth by fear and oppression loyalist forces forces are deeply entrenched in sirte bani walid and sabah but it offers whereabouts remain unknown. as nato seems ahead with pressure agreements on putting u.s. missiles in eastern europe there are security concerns of the kremlin and a call for urgent talks were mainly of poland and turkey poised to host elements of the defense shield that moscow feels could neutralize its nuclear deterrent. moscow and london put deals before differences with david cameron securing multi-million dollar contracts during the first trip by british prime minister to russia in six years both sides shelf their disagreements even though the two thousand and six london murder of former f.s.b. officer alexander.