all right. all right. heavy fighting in libya. urgently searches before away the. casualties rise in the fasl misra said the last rebel stronghold in the west of this country was not the side table to break the deadlock on plans to win the cup this is just something we joined in a few minutes and often you will. meanwhile the opposition is accounting on any foreign help as their own lack of experience and discipline and of manpower means that they have little chance of winning on their own. right in other news russian pilot brought in the u.s. to face trial on drug trafficking charges claims he was kidnapped by washington.

and an anniversary space launch the crew are set to fly up to the international space station the fifty years after man of first reach out beyond earth's atmosphere. and a massive call for overhaul is in the making as president i'm going to give it state officials the ministers from taking top posts in state owned companies more on that in twenty minutes time. very warm welcome to you this is r.t. live from moscow. colonel gadhafi is desperately seeking ways now out of the libyan crisis at least become the latest state to recognize the country's opposition government meanwhile a turkish humanitarian ship has taken hundreds of injured libyans from the fighting

in the west to the rebels stronghold. has more from tripoli. the fighting here on the ground seems to be located in chief primary cities in the east of the country it's around the city of brega but that frontline keeps shifting and at the moment it's actually not clear who is in control in the last six weeks that city has changed control six times in the west of the country most of the fighting is happening in and around the town of misrata and there we are hearing that the government has states are if it's eliminated and he could have his supporters now we do know that a turkish humanitarian ship has taken two hundred and fifty patients civilian casualties to the city of benghazi some doctors on board that ship are saying that the injuries are incredibly severe and that the civilian diff count is likely to climb they have witnessed an increase in diplomatic activity on behalf of the gadhafi regime to try and seek a way out of this crisis what we are hearing is that gadhafi might be open to some

kind of settlement but that plan would see someone from his inner circle taking over power we're also hearing move forces from the international stage though that if the plan is to be reached it has to include kids are feet sticking down they have been talks between key opposition members and members of the bush administration very main question at the moment is the whole question of whether or not to supply the rebels with weapons and also the british have been trying to find out information about exactly who these opposition fighters are we continuously hear these reports that there are suspicions that there are al qaeda and his bill and members among the ranks there is also alarming concerns about the fact that the rebel fighters themselves are disorganized as my colleague expose further in the stockage a war on the. fuse or and forces or just a few miles ahead for the rebels this is the time to. do

these men. have any. every day in the rebel stronghold of benghazi more pictures of those killed or missing are put up on walls and for the first time at least a dozen rebels are reported to have been killed in a call is in strike still many locals say they realize they have no choice but to accept the losses. but with the force that. more than two weeks of passed since the no fly zone was put into effect over libya and nato planes have been trying to rein in god after he's heavy artillery clearing the way for the rebel fighters on the ground and there is even speculation egypt and the u.s. may be secretly training them but the front line is still shifting back and forth

but the rebels achieving only brief advances was this season. that either you give him anyway. the opposition says they are ready to take weapons from any willing steve in order to be good but it's. more weapons will help improve discipline and many teenagers training or combat experience. but it seems that they are think they are not you know very much representative of what's going on on the ground we are seeing very articulate people talking to various governments in europe but also to the americans whereas on the ground we are seeing rebels armed rebels completely disorganized who do not have not sure they do not seem to have any political points to make aside from of course getting rid of gadhafi according to some estimates only twenty percent of their fees

military might have been destroyed despite the call which is efforts instead his forces are reported to have changed tactics come of watching themselves as rebels to confuse nato pilots of war so let's face it with the current pool level of organization and training the rebels alone are no match for a guy fees superior forces and it's only with the help of the alliance that something could be achieved but the question is how four is nato itself planning to go you've got this going off forty eastern libya and you can get all the latest about the developments in libya online just regular updates from our correspondents in the country you can do so via our twitter and facebook pages and of course i don't forget to watch the new videos constantly being uploaded to our team's you tube channel.

well swedish fighter jets are preparing to take to the air to support nato forces in the operation above libya stationed at italian bases they will be used to enforce the no fly zone or vote sweden isn't a member of the alliance itself does not stop the government from also committing troops to afghanistan drawing public anger for what's seen as the author of he's dancing to the tune of washington and he has more in. sweden widely known as a voice of neutrality and peace the swedish people believe still believe that we

are nonaligned and the truck. why then does we didn't need antiwar groups like all fuck sweden is very integrated in both those activities. in their administration and also with over five hundred soldiers in afghanistan right now that are under their command whatever with leaders government there thing but that the fact the government says this about the swedish combat troops in afghanistan we see our participation in international crisis management missions and are popular mandate as an expression of solidarity and responsibility of sweden in the world i question is whose popular mandate well when you talk about nato concept it's what it's called so they don't they don't have any. most weeds aren't aware of how line sweden is with nato do you have ignored it you

have a military and some politicians crocker it intensively with the united states and with nato and the vital mass of the population being totally unaware. the public is told its peacekeeping under the program partnership for peace for heaven's sake peace is just ended chambre for nato and nato is also active in doing military exercises sweden is home to meet or the north european aerospace test range twenty four thousand kilometers of restricted airspace plus ground room a testing playground for nato and the u.s. and has actually just arguing that this is where war starts right here at home. neutrality or nato some say the ground time sweden makes a choice critics claim there's so much have gone through port for the alliance of the nordic nation might as well join the club officially and give mark on the line

status. and he's now i r t come from group sweden. and you all with r.t. and i still have for you this hour going books and bridges coffees and military control assesses the impact of the u.s. faces in afghanistan after an american christian pastor torched the crowd. plus count out of blast off but we're on standby on the launch pad as three cosmonauts prepare for an historic space journey. a russian partners accused by the u.s. of international drug trafficking is facing trial in a new york court constantino your shankar was arrested last year in liberia and brought to the states illegally according to his lawyers and reports some see a tendency of america snatching people and trying them on its own soil.

a legit tons of cocaine a pilot snatched up and brought to a foreign prison and a wrong fax number this is a case of constantine your shango a russian pilot in his forty's scooped up by u.s. officials in liberia last year brought to a manhattan jail and along with four other suspects charged with international drug trafficking. for a long time he did not even know where he was when he was brought to the u.s. he was put in solitary confinement and he didn't even know he was in the united states constantine's wife victoria just to write to new york she says her husband was kidnapped by american agents well america says your show was smuggling drugs to south america africa and europe mostly from this way la and liberia the pilot has complained he was beaten and tortured following his arrest progress he tried to be fights with him provoking him constantly close to try to stay away from all that he asked them why you treating me like this i didn't do anything to you and i had not

been found guilty which tory believes the case against her husband was the abrogated by the u.s. . why the u.s. is involved in this is unclear he has never been to the u.s. in his entire life he never had a u.s. visa and wasn't third country upon his arrest. when constantine your schenkel was arrested russian officials were not duly notified and moscow cited a breach of international law we have. apologized to russia and the state department's excuse we pressed the wrong button on the facts and. to be brutally for notifying romania instead of russia to observers this seems a joke and a series of questionable details in this case the idea that there's a bank of buttons they push it i guess if they push the next one they would have gone to rwanda which is next on the alphabetical list so that sounds like

a bird. strange story i don't think anyone would buy that they were shown cars cases often compared to that of victor boot similarly snatched up by the us in thailand and currently on trial in america for arms trafficking some see a tendency here if they can use interpol they can use. picking up the phone to russia and trying to talk about this just going out and kidnapping people i think this is part of the carry over from the bush cheney administration the defense team has long legal but case of provocation and unsuccessfully called for its dismissal the prosecution meanwhile has been fighting to limit the scope of issues that can be addressed during the hearings they want to exclude questions regarding the legality of trying your show in a u.s. court allegedly lesions in the investigations leading up to his arrest and official conduct during and after the pilot's arrest essentially all the mean arguments of the difference after almost ten months constantine your shown cause trial date is

finally here a jury is deciding his destiny if found guilty he will spend from ten years to a life sentence behind bars and that's it sure can our party new york. power in afghanistan protests over the burning of the koran by a pastor in the u.s. last month has already left over twenty people dead including u.n. staff brack obama condemned both the killings and there's a question of the holy book of islam are to use a military contributor says the actions of pastor terry jones threatened to further worsen the relationship between the u.s. on the muslim world. if the united states have yet have any resemblance modicum of the good will in the muslim world it was terribly jools seemed all handedly and irrevocably destroyed whatever degree will be united states of america have enjoyed in the muslim world and especially where it has told hurt

or overt military and intelligence and as a general could trails didn't have enough trouble smarting from the shooters for support from the stryker brigade in southern afghanistan and after innumerable collateral damage from the us air force now comes this as a stab in the back terry jones reckless action demonstrate to what extent the united states lets their cultural sensitivity regarding the muslim world especially with its heavy military footprint in afghanistan pakistan and leave via i believe the united states should all for pakistani government to prosecute carry jones and other perpetrators to hold it in florida in st accordance well thank you stanley and wes for me lol that will be probably the best way to stave off

of a growing anti american am anti christian sentiments in afghanistan take a stand and other muslim countries. well you can find a blog on our website that's actually dot com and let's take a look at what else is lined up for you on line right now barack obama is out for another four years in america's top job as he announces he will run for president in two thousand and twelve. risky doing business with georgia find out how a dinner invitation with the country's prime minister landed an israeli businessman behind bars all that and much more at r.t. dot com. well russian security forces say four would be suicide bombers were among those killed in a recent anti terror raid in the southern republic of chechnya republic's leader told president maybe it that those people were all set to carry out attacks the

country destroyed during the operation is said to be where the suicide bomber who targeted moscow's busiest airport in january was trained to attack a jumbo jet of a claim dozens of lives the russian president said he is prepared to talk to any militants willing to lay down arms but valid to destroy those he said they were considerable in total seventeen of militants were killed during the raid in which was one of the biggest security operations in the us. let's get to some other headlines now from around the world this hour at least twelve people are reported to have been killed in government protests and they get many city of tires there are also reports of hundreds having being wounded in the city of who died or rather the crowds tried to march on the presidential palace protesters in the thousands have been calling for the resignation of president ali abdullah saleh since february the leader is refusing to step down without what he calls quote a negotiated settlement. japan is dumping more than ten thousand

tons of radioactive water from the fukushima plant into the pacific officials say this is a necessary step to free up storage space for more highly. contaminated water the government says it will not harm human health or the environment meanwhile workers at the facility are continuing their battle to seal off the leaking cracks in the damaged reactor. as it stands at leader doesn't as ordered by one of the country's presidential election results show he took over ninety five percent of the vote he's been in power for two decades and has the constitutional right to be reelected indefinitely some international observers say there were seriously irregularities during the vote but many including u.s. monitors described it as democratic. but a mission honoring the fiftieth anniversary of mankind's first journey to the stars

is set to depart the international space station the russian american crew will blast off from the same launching site that propelled a eureka into space. is that baikonur cosmodrome in kazakhstan for us. it's a big celebration it's a significant date at least in this space history the crew that will be going to space consists of two russian cosmonauts who have an exciting. day about it saying call and nasa astronaut ron garan preparations of course are still continuing it's just the last a few hours you know they follow a lot of traditions here because astronauts themselves of it will be leaving their signatures in their rooms at the confinement facility it's very interesting because their feet assessors have done the same and therefore they're going to do the same as well and also a russian orthodox priest will be giving his blessing to the crew so the preparations continue but not just for the crew i'm joined now by dimitri he's actually a ten time world record holder in swimming and he's here for his own reasons in

relation to space let's find out what he's doing here exactly so what is a sportsman doing here or what do you have to do with space you know. i mean i met you. for the. compass minoans during the last press conference yesterday our children posture there. to you who the truck destruction which you will do if you will meet some unknown flying objects in this piece and it was he was here with. the instruction but this you have this instruction ok well thank you very much for that insight well again of the preparations that are happening it's not just for the crew and i managed to speak to the families a very important part of the celebrations are the families who have come to say their farewells to the three men going on their mission. before every blast off comes the fanfare so you see i'm

a twenty one crew member stand in the spotlight their families close by it's only a matter of hours before they shoot into orbit in a spacecraft bury the image of you got it the first man in space to celebrate the achieved. yes fiftieth anniversary what's more the cruise captain was once called the guardian when i was in kindergarten they gave us a play rocket i spent all my time inside and i wouldn't let other kids get in there since then they started calling me guardian preparations have been intense both for the crew and their so use rocket any astronaut can attest to the arduous process. working in training was so hard sometimes we fell asleep behind our desks we had to take many exams and sometimes we had to repeat those exams after a long and meticulous process of assembling the spacecraft are so used to your mates what you want is finally in position waiting to take its crew to the international space station well that's a t.v.

as a singer to russians will make their first a flight to space and in america you will be flying to so used for the first time but far from the frenzy and the glare of camera lights the better halves of the astronauts have been going through preparations of their own albeit more personal ones it's really hard to explain the wave of emotions are being feeling watery anxiety and pride here on the other hand held his own he showed no emotions i was more worried and excited he took our photographs with him those that show us and our daughter not stamped ever since the official confirmation that their husbands are going to space every little thing becomes a momento i'm wearing my husband's jumper it's ruling me close knit and unity with my husband here all the wise when their husbands clothes among the women a close bond is formed carmel garrett wife of nasa astronaut ron garan gave oksana and zoya a bracelet as

a symbol of unity if. we're going to be as united as our husbands have become. because for six months these women and their husbands are literally going to be worlds apart this are still your r.t. baikonur in kazakhstan. just a little. ahead of russian space agency you said orbital tourism may soon be available to people and if you know it's got coming your way in just over an hour's time here i think but for now here's the latest business news with the victory. banks rory this summer could see a grand clear out of politicians from some of the russia's top state run companies president bill it was signed an order prohibiting ministers and top officials from being on the boards of seventeen different companies now to discuss what this is all about i'm now joined by you've given me the chairman of the cue for your business thanks so much for being with us tell us so first of all what do you make

of this decision what do you think this bit of is trying to achieve well i think it's a little late terms which are used in the ration modernization i think this is a great example of dogs and this. i could say revolutionary step only really spotty this could be a good breakthrough positive breakthrough in the russia as a whole and its economy and of course the investment climate we should probably experience with so you see you're full of this and this is where would you see the biggest kind of corporate overfull to be happening in one something somewhere in the streets well i think obviously the energy sector will be probably primary because this is the sector which russia relies more than any other sector and we can start off nafta which is a very popular topic of discussion now that off is going to be probably the primary focus for this particular you know what your state was thirty years ago well that's

a good question i think i think we we all. will experience and enjoy this develop whether he will decide to stay within the really steerable. circles or move through actually my. or getting involved in managing or sniff this is to be answered but i i think it can go any way either way so there is a risk but some of these top officials will actually choose business over politics not necessarily i don't think some of them actually have enough experience to run such great grand large companies as a rule sniffed because for instance if we take other countries for instance yes the tax bill is this government officials step on and not executive roles but in russia it's a little different different it's different market different culture different history so it's a step forward towards harmonizing with my things and i think so actually do you

think that these people will still remain like sachin remain influential on the way business is run and companies like rostam probably for for time being there will be of course because the influence in russia. such companies are often have these quite tremendous from people who are countless in walton ministerial and government positions so it will take some time for them to actually step but maybe and use the . reputations of their experience and their credibility to remain within corporate structures well then the final question here is who is going to be running gazprom ross nationalistic and well very good question i think. hopefully there will become a day when. when. a new generation of competent professionals will run those companies for the time being

a little bit around as the around i think but in any case this step is a is a refreshing and i think room for some great changes all right you're going to get even thank you so much chairman of the business club here was with us here in this area. so going to markets now as we have some minutes left in the program european stock markets are high on monday extending the previous session strong rice deal news helping live stock superior mobile network operator vodafone group rose more than one half percent after agreeing to sell its stake and french operator as a part of the vendee shares a sort of a also rallied three and a half percent as the company said if you would provide a lift to earnings from the first of these up point four percent tax of point one percent in russia the markets want to so trading high though really coming back to the starting positions that is the majors of boosting industries and higher prices those state owned gas mill for the gas promised one point three percent used to be up more than two there's advancing just half

a percent lukoil has actually moved into negative territory down point three percent on the my six and world prices have indeed reached another thirty month high with brant crude currently running had one hundred nineteen dollars per barrel more than one hundred eight dollars a barrel price being supported by positive jobs a supreme court will consume in the united states and supply worries over turmoil in the middle east that's it from this edition of the business news on c we'll be back in less than one hour's time with an update stay with us but the headlines we're broke.

twenty years ago in the largest country in. the such a place it was. one hundred more. are going to be janitor. where did it take them. we'll. bring you the latest in science tends to guns from the realm for sure. we dump the future coverage. on.