heavy fighting in libya as colonel gadhafi urgently searches for a way out. casualties rise in the battle for misra said the last rebel stronghold in the west of the country it's not evil to break the deadlock unclear in the capital city of tripoli joining a few moments now when you know. meanwhile the opposition is counting on any foreign help as their own lack of experience discipline and manpower mean they have little chance of winning on their own. but all the news is a russian pilot brought to the u.s. to face trial on drug trafficking charges claims he was kidnapped by washington.

none of those three space launch a crew is set to fly up to the international space station fifty years after the first breached beyond earth's atmosphere. international news live from last year's here in central moscow this is our t. just past eight pm here and six pm in libya well colonel gadhafi is desperately seeking ways out of the libyan crisis it has become the latest state to recognize the country's opposition government we want to turkish humanitarian ship has taken hundreds of injured libyans from the fighting in the west to the rebels stronghold policy there as much. the fighting here on the ground seems to be located in chew primary cities in the east of the country it's around the city of brega but that function and 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 stepped up efforts she'd given aid 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 deaths count is likely to climb we saw 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 they got the might be open to some kind of settlement plan that their plan would see someone from his inner circle taking over power we are also hearing move forces from the international stage though that if the plan is to be reached it has to include gadhafi stepping down they have been talks between key opposition members and members of the bush

administration their 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 beloved 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 this package a war on the side of the rude. forces or just a few miles ahead for the rebels this is a good time for. everyone. is worried or 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 has been killed in a coalition strike still many locals say they realize they have no choice except the loss of. life. more than two weeks of passed since the no fly zone was put into effect over libya and nato planes have been trying to reign in god after his 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. this week she isn't something that either you get it can in any way. seem good either. the opposition says they are ready to take weapons from any willing state in order to

be good but it's highly likely more weapons will help improve discipline. teenagers with training or combat experience. 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 on the ground we are seeing rebels armed rebels completely disorganized. they do not seem to have any political points to make aside from of course getting rid of gadhafi recording to some estimates only twenty percent of these military might have been destroyed despite the efforts instead his forces are reported to change tactics camouflaging themselves as rebels to confuse nato pilots. so let's face it the current pool

level of organization and training the rebels alone are no match for a guy feels superior forces and it's only with the help of the alliance that something could be achieved but the question is how far is nato itself planning to go you've got to spin off towards the eastern libya by the way you can get all the latest developments in libya on line you can check out regular updates from our correspondents there in the country on our twitter and facebook pages and don't forget to watch all the videos which are constantly being uploaded to you tube channel.

swedish fighter jets are preparing to take to the air to support nato forces in the operation above libya stationed at italian bases they'll be used to enforce the no fly zone although sweden isn't a member of the alliance itself well that's not stopped the government from also committing troops to afghanistan public anger for what's seen as the authorities dancing to the tune of washington and the somali has more. sweden widely known as a voice of neutrality and peace and swedish people believe still believe that we are nonaligned and the truck. why then does we didn't need and she want groups like all far sweden is very integrated having bolding make those activities. in their administration and also with over five hundred soldiers in

afghanistan right now that are under nato command whatever with me this government thing but the fact the government this week is 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 the question is whose popular mandate well when they go about a native city concept it's what it's called so they want it they don't have an old . most we aren't aware of how the line sweden is we may go leave you have ignored it you have the military and some politicians cross pretty intensively with the united states let me know and the large mass of the population totally unaware. the public is told its peacekeeping under the program partnership for peace for heaven's sake peace is just empty chair before late to nato is also

active in doing military exercises sweden is home to meet and work the north european aerospace test range twenty five thousand kilometers of the structured airspace ground room a testing playground for nato to do mass has actually just arguing that this is where war starts right here at home. neutrality or nato some say the ground time sweden makes the detroit critics claim there's so much hands on support from the alliance that the nordic nation might as well join the club officially and give up on a line status. and use them now i r t often burke sweden. coming up in the program this hour our countdown to blastoff we're on standby at the launch pad as three cosmonauts prepare for a very special takeoff. to come a little easier not even

a mean time classic sterns lead on the sultan now the but it has won the country's presidential election with partial results showing 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 slander ballots saying there were serious irregularities but many including monitors from europe and former soviet republics praised it is smooth and democratic well for more reaction on the election let's not talk to political analysts they need to be published from russia's ria novosti news agency joining us here in the studio good to see dimitri well there was little doubt that obviously the president will win this race but he said one of them just said but over ninety five percent of the vote is he really that portability think well you know it's so. we can never be sure whether a person who gets ninety one ninety five ninety nine percent is a regular political as the events here in the middle east have shown you know or

don't believe all their official results and certainly we cannot can see them a true expression or what everyone has it in the back of his mind but i talked to gaza. my impression is that there was a certain fear for stability in the country after the events in the middle of them obviously people were afraid people were just scared by the events in neighboring killed. where a lot of people were killed in the in the retina question of last summer so all all this mood in society which is rather conservative so it is indicative that this election passed peacefully by one accounts well yes i'm not sure that it means there. has a stable and. determined future before this country apart obviously it shows that people. opted for stability what was the about the opposition has an opposition really been able to develop over the last twenty years of his tenure well they were being accused of being weak when they were saying there isn't

a strong enough opposition is that because there is no political freedom the problem is there when the soviet union collapsed and central asian republics suddenly found themselves to be independent states they never stronger for independence before the collapse of the soviet union they started to return to their all asian ways. to various degrees stanleys i would say a sort of. primeval tribal democracy was biggest done is a dictatorship or you know. oriented he'd sleep cause us down is somewhere in between about all this leave the last democratic election with these people have ironically it was under the soviet union in one thousand nine hundred nine when we all elected to congress of people's day protests on the gorbachev many people get very confused about all the various countries kind of. stance we're talking about how significant strategically is has expand the economy and what it offers to the

region how important is it terms of territory it's the biggest central asian republics and it certainly has more resources are the central asian states only maybe turkmenistan can have a comparable is not going to get as many suggest a. relatively sparsely populated country whose biggest down to the south off kazakhstan has a bigger push a population of biggest one is the heart of central asia afghanistan is the biggest territory and it's the buffer zone between russia and the slimy quarter you know the central asian or the heart of central asia in the for the now waiting so it's a very important country what is life like for cousins what is the standard of living like and the economy for their well. it's still want very different from russia. obviously i cannot say there. was not successful that he was a freeway economically they tried to develop their own industry they tried to

operate it with foreign oil company yes so it's very much. recently where for example. the neighboring care to start a project and i didn't find myself really only people will tell you different but now in moscow we have more and more people with the same faces so i didn't feel what they were french called there are no uprooted from any way there to be truly thank you very much for joining us here on r.t. in the studio thanks very much to me it's there from russia's ria novosti news agency. russian pilots accused by the us of international drug trafficking is facing trial in a new york constantine that was arrested last year in liberia and brought to the states illegally according to his noise that is and isn't and started checking the reports some see a tendency in america snatching people and trying them on its own soil. a legit tons of cocaine a pilot snatched up and walk to

a foreign prison and one fax number this is the 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 more other suspects charged with international drug trafficking. is now if you were 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 while america says your show was smuggling drugs to south america africa and europe mostly from it this way la and liberia a pilot has complained he was beaten and tortured following his arrest. he tried to be fights with him provoking him constantly close to try to stay away from that he asked them why you treating me like this i didn't do anything to you and i have not

been found guilty or tory believes the case against her husband the average kid by the u.s. but i have not also why this is involved in this is unclear has never been to the u.s. in his entire life he never had a u.s. visa and was in the third country upon his arrest in the. constantine you're shankill 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 honest notifying romania instead of russia to observers this seems a joke and this 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 rule rwanda which is next on the alphabetical list so that sounds like a bird. strange story i don't think anyone would buy that here shimkus case is

often compared to that of victor boot similarly snatched up by the u.s. in thailand and currently on trial in america for arms trafficking some see a tendency here if they can use interpol or 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 courts 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 related by lesions in the investigations leading up to his arrest and efficient conduct during and after the pilot's arrest and essentially all the mean arguments of the defense after almost ten months constantine your son calls trial days 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 r.t. new york. by the way you can always find more news views and analysis on our web site it is a taste of what's online right now if we're. not for another four years of america's top job as he announces he will run for president in twenty two world. and it's risky doing business with george you're find out help did an invitation with the country's prime minister landed in the israeli businessman behind bars all that so much more. tonight outrage from some of the other international stories now at least fifteen people are reported to be killed in anti-government protests in the yemeni city of plays but also reports hundreds have been wounded in the city of her daughter after crowds tried to march on the presidential palace protesters in their. thousands have been calling for the resignation of president ali abdullah saleh since february the leader is refusing

to step down with what he calls 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 from and says it will not harm a human health or the environment we will work at the facility we're continuing that battle to seal off the leaking cracks in the damage we're. supporters of the u.n. recognized ivory coast leader us on your car oh say they have got a final assault against wigle for this is in the country's main city abidjan the income of prison is refusing to cede power off the last november's election as many as a thousand civilians were killed in violence in the west of the country last week she said hundreds of troops to the country to help protect civilians. the mission honoring the fiftieth anniversary of mankind's first journey to the stars is set to depart for the international space station the russian american crew will be

blasting off from the same launching site that propelled yuri gagarin into space and as a sailor is at baikonur cosmodrome in kazakhstan for us. it's a 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 you have a. day about to cycle and nasa astronaut ron garan preparations of course are still continuing in just the last a few hours you know they follow a lot of traditions here to because astronauts themselves with will be leaving at 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 but also a russian orthodox priest will be giving his blessing to the crew so that 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 what is a sportsman to hear what they have to do with space you know. i mean i mean. i think for. young christmas it's the last place the friends used to be our children ask to. do you have the truck destruction which you will do if you will meet the. flying objects. in which he was here to. have this instruction ok well thank you very much for that insight well again of the preparations that are happening is not just for the crew and i've managed to speak to the families a very important part of the celebrations for 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 utica god in the first man in space to celebrate the achieved. yes fiftieth anniversary what's more the cruise captain was what's called the guardian when i was in kindergarten they gave us a play rocket i spent all my time and saw it and i would let all the kids get in there since then they started calling me good our 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 that 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 the 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. business to get to russia's 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 a better halves of the astronauts have been going through preparations of their own all the more personal ones it's really hard to explain the wave of emotions are being feeling watery anxiety and primate he on the other hand held his own and showed no emotions i was more worried and excited when he took off her to grass with him those that show us and our daughter not stamp ever since the official confirmation that their husbands are going to space every little thing becomes a momento it could i marry my husband john it's ruling me closeness and unity with my husband you know all the whys where their husbands clothes among the women a close bond just for carmel garand wife of nasa astronaut ron garan gave oksana and zoya a bracelet as a symbol of unity symbol we're going to be as

a united as our husbands have become. because for six months these women and their husbands are literally going to be worlds apart desert celia. r.t. baikonur in kazakhstan. but a little earlier or two caught up with the head of russian space agency who said tourism may soon be available to all people that interview for you is in just a few minutes here on r.t. but first is the latest business news with dimitri. thank you very much b.p. and its russian partners an hour for access to an over are once again facing each other in court in london. was an arbitration tribunals of throw out b.p.'s proposed sixty billion dollars share swap to you with russian states of course now as plain as the deal breaches of shareholder agreement with b.p. which says k.b.p.s. should be its primary vehicle for all exploration in russia and ukraine christine

ziska reader. believes it's a fifty fifty chance whether the court will block the us that's what between rossi i mean the companies are allowed to invest in other companies and weeklies not taking a majority position in rosneft noreaster often if indeed p. and normally investment from any mutual fund or head fund or personally investor or around five percent it's normal so there's no reason why it shouldn't be now it depends on how they interpret the law and whether they believe that maybe the share swap should be relegated as a later time until the whole deal has been either postponed or canceled but from the point of view of an investor i think b.p. is free to invest in any other company that is not an operational deal so therefore it should go ahead but they've got a fifty fifty chance and we'll find out this week whether it goes through or not.

well there were two prime minister you could say it should not have been principal architects of the b.p. do you could soon be forced out of his position as chairman of the world board that's of the developed signed a new order prohibits ministers and other senior officials from being on the boards of major state owned companies so it will have seventeen russians on the restricted list they will have to remove the top state officials by the first of july this move is seen as part of the president's bid to prove corporate governance and boost foreign investment. to go to the markets now we start with the united states they opened underside of a good there were nasdaq plats bad mix there were actually positive right now reaching resistance levels rather quickly but there's remain rather low continuing the trend from the previous week where the market saw the lowest volumes this year so. world prices have reached another thirteen month high with brant crude actually over one hundred twenty dollars per barrel lights we just over one hundred eight dollars prices are being supported by positive jobs very surprising top oil

consumed in the united states and supply worries over the turmoil in the middle east. european stock markets now of footsies up point one percent the dax is flat in negative extending in london previous sessions strong rising deal news or helping lift stocks u.k. mobile network operator vodafone group rose more than one hour percent after agreeing to sell its stake in french operated as a car to vending jesson solve a also rallied as the company said the deal will provide a lift from the first year. and then russia is the closing picture for the first day of the week it was positively obvious up three quarters of a percent m i six heart of the said energy majors were boosting the of the season high oil prices second look at some of the stores now say its own gas monopoly gazprom is up more than one percent so israel is now after also one point one percent nuke or one. actually we could then the market just point one percent is

into western from abstract. it is the energy segment is leading the market upwards and gas promised in particular strong assets transnet this could also have to do with some comments that we had over the weekend and last week about cost cutting the state owned companies and this world all about some of it is called to exclude ministers from board of directors something that would be taking quite positive happens by investors are we seeing some profit taking in metal names selected middle names as well as well in consumer names that is norm or the trends this monday. and finally siberian coal energy company or suez could become a member of the c. one hundred blue chip index when i listen london this summer that's according to reports in the u.k. business press the flotation of russia's largest coal miners expected to take place in june and could value the company in excess of five billion dollars and we will

be back next hour with a not they bill it makes what i have not said what. you're . wealthy british style but. that's not i suppose that's right.