fighting rages on in libya is colonel gadhafi scrambles for an exit strategy. casualties rise in the battle for misra said the last of the rebel stronghold in the west of this country which neither side able to break the deadlock i'm going to say on the capital city of tripoli talking in a few moments and i'll bring you more. meanwhile the opposition's lack of experience discipline and manpower i mean pouring out to foreign assistance could be the only chance to alst gadhafi. and other news this trial era a russian pilot taken to be us the face of drug trafficking charges claims he was brought to new york illegally with noise citing numerous violations. and three

cosmonauts are set for an anniversary launch as they prepare to head up to the international space station fifty years after man's first flight into orbit. international news live from our studios here in central moscow this is our teachers costs ten pm here and eight pm in libya well colonel gadhafi is desperately seeking ways out of the libyan crisis italy has 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. the fighting here on the ground seems to be located in to 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 stepped up efforts she eliminates and she could have his supporters now we do know that a turkish man a tyrian ship has taken two hundred and fifty patients civilian casualties to the city of benghazi got some doctors on board that ship are saying that the injuries are incredibly severe and that the civilian death count is likely to climb we saw they have workers then 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 and that that plan would see someone from his inner circle taking over power we are also hearing more forces from the international stage though that if the plan is to be reached it has to include the defeat sitting 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 qaida and hizbollah members among the ranks there is also alarming concerns about the fact that the rebel fighters themselves are disorganized as my colleague explores further in this package a war on the side over ruled. forces or just a few miles ahead for the rebels this is the time to. group. is worried all these men. have any. every day in the rebel stronghold of benghazi more pictures of those killed or missing or put up on walls and for the

first time at least a dozen rebels are reported to have been killed in a call in strike still many locals say they realize they have no choice but to step the losses. but when. more than two weeks of classes the no fly zone was put into effect over libya nato planes have been trying to rein in get out these heavy artillery clearing the way for the rebel fighters on the ground and there is even speculation egypt and the u.s. navy secretly training but the front line is still shifting back and forth with the rebels achieving only brief advances and west this is one of. them anyway. the opposition says they are ready to

take weapons from any willing steed in order to be good but it's. more weapons will help improve discipline and many teenagers are training or combat experience. it seems that they are take 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 much of a 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 the shins efforts instead his forces are reported to change tactic come of lodging themselves as rebels to

confuse lethal pilots above so let's face it the current pool level of organization and training the rebels all on are no match for a guy that he's 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 got this going off forty eastern libya. let's now talk to a professor from the university of california school law. you've written recently that the coalition has ignored verbal alternatives to military attack so just what should they have done in your opinion. so i would start by going back to the. pride period prior to the first security council resolution which is one thousand and seventy prior to that resolution that could account only acted in a statement condemning the use of little repression which of course is justifiable and makes perfect sense after that condemnation the first security council

resolution one would have expected would have been to resort to chapter six measures under the un charter which means course of measures instead that first resolution opted for a travel ban an arms embargo and asset freeze and the referral of the regime forces to the international criminal court i think that was really the first because that was an opportunity to pursue a political solution to diplomatic leverage trying to bring in actors that are historically have close ties politically with the confusion to persuade to put out here and to look into an exit strategy to very thing that is today being explored could have been explored a month ago how can we get this regime out how to get them peacefully into exile in the same manner that an id and has seen a bite out of tunisia and egypt respectively were i should out of their countries and then think about accountability there is not really register. of crimes against humanity it's just a drop of what we've seen from kind of breaking to see continuing with his military action against his his own people do you think he would be in

a position to have any negotiating do you think diplomacy would have actually worked bearing in mind the present state of. the country. well the reason i'm saying prior to that first pretty house resolution is what that resolution did is refer the regime to the international criminal court message being you're not going to be allowed into a comfortable exile instead you're going to face a prison cell in the hague and that this incentivize of the regime from engaging any kind of a political strategy and incentivize them to dig and i'm not saying that we can establish a causal chain or a counterfactual what would have happened absent that move but when the international community signaled that this regime this arab regime was going to be the one to be dispatched in the arab winter of discontent i think it also potentially incentivize the regime to pursue the strategy it is now namely digging in militarily especially when faced with syria's rebels that are in fact not very well organized militarily and i think there was a misjudging and at the end of february the prospect for

a quick toppling of this regime both internally in libya and also by the international community i think that's what led to this kind of maximalist approach of we're going to the international criminal court immediately as the very first action that we take instead of exploring alternative options what you may call the potential next stage we've seen that the strikes are being do you think we'll actually see the coalition's mission of training the rebels despite him covering libya do you think that's happening i mean could there be any legal precedence to make this actually possible. well obviously there's been some creative lawyer taking place over the last week to really read security council resolution one hundred seventy three as expansive enough to authorize the financing and arming of rebels there but a number of arguments that that could be encompassed by all necessary measures to protect civilians so i think that there is a window has been created and i think there's an indication from the french and the british even prior to the next resolution one hundred seventy three that they were prepared to provide some kind of assistance let's recall that british force was

actually seized by the rebels in the early days of the uprising and expelled from the country and explanation that was provided is that they were there to do reconnaissance to pick up logistical information and to make contact with the rebels well that was way before a security council resolution authorizing any kind of action to be taken internationally on behalf of the uprising so if that could have been done prior to nine hundred seventy three i wouldn't be surprised if there were at least real options being pursued right now among certain countries and it's not clear whether the united states is among them to think about financing are being rebels directly we also have reason to know that there are cia operatives on the ground in libya that was revealed in the new york times last week we already knew that when there was two pilots were forced to eject from their plane they were rescued on the ground in libya by americans so in light of that we now know that there are nonmilitary perhaps but nonetheless forces from nato countries operating on the ground in libya and we have every reason to think that if they decide to pursue

a strategy of continuing to back the rebels it's a negotiated transition is not is deemed not possible is a continuation of remnants of the qaddafi regime is excluded as a scenario for a quote unquote day after this intervention then the only remaining option is to ratchet up the commitment course of commitment of the international community until such time as this regime is out very interesting what you have to say professor the university of california school of more joining us live in los angeles thank you. well by the way get all the latest developments in libya on line you can check out regular updates from our correspondents in the country on our twitter and facebook pages and watch all the videos which are constantly being uploaded to you tube channel.

a russian partners accused by the u.s. and international drug trafficking is facing trial in a new york court constantine was arrested last year. and brought to the states illegally according to his lawyers and has started charging the reports some see a tendency of american people and trying them on its own soil. a legit tons of cocaine a pilot snatched up and watch your four in prison and a wrong 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 four other suspects charged with international drug trafficking. or 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 she was in the united states constantine's wife victoria just arrived to new york she says her husband was kidnapped by american agents well america says you are should go with smuggling drugs to south america africa and europe mostly from minnesota law or liberia the pilot has complained he was beaten and tortured following his arrest. he tried to pick fights with him provoking him constantly close to trying to stay away from all that he asked them why are you cheating me like this i didn't do anything to you and i have not been found guilty tori believes the case against her husband was badly catered by the u.s. but i have not also 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 was in third country upon his arrest him. when constantine your shuttle was arrested russian officials were not generally 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 wishing. to be brutally honest notifying romania instead of russia to observers this seemed a joke in a series of questionable details in this case the idea that there's a bank of buttons that they push and 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. strange story and i don't think anyone would buy that your sham cos 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 they can use. picking up the phone to russia and trying to talk about this is going on kidnapping people i think this is part of the carry over from the bush cheney administration the defense team has

long labeled the case a provocation and unsuccessfully called for its dismissal the prosecution meanwhile has been fighting to limit the scope of issues there can be addressed during the hearings they want to exclude questions regarding the legality of trying your show in the u.s. court a legit by lesions in the investigations leading up to his arrest and official conduct during and after the pilot's arrest essentially all the main arguments the defense after almost ten months constantine your son calls trial 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 in our new york. coming up in the program this hour for you gloss thoughts were on the village where the three cosmonauts prepare for a very special take. but still to come for you the first to perth is

pumping 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 a lot harm human health or didn't government an independent energy consultant shawn bernie told me earlier that the move is likely to have serious consequences. the only other normal circumstances the release of such a volume of water would be described as catastrophic i think i'd like to draw attention to the fact that in one thousand nine hundred three where no russian vessel was got it off land it was stock to discharging nuclear waste into the sea of japan the japanese government was released and led the charge for a ban on all nuclear company at sea well the ocean currents and in that part of japan mean that in if in the first instance the contamination will spread north and south of the coastline from the fukushima power plant which means to the very cause that been devastated by the earthquake in the tsunami so that's going to add to

further on the on the part of the people living in that corner kick around longer term the real nuclides particularly cesium which is a half life of thirty years old brisebois meant for many many decades and i think that the admission but we haven't really got the situation under control is what we see today and that was independent nuclear energy consultant sean bernie commenting on the developments that their parents troubled for question a facility. for by the way can always find more news who's an analysis on our web site is r.t. dot com here's a taste of what's online right now rockefeller's up for another four years in america's top job as he announces he'll run for president in twenty twelve. and it's 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 a lot more for you online at r.t. dot com. time now for some of the other international stories in the world are supporters of the un recognized ivory coast leader so you

would say they have begun a final assault against rival forces in the country's main city abidjan incumbent president laurent gbagbo is refusing to cede power after last november's election and says it might attack his forces after eleven peacekeepers were shot last week from wants to send troops to the country to help protect civilians as many as a person people were killed in violence in the west of the country last. the man who has confessed to most of modeling the september eleventh attacks is to be tried by a military commission at guantanamo bay khalid shaikh mohammed and four other alleged nine eleven plotters were to stand trial in a civilian court it will turn is attributed to a decision by congress to bar the transfer of guantanamo detainees to the u.s. khalid shaikh mohammed has been held by the u.s. since being captured in pakistan in two thousand and three. at least fifteen people are reported to be killed in antigovernment protests in the yemeni city of also reports that hundreds have been wounded in the city of who died after crowds tried

to march on the presidential palace protesters in the thousands of in calling for the resignation of president ali abdullah saleh since february leader is refusing to step down with what he calls a negotiated settlement. of external. has one of 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 slammed the ballot saying there were serious irregularities but many ministers from europe and former soviet republics praised his smooth and democrat. honoring the fiftieth anniversary of mankind's first journey to the stars is depart for the international space station a russian american crew were lost all from the same launching site that propelled yuri gagarin into space and artie's cilia is that baikonur cosmodrome in kazakhstan for us. it's a big celebration it's

a significant date at least in this in space history the crew that will be going to space consists of two russian cosmonauts we have. today about the same color and nasa astronaut ron garan preparations of course are still continuing in just the last a few hours you know they fall off 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 what is a sportsman doing here and what they have to do with space you know. i mean i'm with you for the. full from the beginning for the youngest moments during the

last press conference yesterday our children posture the kitchen of the two you have the truck destruction which you will do if you will meet some unknown flying objects in this piece and it was he was here just to go into the instruction of those who have this instruction ok well thank you very much for that it's side well again of the preparations that are happening it's 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've come to say their farewells to the three men going on the 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 achieve. as fiftieth anniversary what's more the crew's captain was what's called

the guardian when i was in kindergarten they gave us a play rocket i spent all my time inside and i would let all the 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 with 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 meticulous process of a cell going to space rather so used to your mates what you want is finally in position waiting to take its crew to be international space station well that's a t.v. as a singer to russia's will make their first a flight to space and in america you will be flying with so use for the first time but far from the frenzy of the glare of camera lights a better halves of the astronauts have been going through preparations of their own albeit more personal ones it's really hard to explain away the emotions are being

feeling winery anxiety and cried he 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. ever since the official confirmation that their husbands are going to space every little thing becomes a memento i'm wearing my husband's jumper it's moving me close knit and unity with my husband you know all the whys where their husbands clothes among the women a close bond is formed carmel gerund wife of nasa astronaut ron garan gave oksana and zoya a bracelet as a symbol of unity. 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. a little earlier on caught up with the head of russian

space agency who said orbital tourism may soon be available to all people and that interview is coming your way in just a few minutes from now but first it's all is business news with. a warm welcome to the program units russian partners an hour for access runover are once again facing each other in court in london. once an arbitration tribunals are fro out b.p.'s proposed sixteen billion dollars shares what do you with russian states and rosneft claims of your breaches of shareholder agreement with b.p. which says t m k b p should be its primary vehicle for all exploration in russia and ukraine christine just corrino from standard and poor's believes it's a fifty fifty chance whether the court will block the assets or between what. companies are allowed to invest in other companies and we please not taking

a majority position in rosneft nor'easter off anything b.p. a normal investment for a mean mutual fund or head fund or personally investor of 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 mean the share swap should be. a later time until the whole deal has been either postponed or canceled but from the point of view of any 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 where it goes through or not. and the prime minister you can see actually one of the principal architects of that be either you could soon be forced out of his position as chairman of the ross board that's out of me she would very have signed a new order that prohibits ministers and other senior officials from being on the boards of major companies so it'll have seventeen russian firms are on the

restricted list they will have to remove top state officials by the first of july a move is seen as part of the president's bid to improve corporate governance and boost for investment sake a look at how the russian markets performed on monday and they traded higher with the r.t.s. up of three quarters of a percent the my six part of the set energy majors were boosting the in the seas on higher oil prices so you look at some of the individual share states gas monopoly gas problem was up one point one percent so was ross net new call was a bit weaker than the market after its point one percent on the my six peers into western from a time. it is the energy segment of this leaving the market upwards and gas problem has been particular strong as has transpired this could also have to do with some comments that we had over the weekend and last week about cost cutting will sit on companies and this world or presumably it was called to exclude

ministers from the order of directors something that would be taken quite positive zappers by investors are we seeing some profit taking in metal names selected middle names as well as well in consumer names but that is normal the trend this monday and siberian coal energy company also could become a member of the ford c. one hundred blue chip index when it lists in 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 that's it from this edition of the business news on the headlines are next to stay with us.

hungry for the full story we've got it first the biggest issues get the human voice face to face with the news makers. disarming saddam hussein. passed charge of iraqi citizens. disappeared brings further assurance that the torture chambers and the secret police are gone forever.

play flies again over embassy in kabul. chance to watch occupied afghanistan. now occupy sales at guantanamo bay. met. it is appropriate today in accordance as which is the case with the geneva convention face flat stomach slap if you can shoot him enough so that it shocks especially for just stuff but you don't actually break any bones cut the interrogation techniques that we use in jail if kuantan from the senior leadership of our government. who give nothing back. please. culture is that so much the same thing which of course was funny so here it is u.s. president barack obama still an honorable recipient of the nobel peace prize.