this week's top stories on. general right coming up which denies charges of genocide in front of the hague tribunal serbia finds handing him over has done little to speed up the e.u. membership. nature's extension of the military campaign in libya and deployment of attack helicopters spots concerned a ground operation in the country could be in there. also spreading hysteria over kill or cure cumbers cripples european vegetable markets pushing spain prematurely stopping the deadly outbreak to the brink of a bail. and the man suspected of shooting dead journalist anna politkovskaya is officially charged investigators claim they have enough evidence to prove the

fugitive pulled the trigger. with a look back at the main developments over the last seven days and the latest news this is the weekly edition from. prosecutors in serbia want the mission to question recommend outage as a potential witness in their own investigation into what happened in the balkans conflict back in the ninety's the former bosnian serb general is in custody at the hague where he's accused of eleven counts of war crimes including genocide this week you made his first court appearance before the tribunal he didn't make a plea but told prosecutors the charges against him were not stress and noxious his next appearance will be in a month that it had been on the run for sixteen years before being arrested in serbia just over the e.u. said his extradition was key to hopes of joining the. it was katrina server reports

the dream doesn't appear any closer. still waiting for the green light services arrest an extradition of former bosnian serb army chief outcome luggage was one of the key conditions for a chance to get one foot and the european union's door a potential membership could mean billions of dollars worth of grant aid and for struggling serbia it's a lifeline but what two official belgrade is a step closer to the e.u. is actually a no step at all and they go secure this is very great and use this is a very courageous decision by the serbian president this is one additional step for the integration of serbia into the european union. is really i no go there so that is your. other steps remain to be taken your right to say to the rest of the political chief of croatian serbs go and had d.h. who is still in hiding. in cage when in regional cooperation with neighbors

for serbian president boris tadic there is no task too challenging to take on and the quest for e.u. membership. rests mr hodges. and the next few weeks. for us this is a christer so far from being all international obligations but while officials prepared to jump through yet another euro hoop most wonder if the list of conditions who ever and some visuals are also talking about the fact that. serbia has to recognise the fact recognise its own problems of course will be for to really get into the e.u. as long as the trees and power and his party the list of demands will be endless still serbia hopes its corporation will be rewarded and continues to be a path to the e.u. door the offices of the. delegation to serbia proudly display the flags of all of

their member states and serbia really wants to join a group with a list of conditions for a possible accession seems to be neverending and for official belgrade membership is always visible and always out of reach catherine as our r.t. belgrade serbia. says he needs more than the official thirty days to study the charges against him but his son says no matter how much time he's given he's simply not able to take part in a trial. you can't even read he has to go through thousands of pages to be able to testify in court with the police simply unable to do that he has difficulties with speech too how will you consult with his lawyers it's impossible. and you can watch the full interview with doc and a lot of former bosnian serb general reckon about it on our websites r.t. dot com. this week nato intensified its bombing

campaign in libya and decided it would last for at least another three months a u.n. report is accuse colonel gadhafi of war crimes alleging the rebels are guilty of similar abuses while britain france of deployed low flying combat helicopters to the country moves operations closer to the ground in concerns over an imminent offensive because russia's foreign minister to warn that pushing the boundaries of the u.n. mandate in libya may lead to future resolutions losing their credibility. when we expressed our opinion over this escalation of the military operation we think what's happening is a shift towards a ground operation this would be very regretful because the violations of the security council resolution already taken place are more than enough to think about it to choose to all of us decisions. nato hoped for a quick results in libya but that never happened and he was journalist patrick hayes says that means plan b. is likely bombing the regime into submission the situation is getting worse for the

west in libya i think when they first thought they could sweep in two months ago and have basically gone the country into the into democracy they thought this was going to be quite a quick process where they could basically keep their you know keep a bit of a distance hold bombs into libya get rid of gadhafi and then everything will be all right now obviously that isn't the case and the introduction of these the bunker busting bombs and the apache helicopters are inevitably going to make decision worse they could bring about severe civilian casualties in libya and i think also reka desperation maybe making a lot of noise and for a lot of very expensive bonds over the last couple of months without very little wealth they've ripped the democratic initiative from the libyan people and taken it into the hands of a small elite of western leaders. during his intervention in libya colonel gadhafi has been using cluster bombs these are banned weapons dispersed many mines over

a wide area with civilian casualties almost inevitable on a surface reporter it's embarrassing for madrid because the money trail behind the weapons leads right back to spain. just one strike it cost the bomb can spread thousands of small explosives over wide areas fired into populated areas if they were in misrata recently they always guarantee civilian deaths all of the many reasons more than one hundred countries and their production the markings on the shells found in the libyan city belong to spanish company insta lovers and there were arms that one twenty s that are prohibited that were purchased by that i see that were used against the residential area in these arthur and they were produced by a spanish company and financed banks to give. the forces come to acquire spanish made arms in two thousand and seven and still hasn't made the most of the lifting

of sanctions against libya as the tripoli regime fell back into favor with the west spanish company won a contract to supply get out these forces with their quest. into two thousand and eight in spain signed up to the international convention banning the use. with libya now once again the enemy spain is part of nato finds itself fighting a regime that it itself helped to arm and the trail goes back much further to spanish banks which provided the financial firepower since the law is there to make their deadly weapons a pool if you want to bring this thing forward use this as kind of a way to illustrates what things there is between a bank and civilian deaths in conflicts without legislation the means of direct connection. between civilian deaths. and the banks that finance their food to

banks customers bernsen looks really transparent about what they are using the sea savers money for so it's not easy to find a recent report by spanish n.g.'s a ten we've built as many is full of teen banks since they roof over the funding weapons produces the dva is the spanish bank this being most tax if i don't think produces controversial weapons and it's exactly this kind of large scale financing they complain is now trying to rein in pushing for the development of all right first policies to ensure the banks are held accountable many of the banks named in the investigation and now coming forward to say their policies on funding on to production are to change with or without legislation but it's until that happens in the murky world of arms production wall of profitable business. r.t. if you're it. all the prophets of war in danger civilian lives in libya in

afghanistan with death of innocent bystanders punished later i will report on the bush acquittal of polish soldiers and killed a number of civilians in a mistaken attack on a village. close as the top missions of laws enters its second year we look at the challenges faced body just in the longest ever space flight simulation. israeli security forces of open forum pro palestinian protesters who were marching on the syrian border reportedly killing twelve people and injuring hundreds of his policy it has the details for us now from tel aviv hundreds of palestinians have gathered on the syrian side of the israeli syrian border and everyone would say today a group of about a hundred and fifty of them made their way to the border face we're being told that they were actually trying to cut that border face when israeli soldiers fired warning shots in the air now those one shots seem only to have inflamed the crowds because israeli soldiers very soon followed up with actually taking aim at some of

the protesters certainly this is a day that they have been preparing for several days now the country is in the state of high alert and has been ever since the whole way in town to the palestinians living on syria the west bank and gaza to make their way to the borders of israel and for today to try and cross these movies today's. anniversary of the one nine hundred sixty seven six day war now that was a war that is well won but it is a war that palestinians the first to as we arab down forward but of course human rights activists are criticizing israeli army within very quick to fire at demonstrators. peace activist attorney told r.t. that israel's actions risk provoking a new war it sounded like there was no justification for using live ammunition there were just civilians on armed civilians who are just marching towards the border i think that's the major question is what we. the israeli army to this

coming september after the u.n. will recognize the palestinian state tens of thousands of palestinians will be marching towards the fences in the west bank and the big question is whether they. should i think it is today and then we'll see thousands of people being killed and that'll be the start of another war another intifada and as israel's relationship with its neighbors becomes ever more tense l.t. looks at the plight of communities on the egypt gaza border juicer israel's decade long blockade the civilian population has resorted to underground smuggling to stay alive. next to the. border of war. they are responsible not only for themselves. but also for their loved ones. are ready to take any risk.

on large. now to a country which has all its been bailed out greece may receive the next installment of its one hundred ten billion euro loan in july things as promised implement strict storage of measures to stabilize its economy a goal it's failed to reach so far well professor political science peer has told me here on r.t. that you think bailing out countries is a dead end. europe and the i.m.f. won greece to tighten its belt and war and war so there's no no way greece by itself can get out of the crisis is if you tighten your belt more and more you create a recession and if you create a recession this situation get worse and worse and it's harder and harder for you

to be back again i don't see how this money can we start the economy if people stand less and less i think suggests it now goes on there's a real danger that greece will have to back out of the euro in order to be able to do that you its currency to have more tourists to sell more products and so on the regionally when you the euro was created the left in europe was there much against it because he had a strong economy used a strong current see again mark germany forming a monetary union with weaker economies and that is a recipe for trouble. and spain may be a step closer to an e.u. bailout after germany wrongly said the country's cucumbers of course europe's deadly e. coli and claims have destroyed the country's fruit vegetable export meanwhile the finger is now being pointed at germany in its bean sprouts as a possible source of the contamination which is claimed twenty two lives well as laura reports it may mean another round of global hysteria. some cucumber scale

that much is clear and it's also become apparent that although germany planed spain as the source of the eco it's not that's costing innocent spanish fruit and vegetable export is around two hundred million euros a week. but all the obvious statement sure an absolute lack of responsibility for what is happening today is a check made to the spanish vegetable and fruit industry calling the european health watchdog discredited russia says it had no choice but to ban all friesen vegetable imports from the entire european union a reaction in brussels called disproportionate use of our colleagues from the european commission say russia's decision goes against. frankly i don't know about that if you commers or kill people at them that's not the kind of thing that raises your spirit it's a very delicate time for the spanish economy which is teetering on the edge of needing an e.u. bailout this is decidedly not a good moment for one hundred fifty thousand tons of produce to go unsold.

because. you cannot all. cynics say all this is just the media whipping up its latest health hysteria in two thousand and five the united nations warned the world that bird flu could kill up to one hundred fifty million people in reality the seven years until the end of two thousand and ten saw three hundred three people die more recently swine flu was the killer encouraged by pharmaceutical companies european countries spend billions of dollars on unnecessary vaccines probably will see very soon. and this from the. large pharmaceutical industry like they did with the swine flu they have some. so true. across

europe all these health scares adversely affected economies this looks no different and germany's baseless accusations may be what finally pushes spain into bailout territory spain will now seek reparations from the relevant authorities in europe after its prime minister criticised the european commission for not supporting the country enough particularly after the infraction was proven not to have come from spanish cucumbers spain has a titan task ahead of its repairing its reputation as a reliable exports or of fruits and vegetables all over the new position essential to its a link economy nor avatar to brussels. and it continues to track down the latest on that situation in europe you can check out. twitter for you don't want to see the latest tweet she says that the panic of action grows no one's taking any of

their we. underscore to be on top of that story. this week saw a breakthrough in the investigation of the assassination five years ago the main suspect a church in fugitive has been officially charged with the murder of the prominent russian journalist police say they have enough evidence to prove the thirty seven year old was the one who did pull the trigger. reports now on this latest development. this is the man investigators say fired the shots which killed anna politkovskaya. mood of had been the subject of a wide ranging manhunt after spending years on the run in belgium he was arrested by police at his home village in chechnya on tuesday and later charged with murder just. as the rest was carried out with the help of belgian police or he had been hiding for several years we've been in constant contact with them and it was this

cooperation that helped us capture the suspect belgian police triggered the manhunt and mark would have was forced to leave the country the investigators are currently questioning him in connection with the murder of anna politkovskaya mahmood of two brothers along with a former police officer who were acquitted of the murder in two thousand and nine due to lack of evidence but the russian supreme court and no verdict and ordered the investigation reopened. son told me the family hopes this arrest will bring them closer to finding out who killed his mother of course it's a very important step but we have to wait and see if our skills will be proved but even that is not enough we have no clue who the mastermind of the murder is nor about the organizers it's a significant part of the journey but it's certainly not the end and internationally renowned journalist anna politkovskaya was shot dead in october two thousand and six when she returned home she was famous for her investigative work particularly reports into human rights abuses former colleagues believe that due to

the close family ties of those accused of a murder there will always be some unknowns surrounding the crime on as well as the player it's hard to tell how many people are involved we have the three mood of brothers and their own call he's a criminal and could easily be the mastermind of the murder would rather tips especially chechens are unlikely to testify against one of. the political sky a murder isn't the only high profile case to see recent breakthrough journalists need of gian of the things they're. the rest along with the conviction of the killers a freelance journalist and a star see a pub order and human rights lawyer stanislav markelov children these type of murders do get solved in today's russia this is definitely a landmark victory in the fight against impunity passenger list murderers not destroyed but also human rights defenders lawyers. and we see that as

a very significant step forward. mood of currently in moscow where his lawyers are preparing his defense while for the family and friends about a quarter of their long wait for justice continues this role of aarti moscow. to poland now where a military court has cleared seven nato soldiers of killing civilians in an attack on an afghan village four years ago the panel ruled the evidence was not sufficient to support war crimes charges saying honest mistakes or faulty i mean it might have been to blame because a lot is done a bushel reports the verdict outrage many observers and feel calls for troops to be withdrawn from afghanistan. civilians killed nato soldiers go free the same old story in afghanistan the threats and for a moment to be different polish soldiers were put on trial for tests including a pregnant woman and a child negotiator on the sixteenth of august two thousand and seven mortar shells that were fired by polish troops at the afghan village of not as

a result six people were killed and three were severely wounded put the soldiers were cleared of all charges one of the accused told r.t. it's all been a big mistake we didn't see before. we were surveillance. because . our game. was. something very dark and it was also a problem we. agree made mel functioned and mr. taliban target by five hundred meters claims a shit scheme but prosecutors alleged it was revenge for a roadside bomb which killed another polish soldier earlier in the day experts say it's unlikely anything could go so catastrophic leigh wrong this is not logical the operator of the water could not make such a serious error with such a large distance the question is did they decide to open fire themselves or did

they receive this command from a book but there is no doubt they were shooting at the village up in nearby hills the defendants the commanders ordered the attack and these should be the one standing trial activists war while the conflict continues civilian deaths from nato bombing are inevitable and will only rise you know the longer the war goes on the war situation is so the answer is i think quite simple to withdraw troops from afghanistan as a beginning of any process of studies ation of this country because the troops western troops doesn't bring stability to afghanistan just the opposite as the death toll goes up on both sides support for nato mission plummets a majority in europe say opinion polls now think the conflicts going in the wrong direction. this was already unpopular in the e.u. there's the hundred billion euro because while services are being cut at home the size of our boys coming back in coffins is even worse leaving the death of

civilians on punished the week of the case sustain afghanistan even the afghan president's turning against nato after the latest fourteen civilians were killed how many cause so i delivered his strongest words yet giving a final warning and threatening war if it happens again. r.t. . by the way give us your thoughts on the stories we're covering a moment on screen by having to plot con that's our web site online all the time news and analysis updated every minute there here's what's their feed to discover right now should you vote on a devastating blow to several villages in the central russian republic as an ammunitions depo disaster lights up the night sky the details and video are gone. and you can also see how hundreds exercised their first amendment rights at the jefferson memorial in washington. not the five people arrested last week for

similar flash more including an arty american presented with police actions described as aggressive and constitutionally. a major milestone in space research and possible space travel has been reached this week is no over a year since a crew began a simulation of a first manned flight to mars and all without ever leaving the ground six volunteers are taking part in the seventeen month mocked up mission that's how long a return trip to north will take the launch inside a capsule with russian and european scientists studying the psychological effects of long term isolation crews now on the return leg after a successful simulated landing and dr patrick because told us that about the challenges that they're facing on the way. these guys have been locked away for for a year and they've still got five months to go and it's important to remember that they haven't actually had voice contact with the control center for eleven months

now and that's really quite intense so it must be very very difficult indeed i think they really must be at this point counting down the days and wondering what it would be like to reestablish human contact they've really had to imagine themselves into the situation they've really had to convince themselves that they're doing this for real but there's a huge amount that they're learning during this and of course the data that they collect will support scientific studies for many months at least if not years to come obviously the primary aim is to understand the impact upon future long term space travel but clearly there are other implications for people in long term isolation away from contact. more space stories coming your way in the next hour here on r.t. as preparations for the next that blast off to the international space station are in full swing we're bringing the latest from the north of the pike in order cosmodrome and also to the son of one of the astronauts soon to head into.

which is to have you here not to report from the tunnels which see vital supplies smuggled into gaza that will be also a recap of our top stories with me in just a few moments stay with us life here in moscow this is our take.

more than a month. in one of the most extreme environments on the plumbers this is it and charge and people have to be aware that they're far away from civilization sean thomas discovers what makes antarctica so special and attractive for many wildlife in antarctica. and from the. expedition to the bottom of the earth r.c. . in one thousand nine hundred two dr ralph brin straight the university of pennsylvania said what if i can take the gene responsible for growth in human beings and put it into a mouse. wrong or demain can be. issues there is a ninety five percent of all competent scientists in these fields are working for the produces side and only five percent. read genuinely independent. there is not

a lot of science that says train genic fish is unhealthy for people to consume which is what the food and drug administration looks at there is a lot of concern about the environmental impacts if a transgenic fish escapes what kind of horrible impact will it have on the rest of the fish population don't know what this might do to us or our children or our children's children in our congress here in the united states or our legislatures throughout the world we vote all these different laws tax laws and corporate laws what could be more important than deciding on the eminent genetic future of life on earth. the close up team has been to build a grand richard thank you for the turning point more to. this time party goes for the regions where half of the area is occupied by a nature preserve.