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all. no place for libya's future russian envoys messages he made to loyalist officials in tripoli to broker peace and made to rebel and nato is. a multi-billion dollar handshake for two of the world's biggest emerging powerhouses bringing russia and china closer together. coming to terms on the cost remains the final step in russia and china securing a multi-billion dollar energy deal. also the lawyers for alleged international arms deal of it to prepare to challenge a new york court on the legality of his extradition to america.

the sun is shining in russia's northern capital i'm alive at the st petersburg international economic forum we'll tell you all about the high level goings on here in our business report coming your way in about twenty minutes. international news and comment live from our studios here in central moscow this is good to have you with us this russia's special envoy to libya has held talks with officials in tripoli it's part of an ongoing push by moscow to mediate a peace deal in the country that meeting came amid fresh nato air strikes and a rebel advance on colonel gadhafi stronghold is there for us let's get the latest . maria you are in tripoli spoke to rebel leaders in benghazi

is he managing to bring the two sides any closer to reconciliation with this visit to libya. well bill indeed russia. residential voice three poetry police part of russia's peace mediation mission in the protracted libyan conflict most case position has always been clear that only a non violent negotiation is the only way out of this crisis mosco has repeatedly harshly criticized for launching a military operation here in libya and has never supported the u.n. security council resolution which gave green lights to intervention and nick on the girl of the peace envoy was sent here to try to persuade sides to start talking action that's very hard to achieve a very hard process but we have we have been able to speak to me to go after his mad loyalist officials here in tripoli and he said that he feels rather optimistic about peace process here is quite fragile it's

a long way to go but definitely he's optimistic about that he's emphasized that give up his people he's. been prime minister and foreign minister and he said that could office people are actually ready for negotiations but he's sad that they could not be any talks with benghazi before stops leave this the most important and the only demand from gadhafi people and it's worse to mention that actually recently nato has dramatically intensified its military activity in this country and started to use an attack helicopters and just maybe this is a strange coincidence but on gallup's first visit to libya as a peace mediator nature actually last week launched the heaviest ever air raids since the beginning of its operation here in march and today tonight again just

ahead of his visit his he's arriving we've been here in massive strikes overnight so what does that mean what would what is this mass it no one can say for sure but . let's listen to what gallop has to say about that. tripoli is expecting to see an immediate ceasefire before a peace process can begin its all to refusing to discuss the departure of colonel gadhafi from the political scene there is a dialogue going on between the warring sides but for those talks to begin to result tripoli says a cease fire must be put in place and the international mediators need to keep regulating the process one thing is clear russia is very welcome as a mediator both in tripoli and in benghazi we will keep working together. to get it has also struck that russia could not be and doesn't want actually to be the only peace mediator in this process and has a stressed that the african union and all libya's neighbors could and should play

a very important role in this process back to you while as you were talking about a little earlier nato has carried out over something like four thousand airstrikes against colonel gadhafi forces you're talking about attacks going on at the moment is it helping to bring about a solution. has actually been you have to understand that people here in libya feel very extremely exhausted following months of war which has taken many many lives and has almost completely destroyed the country's infrastructure libyans ordinary libyans at tired and sick of this situation. just a short example due to shop sure there's a fuel here especially in the western libya gasoline clears stretch for kilometers and kilometers and ordinary libyans have to spend hours even days lining up just to fill up their cars so it's very tiring price is

a very high unemployment is very high so people are tired are exhausted and of course with nato continuing to bomb libya they're scared so. all they want now is just to get their normal life back and actually frustration is very high among the rebels as well because they are very concerned as they. feel as if they may to say can control over what they. think is a national prizing and there are serious pleas within nato itself as you know only eight out of the twenty eight members of the alliance taking part in the operation to protect civilians here in libya and despite harsh criticism from robert gates last week the u.s. defense secretary there is little enthusiasm. among the law and says members to step in so we can say for sure that major strikes. definitely are not

encouraging it could office people to start talking with bengazi. maybe even rather driving them driving them away from peace negotiations ok thank you very much indeed. for a notion a line from the libyan capital tripoli no doubt more from her over the next few days. well coming up the russian businessman being jailed not just as the victim prepares to appear in a new york court his defense accuses politicians of twisting the jury's arms to keep him behind bars. but first two of the world's biggest emerging countries got a bit closer today as russia and china and the giants their relations hoping to do much more business together they go shooting a thirty year gas deal is another reason why the chinese leader is here in moscow well it's a. lot of who's outside from headquarters where the talks took place peter what is

so big about this anticipated gas agreement. this is a potentially must agree. which would see russia provide gas to china for thirty years now prime minister vladimir putin and representatives from gazprom welcomed president hu jintao and a delegation from the chinese state energy provider here to headquarters to try and iron out what essentially the final wrinkle in the deal now that final wrinkle is the price just how much russia will charge china for providing them with. many many tons of of natural gas over thirty year period now russia saying that they want three hundred sixty dollars per thousand cubic meters now that's the market rates that's the rate that russia charges europe for their gas china are saying they're looking for a discount they want they don't want to pay that much for this gas really seems

that no matter what level of business you are doing whether you're trying to buy a used car or ironing out the finer points of a multi-billion dollar international gas agreement everybody every side always looking for the best deal that they can get but there's no getting away from it this by no stretch of imagination is this deal going to be dead in the water over price this deal is just too important to both sides. the chinese president has the chinese prime minister has said that the natural gas is an important component of russia china relations now those sentiments of being reiterated from the russian side because this is a mutually beneficial deal russia wants to sell china the gas over the thirty year period because they're going to make a lot of money out of selling like gas china at once the gas because they need to fuel the essentially race car that is their economy and they need that gas in order to provide that race car with fuel so no agreement has been agreed as it stands at the moment over say that final wrinkle in this in this multibillion dollar deal the

talks will continue as they strive to to get over this last hurdle in the agreement well this isn't all about energy i understand that the chinese leader met russia's president soft a new tell us what came out of the talks. as president hu met with president medvedev to to agree to some trade agreements they put pen to paper on some very lucrative deals trade between china and russia already at an all time high in valuation they've signed an agreement that means by twenty fifteen the deals done between two countries will be worth one hundred billion dollars now they also signed an agreement that says by twenty twenty that will be worth two hundred billion dollars so in less than ten years' time a huge amount of commerce going to be carried out between russia and china now it wasn't just all down to business in signing deals over trade there was also the wider world being discussed as the two presidents met know both president to and

president medvedev reiterated previous statements they've made concerning the ongoing situation in libya saying in this that everybody involved are not involved in that conflict in the north african country must adhere to the united nations resolutions that were passed and should not straight from the parameters of those resolutions they were addressing the foreign intervention it's going on their foreign military intervention saying that things like the targeting of civilians which was not civilian civilian services which was not in the the agreement the u.n. resolution that must stop and they called on those in charge of carrying out this intervention by foreign nations to make sure that this doesn't happen really reiterating words that they have said in the past. thanks very much indeed reporting live from central moscow. now let's cross live to the asia times correspondent escobar to discuss the chinese leaders visit to moscow is joining us

on his webcam and he's joining us live from bangkok in town and now as we've just been hearing from our reporter there big trade deals between russia and china china has in fact replaced germany as russia's number one trade partner do you think that to russia. economic future is now pointing more than west definitely florida and liberals are reasons. that still chesler read the big energy games out of peter lee all across the region number two the relationships brazil russia india and china are getting closer and closer and now it's our south africa squad at the best it looks really great game even you reject it so it's weak she's also insist how two souls the great my ex and russia and china have to be right of this solution and this implies the shanghai cooperation organization summit has

just ended you know stana and afghanistan are right to be an observer and soon maybe soon three four years of course you could become a member of the should like operation as they should but be saying that russia and china went to be proud of this solution for us going to stand it cannot be in the hands of the pentagon to solve the ask and write my own because where will happen let's talk about this gas deal between china and russia gazprom we understand now it is in its final stages now some news outlets have rushed to say it's failed after present evidence announcement that they need more thinking time on this but these deals can't be done and dusted overnight can they because this is a very big deal it's a very big deal and it's a great basically crisis center which which is demanded that they say in two thousand and seven it's i'm not mistaken still holds and it's basically like that question at sign a price and the chinese as we all know they're excellent travellers you knew

everybody's going to be happy gaspar and it's i mean you still need it just as they needed gas from many studies by like many stern to western china and in the case of russia they don't even have to build any price and it's just a matter of getting the final. price that is one of course the chinese economy will soon overtake the u.s. to become the world's number one and just how vital are russia's massive energy resources to that growth and of course just how important is that relationship with china to russia. absolutely essential in terms of chinese national security russia and central asia are getting we need one listener important lead the base is going to add to the middle east and the persian gulf joined the chinese strategically duce needs to thinks escape from iraq and the lack of straights and spatial her moves different wall street in the in the

middle east a switch as they can escape these two bottlenecks which i met last fall through by the us navy let's put it this way say actually they can really i'm running around say to asia and on russia for their energy needs and it succeeding it's a long term strategy biggest guess is in their five year plans and this strategy goes on until the end of the twenty first century so yes russia and china are wells and not all about trade in energy there is that russia and china take a common stand on many international issues labor of course one of the main issues right now do you think that the two countries could work closer together and certainly in trying to balance out nato is heavy handedness there in libya at the moment. this is a good question because this depends on how they relate to the s.c. or russia sees d.s.t.o. as a jew strategic body very important in terms of not only countering the battery of nature but countering american influence you reach as a whole ensuring

a still seems d.s.u. as a truly to an economic cooperation mechanism so you read to sense a creates effect on the ground that would undoubtedly amaze the u.s. immediately distance accepting pakistan at this summit that ended yesterday as a fluke member of yes dear russian chinese still have to discuss how we are going to accept pakistan you still accept to stand and then get together which would be an excellent counterbalance. except egypt pakistan and it's going to stand together so did the u.s. you'll be represented of all the major powers in central asia in the region so it's . insane yes you're. absolutely mess. of course some people are quick to link being perhaps not a rival but maybe. an opposite to nato in terms of

a military alliance but it isn't interesting enough talking about the military aspect china has been beefing up its military in recent years the defense budget rising every year why is it doing i mean what's it preparing for. no good so there's a military strategy as well and it's not only related to central asia it's really to do dogs the chinese need you once you have a very strong presents in the media notion and perhaps india really see each speak get chinese vessels to station at the weather what's your arabian sea pakistan pakistan about which is that so that industry has this strongest brill's. strategy which consists of let's you know pakistan eventually in sri lanka. but this is interesting it's great spectrum dublin and spent a girl but it's different it's got back the chinese joe it's already been going

around rome. yes. there so we're considering the fact that maybe seven real general in the pentagon and it's you said that they're strangelove ideas paper we'll leave it there thanks very much indeed for your time pepe escobar asia times correspondent joining us live on his webcam from thailand thank you thank you. well we're staying in thailand now because the case of a russian man the u.s. accuses of being an international arms dealer will be heard in a huge new york court on thursday well victor boots been awaiting trial since his arrest over three years ago in thailand as artie's more important are reports his detention raises many questions over the legality of the case. he is the russian citizen america fought relentlessly to adopt victor boot was secretly and swiftly extradited to the u.s. seven months ago and this may be where he stays indefinitely if found guilty on

arms smuggling and terrorism related charges fifty years convicted he's looking at life there's no parole there's no early release in the federal system. really the only way in the federal system to get a reduction in your sentence. a significant reduction is if you cooperate with the united states government some have argued mr bush needs to be on captain america's team however captain america is being accused of playing dirty and illegally to remove the air cargo business man from thailand according to documents released by wiki leaks all levels of washington top to bottom mounted political pressure against bangkok to gain custody of boot in a us cable dated august thirteenth two thousand and nine us president barack obama was urged to call thailand's prime minister directly about boot the u.s. attorney general and state department were encouraged to call the thai ambassador

highlighting the massive drug enforcement administration commitment to thailand and the us ambassador in bangkok urged the thai government to issue a public statement of disappointment at the judge's ruling not to extradite boot america's the world's most powerful nation but it's not more powerful than the world unfortunately the way things stand right now they're willing to flaunt every international law to get what they want and that means doing all these illegal things in the case of the mood to extradite him or should say kidnapping who was arrested in bangkok in march two thousand and eight during a u.s. sting operation he was charged with conspiring to sell weapons to colombian fark rebels on two occasions the thai court rejected america's extradition request when an entourage of armed u.s. agents removed him from thailand following a decision of the thai government his extradition was still not legally approved the covert operation was kept secret from russia boots family and his attorney.

when the transfer of victor boot to america was a violation of a very important thai american treaty signed in one nine hundred ninety eight which states that political offenders cannot be extradited the case was not finalized and was moved to the us america used various means political. another's outside the boundaries of due legal process to get victor boot that means that victor boot is not getting a fair deal to this day tire fishes have not provided official documents explaining the legal grounds behind boots extradition this despite repeated inquiries made by the russian foreign ministry that. we know for sure that on movember sixteenth two thousand and turn that the moment a little bit to beat was physically taken out of the time prison his case was being considered by the thai cool to the appeals that is why there are no legal grounds for him to face a u.s. court. meantime victor boot remains in the u.s. prison held in solitary confinement his wife doubts her husband will receive

a fair trial from the country she says violated international and bilateral laws to get him. that it's clear to everyone that the case has long been moved from the sphere of law to politics i think or rather i would love to think that the american court is unbiased but i have strong doubts about it because i think such pressure could be put on anyone including the jury. the country accusing viktor bit of our feeling now finds itself a. little hard to say come october an american jury will decide if the future was to be a political pressure sized by the u.s. army evidently the arena for nine r.t. . some of the world's other big stories right now for you know world update al qaeda has appointed a new leader ayman al-zawahiri who was bin laden's deputy now leads the terrorist

organization a statement from the group said it would continue its fight against the u.s. and israel over here is thought to have been the operational mastermind of the nine eleven attacks last week that bin laden would terrify the united states from beyond the grave. a strong blast to strike nigeria's police headquarters in the country's capital has left at least two people dead witnesses report seeing bodies at the scene and cars on fire sending a thick pillar of smoke into the sky police say the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber attack follows two blasts at a police station and a church in north east nigeria a week ago which killed eleven people. organization claims it temporarily locked the cia's public website offline the group known as security also opened a phone line for people to suggest it should happen next it's previously targeted major firms which it says work against people's interests and is down public sites ranging from the us senate to sony pictures it grinds the pages to

a halt by bombarding them with requests to. the greek prime minister is set to unveil a new cabinet seek a vote of confidence in parliament for a new government is expected to be sworn in on friday. has been pushing for more cuts to secure billions of euros in a second plane of its part angry demonstrations in athens on wednesday the people. and the police responding with tear gas. and by the way we have updates on what's happening in greece on our web site for you right in the thick of it. video reports from the most recent angry protests as the crew feel the force of police tear gas in central athens it's. also a line of big step for womankind we mark the day nearly fifty years ago russian cosmonaut valentino becoming the first woman in space. but also on the website the turns maroon much of the world witnessed

a space spectacular overnight with the longest and darkest lunar eclipse in a decade we've got the pictures for you at r.t. dot com. well next it's the business news with the wrap wrap i should say of the day. form stay with us for that. hello and welcome to our business report all eyes are on russia's northern capital as the annual international economic forum got underway out this year presidential aide arkady dvorkovich says the st petersburg forum is more important than ever for russia as a brings to look at the begins to look east as well as west for investment. brings

you the latest. they're the overall themes that people are talking about here are going to be or are russia's a session to the world trade organization and the establishment of a ten billion dollars state backed private equity fund aimed at bringing business and investment to russia however there are some important deals that have already been signed here that we should tell you about right now dow chemical and the skolkovo fund putting pen to paper in order to establish a research and development center in russia also russ nano the russian nanotechnology firm and also signed with several asian partners in order to establish a nanotech fund that is going to be worth more than one hundred million dollars also the head of the international energy agency spoke earlier today here at the conference he said that in his opinion in twenty twelve the average oil price per barrel will be between one hundred and one hundred ten dollars also hearing from

a lot of important players and guests in the business community here in russia among them the head of cisco's emerging markets who talked about the challenges of the russian population centers places where people live that are far flung out there and technology's role in bringing them all together russia has the largest land mass in the war does it largest country by its size but the population clusters are centered and far remote from each other from the eastern united states to the western united sees a five hour flight from eastern russia to a western side of russia's eat eleven hour flight so how do you use technology to connect. these of them to the people the remote locations to create a crowdsourcing environment where you can drive innovation is the challenge for the country for education for health care for government services forms of services

that needs to be delivered to the citizens and our team will be with you every step of the way for the three day conference here in st. petersburg lots more important deals to be signed lots more important guests to come stay with us for all of it your on our team. and let's look at the markets now we cross over to the u.s. where better than expected reports on home building and job market are putting stock indexes on track for their first weekly gains in a month and a half home depot rose two point three percent following the housing reports the most of the thirty stocks that make up the dow jones industrial average european stock markets fell thursday with some banks bearing the brunt of concerns over a possible default of greek debt sources shares that the euro declined as quote worries also hung over the markets the footsie ended point seven percent lower waged by oil majors the dax was down just a notch b.p. fell one and a half percent and world out shell dropped one and a half percent as well among miners rio tend to sag one point six percent and american slipped two point six.