we've got it first hand the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. in the home. a national day of mourning across russia for around one hundred thirteen people believed killed in a pleasure cruise a sank on the volga river two days ago. the afghan president's half brother and a central figure of numerous corruption scandals has been shot dead in his home says the u.s. prepares to wind down its forces citing operational success. we can leaks founder julian assange orange launches a fresh appeal in london's high court against extradition to sweden where he's wanted for questioning of a sex crime allegations. team

welcome to the program flags at half mast across russia as the country mourns the victims of its worst both accident in three decades more than seventy people have now been officially confirmed that dozens of bodies are trapped under water after an overloaded pleasure cruiser sank all remember the pilot of the star on sunday rescue succeeded charles the party boss about this time it somebody has been following events. there are thousands of people that have turned out here to the river boat station in which was to be the stopping point of the bulgaria on a pleasure cruise up the volga they've come to lay flowers i'm surprised their respects to the people who drowned even trying to get out of the ship all those who

were trapped in it in sunday's tragedy there's also a funeral starting to take place today of some of the victims twenty three families will start burying their relatives today from the sinking of the gold jewelry a ship of feelings here. ones of of immense regret that this happened and moving really also into anger a lot of people feeling that this was very much a tragedy which could have been avoided and people we spoke to just earlier from the crowd said those kind of things to say blow it i'm not going to go on a twenty three days we traveled on his motives and with he was in poor condition then yes because my truck serial turns urine or a trip it would have to stop. because the engine was a very poor light if we had a neighbor. even. those who have died tonight. for the children the little ones it's a terrible loss because it is summer when the boat was sinking and the crew was in

there and they were busy saving their own lives we still hope that our daughter has survived because you have a pocket or some other way and yet we still believe that our little angel is alive because it's got to come so a sense of immense tragedy here amongst the crowds amongst the relatives and amongst the survivors but also of a growing number of questions as to why this happened but the moment the rescue operation well it has really turned into more of a recovery operation but the tempo has not let up we were out the site of the center of the rescue operation yesterday and boats kept going from the bank throughout the day to try and recover people you can hear some of the music being played behind me to try and commemorate the sinking of this ship but downstream for the rescue efforts are going on with divers going to the wreckage to try and search the rooms inside the ship and find people find bodies of people who went down

with that ship they're moving into one of the most difficult parts of that operation into a large room a play room which was where around forty children were at the time of the sinking and it's thought that a large number of children there but that they simply weren't able. some skaters and they all drones in the room they're going to try and recover those and on the sixteenth of july they're going to begin trying to raise the the sunken bill garri a ship to try and recover all of the the remains on the ship and also to try and ascertain what happened there was a growing number of accusations either given anonymously by crew members all by eyewitnesses of the big problems on the ship it's hard to verify the moment but all together they add up to quite a damning indictment of what may have gone wrong things such as the s.o.s. tonneau is not working at the time of the sinking because of the electricity

generated stop working one of the engines itself repeatedly kept breaking down according to crew members the captain ignored. some holmes flowing in a memorial tribute to those that died this is a large river with many craft traveling up and down it a lot of the crews on most ships would have known the crew on the boat daria. paying their respects now to the ship that sank. first came terrorist country if you have the boat leans

a bit there are three of them in the cabin my son my thoughts in law and my grandson my son said he tried to open the cabin still holding his child when the waves crashed into them and he was crippled my grandson for he swim towards the light and made it out alive but i can't find my gran. son or daughter in law. now amidst the grief comes the anger and the questions you're likely to give the p.c.'s do your jobs you don't understand a thing. the bulgaria pleasure boat sank in just three minutes on sunday now some people are saying it should never have been on the volga patrol but they. passed those two hours before and an awful condition of their donor people which before it sort of would never have been allowed to sail. growing evidence seems to point to gross mismanagement on the vessel including a broken engine ignored by the captain and blocked emergency exits. were used to

work on is that it was covered more and more people complained to the just change the name to the bulgaria crew themselves always praise god for saving then i would turn to god after watching. the vessel was first built in one nine hundred fifty five and as recently as last month was given official clearance to sail despite this rescue teams say it was hopelessly outdated the crew that was working tell me they noticed water coming in through the windows at such a pace the boat went down very quickly now president medvedev has ordered wide ranging checks saying there are many more bull gary is out there the number of decrypted large is cruising along our waterways is enormous and the fact that we were lucky before yesterday doesn't mean anything like that couldn't have happened all of this will come to the fore when the ship itself is raised to the surface for investigation what is the hiring accounts of what happened on the weekend pleasure

cruise that tell the real story is that what people were basically buried alive in anti-matter coffin we managed to get out through the windows i was there with my ten year old daughter i couldn't rescue her she slowly team. when i was pulled out i realized my child was gone rescue workers will continue their efforts throughout the coming hours and days but hopeless now gone they will find anyone else alive leaving just the shock and grief. see it all go back. coming up in a few minutes a joint decision france is similar to last what to do with the libyan town pain contemplating whether to break the country or sit down and talk to plan b. daffy. the mideast quartet meets in washington hoping to jumpstart the stories really palestinian peace talks. tell jackscrew this is what it's west bank

settlements. in the heart rather of the afghan president hamid karzai has been assassinated in his own home and she reports suggesting a shot dead by one of his bodyguards rather taliban is claiming responsibility. because i head the kandahar provincial council and one of the most powerful politicians in the south of the country is a controversial figure used my critics are calling the corruption cronyism and criminal activity that the shroud of the current afghan regime. is killing like me for the country when i joined our first journalist. from kabul thank you for joining us now if it's true the taliban were behind the killing why do you think they would target him specifically. i think. was one of the top political figure not only in the south of the country but it was

a political. he was one of the. over. here was. doing a lot of. things. from the insurgency activities over there and also he was. making and making you know. we have some political clout and also political problems. when he when there was. this period in south of the country and he. and i very tribal leader. there i think the taliban targeted him

he mentions the tribal leader there but he's also been accused of being involved in a number of corruption scandals so how serious. a stand wilson couldn't have made him a target. he was accused of. a lot of stuff he was accused of smuggling he was accused of killing innocent people and. all of that sort of. he was accused of some. dispute inside the country he was involved in. some. police. all of them. inside the country and also mr president as i was mentioning that ones that are you and. that. he was.

involved with. because of our going to. take decisions. on him you mentioned president karzai there why did the president seem to go out of his way so much to protect him. but i didn't hear you yes why did the president karzai go out of his way to protect him so much. he wasn't going to protect him i think. because they're not. he was not the target of. thing he had. to. pull around. but no one. ok i will leave it there freelance journalist. live from kabul thank you for

joining us here in r.t. . thanks. for the middle east peace quartet made up of russia america the u.n. and the e.u. has gathered in washington in attempts to revive stalled israeli palestinian peace talks the meeting comes at a low point in relations between israel and the u.s. the presence of bombers spoke in favor of a return to established nine hundred sixty seven borders that israel occupied vast swathes of palestinian land and since declared i'm not sure it has its own gathering of the quarter it also comes ahead of a key u.n. vote this september and recognizing palestine as a something state something strongly opposed by israel. which actually kind of explains why there's so much to see the talks take off. the quartet has met at a time when its efforts as the global mediator in the middle east peace process are

largely seen as a fact that there is a sense that cost for negotiations alone are not enough in fact if it were to negotiate a solution palestinians plan to seek a vote by the u.n. general assembly is september recognizing the state of palestine there. and urgency to the meeting of the quartet as some analysts say could be the last chance for the global mediators to prove their efficiency before the possible vote in september divides the international community which it most certainly will there is a vision that all quartet members share and that is a two state solution for these three weeks and the palestinians and that the starting point for those negotiations have to be the pre-one nine hundred sixty seven border lines but these released find the mere mentioning of nine hundred sixty seven border lines unacceptable the palestinians on the other hand demand israel stop building settlements on the occupied territories demands which israel effectively ignores so it's a snowball of conditions that have resulted in the decades of impasse the two sides

have not been able to come to a solution and the hope always was that wall powers could mediate a peaceful outcome but even though the quartet members say they want to see two independent states eventually they have not been united in how they see the path to the solution the u.s. for example blocks every day when attempts to influence the situation take the settlements the obama administration has called these really settlement expansion illegitimate but when it came to actually voting at the u.n. security council to condemn the settlement expansion as illegal the u.s. the built the resolution analysts say the fact that israel is the protectorate of the united states makes it hard to expect a balanced approach from washington whereas russia is seen by many as the more impartial mediator moscow has helped cross locations with both these really authorities in the palestinian authorities many times hearing out there complains their grievances because the palestinian vote voice is virtually blocked in the

u.s. their leadership is labeled as terrorists here and experts say mediation is next to impossible when you refused to talk to one of the sides. just hours before the middle east quartet convened in washington israel introduced a law that makes it a crime for its citizens to boycott your settlements on palestinian territory and you know has already been criticized for violating free speech and stifling democracy human rights organizations keys the israeli government acting as police legislation allows any second it's nice to sue for damages caused by boycotts and imposes fines on organizers. as a stark reminder. of civil rights in the country as israel seeks to preserve its decades long stranglehold on palestine. executive director of the association for civil rights. the passing of. a bad day for freedom of speech

a bad day for is a democracy. and even more unfortunately it is only the current representation of the rising wave of democratic to this nation that is gradually drowning the foundations of is that it is early for many years of a think rightfully so has been recognized as a country with strong democratic out your beats but what we're seeing here is the gradual sad process in which the israeli parliament is by itself doing eroding those who are proud of principles not just the poor longer keep patients for more than four decades but also targeting the rights of. minorities in israel and specifically arab citizens of the state of israel targeting human rights organisations in the ability to function freely something that we've always taken for granted and is now being gradually eroded and also targeting the independence of the high court of justice and its ability to continue to defend human rights and

civil liberties in israel. you can always find more stories on our website at r.t. dot com all the latest news blogs and videos has just some of what you can find there right now shady circumstances surrounding the death of a high profile russian prosecutor himself his workplace rules of alcohol were found not. under a street trial. current. speed carnage. just a few days after posting his fortieth birthday party you can expound saunders appearing right now before london's high court to fight extradition to sweden he's wanted for questioning of a sexual assault allegations. he's more emmett's who's outside the court laura it's not the first time he's tried to point this extradition so his chances look like

today. well we still restos arrived at school here on tuesday he was flanked by his lawyers and his assistants and he was silent obviously reserving the energies we were all asking him how he felt about how the day was going to go but he didn't answer any of us he had a hat but he's now wearing gloves does he look that he much older than his forty years and certainly much older than him that he did it looks like these months of but still house arrest that he's been under have really taken that toll he calls been staying at the home of a friend of his out of the country where he's had to wear an electronic tag he's been under a curfew needle perhaps reports the police station every day for the kids to really taken its toll on him this hearing that we're seeing this week to last until wednesday but even then the rulings expected to be result so we might not hear what decision the judge has made for days or even weeks and in fact even if this appeal

is rejected. he vows to take this case. higher up the justice chain here in the u.k. but to the supreme court so many people have to go on to the european court of human rights because he was last in court in february here in the u.k. where the judge ruled in favor of sweden face that he should be extradited to sweden saying that there was no reason to expect the falls wouldn't receive a fair trial and he's now in court today to appeal that decision and he and his supporters have always suggested that the prosecution on sex charges is politically motivated and that the end goal of this is that sweden will eventually send him to the u.s. where of course the grand jury is currently investigating the work of wiki leaks and in fact there are significant links between sweden and the u.s. which is the subject of a report that you can see now. seven months since today in our souls was

released on bail he returns to the high court to appeal his extradition if he fails will be sent to sweden within ten days but many believe his feet won't touch the ground next stop america i think the the worry is that sweden which in the past has extradited people to america with a minimum of force when they were asked was she was a possible you know but thought to care about what awaits him in the u.s. is this. trial the usual you're a notorious neo conservative group helped the swedish prime minister friedrich reinfeldt win reelection last year and there's another glaring link in the shape of lawyer thomas sports trim his firms representing the two women bringing the sex charges against her songs in two thousand and one he was minister of justice and is alleged to have helped turned over to asylum seekers suspected by the cia of terror

. they were sent to egypt and allegedly tortured he might well want to stop wiki leaks from functioning the question about how he became even even clearer thanks to some of the documents from exactly wiki leaks there is. a willingness to. do the ariens of the united states over many years from. the question of. making asylum seekers in sweden. to the cia freddy's is particularly strong now with a government in sweden sweden want on sex crime charges the u.s. is reportedly preparing an espionage case and it suits nor nato member sweden just fine to be a conduit in this case and in others they get. all the benefits of being an intelligence partner of the united states without the baggage of being in nato

sweden seen as an easier way for the u.s. to get their hands on ourselves particularly after it requested the extradition of hacker gary mckinnon from britain which so far hasn't been granted but critics say the u.k. is just as much with the u.s. and sweden have a traditional. represent us foreign policy in europe. you know. unfortunately as today that's always goes back to court in london he'll have an eye on the british justice system which could save him from being extradited but the other guy will be firmly fixed on sweden a country that insists on its own neutrality whilst turning asylum seekers over to the us the allegedly to be tortured only our soldiers and his staff that wiki leaks know what else we did start to hide your enemies r.t. the. french parliament votes on extension campaign

government there. says it's determined to take the fight diving some experts believe a ground invasion is not the only option left president sarkozy. can lock up the check. books is like bragging will destroy the reporter lives there off the wrong and gets a nasty surprise i french foreign minister should pay both did france would libya in quotes days or weeks the wars into a fourth month and the final round inside nicolas sarkozy with his western allies seen short little opponents fighting back well it's not just an environment for sarkozy it's embarrassing for nato for the whole west paris even admits all the libya's rebels will return some somalia. went to libya for training with the last

two or three years that's documented we have the fly record and everything else so it seems strange in many ways the whole western support of some of the rebel groups in libya must be questioned because in some cases i think we are effectively arming al-qaeda. it's all making a mockery of the un votes on foreign intervention in a country now breaking it no good person. none of. your witnesses have made me go of libya's causing widespread atrocities for every one military personnel that was supposedly a casualty there were ten civilians frauds categorically ruled out saying the grill troops but experience predict is the only way they'll to break the libyan deadlock the moves the splitting the nato coalition silvio berlusconi head of keep italy

admits invading libya was a mistake and did a study you a fridge defense minister says the rebels should negotiate with daphne this is the same man that they're already indicted in the international court so. i mean from a legal point of view it's even possible what they say they're saying now i know a person accused of war crimes or crimes against humanity is a suitable partner in negotiations i mean and and of course our media here are not the ones who are going to oppose these credit certainly not in france to the president on the contrary russia abstained in the u.s. vote. bombs would bring havoc in libya to pay said the latest counterpart sergei lavrov lloyd lee diplomat speak for. all of elections just

annoying months away thought it was a said a successful war could resurrect his chances instead one paper writes libya's becoming a slow motion call crash for france's deeply unpopular president sarkozy's a jogging found excessive sweating is. this is libyan spring is to. old paris. but later the stock markets are coming out of the business. thanks carrie this is a quick business update let's have a look at the markets well it's continuing to lose ground despite crude inventer is how big interest rather have fallen from peak levels the fears of softening demand dominating the market with the rest is concerned about u.s. economic recovery and the possibility of further military tightening in china brant land is trading at around two hundred fifteen dollars per barrel while the w. g.i.

is nearly ninety four dollars a barrel. european stocks are seeing a heavy some old after a sharp drop in the previous session investors continue to dump banking and insurance stocks and bonds persisting sovereign debt fears out by don trying as minister saying a selective default on greek debt is possible while the market is nervous about the possibility of the mindset spreading to eton and spain the cost of insuring spanish any time in government problems charged to record levels. paid in russia the markets the trunking of the season losses. right now let's take a look at some individual who is on the most six most of the blue chips and we would know scholz suffering the most pro by his losing ground in one in the second week of crude is weighing on energy majors storm is down one percent has slipped into the red up to l.a. gains and it's reported and nine percent increase in earnings for the first of the q. your update more business news in an hour's time headlines with carrier.

they feasted this is not a provocation but more than that. they fix it and we should just everybody should support the trish because they have no idea about the hardships the face. they wanted this is it of them to loosen the grip on the army the life of abusing them is the most.