so. tonight on r t the first funerals are held in russia as the country mourns the victims of sunday's pleasure cruise is sinking on the polgar river over ninety deaths have been confirmed while the search for dozens of bodies trapped under water continues. as the french parliament voted to extend the military campaign in libya analysts highlighting consistencies in paris is frantic attempts to find ways out of the deadlock. and wiki leaks founder julian assange is fighting a decision by a british court to extradite him to sweden over sex crime allegations which its supporters say is just a pretext to hand it over to the u.s. . and russia wants to take a customs union with kazakhstan and belarus one step further than planned to see

a free trade zone created between the union and the one that's in twenty minutes from business r.t. . welcome from moscow if you just joined us it's ten pm here now my name is kevin owen you're watching the r.t. international news channel first the first funerals have been held in russia's republic of tire the start as the country mourns the victims of its worst boating accident in decades rescues a continuing to search for bodies tonight including those of dozens of children who gathered in a play room just moments before the heavily overloaded ship sank over ninety people have now been confirmed dead our correspondent tom barton has the latest. operations continue here from the volga bank south of khazan with divers and other teams going out to try. recover more bodies from the sunken river pleasure cruiser

the volga area meanwhile on itself today is a day of mourning huge crowds fountains of people gathered on the pier next to the river boat station in to show their respects to those that died in the sinking of the ship as a mark of respect ships were sailing the volga participated in a blowing of their horns and a minute's silence followed to try and show respect for the dead. we went amongst the crowds and asked some of the people there what they were feeling about the aftermath of this tragic attack strophe. their ambulance workers a colleague was in that ship she wants a cruise together was her family husband five year old son and also she was

pregnant or was to deliver her second baby noticed she's not found yet only husband to survive she into sunday night. meanwhile back here at the site of a sinking divers have reached the room inside the ship where around forty children were trapped as the boat began to sink they were holding a party there because there were so many of them it's thought that they were not able to get out and drowned in that room first came terror and tragedy. the gold leans a bit there are three of them in the cabin my son my daughter in law and my grandson my son said he tried to open the cabin door holding his child when the wave crashed into them and he lost grip of my grandson he says you swim towards the light and made it out alive but i can't find my grandson or daughter in law. now amidst the grief comes the anger and the questions of yours. if you peaks do your

jobs you don't understand a thing. gary a pleasure boat sank in just three minutes on sunday now some people are saying it should never have been on the volga at all at the. area past two hours before that an awful condition of their own a pretty voyage before it would never have been allowed to sail that growing evidence seems to point to gross mismanagement on the vessel to creating a broken engine ignored by the captain and blocked emergency exits clomid i'm not want to go on a twenty three as we traveled on these mogadishu but he was in a pool condition then he has a catastrophic serial turns in or a trip usually would have to stop for some layers because the engine was working properly 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 in town who they know it is water coming in through the windows it's such a case the boat went down very quickly all of this will come to the fore when the ship itself is raised to the surface for investigation but it's the harrowing accounts of what happened on the weekend pleasure cruise told the real story we still hope that our daughter has survived as you have seen in their pocket or some other way but yet we still believe that our little angel is alive for it still didn't work is that people were basically buried alive and china matter coffin he managed to get out through the windows i was there with my ten year old daughter i couldn't rescue plan she saw my team which was there when i was pulled out i realized my child was gone rescue workers will continue their efforts throughout the coming hours and days but hope is now gone they will find anyone else alive leaving just but shock and grief. see it all go back central russia. sees

a terrible anguish there but now there's also growing anger too after claims that two vessels passed the cruise ship as it was sinking but did nothing to help a criminal case has been launched against those ships captains but again we've got more on the very human side of this tragedy on our web site there you'll find interview with divers working at the scene to give a harrowing account of their underwater search with dozens of bodies in poor visibility you could read more about their further analysis about what's going on so badly wrong here at r.t. dot com. the house the french parliament voted to extend the military campaign in libya it comes after recent remarks by the french defense minister suggesting that the rebels should talk to colonel gadhafi that spot rumors that one of the most active advocates of the nato led invasion might be starting about peddling a campaign group moms author of the book humanitarian imperialism he joins us now to talk about this news line tonight very good eventually thanks for being on our team of president sarkozy has been accused by his opponents of imperialist policies

including over libya but if that's the case then surely france would have done more to break this current stalemate no. they are doing whatever they can i mean there was a very interesting article in the new bill observer we're just explaining all the problems that nato has ruled the division that they have betrayed that the whole bit on which the count are clearly very weak militarily and even with. not getting anywhere and also they start to feel a lot of the libyan population. called out you will forget that if you are opposed to an invasion just so your population was opposed to the foreign invasion seventy years ago and one hundred forty one. so that news developments today the lower house the french parliament votes to continue the french president's the french presence in libya why do you think they did that and what's the endgame as they see it. even have

a clear picture of what we end game maybe. they are speaking of they go see asia and you see but it's great clear that they don't know because she weeks ago they were rejecting the negotiation when the kenyans are saying that there should be negotiation and now the americans i think actually in the negotiation still clearly they don't have a plan now because the french parliament voted for the war he's not the actual rising he's in the national plans were somehow the initiative of this war and also because everybody in france due to what they call the many there in imperiousness this idea that you can intervene anywhere in the world when in reality human rights are being really. good people have a problem with the scot free there was give your son is breaking up a little bit while you still want to ask a few more questions of our calming presence our closings clearly looking to do as much as he can to get reelected next year is this operation going to prove popular with voters or is it counted against him do you think. at the start of your patients making something like seventy percent of the population who are in favor

of the war and now it's fifty one percent was against the war and if the war last another few months i think the president will be even higher and recently the popularity of. do you still agree laws that i don't know if you doing to help their depends on what happens of listening to each eventually the way it was really help in that remains to be seen your great man author of the book humanitarian imperialism a line from brussels and i thanks for your input of the program. well questions of the conflict in libya have also been raised in washington on a visit there russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov said the colonel gadhafi has no future in a new libya and must go after is going to ensure can report on. werman so liberal said colonel gadhafi must step down and there's no place for him in levy is future and that's a view shared by the obama administration as well we support you and you should try to start negotiations between the representatives of three representatives of three

representatives of the guys in transition to the should go on the understanding that the efficiency of course will go to the new place in the future he. would not participate in googs discussions he also repeated that moscow sees the actions of the allied forces there as violation of the un mandate he said that the resolution is being wrongly interpreted as you can do whatever you want but there must be limits to any intervention what moscow sees is the west now clearly taking sides in a civil war and expanding on the conflict the u.s. missile defense plans in europe are of course out for discussion here in washington foreign minister lavrov said russia for a legally binding guarantees that the european missile defense project will not threaten russia's security there have been words before washington has many times said that the system would not be against russia but moscow needs to have it on paper some analyst explained that this urge that russia has been getting everything

on paper with promises in the past that were not fulfilled for example when the soviet union collapsed russia was assured that nato would not be expanding towards these borders but he did it continued recruiting new members of the bottom line is words are good but words even legally binding agreement are better foreign minister lavrov said that's probably the most irritating issue in the relations between the two countries and there is a huge desire to leave it behind and to rather turn it into an area of cooperation . that is going to chico and they will the main aim of sergei lavrov visit to the u.s. is reviewing the peace talks between israel and the palestinians he's called for more international cooperation to jumpstart the stalled peace process but talking. detail with dr andrew kuchins from the center for strategic and international studies in washington thanks with this second level of the representative from the arab league should be present at the quartet we think is that we know that russia the u.s. and the european union and the united nations are rethinking their peacemaking attempts in the current format. well i think that there is some

realization amongst all that all the parties mentioned there that given the lack of progress in the peace process that we need to do some some rethinking i heard foreign minister lavrov speak this morning at the russian embassy and while he was not. extremely disappointed with the the talks of the quartet i think he acknowledged that. to some degree was understandable why progress was not made and i think we need to spend some more time thinking about the way forward with the palestinian president mahmoud abbas that the fact of the quartet hasn't produced agreement so far means they have differences what kind of difference if you think he's talking about and. well i'm not sure to what to what extent it is that the court the court has as differences miserably mr lover off did not emphasize that so much today in his in his remarks and here for

size today that that israel is is much more focused on security and that's understandable and that the palestinians are more focused upon national sovereignty in the establishment of a nation state so i think that the fundamental differences really lie between the israelis and the palestinians and to a lesser extent amongst the members of the quartet the sort of says will be another round of consultations in new york city this autumn in september the u.n. set to vote on recognition of the palestinian state do you think we do expect any breakthroughs that in these thoughts coming meetings of minds. you know i'm not i'm not particularly confident about any imminent breakthroughs on the middle east of course you know for the last six months most of the focus for in washington in moscow and in other capitals has been on other you know aspects in the middle east the so-called arab arab awakening. that's taken some of the i think

it's taken some of the energy in the thai diplomats and government officials to some degree away from the middle east peace process. we're also hearing today in israeli newspaper reports that the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu might agree to renew peace talks with the palestinians along the nine hundred sixty seven lines is that he thinks that the cell phone is a lie that if its report is true. well i haven't seen the report of mr netanyahu is remarks myself. on the basis of mr yet netanyahu is past positions i would be skeptical that he would want to revisit pre-one thousand nine hundred sixty seven. borders for the for the state of israel if he were willing to reexamine that of course that would represent a major. major step in a different policy direction for him to talk about

a. sense of who is to teach it international studies joining us from washington thanks for your input. this is r t still ahead for you this we look at the continuing saga of reporters of the glee obtaining people's private information and ask could this be a threat to the country's national security. and fears a greek style arrested italy will bring an insight into the financial woes of a country many predict could be next in line for e.u. help. wiki leaks founder julian assange is back in a london court where he's appealing against an earlier ruling to extradited to sweden the world's most famous with the blows wanted there for questioning over sexual assault allegations supporters fear that if sent to stockholm he'll end up in the hands of the u.s. government that is lauren it is the latest roadside the court will. not so much has hired an entirely new legal team pull this appeal he's part of the old lots of old plots and he's got people who are much more have much more experience in criminal

law and they're much more concerned with the ins and outs of e.u. your and specifically the european arrest warrant they're arguing that the european arrest warrant enough cases invalidates because they've essentially discrepancies between the allegations made and the testimonies of the two alleged victims there are full charge is that they range between are no full coercion just sexual assaults right down to rape they're also saying it's important to remember that new charges have been brought against after all she's wanted for questioning in sweden and say far no more now this case is slated to go through wednesday if faced appeal is rejected by the high courts that julian i thought his vows to take the extradition case right to the supreme court and even on which to the european court of human rights i thought in his supporters have always been worried that one faction tried to sweet and they would he would be sent to the us that this case was politically motivated and of course have noted that

a grand jury in the us is investigating wiki leaks and that some people in america would love to get that hands on us dollars so you can of course want to laura you can catch laura's report on sweden's links with the us on our website up so you go to all the stories we're covering available along with the latest news blogs and videos on these stories as well check out the latest video footage of the plane rescue operation just hours after burning out a profit crash landed on a lake in siberia one of a snap of his caught those pictures for you part of our action also look before you cross the road a street racer pushes his sports car to the markets in central moscow lunatic but is the need for speed as in college predictably pictures online from us tonight. the half brother of afghan president hamid karzai has been assassinated in his own home an issue report. suggested i was shot dead by one of his own bodyguards the taliban has claimed responsibility described as one of its biggest achievements headed the kandahar province a volatile region on the border with pakistan he was often accused the media

reports of having links to afghanistan's massive illegal drugs trade though to have had me a political analyst from kabul told us the killing is a blow now to the us. and the past couple of years he he confirmed that he had a good relationship with their american troops and american officers because of this i think that americans lost one of their important members of the or troops out at the same time he was accused of being involved in corruption and rack trafficking and then because of this many believe that a now i mean reckon well seeker for for another person to replace him. ok years ago we spoke to our karzai about how he sees the allegations against him. that is it is a drug in august but they've never in the last several years nor we challenge you challenged the international community of the challenge or everyone to priest being

approved for we invited log on to our free video section of our website we can access the interview and follow also huge archive of other news footage as well from r.t. . focusing on britain now outrage gripping the country of allegations ended several newspapers in rupert murdoch's media empire including obtaining secret information about the queen and former prime minister gordon brown but the senior police officers have been questioned by a piece of it claims they knew about the scandal richard ellis is editor in chief of the day online news service he told me thinks the data could be misused or not just by turbulence. i think where this does become a question for national security is the idea that police are selling private phone numbers and probably contact details of people like the royal family in the prime minister yes rob it is not necessarily the same to sell these things to a newspaper as it would be to sell them to a terrorist organization but if you can do one you may be able to do the other so

yes it's very serious but i think what people i talk to and. expecting is for the scandal to go up through rebecca brooks who's the chief executive of news international to james murdoch and james murdoch himself and many people say should step down and take a break. more world news headlines of protestant parades again violence in northern ireland's capital belfast bonfires a little marred the annual twelfth of july celebrations catholic protesters threw stones and firebombs and protestants and police security services attempted to separate the opposing factions and the seven thinks offices ridgeview tight the twelfth of july marks the end of year and will put a spin marching season and commemorates a seventeenth century victory over catholic forces. a space walk still underway in orbit some four hundred kilometers above our heads in fact two astronauts are working to retrieve a broken section of the international space station and a packet of all the shuttle atlantis a six hour space walk will also stage an experiment in the robotic refueling we're

shuttle leaves the station next week and its landing will wrap up america's shuttle program after thirty years in space. european markets plunged tuesday over fears the country may become the next e.u. state to ask for a helping hand italy's finance ministers already promised to approve a set of budget cuts within a week in an effort to avoid turmoil in the eaves third largest economy financial advisor market for polly told me the fears over italy are indeed justified. the level of debt is far greater than the peripheral countries of europe really put together in many ways whether you can put together a rescue package for the short. is probable but it's not so much in many ways about. whether they can afford which is questionable but it's also about whether they want to wear the germans want to keep bailing out countries for as far

as the germans are concerned i'm sure that they want this to come to an end in many ways italy like many western countries have been living well beyond their means for many years and this will mean significant cuts in income spending which will mean job cuts he will need a reduction in public sector pensions all this will be painful of course the public sector tends to be much higher unionized than the private sector and therefore union militancy and civil unrest easy is to be expected. this is arts international from moscow just twenty minutes away from hearing about the much touted doping scandal at the two the france that's in our sport with its catch up with dmitri to the latest in world business for you. can you know when welcome to business our customs union of russia kazakhstan and belarus wants to expand its next prime minister putin says it's ready to start

creating free trade zones with europe meeting with prime ministers of other union members to discuss the first year of cooperation. it has been a year now since the three c.i.s. neighbors russia kazakhstan and belarus began trading with no borders and russia's prime minister vladimir putin says it has already brought tarnishing results of the trade for us between the three countries grew four to three percent in the first four months of this year two thousand also says that the customs union is now ready to integrate more into international trade with its closest neighbor the european union put it all into law and the three countries together have a population of eight hundred and sixty five million people a very lucrative market for foreign part does and this allows the c.i.s. countries to ask for better conditions in international corporation. removing barriers within the customs union the new means do we intend to erect

barriers on our extended borders on the contrary main goal is to ensure our joint efforts can more fixedly integrate all countries into the global economy the customs union would also seek free trade co-operation with the european union. talking about russia's not torrijos red tape. now there are crosses all three conscious within the customs union will have to compete for businesses and this may finally become a real step to fight corruption. the closing picture in russia on the markets on the. next joining me hesitation on the overseas markets with the debt crisis in europe looking at some of the individual movers on the mice a bank is flat unlike other financial stocks around the world managed to. gasp point three percent as energy prices continue to throughout most of the session but a major again on tuesday was coal mining. by

eighty percent of the mine a four billion dollars peter weston from out on capital wraps up today's trade. we have recovered. russia has actually done better than most other markets but if you look at the sectors that have been doing well it's in telecom you feel it is a metal something well telecoms and utilities enormously was the council so that's not the surprise given the environment but also if you look at in another sphere it's been called a real split again you could argue there's a sort of head she says most of the gold companies so it is a very defensive mode and we don't see a lot of sort of conviction you know any kind of relief like relative or seems like a short term in this environment and also from the business scene for now i'll come back some and see the headlines to stay with us.

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so. just so. the phone. to a woman comes to the. one hundred sixty splash in the world of politics business questions advanced science into i-ching products we don't understand caulfield trophies is going to be followed russian invaders to each invaders and drawing in the big breakthrough back sunlight on stone six months technology updates here because. we've got the future covered.

if you keep. the world's nuclear arsenal.