this is our two from moscow on our breaking news tonight on russia's worst sporting tragedy at jet carrying the triple champion russian ice hockey team lokomotiv euro slav all crashed earlier on the saving in flames near the runway of the home city two hundred seventy kilometers northeast of moscow it's understood there are only two survivors tonight from among the forty five people who were on board that plane for the time he's innocent now is near the crash site for us and this is a very good evening to you again we've been over the past few hours starting to hear from people who witnessed this catastrophe unfolding what i've been saying. basically there are different versions as to how this all happened some of the people we've spoken to said it was very clear that something was wrong with the

plane some people say it was leaning very much to the right others to the left but all agree that there was a loud bang and they flew into some kind of antenna and then ended up in the volga river we had a chance to speak to some witnesses and also found these parky players most who were killed obviously if this fire was wiped out in this tragedy let's listen to how they explained how this all happened. we heard the plane take off so we told our granddaughter look there's going to be an airplane then i heard a bang and my daughter told me mom it's falling down to the side then came the flames and the smoke and we wanted to run away but we didn't know where to run then we went to the river and saw that plane. as of now come on you're just like my chief is my home team we supported and we have this team who was shocked when we found out who went to all of the games when you all of them by name it's very difficult. so

a real tragedy for the sports world and also for russia forty two forty three people confirmed dead like you said to have survived it's still not known if they're going to make it we're hearing bad alexander. chemo who is in the hospital in critical condition we heard rumors earlier that he had passed away we know that eighty percent of his body is burned so hopefully he will make it through this we know now that he is fighting his way through this in the hospital along with another survivor again still not confirmed to that second survivor is but lots of people hoping to her nearest level that at least these two people will make it out of this tragedy absolutely to just bring a child a bit of good news to what such a horrendous story that's unfolded there where you are i mean it's getting late now it consumes top behind you investigate is an image that seems of course a little awful job to work through the night trying to pull more bodies out from the wreckage but there's still be continuing at least. absolutely we're hearing

that specialists are on their way as we speak from moscow with equipment and nights to continue the search efforts through the night it's very dark you're very cold a lot of the wreckage is in the volga river thirty five bodies have been recovered so far and the officials we've spoken to are very much hoping that they will find the rest of those remaining bodies by morning i'll bet you never know we're hearing that it's quite a difficult difficult circumstances out there i can see really no light here that the city just shocked just what happened of course not just for sports fans but for all of russia the whole world watching really as this tragedy unfolds parallel taking place in the city of course the global policy former president needs to do on his way to euro stall anyway on thursday. cutting half of his schedule in half to come here to the crash site and pay his respects to those who lost their lives. the rule feed coming in a. plane on fire with

smoke and flames coming off rescue crews the initial. wreckage and soon as they possibly could can you paint a picture of how close the volga river is to the airport i gather the plane split into three pieces two of those ended up in the river is that correct. from the pictures that i've seen and what i've had a chance to see it. was the case the airport is about a kilometer from where i'm standing we're not very far from the piece of the river where the wreckage is now will we presume being removed from what happened as far as we know what happened was once the plane crashed most of it like you said three pieces it's being said. it was broken into three pieces at least two of those pieces including the fuselage in the loss of flames loss of smoke and basically hours after that just intense efforts to find the bodies as soon as possible it has

to be said this happened in between i'm going to say four thirty five o'clock moscow time and within hours they have already heard he had found dozens of bodies were already at thirty five so although this of course a terrible tragedy it has to be said that the emergency workers are working very quickly. thirty five. more. live reports coming in more eyewitnesses who saw. some of those who watched the plane so tragically come down this is this is one eyewitness what he had to say. operative the one that was the son of god after the plane took off i heard a noise like two cars colliding several seconds later we had another bank and the plane started leaning to the right after we heard the second train suddenly tired

and hit the ground we didn't see it hit the ground produce all that it's trivial broken off the plane broke into. again some conflicting evidence there that chap said the plane broke into also seeing news reports the news was coming through saying the plane broke into three also hearing eyewitness reports of that ferocious fire one policeman earlier on in issa saying that he saw flames and described them as high as a nine story building horrendous what went on there you were saying just now the cause is there are two khalid different stories we heard one eyewitness report saying that he saw a plane go down almost as it was taking off and barely took to the sky the other report of course saying that it may have hit antennas why try and bring us a bit more about what's being said about what could have caused this awful tragedy . this is always the case when there are crashes like there's lots of different angles that you could have watched this plane hit something no one really knows

what went wrong like you said witnesses all have different versions of what they saw from down on the ground how often in the skies this afternoon here in europe investigators are telling us that the two versions that they are now most intensely looking out one of course is human factor that of course is always the case another is a technical failure it seems like what they're narrowing down on is the fact that the plane can gain. altitude fast enough and then like we heard from those witnesses hit something whether it was an antenna or wire or something something brought it down and obviously that's what investigators are trying to figure out how this all happened it looks like it's going to be quite a while before they come up with a concrete reason and will be able to finally tell us what went wrong and how an entire hockey team was basically wiped out in this terrible crash course is pretty fair to say no so whenever you hear about a plane crash here in russia idea for duvall's one of the old soviet made planes

thinking about the to pull off from five four one three four to crush it would be one of those again recently and now this year twenty four jet before all that although people say there was the these planes are getting old in design not the kind so you talked to a spokesman paula they're all that said if these planes are serviced well they're well built in the first place they are perfectly air with the other one we know about the twenty four jets. yet of course always depends on who you are some experts will say soviet planes are very well made and if they're kept in good condition they can certainly keep flying others will say it's time for these planes to retire because we're seeing too many crashes and i think there's going to be a lot of debate about that over the next coming coming the next few days what we do know about this in particular is that it held a hundred seats the general capacity for. forty two is about one hundred and twenty and they are known to be very reliable planes over the past decade or so there have

been several incidents. that have been of clouds crashes and of course forced pilots and experts to begin thinking about whether or not gaps should be flying this is something that is going to continue especially after this latest crash it's going to bring you said you know this or it could be the forty two the twenty four there the wrong way but model was you saying this or yak forty two jet involved in tonight's crash. but let's talk again to the sports correspondent kate partridge. in all for tonight is being regarded and talked about now as russia's worst sporting disaster absolutely i mean we lost a cat effectively a whole team completely gone and also it is indeed a tragedy but it does also bring to mind some of disaster we were looking through and also some of my colleagues reminded me of this of the practical disaster which is also that was a midair crash landing nine hundred seventy nine in the negotiations which is in the ukraine and what happened is the practice or team had been promoted they were

also going off to fight development in a football match and they collided with another plane midair nine hundred seventy nine august seventeen players plus officials got really. talking about just looking back at the archives that event a great britain as well absolutely you do events looking through i mean we found at least eleven different crashes i mean the main one that definitely i can think of mainly in is money to see if you can see ninety nine hundred fifty eight. and also even as late as one thousand nine hundred ninety three the zambian national football team as well in a plane crash. so international hockey stars approach to the disaster this is the shock of this tragedies being felt not only very greatly here in russia but also of course around the world and absolutely so many of the hockey team now in particular in a cage shall not only attract russian players they attract players from all around the world also the n.h.l. who also sent their condolences. we were looking eight or nine different nationalities some of the stars kettle black america czech republic of all the major slovakia all these international players the repercussions here are not just

russian they global. holding a memorial ceremony the tickets proceeds for those tickets sales are going to be donated to the team. and i guess the fans for the families now it has found its i mean alexander medvedev he happened to be at the first match of that match of the season that was stopped because of because of this tragedy and we can hear from him now. a plane carrying the locomotive team krrish to right after the team got from your slum according to the latest information only one player has some armed our teams don't think they can continue to manage after such news thank you for your understanding and supporting this decision now let's commemorate the players who have passed away with a minute of silence. the president of the kontinental hockey league and of course comment as well coming through tonight as well from the president of the ice hockey federation of russia pretty uk. we offer our condolences to the

families and the club and i see it is a huge loss for russian ice hockey because there were a lot of good players and there was liable to everything to find out the cause of the tragedy to support the families and help the sport leave on india's level so all of those who died in the disaster. well as it was very much as the letters of the attack says that this is all about rebuilding the communities rebuilding a hockey community and there's been there have been suggestions because it is the it's effectively the end of the team we there is a famous going said i was under contract you suggested that perhaps other teams maybe donate players and help to help in the rebuilding of the city and also to say ok well kate thanks for giving us the sporting side on this terrible event and i thank you. i will of course keep you updated with the latest developments as we get them throughout the course of the. meantime let's take a look at some of the other top stories from r.t. . a little court in berlin has thrown out

a series of lawsuits which said that germany's bankrolling of bailouts to ailing european economies were illegal the judges ruled out giving chancellor merkel a blank check saying any future rain or snow be pre-approved by parliament course that could hamper germany's ability to react swiftly to any new crisis but it sets a precedent for other nations to tighten their belts as well as they should part is welcome the ruling but said merkel have made the crisis worse through the lays and lack of vision plans for advisor patrick i'm told is busy little to celebrate just . ultimately this is actually i think what we would call a pyrrhic victory that's an empty victory for mrs merkel yes the be allowed can go ahead but like all good court judgments read the small print and what has happened today is that in fact the german court has a mind with an announcement for the german parliament and most importantly of all the german budget committee has a grid deal more say on what goes on in the whole issue the larger view is this what we're looking at today is that yes be allowed can go ahead but at the same

time it's still a very very quietly picture of the euro we know that the german people are deeply unhappy about what's going on and they don't see there being any benefit in suddenly giving a credit card another bottle of vodka to a drying drunken man in a department store and that's what we've got here it's going to still be a terrible result once the market as a bit of a relief rally which is going on as we speak what's happening is greece is essential being sold. in slavery by the way that the euro debt mechanism is working shameful farce for greece it's a farce for the greece people and it's a complete and utter disaster for the europe of greece should be allowed to go free and it must make its own decisions its own sovereign decisions that have greece doesn't leave becomes or is spreading and as we know it reached it last month it's already rooting around a clear since the end it here or trickle it it ireland's so far does the disease google for it finally kills the patient i think the question is it's not

a question of how much work is there to get angry side of the euro actually a much chances that the euro is going to survive with greece still in it and the answer is really none. or further south is clear frustration among italians and the spanish as well with thousands rallying in protest of a governor's presence there and the measures it's in these forty five billion euro package welcomed by the e.u. new tax hikes and rating for women. in spain the demonstrations there came ahead of a crucial vote on amending the constitution to limit national debt unions and rights groups say the cat would decimate the welfare system and the most vulnerable . libyan rebels say they tracked colonel gadhafi and they're ready to take him dead or alive the former leader was tracked down after the loyalist convoys left for the neighboring country of the rebels are believed to be locating gadhafi with high tech equipment and intelligence now they say they've got control of most of the

country after a helping hand from western nations that's in stark contrast to how america and britain operated in libya in recent years because before the ante could i think campaign the cia and m i six religiously sending terror suspects to live here for interrogation and torture according to documents they've now been unearthed in libya not surprisingly they sparked outrage was that a bushel for r.t. reports next to sign suggest the violence isn't over yet and the real chaos maybe yet to come. to hollywood has saw him as one of africa's most experienced diplomats just broke from the libyan capital he says needs who has turned it into a. political police. there is no administration there is no there is no it's called law and order has been replaced by a crew of rebels some fear that the various groups who have emerged might soon stop fighting each other what's your weapon stores have been raided every man's arms

with kalashnikovs if the tribes fight for their independence the country will answer and never ends in civil war with brutal urban guerilla war. lists are given even rebel leaders don't know where therefore it is a from. rebel hands marking with joel was a launch to find islam is sleeper cells had joint history fanciful and vast parallel structure of competence has appeared we have no idea who is in charge of than. hopes of a reliable replacement for more america deathy appear to be fading libya's rebels remain deeply divided while the chaos from nato bombing appears to be spreading beyond the country's borders in the turmoil there are fears that religious extremists could be using libya as a base to further their aims in north africa fanchon music. while the nation women got abortion rights twenty years before women in belgium under the last regime divorced women good benefits revived terribly just movements and trying to

reverse that the week before the war leaders from barack obama to nicolas sarkozy and silvio berlusconi shook and even kissed going to a group was called the bridge carpet treatment in paris but the west will also change tack want experts if libya doesn't go for them as planned according to this man who's just returned from war torn tripoli the message from some locals there is that the conflict may have created a frankenstein's monster for europe they warned us that we don't know what we are creating the idea it will be a free haven of extremist groups which are just on the southern border of europe poirot's from failed somalia may be a coast a no go. frighteningly some diplomats no think libya is heading in with direction but what they will do sure that if you look at the union will not be safe since there will be parted and there will be all bloat to control it is that it. to make it safe i will think friendship couldn't you can support that with them

intervention in libya has brought large numbers of new forces to the fore experts fear the worst itself may come to regret their emergency. bush or see brussels staying with the region's troubles the situation in syria was discussed in moscow and meeting between the russian and french foreign ministers. and his counterpart stressed the need for dialogue between the syrian government and opposition but the meeting also outlined a few differences in approach to that because france is seeking tough sanctions on the syrian government while russia wants a more peaceful solution but both say they look for discussing possible measures at the u.n. general assembly later this month russia's foreign minister stressed that syria must not be able to give the libyans. we're convinced that it's vital today to start talks and this is actually what the syrian leadership calls for it's extremely dangerous to prompt certain forces in syria to boycott those talks and neither russia nor front's wants to see that happen every party in

syria should stop using violence and we proposed a resolution to this effect we encourage the government to carry out the reforms it has launched and the opposition should not use provocations and reject invitations into dialogue. any kind of sanctions on syria only represent the imperial ambitions of some other western powers the country will only be able to settle his issues after external pressure is taken out of the picture that is the view of jacob president of the future of freedom foundation or spoke to. sanctions always hurt that you got i mean it's amazing that these old colonial powers it now learn it it only ends up hurting the people not the regime itself it actually solidifies the power of the rich the best the best way forward is to butt out i mean that's what the u.s. needs to do that's what the brits need to do france but the world is filled with dictators with tyrants it always has been this is

a matter for the syrian people to decide how far do they want to go to oust this dictatorship they want to go to revolution which is a very costly enterprise not to lose their lives this is a choice people of that country need to make but you know these these are the old can you know hours you know britain it britain france i mean they're they're living in the old days of having their empires back where they're controlling the middle east and controlling the events of the middle east and installing their little puppet regimes extracting oil from these countries is going to go to something significantly worse they're going to keep playing this game with the sanctions the assad regime is not going to urge it's you know no regime going to budge to it with respect to sanctions and you're just going to see it and tell ultimately yes you may see a libya situation. the council of europe's legal committee is to look closer into swiss claims that fourteen european countries allegedly allowed the cia to operate

secret prisons on their soil but port by a politician think marty says u.s. actions in those detention centers violated basic human rights and torture was widely used he was chief human rights commission is already urged poland if you when you and romania to come clean about their roles i'll go does says the leader of the lithuanian opposition party front told us it'll be hard to prove his her teeth were actually pretty. in the theory of inquiry showed that there was a whole infrastructure rebuilding of a prison bilocation the cia claims lending interfere in two thousand to two thousand and five but nobody gave the information about who about so-called suspects about so-called terrorists who were and this is the information about concrete persons who were brought to phoenix this information is lacking and this is the core of the problem and this allowed to libyan officials of that time to say

that you know we didn't have prisons because there is no evidence and no facts about concrete so-called terrorist. national identities powerful emotion put when you've been a small part of a big country the best part of millennium you could feel a little bit held back whales for example a tiny pretty principality that now wants the same taste of freedom as their celtic cousins in scotland and it reports on why the people of the valleys about going to get a bigger voice. welcome to wales part of the u.k. and a proud nation with its own language and customs and the latest voice to call for independence applied comrie which means the party of wales has always argued the country could be better off without the u.k. and it seems increasing numbers are starting to see their point of view our economy has been run from london with the interest and priorities of the south east of

england to the fore and independent wills of course will be able to chart a different course. priorities wales is a long way from declaring independence but it's no longer just a pipe dream people here voted overwhelmingly earlier this year in favor of handing the welsh assembly full law making powers that was considered a turning point in welsh nationhood and plights couldn't read the party of wales have undoubtedly taken heart from the surprise victory of the scottish national party that victory in may gave the s.n.p. an outright majority in the scottish parliament which has many powers devolved from westminster parties promise to hold a scotland wide referendum on whether to declare independence according to applied comrie that marks the turning of the tide for a unified u.k. people now i believe are beginning to to use the word into penguins in a welsh context which they say they wouldn't have gotten

a few years and asked activity ballots i think the keep going where's it going to see that when scotland becomes independent the next logical step is for will be coming to things into of course separatism is nothing new to the british isles and the thousands of victims of the troubles in northern ireland are testament to how high feelings can run both in the present day and for centuries past while national sentiment may not be a new phenomenon the reasons for it have changed over the years and in these. current turbulent economic times money talks scotland has gas but while wales was a proud coal producing nation its minds are now closed and it's got some of the highest unemployment levels in the u.k. because of that the older generation is reserved when it comes to independence but young people are filled with national fervor but then independence is less about

money and more about nationhood and identity wales needs to be independent because it is a great country and we do we do it live like noujaim and it's really patriotic i think of more patriotic things like that. it was. just seem to be better here at the moment that you can get free prescriptions. education seems to be a bit better place comrie says it's going to build on that support providing not just emotional reasons why well should be independent but concrete economic reasons too and it says wales does have resources particularly land and sea for green energy if the scots vote for independence wales might not be far behind nor emmett's r.t. cardiff. it's been a day of disquiet in israel where police have started dismantling the tent cities built by protesters during the past two months come for part of a nationwide construction over living costs and other social problems among

israelis right now and the move came less than a day after televisa administration promised to protect the demonstrators and cooperate with them it led to clashes between the counter inhabitants and police as well as calls for tell of his mayor to resign some of the worst bone was vandalised israeli defense force base damaging several vehicles but was in response to the i.d.f. earlier this month in several posts jewish settlers leader danny guy and told us the authorities will act as they would in a palestinian incident and neither side will achieve anything. they called upon the perpetrators to surrender themselves to the police and also called the police to use the all the. capabilities they have in order to perpetrate those of these acts by the way i use exactly the same terminology when out of violence perpetrated by israelis against the palestinian proper you have to understand. we are all playing. a game leads us

no we're the only game and great people magic world include the united states including the united nations including the european community and including russia is the two state solution but the state solution isn't visible just after twenty eight minutes past ten moscow time value stay with us over the coming hours here on r.t. will be closely following that tragedy that saying no most or all of the champion ice hockey team lokomotiv yaroslavl killed earlier this evening after the plane came down just after takeoff a few hours ago we were watching r t international for much scott. the.

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