my name's kevin owen with the top stories tonight for you and heavy fighting in libya shows little sign of easing as ground forces maintain their offensive against a stronger daffyd loyalist resistance this is the country's interim leaders struggle to form a cohesive government cabinet in the bushes plans for change the loyalists are making their last stand indeed in several cities with civilians in the affected areas trapped in the crossfire meantime the rest of live it is reeling from months of civil war with some estimating the death toll in the tens of thousands ongoing nato airstrikes have also reportedly killed a number of civilians with some western leaders now facing possible legal action over their military campaign you may find some of the images coming up and down the bushes report disturbing. fringe explorer minister roland to more says he's ready to defend gadhafi in the international criminal court which is issued a warrant for his arrest but later will have to point because first libya's deposed leader is it hiding for good reason. if this find him they'll kill him like bill

maher don't some states are now claiming the right to kill but against all international law. images like these are moving french lawyers to turn against the government because sarkozy faces lawsuits over the birth of ordinary people in libya lawyers here in france accuse the presence of committing crimes against humanity this lawyer calls the libyan war renew vietnam with the us sprayed tens of millions of liters of toxins on crops in the sixty's and seventy's causing brain disorders miscarriages and birth defects to this day. so they're using missiles with depleted uranium which causes cancer in tripoli i saw people crippled by nato attacks office workers who have nothing to do with the fighting that's why we're seeing president sarkozy for crimes against humanity nato first denied bombing this residence where thirteen civilians including four children died then

called the place a military command center this journalist went to see what it really housed books videos spiderman toys and cultural moves and everything is nothing nothing military in another attack is wife or child and grandchildren were reportedly killed in their home nato is accused of deliberately waging a campaign of terror. their bombings targeted libya's electricity water and food supply after five months of deadly nato bombs and thousands of deaths people will stop supporting the regime because they simply cannot take it anymore. western leaders a poised for their first big legal challenge over libya if they stop the cases coming to court all together as chickadee it will prove once and for all that western justice really used brought by politicians not the rule of law the new bush

or r.t. paris. now the latest twist of the libyan revolted emerge that colonel gadhafi could have made his recent escape from tripoli in a state of the art armored vehicle according to report. britain's daily mail newspaper now that mercedes four by four though was reportedly provided by the french government with nicolas sarkozy given the green light for the deal back in two thousand and seven journalist and political analyst bill or i'm done he says the news is a huge embarrassment for the french leadership. it's equipped with. command a system which allows colonel gadhafi to keep in touch with his forces but it's also equipped with an anti tracking system which makes it impossible for nato surveillance to pick up any signals and indeed to locate and target the car so it's indeed quite ironic any indeed embarrassing for the french government the deal was struck in two thousand and seven when president sarkozy was then interior minister before that before he became president a few months later and as soon as it became president he received

a colonel gadhafi himself in paris for a five day state visit present soccer as he was able to sell him this armored vehicle the cd is called four by four and indeed part of the deal is a twenty five million plus package which also provides the libyan government with means to keep tabs on the opposition's by controlling the e-mail system of dissidents these revelations come in the way of a triumph and visit lately by president sarkozy in libya where he was very much depicted in the french press as the liberator of libya he was nicknamed so cozy the libyan and his mood was nicknamed sarkozy who are he was portrayed as the savior of libya while at the same time of course his the one who probably the most to keep gadhafi in on as anybody else so these are hugely embarrassing revelations for western countries involved in this military adventure in libya and however to look

at it it's very hard to believe that they're getting involved militarily out of the goodness of their hearts but of course as we've seen lately there was a press conference held where business interests were discussed and the whole purpose of that meeting was of course to make the military adventure worthwhile and to discuss business of kitties involving the rebuilding of libya with energy companies from britain and france in a very good position to get very lucrative business deals in place gadhafi in libya . still ahead for you this hour angry demonstrators to seal off the northern crossing now use we're going to stop protests descending into conflict. and two russian cosmonauts return to the capital after a nail biting mission were up moscow's star city with the details shortly from. the un the world's key financial institutions say palestine is strong enough to function as an independent state palestinian president mahmoud abbas is due to

request full un membership at the general assembly on friday saying he'll submit a request letter after his speech there but the threat of an american veto still hangs in the air ninety's near port explained as the u.n. plays positions. if global politics were a sport. the united nations would be the grand arena. and september would be opening season nearly two hundred of the world's most powerful and not so powerful players descend on new york city gathering in one room for a week's worth of speeches and a chance to grandstand on the international stage that's nearly ten thousand delegates in two thousand journalists are in town for the general assembly debate but in reality five countries are the ones who really matter russia china france the us and britain the permanent security council members with veto power the real power in the united nations resides in the security council and it requires

a consensus among the five permanent members and as long as the one one of one or more of the permanent members won't go along with something the un's ability to act is limited no resolutions can succeed if opposed by any of the big five case in point the current palestinian campaigns for u.n. membership and statehood and initiative the u.s. publicly supported last year when we come back here next year we can have an agreement that will lead to a new member of the united nations an independent sovereign state of palestine living in peace with israel but this year it's the opposite with washington saying it will veto the palestinian un membership bid warning of additional collateral damage one of the things that i that i hope the palestinian leadership is consider considering is the day after what will happen when after whatever. show we have in the united nations is done. what will change in the real world for

the palestinian people. the answer is nothing that sadly ironically the majority of the general assembly supports palestinian un membership the assembly alone with two thirds majority can award nonmember observer status to the power. stinney ns like the vatican enjoys and doesn't need security council approval to do so so no one can veto this decision some believe however the un is the wrong forum for resolving major international disputes it's a very dysfunctional situation and actually the un really isn't the one isn't really the venue even for this the un only gets the sort of hype aspects of these fights and and deals with them pretty badly to the israeli palestinian problem at the un is mostly theater and this is just one one particularly for a freakish example of it this global gathering attracts the security clouds and maybe even madness of a sports championship but when it comes to practical outcomes scoring more than a symbolic victory could be unlikely even if there is

a permanent member or two or three who believe that. palestine should not be a member of the un. they want it on record but the vast majority of the people the world do believe that it's time the younger u.n.g.a. gathering all we have mark my life. yet many wonder if this super bowl of diplomatic strategy leads to anything more than the event itself marina point neither party. tensions nor the cost of over discuss this week in brussels is both grades top negotiator called for calm urging all sides to seek a diplomatic solution the atmosphere in the region intensified after prishtina backed by nato led forces placed customs officials on the two disputed border posts that were previously under control in response ethnic serbs blocked all the roads leading to the crossings but to syria furthest more on this highly charged situation. as stand of course of those thirty's with e.u.

and nato forces on one side ethnic serbian protesters on the other keep it for us this is our land our territory it's refusing to accept the costing government's attempts to take control of two border crossings here in the north the protesters are standing firm at the barricades that they erect is the game of nerves and night side willing to back down i don't think that anyone in the world can come to these people here in the north and tell them give up simply go home and accept that you are leaving independent cos they will not do it for the time being the protesters seem calm you don't have to look hard to see signs of the underlying tensions all along the roads here in the north you come across these makeshift roadblocks serbian people using gravel rocks bits of wood whatever they can get their hands on really to disrupt the flow of traffic in this area protesters have vowed that lots

will remain in place to dialogue begins about who man the border posts and what will happen with the revenue collected from the customs tax and potential going to . solutions reached for both sides of the situation right now is unacceptable back in july violence erupted when the authorities tried to take control of the border pace after closer than prime minister has seen that she wanted to trade down and serbia the conflict resulted in the death of the policemen and now neither side want to take action the fear it could once again ignite tension concerning the major events taking place right now considering the concerns of the. population living in. this i would say of removing those barricades from the streets and from the main highways it's not for it's not a priority of. security organizations and cause the funding criticisms that they preach then each will position with regards to cost you look since said that the

monitoring of the customs bring much needed law and order to the north pristina acted within terms of an agreement a claim that belgrade strongly. this is a serious incident in a serious step back. a long road to formalisation off our relationship with krishna second thing is that once you put a custom officers then you will put a flag then you will put the court of arms then you will put. laws and then people who live here will be circled by something that looks like. they simply cannot accept this now talk among the building. bypass the checkpoints because bin authorities refused to leave the time being the border crossing remains bloke's and there are many obstacles that will need to be overcome on the road to finding a resolution sarah first. got

a lot more extensive coverage of the story as you see. we don't have time for here on our website our quick look at a future value by be interested in behind the scenes look at the for. here's some flag ship the pride of the russian navy now you get an inside look at the mighty valley yog in all its glory we've got the footage online for you and while this is a close escape a small town in russia's far east is faced with an extraordinary nuisance you can see what you believe in even believe what you're seeing there even a group of polar bears invaded the areas attacking the locals she had such a lucky escape ahead online to odyssey dawn to find out residents are combative the thread is a bit worse for wear there for whatever reason but she makes it and thankfully she's alive more of that online tonight. and more news making headlines at least twenty people including a child have reportedly been killed by pro regime snipers firing from rooftops in the yemeni capital sanaa hundreds more were treated for gunshot wounds comes a day after twenty six protesters were shot dead in renewed clashes between

presidential moralists and opposition supporters in the bloodiest crackdown in weeks the big daily protests demanding the end of president saleh rule russia says it wants both sides to enter talks saying it's the only way out of the crisis now. cash strapped greece has been given the ultimatum to enforce deeper budget cuts if it wants to avoid going bankrupt early next month the international monetary fund's rounded on athens for falling behind on reform targets the country's finance ministers pledged to speed them up and is holding an emergency conference with creditors and all this comes as eurozone leaders choose to wait until october before ruling on whether to release the next eight billion euro bailout package to greece. president obama has laid out a plan to cut the deficit in revive the american economy with the wealthy expected to pay more he said big owners and corporations must pay high taxes. everyone should pay a fair share rather republicans are already refusing to agree to the tax hikes but the white house believes the public's on its side. police in bangladesh are

clashing with protesters demanding the release of senior members of the country's largest islamist party activists many carrying sticks and throwing rocks fought with riot officers and set several vehicles alike fifty people reportedly wounded and dozens of arrested the five detained islamist party members were charged with crimes against humanity in the country's one nine hundred seventy one war of independence with pakistan. two russian cosmonauts back in moscow after an extended vengeful stay on board the international space station the return to earth was delayed because of safety precautions after the failure of the progress and cargo ship back in august artie's people of a reports them from moscow star city space center. the two russian cosmonauts the returned back to worth on friday have been talking about their experiences while on board the i.s.a.'s but they were up there for nearly six months so as you can imagine with only four days to get used to life back on earth it has taken some getting used to. i was afraid my first moves on earth would be clumsy and difficult

but it turned out to be not that bird controlling my body was challenging i wanted to turn a room but i could only walk straight despite my intentions it's much more stressful to learn on earth than to leave orbit over the very eventful six months that they were on board the international space station their three g. incidents that occurred while they were up there they were they were of course there for the progress module that crashed that was heading up to supply the i s s with food with water with oxygen and they talked about how that affected them on board we spoke a great length about it from here on the earth but they were saying is terms of food water and supplies too much however it did affect them in terms of their experiments that they were doing that was equipment was being carried on the progress module it was intended to help them conduct those experiments that are going on up in space to make our lives here on earth all that better unfortunately the loss of those that equipment in did those experiments now they were also up

there for the final docking all the nasa space shuttle and the space shuttle atlantis docked on the eighth of july and left on the joy i beg your pardon was the last time for it now the cosmonauts are saying that this was a very sad experience it was quite similar in their eyes to when the mir space station finally fell out of commission a real end to a chapter in space exploration history now the main celebration of their time when the on board the international space station was of course you recent night the twelfth of april fifty years since you could go and set off to become the first man in space that was of course hugely celebrated on board the space station the internet. space station containing people from japan people from america of course russians as well during that celebration so they were and it was a real international affairs this is what they were the cause not to say. well it's especially nice to know that countries other than russia respect to this holiday we

received lots of warm wishes and greetings like through russians we took pride that yuri gagarin was our countrymen and our ship was called to go and so the flight was filled with a holiday spirit so well alexander some a good deal of underbody to get used to life back here on earth they recognize the the celebration it was your car it's first flight fifty years ago from star city piece of art to. what i saw the news looks tonight on our team next we'll be hearing from one of the people making the call for palestinian statehood at the u.n. the administration's key politician explains why four member state as will finally hold israel to account over its actions an occupation is coming right up.

archie sitting down with award winning scholar and internationally recognized politician executive committee member of the palestine liberation organization dr hanan ashrawi thank you so much for joining us today thank you and if there's a smile close for dr shah e let's start with one of the most highlighted issues at this year's united nations general assembly gathering of course palestine's bid for recognize statehood we know that palestine is already recognized by over one hundred twenty countries why does this u.n. vote matter. it's very important because this is a turning point and sort of palestinian history and in the history of peacemaking

in the region we do have as you said bilateral recognitions from different countries we have by now one hundred twenty seven but at the same time we are we have been engaged in a peace process that has taken on over two decades of prolongation and stalling with creating facts on the ground building settlements unilaterally acting from a position of power as an occupier and undermining the chances of peace and the objectives of the two state solution so we are trying now to say that this is a new face a new era and say we are going to the international community to say that the palestinian question and the palestinian people have that i think certainly terminations and should be placed within this international context as the essence of multilateralism as the source of international global legislation and the palestinian question must be resolved in accordance with international law unlike

going through the security council going through the general assembly would mean a nonmember state status for palestine why would that be important that's very important because although we are now we have observer status as the p.l.o. and we want to have. a nonmember state status which means there would be a recognition of statehood that would also declare the territory occupied territory not disputed territory and therefore up for grabs it would declare it is through settlements occupied not as the eternally unified capital of forever and ever and it would lay the foundations of any new solution based on international law so it's very important and we can also hold israel accountable which is something that is driving israel and the us absolutely insane when talking about accountability because they don't want any kind of accountability put isn't whether through you and human rights organization. like the un council on human rights where the

international criminal court the international court of justice they just want to ensure that israel continues to act outside than above the law now if we look a little bit at united states involvement in all of this we know that last year barack obama spoke at the general assembly saying that hopefully by this year two thousand and eleven palestine will be recognized as a member within the united nations now his administration is clearly opposed to this do you see this is a stab in the back i see this as a source of commander sled down there in disappointment because he theys the expectations and there were right of ways starting with ending all settlement activities to acting decisively in peacemaking to basing all of peacemaking on international law and multilateralism to building the palestinian state on the sixty seven boundaries so having it in that dawn on most all these things he has created a sense of let down among the palestinians the arabs even there would people of good conscience who expected obama to live up to his promises to his values and

principles rather than to a matter of interest right now. if he's seen as doing israel's bidding and trying to justify the occupation and trying to justify israeli policies and actually putting pressure on everybody starting with the palestinians who are of course the weakest part because we do not have any kind of weapons and arms being so he'll be seen as sort of not just bullying the palestinians but he'll be seen as weighing in on the side of an illegal and unjust situation and he would be undermining the standing and credibility and interests of the u.s. in the region and throughout the world what do you think americans and some european countries have been willing to welcome the arab spring and yet palestine's self determination is seen as something pretty much an acceptable by the united states in particular. it is ironic this that will stand that they look at the arab

spring as a way of vindication of the drive towards democracy and freedom and human rights and human dignity and yet when it comes to the palestinians we are decontextualized . this is very selective precisely because i think out occupied israel. is a domestic issue in the us and has enormous influence on their careers. the fates of many politicians through elections through access to the media through the campaign funds and song is a constant exam also because of being part of the holocaust on that history and western guilt over what they did to the jews the palestinians were deprived of the protection of the law. given the succession and treatment particularly because it has a powerful lobby also in the us that is a growing movement of solidarity with the palestinians and i hope that that would hold that own. countries accountable or systems of government and this is part

of the arab spring where the arab spring has moved relation to the user to the social media and these global principles they do not apply just to the arab world of palestine to the west like to humanity as a whole and therefore the exemption of the palestinians from these values and the exemption from accountability for violating these values will no longer be tolerated. the americans may succeed in having that on not of interest but on values and principles but not for long because they too will be held accountable by their own people dr hanan ashrawi thank you for your time with us today thank you very much and it's nice to meet you .

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is r.t. from moscow all top stories tonight if you could duffy loyalists are keeping up the fight in libya but the country's interim leaders are struggling to form a cabinet meantime the french president could face a legal battle at home over his country's actions in the war. he used calling for calm of red. ethnic tension that some ruptured when kosovo sees two checkpoints on its norman border with serbia it led to serbs blockading the approach roads meantime belgrade's top negotiators original sides to seek a diplomatic solution. and the palestinians are set to take center stage in new york on friday to try and secure statehood recognition although the wide support they are getting could clash with a veto wielding u.s. intel the world's key financial institutions say the independent palestine would be strong enough to cope.