colonel qadhafi last strongholds the city that's almost eight hundred kilometers south of the capital tripoli controls of the main route to neighboring and asia where it has already been used by members of gadhafi family and entourage fleeing the country fighting also continues in the cities of. lead with reports of growing number of civilian casualties but as nato keeps backing the rebels some western leaders are now facing possible legal action over the military intervention you may find some of the images disturbing in this report from daniel bushell. fringe explorer minister rowland jumo says he's ready to defend gadhafi in the international criminal court which is issued a warrant for his arrest but nato will have to first libya's deposed leader is it hiding for good reason. if they find him they'll kill him like bin ladin and some states are now claiming the right to kill but not 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 u.s. 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 it then called the place a military command center this journalist went to see what it really housed books

videos spiderman toys and cultural movies and everything is nothing nothing military in another attack. wife or child and grandchildren were reportedly killed in their home nato is accused of deliberately waging a campaign of terror. 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 by politicians not the rule of law the new bush or r.t. paris. and while the ousted libyan leader remains on the run a british newspaper report claims that moammar gadhafi made his escape from tripoli in a. of the art armored vehicle the article says

a four by four series estimated to have cost more than three million british pounds was provided by the french government with president sarkozy sealing the deal in two thousand and eight journalist and a political analyst nabila ramdani says the news deals a blow to friends it's equipped with. command a system which allows colonel gadhafi to keep in touch with his forces but it 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 and indeed embarrassing for the french government the deal was struck when president sarkozy was then interior minister before that before he became president a few months later and as soon as he became president he received colonel gadhafi himself in paris for a five day state visit president sarkozy 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 wake of a triumphant visit lately by president sarkozy in libya where he was very much depicted in the french press as the liberate of libya he was nicknamed sako z. the libyan and his who was nicknamed posies or he was portrayed as the savior of libya while at the same time of course his the one who did probably the most to keep gadhafi in arms as anybody else. and still ahead for you this hour. ethnic serbs are blocked border crossings within serbia while the e.u. and belgrade to try to stop events spiraling out of control. and we are at star city outside moscow where two russian cosmonauts just came to life on

earth after a nerve wracking reentry. the un and the world's a 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 artie's more important i explained the u.n. players 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 and 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 want one or 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 un membership and statehood and initiative the us 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 it's 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 crowds 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 best majority of the people the world do believe that it's time the younger you enjoy a gathering hold we have won my life. yet many wonder if his super bowl of diplomatic strategy leads to anything more than the event itself. party. tensions in northern kosovo will be discussed this week in brussels and belgrade's a top negotiator called for calm urging all sides to seek

a diplomatic solution the atmosphere in the region intensified after pristina backed by nato led forces placed customs officials on the two disputed border posts previously under certain control in response ethnic serbs blockaded all the roads leading to the crossings. has more on this highly charged situation. as. kosovo thirty's with e.u. and nato forces on one side ethnic serbian protesters on the other keep before us this is our land our territory it's refusing to accept the 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 the sides willing to back down i don't think that anyone in the world can come to these people here in the north to give up. to go home and accept that you're leaving independent they will 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 protest is about the flow to remain in place to the dialogue begins about who man the border posts and what will happen with the revenue collected from the customs tacks. not going to move until the 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 posts after closer than prime minister has but she wanted to trade on serbia the conflict resulted in the death of the policeman and now neither side wants to take action for fear it could once again ignite tension considering the major events taking place right now considering the concerns of the. population living in.

this i would say of removing those barricades from from the streets and from the main highways it's not. not a priority of. security organizations and cause the funding criticisms that they preached on each will position with regards to you look at the monitoring of the customs bring much needed law and order to the north pristina says they 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 them officers then you will put a flag then you will put the count of arms then you will put. laws and then people who live here will be circled by something that looks like. the sea became

a picture there's now talk among those. bypassed the checkpoint because then authorities refused to leave the time being the border crossing remained bloke's and there are many obstacles that will need to be overcome on the roads to finding a resolution sarah first cause. and for other news and extended coverage don't forget to check out our web site r t v dot com have a look at what we have online for you right now. a new treat for russian a question of fans as a national horse and buggy driving championships are held in the country. and for the life and works of brush and music legend joe torre tchaikovsky get a new bloke from a british animator but onto our team dot com for details. in more news making headlines for you tonight. at least fifty people have reportedly been killed by security forces in two days of clashes in the yemeni capital of sanaa.

snipers were reported to have been firing from rooftops targeting demonstrators this crackdown has already been called the most serious outbreak of violence in months with clashes flaring up between presidential loyalists and opposition supporters russia wants both sides to enter talks saying it's the only way out of the crisis. rescue operations continue in isolated himalayan areas of india nepal and tibet after a six point nine magnitude earthquake shook the region at least seventy people have been killed and dozens more are still missing officials fear the death toll may rise as heavy rains and landslides hamper relief efforts. cash strapped greece has been given an ultimatum to enforce deeper budget cuts if it wants to avoid going bankrupt early next month the international monetary fund has found rounded on athens for falling behind on the reform targets of the country's finance

minister has pledged to speed it up and is holding an emergency conference with creditors this comes as eurozone leaders choose to wait until october before ruling on whether to release the next billion euro bailout package to greece. president obama has laid out a plan to cut the deficit and revive the american economy with the wealthy expected to pay more so he's said big earners and corporations must pay higher taxes adding that everyone should pay a fair share rival republicans are already in refusing to agree to the tax hikes but the white house believes the public is on its side. two russian cosmonauts are back in moscow having completed their six month mission on the international space station their return to earth was postponed amid safety precautions after a progress cargo ship failed to reach orbit in late august artie's peter all of our reports from star city space center outside moscow. 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 the birds 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 land on earth than to leave orbit it was a very eventful six months that they were on board the international space station there are three key incidents that occurred while they were up there they were they were 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 of all the nasa space shuttle in the station but lantus dropped on the eighth of july and left on the joy a big part of it 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 me if space station finally fell out of commission a real end to a chapter in space exploration history you know the main celebration of their time when the on board the international space station was of course you reason 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 the duty to go in with our countrymen on our ship was called to go and so the flight was filled with a holiday spirit so while alexander some a could have been under a body to get used to life back here on earth they recognize the the celebration it was your garments first flight fifty years ago from star city peace to all of us r.t. . and that's how the news looks tonight on r t next we're 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 status will finally hold israel to account over its actions and occupations.

archie sitting down the way of 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. long 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 new era 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 is to solemnize occupied not as the eternally unified capital of israel for ever 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 point isn't whether through you and human rights organization. like the un council on human rights or international criminal court the international court of justice they just want to ensure that there's a continues to act outside them 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 in disappointment because he theys the expectations and i would i took 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 months so having it in that dawn on most all these things he has created some sort of let down among the palestinians the arabs even the world people of good conscience who expect. obama to live up to his promises to his values and principles rather than to a matter of self-interest right now. if he's seen as doing israel's bidding 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 or anything 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 situation and he'll be undermining the standing and credibility 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 to have towards democracy and freedom and human rights and human dignity and yet when it comes to the palestinians we are decontextualized to remove this is very selective precisely because i think out occupied israel. as a domestic issue in the us and has enormous influence on their careers. the fates of many politicians through elections 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 troops the palestinians were deprived of

the protection of the law and was given this exceptional treatment but equally because it has a powerful lobby also and 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 and relation to the user to the social media and these global principles that do not apply just to the other world of palestine on 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 and maybe. the americans may succeed in having their own narrow self-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 . question is that so much of a given to a huge musician apparently trying to go to friends in the absence of a peace process the palestinians will ask the united nations to upgrade their current observer status to that a full member state. in the faraway land where human life is ruined my nature. the distant past of planet earth is scarcely preserved by the poor. international modes lie hidden in the deep permafrost. and for those who deal with them restored times are still not so.

this was a city. of about one hundred ninety thousand people and we had eighty thousand people working for general motors. or a job that depended on general motors. general motors if it's not relations you it might be your neighbor somebody you knew so it's kind of a family run business you know myself i'm third generation my father was working there and you have a lot of two three and four generation families that are there first let's understand that it is not this is if a man doesn't want. then he should not. it is gone lord

a man to work the sweat. i think for a long time this notion in america that bigger was better was simply an undisputed fact in the twenty first century smarter it's going to be better general motors simply became too large for their own good and so many brands that they couldn't even keep up with. those who became a dinosaur. motorist told them to. download the official t. application to your i phone or i pod touch from the saps to. life on the go. see video on demand r.t.s. mine gold coast's and r.s.s.

feeds now in the palm of your. question on the dot com.

i'm broadcasting live direct from of the heart of moscow this is on t.v. i'm john thomas good to have you with us let's take a look at your top headlines as a fierce fighting continues in the libya french lawyers a gear up for a battle of their own by trying to prosecute president sarkozy with a war crimes over the military intervention they allegedly nato used to depleted uranium shells and bombed residential buildings causing civilian deaths including children. for statehood he claims worldwide support and made threats the u.s. will block the move in the world bank and the i.m.f. say the palestinian are ptolemy is already economically strong enough to stand on its own feet. the e.u. and belgrade to seek a diplomatic solution to the intense standoff.