on the argument on the fact that you're talking about one time in kazakstan and ukraine, when you look at the vastness of russia, i remember -- and one thing that we, the senator from massachusetts and i, have in common is we both are aviators. and i had occasion, i will share with my friend from massachusetts, a few years ago to fly an airplane around the world, republican indicating the flight of wylie post, a very famous oklahoman. and in doing this, went all the way from moscow to provadania, all the way across siberia. and when i -- i can remember going after time zone after time zone after time zone, not seeing anything except vast wilderness and perhaps a few bears now and then. and when i think about the areas that they have, that things can be hidden there compared to any of these other countries, including our own, it's kind of a scary thing. and i -- i do believe that we need have the opportunity to increase the inspections because there's so much more area to inspect. the idea that it's not a free by, i know it's not. i know that anything in this treaty that i would change,

and blasting off from kazakstan, the space craft is scheduled to reach its destination some time on friday afternoon. the launch came despite concerns about the re-entry knowledge jewel of the craft which was replaced this month after it was damaged. thanks for watching bbc "world news." the main headline this hour. the wikileaks founder julian assange has arrived at a london court to hear if he will be freed on bail or kept in prison. now does ireland have the authority to protect, unconditionally, the life of unborn children? or does it violate women's rights? from dublin, here's mark simpson. >> the abortion issue has divided ireland. a series of ref ren dumbs over the past 30 years has been to heal those. ire land has strict laws against abortions. every year around 4,000 women travel from ireland to the u.k. to have an abortion. three of them recently challenged the rules. and before the european courts of human rights. they say having to travel overseas damaged their health and their supporters believe the court will today rule in their favor. >> this is a serious human rights issue

seventeen years of negotiations at the same time it's already a member of a custom jeannine with kazakstan butterworth now as love is the village head of research at daughter bank in russia says the union members will not suffer russia's double action it's not necessarily bad for the future of the customs union if anything this will serve to accelerate russia for it to. gain membership in the w t o and once russia is in the w t o this should facilitate the efforts of kazakhstan and to join the w t o so overall this should be a factor that will bring all of the countries of the customs union into the w t o which in turn is again a very important catalyst for the development of this integration group of this customs union. in other news russian businessman alexander liver dave has confirmed he's planning to sell around four percent of arafat shares the deal was estimated to be worth one hundred ten million dollars as leverage of cells the forty four million shares in russia's national air carrier shares are to be sold for private placement organized by u.b.s. analysts believe the main reason

from kazakhstan to the russian black sea ports are doubling the capacity of the project russian kazakstan have signed a deal to invest five point four billion dollars to boost deliveries to sixty seven million tons of oil a year this will secure export capacity for the growing production in the caspian region the project shareholders include chevron shell and any. that's the business for this so you can find more stories in our website r.t. dot com slash business. wealthy british style. markets why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds a report on. india oldies available in the movie the joint the hotel rooms some of the lots the gateway hoto the grand imperial tried to talk western coast coromandel you can aletta tell the socialist hotel said don't need to go and. read this and the kennel was a hotel as a treat. this is all your headlines not because of those a prime minister is accused of having being the boss of a mafia ring which dealt in the trafficking of hu

at a conference in kazakstan, the u.s. secretary of state this morning spoke up to reassure international diplomats. >> i have certainly raised the issue of the leaks in order to assure our colleagues that it will not in any way interfere with american diplomacy. >> reporter: all along julian assange has been unapologetic about making secret documents public. >> you never know what the outcome is but the truth is always the best place to start. >> reporter: so far, leaking in the name of truth has not got assange charged with any crime anywhere in the world. as for the swedish sexual acase, assange has always said he's ready to answer questions and the police know where to find him. because of that, his lawyer says the interpol arrest warrant is hard to understand. >> never before have i come across in 30 years a prosecutor who's behaved like this. this is a persecution, not a prosecution. >> reporter: in the meantime, no sign a wikileaks is slowing down. assange said that next up is going to be a big release of documents