if you. soon from plans to. start talk tea dot com. has talked they've been charted a chip bound for gaza as an egyptian port after israel turned away from the located territory. no end in sight u.s. war in afghanistan has now become washington's longest ever ritchie campaign a broad passing vietnam. lost from the past beginning of cooperation between the us and the soviet union at the height of the cold war. space mission happened thirty five years ago.

octopus was on the menu when president been given german chancellor met in. the state a show of the international community was not all they also invited president obama to meet. well costing live from the heart of the russian capital this is auti. a libyan ship carrying aid for gaza has docked at the egyptian port of. the only theory named hope for the voyage was trying to break the blockade of the palestinian what was warned against the action by the israeli navy. a publicity stunt a provocation or as organizers claim and if it merely to get much needed supplies into gaza in place were all the ingredients for an international showdown

a libyan ship sitting still for gaza its organizers vowing to break the israeli blockade and the memory of nine turkish such as and killed in a similar to md still fresh in everyone's mind but in the end the captain gave in to israel's order and without much fuss docked the ship in egypt for the israelis it's a victory they say the fact that the united states and european union convinced the ship to change its course legitimizes their position but at of us disagree they say the libyan effort puts the story of gaza back in the headlines her must accuses israel of piracy and insists its refusal to allow aid ships to reach gaza is in breach of international law. the congress who traveled in still travel must continue because we're now free salut battle to break the blockade imposed in advance or this battle is related to the land of palestine and jerusalem and to the book eight of jerusalem as well but the jury's still out on whether the restrictions israel has in place are legal or not you can apply. american

blockade if there is a quote flicked. and according to various judges of the supreme court officer it is a conflict that we have with us and you can apply to any shore which is either occupied or and the control of the other party last month is one announced it was easing its blockade on gaza but underground tunnels are still how most goods find their way inside among the goods smuggled in each month are hundreds of motorcycles many of them used by youngsters disparate for any kind of work. young people can get a job fuel is also very expensive because of the blockade which is why most people don't use taxis or even their own car is like a young people to use these bikes to pick up all kinds of goods and deliver them to people's homes israel suffered unprecedented diplomatic fallout after nine turkish citizens were killed on board an age ship in may but the country still insists its position is legitimate that you keep posting which has been viewed by nearly half

a million people illustrates what most israelis believe world leaders often act as puppets for the arab world legitimization of terror. strike them but. somebody has to have those but we don't upload these songs in order to laugh at those who have been killed and we're not all against the humanitarian aid going to gaza the state of israel agrees to pass the goods but we are against the provocation we are against mercenaries coming here but organizers of the libyan ship insist their attempt was not a provocation either way the middle east breathed a sigh of relief that events ended so calmly. r.t. ashdod. baskin from the israel palestine center for research and information says the situation in gaza will improve only when both israel and hamas change their attitudes. i've been against the blockade of gaza since the very beginning i saw it

as a political act of folly that would only strengthen the muscles cian there and hurt the civilian population. get a government in israel is not a government which is is willing to appease international calls to allow gaza to be a separate functioning territory under palestinian authority or under hamas rule at this point and therefore the israelis are maintaining their policy of total sea blockade of gaza there is a legitimate fear of of the israelis that ammunitions and weapons and rockets would be smuggled in and perhaps boarding the ship by the israeli navy is not sufficient to do a complete search of the cargo of the ship to maintain that there are no weapons in the policy is not to let the ships in the problem is that the ruling government of gaza of hamas which did elections legitimately does not recognize israel does not agree to negotiate with israel does not agree to be integrated into a larger agreement that the palestinian liberation organization might reach with the state of israel and there are international conditions that have been put on

the hamas government by the international community by the quartet the united states the european union russia and the united nations of recognizing israel renouncing terrorism and agreeing to adhere to form or group past agreements and hamas has rejected all three of these conditions so i think until there is a regime change or a change of the nature of the hamas regime it's very unlikely that politically the situation in gaza will change. he suspected ken a prominent russian activist never has been identified and placed on a wanted list that's according to presidents to be committed. first of all i would like to say that the investigation into this case is in full swing and second such cases are immediately resolved only when the perpetrator is caught red handed. the killer has been identified.

as been put on a wanted list and finally the investigation will continue to those who ordered this serious crime. one year ago today. was kidnapped and murdered in the northern caucasus she works for a department of memorial human rights center there kate in the chechen republic she was well known for her best to get to work or to cases of kidnappings torture and abuse his own party president medvedev announcement came as he met german chancellor angela merkel and we've gotten word that ought to bring you further details while correspondent in phoenix. afghanistan is seeing escalating violence with june being the bloodiest month for foreign troops since the start of the war senator john kerry highlighted the fact that the military campaign supposed to be at known as the longest in u.s. history during a meeting of the foreign relations committee and this congress assesses the grim statistics the unpopular war assuring few signs of ending war in the store ports.

and it strikes rose it's the comparison that cannot be avoided by press pundits and now politicians last month afghanistan surpassed the. place that both broken are all too familiar with as the longest military campaign in american history committee chairman senator john kerry brought up the failed u.s. war of decades ago at a crucial time in america's current one this is a difficult moment in the afghan conflict a moment when questions about strategy and progress abound at a hearing on governance and the u.s. civilian strategy in the region the man in charge of it all a vietnam veteran himself tries to make a lesson of that history a fundamental difference between those two wars since you mentioned it mr chairman and this war our national security interests are at stake with the safety of the

u.s. at stake as richard holbrooke claims you might think congress would have crossed their t.'s and dotted their i's by now and fighting their longest battle as they're supposed to be united states constitution requires that before the united states goes to war that there be an act of congress but just as in the vietnam war we've never followed that procedure with respect to a war in afghanistan and we centrally drifted into a war in a long term commitment a long term commitment that appears to be wearing on lawmakers who want to know this wouldn't be helpful for the president to at least lay out a flexible time for when the u.s. is getting out beyond the july two thousand and eleven date to start withdrawal u.s. president obama set is given no assurance that this should be an open ended occupation holbrooke emphasizes the u.s. is committed to no calendar very leery of setting a date certain. they are here for the salute withdrawal but

still the endgame is unclear civilian and military operations in afghanistan are proceeding without a clear definition of success the ambassador is banking on the success of reintegrating the taliban starting next week but little about afghanistan appears to be in u.s. favor it's not where you choose to fight to defend the american homeland it's the most remote logistical place in ited states has ever fought ancestry but just who can put an end to this fight and the absence of withdrawal dates if military and political missions fail the congress has the ability to stop the war by not funding it as u.s. lawmakers and officials talk strategy and tout successes in afghanistan this comes amid escalating violence in the region deal with the bloodiest month in the nine year conflict with one hundred international troops killed forty five have been killed so far in july with twelve of those deaths coming in the last day or so for

r.t.i. more lester washington d.c. . for the u.s. strategy to work the afghan forces have to take control but the transition that will be anything but straightforward as afghan jake debated points out. the overall strategy is to pass over leadership from the americans and the coalition forces to the afghans but as i experience when i was just in afghanistan a few months ago in the afghan national army training center. again national army is going to be ineffective and unable to take over the leadership from the americans now while you're going to hear a lot of talk about the iraq surge working because we passed rocky the leadership of the iraqi army but the iraqi army is light years ahead of where the afghan army is and the afghan army is is ill effect given in every possible way so to tell we have a good game momentum and unfortunately unless there's peace talks and peace negotiations

the situation will always be a quagmire not in thirty five years ago russia and the u.s. took a john leap for mankind the launch of the first joint space mission apollo so he's event marks not only the beginning of an era of space cooperation between the two countries but also a warming in cold war relations between as arafat reflects on an historic kind of us or. it was a turning point the launch the clearly far called war space race into new heights two rockets blasting off half a world away from each other would bring the soviet union and the united states into the same orbit when so use nineteen and the apollo craft docked it ushered a whole new chapter in space exploration the first ever joint project between two better rivals it was a giant leap for the men on board two like i said he was the second pilot in a say you screwed. apollo it was one of the most significant moments in history of

russia and the u.s. before everything was secret all the details of our space programs every detail was a pole a project we could finally passed a barrier. you lady still remembers all the details of that flight from the technical to the happy banter between them and the american astronauts. who were showing the guys different cities and places in russia and when we were flying over the u.s. bonds brant was showing us florida i remember he said this is where all the pension has go to live thirty five years on most of these men will once again get the chance to meet and share memories of their historic link up with my brother alex the series commander is in the united states for the big day or. the launch was during the height of the cold war so this project wasn't of just technical and scientific importance but was also a great step towards cooperation between russia and the u.s. there were no losers there are plans for his apollo counterpart thomas stafford to

meet president obama but not until the friends have had a chance to catch up with each other it was a are meaningful. to the people of the world when we open the hatch. that alexa and i show can steal. it showed to the world that in a way the space race had that ended in a way. the joint space project had a huge impact on both sides of the atlantic a time when rocket launches captured millions of imaginations worldwide media conceived was a teenager when you watched the suze reach into the sky and you vividly remembers every emotion it stirred yet the din i remember the day perfectly i was in the fourth grade and it was a huge celebration not just for the school but the entire city we got handed balloons flags and went to meet the cosmonauts we were quite little so of course we couldn't understand all the implications of this flight but we felt the excitement

and then later on we were all outside again to watch the actual launch i remember my dad worked at the launch but he told me that this was the most important event of the century. thirty five years on and this a usable a project still fires people's feelings some are even banking on it those crews were clipped with special watches designed by omega now the company's released a limited edition anniversary timepiece and appetite for nostalgia doesn't end there the scenes apollo became so popular that alongside the original memorabilia special brand of cigarettes was created just to mark the occasion that the babies were incredibly popular and were almost impossible to find on the thirty fifth anniversary of the docking they are once again missing from the city stores catherine as our artsy moscow. let's take a look at some other stories making headlines across the world the south the u.s.

military has handed over control of its last remaining prison in iraq countries all thought is will now take charge of thousands of detainees at camp cropper baghdad's airport however the american military will continue to hold some key members of saddam hussein's former regime up until the u.s. withdraws its troops in december two thousand and eleven. a key pressure test has. indorsed by b.p. in another attempt to stop the oil leak in the gulf of mexico it started late on wednesday and could last up to forty eight hours the process will involve closing the caps of pressure can build up testing the well strength and integrity and successful it will be the first time the flow has been stopped since an explosion destroyed the deepwater horizon rig nearly three months ago. raney and nuclear scientist who claims he was kidnapped by the cia and kept in the u.s. for one year as arrived home in iran in tehran he told reporters he'd been

subjected to the harshest mental and physical torture washington in assists and travel to america of his own free will the allegation came after videos reportedly over marie marriage where he claimed he was tortured by u.s. interrogators for information on iran's nuclear program. a scientist who was part of a spy swap deal between moscow and washington has been given a u.k. residence permit that's according to igor sutyagin lawyer. was among those flown to vienna airport last week where the two sides exchanged agents he was in taken to the u.k. where he spent several days awaiting a decision from the british authorities meanwhile it's reported that those deported by the u.s. are still being questioned by the russian intelligence service with the spy swap between moscow and washington successfully completed many details surrounding the saga remain unclear. since the secret world of espionage ati spoke to

former k.g.b. officer. one intelligence receives an assignment little happens in a particular setting particular political situation while the secret service is doing its work the setting can change on the political level those who assigned the task may now have completely different relations. therefore even though it's secret service. did manage to prove something the political landscape requires a different attitude and a different implementation because data let's use iraq as an example the cia knew for sure that saddam hussein's regime and didn't own weapons of mass destruction were they received an assignment from political state authorities to provide the talking us proving otherwise and therefore they started working to date or even though they tell you it wasn't anywhere to be found nonetheless in the course of this work and in which of saddam hussein as the national and then the international enemy was used to fulfill higher political tasks but when it all happened and they

realized there really was no weapons of mass destruction the secret service was betrayed the guilty party initiating the entire search for proof and they were punished for it too. and you can see the full interview with how the agony they today carried out. and they saw in for a special report in the early twentieth century a train with russian and posin gold reserves disappeared scientists have now the key to the body and at the bottom of lake baikal inside buried ministry's and in the caves of the far east you can follow the treasure trail a little later. the drain carries away the russian empires gold reserve. to save it from the. five hundred tons of gold.

dozens of. six hundred fifty million. crane that is still awaiting the arrival of. the century long way. ministry of the. a large number of german politicians and business chiefs led by chancellor angela merkel are in the russian city of katherine work chance and president discussing european security russia nato relations and energy issues as part of the noble an enormous russia germany chalo business talks are also on the agenda when you're nineteen steals due to be signed between what moscow in two leaders have taken part in a dialogue and then twitch for ten years that's focused on the development of civil

society both germany and russia. to have both leaders appeared to be in great spirits with a much smiling and talking and joking as well at some point during. the week it's a different from this fall when you have only one or two friends. and it's absolute if they're really into a have more friends when we have a new at the end of having eric and our relationships develop you know the way. we are not completely are not complicated and we understand this and then other times where well as well as you know russia understands the german energy crunch and the need to have a dozen people. right understands in russia and it's a think we were able to share experience and i said it is then it was a good opportunity for you and for the american president you they both joined our own two relationships probably were. presented midriff and they're making it are

not so good as. in the miter but i hope they will understand each other where well . the two options you've either are three was to go together and you never try to get emotional but it. should be because you do have some european food for a friend barack obama has been it could be in a particular entity that actually hamburger could be more tasted in something from europe. stating the business update is next as we cross editing attash. hello you with this there saw it r t our top story of russia is suffering its worst drought for more than a decade a state arson say has been declared in sixteen regions the government has offered assistance to the agricultural sector but even with the extra help many farmers say

they face bankruptcy as i have. another day with temperatures forty's not a cloud inside farmers are starting the harvest early to minimize further damage to the crops the expected green yard has been reduced from ninety five to seventy five million tonnes according to the group culture ministry but it's not only the poor outlook for the harvest that's pushing prices higher also what we're seeing domestic prices rise the first reason is the drought and the growing concern of market participants about the harvest the second reason is a significant shift in the global market spawning futures prices over the last month again ten fifteen percent this has pushed russia's export price up as well of the prize jumping from one hundred sixty five to one hundred eighty three dollars per tonne that's an eighteen dollars hike in just a few weeks months but. the government is stepping up measures to help farmers as

they suffer in the unusually dry weather it's promised to extend loan subsidies help with their insurance premiums and continue to provide help with transport costs. the president gave the correct instruction to extend credit farmers are unable to return money now and it would lead to massive bankruptcies in the sector the whole picture we will see later but the measure that is essential now is tackling railway tariffs so that we will be able to transfer grain from siberian regions where the weather conditions have been better. despite these being the wars drought for a decade. and fifteen major culture regions reporting severe damage to crops russia will still be self-reliant in green these here but the longer the hot dry weather persists agree to the risks faced by individual farmers without government help now many believe they will not be able to continue and russia's normal surplus green production could become a deficit he made me do a business r.t. . moody's may raise

a russian banking sector outlook to stable from negative by the end of the year the credit rating agencies says the banks will set aside up to sixty five percent of their profits to cover about loans in two thousand and ten and that's much less than the previous year however specify the number of overdue loans forcing the banks to create additional reserves to cover them in march russia's finance strikes you can draw advised banks not to slash provisions for bad loans to towns. for sure the second biggest retail bank twenty four has earned twice as much in the first half of twenty seven as a did in the whole of two thousand and nine the total came to two hundred eighty million dollars the t.v. twenty four now accounts for more than eleven percent of the retail banking market in russia the company's c.e.o. dorm over expects both individual loans and deposits to grow as much as thirty percent by the end of this year but he sounded note of caution on loans to small businesses he warned the sector was recovering slower than others. and

marshall's largest coal and steel producer machel has posted an eighty two million dollars profit for the first quarter some analysts were expecting losses the result is a significant turnaround from last year when metro recorded a six hundred ninety million dollar loss during the same period. currency forgers have become less active in russia but they now prefer to counterfeit high value bills marshall central bank says the number of fake ruble bills as dropped sixteen percent. but the regulator saw a thirty percent jump in the number of high value knows also the bank has seen a rise in the number of the dollar bills thirty percent from. and more in a currency markets the euro is holding at a two month high against the dollar but according to alan clarke from b.m.p. probe the rally may be running out of steam. i think part of the reason your has

improved is that some of. partly because of a stronger run in the equity market some of the jitters of the meltdown of the worst case scenario for euro zone and the banking sector have faded the rescue measures that been put in place the european financial stability system which is getting set up this growing confidence about that and growing sort of infrastructure and that's helped the euro to appreciate the dollar i think is fair to highlight downside risks and we certainly think g.d.p. will grow boy less than the federal reserve expects but it double dip is really more extreme outcome we actually think a double dip is a bigger risk in the likes of the u.k. in the euro zone that it is in the u.s. and the reason for that is obviously the jitters in the financial markets the sovereign debt markets but also the fact that fiscal policy taxes are being raised government spending has been cut pretty severely and that's really very much a european story that's not much of that going on in the u.s.

in comparison so it's europe where it's i would it is a bigger risk. all that's all the latest from the business team but keep in mind you can always find more stories on our site at our. business.

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