r.t. now to our top story britain has sentenced two young men to four years behind bars after their facebook posts which they said were a joke called on others to cause trouble in their hometown well now human rights groups are sounding the alarm saying the courts are overreacting by dishing out penalties which are far too harsh. bennett reports it's part of the political drive for tough justice in the wake of the looting and disorder across england. four years behind bars for the riot that didn't even happen jordan black sure and perry sutcliffe kenan were banged up for inciting disorder on facebook no one turned up after their invitation to riot which they later said was a drunken joke but now they face sentences even tougher than most looters and i worry is that it is an imbalance a four year sentence for example would normally be given to somebody for a previous portly harm for holding someone up with a knife or even for. some form of sexual assault so it seems to me that

that there is a danger that the courts are moving into disproportionate territory and that actually devalues our response to more serious crimes the governments encourage courts to dish out harsh sentences by using the public disturbance as an aggravating factor it's meant this man anderson fernandez could even be sent to jail for thing just to. bail to most offenders and ignoring any claims of previous good character of the one thousand two hundred seventy seven people charge so far two thirds have been remanded in custody that's way up on last year's rate for serious crimes which is just ten percent some offenders even being made homeless is their punishment with local governments taking away their houses but many say it will simply cause more harm than good i think this is very unwise the move to remove people from housing interim move benefits because actually if we are seeing that.

pressure of people not feeling puerto society not feeling part of our communities then these measures are actually going to push people further away from society further away from our communities and far more likely to commit crime the facebook case is the first sign of the government's desire to crack down on social media sites like twitter were applauded by the west for mobilizing the masses in the arab world but they were also instrumental in the u.k. riots so now the prime minister wants it to stop. we are working with the police the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites or services when we know they are plotting violence disorder and criminality when social media fueled revolutions in egypt and tunisia britain called it democracy but now the shoe's on the other foot when troubles closer to home i'm very conscious that there be news you know the really

poor. movements only would be the force to complete. the authorities in those countries who are trying to walk. the prime minister says this is where britain fights back but it speeds this fighting fire with fire could only fan the flames of civil disorder after bennett's london. all veterans prime minister david cameron has defended the sentencing saying they are sending a tough message but investigative journalist tony gosling believes the authorities must not forget their own past before condemning others. i think it's a bit rich coming from david cameron who and the government i mean who are many of whom are we talking about george osborne boris johnson david cameron who were members of this elite oxford bullingdon club and i'll quote now one of the things they said back in ninety six was that they smashed the place up and boris set fire to the toilets i think they should take

a close look at themselves and their club that they used to be part of a not for the drinking club where they would smash places up one occasion apparently two bottles of wine were smashed each by these people in a pub they don't like vandals to me so they shouldn't really go lecturing the rest of us the last thing we need is a knee jerk reaction against our ability to communicate it's quite clear we have to separate the difference between ordinary communications and those kinds of communications which involve incitement to riot and to other kinds of criminal behavior well one of the ironies of this is as you try and restrict these internet sites what happens is actually if you if you for example as you gypsies did when they closed down the internet in certain places during the tahrir square the uprising earlier this year is that people actually come out in the streets when they have a chance anyway and i think this is being used actually as an excuse to regulate more more government interference in the way we communicate which i think would be a terrible thing. the u.s.

there with major european countries have urged syria's president bashar al assad to step down in the wake of his country's violent crackdown against protesters the explicit calls have been a sent just ahead of a special u.n. security council meeting which is to focus on that the situation in syria meanwhile in syria president assad claims the military operation has now stopped but artie's many of the national has been fighting out the presence of government troops is not always seen as a bad sign. the city over there is sort of maybe liberated but in the last few days it suffered a brutal occupation having made a nice place bandits plot the raids put up barricades it became a gay city we were hiding we were just like hostages for more than a week claimed biami forty against armed groups that had taken control of the city and had been terrorizing its residents. soldiers of the syrian army i live in the city of their near the iraqi border measure officials are saying operation is now

over that the city has been freed from armed groups as you can see people are welcome in the soldiers as the waiter's but in other parts of the country the troops live in assad's vicious crackdown a far less welcome in a similar offensive against so-called terrorists and the coastal city of latakia the opposition claims government troops killed almost four to civilians while human rights groups reported number of deaths in the country could be almost as high as two thousand some say assad is simply using his army to silence peaceful demonstrators across the country. the syrian army hasn't met any resistance in cities across the country were maybe there was some so-called bandits among protestors and maybe they use the momentum to spread. but if so where have

they been when the army. armed groups is just a theory invented by the state to have an excuse to into the city's. a new liberated life seems getting back to normal the markets reopened and roads that just days ago were empty out again filled with cars but reminders of the recent troubles too hard to find and the most obvious one is fear. syria politan cross live to journalist neil clark to discuss this now i thank you very much mr clarke for joining us first of all let's talk about timing president assad has just announced that all military operations have been stopped in the country now why is this call for his resignation happening now. well of all good all along the what we us and its allies really want is regime change in syria and they're not really generally interested in the terrible situation of. having dialogue between both sides and that's the reason it's happening today because

we've had ten days ago president assad said that he was going to introduce a multi-party system in syria today he said the operations against the opposition. and what do we get instead of us saying well that's good that's a good move we get these calls for him to step down so you're saying they're calling for him to step down now because he's willing to negotiate exactly i mean i mean it really blows the gaffes of what the u.s. really wants a man is regime change and why do they want regime change in syria is it because of the regime's human rights record but no it isn't because of course there's lots more regimes and also in serious it's all about syria's foreign policy talking it's a bit more political that well let's just check out a list of those calling for this resignation the u.s. the u.k. france and germany the same countries with the exception of germany which pushed the u.n. resolution. through to see the nato campaign there and fold given this what he would expect to follow in syria without speaks volumes and walker will hear is

about getting rid of a government i'm a great crime of the assad regime in those countries and is really is it's foreign policy it's friendly with iran he has good links with russia and the aim of the game is to try to remove assad and another kind of regime in. syria that have a more protest in line ok in a few hours also we're expecting another major international blow for president assad we have the u.n. say human rights chief he's prepared to call for the international criminal courts investigate seriously crackdown on protesters how do you think that investigation could replace the need for any nato military campaign. well i think any nato military campaign would be absolutely outrageous make things worse as they see libya and i don't really think the calls for international criminal indictments against prison aside it's very helpful to the problem we've got with international justice is it's very biased it's what we've had is a series of indictments issued against regimes which don't toe the line of the u.s.

and its allies over the last of the. charles taylor the last we really want is to get to know one of these leaders in dying to the two biggest war criminals at large in tony blair and george bush let's have them indicted first and then we're going to present a side. following through on that logic how much do you think we can trust the international criminal court on dealing with this particular investigation much at all because it showed all the way along that we don't really have a very fair impartial system of international justice the people who've been in the dock in the last fifteen years or so have been leaders who just got in the way of the us what about the president of georgia who launched all aggression against the people of south the sense of three years ago this very week why hasn't he been indicted what about tony blair and george bush what about bill clinton for the bombing. of you know if you know if you don't which didn't have got an international role. judgment said the supremes international crime was to launch a war of aggression people did that still at large and so let's deal with these

people first people who was against iraq against yugoslavia and then we can talk about president assad ok well thank you very much for your insight there neil clark journalist and broadcaster thank you. now israel has closed its border with egypt following a string of shoot outs that have left thirteen dead and over thirty injured while the attacks took place to the southern resort city of with gunmen opening fire on a passenger bus a private car as well as israeli troops artie's correspondent paula slayer is in tel aviv with more. and israeli best was fired on by gunmen using a k forty seven in a separate incident and israeli patrol vehicle drove over a roadside bomb and in a third incident a private vehicle was fired at by and now we are hearing reports of a fourth incident but this is not clear at this stage as you can well imagine the reports sometimes conflict each other this does seem to have been some kind of shootout between the israeli army and militants but at this stage the figures we

are receiving people dead and twenty six people injured now this happened in southern israel not far from the border we're hearing from the israeli prime minister's office that at least three of the gunman has been killed the israeli army is on high alert and they say that this is an it is an orchestrated sophisticated operation is ongoing while the israeli defense minister says there's no doubt that the fire came from gaza which is which is why some people here are now fearing that they could be another israeli gaza war operation at the same time it only adds to the fear that's already being expressed for several months now that the situation in the sinai peninsula is chaotic and it's part of an alkie which is the way that some israeli experts have described the situation there just last week egypt sent thousands of troops to the sinai peninsula to try and the militants the second time that they have done this ever since the egyptian president hosni mubarak felt and this is an operation that is being supported by israel which is

increasingly talking not about wiccans being smuggled into gaza that but what israeli officials call launch shipments of organized military operations. that are making their way into gaza and of course the question is being asked why was israel not better prepared for this but you need to remember that these radio direction border is a long border it is not as we currently patrolled as are the borders in this country because of the israeli egyptian peace treaty and as i mentioned earlier the fact that some people say that this was so well orchestrated and so sophisticated is leading here is leading some here to say that there is some kind of foreign involvement some kind of foreign expertise in what we've witnessed today. and still ahead for you this hour thanks but no thanks the newest e.u. countries turn their backs on the single currency as it plunges deeper into a fight for survival. and turning to the skies now which are particularly

noisy this thursday in the moscow region the max international air show is hosting all sorts of magnificent men in their flying machines all artes and all you know vehicle by is there for us to bring us up to speed with the latest developments. one of the hard lights of the third day of mac's two thousand and eleven air show is this helicopter the helicopters made its name during the soviets war in afghanistan the am i seventeen that is soon to return to the country in order to help restore security there as nature is going to buy over twenty of such helicopters to deploy to afghanistan let's check it out from inside experts say that it's very easy to operate this helicopter especially for our gun violence many of them were educated by the soviet flight instructors. we will be able to check out the insides of the cabin just a few moments as potential buyers are already here to check it out for themselves i

wouldn't go. well of course this is not the only military aircraft that is the headliner of this year's air show monks d. fifty is another one line dots together with america's f. twenty two and f. thirty five fighter jets for the fifth generation t fifty has been kept a secret for a very long time it was displayed for the first time on wednesday but no one was able to get close to it as its features i still kept it secret what we do know is that state's most prominent feature is going to be that it's very difficult to detect it by any radars but of course this air show is not just about military aircraft we're talking big money a lots of deals to be sealed during the next three days including today of course as well we're surrounded by hundreds of warnings an area bosses alongside suv boys that were jet and twenty one so we're expecting

a billion dollar deals to be sealed within the next couple of days but of course for the general audience the most exciting part of the show is air bought six russian nights. we'll be performing for them together with the risk of pilots and one of our correspondents the water actually found out what it's like to be on one of those planes during the performance. engines. instruments check. runway check and then it's takeoff for the russian aerobatics display team. their nine first class pilots have performed over two hundred times in the past nineteen years but they all have to start somewhere. andre is training to join the team he thinks he's nearly good enough now but still remembers his first flight as a solo pilot because without any warning they told me i was going to do the next

flight on my own i had no time to be scared there was no longer an instructor to my back it was unforgettable takeoff you on your own controlling the plane then when you land you've done it i think you're a real pilot at that point. the as moves are always trying to hold them the new this they practice most weekends thinking of new tricks and practicing old ones look at the form of the stanford or whatever don't we come up with stone and then research them but it often turns out the pins on the four nested of a russian came up with the loop and all the other stunts are based on the loop the loop is the basis for all aerial acrobatics. however it always comes down to time in the end even with years of flying and training experience between them it never becomes easy record of the most smokers when you leave the cockpit you can squeeze a gallon of sweat from your suit with your knees are shaking because it's extremely

different than the stressful and any well we're going to go through. so with that gut wrenching fare ringing in my ears i was told it was my turn for the crowds on the ground this is an exciting spectacle but that's not quite the emotion that's going through my mind at the moment because i'm about to see what happens from inside the cockpit. we did the loop the loop all the planes just meters apart a but when it came to the fountain i nearly blacked out. white faced but not defeated i returned. to. the gave me. the. cake.

but i could also see some of the streams that go oh no there's no ticket but just you know he might be for the crowds but serial acrobatics aren't special to the pilots it's always a difficult job that a terrorist a pilot's hands to show his skill and the beauty of flight so next time you do come up with them speeding planes spirit to find the teams. from bottom to. well do stay with r t throughout the day as we bring you more updates and a live coverage from the max two thousand and eleven international airshow in the moscow region. now the czech republic is the latest e.u. country to back away from the struggling euro zone saying and joining now would be inappropriate well it's just the latest country to be scared to leave and single currency with some even ignoring legal obligations to sign up only three of twelve

states that have joined the e.u. sense two thousand and four have adopted the euro and earlier this week i'm going to go and nicolas sarkozy called for the creation of a central economic body which would ensure euro zone members take more financial responsibility but for national export patrick young says the european leaders are clutching at straws at risk in the whole currency. the reason people wanted to join the single currency in the first place was because of see if today the idea that they could trade in a single currency across borders and that that would be a hard trading currency block what we've seen in the course of the last number of months i mean i actually going over a year or more noise has been an increasing number of so much various bail outs every time we end up with these chorus of people telling us that over the. is over and we've got frankly a ground opera of the euro that's turning into a farce everybody outside of the european union elite understands that the euro is under incredible pressure

a country like the czech republic thirty four percent debt to g.d.p. they've got one fifth of the debt to g.d.p. of greeks why on earth do they want to join a club that's already being bankrupted by the least organized and worst members of the organization they're not going to do it they can find easily a way to avoid it the e.u. needs to get its act together it needs to cut the concert and get rid of places like greece and throw them out of the euro it needs to create a new unstable system and it needs to adhere to the rules because all of the euro zone members of a century broken the rules in some way shape or form the markets need confidence this is not caused by markets thinking that they want to destroy the euro as a reason for some form of vandalism it's totally completely in the hands of people like mr sarkozy mrs marco and indeed all of those euro zone leaders they need to lead they need to demonstrate leadership and they need to demonstrate strength

otherwise the euro is dead. ok let's now check some other world news this hour thousands of people have gathered in madrid to protest the pope's visit to spain angry that the cost of the trip is coming out of taxpayers' pockets eight people were arrested and eleven others injured during clashes between police and activists pope benedict the sixteenth is visiting spain to mark a world youth day the government has not admitted exactly how much it's costing but reports suggest it's more than seventy billion euros. to pakistan now where a fresh spate of violence over the past twenty four hours in the city of karachi has left at least thirty nine people dead many of the victims were found tortured chopped stuffed in sacks and dumped on the street and a former member of the. country's ruling party was gunned down as he entered a restaurant for a close fasting meal all the killings are thought to be linked to ongoing rivalries between gangs and political parties vying for power. turkish warplanes have

atop sixty sites in northern iraq and targeting the kurdistan workers party it comes a day after nine turkish soldiers were killed and over a dozen injured by a rebel group in the province that's close to the iraqi border kurdish militants have been carrying out attacks against turkey for over two decades demanding autonomy in the area. now scientists say they've lost contact with an advanced telecom satellite that was launched early on thursday the joint russian french project dubbed express a blast at all from kazakhstan and should have reached orbit by now but according to reports it strayed off target meaning a satellite has been lost the russian space agency has already set up a panel to investigate possible malfunctions the express was set to be one of europe's most powerful eyes in the sky and provide digital t.v. coverage across a large part of russia for the next fifteen years. plenty more ahead for you this

hour the latest on the a russian teams in the europa league in our sports bulletin but first let's see what's going on in the world of business with korea. how and welcome to our business update this hour we'll go straight to our top story the markets are taking a tumble with europe in the united states feeding off each other's insecurities their underlying fears of un double of a double dip with morgan stanley warning that the global economy is dangerously close to recession the bank has cut its global growth forecast from four point two percent to three point nine percent this year now let's look at the markets wall street is falling at the opening on more signs of economic weakness around the world more americans join the unemployment line last week than a week earlier and consumers are under even more pressure at the cash register last month than economists thought thanks to high gas prices bank of america is the biggest dollar losing seven point two percent stock markets across europe see sharp

falls as well as concerns about the state of the global economy continue to weigh on investors' minds london's pussies losing over three of over five percent massaro while francs were down is down over six percent six and a half percent bank shares suffer more sharp falls of the european central bank lent dollars to an unnamed eurozone bank in london barclays seven point nine percent royal bank of scotland six point three and lloyds banking group over seven percent in germany commerzbank down five point three percent and. over four percent here in russia markets nose dived below four percent trading on the my xix have been hold it for more than an hour due to technical problems deals came to a stop just after four o'clock moscow time and resumed about sixty minutes later the r.t.s. suffered a similar problem in a total last year low oil prices on giving the market much support either. and here's the snapshot of the markets movers all of my six most of the blue chips fell

deep into the red energy majors are among the biggest decline is losing support from the crude. almost. five percent banking stocks are also hit as investors are pricing in the recent decline in futures for s. and p. five hundred bank is down nearly eight percent and while the c b is losing six point eight percent. and oil is sharply down as economic reports point to a tighter squeeze on consumer spending concerns about global economic recovery are weighing down the price however we can dollar is getting some support brant is trading at one hundred seven dollars per barrel while the as it around eight hundred dollars. now gold is trading at a new record high as uncertainty about the global economy economy is pushing investors back to safe havens the spot price is now at one thousand eight hundred and twenty four dollars per ounce it's being fueled by reports from morgan stanley

cup their forecast for china's economic growth also venezuela decided to nationalize its huge gold reserves pushing gold futures to record. central banks all over the world are rushing to buy into bullion in order to hedge against depreciating. the business when i will be following the market's performance in the next hour try me.

wealthy british style. what's really happening to the global economy with much stronger. global financial headlines.

the main stories we're covering today are the british courts are cracking down on rioters with some stuff but he. discriminately. have been given a four year sentences for posting a joke on facebook calling for people to their. strong statements calling a serious president assad to step down just as a halt to all military operations in the country and the. international criminal court.