just a little after seven pm here in the russian capital and you're watching our t.v. now britain has sentenced to young men to four years behind bars after their facebook posts which they said were a joke calling others to cause trouble in their hometowns well now a human rights groups are sounding the alarm and saying the courts are overreacting by dishing out penalties which are far too harsh. a bet 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 bodily 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 theft of just two scoops of ice cream because like this one denying bail to most offenders and ignoring any claims of previous good character of the one thousand two hundred seventy seven people charged 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 this will simply cause more harm than good i think this is a very unwise the move to remove people from housing interim move benefits because actually if we are seeing that some of the crime that we saw on the streets was an expression of people not feeling puerto society not feeling part of our communities then these measures are actually going to push it 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 to mobilize. 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 there really is poor. movement and we would be the force to complete. the authorities in those countries we're 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 avi bennett artsy london. british 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 bowling club and i'll quote now one of the things they said back in one thousand nine hundred 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 they used to be part of a not for the drinking club where they would smash prices up one occasion apparently two bottles of wine were smashed each by these people in a cafe they don't like vandals openly 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 so i'm into 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 the egyptians 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 on the streets and

they have a chance anyway 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. now along with a set of fresh economic sanctions the u.s. and major european countries have urged syria's president bashar al assad to step down it comes in response to his country's violent crackdown against protesters all the statements have been sent as the special u.n. security council meeting on syria is taking place a call for the international investigation into the regime's handling of expected to fall but certainly. the situation in the country says the latest developments are are all about forcing change at the cost of peace. is regime change in syria and they're not really genuinely interested in. having dialogue between both sides. because we have

a ten days ago president assad said he was going to use my party system in syria today he said graciously going through. and what we did. good. to get these calls for him to step down from the great. those countries are is really is it's for. it's friendly with iran has russia maybe the game is to try to remove. another kind of regime in. syria it would have a more. meanwhile in the syria president assad claims the military operation has now stopped but if it has been finding 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 and he made police bandits block the raids put up barricades it became a day city were hiding there would 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 there as so near the iraqi border. 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 way there is 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 in the coastal city of latakia the opposition claims government troops killed almost fall to civilians while human rights groups report the 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 over than. the syrian army hasn't met any

resistance in the cities across the country we're in to maybe there was some sort of. protest maybe they use the momentum to spread cancer but if so and the where have they been well. armed groups is just a theory invented by the state to have an excuse to enter the cities for the new liberated there is so 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 to hard to find and the most obvious one is fear grief national t.v. syria. no easier all is pointing the finger at gaza following a string of shoot outs that have left thirteen dead and over thirty injured near the southern resort city of that's close to the border with egypt which has now been shocked gunmen opened fire on a passenger bus

a private car as well as israeli troops let's cross live to artie's paulus leader who is in tel aviv right now hi there are multiple attacks on israel in one day and what kind of response should we expect here. well it's that he does seem as if the israelis will respond in some kind of retaliation operation and that that was once will come soon the idea of the israeli defense forces has issued a statement in which it says it will at all costs all of those responsible for this action at the same time the united nations is mobilizing that stuff from within gaza they plan to evacuate them and the kerem shalom border crossing which is the border crossing that allows for the passage of goods from israel to gaza has been closed now the israeli defense force mina statehood barack has said that the our region of these attacks are clearly in gaza he says that it points to an alky and chaos in the sinai peninsula and the fact that egypt is no longer able to control

that territory and this is a view that has been echoed by the country's prime minister benjamin netanyahu he will be meeting tonight thursday with the top echelon of his defense ministry they will be deciding on some way forward looking at the statements netanyahu said earlier in the day and he said that this was an attack on a sovereign state and that the country would act accordingly it certainly seems as if hamas is running scared there has been an internal order among the massive fishel to evacuate all of the message through to buildings in the gaza strip they have issued a statement saying that they were not responsible for these attacks and they also want israel against attacking them so just a reminder we're talking here of a three pronged attack on an israeli civilian car on an israeli civilian bassam also on in the israeli army patrol dozens of people have been injured and the number of dead just keeps growing and growing and the whole south of israel is currently on high alert for a pall over this having happened the close of the border with egypt what could this

mean for israel egypt relations. with egypt has said that it was not in any way involved in these attacks pointing to the fact that it says the gunman operated from within israeli border is false simple months now they have been growing concerns particular. regarding is radii gyptian relations which has been on the decline since before me gyptian president hosni mubarak was ousted earlier this year just talking to several israeli experts. that the sinai peninsula is now in disarray they talk about shipments of arms being smuggled to be gone as a strip maybe not even smuggled because they stated that area has so little egypt control just last week egypt and thousands of its soldiers. this is the second time it's done so in recent months this is a move that's supported by israel that it doesn't seem to satisfy the israelis to the extent if we saw this activity happening today is also saying that it believes that islamic jihad and all kind of operating in gaza and certainly the feeling is

that what has transpired today was really just something in the making it was really something it was an act was going to happen sooner or later all right thank you very much for that update artie's fall asleep the latest thank you. and still ahead for you this hour thanks but no thanks there was your country's turned their backs on the signal per se as it runs 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 and their flying machines. is there for us to bring us up to speed with all 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 lined together with america's f. twenty two and after thirty five fighter jets over the fifth generation 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 and air bosses alongside sue boyce that we're just 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 area about six russian not. ites will be performing for them together with the troops. 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. engine check. instruments check. runway check and then it's take up with a 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 he's training to join the team he thinks he's nearly good enough now but still remembers his first flight as a solo pilot because there's a lot of 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're 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 a 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 you come up with stone and then research them but it often turns out the pins on the for 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 rikard typical most smokers when you leave the cockpit you can squeeze a gallon of sweat from your suit what your knees are shaking for because it's extremely different than the stressful and any will work with america 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. k k. k k k giving. the. kick. kick. but i could also see some of the streams they go through. there's no ticket but if you knew the months before the crowds but serial acrobatics aren't issued to the pilots it's always a difficult job that a terrorists a pilot's has to show his skill and the beauty of flight so next time you look up

at those speeding planes spitter thought for the pilots inside. the box and aunty. to say that r.t. throughout the day as we bring you more updates and live coverage for the max two thousand the evidence for national air show in moscow reaches. the a czech republic is the latest e.u. state to back away from the struggling euro zone saying and joining now would be inappropriate well it's another contrary to be scared off the debt laden single currency and 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 are going to merkel and nicolas sarkozy call for the creation of a central economic body which would have shore and eurozone members take more financial responsibility for national export patrick young says the european leaders are clutching at straws and risk of the whole currency. the reason people

wanted to join the single currency in the first place was because of see if they the idea that they could trade in a single currency across borders under 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 knowledge has been. in an increasing number of summits various bailouts every time we end up with this chorus of people telling us that everything's 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 greece 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 counsellor and get rid of places like greece and through the might 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 have 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 merkel 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 look at some other world news this hour thousands of people have gathered in madrid 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 love and others injured during clashes between police and activists benedict the sixteenth is visiting spain to mark world youth day now the government

has not admitted exactly how much it's costing but reports suggest it's more than seventy million euros. to pakistan our fresh violence over the past twenty four hours in the city of karachi has left at least thirty nine people dead and many of the victims were found tortured shopped stuffed in socks 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 post fasted meal the killings are thought to be linked to ongoing rivalries between gags and political parties vying for power. turkish warplanes have attacked 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 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 blasted off from kazakhstan and should have reached orbit by now but according to reports it strayed off target meaning the satellite has been lost or the russian space agency has already set up a panel to investigate possible malfunctions and the express was set to be one of europe's most powerful hours in the sky and provide digital t.v. coverage across a large part of russia for the next fifteen years. news videos abba latest updates on our website. dot com and here is what you can find online right now the hard steady path to democracy exclusive interview with one of the leaders of the caucasus republic. on our web site. the sequel russia's far east. within twenty four hours.

and is here with all the latest chris. how i welcome to business here and the markets are taking a tumble way of europe and the united states feeding off each other in sick each other's insecurities european and american markets have all been down at least four percent there are underlying fears of a double dip but morgan stanley warning that the global economy is dangerously close to recession and i'm now joined by gustavo european economist r.b.c. capital markets. thanks for joining the program so what's going on in the markets

right now and how much is there with you know last week self. well we've we've had two bits of information come out this today which is really driving sentiment one in europe has been following to the merkel sarkozy summit earlier in the week has been discussions about whether the second greek bailout is going to be reopened this is the issues that the finnish and the greek government together they go shoot at the collateral plan for definition contribution to the second bailout and other european countries are say well actually if women can do that and essentially do away with their contribution well we want that to mean well in the u.s. even though we have had a decent patch of data over the last couple weeks with retail sales and ip and claims being a bit stronger today still the fed index has been very nasty very ugly number so lower index in about two years and because of that we've seen you know equity stumble we've seen new record those in ten year treasuries and booms of gilts and gold reaching new highs as well so i'm just wonder this is whether this is

something that a repeat of last week i measured of thing last week were still in you know post us downgrade mentality we're looking at the e.c.b. intervention in spanish and italian paper this week the focus has shifted a bit more towards economics which we had softer european data. and german g.d.p. both slightly below market expectations and the u.s. data today. as we said ok but what's going to be the turning point and when. well that's a difficult question part of it is you know it is august a lot of people are on holiday and you know there's just aren't big events in the calendar where you can see a significant shift we get a little bit of economic data next week we have the p.m.i. is in for four august which will give us a sense as to whether the slowdown will be more protracted into q three or not we also get the jackson hole conference on friday where we could see some noises out of the fed as to whether q e three is going to become a reality or not ok so tell me what investors go when the market is like this what

are they did. well obviously i mean it depends on the risk of that of investor but it's quite clear that we've been recommending that you stick to the more liquid instruments right now you know the there's definitely that flocked to the safe havens and we've seen that as i said before with. these record lows in treasuries and booms and guilts we've seen similar moves in the currency market as well and and central banks around the world have been have been trying to make intervention because of that but it's very difficult because the does seem to be a bit of a buyer strike if you will. ok and what about gold what about in gold as a safe haven. i think so i think before gold is one of those things that investors have definitely been flocking to we've seen that on the upside amongst commodities oil on the downside but again i think the more liquid instruments is probably the safer bet right now if if your risk appetite isn't very high obviously there are

a lot of opportunities for investors who you know do have a bit more of a risk appetite but. these are few and far between ok good scalability european economist r.b.c. capital markets thanks for sharing your thoughts with us thanks very much thank you and that's all the business is for now i'll be looking at the markets in the next program so join me in about twenty five minutes from now.

wealthy british style. suppliers on. market why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's culture for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines. is a report on our. all

come back it's half past the hour time to have a look at the main news we're covering for you today on our t.v. british courts are cracking down on dr harris with some a stiff sentence says that he. groups accuse judges of overreacting by dishing out severe penalties indiscriminately to young that have been given four year sentences for posting a joke massive facebook calling for people to loot their home town. european leaders and the u.s. issues strong statements calling syria's president assad to step down just as he announces a halt to all military operations in the country and the un is preparing to call on the international criminal court to investigate the regime's lethal crackdown on protesters.