julian waits for ecuador to decide on his request for political asylum within hours but the chances of him leaving the u.k. without being arrested remain uncertain. moscow is not sending its battleships to syria and hasn't changed its position on ways to solve the conflict that is according to russia's foreign minister in an exclusive interview moments ago with. meanwhile britain and the u.s. may give immunity and clemency to syria's president assad if he attends a conference on the transition of power as part of their effort to oust the syrian leader. fighting continues in libya with over one hundred killed in a week of tribal clashes as the interim government fails to end violence in the

post gadhafi state. present lot of a person says the private investment not oil should be the driver of economic growth in russia join me in twenty minutes probably save me the book at the national economic forum. live from the heart of moscow this is the with me rule research i welcome to the program the fate of could be sealed within hours as the president of ecuador is expected to make a decision on the whistleblower was that request for political asylum the wiki leaks editor spent a second night in the london embassy of the latin american state where he came hoping to avoid extradition to sweden that's british police say they are ready to arrest him as soon as he steps out of the front door of the embassy building the story of. held under house arrest and oppressed by the government

in an effort to silence a pro-democracy message to the public but we're not talking about famous political dissident song suchi she's now free and being warmly welcomed by the british government we're talking about the western exponents of freedom of speech the charges of of imported games julian assange yet he still spent more than five hundred days under house arrest fighting extradition to sweden and possibly the u.s. now he's desperately hoping ecuador in the safe haven he seeks the latest dramatic twist in the case of julian assange she is once again called the eyes of the world's media behind the ecuadorian embassy those julian assange takes refuge but away from the height and his supporters say that this is a dark a tale of a man who has been abandoned by his own country persecuted by the u.s. and failed by the u.k.'s legal system but he's not looking for consular assistance

he's looking for political and diplomatic assistance and he's looking for the government to stand up for and the son just fight has been a long one eighteen months of legal wrangling in the case resulted in the rejection of his supreme court appeal against extradition to sweden what this was about was once julian assange gets extradited to sweden he's in prison in sweden the next thing that happens is the u.s. assuming there's an indictment large is an extradition warrant in sweden eventually the u.s. gets his hands on him they stick him in a prison in the united states fears of what might await him across the atlantic may well have prompted his latest i think you'll end up actually the united states facing very serious charge probably life in prison if not the death penalty and it will be a stacked against those who are sitting with the bradley manning case united states now has kangaroo records rather than we'll of course these aren't unfounded concerns as a long list of us figures he. openly calls not only for songes incarceration even

for his death this guy is a traitor treasonous and he has broken every law the united states the guy ought to be and i'm not for the death penalty so if i'm not for the death penalty i want to do it illegally shoot the son of a and here's why because of his work with wiki leaks this guy has made some powerful enemies you know the collateral murder video shows american helicopter gunships. the iraq war logs the afghan war diaries all of this. has embarrassed american british government freedom fighting in the twenty first century is a whole new ball game with new rules new players and unexpected me even first stange is legal team this was a complete surprise so we found out about it on twitter and say the man he revolutionized whistleblowing and three wiki leaks released groundbreaking stories has in another twist become the story himself and there are many now heaping that

the next big release will be julian assange himself so r.t. london. now legal experts are in a dispute over what's going to happen if ecuador does grant songe asylum since there are no guarantees the u.k. will provide him a safe passage professor donald rothwell from the australian national university college of law explains the complications likely to arise. but i think if it would all is intending to remove mr sanchez with these permission to take a quick all there will be a delicate diplomatic negotiation that will need to take place between ecuador and the u.k. authorities on that matter but the key issue is whether or not the immunity that the ecuadorians will be seen to grant to science will be respected by the u.k. government and the complexity associated with that is of course that assigns is currently being held in the united kingdom as a result of the swedish arrest warrant he's on bio at the moment our pain in the

finalization of those extradition proceedings the spleen and of course he's breached by all conditions by actually spending a night or two now the ecuadorian embassy so he is now wanted by the british police and they have indicated that i will see two or esteem and while the world is watching where the latest twist in assad his legal saga will leave him we met with a leading figure from the wiki leaks website that made its founder a household name you can watch our interview with kristinn hrafnsson a close friend of julian assange that of becoming away next hour here on our team hungry for the full story we've got it first the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers on our t.v. it's a good to have you with us here on r t today russia says it has not changed its stance on syria that's after british prime minister david cameron claimed that vladimir

putin had shifted his view of president assad during talks with barack obama and other world leaders at the g twenty summit in mexico and the discussions were now focused on a transition of power in syria and an exclusive interview with r.t. russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov said these reports are simply untrue. that's the truth of the knitting so that it can there are those whose president obama did discuss syria. oh so we're. just here it goes and the british are saying this. president asad must go and then be the stone the old players must develop the transition plan for the serious luxury. we expressed our position that we can. accept the policy which would be aimed at changing regimes from outside this has been though a position in the world and that we can't. prejudge for this serious what the

outcome of the political dialogue with the strong to support the political dialogue of the strong to support the efforts to stop the violence and we saw just that for this for this whole extolled players should lean on the syrian party on the beach because it puts. us persuade them there was draw from this it just blows the government and the armed groups of the position to sit down and have a dialogue but without projecting from both sides what these substance and result of this dialogue might be it's for the syrians they decide now as part of their push to see syria's president assad step down britain and the u.s. are now thought to be considering giving him clemency that's if you agrees to attend an upcoming international conference on a transition of power in syria following this story for us as our teams put her on a. well the offer is being seen as a potential sweetener from britain and america to get basher al assad to the

negotiating table for talks in geneva at the end of the month however the offer of clemency which could be contained in the proposal suggests that london and washington are remaining true to their mantra that despite no charges having been brought against him assad is a criminal and must be removed from power clemency offer could be crucial though if assad is to travel to switzerland as it's unlikely that he would attend talks during which he could be packed off to the international criminal court however should assad accept an offer the question has to be asked who and what would fill the power vacuum if he steps down now there are thousands of tons of weapons on the ground in syria and enough factions within the opposition vying for power that we could see a repeat of the violence which is marred the transition of power in other countries who toppled their leaders during the arab spring. who will have to take into account the fate of those arab leaders who were not offered this kind of deal in

egypt mubarak was sentenced to life in prison tunis is ben ali is in exile in saudi arabia and t.v. news audiences around the world witnessed the brutal slaying of colonel gadhafi by his own people well his personal safety aside the syrian leader must also consider what would happen to the sizable portion of the people who still support him they won't receive the same clemency and may be subject to the type of brutal reprisal attacked which we see continuing in libya following the killing of gadhafi. artie's peter all are reporting meanwhile a number of cia officers are operating secretly in southern turkey distributing weapons between the syrian rebels to fight against the regime that's all according to american officials and arab intelligence officers and in syria itself people are often forced to join the armed rebellion by threats and intimidation as art is more if an option has found out. every evening cause a man has

a spends time with his grandchildren but the story is grandpa tells the kids about bad and good people aren't fairy tales they're real wonder. who is this mohamed where is he he's dead. what they kill him because he didn't want to bring down president bashar assad garzon is the leader of a five thousand strong tribe his son and youngest granddaughter were shot dead by terrorists after he refused to join the movement against the syrian regime. when i stand here they came to me masked men carrying the al-qaeda flag with kalashnikovs and many other weapons they wanted me to demonstrate and bring my tribesmen with me then they came in the night and started shooting my house is covered in bullet holes from floor to ceiling later cars and saw them on t.v. once arrested the militants confessed to many crimes and mentioned cars and to.

store and here's this house we were shooting and set fire next day where arranged to meet another victim but when we called him back for final details a stranger picked up when they had what is more hardin. you want. yes i will give you them all i'm sorry. how is basra telling him to mundine. bring you all the heads god where is my again bring me bashar al assad imo tell you where. the hell is this you have families that had government building people. sure. you will get kidnapped too but we found a man who didn't hours later in hospital fortunately alive he told us he'd been attacked gunman stopped his car took his money and mobile and shot him in the leg.

they came asking to join zen three months ago as a threatened me and they took my family and loved the city i was told they were following me but what should i do a here's a came i don't even know why me was a little while my head dean is wondering why him mahmoud the last of the two matt knows exactly why people with guns visited his home and threatened him in his restaurants he used to feed syrian army officers and was also delivering send which is to their checkpoints. told me i cannot feed the army and i now have to feed them for free free syrian army he also wanted me to lead an armed group just like many others mahmoud has fled his native it lip the city known as one of the syrian opposition strongholds which has seen several deadly terror attacks and now hiding in neighboring aleppo change in location every ten days and just like others he

says he's already lost a lot but his ready to sacrifice the rest if it helps turn this dark page in this country's history while the west continues to pile more pressure on the syrian regime in the hope of the posen president assad it's remains unclear what kind of people would take his place with open support for the syrian rebels and a rise in the use of terror tactics the question many are asking is that what kind of direction would these force take the country. or if national our team from syria. still ahead here in the program here in just a rap on the knuckles for actions which enraged the nation u.s. troops involved in burning the koran in afghanistan in february may get off with just fine. plus an ending uncertainty the results of the presidential election in egypt delayed the tax code saying you are stuck between a rock and

a hard place and right. now more than one hundred people have been killed five hundred injured in just a week all of this the tribal clashes in libya tensions have been running high since last year's uprising which of course topple moammar gadhafi with the interim government failing to stop the ongoing violence middle east correspondent paula slim reports. there are many who say that a nother civil war in libya is on the cards this coming as you say off to the interim government announces that a week of classes southwest of the capital city of tripoli have left one hundred and five people killed and more than five hundred people injured this is to happen just days after authorities called for an immediate cease fire and declared civil mountain of cities in the west of the country a military zone now we do know that a national army brigade has been deployed between the warring factions there heavy

and light with is being used that since monday the situation has been calm but this doesn't detract from live very real volatility that we seeing there in the region we hope in this case also reporting that at the same forty two ambulances and dozens of doctors to evacuate people and at the same time to bring in emergency supplies the situation is such because what you have at the moment is a longstanding rivalries between various tribes and also divided communities coming to the fore and the government really really low forty's at the moment are just simply unable to impose a law and order it's also raising questions over whether or not the election for the national assembly that has been slated for july the seventh is going to go ahead it has already been postponed once due to the just tickle and technical reasons. that were u.s. military investigation into the february karama burning by american troops in afghanistan has reportedly ruled against criminal charges but instead it

recommended administrative discipline for up to seven soldiers which could mean fines or simple that as of. several copies of the koran were sort of players prompting deadly and two u.s. riots and washington did apologize for the incident. the white penalties could all be lead to a new wave of anger among afghans phyllis bennis director of the new internationalism project believes this decision shows a lack of accountability. the relationship between the us and government in kabul has been very difficult for a long time it certainly isn't only about this question of the burning of the qur'an there's been the killing of civilians and most especially the use of drones that have been responsible for the deaths of so many civilians across afghanistan these troops that are responsible for these outrages should be held accountable and there should be severe punishment there should be severe punishment right up the chain of command to those who have put them in these situations and set up the

scenarios that have led to these actions the killing of sixteen. afghan civilians just a couple of months ago by allegedly one u.s. soldier this kind of activity highlights what is the reality of a longstanding war that from the beginning has been characterized by the deaths of civilians and other violations of international law military occupation breeds outrage by the people who are occupied whether that is palestinians occupied by israel whether it's afghans occupied by the united states iraqis that were occupied by the united states for so long you know that in these situations the incidents the specific incidents that get a certain amount of attention are really only the tip of the iceberg of the atrocity that is military occupation that's what has to be brought to an end. it's good to have you with us here on r.t. today don't forget there's always a plenty more for you on our website certainly one case for example including

a case of consumer discrimination in the u.s. that american girl with the right to buy goods from an apple store or having an iranian ancestry. sniffer dogs discover explosives near a swedish power plant all those details just. twenty minutes past the hour here in moscow the world update just moments away for now though in egypt the election committee has postponed the results of the presidential runoff in told the weekend it says it must review complaints presented by both candidates there's uncertainty too over the condition of the convicted former president hosni mubarak who said to be in

a coma saeed subject the professor of political sociology at the american university in cairo thinks the runoff has forced the majority of egyptians that's a choose between options they simply don't want. those three options now is you will have a confrontation with the and. and that would leave the muslim brotherhood and move on you should know is mobilizing against him and that would leave the country in big tears and the second scenario is that the military council and the muslim brotherhood would reach an agreement pakistan your model in which there is the vision of the political party between the military and the muslim brotherhood so the option is clear that the muslim brotherhood can do that in this case there will be this violent reaction in this to be but there will be sadness in the country this is the first time in seven thousand years. that the president but this was not

the most favorable choice he wanted. to give was that we don't want. and we do not want a military state or briefly or some other international headlines for you know here on r.t. the world update in indonesia in the air force plane that crashed into a residential area in the country's capital jakarta killing at least six the jet hit a housing complex setting buildings on fire it was on a routine training flight at the time carrying seven. ethnic violence has left over eighty people dead in me in a modest month with seventy of them killed during the last week the state of iraq in has been rocked by revenge attacks between the region's buddhists and a muslim minority the apparent spark for the rest of the killing of ten muslims by a buddhist mob in the wake of the rape and murder of a local woman. and arrest warrant has been issued for the man who has just been nominated as prime minister of pakistan. is facing allegations over imports of an

illegal drug while he was health minister he's currently the country's textiles minister but it just been nominated by the incumbent president to take. over from sacked you see. he was fired after being convicted of contempt of court two months ago for refusing to reopen an old corruption case against the president. south korean japanese and american troops all holding their largest ever joint military exercise right near the north korean border a force of around two thousand expected to be involved in the maneuvers which pyongyang has described as a reckless military provocations dr tim beal an author and asia specialist believes the war games are more about winning over u.s. and south korean voters than anything else the americans have mentioned there's no real sign chinese sign really all to do with with elections elections in the united

states next in south korea so then they're doing it knowing very confident that nothing very much going to happen is just a matter of raising tension in the worst case scenario we might get war this is possible or two in the united states and china with you and south korea being squeezed in the middle hopefully that's not going to happen but we will get this continuing tension and it's really all to do with china it's to do with the containment china and that's going to to go on as china goes up in the world tonight estates comes down yes it's going to be a continuing source of concern and danger oh well. you're watching r t you know up to date with all the news from me though it's time now to get the latest from artie's business team it is the first day of russia's main economic event of the year at the st petersburg economic forum.

and it is a business team is there for us with exclusive coverage of all this a high profile gathering of this i will get the latest update from marina at the business desk thanks for awhile as i said as they were on all of this a bit about economic forum and there are a lot of experts and leaders of course their ministers discussing issues that are affecting the global economy there are about five thousand participants from about ninety countries and of course the whole topic of what else going to be the euro zone in fact earlier they've lattimer putin made risky speech there and here the size the importance of an investment when it comes to russia let's take a lesson. we must increase investment into the economy to the level of twenty seven percent of g.d.p. by twenty eighteen this is a realistic goal given the fact now at this level stands at twenty percent of course it's private investment we're talking about here we do understand that we

need to offer investors exclusive terms that's why it's the government's turn to improve the investment sentiment towards russia. and of course i was discussing the how the debt crisis in the euro zone could affect russia and many analysts have been speculating that i could severely affected russia's reform agenda but speaking to people you see managing partner david gray he told us that's definitely not the case. troubles in europe and the uncertainty that that generates does give you pause for thought in terms of exactly when you time the process of reducing the role of the state privatizing some of the businesses reducing the role of the state more generally in terms of its share of the g.d.p. but i don't think that should distract us i think it's very important that we see a government that's committed to that as a process because i will send a very positive signal to the markets about reform in general in russia and about their for the long term economic prospects of the country and same with a euro zone as she is as well spain recently asked for a one hundred billion euro bailout to support the country's banking system or some

say it's too much we spoke to michael andrew from k p m g international and he said it's actually not enough. what's not well understood some time which is the european banking system is probably three or four times the size of the us banking system secondly markets have to be convinced that the reason actually soloed funny the way she supported guarantee these people again so you need to be always on the up side and no one knows frankly with one hundred billion euros will be enough. of being completed when that happens the market by your judgement. over the more funds will be required but this is the right for the moment very large very big it can reach the markets peculiar to support the european vacation. and of course we'll be bringing you more days from the economic forum in st petersburg throughout the day but we also have more coverage on our website that's our t dot com slash business and for all the second look at the markets with the europe first of course that's one thing that all investors are looking at and as we can see the picture is still

makes the footsie is losing a lot of that is that pretty much the similar amount and this is all in response to weaker than expected data manufacturing data coming out from china and also everyone is still quite disappointed by the announcement made by the u.s. federal reserve on the wednesday when it said that it will not be doing any more quantitative easing at the moment and it has said that it was expand its operation twist the current form buying program and that will expand about two hundred sixty seven billion dollars right now let's move on and take a look at the russian markets where it's pretty much a similar picture investors are high as it's and avoiding a big risky move that we can see that b.r.t. has a shot in over half a percent and my sense is adding almost a half a percent and that's also due to decline in oil prices let's take a look at those which are hovering at the fifteen month lows at the moment which is that light switch is trading at around eighty dollars per barrel and the brand blends that approaching ninety two dollars per barrel still quite low prices than normal and a final look at the currencies that see what's happening with the euro dollar the

ruble we have the euro which is the news in against the dollar when it comes to the ruble it seems to be struggling to avoid those losses against both the main. currencies activist says so how business looks the south for the hour back to your not always a pleasure thanks so much to you like a. wrecking ball with the headlines and then it's going to be all going on spotlight are focusing on the ongoing economic forum and some produce but where all the business team as out right now.

is getting used. to. russia to be so much brighter if you knew more about songs from funk.