lol. the crucial battle for syria's commercial capital pits rebels against the regime as fears of a new massacre soft with the rising death toll. the olympic flame is to be lit up its final destination in the british capital within hours but many londoners are feeling left out of the spectacle and instead overwhelmed by traffic and restrictions. the u.s. strategy shift as washington goes on a major headhunter for hackers in hopes they can use their skills to aid the government our top stories this hour. international news and comment live from our new center here in moscow this is r.t. with you twenty four hours a day the battle for syria's largest city is in full swing with activists saying

aleppo could become the scene of another massacre many residents of fleeing as rebel forces and government troops converge for a decisive clash dozens of reportedly been killed in the nation's economic hub over the past twenty four hours while scores are also said to have died in and around the masters the former head of the u.n. mission to syria says the fall of assad's government is simply a matter of time but won't necessarily spell and to the conflict some countries are calling for humanitarian corridors to be set up but russia says that would simply help the rebels and their foreign patrons fuel the conflict even further bodies or some a boycott has the latest for us now from damascus. the efforts to put an end to violence in syria or on the contrary to stoke tensions in this country that depends on your worst still continuing just a few days ago the arab league has called for an emergency meeting of the un general assembly to discuss the establishment of humanitarian corridors now in

theory the square there should only be human suffering and. with the safe passage of humanitarian workers and refugees but in practice when you look at the map of syria it is surrounded by the countries that are being used to smuggle weapons for the free syrian army we're talking about turkey lebanon on iraq possibly even jordan just a few days ago there are there's a news agency published a story quoting an f.s.a. officer who was boasting about new deliveries all three propelled grenades katyusha rockets anti-tank missiles on the top of that refugee camps on the border with these countries being used as a recruitment grounds for the militarized syrian opposition my colleague mario. trouble to one of them on the lebanese border just a few days ago and she says that people who run these camps make no secret that they provide humanitarian assistance only to the f.s.a. sympathizers so in this context it's hardly surprising that the syrian authorities

reject the idea of humanitarian corridors they believe that all these humanitarian talk is here and not their efforts to give a strategic military advantage to the other side also if such corridors were established the syrian government would automatically seize control over a certain parts of its territory and they believe that it would seriously undermine their efforts to fight against terrorism now russia does sides with syria on this issue russian foreign minister sergei lavrov ruled out the idea of humanitarian corridors in the current circumstances when certain countries openly supply arms for the syrian opposition or acquiesce to that cherry tree being used for arms smuggling sergey lavrov also sad that if the west and its regional allies were truly interested in putting in the end to violence and stopping blackjack they should first stop arming the free syrian army. well turkey has reportedly

teamed up with qatar and saudi arabia to set up a secret base to funnel weapons and equipment to the syrian rebels and that's according to reuters sources in the gulf the hub said to be located in turkey some one hundred kilometers from the syrian border the u.s. is allegedly in on the operation as well although in this case is supporting the insurgents through its proxy allies without being directly involved is also stepped up war mongering rhetoric against syria threatening to strike across the border and cross as it's alarmed by what it calls kurdish terrorists to establish a foothold in northern syria with a view to declaring autonomy let's discuss this now with dr ali mohamed is editor in chief of the syria tribune blog joins me. by well so far there's been no official outside intervention in this crisis in syria but considering up a secret base to final weapons to the rebels be regarded as direct involvement in syria's internal affairs. absolutely when when you're giving.

support as they call it which translates to weapons and communication means of communication this is definitely intervention and actually this is hardly news to us but we have been sure that turkey is managing variables in syria for over a year and now and the fact that reuters is declaring this now does not add any new any new story information well the saudis the turks they're taking the bull by the horns here without waiting for support by the leading nato countries and indeed washington in particular they're acting beyond the security council as well so what allows them to do so. thinking that this is their battle it seems gives them the privileged. that's what they think nothing allows them to do so this is against international law this is against every concept of neighboring countries so they think it's ok for them and they think they will get away with it and that's

why they act this way and the question is are they going to get away with it well will it not be addressed by the u.n. security council can't tell us again and it should be it definitely should be but knowing the division in the security council we would expect russia to be punished for the vetoes by counter vetoes on such issues if they are brought up can explain why turkey and saudi arabia are so proactive now in this conflict in syria. to understand this we need to look at the wider picture saudi arabia and turkey seem to to like the idea of a middle east controlled by the muslim brotherhood which they can control easily also it seems that they like the idea of having a sunni muslim middle east as opposed to the. iran. iraq and they think this will make their stances stronger but actually it will only

help israel because it will divert the struggle elsewhere and the u.s. the u.s. has influence behind all of this as i said at the start of this there was allegations and thoughts of course that much of this was the u.s. conducting a proxy war through its allies absolutely we heard a lot of. american analysts including brzezinski for example advising the u.s. administration that they should go through a proxy and not get involved in the do it themselves and the u.s. seems to have finally understood that it will not have a clean clean clear success in syria. if it decides to intervene it will ruin the whole country on the way and that's why it's leaving the dirty work to to its local proxies what are the dangers that well we've seen of him muslim brotherhood gaining influence in egypt we don't know what's going to happen syria and libya as well but

isn't there the danger that all this could backfire on the u.s. where we see anti western an islamist regimes taking over. i don't think the u.s. is concerned about the muslim brotherhood they would be concerned if it was any other islamic wing other than the muslim brotherhood but they know for a fact that the muslim brotherhood is it can easily be controlled by the saudis and by that and that's why they are not worried about them and a clear example is what happened with them as hamas was a. devil to the west until it's turned from being an ally to. saudi arabia and now we see philip michel meeting israeli officials in morocco and we don't hear anybody condemning him as any more as long as it's muslim brotherhood the u.s. is not worried nor is israel there's another dimension here of course and that is turkey really feeling threatened by the kurds in syria and at the same time we know that kurds have entered the high ranks of the syrian opposition which is backed by

ankara why we seeing a contradiction here. well there are two contradictions actually first if turkey is supporting the rebels in syria what would the the turkish government feel if syria gave the same liberty to p.k. fighters to cross the border. to go attack the turkish army and the other issue is there the kurds are not. a single entity and some of them are really. happy about the so-called syrian revolution and they are supporting it but. another part is nuts and i think the majority is worried about turkey more than it is worried about the syrian regime and the game that is being played there is really dangerous because once it's involves the kurds it can is kill it easily yes and just briefly those kurds who have interests in iran iraq and lebanon but what about the situation with their. exactly so this is a very dangerous game as they said the idea is once the kurds decide to to to fight

for their autonomy. they are known to fight roughly and hardly and this means they will be fighting not only syria but also turkey iran iraq and other places. this is this. game turkey is playing provoking the kurds is really. going to lead to a disaster starting in turkey itself great talking to you dr ali mohamed thank you very much indeed for your thoughts on this editor in chief of the syria tribune joining us live in dubai thank you thank you bill. is r.t. can be live from the russian capital coming up in the program a glimpse of hope for the world's top whistleblower ecuador the swedish authorities to question julian assange in its london embassy over sex assault allegations as he continues to fight possible extradition to the u.s. . for it is a big day for sports fans around the world with only a few hours left until the long awaited summer olympic games kick off in london

fleets are preparing for the opening ceremony spectators are flocking to the british capital and the olympic torch is completing the final kilometers of its seventy day relay and what you're seeing on your screens right now is the final leg of the journey the torch has made its way towards the games main arena across the river thames on board a majestic royal barge but what's set to become a thrilling sporting extravaganza for some has already proved to be a nightmare for others and as our correspondent laura smith reports that while the city is set to sparkle with energy many londoners have chosen to flee. it's been seven years in the making and the greatest show on earth is finally kicking off in london but not everyone's please this has come to town in fact according to research by currency exchange for travelex londoners are fleeing their city in droves people are saying specifically they want to avoid the olympics you

know they look at the streets and they look at congestion and they look at the charges in particular on the london area so they have taken the decision to go a third of people traveling this summer will head off during the games but for those who stay behind it will be a television only affair millions ended up disappointed in the public lottery to get tickets and it's recently been revealed that hundreds of thousands of tickets returned by for an olympic committees are being privately sold to corporate sponsors it's provoked outrage but not surprised tickets have gone to not only the corporate sponsors but big corporate. backers in general is an inevitable result of the way the goings of done primarily for the interests of the rich in the olympics i'm afraid are just the epitome of some of the worst things in the world the removal of resources from poor people and giving it to rich people parents drop and station they can be no doubt what's going on the whole place is branded london

twenty twelve i'm also surrounded by massive billboards on every building there's an advertisement for one of the main corporate sponsors b.m.w. lloyds t.s.b. but over here is the stratford that always was struck. it's full of independent traders who have come up against the big corporate sponsors unlike rich corporates local stallholders aren't allowed to capitalize on this world class event in their home town edict from the brand police i mean they can't. even use words like a limb pick some or all gold in their advertising any games related merchandise must be official and according to stall holder daryl that's not easy it's too much of a risk we really small businesses we call open accounts with huge companies and that's one x. amount of. you know which we're really small business i would love so but. it's

created an uneasy relationship between locals and the games side with the corporate monster is such that it's negativity to the games itself which is just so what people. i'm not positive to because it's really odd to see structures. being covered and coated with corporate sponsorship so from that point of view i don't like it despite the much vaunted olympic spirit it turns out the great is show water isn't for everyone while the fat cats sit back and watch the olympics cash raised in london as the streets seize up because of special olympic traffic lanes and their commuter trains grinds to a halt as they route the day the games picked their city the first thing i did when i heard. one of my good friends and congratulations laura smith

r.t. london. will stay with the sports theme but. as it sounds we'll cross to business news for that katie you were in if you had today i am indeed business for what more do you wonder. what i want to talk about is the i'm going to be talking figures really because when it comes to lympics it's all very exciting and i was gearing up for the mean to ny but the biggest is often the highlight of the games themselves simply because it is such an expense so later on in about ten minutes time i'll give you the. police in central russia continue to collect evidence following a gruesome discovery earlier this week of almost two hundred fifty human fetuses dumped in a forest there thought to have been used in scientific research by a woman who worked at a local medical university before being fired last year but as our to sean thomas

found out some experts think they could even be the product of cloning. right now the investigation is focused on two parts first how did these four plastic containers containing two hundred forty eight fetuses end up in the woods about seventy kilometers north of why and where did these fetuses come from the possible explanation is legal scientific research we do know that all of the fetuses that are in question here were terminated between twenty two and twenty six weeks this is well past of the twelve week mark which is considered legal abortion in russia after twenty two weeks of women can only have an abortion only for medical necessary reasons so is this is illegal abortion operation or is this scientific research no one really knows they're trying to get to the bottom of that we talked to one medical doctor this is what they had to say about the subject. this looks like some sort of organs were removed from fetuses to extract in essence is

theoretically can be used to reach people there was a criminal case in ukraine who want to go. into terminating pregnancies quite late to extract this issue. there is one woman who was in charge of some scientific research in the area she was terminated two thousand and eleven police are looking to see if she had taken some of the material she was working with with her when she left and if this could possibly be about material now there are some other disturbing theories saying that illegal scientific research could be behind this find as well in fact this is what one medical expert says on the subject. it may sound a bit fantastical but these fetuses could have been cloning despite its universal ban and that's why they were thrown out like that these were not future human beings but half human half artificial creatures it's a very daring. this might of course have been the product of miscarriages fetuses

could have been thrown out and purpose to create scandal and attract attention maybe attract attention to the ban on cloning humans. abortions shock people the sight of these speeches that we've been tracking this story from the very beginning following the developments and the feedback that we're getting is that it touches at the very core of what people believe in so it's a controversial story it has shocked many people around the world of course will be continuing to follow developments online at r.t. and here on the screen as well as they become available. don't forget we have plenty more on our web site is a quick look at what's waiting for you there right now should you log on and feeling frustrated think twice before spilling it all out online find out how a pulse of twitter post could get you involved in a year long trial. and the european commission wants to spend some four hundred ten million euros on drones aimed at solving one of the e.u.'s major crises which one go online to find out.

if we could. maybe inching closer to his goal of asylum in ecuador the country's embassy in london where he's been holed up says it will allow swedish authorities to question signs there over sex crimes allegations that was what life is that if he sent to sweden he could then be moved to the u.s. to stand trial for espionage for publishing classified information that could or says it'll decide on whether to grant asylum to science after the london olympics which concluded in just over two weeks his legal advisor says that being questioned in the south american nations embassy provides some hope for the weekend weeks found that's positive into your respect it's positive because. julian assange made a choice not to go to sweden because he knew in sweden he would be put in prison.

not given bail and that it was more likely than not in fact my view was american lawyer for julian someone that it was almost one hundred percent that he was going to be indicted and extradited to the united states never getting out of prison so the fact that he might be able to do what he has been demanding for almost two years which is to be question in london about these allegations would be a major step because it means he could answer questions so it's a major positive development it's one that join us on has been demanding for a long time but despite that the man sweden refused to let in the second respect i think it's our hope that when julian gets an opportunity under the circumstances that sweden questions him that he would be exonerated of these allegations and that would be the end of it he should feel wrong first of all that the united states is going after him that you know i'm a man who should be protected by our constitution and the first amendment why if united states gets its hands on will be put into an underground prison and treated

cruelly like bradley manning was treated the man who allegedly got access to the documents so he's obviously very worried about that situation and very angry that the united states is wanting to suppress what probably one of the major truth tellers in the world today. washington could be initiating a new head hunt for the first time the u.s. talks about his chief was attending the world's largest hacking conference in las vegas bodies were important and his opinion is in the the u.s. government is trying to get people on its side that it had previously been prosecuting. over the past two years the f.b.i. has arrested and jailed dozens of a legit how curves and or whistleblowers in connection to groups like wiki leaks. anonymous and the file sharing site mega upload but in addition to prosecuting master hackers it appears as though the u.s.

government may soon begin aggressively recruiting them now one indication that many are pointing to is the fact that the head of the u.s. national security agency general keith alexander is expected to speak at the def con conference in las vegas now this event is considered to be the world's largest gathering of how curves and so-called computer geeks and this year an estimated fifteen thousand people are expected to show up general alexander's attendance at def con marks the first time america's top surveillance chief would be participating in this event since it began two decades ago but today in an air of cyber warfare many experts believe that washington may soon begin implementing the same people that they've been jailing if it means that the u.s. government stands to benefit from having hackers on team usa reporting from new

york. r.t. . katie will be here with the business news very shortly but first some other international news in brief. and first we go to saudi arabia where police have reportedly opened fire on opposition protesters in the district of qatif leaving several injured a number of arrests have also been made the clashes occurred as hundreds marched to demand the release of political prisoners. calling for the freedom of expression violence between security forces and protesters has intensified recently after two demonstrators were killed earlier this month. international financial inspectors have urged greece to push through more reforms if it wants to secure the latest installment of yet another bailout tranche the country continues to contract at an alarming rate with experts speculating it may have to leave the euro as soon as january greece's only enough money to make it to be able to some of the tough cuts having already caused violent rallies. also a lot of people north and south korea's have marked the fifty ninth anniversary of

the korean war cease fire the military conflict on the korean peninsula erupted when the communist north propped up by the soviet union invaded the south although a cease fire was signed tension remains high in two thousand and ten two south korean soldiers in the purser brilliance were killed in an artillery attack by the north which claims to be provoked by the south. as promised let's cross over to the business of katy it's been a week for the finance news doesn't know where the end of the trading week it's looking to end well it's been such a busy week there we've had so many different news data is coming out a lot of them have been to the downside actually so it's really strange to see now that we're looking at gains across the board a lot of that is because next week we've got big central bank meetings and right now we can see that investors are really positioning themselves as for the u.s. stocks they are gaining and that's for a second day and that's despite the u.s.

economy expanding at a slower. in the second quarter a lot of thought has been put down to the fact the job state was soft in the forty's prompting america's ready to spend day you know putting it away for a rainy day so to speak now investors on wall street they're also pinning their hopes on the european central bank because they have hinted all now gold and now want to talk about facebook as well because that is the big news story today shares of facebook. fourteen percent of that softer announcing its first financial results since the i.p.o. now the social network second quarter revenues rose thirty two percent but it's also reported a one hundred fifty seven million dollars net loss now some of those payments are apparently going to go to the shareholders and one of them of course chief executive mark zuckerberg so why did you probably go to all your primo because they are now close bill is have a look at how they finished up this session we were looking at james we got the goods here around one percent of the dots around one another over one on the whole

positive territory but we see reports as well the president managed to doggy he vowed to keep the euro in tap water. so you took one of the currency let's see the common currency now see this to noise around those two week highs against the dollar got it one twenty three fifty five i just also want to mention the thought that somebody whose job was right the scar rocketed to a fresh record high of twenty five percent said that's how the river got into that money she gave because of all scales currencies that brings the odd bit to markets they are close but we'll see those momentum in the as well as investors again position themselves the next week with yes nearly two and a whole percent of the my six one and all percent opposed to church a big shot today was crude prices that were gaining of that help tell the markets head let's get on to the move and shake it is oil spill next day i mean to know.

that induction accounting. started. the walk because it provided one of its main shareholders but not the solvent for many years of probably the first part yeah i think i need be well down the road that has all of this sounds all right want to talk about that company exist but in the course today of us an arbitration cause is all of the pay of the three billion dollars of compensation and k.v. . third of what was required by a minority shareholder of the russian british venture you fold a lawsuit now he craved the joy suffered losses because of felt to deal with the roughness which by the way was brought by russian shareholders of. paid. sick days for the olympics as we know now british prime minister david cameron he is hoping that the games will help the u.k. get back on track but sadly looking back at history they almost always leave you with financial troubles. billions to make the two thousand and four games as excess

but now its economy is of course collapsing now one positive thing about the olympics is that it doesn't grease foreign trade for an average of three. i'll be watching it's night. time excited to go thanks for watching because you will hear more from you anyway in the meantime thanks very much indeed we have a financial checkup with lauren list will be on the way very soon but first i'll be back with a recap of our top stories in just a couple of minutes. the

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