today's news in the week's top stories in the syrian regime and rebels engage in a fierce fight for control of the second city of aleppo while peace efforts are left to a broader list by kofi annan resignation as envoy. facing seven years for storming russia's main good people the trial of anti putin punk band pussy riot divides the country. and dozens are injured in fresh crackdowns on anti-government protests in bahrain this as the world stay silent.

and broadcasting live direct from our studios in central moscow this is glad to have you with us let's take a look at your top stories the heavy fighting raging in syria's second city of aleppo between government and rebel forces could prove decisive in the eighteen month conflict the syrian army is sending thousands more troops and artillery to the front line in damascus the government says it has pushed rebels from their last stronghold but sporadic clashes are ongoing on saturday forty eight iranian pilgrims were kidnapped in the syrian capital video shown by a. news channel allegedly shows men identified as the abducted iranians surrounded by rebel fighters international peace efforts were thrown into turmoil this week when chief mediator kofi anon quit the un then vowed voted overwhelmingly to condemn the syrian violence but moscow called it biased for only pressuring the regime to act journalist neil clark says the peace framework is being deliberately

undermined. trying to bring peace to syria but unfortunately undermined every step of the way by the western powers basically don't want to see these crises because. we understand what's going on until we realize that struck to russia and china has pretty simple if you think back to point one of these peace plan was that there would be a syrian led solution to this crisis what were the west been doing then they'd be backing rebels all the way along the key plays in all of this of the us and it's our eyes because they're the ones stoking the fires you know we had a vote back in february for a democratic constitution series make sense you're smoking yes to the free elections that were made so there is a framework to solve this peaceably we don't need promises it is no reason but of course america wants a violent regime change all they care about is to present a sad that's what's causing the bloodshed so let's make no mistake about this you know the responsibility for the bloodshed that's going on now the tragedy lies with

the u.s. and its allies almost daily we are seeing the events in syria unfolding on our t.v. screens but some facts don't always match up with the headlines for many foreign outlets reports backing of the rebel side of the story get top priority at the expense of balanced reporting as i explained. right now pursuing a story and joining the camp when a japanese journalist traveling with syrian rebels converted to islam it wasn't just his old name he abandoned. but for those around him he still being someone who wanted to become political he became one of the few camera hanging places where i come back. the religious conversion of journalist is rare on the syrian front lines becoming political disciples on one side the rebels is almost the norm for many reporting to the world in the past weeks of coverage c.n.n. has the earth five exactly just from the syrian frontlines people all detailing the

plight of those fighting bigger menace and while the regime has always come down for its use of force against the militants is a government monster killings by the rebels barely get a mention what happened to the go you capture this room he died the rebel commander says god willing he went to hell usually open and talkative syrians are now afraid of cameras those who agree to be interviewed often ask for their faces or names not to be shown for fear of reprisals the satellite dishes the household commodity syrians do watch western coverage of the conflict and many feel that their concerns their fears the losses are intentionally. but you don't you're not getting this it was you know what this is what it was even first time i've been able to come to syria i know why you might want to get away before you don't have a visa. we've been waiting for these you know you know sort of they really don't come to syria and get these are the usual claim that the syrian government doesn't

love western reporters into the country is not accurate currently there are around eighty foreign media outlets accredited in syria a sizable number of them european or american but there dispatches are not always welcomed at home christiane is an independent belgian writer. and you want to bring a certain picture about syria. the evil tree the use a photo or selective editing is hardly a new invention the war war's has long become a cliche but in syria one sided coverage keeps the war going and shooting for t.v. really killed ham journalism schools no longer teach their students to be objective it's considered impossible rather they're told to strive for balance and integrity and to put humanistic values. but syria is once again a special case and this bloody conflict was to media rarely roles where we could

flee a political dialogue rather it's for arming the rebels and what they were also known as freedom fighters to go on a kind of like artsy reporting from syria. a week ago and moscow court began hearing the case of the anti putin a female rock group pussy riot three women are being tried for staging what they call a punk prayer in the country's main cathedral in february artie's jacob graves is following the trial that is dividing russian society. throughout the course of the week this trial and its proceedings have been somewhat dominated by the prosecution they've mainly been having the opportunity to call witnesses to the stand or testimonies been very emotional much of the time she usually involving those who are witnessing the events that date back to fair bring price a victory for the sure the so called home prayer how it was politically motivated but it took place in a very sacred and religious spots the symbolic head of the russian orthodox church

as such is offended many of the believers out of fairness have been very outspoken throughout the course of proceedings this week they first and six occasions called for the judge to be replaced on different grounds some of them including that their detention facilities the conditions at which they're being detained at the moment amounts allegedly to torture i mean to pry food access to drinking water and sleep as well they also think the judge isn't allowing them is preventing them from properly cross-examining the prosecution's witnesses so far in this trial there's also this issue attracted the honor of many human rights organizations international musicians as well calling for the release of pussy riot members and it's been some it's galvanized the international press and most lately we've heard from the president speaking out on this issue. as well i hope the court will rule

with a just decision if the band lets the defile the secret police in israel they would have to cope with some tough guys there are many of them would face difficulties from attempting to leave the country was ready for example they went to the caucuses and a feast a muslim shrine security wouldn't have enough time to protect them from public anger. nevertheless i don't think we should judge them too strictly when they're going to quickly meet some important conclusions themselves anyway the final decision rests with the court's. ruling for some degree of leniency when it comes to this trial and perhaps the most controversial part of it so far has been the potential prison sentence that could await these three defendants on charges of hooliganism that's potentially for seven years if the maximum sentence to be handed out. so i had for you this hour why germany is going to extremes. it's not to know who is your enemy but rather the politicians

who are at the wheel of the country we take a look at why there is a spike in anti immigrant anger in europe the richest nation. and the clear keeping tabs on china asks what's really behind the american secretary of state's major tour of africa. dozens of protesters were injured in bahrain this week as police fired tear gas and stun grenades at them the crackdown on dissent has been gathering force in the gulf states where demonstrators are united against what they see as discrimination by the ruling elite. from the bahrain center for human rights says western countries are more than willing to overlook the human rights problems of their gulf allies. will definitely continue to do what we do which is documenting human rights violations will continue to reach out to the international community it does seem like we are making a little bit of progress since there was a joint statement that was made at the human rights council during the last session

signed on by twenty seven different countries of course the united states and the united kingdom with nuts not sign on or will keep pushing and hopefully will will start getting to a situation where there is more pressure to stop human rights violations and long as the regime and behind his back by people like saudi arabia i think it's going to be difficult to the regimes in the gulf have longstanding relations with the western countries and as long as they can all mix and pure geopolitical interests come before human rights it's going to be difficult sway them to create pressure or stop human rights violations and we're seeing that in many different examples with the double standards that are being practiced i mean you don't see the same response to the situation in yemen for example the way you do in other countries like for example syria unfortunately it does seem that you know supporting human rights comes in the form of interests they support human rights when it's in their interest to do so and then they will not support human rights when it's not in

their interest attacks on immigrants are on the rise in germany along with far right nationalist movements is being linked to the growing number of foreign workers attracted to europe's economic powerhouse peter all of the reports on how anti immigrant anger has spent decades taking root. this sleepy town in saxony seems i however even here right wing extremists have made life hell for people who came to this country to set up businesses mohammed came to this town in the east of germany from pakistan to open a pizzeria and those working for him suffered abuse and attacks would be hands of local youths on bible is over every time we called the police and the police came every time we called them but until now they haven't found anyone and they threaten to kill us and now we have a real fear that we cannot continue like this anymore the pizzeria is now closed

after the last attack in early may mohammed explained to me how a group aged between eighteen and twenty five gathered outside the shop near closing time they broke windows and taunted the terrified staff telling them to go home a small explosive device was detonated which fortunately didn't cause any injuries but means the pizzeria is having to undergo an expensive refit and. right wing violence on the streets of germany the country saw a rise in extremist violence after reunification in one thousand eight hundred nine followed by an economic slump in the east which caused people to look to the far right anti fascist campaign as a warning that jus to europe's current financial predicament we could see a similar rise again i would these are popular today we have basic developments in the old part of the germany a lack of jobs leads to helplessness and despair which are the main ingredients the trend is young handsome flour right ideology. there is

a belief among activists down the issue of right wing extremism is being ignored by large numbers of the german people. education is in that part of this problem the need citing as a how to pay more attention to it. there needs to be more options for cultural integration especially for young people germany's far right national democratic party or in p d that faced calls for them to be banned from politics the n.p.t. say that they are vehemently opposed to any organization carrying out violent attacks and are working with young people to try and educate them only don't loiter our message to young people who come to our seminars is that it's not the kabab center who is your enemy but rather the politicians who are at the wheel of the country and whether those words words reopen mohammed's pizzeria is isn't the only business in this town to face this type of attack but. i came here seven years ago

from vietnam and i've been targeted twice he was throwing rocks through my window years by his even germany's robust economy starts to really feel the pinch of the eurozone crisis there are concerns that we could see eight of the riots and social problems in the country. be true all over. jenny. and check in with our to dot com for more of the world's news here is a little of what's waiting for you there right now. cesium in the sea of japan fish are found contaminated with radiation off the fukushima coast with opinion split on whether they're safe to eat all the while there is a growing protests over nuclear energy. gay equality picks up speed and vietnam with its first ever pride parade as some speculated could be the first asian country to allow same sex marriage. and

a deal breaker israel gets a u.n. summit on palestinian statehood cancelled by refusing entry to one hundred twenty envoys from countries that are not entirely sympathetic to its point of view. joining us algis lawyer says he has information to suggest. asked washington is advancing the proceedings to extradite the whistleblower for leaking secret u.s. cables the wiki leaks editor fears he will face torture or even execution if ported his mother is in ecuador campaigning for her son's asylum there she exclusively told r.t. that american politicians are gunning for revenge. from the beginning. from the us from politicians and from. news commentary. screaming at his immense brutal might. seem to be no hilltop at all on how they were feeling. calling out for two crucial for this is an inciting against my son and still in the

last few weeks there's been a focus in time for think it's folks these kooks think that fallon who was screaming at killing six kids this is somebody who is not for the war and has done nothing more than any good in this egregious which is to be complicit in his mind doing the work for. can watch our exclusive interview with christina sayed r t dot com on wednesday ecuador's president assured her that his country's decision on asylum will not be influenced by any external pressure making leaks editor has been holed up in ecuador's embassy in london over six weeks now he is wanted in sweden over sex crimes allegations which he denies he says that they are a pretext to hand him over to the us anti-war activist don de bar believes a songe would not get a fair trial in the united states. while they're not interested in questioning him they were interested in you know obtaining control of his person and i think he

correctly assesses that that's so he can be forwarded to the united states there are currently three actions the world already brought in u.s. federal courts against the songe they were all nominally dismissed but the most recent one the cord allowed that upon service upon a sign is that the action could go forward so there's a ready legal activity that could give the u.s. a foot into the swedish courts there's a history of this kind of game playing with sweden and extradition and a songes very correct to be cautious of what's going on those who are whistleblowers have come under particular attack from this administration from the obama administration in fact much greater attack than even the bush administration was able to muster on whistleblowers earlier so the outlook is not good for us on as one of the preeminent whistleblowers of our time this country in general is

hostile to the idea of free speech and particularly disclosure of state secrets particularly when they reveal that the government has been doing illegal things so i don't think that the prospects for a fair trial are very good at all. coming up for you in the program the army draft dilemma. arab israelis could now find themselves potentially called up for service in the i.d.f. it but risk being branded as traitors. china has summoned a us a diplomat to protest against criticism of beijing's new military garrison in the south china sea the military bases located in a bitterly disputed area with territorial claims putting china against the philippines and vietnam among others analysts george who thinks the deployment is part of beijing's response to washington increasing its military presence in asia. well china is doing by basing this scares and in the middle see is basically say

you know what just. don't make any missteps we're here to to respond i think it's a response to. a very public announcement the pivot to asia. which included of course basing troops in darwin australia to breakthroughs with the. relations breakthrough it. and the latest incident was when philippines. sent their. navy ship to. this particular island being contested between. china and i think decided that they need to respond to all the to raise the stakes so to speak and that's why he put in the you know the government and the gears and the troops in the middle of this china sea we all know that us is spread very thin all around the

world and even though they now have what is known as a. strategy which is to have small military bases all around the world small meaning maybe ten thousand twenty thousand response. troops these smaller get scale less expensive to have but have many of them one estimate as many . perhaps but over a thousand of these bases around the world how will things work out absent a presidential election that's a different story because after that the reality sets in and bull's eyes at that figure out how do you mutually accommodate and deal with some of the more important issues and. not doing this. going through this show showmanship. africa is shaping up as the next big economic battleground with its resource rich

and fast growing nations china's growing influence is worrying the u.s. so much that secretary of state hillary clinton is traveling to the continent on an eleven day tour of bio me as the keyway the editor of the pan african newswire believes washington fears being eclipsed by china one hillary clinton went to africa last year she expressed some trepidation about the growing relationship between africa and the people's republic of china but it appears as if most of the states in africa have a very positive view of the burgeoning relationships between the african states and china and i think this is something that's very very frustrating for the united states the u.s. has been heavily dependent upon all that comes from various parts of africa there has been huge discoveries just recently. and natural gas in east

africa off the coast of east africa and these of course are providing new opportunities for the people's republic of china to enter into economic partnerships with africa and because of the economic crisis in the united states it's going to pose a challenge to the u.s. state department i don't believe that hillary clinton is going to be successful and discouraging this growing relationship between africa and china in fact she may bring about some resentment for involving herself in the internal affairs of africa and africa as a relationship with china. let's take a look at some other stories making headlines around the world for you this hour. first to the u.s. where at least seven people have been killed including the gunman at a sikh temple in wisconsin the suspect opened fire as worshipers and gathered for a service near milwaukee the tragedy has sparked a major outcry from sikhs across the world who are calling on the international community to take a stand against hate crimes. at least fifteen egyptian soldiers have been killed

and seven wounded in an ambush at a security checkpoint near the border with gaza masked gunmen driving off road vehicles attacked the troops as they say they were breaking their ramadan fast according to local media they seized two egyptian armored trucks one of which exploded no group has claimed responsibility for the assault but islamised militants are suspected. the scientific world is holding its breath as the most advanced mars spacecraft ever built is set to land on the red planet in just a few hours at around zero five thirty g.m.t. nasa spent two point five billion dollars on the curiosity rover mission to study whether we could ever make mars our home russia has also been looking towards the red planet after successfully conducting a five hundred twenty day long experiment to find out if a manned mission to mars is possible. monday marks sixty seven years since

the u.s. dropped a nuclear bomb on the japanese city of hiroshima residents visitors blast survivors and their relatives have gathered at the peace memorial to commemorate the victims the u.s. attack leveled the city and killed more than one hundred forty thousand people hastening japan's surrender and the end of world war two anti-nuclear rallies are expected to accompany commemoration events and. an intense firefight between israeli military and palestinian militants has broken out. on the gaza border with shells and rockets reportedly striking populated areas it is thought the violence began after israeli positions were hit by mortars with tanks then returning fire hours earlier israeli aircraft struck in the southern gaza killing a member of the palestinian popular resistance committee and injuring another the israeli defense forces claim both were in a global jihad movement planning terrorist attacks against israel prime minister

netanyahu has praised the i.d.f. for its actions this comes as the army can now boost its ranks by forcibly drafting arab israelis to serve in the bloodshed as are reports. a monument to israel's fallen look more closely and you will see many of the names are of arab soldiers fighters who joined an army that many of their birth one here call the enemy. but in meetings like this across the country the mood is changing most arab israelis are saying no to being drafted into the israeli defense forces the issue is up for debate as israel will views current military draft laws that allow orthodox jews and arabs to avoid national service. the israeli military wants to make a serve not because they need us because they want to control the arab state of mind and divide us. in time for the army generals who call a party in ages and against whom will they fight against our arab and palestinian

brothers. but remarkably some arabs actually choose to serve in the last two years those volunteering for the i.d.f. doubled to four hundred. i volunteered because this is my home where and i don't have another land and i live here and so i feel it's my responsibility to contribute to the country without the right of of them led super's two brothers also serve an idea if it means their family has been branded traitors people who have sold out to the enemy for money. i'm not a traitor i am an israeli arab i think it's high time that the arabs of israel shoulders some of the responsibility and volunteer for the army i'm not saying there's no races no deprivation but chill me a country that's perfect. the i.d.f. is working hard to recruit from the ranks of the country's one and a half million arabs one of the recruiters is colonel ram is made from the druze

minority. when the i.d.f. is composed of the full spectrum of israeli citizens becomes a more moral army but the issue of culture is very significant we are so-called disconnecting the soul just from their culture and immersing them in another call. which is israeli integration is difficult. but the voices of criticism from within the arab community are loud not in a shift says the i.d.f. is an occupying force and those arabs who choose to serve in that cross the line. of the world then why are you going screaming i mean doesn't go like this. is a. bad thing to do. with the towel nor citric spy on august the first arab israelis and ultra-orthodox jews who until now have been exempt from military service may find themselves forced to do so regardless of their beliefs each israeli prime minister has said to the arab community first

serve in the army and then you will be treated as equals but arab israelis are asked what kind of equality is it when regardless of whether they serve in the army or not israeli jews will always be more equal than them. tel aviv. and coming up in just over a quarter of an hour the latest highlights from london two thousand and twelve in our sports round up after a recap of our top stories you are watching our team stay with us.

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