today's news and the week's top stories the syrian regime and the rebels engage in a fierce fight for control of the second city of aleppo while the peace efforts are left rudderless resignation. facing seven years for storming russia's main cathedral the trial of a punk band pussy riot divides the country. and dozens are injured in fresh crackdowns on anti-government protests in bahrain as the world stays silent.

broadcasting live from our studios in central moscow this is our team good to have you with us as we recap the week's 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 in 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 the. 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 annan quit the un then voted overwhelmingly to condemn the syrian violence but moscow called it biased for only pressuring the regime to act patrick

hayes covers syria for the news website spike dot com he says the states behind it are pursuing a short sighted good. start i think in general it's. being used to try and step up the pressure on both russia and china to start to take a stand against assad's and effectively what it's doing is saying that we disrespect the sovereignty of syria and we don't want the syrian people to determine their own future william hague suggested he's going to offer non-lethal aid he hasn't given specific details of this yet but it does seem like it's going to be intelligence it does seem like there's going to be an awful lot of support announced for the rebels over the next few weeks and of course this comes just after president obama has announced well it hasn't been announced but it has been revealed that there has been a secret plan basically allow the cia to assist the rebels as well the thing i find very striking about this is that there's a real historical amnesia that's taking place among western leaders where they

don't really know who the opposition is there are a lot of concerns about the makeup of it there are jihadi elements there are a lot of people who the west would not like to be business with but their stuff into this mentality that they're drawn to help anyone get into power there drove a sports any of the opposition in syria then they would support assad assad has become this bogeyman just like it before him and they just see we need to get rid of him and everything will be ok it's a naive approach that would you know help. the syrian rebels are increasingly bolstering their ranks within experience to the young fighters but many are still willing to die for the cause expecting to be glorified as martyrs on a boycott reports young minds burning hearts that blood while the syrian conflict often comes across as a power struggle of grown man on the ground many of those who fight and die in their late teens early twenty's. this group of f.s.a.

snipers operates in a deserted town forty kilometers southwest of homes twice a day to god to shell a syrian army checkpoint nearby morris twenty three he left his family in dubai to join the uprising. to support the young fighters and to feel the pain and to experience what very experiencing on the ground and to help with the operation. while their weapons are becoming more sophisticated if you are good at handling them most say they want to become martyrs and their dads help recruit their younger brothers. but those they're aiming at are not much older but a military hospital in damascus a week long supply of coffins has been used in vast in forty eight hours while the syrian authorities do not release an illiterate just so all indications are that over the past few months it has increased dramatically here in damascus main

military hospital soldiers and officers died just the last two days. in the beginning of the uprising the soldiers were laid to rest to the sounds of a solemn march but if you days ago a military band was ambushed now the burials are conducted in silence and then. nineteen year old who is an army conscript was tasked with putting bodies into conference he was working in his uncle small shop and before being drafted a year ago. no i'm not afraid to die. to be in the place of my fallen comrades and to become a martyr defending my country and it's every man's duty. and now the nineteen year old lies in a coffin just a few steps away he was the victim of a sniper near homs but unlike many in syria he's father and uncle i'm not calling for revenge. we just want peace. jesus all the prophets

schools for peace we need it. marching them has long been glorified in muslim countries but it's also one of the reasons why the conflict in syria has been so protracted and sold deadly when the youngsters profess readiness to die for their cause they usually even more ready to kill for it. r.t. damascus syria. but we could go a 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 artistic greaves 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 been involving those who are

witnessing the events a day back to fairbridge price a feature this 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 they're pretty detention facilities the conditions of which they're being detained at the moment amounts allegedly to torture i mean the price of 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 so there's also this issue attracted the art 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 see defiled a sacred place in israel they would have to cope with some tough guys there are and would face difficulties from attempting to leave the country with worry 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 i hope they've made some important conclusions themselves anyway the final decision rests with the courts. cooling 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 and still ahead for you this hour why germany is going to extremes. it's not soon who is your enemy but rather the politicians who are after the we'll of the country. we'll take a closer look at why there is a spike in anti immigrant anger in europe's richest nation. and find out how many dollars went down the drain in failed american attempts to pump money into policing iraq and afghanistan. 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. pulled over only continue to do what we do which is

documenting human rights violations will continue to reach out to the international community 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 the knights not sign on all keep pushing and hopefully will will start getting to a situation where there is more pressure to stop human rights violations and long is the bridge even 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 to 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. china has summoned the u.s. diplomat to protest a criticism of a new military garrison on an island in the south china sea the military base is located in a bitterly disputed area the territorial claims over the islands there china against the philippines as well as vietnam among others dr helen a senior analyst at foreign policy in focus believes that such regional tensions could escalate into a wider conflict. the chinese are basically saying they want to control their home waters which is understandable and i also think that they want to be able to project naval power to ensure their energy supplies which means that they have to

have a presence in the indian ocean. so that they can get supplies from angola from from our sudan from the arab gulf except in this case it's not this isn't a particular. act by the chinese that it it's sort of the u.s. is kind of pushing all of the buttons right now in asia and it very much feels a little bit like the cold war dnd city in the mid one nine hundred fifty s. a lot of tension a lot of local tension a lot of regional tension also some international tension as well i don't think that the islands per se in this case are sort of critical it's just an opportunity basically for the u.s. to move forces into the area naval forces and i do think it's quite disturbing i mean there is growing tension these are two nuclear armed powers. this is not in the interest not only of certainly of the united states or china but for

a lot of the other countries in the region because one of the things that's happened is a lot of these countries have started to up their military budget these are not countries that can really afford to spend a tremendous amount on military spending in a sense i don't think there's any winners here there's only losers it does me a little bit though because someone can make a mistake and things move off fast in this world. and check in with r.t. dot com for more of the world's news here is a little bit 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 are safe to eat all the while there is growing protest over nuclear energy. gayety quality picks up speed in vietnam with its first ever pride parade as some speculate it could be the first asian

country to allow same sex marriage. and deal breaker israel gets a u.n. summit on palestinian statehood be cancelled by refusing entry to one hundred twenty envoys from countries that are not entirely sympathetic to its point of view . his lawyer says he has information to suggest washington is advancing proceedings to extradite the whistleblower for leaking secret u.s. cables that weeki leaks editor fears he will face torture or even execution if deported a 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 it's. screaming at this news in the most brutal way. they seem to be. hilltop all on how they would feel like. calling out to crucial for this image of inciting

against my son and still in the last few weeks this been his focus is this intent i think it's folks these kooks hate fallon who was screaming at julian sixty kishan this is somebody who is not right. and it's done nothing more than any good in this is. just to get this one is fun doing it. and you can watch our exclusive interview with christina songe at r.t. dot com on that wednesday i could or as president assured her that his country's decision on the asylum bid will not be influenced by any extra pressure the way he leads editor has it been holed up in ecuador's embassy in london over six weeks now he is wanted in sweden over sex crime allegations which he denies he says that they are a pretext to hand him over to the united states the former lawyer jennifer robinson says he is been failed by his own country. it is

a great shame this is to my knowledge the first time in history than a straight in citizen has sought refuge with a foreign government because our government refuses to take the action which was legally possible for our government to take many suspect that there is an existing sealed indictment for joy and that that that the indictment there simply waiting for the appropriate time to exercise it was to implement that indictment as a matter of u.s. law as a criminal offense to reveal the existence of a sealed indictment but what the u.s. government has not done and which is available to them that if they are not interested as the us ambassador states then it would be a simple matter for the u.s. attorney general to state explicitly to confirm that the criminal investigation is over and that no charges will be laid and no extradition request would be made but they have so far failed to do so unless and until they do that we are very alert to the possibility that this is an ongoing criminal investigation all of the evidence that's coming out of what we know about the grand jury about what's coming out of the bradley manning proceedings confirm that there is as

a stranger in government has been reported by our embassy in washington a criminal investigation of unprecedented size and scale so unless and until the u.s. government confirms it that criminal investigation is over and no charges will be laid we have to be alert to that very real possibility. coming up for you in the program the army draft a dilemma. arab israelis could now find themselves potentially called up for service and the idea of but risk of being branded as traitors. attacks on immigrants are on the rise in germany along with far right nationalist movements it is being linked to the growing number of foreign workers are trying to do 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 views on. every time we called the police and the police came every time we called them but until now they haven't found anyone 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 due to europe's current financial predicament we could see a similar rise again i would these are popular models today we have facing developments in the out parts of the jam in the 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 and that is that it's not the kabbalah center who is your enemy but rather the politicians who are at the wheel of the country whether those words reopen mahomet'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 the riots and social problems in the country is. key to all of it. jim. let's take a look at some other stories making headlines around the world this. first to the

u.s. where at least seven people have been killed including a gunman at a sikh temple in wisconsin the suspect opened fire as worshipers 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 take crimes what you're reading. 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 were breaking of their ramadan fast according to local media they seized the two egyptian armored trucks one of which exploded no group has claimed responsibility for the assault but islamist 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 has spent twelve 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 to be end of world war two and time nuclear rallies are expected to accompany nation of. u.s. auditors say more than two hundred million dollars were wasted by washington on two security facilities in iraq which ended up on wanted it adds to recent reports

suggesting billions were spent in vain during iraq's reconstruction huge sums are also thought to be squandered on rebuilding another country the u.s. invaded afghanistan and were activist jason gets says that washington is too quick to spend its money abroad without thinking. in afghanistan we've got the same problems we have and iraq but we also have the problems of government corruption being much worse throwing money at it with very little idea where it's going to go or if those programs are going to be successful is it is just a recipe for that money being stolen or wasted or just disappearing a lot of these programs that just sort of get added ad hoc to say the occupation in iraq or the occupation in afghanistan the administration will come up with something that they think is the reason why the war isn't going so well and they'll throw some money at that and very rarely do they ever consider if that program is

even needed or wanted so hundreds of millions of dollars go wasted. 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 and then returning fire hours earlier israeli aircraft struck in 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 policy reports. a monument to israel's foreign and 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 called

the enemy and only one man and then there's the body 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 reviews current military draft laws that allow orthodox jews and arabs to avoid national service. these really military ones to make a serve not because they need us because we want to control the arab states of mind and divide us. any time for the army generals who cool teenagers and against him with a finite 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 homeland 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 a super us two brothers or sister of an idea if it means. 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 liberation 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 cool disconnecting the soul just from their culture and immersing them in another culture 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 it cross the line you cannot ask me to serve them well then why are you asking me variously i mean and doesn't go like this a vast majority of our community sees a. bad thing to do. with the towel nor sick to expire 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 poorly r.t. tell of of. well peter krause stark is coming up in just a bit that's just after the update of our top stories coming up.

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you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm sorry welcome to the big picture. goals started here before going global and now it's pulling wires. choose your place take your stuff and.