locked and loaded a massive syrian military force allegedly prepare as a final assault to crush the defined rebel stronghold in aleppo also. the troll a female punk group pussy riot enters its second week the trio stand accused of going is among could face up to seven years in prison for anti putin protests that took place in russia's main joining us the latest in just a few moments. and exactly here since last august destructive riots at the london ablaze our correspondent best to gauge whether authorities have done enough to avoid a repeat. the most sophisticated rover and nasa is avarice and to mars landscape the sands back images from its mission to explore the

possibility of life on the red planet with russia lending a helping hand. and all the latest from the business desk the russian equity markets are feeling pretty upbeat in the first hour of trade all the details in about twenty minutes. eleven am in the russian capital you're watching r t with me we're going to joshua welcome to the program in syria the government's reportedly massing tens of thousands of troops and columns of tanks around the commercial capital aleppo fighting between rebels and loyalists has been raging inside the city for a week and activists fear a massive blitzkrieg style assault by the regime is about to begin the entrenched insurgents claim that control more than half of aleppo is. districts the

government's already pushed the last rebel forces from the capital damascus after three weeks of fighting there as both sides rally reinforcements large numbers of al qaida linked fighters are reportedly bolstering the opposition's ranks and these groups are being supported by the us despite their extreme views and intentions as gone as she can there are reports. has infiltrated into the syrian opposition forces and its power there is growing i spoke with one of america's leading experts on counterterrorism and he told me that all kind of as effectively exploited the revolutions in the region they're well armed having looted cut off his arms stockpile and they're now taking advantage of the crisis in syria six months from now they could be. a major force opposition hope blocky force. concerns about the growing al qaeda presence in syria or well echoed here in washington but right now if you use more as an argument to justify your foreign

intervention the reality is that the u.s. has already intervened in this just come to light that president obama reportedly signed a secret order earlier this year authorizing the cia and other agencies to provide support to the rebels in syria but there was no information on the extent and the receipt didn't have that support reports on the ground show that various extremist groups are doing the fighting in turn brought in a wave of suicide bombings german intelligence as attributed to the police ninety terror attacks inside syria since december most recently i went to a senate hearing on syria and the sense that i got was that there is there still is no fool understanding of who the syrian opposition forces consist of but nonetheless there is fighting that could tie to provide them with weapons whether overtly or covertly that's another matter of discussion what we need to do is assess ok which groups could we arm and should we arm at what point and make that decision and i think that we're actually at that decision u.s. group that supports the free syrian army has received a waiver from the u.s.

treasury department authorizing it to provide financial and logistical support to the armed rebels in syria it's called the syrian support were based in this building in downtown washington they just moved day and it's the building is just being renovated so the money will be channeled to the syrian rebels through this group how much money and how it will be distributed those questions remain unanswered. i didn't get the chance to ask the group about details of this newly opened support channel because they never returned our calls i want to go back to the senate hearing that i attended the experts invited to testify were asked about what the direct u.s. interest is in the fall of asada this would be a decisive blow for the islamic republic of iran i can't emphasize that enough and i think that is in our interests to roll back iranian influence where we find it is not a more effective i think to put the arena and threat in some perspective and reduce its pressure on israel to flip syria in this urge to syria if you

will the u.s. may be helping those who never wanted a peaceful solution for syria in the first place and one of the elements of the forces. which thrives in a civil war environment in washington i'm going to. also look on the program here in our t.v. refusing to kill or be killed the syrian government faces a personnel crisis as some young man dodged the military draft we have the details in just a few minutes. and tensions heat up in asia pacific china lashes out at washington for criticizing its new military garrison in the disputed waters of the south china sea. now the trial of the female punk group pussy riot anders its second week three women are being tried for staging an anti porton stunt in the country's main orthodox cathedral in february or it is jacob greece reports

from outside the court. the second week of this trial has now begun and has proven quite lengthy in proceeding so far and that's because we've only just heard from the defense they've only just had the opportunity on friday to cool to the stand there eyewitnesses it's a trial that's been somewhat dominated so far by the prosecution from their eyewitness testimony has been very heartfelt and emotional at times normal with us the defense has been very active throughout proceedings throughout the course of last week's trial held up some of the proceedings as well they have all six occasions now called for the judge residing over this trial to be replaced and asked for a number of reasons ranging from allegedly not being able to fully cross-examine the prosecution's eyewitnesses down to the treatment the detention conditions of these three defendants they're being kept in custody those on both sides of the fence have been very vocal when it comes to this chandigarh way before them dating

back to when these three defendants who initially taken into custody about five months ago now to understand why this is cause such outrage deference and where it took place now there had been demonstrations taking place involving the pussy riot group beforehand this one was located in the russian russia's main off the docks cathedral christ savior feature this what outraged many offenders we heard from testimony from the course of last week but equally our a should be in those who have called what's transpired politically motivated trial based think at least people shouldn't be facing time in prison that it's just an administrative crime if anything and that should be replaced by a fine or something else now when it comes to those we've got human rights organizations international musicians who've been increasingly out spoken on this issue most lately though someone who's spoken out has been russia's president and he called for some degree of leniency when it comes to this trial that's indeed in

reference past when the most controversial points of this. so far because what they're trying to find out at the moment is whether or not what they did back in february the so-called punk prayer was a criminal offense more than that whether or not it deserves there's a charge of hooliganism which could mean they face up to seven years in prison. now the summer a london is reveling in its role as olympics host but it was a different story exactly a year ago when the city was engulfed by massive street violence and looting riots shook the british capital for almost a week undermining the authorities who failed to restore control argues laura smith looks at whether lessons were learned. rioting looting disorder these were the explosive scenes on the streets in towns and cities in england last august shops and warehouses attacked and torched by out of control

youths and adults alike a situation the police took days to bring on to control a year on and on the surface all is well damaged buildings have been rebuilt or boarded up and people are going about their business again but they go a little deeper and areas like here in tottenham where the riots started are still troubles and the underlying issues which caused the riots remain unresolved tottenham's m.p. says his community pulled together in the aftermath but at mit's trouble could break out again on employment is up it's also true to say that business is on the highroad are still struggling a many of them had very poor pavements under the right damages act that was made to assist them in a double dip recession that hits the poorest communities hardest so you know it's one of those situations where yes we must be positive and hopeful but it's a fragile a fragile situation for us here in the last year numerous studies have been

conducted into why the unrest became so intense and so widespread what began with anger over the fatal shooting by police of tottenham on mark duggan became a spark that ignited a powder keg of disadvantage boredom and a dysfunctional relationship with the police some things for. just as campaign elite just says has not been addressed and employment is going up generally going up in the country we're seeing closure after closure of use facilities and services school services are being caught and i think all of that with more aggressive what is called policing which which amounts to zero tolerance policing means that takes only a matter of time and not so much if but when in the aftermath of the violence communities banded together to clear up their streets but many accuse the government not only of ignoring the root causes but of making problems worse for

working class families oxfam says the poorest ten percent of society will suffer thirteen times more from seeing austerity cuts than the richest tenth and fifty six percent of young black men in britain are unemployed people in riots hit hackney like to think it won't happen again but are aware that it could be lungs. filled. with people. and give something. to keep them busy and they're. going to get work somehow believe me it will take many to trust the work situation and that picking people up for the benefit well nothing. i'm back on the force so i'm going to happen again quite the same way but i don't think anything's been addressed now in this area and for these people the fuse is still a light the fear is when and what will trigger the next explosion in their

neighborhoods laura smith r.t. london well we followed every event as london was sliding into unrest last summer our extensive coverage from the scene and the most i catch it images are still available on our website our team dot com also today we've got online for you priceless leg. i'm gary and scientists say an army of over two hundred fifty mommies from the eighteenth century could provide the answer to curing tuberculosis and we explain why that can be helpful. to our reuters bloggers shut down now or the appearance of several fake post on the crisis in syria attributed to the news agency is journalist speculation on who might be behind the pad at r.t. dot com.

the foreign ministers of the six golf arab nations say they will meet next month to discuss prospects for closer integration the country's most of which are sunni moderate he's hoped to counter a possible threat coming from the uprisings that hit some of them over the past year or so eurabia may have largely escaped the turmoil by its continuing a crackdown on protesters demanding social and political reforms ya opposition there has been calling for an answer to this growing nation since march two thousand and eleven. the six countries of bahrain was hit hardest by an uprising there has killed at least eighty six people since early last year dozens of demonstrators were arrested and wondered last week after security officers used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse them. to watch from the bahrain center for

human rights as western countries are more than willing to overlook the human rights problems there gulf allies. 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 the knights not signed on who 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 the regimes in the gulf have longstanding relations with the western countries and as long as they can all mix and q geopolitical interests come before human rights it's going to be difficult sway them to create pressure or 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 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 if you were to r.t. and news just in from syria well there's been a bomb blast of the state television and radio building in the capital damascus several people have reportedly been injured in the explosion and this comes after the syrian government said its forces have pushed all remaining rebel forces out of the city after a three week battle well do stay with us for more updates on the story. now the most sophisticated mars rover ever has started to send its first pictures and tweets back from the red planet after successfully landing on the surface it

will spend just under two years there to examine the planet and determine whether it has conditions suitable for humans to survive their craft boasts a set of cutting edge devices including a russian hydrogen and water detector what should help answer that very question of the long journey which began in the vampire last year including the schedule and cost nasa total of two point five billion dollars curiosity this first tweet from the mars from the red planet i should say red i'm safely on the surface of mars crater. now let's take a look at some other stories from around the world islamic resistance movement hamas denied responsibility for an attack on an egyptian security checkpoint at the border with gaza masked gunmen ambushed egyptian troops while they were breaking their ramadan fast killing sixteen soldiers and injuring seven it tacklers seized

two armored trucks one exploded as it fled into israel the second was hit by an airstrike israel claims it have been informed about plots to kidnap one of its soldiers. a japanese city of hiroshima market sixty seven years since the u.s. dropped an atomic bomb on the city of the world's first atomic town tens of thousands gathered at a peace memorial near the epicenter of the blast that leveled the city and killed more than one hundred forty thousand people the ceremony was attended by representatives of over seven hundred including the u.s. ambassador. to china has hit back at the u.s. for criticizing its new military garrison in the south china sea the sound base was . created just two weeks ago on chinese territory but it's in an area were competing territorial claims pit beijing against the philippines and yet now among

others china set up the outpost to administer thousands of square miles of water it says are within its sovereignty but washington believes it's an attempt to occupy the entire south china sea which is rich in oil resources the u.s.'s tens of thousands of military personnel in asia pacific and use itself as a stabilizing influence in the region but khan helen a senior analyst at foreign policy focus believes regional tensions could escalate into into the 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. it 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's sort of the u.s. is kind of pushing all of the buttons right now in asia and it's very much feels a little bit like the cold war diego city in the mid one nine hundred fifty s. a lot of tension while local tension a lot of regional tension also some international tension as well i don't think that the arlen's for sanity 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 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. u.s. china relations was just one area discussed when r.t. spoke to u.s. congressman downer about washington's foreign policy and a candid conversation he also gave us his take on the u.s. presence in afghanistan and here watch the full injury and just over an hour here is a sneak peak. karzai is a stooge of the pakistanis all right he is their boy in afghanistan and by the way our state department. just kisses up the pakistanis it has been doing so for the last thirty years which is one of the major reasons we've had problems down there who wants to be in afghanistan i mean why should anybody the russians should understand how that is

a rotten place for people to station their foreign troops. and they're not going to make any friends and the afghans traditionally when they open their eyes and they see foreign troops around them they say i don't like them and i don't want them here in my country we should get our butts out of afghanistan as quickly as we can . now as a number of down in the syrian conflict mounts both the government and opposition are racing to replace fallen soldiers with fresh recruits while the rebels allegedly turn to mercenaries from abroad the regime has little to choose from some syrians are now trying to escape the draft avoid killing or being killed sort of boyko now reports a moment of calm between the clashes on the outskirts of damascus pro-government paramilitary also known as should be hot camped out in what used to be. most a local man who say they quit their regular jobs to found their homeland only

twenty nine prior to the uprising he worked as a t.v. technician and he's passion for the small screen is still there while watching this i five blockbuster armageddon scenes of bruce willis saving. the plan i've got him talking you know good on these movies always show americans defending the grounds that don't belong to them even their own land was the property of indians now they are fighting all around the world are you so how come you deny our right to defend our own land the opposition accuses the shabby heard of conducting massacres but this man say gave themselves are often targeted by the rebels some even adopted new come of march to avoid being identified with the armistice reliance on the prior military has a tactical advantage they know the area but it's also out of necessity as the death toll among troops rises more syrians are dodging the draft military service in syria is a year and a half but those who are overweight seen and are not only stands university

students can delay or shorten their terms while those with out they should be exempted on medical grounds and the past job dodgers could also attempt to bribe officials to get the names of the list but the controls got much tighter the base going abroad is the only legal option to avoid getting called out that's what it is now considering six young men from his town recently returned home in conference and he says for the sake of his family he can't risk being there before the crosses . the court all me to go boy. home. but of course is. not. the goal for me. of those so. for me the extent of draft dodging is hard to gauge since the syrian government

does not comment on this military but in the country's hospitals the reasons for avoiding active duty is all too graphic someone who is also twenty six was conscripted from hama half a year ago while his would will take at least three months to heal he says he doesn't regret doing the army. it's normal that parents would be worried about sending their sons to the army especially in the times like this some of my friends advised me not to go on the contrary was took me to join the army at the end my parents said i should do it to have these cleared so they could go on. the syrian army sometimes pro-trade as a killing machine with many of its members are just in their early twenties and if anything they're to honor the victims the whole war their country has been dragged into the boycott artsy reporting from syria. and time now to cross to the business desk where the taj has got all the latest and after last week's rally were

we expecting on the agua the markets this week while most analysts expected to be a pretty upbeat start followed by a sideways trend with a negative bias towards the end of the week but what what we're saying over and europe is a different picture of the markets opened there about twenty minutes ago and what we're seeing is that the major european bourses open in the red and they're saying below the line over in asia it's still pretty rb towards the end of the trading session the effort is there extending the rally they started. on friday as a result of some of the statistics from the united states in tokyo the nikkei is up more than two percent mainly. thanks to carmakers like to you with maz that isuzu motors moving on to the currencies the euro at the moment is losing value against the u.s. dollar failing to stem the gains from late last week the russian ruble is mixed in the second hour of trade a long dinners or working from home to avoid traffic as many as one and

a half million of them and while it makes traveling quite easy retailers really panicking because the british capital is turning into a ghost town artes and a former has all the details. before the olympics began many traders thought that these games would give them a timely boost in trading but unfortunately many have found themselves lagging behind there has been a dropping custom and there are two main reasons people believe firstly the number of tourists that have come to london is lower than expected and secondly around one and a half million people have decided to work from home and it's because they wanted to avoid any traffic chaos in the middle of london well this is affecting traders like anybody here who runs a sandwich shop he's been running one for the last two years but there's been a distinct lack of custom during lunchtime periods what have you noticed during the olympics during the olympics where for would be really busy but actually it's gone down like twenty five percent not many people around because enough tourists around

all stay in stratford and a lot of people walking from that's why it really affected us i have to get rid of one of my staff because it's not that busy. and what about fellow traders are they all saying a similar thing exactly the same all my neighbors i talk to them and they are complaining that it is really quiet at the moment is there anything that can be done i mean i know david cameron now is urging people perhaps to come into the city center doing what can be done but. we're just hoping the olympics will finish by the next week so we get back to normal ok well thank you for your time and let's hope things pick up so it has to be said the lympics isn't entirely bad news seven billion pounds worth of business related contracts were generated by these games but just like the lympics in sport itself it appears that winners and losers have been created in the economy. while that's all the latest from the business desk in fifteen minutes we'll bring you

a detailed report on how the russian markets are performing this month. that our thanks very much indeed for this al gore you had lines very shortly so stay with us for that again.

interpol started here before going global and now it's killing myra. choose your place take your stand. to. make your statement. supporting the war. she points to the money.