three years of behind bars that's the demand of the prosecution as the trial of the pussy riot is drawing to a close right here in moscow that follows the controversial protest stunt inside russia's main cathedral. shannon saudi fighters a said to have been captured in syria helping the rebels fight against president assad but all of this in a conflict the now sees more civil servants targeted for simply being employed by the government. the tolerance is put to the test in belgium as a candidate with mental health problems runs for public office however critics fear it's nothing more than a simple publicity stunt. life

in the heart of moscow this is arts he younger over sushi welcome to the program prosecutors are demanding three year jail sentences for the members of a controversial feminist punk band pussy riot who staged a protest stunt in russia's main cathedral by the women musicians are on trial accused of inciting religious hatred in a case that's caused a storm not only among the russian public but also certainly abroad. joins us now outside the courthouse with details on this but really these girls could probably never have imagined quite the stage they've been given because of the stunt but it seems now the prosecution is determined it will be their last before. absolutely in fact the prosecution have said that they fear if this threat members are not behind bars they may now rather will stage the same sort of performance at another religious institution and this is the direct quote from tuesday's hearing. now of

course the trial has concluded for tuesday it will restart again on a wednesday morning with the finishing words from the prosecution and the defense but of course as we have just mentioned prosecution's insisting on a three year jail sentence saying that the girls have severely offended the those who were at the christ the savior cathedral at the moment of their performance that they have been there has been a severe psychological damage inflicted upon them now defense and the defendants are saying that that was not the point that there was absolutely no of religious context in their song and in their performance they're saying that their their their action in christ to save or cathedral was purely politically motivated and that should be kept in mind they have also said that if indeed if they are being in fact to try it for making a political statement that it's a somewhat of a medieval type of a situation and it does look like a russia is

a turning back towards the soviet times again this is the defense and the defendants saying this now the the entire trial has attracted a lot of attention not just the whole not just that of russians but also for nurse we do know that there was a u.s. diplomat attending at the airports hearing as well as the british and german embassies all of whom seem a seem to have wasted no time in criticizing russia's no judicial system they have made their grievances a very vocal and they have actually brought them out to discussion in their respective parliaments but of course it wasn't just the politicians who have been paying close attention to the pussy riot trial here's our to these kids are all over with more details. it's the trial that's gripped the tension three members of the collective pussy riot queues to hooliganism after taking part in protest inside moskos main cathedral the demonstration dubbed a prayer to read russia vladimir putin to media focus around. in the world yes.

i would like to reiterate our status which we have expressed from the very start our defendants did not perpetrate a criminal offense and therefore any verdict of court would say for an acquittal but it will be unlawful. the group of being called political prisoners by human rights groups and media outlets support from many within the music industry staying safe no more and the red hot chili peppers of all call for the women to be set free but groups associated with the russian orthodox church were outraged by the demonstrations and called for the harshest penalties available to those who defend the women say protest wasn't born out of any religious hatred. this acts obviously had political character which just went side by side with other such political acts they didn't stand out so the attempt to claim what has happened as abusive actions motivated by religious hatred is ridiculous also but it's that political character

and the search for the shocking is clearly visible when you look at what the women have done previously past stunts have included inviting the media to an orgy in a museum and one member performing a sex act with a frozen chicken in a supermarket because the performance though was a step too far for many in a nation where the majority of people orthodox kristie in search of a foreman's in the country's main cathedral saw some accusing the group of blasphemy however some of russia's most ardent anti government activists who agree the women took things too far also said they shouldn't be punished too harshly and they don't deserve it by the way i strongly disapprove of their act i'm old enough to be their dad so i would just spank them properly and let them off and now when they face up to seven years of prison this is going to far with silver the call for clemency was repeated by president putin the man who was the target of the protest

. i hope the court will rule with a just decision if the band let's say defiled a sacred place 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 defaced 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 on them but i hope they've made some important conclusions themselves on the way the final decision rests with the court when. the trial continues here in moscow with public opinion is divided over what punishment if any should be handed down to the three women in the dock peter oliver r.t. moscow. and we have much more reaction to this online including a plea for leniency from the queen of pop and that of madonna also there while some finnish activists are showing their support with a copycat protest targeting the largest author talks cathedral in western europe.

also online for you just days after a u.s. army veteran goes on a shooting spree in a sikh temple a radical baptist church praises him for carrying out god's work all those details also on our website. and r.t. is coming your live from moscow syria says its forces have captured a group of military officers from turkey and saudi arabia in the flashpoint city of aleppo by the group's thought of running rebel combat operations against the syrian army now the area in northern syria has been the scene of deadly fighting after rebels moved in from the outskirts last month early reports suggested the opposition has started to receive its first. foreign allies via turkey and saudi arabia was paying salaries for those fighting against assad as. reports from syria

even those who are not involved in the country's standoff a living in a constant fear for the. fixture in any public office in syria but are you by chance get a driving license president assad will be watching out for those working it's not a political statement problem or a sign that that company belongs to this day here do the current is now becoming a death mark for increasing number of people. but. look this call in the middle of the night cost him a brother. was one of syria's most experienced civil pilots u.s. educated more than twenty thousand hours around the globe he was coming home from the airport when gunmen attacked his car. radical islam. is the worst enemy of radical islam when you were rounded in cape using your head you're

trying to estimate what's going on. his brother a plastic surgeon also received. the family belongs to the al awaits the same religious group as assad but they were never politically active you said the documents confirm syria's opposition has scientists engineers don't just and civil servants only. what started as a battle against the regime now increasingly looks like a battle against the syrian state but the round a million and a half of the country's civil servants are becoming targets doctors teachers many simple workers have all been kidnapped or assassinated for simply doing their work and the government in the world where they seem aquatica not has two distinct groups of people working for a political fox whose job is to keep the ruling party in power and civil servants to make sure that streets are cleaned and hospitals are running and in syria

regardless of that political affiliation civil servants are being targeted as assad sympathizers in damascus hospitals window blinds a permanent draw on now because of this. the fear of snipers a local doctor was kidnapped on his way from work a few months ago his family hasn't heard from him since his colleagues are now afraid of revealing the identity of. all the syrian people are in danger children the elderly farm workers civil servants doctors and scientists there are no exceptions deliver the fact that my life and the lives of the syrian people are at risk of a makes me tremble with fear along with fears. syrian civil servants also have to deal with a much higher workload many now put in sixty hour weeks with barely a day off due to inflation their salaries have devalued as have their lives so i am

not surprised to hear that some groups within the free syrian army are targeting those people who are trying to make life better or orderly because at the end of the day if things get back to normal they will lose any support they would use any attention from the media from the international community it is in the interests of some factions in the opposition to make things worse for people so that those people who are the silent majority join in the fights and round of world attacks against they don't situations carry some of the highest sentences and promptly come down to terrorism yet in syria for the sake of ousting one man millions of lives up to the underlying time boy car thief democracy syria. and of there are now unconfirmed reports that a turkish military convoy has crossed the syrian border and entered into a city just in the north of the country earlier and korea threatened to invade its neighbor under the pretext of curbing what it called the terrorist threat that is

coming from kurdish groups in northern syria some analysts fear the turkish government could use this as an excuse to unleash its arms against a mask as well let's talk to mark ahmed about this professor of international relations of bilking university and joining us live on the program here good to see you today the leader of the syrian kurds has said turkey has nothing to do with this community there's no need to be worried so are they really a threat or could be looking for an excuse to take action. well anger is a normal completion in a sense there's an inherent contradiction in his government's policy he wants to see the overthrow of us have government is supporting the stabilization of that regime but it seems to expect that the syrian society ethnic makeup will remain stable want to shape the kaleidoscope you know he said more the pieces will come down and of course one piece which effects he is the kurdish minority in northern syria spreads across the border in southern turkey southeast turkey as it does in

iraq and of course the turkish woman are high so the metal her position it may be a democratically elected government but when you engage in counterterrorist activities as a call girl who harmed your morris having to same techniques as the regime in damascus uses would you deny the brutal dictatorship because as we've seen with our own british forces and so on in iraq. but when some sort of trouble when you talk about the turkish kurds minority that they have thought now it's of actually strengthened their foothold in areas because of a power vacuum in the region i mean does that therefore mean there is no rates a threat of problems if the entire government does collapse which you we've seen television pictures all places in. commissions on where people are waving pictures all the leader of the peak ok the kurdish workers book which was of course held in prison in the arch and he took terrorists and so the turkish government does face the problem that so long as it has good relations with bashar al assad's regime he

kept the border closed and kept the forces out who operations against turkey with the growing hostility between anchor and damascus and the fact that the horse is lost control of the border then of course the people who were us can they can operate into turkey and no doubt assad's regime says we are of and on our mind trying to stop playing well of course as we know when it comes to operating inside the borders that address the issue of military hardware reports the syrian rebels are receiving heavy weaponry from abroad via turkey just how big do you think the turkey's role is this inside the syrian conflict. well turkish territory as a conduit of support the syrian rebels or the syrian army and other groups. the turkish government would supply heavy weapons supplying the serious heavy weapons that might ultimately pour into hands that i want. i think must be open to question

but certainly large quantities of antitank weapons and more like weapons which are natures number of using american or english words rather than a kalashnikov ammunition in regular order use. news that is coming primarily across the mormons or in border turkey this of course raises a security got them up for top of the one. situation in syria is settled. it's not at all clear that all. turned to barracks of course in safe custody or ukraine you raise a very good point because let's let's talk about what some call the liberation of libya certainly an awful lot of weapons went disappearing there and who knows where they are for now let's let's address this one question because before we run out of time if there were strikes syria though claiming it's going off the kurds how do you see that development of that development going forward. well it's also true we've seen an increase strike in the northern iraq since the beginning. of the

problem is that these measures may briefly suppress a particular who just might resolve the problem or to cause the autonomous areas on the turkish border in northern iraq and increasingly in syria along with all turkish government seems to want to have it both ways wants to see the syrian regime but it doesn't want to see clumps of public order more control over borders that seems to me to be simply a logical so unfortunately for many took the soldiers and police are holding the civilians this is not a contradiction is coming home to home now i must apologize i've got one last question for you and i have only barely seconds left for your answer do you do you see turkey going into into into syria here. not immediately but it's not impossible certainly if the guerrilla attacks continue against this talk of likelihood will talk to show. troops who enter those more than we can. our mark on

a professor of international relations built at university in turkey thank you very much for coming on the program today thank you. now security leaks from the obama administration continue despite ongoing internal investigations that's according to the u.s. house intelligence committee agencies are now hoping to crack down with harsher punishment for those caught spilling information to the media this report now artie's a guy nature can. the f.b.i. is on a hunt believe curtis they have interviewed current and former high level government officials from the white house the pentagon the national security agency and the cia all to reveal those who spilled the beans investigation has already kept a distinct chill over press coverage of national security issues as journalists here say agencies declined routine interview or biased and refused to provide background briefings on top of that the legislation is in the works in the us congress that would for example allow to strip the government employee of their

pension in punishment or on authorized sharing of information with the media so you have an assault on the first time both the government and the lawmakers the former assistant director of the cia is that everybody in the intelligence world agrees never have there been so many level leaks one has to do with ministration as being so hard on leakers as this one we're talking about all kinds of the leaks about the administration's targeted killings program as it continues to be legally execute suspected terrorists abroad or leaks about government agencies sweeping surveillance capabilities that home field bomb administration alone has prosecuted six government officials believe king information to the press more than all the other past administrations combined earlier i spoke with one of them on the break that is who once was a senior executive of america's largest intelligence agency then he blew the whistle on fraud and abuse with regards to the agency's secret surveillance program

here's what he told me speaking truth to power is very dangerous and his world power elites. those in charge they don't like dirty linen being here they don't like the skeletons in the closet being seen. and they not only do they object to it they decide to turn it into criminal activity. i guess we have to point out that not all start being criminalized because you have a type of information that the government leaks deliberately to manage and control the discourse in the media so to say but any journalist would tell you that it's the on the rise that really helped reveal a sensitive story to the public otherwise journalists would just have to copy paste and whatever the government decides to release to the press in washington i'm going to check out. still to come for you on the program here on r t two communication

satellites become dangerous space and other possible threat to other space objects rockets fail to deliver them. there is multiple holes in the planking well chosen. they have tumbled around fifty percent while i will explain in the business of them but it's all to do with a run on the money. thousand about ten. twenty minutes past the almost time here it may be facing a tolerance crisis with the far right. rhetoric intensifying but it's at the other extreme in the belgian city of ghent politicians are being accused of being too tolerant because they are allowing about with mental disabilities to run for office . investigates where here and get the city in flanders known for its pretty medieval town center but it's also recently made headlines when a political party put a man with mental disabilities on its candidate list for local elections meet. the

forty one year old candidate of the flemish christian democrats he's hoping to get a seat in get city council he admits he has difficulties in speaking and writing so i've been active in community work for a living years our party is everyone's included so i want to be given the chance to be counselor to express myself and help people. disabilities. he says he wants to encourage voluntary social work and make the city more accessible to people with handicaps by promoting the use of simple language this is just the single to the people in the end also people with disabilities can run for elections in our community they are here in ghent so we can't ignore them you'd be hard pressed to find someone who'd say such people weren't part of society but some see the party's move as inappropriate where public office is concerned raising questions of whether

politicians have pushed the envelope too far this time. if he's physically disabled it's not ridiculous but he has mental disabilities so that's another question you may have problems with reasoning but. i think he's not capable of making decisions for other people i do voluntary work myself with mentally disabled people and got a lot of respect for them but they have to realize themselves that they're not able to do everything all other get residents like frederick think it's really nothing more than a publicity stunt and i know it's difficult when you criticize such a nice and good guy but i don't want to criticize him in person i want to criticize his party for using him as a kind of political tool and to get media attention in a time that we are close to when the simple elections did you know is well aware of the criticism but as far as he's concerned there's no political i spend a lot of energy campaigning the rest is up to voters in the may not this won't just

r.t. get in belgium. right now to start off the r.t. world update for us where a regime demonstrates continued their protests demanding the release of political prisoners tempers once again fled fresh clashes with police erupted as well i want servicemen was injured when his patrol was targeted with petrol bomb. ns on monday security forces used tear gas and rubber bullets in an attempt to break up the rallies. he's ilands been forced to close at main roads and several airports after a volcano erupted in the center of the north island mountain road started admitting ash and rocks into the sky last night covering the ground with a thick layer of dust a number of locals fled their homes to safety now the volcano has been dormant for decades experts now are struggling to assess is this beginning the beginning of a new activity cycle or it is almost time for katie with the business but before

that though to communication satellites now lost in space after a russian rocket failed to place them into orbit on monday experts admit they now pose a possible threat to other satellites even the international space station as artie's tom barton reports. the greatest fear now is that the booster and the two satellites that are stuck in an emergency all that could become potentially dangerous space junk flying around the earth the greatest danger could potentially come to the international space station although ross cosmos has said that no emergency maneuvers are planned for the i assess that hasn't allayed fears of a possible collision that has come as an embarrassment to russia which saw a string of errors in space flights last year boosted with the two communications satellites is now stuck in a lower orbit the chances of those satellites getting to where they're supposed to be is nearly nothing. and they're probably fallback to worth and burn up.

the r.t. business section katie early evening here in moscow but certainly not in the big house wall street doing yeah warthogs are actually gaming and to be honest with you rory a lot of alice a lot of investors telling me that they're not entirely sure why there's a lot of scratching of heads going on today and that's really in the absence of any major economic data releases and it seems that the my and the both sides of the palms are really kind of anticipating the next big thing that's going to be happening at least autonomy and of ways as you can see the numbers speak for themselves at the moment we have got all the time isn't the dow jones nearly half of the sun at the nasdaq around three courses. in positive territory is worth mentioning though the volumes are but you're still say off until you're in their day now and that's a lot to do with estimated corporate earnings really beating expectations chesapeake the u.s.

natural gas a producer now of the seventy's and the course of the biggest profit taking in history also job openings at u.s. workplaces also boosting sentiment so it's going to have to see how investors are getting on at the end of the trading day as the molten bright news. but that is just you and your numbers but not as bad as expected on them all because whites in anticipation of tomorrow's bank of inflation report to see what signals are going to be given for the potential of quantities a headline so it's only trading floors was also to stand a chance at the whole escapade of it all with one point so the stock losing twenty percent and that was off to a big suspected uprising tens of thousands of transactions with a result which is subject to u.s. economic sanctions on american financial regulations have said that the. two hundred fifty billion dollars over needed to tell you a standard chartered which does deny the accusations that i face is losing its u.s.

banking system exchanges and those getting through to your remains are one twenty four twenty five the trade is favorite this is how the group will finish up the sessions i did lose out to the ball state of cards is falling short of someone highs against the us dollar and the russian actions all closed down the city because we did have a boil prices rising as well give it a bit of support here moscow tens of the my sex exactly beside would you believe it snapped ok let's get on to another stop who got microphones talk about russia's second biggest mobile operates out that is by far was once again this was the state previously the media from july to september citing financial turmoil in the markets but i'll bet most of you take this as a company because both public image also for the ferry slavery says it is the only of traded russian big telecom companies and it was reported this twenty percent which says even for four billion dollars. i can a more talk about cleaning up the arctic is the mission of the russian geographic

society which is already kicked off an expedition to free beyond into the bar scene from the collective industrial garbage. about but i want to know what i think about so we've got time for actually we are at the end up with about fifty minutes of more up to it's probably my fault you taking too much time having our guest here on the program apologies see you next hour thank you for just a moment here on the headlines we have got a spicy carson report. wealthy

british style. is not on the tires on. the. markets why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's concert for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds a report. on. morning news today violence is once again flared up the film these are the images the world has been seeing from this.