three years behind bars that's the demand of the prosecution is the trial of the pussy riot is drawing to a close here in moscow it follows that controversial protests in russia's main cathedral. turkish and saudi fighters assent to being captured in syria helping the rebels fight against president assad be one of the new twist in the conflict civil servants of finding themselves a target for simply working for the government. and tolerance is put to the test in belgium as a candidate with mental health problems runs for public office critics fear it's nothing more than a publicist stunt our top stories this hour. online

on screen international news and comment line from our new center here in moscow prosecutors are demanding free sentences for the members of a controversial feminist punk band pussy riot who staged a protest stunt in russia's main cathedral 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 abroad. has more prosecutions insisting on a three year jail sentence saying that the girls have severely offended those who were at the christ the savior cathedral at the moment of their performance the now defense and the defendants are saying that that was not the point that there was absolutely no religious context in their song and in their performance they're saying that their action in christ the savior 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 and making a political statement that it's

a somewhat of a make deal well. type of situation it and it does look like russia is a turning back towards the soviet times being a trial has attacked as a lot of attention not just in russia but worldwide and there was even a member of the british parliament present here at the court session on monday and of course a lot of even now prominent singers songwriters and performers have also shown interest in this case and more detail is right here from parties peter all over. the trial that's gripped global attention three members of the punk rock collective pussy riot of hooliganism after taking part in protest inside moscow's main cathedral the demonstration dubbed a punk rock prayer to rid russia of vladimir putin to media focus around the world . but 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 say for an acquittal will be

unlawful. the group of being called political prisoners by human rights groups and media outlets garnering support from many within the music industry staying safe no more and the red hot chili peppers have all called for the women to be set free but groups associated with the russian orthodox church were outraged by the demonstration and called for the harshest penalties available however those who defend the women say the protest wasn't born out of any religious hatred and yes a much of this acts obviously had political character which just went side by side with other such political acts didn't stand out so the attempt to proclaim what has happened as abusive actions motivated by religious hatred is ridiculous but also got its. political character on the search for the shocking is clearly visible when you look at what women have done previously 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 informants 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 afield but the call for clemency was repeated by president putin the man who was the targets of the protest. but i hope the court will rule with a just decision if the bonds 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 with or to for example they went to the caucuses on the 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 on their i hope they've made some important conclusions themselves anyway the final decision rests with the court. the trial continues here in moscow its 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. well we have more reaction to the trial for you on line including a plea for leniency from the queen of pop madonna some finnish activists show their support with a copycat protest targeting the largest orthodox church in western europe. was online 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 the details for you to r.t. dot com. syria

says its forces have captured a group of military officers from turkey and saudi arabia in the flashpoint city of aleppo the group sort of run rebel combat operations against the syrian army the area in northern syria has been the scene of the fighting off the rebels moved in from the outskirts last month early reports suggested the opposition has started to receive its first heavy weaponry from foreign allies bar turkey and that saudi arabia was paying salaries for fighting against president as a result he took some avoid to reports from syria even those who are not involved in the country's standoff are living in constant fear for their lives. it's a fixture in any public office in syria whether you buy a ticket or get a driving license president assad will be watching over those working here it's not

a political statement proper a sign that their company belongs to this day. and is now becoming a death mark karr in the increasing number of state employees. but. this call in the middle of the night cost here my 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 signs is the worst enemy of radical islam since when you were rounded incapable of using your age you're trying to estimate what's going on boy. his brother a plastic surgeon also received brads their family belongs to the alloway it's the same religious group as assad but they were never politically active. you said the way documents confirm syria's position has

a hitlist scientists engineers doctors and civil servants on it. under the mop what started as a battle against the regime now increasingly looks like a battle against the syrian state with around the million and a half of the country's civil servants are becoming targets doctors teachers and when you simple workers have all been kidnapped or assassinated for simply doing their work any 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 clean 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 are permanently drawn not because of the scorching heat but for 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 prevailing that identity's. all the syrian people are in danger children dale drily farm workers civil servants doctors and scientists there are no exceptions to the fact that my life and the lives of the syrian people are at tryst makes me tremble with fear along with fears for their safety 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 with 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 will use tension from the media from the international community it is in the interests. oh the subsections and the opposition to make things worse for people so that those people

who are the silent majority join in the fights and round of wild attacks against they don't situations carry some of the highest sentences and promptly can down the best terrorism yet in syria for the sake of ousting one man millions of lives up to down the line it's not boycott artsy democrats because syria. there are unconfirmed reports of turkish military convoys across the syrian border and did a city and the north of the country have been threatening to invade its neighbor under the pretext of curbing what it called the terrorist threat it sees coming from kurdish groups in northern syria mark almond he's a professor of international relations at bill can university believes a potential turkish strike on syria would open a pandora's box the problem is that the measures may reach. across to people or groups but as a result the. turkish government seems to want to have it both ways it wants to see

the ocean. but it doesn't want to see collapse of public order in the control of the borders that seems to me to be simply a logical so i want to show you the kaleidoscope of the some of the pieces will come out and unfortunately for many took the soldiers and police are ordinary civilians this is not a contradiction is coming home to home turkish territory as a conduit of support for the syrian rebels or the syrian army and other groups this of course raises a security guard a more or one are the situation in syria is subtle or it's not at all clear that all these were returned to barracks or put in custody. well just to remind you all a tease crew is traveling around syria bringing you all the latest twitter and you'll find discussions on what's going on by members of the opposite ends of the country's political spectrum and you can check out the analysis reactions and comments all available right now on twitter. security leaks from the obama

administration continue despite an ongoing internal investigation that's according to the u.s. house intelligence committee agency's a no hoper to crack down with holes for punishment for those caught spilling information to the media going to explains. the f.b.i. is on a hot believe her 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 requests and refused to provide background briefings on top of that the legislation is in the works in the u.s. congress that would for example the law to strip the government's employee of their position in punishment for an authorized sharing of information with the media so you have an assault on the first from both the government and the lawmaker

a former assistant director of the cia's that everybody in the intelligence world agrees never have there been so many level leaks one has to what ministration is being so hard on leakers as this one we're talking about all kinds of the leaks about the administration's targeted killings. as it continues to illegally execute suspected terrorists abroad or leaks of our 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 other paths that ministrations find earlier i spoke with one of the. great that is once was a senior executive of america's largest college and agency and he blew the whistle on fraud and abuse with regard to the agency's secret surveillance program here's what he told me speaking truth to power is very dangerous and it is 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 a criminal activity. i guess we have to point out that not all the start being criminalized because you have a type of the 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 reprint whatever the government decides to release to the press in washington i'm going to check out. most of the come on the program this to communications satellites become dangerous for use junk and not pose a potential threat to outer space objects off of their rockets failed to deliver

them to their intended albeit. there is mold of balls in the banking well it shows of u.k. based bank standard chartered they have tumbled around fifty percent why i will explain in the business but it's empty it's all to do with a run on money laundering only lead to the now more details about that. first europe may be facing a tolerance crisis with the far right and anti immigration ritual intensifying bonded to the other extreme in the belgian city of ghent with politicians of being accused of being too tolerant allowing a man with mental disabilities to run for office to sicily reports. 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 d.d.a. pelham on the forty one year old candidate of the flemish christian democrats who is hoping to get a seat in gan city council he admits he has difficulties in speaking and writing.

yeah i've been active in community work for a living years our party slogan is everyone's included so i want to be given the chance to be counselor to express myself and help people with 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 do people in the end also people with disabilities can run for elections in our community. 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 disability so that's another question you may have problems with reasoning. 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 realise themselves that they're not able to do everything other get residents like frederick i 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 where we are close to. when the simple elections did he is well aware of the criticism but as far as he's concerned. i spend a lot of energy campaigning the rest is up to voters. this won't necessarily r.t. get in belgium. greece is struggling to curb the flow of illegal immigrants claiming scarce public funds more than six hundred people be kicked out of the country after

the latest crackdown all part of an effort to save money in any way possible greece is sinking under its own debt but economist roger bootle believes leaving the eurozone is the only way the country can save itself the full interview is coming up in the next hour. greece and my view need to get out of the year i cannot see any way in which this current policy of austerity is going to free any relief or slow the riving process of trying to. take. credit for a very i don't think it's possible to imagine a return to economic growth in the current setup by contrast with the euro breaks i can imagine economic growth so far from being a disaster i think it could be the major step that leads to the restoration of growth in europe. the gyptian prime minister has reportedly been assaulted as he arrived at

a funeral service for sixteen security guards killed in sunday's attack on the egypt israel border egypt's president mohamed morsi didn't attend the military funeral because of security concerns car accuse the israeli spy agency mossad of carrying out the deadly assault over the weekend israel called the allegations nonsense and instead blamed is the most militant journalist of lap and i spoke to a little earlier he believes that terrorists are taking advantage of egypt's weak security following its uprising. the attack was first of all where you could raise tensions between israel and egypt that's going to be. the answer is headed. and second of all we have to get rid of these organizations will leave that violence. and justifies all of that in the act itself as an ideological goal to. their religion as they see it responsible decision makers in egypt should be trying to increase cooperation with israel in

order to ensure that these kind of. terrorists are not able to carry out their plans so very absent an opportunity for the countries closer together the islamists and especially did you have is that we're talking about you know have been for years. now what they're doing is taking advantage of the fact that there is an unstable situation in egypt but if you just listen as we've seen now across the region egypt syria i mean all the other countries north africa and what we're going to see is chaos and that is what we're seeing unfortunately across the region. now let's have a look at some of the stories making headlines around the world at this stage of the day. regime demonstrators it continued their protests reign demanding the release of political prisoners tempers once again flared and fresh clashes with police are up to one was injured when his patrol was targeted with petrol bombs on monday security forces used to gas and rubber bullets to break up the rallies.

new zealand has been forced to close main roads and several airports off the volcano erupted in the center of the north on and. started emitting ash rocks into the sky last night covering the ground with a thick layer of dust a number of locals fled their homes to safety the volcano has been dormant for decades and experts are trying to assess if this is the beginning of a new activity cycle. two communication satellites are now lost in space after a russian rocket failed to place them into orbit on monday experts admit to not pose a threat to other satellites and potentially the international space station ati's told botan has more. proton rocket launches have been suspended while experts try to figure out precisely what did happen to cause the booster and it's to attach to communications satellites to fail the greatest fear now is that this is a potentially dangerous piece of space junk despite assurances from russia's space

agency that the international space station has no a vase of maneuvers planned this has not allayed fears of a possible collision after leaving earth's atmosphere the booster rocket fired on time but only burned for seven seconds instead of the eight minutes plus that was intended this left the booster and the attached satellites floating at a low emergency orbit with virtually no chance that they will reach their intended orbit and will instead of entally fall back to worth and burn up this is cosmos his third such satellite launch failure in two years there were a string of other arrows last year including a failure of a mission to collect samples from the martian moon phobos and a supply rocket to the eye assess which fell back to earth they're costly mistakes with satellites and equipment costing hundreds of millions of dollars to build and operate one of the communications satellites had been the first purchased from russia by indonesia all of this is a blow to attempts at restoring confidence in

a once groundbreaking russian space industry. parties to martin their business to another katie and its evening here in moscow but not on wall street so what's the latest exactly that so my attentions of fake is that the mayor. is still the first part of the trading session as thoughts are still advancing and that's really him it better than estimated corporate things and speculation that global central bankers will step in to boost economic growth now the financials they are leading the gaze of j.p. morgan and bank of america both of them are adding at least two point four percent another big mover as well is the second largest u.s. . natural gas producer chesapeake increased ten per cent a lot softer reporting the highest court to profit in the company's history so the dow jones seven tens of percent of the nasdaq sent down the european markets it was a shock the day of trading they brought news from the. sitting room a

irony in respect that the industrial manufacturing numbers were not quite as bad as have been expected of them all get a ways anticipation tomorrow is the big one the bank of inflation to report to see what's going on i will signals are going to be given for the potential of more quantitative easing and also one of the headlines today on the trading floor below also go said it was centered around standard chartered the whole escapade of it all at one point losing over twenty percent i'll give you the details it was suspected of hiding tens of thousands of transactions with a role which is but subject to u.s. economic sanctions american financial regulations have said that the bank has laundered as much as two hundred fifty billion dollars over nearly a decade that must be said the standard chartered they are denying these allegations but they do face the news in the u.s. banking so let's have a look at some money that goes into the banks to get the euro dollar just the

traders favorite want twenty four twenty five is getting the ruble has finished it's not moving and shaking anymore. against the basket of currencies it's falling off all of the summer highs out of the actions here mosco that we saw some healthy . really a lot of that was to do with oil prices again as well as investors who say yes please we like the sound of that. is that up the mice it's exactly the same amount so again a second day of the week we also saw this is a lovely story because i think what's beautiful scenery to look at just now and so well is cleaning up the arctic and it's the mission of the russian geographic society and they've kicked off. an expedition to free the island in the barents sea from way still ahead of the trip russia's president vladimir putin he underlined that russia is boosting its activities in the region but the thing is seems like other nations are planning to do so as well as an employer holds. greener than you

think this is the arctic temperatures this july talk to those in moscow and rising on average twice as fast as and you where else in the world the record i smelled has made the arctic's vast natural resources easier to get than ever before imo they really want to be horrid off our planet oil and gas reserves and in fact that have been having a war their encounters and even china eager to allay their quota five arctic countries russia norway denmark canada and the us have the right to explore waters up to three hundred seventy kilometers coasts but it's the central pullers zone that may now be up for grabs russia's already owns a vast arctic territory but there are concerns that he's may unite the other is he against moscow's polar ambitions most recently denmark is the last contender to send an expedition to the pole cold for developing their arctic according to a civilized manner of behavior and proposed

a drilling moratorium in the central pullers zone this year all giant rosneft signed contracts to explore russia's arctic with america's ex and more will not always start a lawyer and any billions of dollars is already pledged but much more will come when the pool is partitioned and the borders set so the more businesses that come here the quick of its own charges on for giving this racial home to mary jo political battles will transform into a heart attack economic hub that can get a core business r.t. the arctic. lucky gal of a back in about fifteen minutes of more updates it's not ok for that we'll be getting some more news from the world of economics with capital account that's from washington in just a few moments from now here in r.t. before i'll be back with a recap of our top stories stay with us live here on r.t. in moscow.

one. hundred of them living here. in forty acres and nineteen ninety three and decided it would be a great place to find the bel the home and retire. there she is. we call it our new neighbor neighbor seven. we have

seventy acres here and i can convince them that they need to drill somewhere besides two hundred feet from. the needs of our growing economy also means expanding our domestic production of oil and natural gas which are vital fuel for transportation electricity and manufacturing this is before any problems with it before we do right and then change. your flows are not toxic i know we did a lot of that there's a lot of mis understanding of what exactly in the fluids. said you can load here unless you come out here and live in my house for a week. i have no rights.