three years behind bars that's the demand of the prosecution as the trial of the pussy riot is drawing to a close here in moscow it follows their controversial protest danton russia's main cathedral. turkish and saudi fighters are said to have been captured in syria helping the rebels fight against president assad meanwhile in the new twist in the conflict civil servants are 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 on top top stories this. online

screen international news and comment live from our new center here in moscow 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 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. for joins me live now peter this headline grabbing trial is now drawing to a close with both the defendants and the prosecution having made their point tell us how things look at the moment. on tuesday we heard from both sides the prosecutors in this case saying that they wanted three year jail sentences for each of the three women who are on trial and we also heard from the defendants themselves to explain their actions that took place in february during this protest

in moscow main cathedral russia's. in fact they said their big garish costumes the multicolored by others and brightly colored clothes that they were wearing. with it is part of a as they conduct themselves in a clownish fashion they apologize they said they were tensions were never to offend the olfa docs church or any of people associated with the church themselves that they were acting is much the needs the clones the just before easter here in russia there is a tradition of. that type of activity taking place now they put that argument forward to the court on tuesday they'll be back in the dock on wednesday as the trial continues but i guess it could be argued peter that in many ways these girls got more than they ever imagined not just prominence here in russia but of course the whole world. well the no matter what the outcome of this trial it

seems that the the question of who are pussy riots and what they stand for will be asked for a long time to come now at the beginning of two thousand and twelve the whole women punk rock collective were relatively. i think you'd be hard pushed to find anybody that could have named any of their music they were more known for their shocking stunts which included inviting the media to an all in a museum and one of the members of the group being filmed performing a sex act with a frozen chicken in a supermarket but their star has gone into the ascendancy in terms of the attention they've received from around the world and the from the music industry superstar switches madonna staying in the red hot chili peppers all said that they do with three women should be released. also not just from the music industry british m.p. the british labor m.p. kathy mccarthy whose associated with the shadow foreign ministry was in moscow for

the trial to give her support towards these women how. the right came to such prominence really goes back to the times in which they've come around and you could be argued that they were in the right place at the right time or really the wrong place at the wrong time if you look at their current situation facing three years in prison they came about on a wave of protest here in russia a protest movement that really didn't have any unifying figure is and being is these three make it three women are young brave and willing to question the establishment but certainly seen a rise in the amount of supporters that they've gained within the protest movement but it is really quite astonishing to see how over the last seven months how much attention has been placed on this trial and how much attention has been given to ward's pussy riot really quite to quite astonishing stuff there all of them live there in central moscow thanks very much indeed for that update. but we have more

reaction to this trial online including a plea for leniency from the queen of pop madonna. and some finnish activists show their support for the copycat protest targeting the largest orthodox church in western europe. was on the website of the moment 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 all now for you right now at r.t. dot com. syria says its forces have captured a group of military officers from turkey and saudi arabia and the flashpoint city of aleppo the group's thought to run rebel combat operations against the syrian

army the area in northern syria has been the scene of deadly fighting after rebels moved in. from the outskirts last month the report suggested the opposition to start receive its first heavy weaponry from foreign allies if our turkey saudi arabia was paying salaries for fighting against president assad and adulteries accel avoid a report from syria even those who are not involved in the country stand off living in constant fear for their lives. it's a fixture in any public office in syria whether you buy tickets or get a driving license president assad will be watching over those working here it's not a political statement rather a sign that their company belongs to the state here design is now becoming a death mark for an increasing number of state employees. 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 islamic sign 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. his brother a plastic surgeon also received brads their family belongs to the l a with the same religious group as assad but they were never politically active. you said the way documents confirm syria's armed opposition has a hitlist we scientists engineers doctors and civil servants on it. a lot of them up what started as a battle against the regime now increasingly looks like a battle against the syrian state with around 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

any government in the world where they seem aquatica not as 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 a south sympathizers in damascus hospitals window blinds are permanently drawn not because of the scorching heat 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 the identities. of. 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 a true 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 lose tension from the media from the international community it is in the interests. actions in the opposition to make things worse for people so that those people who are in the silent majority join in the fight and around the world attacks against they don't situations carry some of the highest sentences and promptly condemned as terrorism yet in syria for the sake of ousting one man millions of lives up to the line that's not boy car democratic syria. there are unconfirmed reports of turkish

military convoys cross the syrian border and into the 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 more calm and a professor of international relations a built in university believes a potential turkish strike on syria would open a pandora's box. the problem is that the measures may briefly suppress a particular group 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 clams a public order will more control the borders that seems to me to be simply a logical so. the kaleidoscope. of the pieces will come down and unfortunately too many took the soldiers and police are all muslims this is not a contradiction is coming home to haunt turkish territory as a conduit of support for the syrian rebels of all free syrian army and other groups

this of course raises a security guard and look for total ones are the situation in syria as a whole that if you decide it's not at all clear that all will be returned to barracks or put in custody. well just to remind you that his crew is travelling around syria bringing you all the latest via twitter there you can also find discussions on what's going on by members of the opposite ends of the country's political spectrum to check out the analysis reactions and comments. security leaks from the obama administration continue despite an ongoing internal investigation that's according to the u.s. house intelligence committee agencies and hope to crack down with harsher punishment for those caught spilling information to the media or he's going to check on explains. the f.b.i. is on a hard cold meat curds they have interviewed current and former high level government officials from the white house the pentagon and national security agency and the

cia all to reveal they're also spilled of the investigation and already a distinct chill over press coverage of national security issues as journalists here say agencies declined routine interview or firestone refused to provide background briefings on top of that the legislation is in the works in the u.s. congress that would. example allowed to strip the government employee of their position in punishment or on authorized sharing of information with the media so you have an assault on the first one both the government and the lawmakers 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 would ministration is being so hard on leakers as this one we're talking about all kinds of leak leaks about the administration's targeted killings. as it continues to illegally execute suspected terrorists abroad or leaks about government agencies sweeping surveillance capabilities at home feel bomb administration alone has prosecuted six government

officials believe king information to the press more than all other past administrations mind earlier i spoke with one of the. great that is once was a senior executive of america's largest intelligence agency and 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 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 criminal activity. i guess we have to point out that not all the 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 authorized 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. if you're moscow with the twenty four hours a day still to come on the program this to communications satellites become dangerous space junk and no pose a potential threat of space objects after their rockets failed to deliver them to the intended orbit. there is mold of ball holes in the banking well it shows of u.k. based bank standard chartered they have tumbled around fifty percent why i'll explain in the business but as m but it's all to do with a run on money laundering all led to the now more details about how the. first year of may be facing a tolerance crisis for the far right and immigration rhetoric intensifying but it's at the other extreme in the belgian city again where politicians are being accused

of being too tolerant along a man with mental disabilities to run for office to sicily has this report we're 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 a man the forty one year old candidate of the flemish christian democrats who's hoping to get a seat in ghent 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 and 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 i've got a lot of respect for them but they have to realize 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 to get media attention in a time that we are close to when the simple elections did you say is well aware of the criticism but as far as he's concerned for political i spend a lot of energy campaigning the rest is up to voters in even out this won't just r.t. gant in belgium. greece is trying to curb the flow of illegal immigrants claiming scarce public funds more than sixteen hundred people will be kicked out of the country after the latest crackdown all poll. an effort to save money in any way possible greece is sinking under its own debts but economist roger bootle believes leaving the euro zone is the only way the country can save itself the full interview is coming up later this hour in the meantime here's a preview. in my view needs 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 stop the grinding

process of trying to. take. decades. of our credit 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. that interview in full for you a little later here in the egyptian 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 a military funeral because of security concerns he was the israeli spy agency mossad of carrying out the deadly assault over the weekend israel called the allegations nonsense and instead blamed islamist militants journalist lapin believes 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 attackers had in mind and second of all we have to get rid of these organizations believe that violence. and justifies all. of that in the act itself is an ideological goal to. their religion as. a responsible decision makers in egypt should be trying to increase cooperation with israel in order to ensure that these kind of homicide. terrorists are not able to carry out their plans so grabs opportunities for any country's closer together the islamists and especially did you have to use 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 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 quick look at some other stories making headlines around the world at this stage of the day two days of violence have left at least ten people dead in iraq in the latest incident a bomb planted under a minibus traveling south of the capital of baghdad detonated killing people on monday six civilians became the victims of blasts in the same area as bomb explosions destroy the hells that's the summer's been the bloodiest period in iraq since u.s. troops left the country citing the increased stability that. the regime demonstrates as it continued their protests throughout britain demanding the release of political prisoners tempers once again flared and fresh clashes with police are up to one serviceman was injured when his patrol was targeted with petrol bombs on monday security forces used to gas and rubber bullets in an attempt to break up the rallies. new zealand has been forced to close main roads and several airports after

a volcano erupted in the center of the north island mountain going to start of the meeting 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 the volcano has been dormant for decades and experts are trying to assess if this is the beginning of a new activity cycle. to communication satellites are now lost in space off the russian rocket failed to place them into orbit on monday experts admit they now pose a threat to other satellites and potentially the international space station. proton m. rocket launches have been suspended while experts try to figure out precisely what did happen to cause the booster and it's to attach 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 invasive maneuvers planned this is not allayed fears of a possible collision after leaving the earth's atmosphere the boosters burned for

seven seconds instead of the eight minutes plus that was intended this left the booster and its attached satellites floating at a lower orbit than was intended and now there's virtually no chance that they will reach their intended orbit and will instead of ventura fall back to work and burn up this is ross cosmos is third such satellite launch failure in two years there are a string of errors last year including the failure of a mission to collect samples from the martian moon phobos and a supply rocket to the i s s which fell back to worth their 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 out attempts at restoring confidence in a once groundbreaking russian space industry. well know it's a tough business katie and even here in moscow but not on wall street so what is

the latest exactly that's where my eyes are focused at the moment bell and we've got still so still a vault saying that's all because of corporate earnings be saying estimations and speculation as well that with global central banks will step in for a short indeed to really boost the growth we've got financials leading the guys with j.p. morgan and the bank of america adding over two percent the second largest u.s. national gas producer as well chesapeake increased ten percent on that softer forcing the high schools who profit in the company's history so the dow jones a seven tenths of the other and nasdaq over a percent imposed territories there remain strong now as it choppy session to europe some of the bright news came from the u.k. today and that was because of industrial and manufacturing numbers they were not quite as bad as what was expected in the market weight in anticipation tomorrow to see will leave report is going to bring and really the results will tell us if

quantity of easy is on the cards we got the footsie that six tenths of percent up on the dax around seven ten the headlines today though were all centered around standard chartered the whole the which at one point saw the stock losing over twenty percent now what's it all about it was suspected of hiding tens of thousands of transactions with a wrong which is subject to u.s. economic sanctions the american financial regulators have said that the bank has laundered as much as two hundred fifty billion dollars over nearly a decade now standard chartered which denies the allegations faces losing its u.s. banking license as a result we're going to watch that story throughout the week. so let's have a good exchange rates and as we can see the euro remains it's upward trend i want twenty four twenty five the trade is five apparent also the ruble it's close now actually. not leaving him shaking in the morning here in moscow but it did lose out against the u.s. dollar and the european crises it fell off those highs that we've experience this

summer so far as the x. markets here must go i do want to say the volumes are low but we still saw guys and a lot of that was really supported by the oil prices which also again in this session is also missing as well that central bankers are going to intervene as far as a global equity markets are concerned feels he has a chance of sent up at exactly the same for the lights in fiji but i felt temperatures reach thirty two degrees here in moscow am the same be said today because of the uptick whether ice is also heating out exploiting its resources now russia's president vladimir putin he's underlined that what is boosting its activities in the region and that's exactly what other nations plan to do as well as. reports. greener than you think this is the arctic temperatures this july top 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 then bring all the water to be horrid off our planet or oil and gas reserves and in fact there have been seven bordering countries and even china eager hallway of their quote five arctic countries russia norway denmark canada and the us have the right to explore waters up to three hundred seventy kilometers coast but it's a central pullers zone that may now be up for grabs russia's already owns a vast arctic territory but there are concerns that this may unite the others against moscow's polar ambitions most recently denmark as a last contender to send an expedition to the pull to developing the arctic according to a civilized manner of behavior and proposed a drilling moratorium in the sense. pullers zone this year old giant rosneft signed contracts to explore russia's arctic with america's next

a long bill norway's stock toil and any billions of dollars is already pledged but much more will come when the pool is partitioned and the builders sent so the more businesses that come here the quake of its own charge of on for giving this nation home to manage a political battles will transform it into a high tech economic hub that can put a core business r.t. the arctic and europe today in the world of business that will be back with a round up in about fifteen minutes time with all the day's activities great thanks very much indeed katie and we'll be getting into some more financial analysis deemed a controversial by some that's coming your way in just a few minutes from now before the with a recap of our top stories. one

. hundred of them living here. in forty acres and nineteen ninety three and decided it would be a great place to find my belle 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 did the right and then changed. your flows are not toxic and we did a lot of it 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. well .