the latest headlines of the week's top stories from r.t. syria's rebels fight to retake control of aleppo with the help of further western financial backing as the u.s. and turkey consider now a no fly zone to put pressure on damascus. egypt's president orders the country's powerful defense minister and the chief of staff to resign it comes amid a militant crackdown in the increasingly volatile sinai region. russian female punk group pussy riot await their verdict after an anti putin stunt in the country's main cathedral in a trial that divided the nation. this

is r.t. you're watching the weekly with me kevin now in our round up of the top stories of the last seven days and first with syrian rebels struggling to regain ground in the country's second city of aleppo some nations led by the u.s. a party more pressure on damascus and bypassing the u.n. washington and turkey are discussed prayer you know fly zone over syria and they've set up a joint group to facilitate regime change the u.s. and its allies have also pledged more multibillion dollar support for the syrian rebels london ventilators to weigh in all this is un chief ban ki moon has backed the presence of international monitors in syria as the current observers mandate runs out in a week's time but for the people in syria the situation remains as dangerous as ever with public sector workers in particular fearing for their lives xander boyko reports. it's a fixture in any public office in syria but even by templates i get a driving license. president assad will be watching over those working it's not

a political statement rather a sign that that company belongs to the state. this time is now becoming a death mark for an increasing number of state in. this call in the middle of the night cost him a brother. was one of syria's most experienced civil pilots u.s. educated luck more than twenty thousand hours around the globe he was coming home from the airport when gunmen attacked his car. radical islamic. radical islam when you were rounded incapable of using your page you're trying to estimate what's going on with. 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. he said the

documents confirm syria's opposition has scientists engineers doctors and civil servants on it. 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 municipal 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 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 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 prevailing that identity's. all the syrian people are in danger children the elderly 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 risk it 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 but 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 there were any attention from the media from the international community it is in the interests of

at least 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 great institutions carry on the high sentences and promptly condemned as terrorism against syria for the sake of ousting one man millions of lives. are. because syria. before on syria now on the latest developments let's talk to dr ali mohammed into this in chief the syria tribute. by i believe tonight dr either of the syrian opposition has called for this no fly zone over border areas just a day after hillary clinton was in turkey discussing the possibility how likely is that to happen do you think while washington saying it is ready to act even if it means bypassing the u.n. . will first let's get our terminology straight when anybody talks about the north flies on they are talking about a regional war they know quite well that the syrian army will not allow any foreign

power or foreign armies to interfere within the syrian land and any attempt to create a safe zone or a north fly zone will be responded to by war and any war between syria and turkey or syria and any need to turn into a large regional war that will burn everything. the records of libya here. libya is different than when nato attacked libya after the security they did in the u.n. and the security council get death he was almost a lawn fighting them but in syria it's different syria is a part of a huge alliance and for instance the iranians just last week made. clear that if any a foreign power tries to interfere in syria they will not just watch their strongest ally fall and. everybody knows their war against syria means a regional war and it will be a devastating war for everybody it's not of course the first time that the syrian opposition is called for intervention or the no fly zone is a sign that anti government fighters are getting more desperate you think exactly

every time they call for foreign intervention they are just reassuring everybody that they cannot do anything on the ground they lost in the massacres they lost in aleppo moving in any port as we speak and as usual when ever the they find themselves in a pickle like this they call for foreign intervention and if if they claim that they have popular support as they have been saying for seventeen months why do they need foreign intervention. probably meantime more support for rebel fighters although they say it's non-lethal the opposition groups are continuing to receive arms how does all tally with the western pledge to also bring peace. well this is a very interesting question no we seems clinton offering money to support a few g.'s but actually under the table they are supporting other groups and these to groups let's try to understand what they are in the past few days we've seen them throwing office workers from. the roof and you have just

reported about how civil workers are being attacked and in a little they threw them all over the roof just because they refused to resign their paws the beast we've seen rebels kill people in the streets slaughter them with knives and then miss clinton comes and gives them money this is a can't understand and then we also hear that he says his warning about terrorism and about al-qaeda and pick a care etc but he wasn't worried when i met him there will whole world by the raised its flag after attacking the. border crossing this is i don't this is appalling i can just i cannot describe it in any other way dr what we've got on the line is a question many of us asked time and time again so our ask why would western powers stand by the syrian rebels what is the midst of al qaeda members could pose a threat to their own security. well again and he said this before. as long as they control the muslim brotherhood they feel that they can control any

or all other. groups and their main goal as clinton said clearly is to overthrow assad and they are now talking about pasta i said although i said this is still there and they have no means to through to overthrow him they want him out and doesn't matter how evil this is this working or they don't care they have been they can live with just anybody to do this and then they feel that they can control it later but they don't think they can nobody can file a quick twenty second given that kofi annan is peace plans on the rocks calling for violence or both sides kind of fail or the person who shows do you think now the conflict. will of course. failed because for there to succeed the the countries supporting the rebels should have should have consented to stop for supporting them now what's the solution as long as there is no political

solution that is supported by all the regional countries unfortunately it's only violence that is controlling the area and it's obviously the syrian army that is winning each and every time but then again they send more money they send more weapons and they try to to cause trouble in another city just last week in iran there was a. very important meeting and the iranians said that the or the syrian opposition was the seat of the syrian opposition agreed to negotiate in two to to engage in dialogue this could be area of hope but let's hope that clinton's visit did not true in that ok thanks to the program. for the syria tribune take it. egypt's president of iran the sebring ordered his two top military officials the defense minister and the chief of staff to resign no explanation was given yet for why this happened one of them the defense minister hussein sent previously been egypt's interim ruler after the ousting of hosni mubarak last year he also served

in the defense role of the mubarak for nearly two decades and get be replaced now by abdul fattah el-sisi will also take charge of the country's powerful military council islam is president mohammed morsi is also what comes of the army's amendments to the constitution that gave top generals wide ranging powers the muslim brotherhood relationship with the country's military have been strained since last year's uprising always comes as a gyptian security forces say they've killed at least seven suspected militants in northern sinai where violence has recently escalated the operation was launched after sixteen egyptian border guards were killed there we can go the campaign down down the killers has been the largest in the region since the one nine hundred seventy three war with israel and the act of lap in an israeli based journalist believes the chaos is the legacy of abrupt changes of power across the middle east and north africa. the attack was first of all. increased tensions between israel and egypt i think that's going to be. the attackers had in mind and second of all we have to remember that these organizations believe that violence.

and justifies all means that even in the act itself as an ideological goal to shield. their religion as they see 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 perhaps this is going to no opportunities for. countries closer together in the islamists and especially did you have to use that we're talking about now have been for years operating in sinai and now what they're doing is taking advantage of the fact that they're here is an unstable situation in egypt but if you just live as we've seen now across the region egypt syria and all the other countries north africa then what we're going to see is chaos and that is what we're seeing unfortunately. london's olympic summer spectacle is coming to an end with the last of the events completed now and

all the medals handed the closing ceremonies on the way right now to put the memorable games check on the final results on the back of a fortnight of sports show it. i was still of course got the paralympics to come a little bit later but how do you think the twenty twelve london olympics will be remembered. more personally kevin i think that will go down as one of the best in the olympic history i mean the venues have been fabulous the way the games have been managed over the last fortnight has been very smooth and the athletes have produced performances that i'm sure have captivated audiences around the world and not just talking about the likes of you saying bolt or michael phelps the british team selves got twenty nine gold medals that is a record for them i think in a very century and that in itself created a feel good atmosphere in britain which i think hasn't wavered over the last fortnight to such a point that the i.o.c. president jacques rogge came out and said that today he thought that these games

had breathed new life into the competition so ringing praise from him it is hard to think they only started a sixteen days ago but as you say they are coming to an end now as the closing ceremony gets underway yes put a few of the skeptics to bed really doesn't it because there was some criticism in the run up to forty seem to change and talk about changing fortunes what about the fortunes of the main nations at the top of the leaderboard how they're going to reflect on their performance do you think take us through some of the. well if you do usa or china it is as it was the usa got the better of china this time around but they are the two powerhouses then britain came third that was a bit of a surprise they performed exceptionally well i think there is only one prediction that i read that said they would get around thirty gold medals and most people had people russia would finish in third place but i don't think the russians we too disappointed their they have finished lower than they ever have done before but they've have got what they wanted to achieve they want to get something like twenty five gold medals they've got twenty four that's one more than they got four years

ago and they've got more medals than they got four years ago around nine more so in that if you look at it in that perspective they are starting to improve also you have to remember that the british team are built on two decades of lottery funding and it was only in two thousand and six that the russian government decided to systematically fund athletes in russia and that the time they did say look it is going to take us around ten years to start producing world class athletes they were around the halfway point and if you look at what they've achieved here talent is coming through half the team i think are making their olympic will have made their olympic debut which bodes well for the future they're also breakthrough sports to do well in judo this time around they did well in artistic gymnastics which is an improvement and they've done well in the key areas their traditional key areas of athletics and wrestling so overall i think russia you might say would be disappointed about finishing fourth but if you look at the detail they have achieved what they have set out to achieve is closing not of course we look ahead

the next one has to be held here the winter olympics in twenty fourteen in russia or in sochi i mean the bill that was kind of alluded to just know the bill that. there was criticism of the o.t. sponsorship there's criticism of the effect of the pay in effect if you like to look local residents of the area impacting on traffic except for the whole just sticks thing sort she learn anything from. i think it can i think what it can learn is how these games have been managed over the last sixteen days or so because as you say there was concern at the start about transport but these are concerns that didn't really transpire we were walking around london and there isn't much congestion basically what they said how to achieve has been achieved. the work concerns about the economy but i think if you look at overall figures people are upbeat about it so i think russia might learn from that how these games have been managed there's also a great army of volunteers that were brought in that help people get to and from

events which is very important and you staging something as big as the lympics but i think the single most important factor russia will have to come away with is this is that if you are a host nation you have to have athletes that produce gold medals because that fact alone literally transformed the atmosphere here in britain at the start the first weekend i do remember the rain was pouring britain did not get that gold medal they thought they would get in the cycling but once they got it in rowing everything transformed and i think. it's part mainly because of that these games of being deemed as one of the most successful because when you do walk around the streets of london it's great the atmosphere has been brilliant thousands of people out lining the streets watching the events such as the women's walk the marathon they've all enjoyed it they've cheered everybody and there is a real feeling of euphoria and i think the country as a whole is a bit disappointed that these olympics and now coming to an end just look at over your shoulder the latest shots from london we could see the stadium it was lit up

what's actually happening there now is a concert going on as it finished there is a concert it is another three hour spectacle but i think they're basing this concert now basically on performers and artists from pop groups that have existed in britain over the last fifty years or so so it should be one to enjoy if you're a music fan of all right thanks ever so much for your sort of. a farmer there in london thanks. now it's been two weeks of courtroom drama for the russian female punk group pussy riot they face prison on hooliganism charges for an anti putin stand in moscow's main cathedral in february prosecutors demanding three years jail for the women with a final verdict expected next friday at his paper all of us got the story. over the past few days we've heard from the prosecution on the defendants themselves the prosecution saying that they wanted three year jail sentences for the three women for the demonstration which they held in rush's main cathedral and february of this

year the women themselves speaking to the court said that they never intended to cause any offense to the orthodox church or its believe as by their protest in which they performed a so-called punk rock prayer calling on the virgin mary to reach russia of blood of me of putin now we've also heard support coming out for the three women on trial from celebrities in the music industry madonna. speaking about pussy riot during her concerts in moscow also having heard having the name of the group painted on her back madonna of course no stranger to controversy regarding the church itself and nine hundred eighty nine a single like a prayer the video for which caused such a controversy that some catholic church groups were calling for her to be excommunicated was also condemned by the vatican and is also being politicians from or from great britain germany and the united states that have been giving their support for the women but it remains

a hugely divisive case here in russia with some people saying that the women are modern day saints almost building them up to huge levels of. social standing saying what they're doing is right for russia and others mostly linked to the orthodox church suggesting that these women are essentially the anti christ that we all have to wait until the seventeenth of august at three pm moscow time when the judge in the courtroom just behind me will deliver the verdict. top international news stories making headlines right now a rescue operation to load it up to play struck around yesterday the revised death toll is now at over three hundred with more than two thousand injured the disaster leveled a fifth of iran's northwestern villages with both quakes measuring over six point three magnitude rescue personnel working through the night to recover survivors from the rubble have now been reassigned to help the estimated sixteen thousand that have been left homeless. but rainy human rights activist. who do appear in court is accused of involvement in illegal meetings is currently serving

a three month jail sentence for writing anti government statements on twitter the bahraini opposition has been subjected to a major crackdown after progress protests. criminal cases have been opened in central russia against some of the parents of the twenty seven children that were rescued this last week after the horror of being forced to live in a bunker underground for a decade they're out of the control over the of an islamic sect and they were barred from any contact with the outside world i think a person off got the details. of three people in just one square meter this police footage shows the shocking conditions members of this isolated religious group have been living in for years. up to seventy people all cramped in a small country house on the outskirts of gaza men women the elderly and more than twenty children most of whom have reportedly never seen deal it disposed of thought like these children were living in south in the basement right in this syle under

the house it looked kind of like an eight story and hill shocked by what we found the authorities began taking the kids outside in order to take them to doctors most of them are still being examined while their parents demand the be left alone so the children are terrified and after everything that's happened they are afraid of what can be done to them despite being in need of urgent medical home. some of the adults had to be talked into allowing doctors to see them. one woman had a miscarriage some doctor had to treat her right there at the scene it took a lot of effort to convince her she needed his help. the sacked is around twenty years old its founder is eighty five year old for that. he proclaimed himself a prophet almost fifty years ago and is now too weak to get out of bed his followers believe only in the koran rejecting all other religions and even movements within islam the police found them while investigating

a recent terror attack in the city they also found around a thousand religious books and texts which are now being examined for possible extremist content but sect members appear to be defiant about their way of life that you are fighting against ally himself the authorities have already opened several criminal cases involving senior members of the sect and the fate of the children is yet to be decided plans are also being drawn up to three house sect members who are allowed to film inside neither did any of the groups or members agreed to speak with us on camera but off camera the man that i spoke with said that around forty people remain on their territory they do expect the authorities to try to take everything down but he claims that they are going to resist even if they bring a court order since they don't recognize there are neither do they recognize the authority of muslim leaders or do they recognize the existence of the state or any

country altogether. you've got the school of. websites packed with the latest news great stories you can find. how two brothers working as border patrol agents help hundreds of illegal immigrants enter the u.s. from mexico interesting story there also are examining north korean reports sounding the alarm of a u.s. and south korean tariff plan they say to blow up monuments of former communist countries. find out if their fears have any foundations online with us and our t. dog. us might be trying hard to make life worse for iranians these days imposing sanctions on the country's vital oil industry and its banking sector too but while america's also burned high tech product exports to iran they still find a way there as well to sort of first reports next there's even a store selling apple's latest gadgets in the capital for those wanting to enjoy the i life. i pads i phones i pods apple's cool overall popularity

has meant that their product familiar sight everywhere from our workplaces and on our high street there's one place you might not expect to find products like this on sale and that the iranian capital of tehran where apple along with many of the u.s. products abandon the functions that had been in place years but it seems that tech savvy arraign ians that managing to outsmart this u.s. embargo and products like the not only popular in toronto they're widely available as well just like any other apple next store this one in tiran is bustling and busy so. i have no difficulty in importing electronics from the us nor do we feel any impact on imports from sanctions doesn't come so easy indeed is getting technical support and updates for the products but we still manage to get them all the time just this case of u.s. sanctions has been mainly on iran's banks and oil industry in

a bid to curb the country's nuclear ambitions but when it comes to the bans on consumer products alternative trade routes and enterprising a rainy and tradesmen have meant this in forcing the sanctions has proved virtually impossible in fact it's estimated there are now hundreds of traders in the capital selling these kids. the only impact of these sanctions that we see is higher prices which are the real sinking against the dollar we're also forced to charge more from customers in order to keep getting our shipments while bypassing the sanctions and people still want these gadgets even though they've become more expensive. so you know the sanctions working. the sanctions have not had the desired outcome because if they had if you were going here new sanctions are being announced by the u.s. congress or. the powers that the fact that they're coming up with new sanctions every other day isn't the case and the door thanks i was been there during the

working in fact many critics of the sanctions feel that far from the achieving anything banning these products in buggies a punishing the very people who will help in building around future creative individuals musicians film editors right is the film a key part of apple's kind tell the world eva. thanks very with us tonight really what she run the world shortly a couple of minutes we'll be hearing from one expert who says foreign nations sending weapons into the syrian conflict prolong the crisis that's ahead this is a team from moscow.

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