the final hours of joining us on his asylum bed turn into an international showdown with britain threatening to storm ecuador's london embassy and take the whistleblower by force. a powerful saudi bases lama group cancel syria's membership blaming so we damascus for violence and ignoring the rebels old style terror attacks. heavyweight square up in asia a new report maps the standard of america's military buildup in the region as china eagerly courts allies of itself.

is one pm in the russian capital you're watching r t with me we're in a joshie where not a british colony and that's ecuador is reply to british government's threats to storm its london embassy and take join us by force that we lease whistleblower sought refuge there in june escaping imminent extradition to sweden while smith has more from outside the embassy. well this is really turning into a bit of a diplomatic and political minefield really under international law the building that you see behind me the ecuadorian embassy is considered the territory of the foreign nation i.e. ecuador but we understand that in a letter delivered both in quito through the embassy there and also verbal here in london britain has threatened to storm this embassy if julian assange isn't released the foreign office his says that they can give one week's notice and then that diplomatic status of this mission would be revoked and they would be able to come in and arrest them but of course they then said that they do want it

diplomatically agreeable solution although agreeable to him is not clear at the moment the foreign minister ricardo patino of ecuador has come out and and expressed his intense displeasure at that he says it's unbecoming of a civilized and law abiding state and he says that it's being interpreted as an unfriendly and hostile act on behalf of precedent of course this makes this whole thing as complicated as it was before because julian assange is still liable to be arrested whenever he leaves the embassy regardless of whether later on today we find out that he has been granted asylum in ecuador has been inside the embassy for almost two months now and we've been coming down here intermittently jaring that time just to see what's going on a lot of the time there's been a few supporters name media told him as i'm sure you can imagine today there's a been a real buildup of media we are expecting more to come later and supporters from all walks of life some who have been here before all along and some who have never been

here before they think that still plenty of countries embassies very important and they think that it's an important precedent that we mustn't break that embassies are still for and when they're on british territory and indeed anywhere under international law and they also say it's not just about julian ourselves it's about a bigger picture it's about protecting freedom of speech in fact there's a little sign just in front of me here that says heroes should. be rewarded not persecuted there's obviously also a large police presence we it's not very evident here but i've just seen as i arrived that there were two police vans arriving which was probably about thirty police so that obviously ready for something to happen a huge atmosphere of anticipation as we wait for this decision to be made by ecuador later on today laura smith reporting from london and more perspective on a sandra's fate was someone who spoke to a songe not long ago and author and journalist tariq ali featured in one of the whistleblowers final interview shows here on r t and he joins us now from london mr ali thanks very much for being here with us in the program well as i said not long

ago you spoke to mr assad about democracy and activism but is that activism something that's being punished at the moment. i think we have now in different parts of the world including the western world clamp down on dissent we had the british home secretary referring yesterday to activists not activists meaning hackers hacker activists soon they'll be given the label of terrorists you know cyber terrorists some are already calling them out and from there the leap is very small to relabel in rebranding people and them from speaking out aloud the culture in which we live in the western world today the official culture is deeply hostile to whistleblowers to war hackers who are in the public interest and democracy everywhere is being hollowed out now if you look at what's going on

in relation to julian assange i don't just think if a similar situation was going on in big dreaming all moscow or some other capital and a dissident in moscow or beijing had taken refuge in the british embassy and the eruption government of the chinese government or some other government not regarded in the pockets of the west had said or threaten that under our law not international law under our laws we can actually reduce your embassy and take this guy out you can just imagine the response there ought to be in the media outlets now and that are let's now focus on the fate of a side i mean before he was really you he interviewed ecuador us president rafael correa and it seems like both of them are here and are during

a view so what's your forecast regarding the asylum request is he likely to receive it. well i will say in ecuador ten days ago when i met the president and i met other people in the country as well and be aside my request is being reviewed very favorably i would be extremely surprised if it was not granted and the threats made by the pritish government actually help the court security in asylum street don't hinder it i mean if you threaten a concrete saying we're going to raid your embassy and declare you were non diplomatic so i'm well most countries so many countries especially fiercely independent countries today like a court over the soil of beluga so bolivarian republics they don't react well to that. britain thinks the british government thinks because they themselves are vassal state every other state should behave like that they don't. well all right

let's look at the scenario if a for example a sound gets his asylum how is he going to get out of the country then how is it going great and well i it was made very clear to me in quito they will not do anything illegal they want to negotiated settlement with the british government and the british foreign office and as long as there doesn't happen i think julian will stay in the embassy that is my feeling hopefully something can be sorted out i mean what makes it truly ludicrous this whole business is that he is not even charged with anything he is actually wanted in sweden for questioning by the prosecutor that's why they can come to britain to question him as he suggested while he was trying to go through the british courts we don't know the ecuadorians are saying they're very welcome to come to the swedish tribute to the ecuadorian embassy and question him for as long as they want they have refused that as well and this is what makes people nervous that if all they want to do is question him

before they decide you can be charged or not on. some of these extremely flimsy charges why don't they just go and do it and then say ok we're going to charge you if that'll be a going to do we try to see who they are but we don't do mr riley at this point we can only have half the size on this and you know make our predictions hypothetically speaking. will find out a couple of hours of course what will happen but ok suppose a sound dies and up in sweden what is the likely scenario there what is going to be happening well look if the united states really wants him they lifted him i mean either legally or some beleaguered lee or illegally after all that we've seen this happening all over europe european governments collaborating with the united states to lift people off the streets of course normally they have done it

to suppose that terrorists people with beards people belonging to muslim countries or of muslim origin many of them innocent by the way this would be a first to lift a european citizen in australia and sit just on the white skin from a european city where without the permission of the government the government can be and can shut their eyes and within the united states there is a demand by neo cons and not just them to get us on train cry him for damaging the interests of the united states i mean this is he's not a us citizen how he can even be charged with that amazes me but it is false and we can't exclude any possibilities so i think lee price is right to be even more to be were i right tariq ali thanks very much for sharing your views with us that was mr author and journalist thank you very much. and just to remind you the decision on a sound asylum request is scheduled at twelve pm g.m.t.

today of course we'll be covering that in the immediate reaction right here live in our tepee well also on our website where you can find even more piñon and analysis as well as four episodes of a songes interview show is available at r.t. dot com. there hasn't been anything yet. it is to get back some of. the source material hopes for was. we. we wanted to visit. something. the syrian government finds itself further isolated after being expelled from another international body your position of islamic corporation has suspended syria's membership the arab league did the same last year the move is supposed to

stand a strong message to the mask yes which the group sees as the only culprit behind hostilities in syria the decision comes despite the latest explosion in the capital and syrian rebels have openly admitted they were behind the attack and some fighters even say they are going to collaborate with al qaida against the syrian regime which is a convoy who has warned how the opposition is becoming more familiar with terror tactics. blasts and gunfire a daily occurrences here in damascus but ones the explosion right next to the u.n. headquarters was something of ordinary it took place at a have only guarded army garage and you can probably see a fuel tanker on the reach the explosive device was planted still standing over there in terms of the damage it was relatively minor a few shattered windows in this hotel and in the building next to us but this explosion definitely attracted a lot of media attention because of the proximity to the u.n.

have borders now the free syrian army already claimed responsibility for this blast of and though they said that they never intended to target the u.n. observers and that they were aiming for the syrian army personnel in any case this explosion of really underscores how easily or. vailable and how widely used explosives have become these days in syria in the beginning of the syrian uprising the rebels primarily on small arms but over months they have become increasingly more sophisticated in bomb making and many experts attribute that to an influx of foreign fighters in particular iraqi insurgents who bring down a lot of bomb making expertise the iraqi government even went on record to say that they have sold information that al qaida was crossing from iraq into syria to carry out those attacks on the top of that reuters news agency published a story a few days ago in retreat quoted an f.s.a.

field commander who was saying that thanks to you of the expertise of iraqi insurgents they've been able to increase the debt to nation range of their bombs up to seven kilometers also the use of mobile phones to sad those bombs off something that is very common in iraq and that was extremely rare in syria is now becoming more and more widely used what many in the west fail to recognize is that terrorism is not necessarily a derogative term it's a descriptive term to denote a guerrilla warfare a tactic that justifies the use of terror the use of violence for achieving political goals and at the same groups that must. tactics and bomb making skills on iraqi civilians on the u.s. soldiers in iraq and now applying the same expertise here in syria. reporting from damascus in syria international community however.

other official meetings but it's a different story under the table with the u.s. employing a return to asia policy ties between washington and beijing are getting tense. becoming. the u.s. . is hanging a lot. because. they are coming to the region. trying to. find out. and that intention has already been felt south korea the philippines and vietnam have already held nato military exercises with several more countries in the region expected to have similar war games soon during a recent extensive tour of the asian pacific u.s. secretary of defense leon panetta said washington will relocate at least sixty percent of its naval fleet to the region by the end of the decade there's a reason for such moves has been china's territorial disputes with the philippines

in the south china sea but experts say that's only an excuse the u.s. is now promising some kind of support for the armed forces modernization creating a so-called minimum credit credible defense posture but the end the end result would be more in favor of the u.s. than in the philippines seeing that the u.s. or so many economic and business interests in china it wants to keep china obedient to whatever dictates that you have at in store for china so all the treaty allies from japan south korea australia the philippines you're being mobilized right now to encircle china and keep it subservient to the u.s. dictate in interests with a deeply checkered historic background of the u.s. military presence in the region many concerns have been raised the united states has for many many battles and a pivot towards asia should be considered something of great alarm for the people of the hearing. full scale conflict in the region beijing is looking for

a helping hand and it has look no further than its closest neighbor during the recent state visit to china hu jintao seemed glad to know he had russia's support with pledges to boost already strong military ties all but making this point clear while panetta says washington the must stay vigilant in the face of china's growing military beijing hasn't yet openly criticized the new u.s. agenda in the asian pacific region all the statements by the officials so far have been mild declarations of dismay and warnings of a destabilizing situation but experts both in china and abroad believe this is just the calm before the storm and that beijing in fact is growing less and less tolerant of washington's behavior. reporting from beijing in china. meanwhile the report has shined a light on just how far the u.s. could go to contain china's growing power in asia the paper compiled by a washington based think tank as

a rough road map to america's military buildup and strategy to asia peter simon say staff writer for the world socialist web site says this is how the u.s. compensates lack of economic influence in the region. because governments around the world pursue their interests quite vigorous work but i think the us has a special interest. in economic car. and it's been using its military. to try and reinforce its preeminence. as the second largest economy in the world because of our. story. in order to mine time it's because we should be. global economic system. well i can follow the latest twists and turns in the u.s. china relations our website r.t. dot com also line for you right now america's hypersonic ambitions crumble after fifteen seconds of the test flight of the brand new wave rider plane ends with

engine failure. and pussy riot and playboy the famous man's magazine hopes one of its future bodies will be released on friday was offered a member of the russian punk band the chance to appear on its pages. in bahrain prominent opposition activist now build a job has been given three years in prison for writing anti-government tweets and participating in illegal gatherings now joined dozens of other human rights campaigners detained for their political views all of them followed the builder job era now an opposition leader who is on trial for comments he made on twitter against the country's prime minister is awaiting

a court decision later on thursday but as we've just reported that he was given three years and of course we'll be bringing you more on this well author and journalist if she returns and believes the crackdown will continue. we must remember was given this three month sentence. about an area north of modern in bahrain this is the center of thousands of people hundreds of people. physicians symptoms for trying to heal the people injured and killed by this bahraini dictator there is no reform process in bahrain this is a complete sham and i mean. there's going to be able the. big letter to the king of bahrain this dictator but even they seemed to say that there was some going to reform bruises there isn't. now take

a look at some of the stories from around the world at least eight militants have been killed in a prolonged gun battle after they attacked a military airbase in the north of pakistan parts of the base were got a by flames with one soldier confirmed dead the base is said to have ties to the country's atomic program though officials have denied this claiming there are no nuclear air bases in pakistan they attack showcases the potency of the country's largest groups despite repeated military offensives against him. hundreds of students have taken control of several high schools in chile's capital demanding education reforms police used water cannon to disperse the crowd authorities have said they'll spend more than one billion dollars on education but protesters plain that's not enough demonstrations have rocked the country for over a year with activists demanding the right to free education. two explosions rocked the popular red sea resort city of a lot in israel it's thought rockets were fired from egypt's sinai peninsula were

sixteen egyptian soldiers were gunned down in an assault on a board checkpoint earlier this month and a gyptian missile rate in the region targeting as the most militants kyra has been repeatedly criticized for poor security in the area. and time not take a look what's happening in the world of business and facebook's i.p.o. a lot of is expiring on thursday what does that mean for the stock well it means more than two hundred million shares could be sold on the market but that doesn't mean they will be of course more on that in just a moment but first let's check out the equity markets european bourses inch lower and the second hour trade miners are offering some support to the footsie but tobacco companies are and a lot of pressure following court ruling and australia on wednesday and germany the dax is one huge negative the sour the russian markets are managing to stay higher this hour both the mice. so in the r.t.s.

how to raise some of their earlier gains but they regained them since despite mixed group more including just a moment wall street overnight finished with mixed stocks the nasdaq posted moderate gains thanks to stronger july industrial production numbers and real boss housing market data the dow ended to fly too negative the volumes on wall street remain pretty low because the vacation season isn't full swing and there not a whole lot of news coming out of europe a lot of data on the u.s. economy is due out later on thursday that includes july building permits weekly jobless claims and also a business activity survey facebook investors will have the two hundred seventy one million more things to worry about that sent over of shares that have been lost twenty the largest social media network went public in the may the lockup expires

on thursday traders expect to move around six percent by friday with the majority leaning toward a dip facebook's russian investors have rumored to be looking to sell their stock and on to the currencies the dollar is strengthening against the euro this hour it reached a one month high against the japanese yen on wednesday the russian ruble is losing to the dollar in a stronger to the euro crude is mixed this hour very choppy trade this thursday it ended wednesday at the highest level in three months and that was on the u.s. energy department's report that showed a large and expected drop off and weekly crude supplies this hour brant is back to above one hundred sixteen dollars a barrel a legendary investor george sources a losing faith in the banking sector in fact his fund has cut positions in j.p. morgan goldman sachs and citi group and. months he no longer has those stakes in

the financial sector in the united states or globally instead sources now buying into a retail heavyweight wal-mart facebook and his other pick is gold which source once dubbed the ultimate asset bubble he apparently doesn't think so anymore analysts say the move is yet another sign that there's going to be a new wave over global money printing. and that's the latest from the business desk here will be back in about fifteen minutes meanwhile check out our site slash that's definitely thanks very much indeed for this and looking forward to the next update next hour of course and next on our team in just a few moments i'll bring you the headlines.

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