russian court has sentenced members of the controversial punk band pussy riot to true years in jail following their protests in russia's main cathedral. and given asylum but still trapped britons unmoved by ecuador's acceptance of julian a political refugee saying there was a blow is still subject to arrest and won't be allowed to leave the country. and a rogue u.s. hacker group claims it's behind an attack on the web site in an apparent attempt to silence coverage of julian assange.

is a pleasure to have you with us here on our today. live in moscow a russian court has sentenced members of the controversial punk band pussy riot to two years in jail following their protest stunt in russia's main cathedral the three women were found guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred i mean while police have detained roughly sixty people outside the court who have been rallying both in support and against the group that's exactly. right now joining us live from the scene peter good to see you so after a long long deliberation a guilty verdict comes down to years behind bars you've been outside the court all day how did the news go down. well received. in some cases acceptance in some cases disbelief and in some cases celebration the decision from inside the courtroom in delivering the guilty verdict the judge said that the women committed a gross violation of public. paula that was clearly acts that clearly expressed

a hatred based on religious affiliation no she also the judge also said the choice of venue for the demonstration of the performance of this punk rock prayer that called on the virgin mary to raise rusher of law to me a putin the fact that they chose christ the savior cathedral the most important cathedral in russia was done in order to increase the effect that the insults would have in backing up the decision that their actions were based upon religious hatred the judge cited hard drives and computers and files that were found on those in which they apparently show the three women amongst others. rehearsing and preparing for the the the demonstration side the cathedral the evidence gleaned from those hard drives a backed up the prosecution's claim that the the women were motivated by a hatred of the orthodox church now in terms of what's been going on outside the

courtroom here we've seen huge groups of people gathered throughout the day both in support of pussy riot unopposed to pussy riot and heated debate has continued to do flare up throughout they in fact you can hear people right now just over to my right the chance of free pussy riot. actually resource several police officers coming out of the crowd wiping their eyes and grasping at bottles of water seemingly like they've been sprayed with some form of pepper spray or mace also one woman climbed a fence to. climb the fence and just behind us police wagon where they were putting people to being detained and cheering again free pussy riot police on one of the groups trademark a garish. or brightly colored pink bunny planner and shouting for the crew to be free but they aren't going. to be free they've been sentenced to two years in jail

but at the although they are calming down a little bit here outside the court there is still debate raging between the people who are here both those who say that the women apologized to the orthodox church and said that they weren't intending to cause any religious offense and those who say that well we just don't believe those apologies they were handed that they were issued by the women in fact the fact in fact that was heard in the court in the judge's summing up she said that the victims of this crime the the people who were in the church at the time that the demonstration took place said that they didn't believe the apologies that were received by the women were genuine that they haven't felt that they were sincere in what they were saying so as it stands two years for the three members of the group pussy riot after they were found guilty of hooliganism and even found guilty of hooliganism agitated by religious hatred.

as you were saying there were winners who were in the cathedral during the time of the protest act said the pussy riot was being offensive aggressive and unwilling to stop so why are these people are you going outside the courthouse all day many many thanks to you we'll speak to you soon no problem. but apart from the public reaction outside the courthouse or the pussy riot case has exploded all around the internet the host of art his website program why you should care the blogger tim kirby told me earlier about the online response. others definitely some negativity you know when you look at the internet like i've been saying isn't talking and there's. a lot of the more liberal people the supporters of course they're going nuts and they're posting everything that this is awful and on the other side of people who have a more religious take on things i think feel very justified my personal opinion is to be honest usually for the thing they call hooliganism you get fifteen days from what i've heard so i really wish they would have gotten fifteen days the more standard punishment but the court didn't agree with my position but what about the

hype on the on this case how is it reflecting public opinion in russia because a lot of people say that moscow is not a true representation of all of russia trust me as a foreigner i get to hear that every day and it really isn't the sort of moscow super liberal internet click really isn't and the problem is is that people are saying this is dividing russia and its sense it is but it's dividing it between kind of religious people and the tiny tiny minority of ultra liberal extremists who have a bigger voice because of the internet than they would under normal circumstances and so i think that a lot of ways worse it's not really. being depicted i think a lot of the average people in russia this is a really huge thing for them or they're sort of passively against it. obviously the reaction to the verdict has been flocking in from all around the world it has been a wave of protests across the globe in support of the punk band and there's been official reaction as well the u.s. embassy in russia criticized the verdict calling it disproportionate

a misty international described the two year sentences quote as a bit of a blow to freedom of expression in russia there's also some reaction from europe with the e.u. foreign policy chief catherine ashton saying she's disappointed by the verdict we're keeping a close watch on all the developments updating you as you soon as we have them we. need. well of course we will continue following other breaking news for you here on r t don't forget that you can always check out our twitter feed that's r.t. underscore com for all the latest from outside the courtroom plus there are live updates available to you on our website our teeth dot com including reaction from relatives of the three members of pussy riot. but we are coming to you live from moscow i'm rori sushi and julian assange is now officially a political refugee but he seems no closer to getting out of the ecuadorian embassy in london than before the asylum announcement was made britain made it clear the

deal did not affect his determination to arrest the whistleblower and extradite him to sweden in defiance of international law that is artie's laura smith was at the embassy on the day of drama and has this report. it was the day they'd been waiting for julian assange was holed up in london's ecuadorian embassy for two months and his supporters who turned out to cheer for him rain or shine since his legal battle against extradition to sweden first began more than eighteen months ago also there in large numbers the police who didn't wait long to make their first arrests. when the decision came it was the one they wanted. we decided to grant asylum to julian a song. that was a seller's called it a significant victory and his mouth was full. and shining like

it will automatically encourage the government. but not everyone was pleased the u.k. foreign and commonwealth office called the decision disappointing and foreign secretary william hague said it changed nothing it does not change the fundamentals of the case we will not allow. safe passage out of the united kingdom nor is there any legal basis for us to do so hague also denied any suggestion that british police would storm the embassy so over in territory under international law to arrest but that's not what ecuador inferred from a letter it says was delivered through the british embassy in quito in response played hardball. when it was no national law could be used in this way in any intrusive way in any diplomatic facilities any place in the world it shouldn't be used to threaten or blackmail the sovereignty of any other country and they called

a summit to try to deal with this threat so that this fact doesn't go unpunished. the scary part the part that i found completely incredible and outrageous is the british threats to actually go in and try and extract during the sun but i must say to see british police surrounding that embassy was it an act of intimidation that should not be allowed and is not allowed under a song stuck in the middle. who has a new home but no way of getting there tripods and putting it in a big trunk label him in his diplomatic bag i'm not quite sure whether that would work but otherwise we might see him holed up there for a mixed couple of years who knows until i reach a solution to this impasse but if he leaves the embassy he's liable to arrest by the u.k. which insists it must still extradite him to sweden a position that went to accept it or respond to the united kingdom it would that mean constantly breaking relations on

a regional level it had been the crown saying of the. jews enough songs has been spelt the end of this tale already filled of twists and turns in fact it appears to be the beginning of something else with neither the u.k. no ecuador apparently willing to back down it's developing into an ugly diplomatic spats which could affect relations for some time norris may see outside the ecuadorian embassy and up to. one of the key factors in ecuador's decision to grant asylum to asylum was the danger he could face political persecution in the u.s. now the south american country also stressed the u.k. and sweden's failure to guarantee that he won't be handed over to america proof but a saunders fears for his freedom and life at home and. the part that washington's playing in this ongoing long running saga. julian saunders mother is calling this a victory for her son many see this as a small defeat for the u.s.

and that is because many believe the u.s. was hoping that julian assad would be extradited to sweden so that sweden would subsequently be able to extradite julian assange to the united states we have heard in recent years it's no secret former and current u.s. government officials equally even julian a songe two are terrorists and that was in the aftermath of him releasing cables and memos that were classified that belonged to the u.s. government as a result the integrity of the u.s. government was compromised a lot of secrets were revealed and it painted the u.s. foreign policy in a dark light it's no secret that the administration of u.s. president barack obama has been earning a reputation for waging a war on whistleblowers a fearsome reputation than any of his predecessors many journalists scholars and activists in the u.s. have signed a letter of support for julian

a songe one is including naomi wolf she's a journalist and author first of all this is a white house now to wait houses obama's and bush's which is systematically overclassifying everything especially wrong doing it specially anything related to what whistleblowers want to release specially you know torture that even gauged in methods of torture like mafia tactics it's come to this the government same to journalists everywhere in america. we're going to be you and we're going to threaten you and we're we're threatening you with with serious legal penalties like prison time if you do your job when i was speaking with naomi wolf what she wanted to clarify for me and her position is that she sees julian assange to many do as the publisher similar to the new york times chilliness orange is the publisher the one that made the information available he is not the leaker she noted why isn't the u.s. government going after the new york times for publishing what wiki leaks published

instead the u.s. government it is presumed is all to me hoping to go after julian assigns either way she said that this is this would be a dark day for all journalists in the u.s. if he would be in the custody of america prosecuted held indefinitely or possibly even face capital punishment. of course is watching very very close to the development so in and around the case on the russian foreign minister here said it is a bewildered by britain's position on the whistleblowers asylum deal or the ministries representative said the threat to take in the embassy by force contradicts the vienna convention he also added that the u.k. itself is harboring dozens of russians suspected of grave crimes but yet denies the right to asylum to a son who hasn't even been charged among those who found shelter in london are the kind of i wanted on terrorism charges and murdering and former tyco but his office of fraud and an attempted here. well it does appear now that access

to our website has been restored earlier today are called was jammed by an avalanche of online traffic in what's known as a denial of service attack by a hacker group known as and the leaks reports. if you try to go to our t.'s website today you may well see this message instead of the actual website that's the result of a d.d. o. s. cyber attack which struck many hours ago and has made r.t. dot com unavailable around the world on twitter a group calling itself anti leaks is claiming responsibility for the attack they linked in their tweets to the topics june sanj and wiki leaks they also made a joke about the show hosted on r.t. saying that they wanted to see him smoking cigars and drinking whiskey but that they weren't able to because of this attack those and other tweets indicate that they wanted to stop artie's coverage of the granting of diplomatic asylum to the

wiki leaks founder by ecuador's embassy in london d.o.'s or distributed denial of service attack is where attackers use remotely controlled computers around the world to flood a website with too much traffic for it to handle and to leaks has previously attacked wiki leaks his site itself would didio us as well but they say that their primary target is julian assange himself describing him as a new breed of terrorist the group says they're based in the usa there's much speculation as to who antiques actually are. let's talk more about this related hacker attacks and the fate of the whistleblower himself in our joined live from iceland by we can leak spokes person christine thank you very much for coming on r.t. today to this group calling themselves at and t. leaks to attack wiki leaks the website there and our web site r.t. dot com any idea who these people really are. you the people on.

the low. especially all surely must go to. the floor it was. only in. few days ago the terrorists all over. or about fifteen. or so we're talking about somebody who has access to. a computer system. that is not a small group of you know you know you say somebody is somebody having access to ten thousand computer system what kind of person or people could possibly have access to that volume of computers. to answer the question as well as all the a lot of small group talking. to. this city. was this kind of the tech. it was going to be speculation. to

say. somebody there's interest in the floor you know says to us i'm stopping or. what i mean there were there were some people that were speculating that perhaps the guys behind antilles are a bunch of spotty faced teenagers chomping bubble gum apparently it could be someone or a group much more sophisticated than that if i can just move in for a move on for a moment let's talk about julian assange himself now the biggest question now is of course how julian assange can leave ecuador's embassy sense of britain is set on arresting him despite the asylum below how do you get em out. well let's hope that the the. country it's the only right it seems. is a refugee status of. the door and this you but if they go on to it in this hard line position which is absolutely absurd given the circumstances. the legal

team of julian will. spend his job but as well as indicated that he will take the measure before the international court of justice. and force the government to get its when there are suddenly major concerns about truly the short term and the long haul of the safety of julian assange the british foreign office also warning finding a way out of this impasse could take years and history shows cases when people were trapped in embassies for over a decade is a possible thing you share this outlook other than hoping the british officials come to their senses as you said. well they will tell you that they get are they. going to work you and. julie especially and it will you show it as it is be under house arrest no or you have and then inside the embassy for two months so you so used to. it as was and also in the so called shaken by this.

is is fear is a strong and interior were you know you say that this is the u.k. authorities who took over extraordinary have called for a. strong reaction especially in light of the american countries if it is beyond them understand the way the william hague will take such an extreme step especially when the negotiations were ongoing or into that was or is in the period between the two countries and this could upset you nations all over the world and i'm pretty sure that the british diplomats will feel. very secure in voluntarily areas. that they are all government is ready to violated the mention of the twenty two with this threat it just won't believe it will. set a new president when it comes to communication inside diplomatic channels are willing spokesperson kristinn hrafnsson live from reykjavik thank you very much for

joining us on r.t. today thank you very. now international observers in syria have begun now winding down their mission which expires on sunday that's after the u.n. security council decided not to prolong their mandate the move is viewed as disappointing by russia which sees the mission as key to finding a political way out of the war reporting from new yorkers artie's anastasio truckin . regretfully for russia we have to see the united nations security council did in fact decide to not prolong the mission the mandate of the observer mission in syria of the united nations now there were two conditions for this mandate to keep for them to keep functioning on the ground and these were an end to the violence as well as ending the use of heavy weaponry and of course we know that this unfortunately has not occurred as of yet the united nations will however maintain a presence on the ground in a different format this will be a civil mission that they will put in place the details of which are being

discussed now russia's position in all of this is quite simple well we're sort of the monday is coming to an end we believe that those members of the council who insisted the continue not to show a commitment to ending course still it is. working towards a political settlement in syria however we're looking forward to the form of doing a u.n. presence in damascus. doing the job it is supposed to do in the light of the new. political process in syria it's important to keep in mind that russia of course has been calling for a peaceful political process in solving the syrian crisis and this of course comes as we're hearing armed groups on the ground threaten to combine forces with al qaida if the west does not help them out and this would of course be a catastrophic development in the crisis or straight to south africa to start the arts you want update now it's where police have killed more than thirty workers

striking outside a mine officers opened fire when the group charged them with machetes and spears for the strike began last week when miners demanded higher salaries and better working conditions the shooting is one of the worst in south africa since the end of the apartheid era. iraqi police and hospital officials claim thursday's a wave of attacks across the country now have killed more than ninety. the bomb and shooting attacks targeted civilians and police in baghdad and other cities near the capital ultimately making it the deadliest day in three weeks of violence and the months death toll has risen to at least two hundred as al qaeda keeps tearing up the country eight months after u.s. troops left. are there let's go back to our top story for you here on our other two year sentence handed down to three members of the controversial punk band pussy riot i hear the latest pictures now are from outside the courtroom.

i. will free pussy riot that's the cry you can hear being chanted there but it was also a gathering of those protesting against the antics of the punk band the rally also drew some prominent opposition leaders and veterans of anti-government protests such as alex you know only around sixty people have been detained following warnings from police against breaking public order the case of pussy riot is course pretty massive divisions in russian society their supporters say it's politically motivated while their opponents argue they went over the top with their performance the head of the russian church said that the pussy riot stunt ultimately amounted to blasphemy. to dimitry go for the hourly business of data how the market's doing over there dimitri any any reaction it may be a long shot to the old pussy riot verdict well there was one actually because the

market was pretty flat for the day but then it went down around one percent at the close so you could say that the reaction is mildly negative because we could say that if this case will have some kind of impact on russia's investment climate then it will likely be that positive because of these huge. huge reaction on the west to what's going on. let's take a look at how the markets indeed reacted so they're down one percent with the r.t.s. declining one one point three percent on the my six declining half a percent indeed biggest loses their financial she is now moving over to global markets indeed there everything looks pretty positive in the u.s. the dow jones and the nasdaq are lifted within point one percent given that u.s. consumer confidence in august came in better than expected and also the leading economic indicators a point two percent for the economy now in the e.u.

also catching on that caused the feeling from the united states the dax went up point four percent still on the back of a statement which was reiterated by german chancellor angela merkel that she will do the most to support the euro but when it comes to the european currency basically investors are awaiting some kind of action to back those words down sixty points to the dollar this hour meanwhile the russian ruble lost value against the dollar at the close of the session. and in commodities what we're seeing right now is. going down by just a notch whereas the brant blend is down almost two dollars per barrel that's on the back of. fears that the u.s. could release some of its reserves well to increase supply and to reduce prices. so that's the way the markets look at this very many thanks we'll see you later. by

just a moment on the headlines here on r t then straight into cross talk we go see you in just about.

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