join us on the set to make his first public statement is being granted asylum in ecuador as the diplomatic standoff between britain and the latin american nation continues. pro-democracy activists in bahrain gets a three year jail sentence for criticizing the regime online but the protests are far from dying out with a verdict only sparking further on rest. a two year sentence for members of the punk band pussy riot for performing it and put an stunt in russia's main cathedral provokes a strong reaction in russia and around the world. the u.n. observer mission in syria expires later on sunday and that ongoing clashes between rebels and government forces the latest blow to international efforts to bring

peace to the conflict ridden state. in the russian capital you're watching. join us on she's expected to make his first public statement later on sunday since ecuador and now says it would grant him political asylum that we can accept it or has been sheltering in the london embassy of the lead an american nation for two months now after britain approved his extradition to sweden for questioning over alleged sex crimes are just laura smith has been following the standoff. it was the day they'd been waiting for julian assaults 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. called it a significant victory and his mouth was full so it quickly. 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 and 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 ecuador 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 on punished. the scary part the part that i find completely incredible and outrageous is the british press to actually. go in and try and extract you're in 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 saddam or stuck in the middle julian assange who has a new home but no way of getting there tripods and put him in

a big trunk and 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 can reach a solution to this impasse but if he leaves the embassy he's liable to rest by the u.k. which insists it must still extradite him to sweden a position that could or wouldn't accept but our first time to the united kingdom it would that mean possibly breaking relations on a regional level if it happens the browsing of asylum by i could also do enough sounds hasn't spelled the end of this tale already full 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 but sometimes you're a smith i don't see outside the ecuadorian embassy and up to now that a sanchez extradition to sweden is in limbo other countries who want to question the whistleblower also have to wait in line and number of american officials have

repeatedly called for the handover of the we can leaks founder to the u.s. to face potential charges for leaking classified diplomatic documents are just more airport now has the details from new york. julia 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 assange 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 a quavering julian assange two are terrorists and that was in the aftermath of 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 fiercer reputation than any of his predecessors many journalists scholars and activists in the u.s. have signed a letter of support for julie the 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 they 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 meet you and we're going to threaten you and where we're threatening you with with serious legal penalties like prison time if you do your job but i was speaking with my only wolf what she

wanted to clarify for me and her position is that she sees julia sanji many do as the publisher of similar to the new york times chilliness songes 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 a presumed is all to me hoping to go after julian i signed 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 also in journalist tariq ali who was featured and one of julian assange just final interview shows here on our team believes whistleblowers worldwide are on the attack i think we have now in different parts of the world including the western world. on descent to a culture in retreat live in the way. the official culture is

deeply hostile to whistleblowers do gooders who are in the public interest and democracy everywhere is being hollowed out just think if a similar situation was going on in big. all moscow or some other capital and a dissident in moscow or beijing had taken refuge in the british embassy. be it russian government really trying to use government or some other government nor programmed it in the pockets of the west and said we can actually read your embassy and take this guy out you can just imagine the response there would have been in the media. this week a crucial decision was also made on the future of another guest on julian assange just talk show here on r t leaving rock radio human rights activists in the bill region on thursday a court sentenced him to three years in prison for inciting anti-government protest

through his speeches and online polls hearings to place a bit of an upsurge of protests across the ring hollow for democratic reform before that brutally suppressed by police used tear gas and rubber bullets in the crackdown was more on the verdict for the man behind much of the dissent and their reaction to it is arkansas martin. there has been a rather different decision in the case of the enemy of the state below rajab in bahrain becoming to dental imette to julian assange for an interview shown on this channel on r.t. in may he has however been given a three year prison sentence by a court in bahrain for being involved in and for calling for illegal and to government protests when the sentence was given though he was already in prison serving a three month term for posting anti government comments on twitter there has been many comments of support from his family and friends but there have also been

criticisms delivered via social networks criticisms of u.s. policy in relation to bahrain and overall in the arab spring those criticisms include allegations that if it weren't for if the u.s. had supported a little more he wouldn't have been a locked up as he was he wouldn't have been treated like this hypocrisy is a word used quite regularly in saying that the us was the us have supported protesters in other countries like egypt and libya in the arab spring they have remained silent over bahrain the u.s. fifth fleet is based in bahrain. this also raises questions over bahrain's sunni government's commitment to human rights and reform for eighteen months now protesters have been trying to get a larger say in the politics of the country most of those protest has come from the

country's seventy percent shia majority so far though despite warm words that they want dialogue the government has given up nothing can give our former lecturer at the university of the rain bullies a regime striving to silence her job because it's right by the immense and a government sentiment in the country what is jailed for three years for milton a bill really large indicates that the bahraini government is in recently paranoid increasingly scared it is worried because the record of the bahraini population one to two hundred twenty nine year monarchy in that they want a democratic republic. not going to give up on their goal and the our khalifa family which run bahrain very were.

the general. or tween come in and the regime in other words there is no proof speech in bahrain if there is a kangaroo court system in bahrain it is they only ron the government is not being there no one can tell really in the twenty first century. but our july from moscow coming up in just a few minutes cairo's new broom in action word on the president's latest government sackings and what the move could mean for the future of the country's all powerful army. join us from moscow's main mosque where people celebrate the most sacred days in the muslim holy calendar yto theater. how the decision of a russian court to jail the three members of punk band pussy riot for two years has split society and provoked

a massive international reaction the words and i put the stunt in the country's main orthodox cathedral was ruled to be holding isn't motivated by religious hatred dozens of people have been detained during protests both for and against the group and number of gatherings backing the ban were staged in russia as well as spain france britain and other countries foreign governments also have their say what the u.s. calling on the authorities to review the case are just bitter all over has a story. to give already a reason that you move through this thing you know that she in the company division you from would not want to bring in the program you put everything become you reduce your. chance to their trial heat headlines around the world a global audience who's watching as much. political and you can fit in a somewhat sea of each found out their fate for their performance the punk rock prayer in russia is making to phaedra outside the cool to large group gathered with both new supporting the women and those opposed to them turning up to voice their

opinion of the. war was like it was amongst the crowd were prominent members of the anti-government protest movement who had allying the pussy riot cause with their own as the throngs massed tempus fled and police announcements to keep calm were ignored as over fifty people. well from both sides which attained the public order offenses calm damned by some celebrated by others their performance in this cathedral lasted for a little more than a minute and a half but it's perhaps made pussy riot the most recognizable russian music act in the world. where did they come from under various guises the three women who were jailed on friday have been no strangers to controversy in the past pussy riot grew out of a performance art group which had staged an orgy in a museum filmed

a woman performing a sex act on a chicken in a supermarket and kissed on duty female police officers because the performance though took things to another level church groups burned images of the women and of madonna who had spoken out on the side of pussy riot i think they belong to some sect which conducts a tannic ritual elsewhere a church in russia was daubed with the slogan down with religious fanatics and in ukraine a topless member of the group in cooktown a cross with a chain saw and offer from playboy for a photo shoot and pussy riot merchandise deal law has led some to even question was this all an elaborate quest but fame they achieved their goal of. becoming really world famous by doing what they did and when they are released they were in fact travel the world to become famous they have achieved their goal after the two year sentence for hooliganism motivated by religious hatred was handed down

the online response heated up with many shocked by the length of the jail term my personal opinion is to be honest usually for the thing they call whole again as i 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 in a group of my position with lawyers for the jailed women said to appeal the verdict don't expect the debates between supporters of pussy riot in those opposed to fade away any time soon peter all in moscow. well so been following the trial of a punk band on our website r t dot com here's a quick look at what else is waiting there for you. in the u.s. army spends three million dollars on the development of a nasal spray that eliminates susanville thoughts go on line for the details. plus chinese beauty queen is crowned miss world read about all the pomp and pageantry at our team. the u.n. observer mission mandate for syria is expiring later on sunday as government forces

try to push the rebels out of the or key strongholds the armed conflict that began in march of last year as already claimed more than eighteen thousand lives and both sides are jesus on avoid the ongoing violence in syria has provided al qaida with yet another territory to stage attacks. blasts and gunfire daily occurrences here in damascus but once the explosion right next to the u.n. headquarters was something out of ordinary it took place at a heavily guarded army garage and you can probably see a fuel tanker under which 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 even though they said that they never intended to target to you in observers and

that they were aiming for the syrian army personnel in any case the explosion of really underscores how easily available and how widely used explosives have become these days in syria in the beginning of the syrian uprising the rebels are led primarily on small arms but over months they have become and personally more sophisticated in bomb making and many experts attribute that to an influx of foreign fighters in particular iraqi insurgents who bring with them a lot of bomb making expertise the iraqi government even went on record to say that they have solid information that al qaeda 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 extra tees of iraqi insurgents they've been able to increase the detonation range of their bombs off 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 you. 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 terror tactics and bomb making skills on iraqi civilians on the us soldiers in iraq and now applying the same expertise here in syria i thought about car t.v. reporting from damascus in syria muslims all over the world are celebrating it all fit for the last day of annual holy month of ramadan the ninth month of the lunar

calendar ramadan is seen as a time of so cleansing and spiritual improvement the muslim population in russia is of course no exception and it's a big day for them to have greaves is standing by a mosque in moscow tells more so jake good morning to you again how do muslims in russia celebrates this day. well millions of muslims around the russia have been waking up very early in the before sunrise to make sure they're dressed in their very best attire as well as is tradition on this holy day they've also been flocking to central mosque around the country and in moscow i mean this building behind me currently being refurbished tens of thousands of people lining the streets outside this mosque where they've been listening to servers those have been giving thanks and praise to god first comes on the back as you mentioned of the holy day of holy month of ramadan and as such is known as a time for fasting in fact this day she translates as

a breaking the fast for a dell fiercer mass such we expect much feasting to be taking place they call it joyce events with family and friends somewhat moderate early or late on saturday evening that's when in the russian republic of dagestan to mass gunman stormed a nearby mosque that she shot and injured eight people on top of that there was a bomb found containing forty kilograms of t.n.t. explosives there was fear for some time that could detonate causing severe damage but since early this morning there has actually been prevented. all right jason thanks very much indeed for the subway take a breakdown. or tonight you live from moscow is not take a look at some of the stories from around the world. you explosions have reportedly struck the capital of libya with local media reporting the blast happened near the interior ministry early reports say two people have been killed and many injured we remain tiley rest of after last year's nato backed uprising topple moammar gadhafi

the country is currently governed by an elected general national congress. a u.s. drone attack has killed at least four people in northwest pakistan this is the second attack within hours to the district believed to be a stronghold of taliban insurgents in the country and earlier drone strike reportedly left six dead the number of attacks by unmanned u.s. aircraft has risen drastically this year causing widespread criticism throughout pakistan which says it's a violation of its sovereignty. the egyptian president mohamed morsi this week ordered the country's top two military officials to stand down the fence minister and chief of staff were told to go during a major offensive that's underway in the country's rest of sinai region along the israeli border. just recently elected leader he's a boy in a power struggle with the military council vowed to restore security in sinai but the region's only seen more laws since present hobart was out with al qaeda groups targeting security forces and arms being smuggled from libya investigative

journalist pepe escobar says morsi has moved could spark a bad lash problem the military that could potentially and in a coma. we should expect some say to happen not immediately in terms of a counter cool by scaf because the joints are still there even if they are prerogatives in terms of that constitutional amendment which transfer of powers from the presidents to them no more civil why did that completely gave me have some cards to play in those four get very good relationship with the pentagon i'm sure a lot of people in washington are horrified about the morsi move and they really are these are areas are really freaking out with the morsi move because now they say that he has become a dictatorship so there could be some counter kooks from foreign actors as well basically from the movie brotherhood going to as you do they don't want any more frictions between scaf and the president so we can say that for the moment this

score is muslim brotherhood one skaf zero the problem is the military even if the juice is reliant now or rearrange become true almost forty percent of the egyptian economy egypt has no money i'm betting in the long run that date will last egypt cool apps in terms of being practically defaulting and game maybe later do rearrange another egyptian military cool and go back to power. well target has been waiting for e.u. membership for over two decades but amid the euro crisis it's now beginning to doubt whether it still wants to join it comes as some turks have been long term residents are heading home and search of better jobs and opportunities are just as our celia has a story. what

about five and a half million turks living in the european union their presence is certainly felt in societies in europe but as the e.u. continues to be deep in the red the lure of their original country's economic promise is getting harder to resist and the residents living on this street known as little anatolia say that more and more of their compatriots are thinking of cutting their losses and heading back home like the owner of this snack bar belgian born has been finalizing his plans and is set on relocating his family back to turkey. europe is finished the crisis is getting worse every year it's going to continue first greece then spain italy right now belgium there is a lot of stress lots of taxes bills to pay while in turkey every year turkey is very powerful life is good you can live well why would you want in belgium it's no longer like this and the numbers say it all the e.u. managed a one point six percent growth in two thousand and eleven while turkey was at about seven point five percent gaining recognition as last year's fastest growing economy

in europe while it is expecting a slowdown this year the grass still looks greener on their side and dependence on europe is not quite as it used to be the trade volume used to be very high with the e.u. countries percentage wise that used to be around fifty percent now it has gone down to just over forty percent that means we're diversifying our trade more and more trade with african countries asian countries all around the world and this of course has spurred a lot of growth so we need people to be able to manage this we need qualified people personnel so we see that a lot of people are now coming you know second third generation immigrants are coming back home for this purpose but there's another reason why a growing number of turks want out of the e.u. you know with the crisis what's the result we reject. foreigners obviously now that there are fewer jobs less money what happens is priority is first given to the belgians and after the foreigners the turks the moroccans the russians my decision

to go back to turkey is economic but also because when there is a crisis there is discrimination if you know of this community yet as this migration trend rises turkey is still officially knocking on the e.u. store its candidacy for membership hanging in the balance for the last twenty five years thanks to a long list of requirements to fulfill and political opposition from some e.u. countries people are afraid that that you will come up with more and more excuses even if we do overcome them people say that the other excuses are not that it matters any longer for some turks that. turkey doesn't need europe it's europe needs turkey in a few years you would see that i mean against turkey becoming part of the e.u. and right now turkey doesn't seem to be in much of a hurry either does or sylvia r.t. brussels. i'll be back with a recap of today's news and this week's top stories after the short break.

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a video camera so i moved over and he phoned me some of them you know we realized there were following everyone from early in the morning most of us in. the only chance to get rid of him. just to reveal him. me devil operation on our chief. morning news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. giant corporations are.