joined us on the set to make his first public statement since being granted asylum in ecuador as a diplomatic standoff between britain and the latin american nation continues. a pro-democracy activist in the brain gets a three year jail sentence for criticizing the regime online but the protests are far from dying out with a bird only sparking for the rest. a two year sentence for members of the pond band pussy riot for performing and typewritten stunt in russia's main cathedral provokes a strong reaction in russia and around the world. they want observer mission in syria expires later on sunday amid ongoing clashes between rebels and government forces the latest blow to international efforts to bring peace to the conflict ridden state.

we're trying to live from moscow i'm marina josh joined us songes expected to make his first public statement since ecuador announced it would grant him political asylum one suggested it could strip ecuador's embassy of diplomatic privileges to move in and arrest a song has been sheltering in the embassy for two months now the latin american nation has warned britain of grave consequences if that happens 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 death 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. and shining like it will automatically encourage the government time 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 ecuador played hardball with what is 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 threats to actually. go in and try and extract you 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 their parts 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 arrest by the u.k. which insists it must still extradite him to sweden a position ecuador wouldn't accept. respond to the united kingdom and it would mean possibly breaking relations on a regional level if it happens the grounds of asylum by ecuador stupid enough so as has the spell 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 spat which could affect its relations for some time laura smith see outside the ecuadorian embassy and up to. now that sounds as extradition to sweden is in limbo other countries who want to question the whistleblower also have to wait in line and amber american officials have repeatedly called for the handover of the we have weeks founder to the u.s. to face potential charges for leaking classified diplomatic documents i just

remembered i has the details from new york. julian assange his 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 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 fiercer reputation than any of his predecessors many journalists scholars and activists in the u.s. have signed a letter of support for julian 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 even gauged in methods of torture like mafia tactics it's come to this the government is 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 naomi wolf what she wanted to clarify for me and her position is that she sees julia sanji many do as the publisher 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 signs 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. author and journalist tariq ali who was featured in one of julian assange just final interview shows here on r t believes with the lowers worldwide are under 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 of. the official culture is deeply hostile to whistleblowers to those who are in the public interest and

democracy everywhere is being hollowed out just think if a similar situation was going on in big dream all moscow or some other capital and a dissident in moscow will be cheering had taken refuge in the british embassy and the russian government will be trying to use government or some other government not 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. now this week a crucial decision was also made on the future of a guest and joined us on the stock show here in r.t. leading bahraini human rights activists nobel for a job on thursday a court sentenced him to three years in prison for inciting anti-government protests so he speeches and online polls the hearing still plays amid an upsurge of protests across bahrain calling for a democratic reform and it's been reported that they were brutally suppressed by

police and yes rubber bullets in the crackdown was more on the verdict for the man the highlight of the disparity and their reaction to it here is r.t. stop barking. there has been a rather different decision in the case of the enemy of the state below rajab in bahrain because incidentally met 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 and to 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 locked up as he was he wouldn't have been treated like this hypocrisy is a word used quite regularly in saying that the walls of the u.s. 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 protesters 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 call and have al hay former a lecturer at the university of the train believes the regime is striving to silence for a job because it's frightened by the immense anti-government sentiment in the country what is jail free for milton a bill really large indicates that the bahraini government is in pretty thinly paranoid increasingly scared it is worried because of the bahraini population one two hundred and twenty learn year monarchy if they want a democratic republic and not going to give up on their goal. the al khalifa family which runs bahrain very worried look at the. jail. for tweeting karma and the regime in other words

there is no free speech in bahrain if there is a kangaroo court system in bahrain it is a family ron government it is not being no one can tell really in the twenty first century. also i have a program return to their roots. turkey doesn't need a euro but it's europe needs turkey is on the verge of in a few years you will see that. planetary living in the e.u. are packing their bags and heading home in search of better opportunities story coming your way in a couple of minutes also. joining us from moscow's main mosque where people celebrate the most sacred days in the muslim holy cow ito. 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 group's anti porton stunt of the country's

main orthodox cathedral was ruled to be hold as a motivated by religious hatred dozens of people have been detained during a protest both for and against the group number of gatherings backing the ban that were staged in russia as well as in spain france britain and other countries foreign governments also have their say whether us calling on the authorities to review the case charges be all over has a story. but you've already met you moved to the scene you know that the in the revenue division you from would want to bring in the program you put everything we should reduce the. chance to their trial heat headlines around the world a global audience who's watching as much. and you can fit in a somewhat sea of each found out their fate to their performance the punk rock friend 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. or the. like it was amongst the crowd were prominent members of the antigovernment protests movements who had allying the pussy riot cause with their own as the strong. massed tempers flared and police announcements to keep calm were ignored as over fifty people from both sides were detained the public order offenses common 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. is near 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 he drew performance

though took things to another level church groups burned images of two women under madonna who had spoken out on the side of pussy riot i think they belong to some sect which conducts the tanach rituals they use elsewhere a church in russia was daubed with the slogan down with religious fanatics and in ukraine a topless member of the group and in could down 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 for 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 may get fifteen days from what i've heard so i really wish they would have gotten fifteen days the more standard punishment but they are court in a groove 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 of an r.t. moscow. well we've also been following the trial of a punk band on our website r.t. dot com and here's a quick look at what else is waiting for you there in the u.s. army spends three million dollars on the development of a nasal spray that the woman had suicidal thoughts go online for the details. plus the chinese beauty queen is crowned miss world read about all the pomp and pageantry at parties dot com. syria's president bashar al assad has been shelled on state t.v. praying in a mosque his first public appearance since bomb blast killed top officials last

month in the capital damascus meanwhile the u.n. observer mission mandate for syria expires later on sunday as government forces try to push the rebels out of their key strongholds fierce clashes are continuing in the country's commercial hub aleppo with bashar al assad's army turning increasingly to airpower push back insurgents trying to seize the city a new mediator lakhdar brahimi was confirmed by the u.n. this friday as expected to give a new impetus to peace efforts for meanwhile russia says the u.s. will violate international norms if it goes ahead with imposing a no fly zone over syria a move that helped rebels to overthrow the khadafi regime and move to political alice eric brighter says washington's trying to up root syrian regime as well as demonize iran. the united states is the pot calling the kettle black essentially doing whatever it can to foment the chaos to to turn sudanese against shiites to turn on the whites against kurds and so forth and try to destroy the

syrian state in that way and then they'll turn around and say that the iranians are doing the same thing by forming pro assad militias this is unbridled hypocrisy as i already mentioned but i think we could take it one step further to show that this really demonstrates the u.s. is desperation in syria they know that they're outmatched diplomatically they're outmatched in terms of the foreign policy and so with the only thing they can do. is used syria as an issue to demonize the arabians which is the ultimate enemy in the region where the us establishment. muslims all over the world are celebrating it all theater of the last day of the annual holy month of ramadan around the ninth month of the lunar calendar of ramadan and is seen as a time of so cleansing and spiritual improvement the muslim population in russia is of course now exception and it's a big day for them to just take a grave explains how this holiday is being celebrated in moscow millions of muslims

around russia have been waking up very early indeed before sunrise put some of the best clothes as is tradition on this holy day also the be flocking to nearby mosques and the greatest mosque in moscow is the one just behind me which is currently being referred to seeing tens of thousands of people not melissa lining the surrounding streets here to listen servants they've also been giving praise to god this is coming on the end on the back of the holy month of ramadan known for fasting and this question will this day shelf be though theater now actually translates as the breaking of the fast so we can expect many theses to be taking place in moscow and around russia with friends and family have been somewhat by what transpired late saturday evening in the russian republic of dagestan where two government stormed a local mosque they shot and injured eight people in total also there was a bomb misses found containing forty kilograms of t.n.t.

of explosives it took some time but the moment so those have managed to fuse that bomb threats meanwhile in dagestan same bring republican bomb blast has killed eight police officers authorities say a suicide bomber is likely to have to have been behind the attack here's artie's north caucasus correspondent with the details. the policemen were paying their final respects to their colleague or died in a shootout on the night before the sudden several people were wounded by the blast among them many civilians according to police sources men in uniform with the primary target the suicide bomber is responsible for this fact that there are at times the attacker waited patiently for the officers to arrive and someone who was also in the area had removed control they took the ball some source a bit the it that was the head and the blast and that was had was found at the crime scene bomb squad was called to the scene to look for others clues of devices

to use with militants that no one but two or more ball so that they can attack the investigators who rushed to this be a criminal investigation was launched and police came in and the shakier high alert . now take a look at some other stories from around the world two slogans have rocked the capital of libya with local media saying the blast happened near the interior ministry it's believed two people have been killed a man leaving remains highly restive after last year's nato backed uprising toppled wommack adoptee the country is currently governed by an elected general national congress. a us drone attack has killed at least seven people in the northwest pakistan this is the second attack within hours of 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 manned u.s. aircraft has risen drastically this year causing widespread criticism throughout pakistan which says it's a violation of its sovereignty. and little japanese nationalists have landed

on the one of the disputed islands in the east china sea to commemorate their compatriots who died in the area of world war two this and that a longstanding dispute with china which claims the islands as part of its territory the move triggered mass rallies of major chinese cities with protesters demanding that the japanese leave the eight uninhibited islands and rocks lie on a vital sea lane and are surrounded by gas reserves. turkey has been waiting for membership for over two decades but amid the euro crisis it's now beginning to doubt whether it's still wants to join a comes as some turks who've been long term as a dense are heading home in search of better jobs and opportunities are just as are still you 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 a lot of taxes 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 and 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 play origin 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 these communities and you have 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 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. every keg of our top stories is on the way right after that we discuss the future of free speech on whistleblowers in the us and that in just

a few moments.

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