julian said to make his first public statement since being granted asylum in ecuador the diplomatic standoff between britain and the latin american nation to. a pro-democracy activist in bahrain gets a three year jail sentence for criticizing the regime online for the protests are far from dying out the verdict only sparking further unrest. and a two year sentence for members of the punk band pussy riot for performing an anti putin stunt in russia's main cathedral provokes a strong reaction in russia and from all parts of the world. the un observer mission in syria expires later on sunday amid ongoing clashes between rebels and government forces are the latest blow to international efforts to bring peace to

the conflict ridden state. with top stories of the week and of today this is the weekly with me wrong. julian expected to make his first public statement since ecuador announced it would grant him political asylum reports claim the wiki leaks founder will agree to extradition to sweden for questioning over alleged sex crimes as long as a guarantee is given that he will not be extradited to a third country london suggested it could strip ecuador's embassy of diplomatic privileges to move in and the rest of songe he's been sheltering at that embassy now for the past two months the latin american nation has warned britain of grave consequences if that happens. laura smith has been following the ongoing 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. that was as always called it a significant victory and his mouth was full so it quickly 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 assaults 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 press. to actually go in and try and extract you

a massage but i must say to see british police running that embassy was it an act of intimidation they should not be allowed on the road is not allowed on your side . talk in the middle julian who has a new home but no way of getting there and putting it in a big trunk 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. 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 possibly breaking relations on a regional level if it happens the crown saying of asylum. enough songs has been 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 spat which could affect relations for some time norris may be outside the ecuadorian embassy. i don't know that a saunders extradition to sweden is in limbo other countries who want to question their whistleblower also have to wait in line a number of american officials have repeatedly called for the handover of the wiki leaks founder to the u.s. to face potential charges for leaking classified diplomatic documents portnoy has this report from new york. while 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 equally even julian a songe 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 on 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 then 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 they've engaged

in methods of torture like mafia tactics it's come to this the government same to journalists everywhere in america. we're going to do 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 julio sanji many do as the publisher similar to the new york times julian assange is the publisher of 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. now if activist and activist and blogger david

swanson is saying that if indeed britain does go through with its threat to storm the embassy and sees us on why force the consequences for us diplomatic relations worldwide could be very far reaching. the idea that you can declare an embassy and not on embassy and wait a week and then raid it is outrage and i would hope that the world would react with outrage but i think the people of the united kingdom and europe as well as the world understand the threat to international law and human rights at state here and it is a horrible horrible precedent for the entire world should an act of journalism exposing abuses of power results in off seizure by force and up and or rendition this is this is something the whole world has a stake in. now this week a crucial decision was also made on the future of

a guest on juliana sonders exclusive talk show that was here on our t.v. talking about the leading by any human rights activist not bill at our job well first court sentenced him to three years in prison for inciting antigovernment protests through her speeches and online posts at the hearings took place amid an upsurge of protests across bahrain calling for democratic reform if we reported that they were brutally suppressed by police who used tear gas and rubber bullets with more of the voting for the man behind much of the dissent and of the reaction to it ati's tom barton has this. there has been a rather different decision in the case of the enemy of the state now below rajab in bahrain he coincidentally 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 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 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 us is the 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. well it's good to have you with us here on r.t. today still to come for you in just a few minutes actually out of cairo's new broom in action a report on the egyptian president's latest government sackings and what the move could mean for the future of the country's a powerful. mosque where people celebrate the most sacred days in the muslim holy detail theater. now 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 groups and he putin stunned in the country's main orthodox cathedral was ruled to be hooliganism motivated by motivated by religious hatred but dozens of people have been detained during protests both for and against the group a number of gatherings are backing the band was staged here in russia but also in spain france britain and other countries foreign governments also had their chance to have their say the u.s. calling on russia north or he's to review the case this story now to. regarding please that you move the finish line you possibly have enough energy and if i have any delusion if i would just open that one this morning because i knew if i recently caught on you tube it is a. chance to their trial hit headlines around the world a global audience who is watching as madea. and you catalina some would say of each found out their fate for their performance like punk rock prayer and russia's main

cathedral outside the court a large group gathers with both those supporting the women and those opposed to them turning up to voice their opinion was 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 tempers flared and police announcements to keep calm were ignored as over fifty people from both sides were detained 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. so 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 job 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 rituals they use elsewhere a church in russia was daubed with the slogan down with religious fanatics and in ukraine a topless member. the group could down a cross with a chain saw and offer from playboy for a photo shoot pussy riot merchandised a law has led some to even question was this all in a lump or it question the thing they achieved their goal of. becoming really world famous by doing what they did when they are released they were in fact travel

the world to become famous there were achieved their goal after the two year sentence for hooliganism motivated by religious hatred was handed down the online response heated with many shocked by the length of the jail term 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 more standard punishment but the 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. and a u.s. based journalist believes the countries which criticized the pussy riot court ruling should look at their own problems before judging others. the united states has other double standards that bear on this case too first let's look at the one nine hundred eighty nine case of st patrick's cathedral where act up members came into

the church of about forty five of them were arrested before they could really voice their own protests and numerous times since the beginning of the iraq war around the united states people have tried to go into churches to speak to the congregations i know nick modern for example an activist in the united states has done it about thirty times to try to say look your religious beliefs are so and so what's happening violates them please join us and they've been threatened with arrest arrested and worse so the united states does exactly that that is states which has more incarcerated people than the next three countries on the planet and that's only in absolute terms in terms of relative terms more than any other country on the planet the united states has all these people in jail and it's going to lecture other countries about how their legal process should work i just think it that has no credibility around the world and i think it's shameful. of course so we've also been following the trial of the punk band on our website dot com here's

a quick look at what else is waiting for you there right now for example of the u.s. army spends three million dollars on the development of a nasal spray that eliminates suicidal or go online for details and that if you like. the chinese beauty queen is crowned miss world you can read all about the pomp and pageantry and see their fancy clothes. are you watching the weekly on r t the un 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 of aleppo where the bashar al assad's army turning increasingly air power to push back insurgents meanwhile serious leader has been shown today on state television praying at a mosque it was his first public appearance since a. top officials last month of damascus the new united nations mediator lakhdar

brahimi was confirmed by the u.n. this friday and is expected to add a new impetus to peace efforts meanwhile russia says the u.s. will violate international norms if it goes ahead with imposing a no fly zone over syria and some move to help libyan rebels overthrow their government the middle east commentator so far no alternative to the current regime has emerged. that effectively has. rolled over the country but the alternative has borne yet and there's lots of interference and meddling by outside forces trying to shape what this alternative is going to be and things like the libyan fighters the fighters from the last years conflict in moving into syria are one expression of external factors now taking part. in the syrian conflict but ultimately the story remains the same if you want something good for syria it has to be determined by the syrian

people themselves not by external agents trying to orchestrate what the outcome is going to be that would be a really catastrophic decision to try to set up then or flies on bit infective lee will lead to an escalation that quickly will become a kind of military confrontation full scale military confrontation and many critics within the state says that. meanwhile are washington is calling for international people in the community to aid the rebels in syria the internet is also full of science where you can donate to the opposition result is garniture can reports many of them do not tell the full story. parent thought about adopting someone why not a syrian rebel as this headline says for just one dollar a day you too can help a syrian rebel oust president assad these days you have a good number of organizations which present themselves basically as charities where you can make a donation to the rebels in syria this is the website of one of the rebel groups there saying among other things they are seeking military equipment then there is

another organization which collects donations based the here in washington and supported by the u.s. government they're called syrian support group we try to reach out to them and ask how they plan to distribute that money we never heard from them another website one called adopt a revolution they also present themselves as a charity but it's organized admitted that it's hard to see where the money goes as far as who the donors are he said they range from corporations to retired couples and students possibly those mentioned retired couples who've seen videos like this one where the rebels singing a backstreet boys song oh. oh . my oh but what the pitch for donors does not say is that not all rebel fighters are some romantic backstreet boys fans probably not

these ones and this footage shows an apparent mass execution of assault supporters by the rebels in cold blood. reports on the ground show that various extremist groups are doing the fighting including al qaida but it's not to say that all of them are all either it's a full blown civil war where the degree of hatred is so high that people commit atrocities on all fronts i spoke with one of america's leading experts on counterterrorism and he told me the bloodshed will be even harder to stop as more outside forces get involved it isn't any more simply a question of sunni versus. it's a question of saudi arabia versus iran and it's a question of turkey's increasing role in the middle east all these things make this more and more complicated and make it less and less likely there we're going to have the peaceful resolution instead we're going to have a winner take all solution one could say the danger is in simplifying things

putting them black and white supporting people who kill can be called anything but charity in washington i'm going to check out. or from syria to egypt now let's turn our focus there it's where the egyptian president mohamed morsi this week ordered the country's top two military officials to stand down the defense minister and chief of staff were told to go during a major offensive that's underway in the country's restive sinai region that's the problem we israeli border egypt's recently elected leader who's embroiled in a power struggle with the military council to restore security in sinai but the region's only seen more lawlessness since president mubarak was ousted with al qaida groups targeting security forces and arms being smuggled from libya investigative journalist pepe escobar says morsi is move could spark of backlash from the military the caput tension we end up in a coup. we should expect some say to happen not immediately in terms of a counter cool by scott because digital they still there even if their prerogative

in terms of that constitutional amendment which transfer of powers from the presidents to them no more civil why did that completely damie have some cards to play in those for a 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 just has become an islamic dictatorship so there could be some counter coupes from foreign actors as well basically from the muslim brotherhood point of view de don't want any more frictions between skaf and oppressed so we can say that for the moment this koreas muslim brotherhood one skaf zero the problem is the military even if it 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 they will

last egypt cool apps in terms of being practically default and then maybe later do rearrange another egyptian military coup and go back to power. it's just one in twenty five minutes past the hour moscow time muslims are all over the world are celebrating at health the last day of the annual holy month of ramadan the ninth month of the lunar calendar ramadan is seen as a time of soul cleansing and spiritual improvement in the muslim population in russia of course no exception it's a big day for them as well. grieves explains how this holiday is being celebrated right here in moscow. millions of muslims around russia have been waking up very early indeed before sunrise putting all some of their best clothes as is tradition on this holy day also the flocking to nearby mosques and the graces mosque in moscow is the one just behind me which is currently being referred to seen tens of

thousands of people normal less lining the surrounding streets here to listen servants it also be giving praise to god this is coming on the end on the back of the holy month of ramadan known for fasting and this specialist day shelf theater now actually translates as the breaking of the fast so we can expect many peace to be taking place in moscow and around russia for friends and family now days of the somewhat marred by what transpired late saturday evening in the russian republic of dagestan there two masked gunman stormed a local mosque they shot and injured eight people in total also there was a bomb this is found containing forty kilograms of t.n.t. of explosives it took some time but the moment is have managed to fuse that bomb threats. meanwhile in dagestan's neighboring republic of in a bomb blast has killed at least seven police officers investigators confirm the

attack was carried out by a suicide bomber and the explosive was detonated as a group of policemen arrived at the funeral of a colleague who had been shot dead in an assault on saturday over a dozen locals were injured in the blast and are now being treated in hospital officials say the remains of the bomber are identifiable and the list of possible suspects is now being drawn up. into the world of day we go here on r.t. will start with and it's where a plane has crashed in a mountainous region killing around thirty people including at least one top sudanese official the passengers were on route from the capital khartoum to an islamic festival marking the end of ramadan investigators believe the crash was caused by an explosion on board the plane. to call bomb attacks have struck the capital of libya leaving at least five people dead and many injured the first blast happened near the country's interior ministry or the second one struck

the former military academy of women meanwhile the country's ruling general national congress has announced that saif al islam gadhafi the son of the country's toppled leader moammar gadhafi is due want trial next month he'll be charged with the killings of protesters during last year's uprisings. a group of japanese nationalists has allowed it on one of the disputed islands in the east china sea to commemorate the compact who died in the in world war two this amid a long lasting dispute with china which claims the island as part of its own territory now the move triggered mass rallies in major chinese cities with protesters demanding that the japanese leave. uninhabited islands lie on a vital sea lion and are surrounded by gas reserves. all right it's a good to have you with us here on r.t. today i'm. just a bit later this hour all the weekend sport including

a look at whether spots like moscow managed to recover after last weekend's five nil dropping by reigning champ isn't it more interesting moment here we're not saying.

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