the u.s. must stop persecuting a whistleblowers aiming to shed light on the crimes of the powerful. hundreds. hundreds of. members of the feminist punk band pussy riot in jail for two years for their. verdict resonated across the world and sparked demonstrations for and against the women in russia. jailed for three years. the united nations observer mission wrapped up a four month long presence in syria side in increasing violence.

rebels fight the regime. with today's headlines and recapping the week's top stories this is r t with the weekly have you with us julian assange has called for the u.s. to stop its witch hunt against whistleblowers and also thanked ecuador for granting him political asylum he made his long awaited statement on the balcony of the latin american countries of london embassy surrounded by british police who were ready to sweep him into custody if he set foot outside the building. reports from outside that embassy in london. what's happened to the soft news be nothing left in a rally that was several speakers who came on the floor today in a sound sort of whom are packed his longtime supporters including tara kelley the

renowned station list but of course there was a serious message behind all this that the old out to support you in essence and he really wanted to speak to the people she thanked them he thanked particularly the supporters who are out here today in the hundreds and he thanked them from have for having been here on wednesday night as well when he says that when he was in bed he heard swarms of police coming up the fire escape inside the ecuadorian embassy building here and guns and that they backed off at the last minute and presumably that is in response to the perceived threats by the foreign office head that they would not hesitate to break into the embassy try to revalue kids diplomatic status and break in that to to arrest him but he said he knew that there would be witnesses thanks to the supporters and so he knew that everything would be ok he also thanked that could do it for holding the constitution of you know the constitution which includes universal citizenship he thanked the stall for this

very cramped embassy which he's been staying for the last two months presumably getting in their way quite a bit and he also one of the most important things he said was he called upon the u.s. to still put he called the persecution of whistleblowers that's just terrible the fact the united states must run out its witch hunt against wiki leaks. the united states must assume its investigation. the united states must know that it will not seek to prosecute. or else the court of. the united states must quit before the world that it will not pursue journalists for shining shining a light on the secret crimes of the powerful. i'm very lucky to be joined now by one of those with craig murray who is the bush's ambassador to pakistan and

a whistleblower himself he blew the whistle on government abuses. craig thanks very much for talking to us now what do you think julian assange case tells us about the treatment of whistleblowers well i think of course and labor has a long history of whistleblowers being smeared and charged with crimes under later today was blowing because obviously it's quite difficult for states to convict people of telling the truth about state's misdemeanors so what you do is ruth a member. of a charter school you often sexual charges because where destroyed for personal reputation the foreign office now insists that it didn't mean to say that it would storm the embassy to go in and arrest you do you make of of william hague's comments and of the foreign office that he didn't general. officers law and i think it's attempts to back down because it's found to solve so diplomatically isolated it most certainly did say that both in person and in writing to the government of ecuador. at the very moment it was saying about fifty policemen moved into the

building but not into the actual plant containing the ecuadorian embassy there's no doubt whatsoever that this was a deliberate to ditch the vienna convention on behalf of the british foreign office and what do you say to william hague. william hague nearly as major pulled himself it's not the first time he wants media interview in which he said that as a student who used to drink fourteen pints of beer a day i think he must have done twenty eight pints of beer before coming up with a threat to storm because dorian embassy. ecuador's decision to grant political asylum is being closely monitored in the us washington has not admitted it's planning to request a song his extradition but a number of american politicians aren't holding back some going as far as to demand to be tried and executed or reports 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 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 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 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 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 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

a presumed is owed to me hoping to go after julian our songs 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 which is more important for us there now while under house. house arrest excuse me in london the world's top whistleblower invited prominent activists thinkers and news makers to voice their opinion on things that matter one of the guests was ecuador's of president rafael correa while some of the others had never appeared on international television before you can catch every episode of join us on his interview show on our website at sun. dot com. on friday three members of russian punk group pussy riot were jailed for two years each for their performance in the country's main orthodox cathedral the court's verdict stated that the band committed an act of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred the decision drew crowds of people outside the court rowing both in support

of and against the women artie's peter oliver has the details. did he give any reason that you move the finish line you possibly have another edge the end of any division if one would assume i'm never going to find him because i knew that everything we come knew she would usually. after their trial hit headlines around the world a global audience who's watching as madea. and you cut it in a somewhat sea of each found out their fate for their performance like punk rock prayer in russia's main cathedral outside the courts a large group gathered with both those supporting the women and those opposed to them turning up to voice their opinion the 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 for 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. is near 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 to cathedral 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 then in down across with a chain saw an 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 the cogon is on 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 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 be to all of them. well the pussy riot sentence and provoked a massive international reaction a number of the gatherings backing the band were staged across the globe including in spain and france britain and other countries foreign governments also had their say with the us calling on the authorities to review the case and denouncing the sentence as disproportionate u.s. based journalist don de bar believes washington should look at his own problems before judging others. the united states has other double standards that bear on this case to 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 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 the united 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. a prominent human rights activist has been jailed for three years in bahrain. was found guilty of inciting anti-government protests through his speeches and online posts for eighteen months protesters in of the gulf state have been calling for democratic reform and an end to what they claim is

religious discrimination claims that well family has been accused of brutally suppressing of the rallies with police reportedly using tear gas and rubber bullets on unarmed protesters and the lack of criticism of the crackdown from the u.s. and its european allies speaks for itself as geo political analyst patrick kennedy said. you know people rajab. it is a canary in the coal mine this is a genuine democratic movement as far as i can see this is a real arab spring moment and this is been completely ignored discounted by the west in favor of their strategic alliance with bahrain and wonder and really scratch their heads and say what really is the stance of the west in particular washington or london when it comes to actual democratic reforms in the middle east certainly there's a there's a big hypocrisy a big story of contradiction going on right now the british show with this particular minority royal family in power there are sunni extremist minority ruling

over a shiite majority this is the sort of serially that is commonplace in a lot of pockets and in sort of these pressure monarchies these are artificial states they're really created in order to secure certain interests for the west this is a neo colonial structure the other for the range of saudi arabia they think they're in the center of this and these are the same countries that are fomenting supplying logistically and financially the rebels and the terrorists in syria you know why why isn't saudi arabia send suicide bombers into bahrain why don't they hillary clinton said and done friends of bahrain why isn't the friends of bahrain meeting to send weapons to the democratic protesters in bahrain. and our team is working twenty four hours seven days a week to provide you with the best stories and pictures from around the world find them on our website r.t. dot com here's

a quick look at what's waiting for you there right now. big brother not only has his eye on you but he's listening in as well and it's legal american police are now allowed to track mobile phones and gather users' g.p.s. private data without court warrants. the online which on cursing an enemy with no hex or finding a charm to make your lover for ever faithful it's just become a little harder online. firm that has banned the sale of all forms of magic. the new u.n. envoy for syria confirmed earlier this week he has admitted he has a tough job ahead with the first task overcoming divisions within the security council the current u.n. observer mission mandate for syria expires later on sunday president assad has made a rare public appearance at a damascus mosque seen performing. prayers his outing comes amid reports quoting

opposition officials that british intelligence is aiding rebels to attack regime forces apparently the turks are being used to pass information and moscow is strongly opposing u.s. calls for a no fly zone over syria saying it could lead to a catastrophe washington's support of the rebels is being complimented by internet sites taking in donations but as reports they're not telling the whole story. ever 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 web site one called adopt a revolution they also present themselves as a charity but it's organizer 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 have seen videos like this one where the rebels singing a backstreet boys song oh you'll see. 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 very six treatments groups are doing the fighting including

al qaida but it's not to say that all of them are all either or 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 our it's a question the whole 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 a 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 on. reports suggest the u.s.

and some of its western allies are seeking to build more direct links with the rebels while trying to distance themselves from the syrian national council middle east commentator carl charles says that so far no alternative to the current regime has emerged what we have is a center of sorry to regime that effectively has collapsed and lost its concert all over the country but the alternative hasn't been born 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 libya are moving into syria are one expression of those external factors now taking part in this 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 the no fly zone bit with

affectively it would lead to an escalation that quickly would become a kind of military confrontation full scale military confrontation and many critics within the state says that. now on to some other stories making headlines around the world for you this hour. demonstrations that shook cities across china and hong kong as tensions flare up over disputed territories in the east china sea thousands took to the streets after japanese nationalists raised their country's flag over the contested islands protesters shouted slogans calling on tokyo to back down on its claims burned flags and attacks japanese restaurants and cars. two people have been killed and several injured in twin car blasts in the libyan capital tripoli a year after the fall of the city through rebel forces it is the first deadly bomb attack since the ousting of moammar gadhafi is a loyalist are believed to have carried out the bombings meanwhile libya's general national congress declared the toppled leader's son saif gadhafi will stand trial

next month on charges of ordering the killing of dissenters. muslims across the world are celebrating the first day of the festival which marks the end of the fasting month of ramadan it's a day to go to mosques pray visit and to congratulate relatives and friends and to give to charity the past month has been a time of spiritual improvement which is believed to be achieved through fasting and devoting more time to prayers underside of the koran. and in russia millions of muslims are also celebrating the end of ramadan jacob grieves take a look at how this holiday is marked here. millions of muslims around russia have been waking up very early indeed before sunrise putting 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 hens

of thousands of people not melissa lining the surrounding streets to listen servants 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 where friends and family have been somewhat marred by what transpired late saturday evening in the russian republic of dagestan there two months 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 have managed to fuse that bomb threats. meanwhile a criminal case has been opened into another terror attack in the nearby republic

of english very a suicide bomber walked onto a funeral of a local policemen and set off his device killing seven officers and injuring ten others the blast struck as a group of policemen arrived at the ceremony of their colleague shot dead in an assault on saturday the attacker has been identified as thirty four year old local resident who was on a wanted list as a member of a local gang. egypt's new president mohamed morsi has made a fresh move to push the army further from power by dismissing two top military officials one of them is the defense minister who was the defacto head of state in the period between hosni mubarak's ousting and more seasonality ration the announcement came during a major offensive that's underway in the country's restive sinai region along the israeli border morsi who is embroiled. in a poor old and a power struggle with the military council invalid to restore security there but the region is only seen more lawless after mubarak fall with al qaeda groups

targeting security forces and arms being smuggled from libya investigative journalist pepe escobar says morsi could provoke a backlash from the military that could potentially and in a coup. we should expect some seem to happen not immediately in terms of a counter-coup by scaf because digital they're still there even if they are prerogatives in terms of that constitutional amendment which transferred powers from the presidents to them no more civil war i did that completely dave may have some cards to play in though 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 early start to really freaking out with the morsi move because now they say that egypt has become an islamic dictatorship so there could be some counter coupes from foreign actors as well basically from the movie brotherhood

point of view do you don't want any more frictions between scaf and the press that so we can say that for the moment this korea's muslim brotherhood won skaf zero the problem is the military even if the job is reliant now or rearrange they control 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 default and game maybe later do rearrange another egyptian military coup and go back to paul. thanks for being with us if you have missed anything a recap of the headlines coming up in just a bit. absa

. my name is richard davis i'm an architectural photographer from

london and i've been traveling in russia for the last ten years on a project federal wooden chair choose obviously i fell in love with the tragedies they are extraordinary ok it's a beautiful opiates and the church is is a religious monumental obviously but it's also an object of wonder you know it's something that people can look around and it opens their eyes that their chairs what can be achieved by using your imagination. in full stories in here. for going global and. pulling the fire. log in. to. choose your place take your stand. to. make your statement. spread the word.

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