this is our top story this hour three german copycats of russian punk band pussy riot could face three years in a german prison for their protest stunt in a cathedral this despite the condemnation of the shorter prison term handed to the trio. mass killer and is. given twenty one years in prison while his fight against islam serving to inspire radical groups across europe. and the results of fresh nuclear talks between iran and the un's energy watchdog which says to read is not cooperating enough but faces criticism itself for being biased. now ecuador

standing by its asylum it decision rather to grant asylum to wiki leaks founder julian assange who is resisting britain's efforts to extradite him to sweden to face sex crime charges in an exclusive interview with r.t. spanish channel ecuador's president explains the choice he made and thinks what he thinks britain's motives really are. why did ecuador get involved in all this by standing up for julian assange the country is exposing itself to risk according to the media one of the reasons for the delay in granting him asylum was ecuador's fear the possible u.s. response is this true or not at all we just wanted to address the request in a very thorough and responsible way we look to the motivations for mr sanders asylum bid looked into the charges brought against him in sweden reviewed u.k. law as well as international law and of course we went over our own legislation

then we made a responsible decision just as we promised originally after the olympics specifically because they were taking place in london and not because of fear of reprisals which we knew might follow them we will always be guided by principles and values not to fear what consequences might ecuador face after granting asylum to julian assange which normally such a decision shouldn't have any consequences that is if all countries respect international law which clearly says that the state has the right to grant asylum how many times has sweden granted asylum a lot of people requested asylum in sweden and leave the noun this country is known for its willingness to give asylum what consequences could there be but unfortunately in this particular case we see that some countries are displaying their colonial and imperial ambitions their ethnocentricity it turns out that if ecuador grants asylum to someone it certainly might have consequences what

consequences are we talking about if we're exercising our sovereignty in line with international law. are you afraid of any sanctions that might follow there is definitely no fear but let's face it some here might be reprisals which would be terrible if the u.k. for example acts on these threats and invades our embassy to arrest the sound can you imagine how big of a precedent this would set mr president some media have suggested that the decision to grant asylum to julian assange is nothing more than that with those attempts to improve the country's international image and what is this international image i don't know anything about it fortunately in our country seventy five to eighty percent of the power belongs to the peoples no matter what some dishonest and immoral media trying to say that certain para groups use them to tell lies about what's going on they say the reason new freedom of speech in ecuador is there is no freedom of speech how would they be able to communicate besides here they

contradict themselves or things will world knows that latin america including ecuador is going through historical changes right now so we are finally witnessing social justice equality sovereignty and dignity there are some power groups that oppose these changes mind you these groups are very influential some of them own media outlets they constantly conduct smear campaigns trying to discredit our government i want to ask you a question how many days have you been in ecuador. no more than three i think have you feel that any of your reports have been banned or censored at the time you felt like there was censorship have you been told for example that you cannot publish certain stories has your excess to information been restricted in any way. of course not and this is the reality but these power groups both national and international are constantly campaigning against us trying to discredit our government because ecuador in latin america aren't changing and are changing for

the better thing god mr president in your interview with julian assange in his programme on our channel you said he's invited to the club of the persecuted do you feel like you're being persecuted i have prayed as i said every day i wake up and have to guess what lies the media will cook up to deny it in ecuador there are six families that own the whole media business and there are several other major business is that belong to them our new constitutional reform bend the media from being involved in any other business activities except for being the source of information they called it infringing on freedom of the press we want to avoid the conflict of interest and that was considered infringing on freedom of speech and whatever is in line with laurent ethics but is at odds with the interests of the media dictatorship that used to exist in ecuador is considered infringing on freedom of speech we would like the world to understand what is really going on in ecuador the things that the needed us here would be unacceptable in such countries

as the u.k. russia the us for example the murder case in the u.k. if something similar happened in ecuador and the people responsible were brought to justice this would be called infringing on freedom of speech that you have to understand that the media unless in america have always been very corrupt it supported the pinochet regime the dictatorship in argentina and so on conflicting interests when every day occurrence there was even a clear pattern having become a successful businessman he set up your own channel not to keep the population in full. and but to protect your business interests now everything is changing and i've become the target of daily criticism of regular smear campaigns no one believes them though when julian assange has mother came to ecuador did you have a chance to talk to her yes of course christine is a wonderful person isn't she we gave her a warm welcome and it was a pleasure to talk to her deter visit to ecuador influence your decision to grant julian assange asylum in any way. no we didn't all decision was made in accordance

with international law and was based on expert those traditions of humanism as well as the grounds that mr sanchez presented to support his request for political asylum we met with christine she's a very nice woman but it in no way influenced our decision. mr president it's hard to believe that julian assange had no contact with ecuadorian officials prior to requesting political asylum because he needed to be certain that there were dory an embassy would ensure his safety did you discuss this option with him before hand. no we didn't i didn't talk to mr sands personally but if i'm not mistaken at some point the situation became suit hands that he said he was thinking about seeking asylum in an embassy the haps even in ecuador's embassy was sure he would be allowed to stay when he entered the embassy so i think mr sanchez discussed it with the embassy staff since he i believe entered after hours so they

must have been expecting him any person seeking asylum in ecuador as embassies will be safe we will see to their needs but after that we will consider granting them asylum with all due thoroughness if the person in question is a criminal we will never grant asylum to him but why do you think julian assange strolls ecuador and not another country only mr sands can answer that and the fact he did is the best response to this smear campaign and to the people who maintain we have a new freedom of speech the man whose freedom of speech personified requested asylum in ecuador it's the best response to organize how long do you think will julian assange should be staying in the embassy in theory indefinitely unless the u.k. goes ahead with its threats to raid our embassy to arrest him as you know the threat is in a written form and the u.k. hasn't revoked it do you think they drill a go as far as that i think it will be pure insanity on the part of the u.k.

after doing so any of their embassies could be raided and what will they say then what kind of repercussions would such development have we would immediately server our diplomatic ties of cause i think it would lead to a backlash in all the latin american countries but i maintain that the u.k. has more to lose after that how would you prevent the same from happening to the u.k. embassies around the world and i assure you the u.k. has more diplomatic missions than ecuador. if the u.k. doesn't give permission for julian assange just safe passage to aqua door how will he get there in a diplomatic the equal no which would be impossible if he leaves the embassy he can be arrested by the you can't police i'm not an expert on this but i would think this even if you're in a car with diplomatic license plates you're still at the mercy of the driver and who knows what you will agree to in any case no one is trying to hide his son from the swedish prosecution which we need guarantees that you would not be extradited

to a third country why do you think sweden refused ecuador's proposal to question a sound at the embassy even via skype as has been done before why this is widely accepted legal in practice it has been done many times before and that's why the ecuadorian embassy proposed this to the swedish prosecution we invited them to come to the embassy and question mr stanton person isn't that what they've been trying to do all along they denied our offer so what are we supposed to think now percent of the so many countries and organizations have supported ecuador's decision to grant asylum to songe including nassau and most of the alba nations in what we did they express their backing to support we have enjoyed has been primarily due to britain's diplomatic clumsiness i hope you will excuse my language but i just cannot find another word to put it the british threatened us with storming our embassy to arrest mr sand this is what has united all the nations in south america and other continents in their desire to stand behind ecuador confronted as it was

with such a barbaric prospect such threats are unacceptable have they been carried out this would have constituted a violation of one of the fundamental principles of international law the inviolability of diplomatic premises it was this threats rather than our eventual asylum decision that has prompted such widespread support in our favor from the valley varian alliance of the americas and the union of south american nations and on friday foreign ministers of the member nations of. the organization of american states will meet to discuss this issue what do you think could happen in the short term what are the possible scenarios i'm not an astrologist i'm an economist a lot will now depend on the u.k. in sweden oppositions remains the same and we are open to dialogue all we want is a guarantee that mr looney face those challenges that were brought against him in sweden and will not be extradited to third countries or they could give him safe passage from the ecuadorian embassy in london will ecuador stand behind us no

matter what consequences might follow once we granted asylum to mr sanchez he's under the protection of ecuador will do everything to make sure this protection is effective thank you mr president. today. again flared up. are the images of. canada. china operation.

magine assets that the temple own watches show every single move. and waiting for you to stumble. i saw a man with a video camera so i moved over and he phoned me. you know we realized there were following everyone from early in the morning. the only chance to get rid of him. is to reveal him. me devil operation on archie. into the. life is always better down where it's wetter so get on board and check

out world class cutters as they get a lightweight super strong make over giant floating lad prepares to chart the under explored h. to logan arctica and find a novel way to make waste with a brand new m.t.v. a supposed whatever your destination hitch a ride to tomorrow's water world today. 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 photographs wooden chair choose obviously i fell in love with the trenches steve 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 towns and it opens their eyes that they choose what can be achieved by using your imagination.

medline slide from a street german copycats of russian punk band pussy riot could face three years in a german prison for their protest into the cathedral this despite the condemnation of the shorter prison term handed to the moscow trio. mass killer and his brother say given twenty one years in prison while his fight against islam serving to inspire radical groups across europe. and the results of fresh nuclear talks between iran and the un's energy watchdog which says to read it's not quite reading enough but faces criticism itself being biased. you're watching our t.v. .

hello welcome to the sport and here are the headlines. guilty lawns armstrong is stripped of his seven tour de france titles and given a lifetime ban after giving up on his legal battle over doping charges. while speaking russian ahead of saturday's moscow darby r.t. talked exclusively to lock the watch of managers have a diligent about life in the country's top flight. and fast track world superbikes champion callers check out settle for second place in free practice as the high octane sport hits moscow for the first time. but first long's armstrong has been stripped of his seven tour de france titles and given a lifetime ban from cycling after he refused to fight drug charges from the u.s. anti-doping agency the agency alleges armstrong used banned substances as far back as nine hundred ninety six and has a raised fourteen years of his career the forty year old maintains his innocence but said he'd had enough of contesting accusations he calls nonsense the american

retired in two thousand and five after his last victory but returned between two thousand and nine and two thousand and twelve on monday he failed in his attempt to block the charges in a us federal court the cancer survivor will now focus on the work done by his own charity while the world and you don't mean chief rude the americans decision not to fight on. failure to rebut the charges those very serious charges mean that he's effectively acknowledging that they had substance and that allows usada under the rules that he always subjected himself to to impose sanctions which they will do and those sanctions a pretty onerous sanctions effectively a lifetime ban in. kabul and after twice leaving his native croatia to the european championships southern village has returned to clock management this time at the home of like a lot of moscow i thought is really the former defender is considered one of football's top young coaches and he took the time to speak exclusively with r.t.

about how he's finding life in russia. this is the job i wanted because i feel myself ok i enjoyed my time big time like because i was the manager of my country and about. i see myself for. more the club manager more as a coach. and this kind of job it gives you. big opportunities to work with the players on daily basis to truth some players to do some extra with them because you have. time which is precious and also. that is the biggest difference but if you have to put on the scale. which i prefer. although i told you i will never have

a job close enough to the job that i was doing for so for six years. this is this is if you're a football man this is it you know. what is in one hand very difficult it makes your job really difficult and really tough but in the other hand it's a great challenge is that the league is very even. ok you have better teams you have noted good teams on paper but there are definitely there are no easy games you can clearly see that you have the needs. that the club did that to merge in the last few years and they are. good and they are the plus for themselves i don't so they are not guaranteed the points for granted also them after the meet you kind of not free not to not for you for maybe seven or eight. clubs that are very like even

but the bottom let's say the bottom eight if you can call it. jeffrey good and they're good enough. to spoil your plans for going away what i like the most and i didn't expect that is that it's very. it is physically get in one hand but then the referee and everything makes the league very how could i say to id. there are no farce challenges there are no fights on the pitch and it is great for football it's great for football so i'm i'm i'm very happy because in one hand it's great to league and indeed even the other hand it's tough but it's that's what i wanted to. it's a great challenge. they're not playing great but. they are lucky as well you know they had some really good games but simply

they lost a game because in football you are you need a little bit of luck when me. decay you have to deserve it and everything so they hit the roof put them in a took my players and we we're not expecting that they're going to. throw their pens down and no no no they're going to fight like like one did lions and yeah. on the other hand confident they have a new manager who is really good and definitely the day they're going to be up for it big time. on the other hand they're not playing great at the moment self-confidence is not the highest that normally in this situation like you like that so it showed a chance. i'm not thinking about where should i be or where will i be a way would i like to be in three four two years time i feel that i can say that i

would i am concentrating on my daily job on the local and i would like to be here to stay here are a very long time because i really like it here with me and all of my stuff i enjoy . and the moscow dobby between locomotive and unama is the first of four matches in the russian premier league on saturday then off to the east so diverse is bottom clash it's the turn of media sinitta time to twice for much albion's remain in form terek will take on second place spot and second bottom ross top post and learn young in the last day of the day. while in england swanzy host west ham in the early kick off in the first of games then aston villa take on everton manchester united play for them nor each welcome p.p.r. something sweet wigan sunderland face reading tottenham post west brom and leaders chelsea will have a new council in the light match fallen sunday champions manchester city go to

liverpool comes despite the reds three no i mean defeat at west brom manager roberto mancini is still wary of his opponents. every. that you play in our field is. really tough. for us it will be. a difficult game also because they come from. a game against west brom each. where probably they didn't there's a lot to lose by the foot what is strange for these it in that would be our game. and in the meantime you barcelona head coach tito villanova has claimed victory in his first meeting with counterparts as a marine year after basso came from behind to beat well madrid three to at the nou camp in the first leg of the spanish super cup a year on from the famous clash that's all marino poke a villain over in the eye christiane though now though finally headed way out in front ten minutes into an action packed second half only for barcelona to equalise immediately after the kick off as having national no it didn't matter rodriguez

then psychodramas tripped andres iniesta in the penalty area allowing the you know messi to put bass in front after seventy minutes and n.a.s.d. then swiftly said gerry and then there's to make it three one. but with five minutes to go substitute and john tom goalkeeper victor about this absolute power pole a goal back three two so victory for villanova but merinos men head into next thursday's return leg with two a what he calls a move in a that all of it is a lot it's always better to win for one than three two but i think we played a very good game you would try to dominate throughout and we achieved that we created a lot of chances and the two goals were teed up for specific players and it's no more of these things happen especially because real ira team of great quality particularly with free kicks and haven't players that are good in the air in the end we won the game three two and the competition stands in our favor we'll go to

the burn about to win it it wasn't about. living on to athletics where jamaica's yohan blake blitzed the one hundred metres and you same boat cruise through the two hundred on a night when the olympic stars shone at the latest diamond league meeting in less than a live picture can bolster started not to compete in the one hundred meters and so the medal is blake for the personal best of knowing point six nine seconds to win in the joint third fastest time in history a revolt has run faster american to. icing gave a finish second chance to make it mr carter third while bolt comes to be one the two hundred meters and nineteen point five eight seconds and others john demartini takes over and make his nickel made kynge bronze while in pick champion kirani james of grenada won the men's four hundred meters in forty four point three seven seconds ahead of the dominican republic getting some toss while there was a photo finish in the women's one hundred meters as american comedy to jessa is

jamaica's shelley and fraser price both clocks ten point eight six seconds that jetta was awarded the gold. and finally to bikes of the much of our r.t. where reigning world champion colace jacket was second in friday's free practice session for the inaugural moscow stage of the world superbikes championship the spaniards came in behind his ducati teammate giuliano at the brand new moscow raceway on the outskirts of the russian capital current standings leader max biaggi could only manage night while in the supersport kathy break our psyches can something all you let the first qualifying session had a quandary right as some knows i'm broke parks local hero. yet missed motorsports was face champion checa was pleased with a new choice. but i can go the way it was then i really enjoyed the track our team quickly got used to the slow boring of the circuit there are lots of turns and we

have no problems with it so i think we'll have a slight advantage over our opponents hopefully it won't rain this weekend and we'll produce our best time. and that's all the sport is bison.

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 fed rough wooden chair choose obviously i fell in love with the trenches they are extraordinary ok it's a beautiful opiates and the church is is a religious monument obviously but it's also an object of wonder you know it's something that people can look tense and it opens.