watching r.t. if these are the top stories looking east asia pacific nations hope to jumpstart global economic growth at the apac summit in russia's far east with developing giants russia and china building a closer bond. greek fury over a crippling cuts spreads from athens to the country's second largest city as thousands of people including police are to protest against a fresh a sturdy package. and of the cuts diplomatic ties with iran over its nuclear program and support for the syrian regime and expected move seen as part of

the u.s. led campaign to increased iran supply salacious. next year an artsy would talk to the author of revolution in south america and the rise of the new left about the future of the world's most famous whistleblower joining us on. r.t. sitting down with nicholas kozlov author journalist and an expert on south america nicholas thank you very much for joining r.t. are it thank you you recently wrote an article in which he said that joining us and has certainly managed to discombobulate and disrupt a larger swath of the geo political system now of course referring to the fact that this man is an eyestrain citizen wanted by sweden in many respects by the u.k. and by the us and now being protected by ecuador in your opinion what was the main reason behind the ecuadorian president's decision to grant jolene assigned asylum

well i think that korea probably thinks that julian assange is persecuted and so he's motivated on that score but i also think that rafael correa has his own internal political reasons for wanting to grant asylum to julian assange and ecuador holds presidential elections in february of two thousand and thirteen and i think rafael correa seems to be holding pretty solid margin of a pretty positive margin but i think that he might want to shore up some support and and i think that this issue plays to national sentiment in ecuador and wounded a sense of wounded pride because ecuador is a small country it's pretty impoverished and the united states says intervened on many in over the years in ecuador and on many occasions and in the political

sphere in the military sphere and even the cia has launched destabilization in ecuador going back to the early sixty's and so i think korea is playing on this nationalist sentiment because ecuador and still like to be bullied they don't like to be pushed around. what does ecuador have to lose by backing a songe i mean obviously in doing so there's a bit of antagonizing against the u.s. even possibly the u.k. well ecuador's stands to lose. economically because it exports a lot of flowers. also mangoes pineapple and most importantly petroleum products the united states and so these are very vulnerable industries in the event that washington should retaliate and already there are there are business groups and unite in washington that are lobbying the obama administration to cut

off the preferential trade preferences the duty free trade preferences for ecuador and goods and there was one business representative who was actually quoted as saying that this sancia fair plays to our favor and so these efforts seem to be led by the petroleum industry which is upset by korea's nationalistic oil policy this is a actual actually a conflict which predates the songe affair but going back several years. you know chevron has resisted the ecuadoran. well the ecuadorian traditional system which says that it should pay damages for environmental pollution in ecuador and amazon because before it was chevron you know chevron bought up texaco and so this is been a very tense state of affairs in ecuador going back some time and so

according to reports the. chevron is leading this lobbying effort to rescind the or maybe not leading but it's least participating in efforts to ricin these trade for a which is for for ecuador and in this sense i think the songe affair is. it's like it's like a pawn in this wider geo political game so it's not going to necessarily help korea and it may actually give the oil industry and these other industries an excuse to slap on. trade restriction ecuador's neighbors in latin america have strongly condemned threats coming from the u.k. on the issue of ecuador granting julian assange to political asylum how strong do you believe their support is on this and how much weight will it carry when it comes to this standoff possibly escalating. well i think that the different countries in the region have different agendas and one interesting facet of the

story is the falkland islands believe it or not because argentina has been locked in this diplomatic battle with britain over the falklands for some time and cristina fernandez de kitchener has been whipping up diplomatic support for her claims and she's been quite effective in in rounding up support in her corner. argentina once or explore for oil lucrative oil and gas in the falklands and so argentina sees this as an opportunity to whip up support against britain so i don't think that argentina has any particular regard for julia signs per se and in fact a lot of the cables that he leaked were quite unflattering towards argentina because they cast cure sinners in an unflattering light so i think the countries in the region are all playing playing this out for their own political reasons and they have their own constituencies to appease and so i think that this . argentina wants to appease the nationalist sentiment in argentina

and ecuador wants to appease nationalist sentiments there i think brazil is a little reluctant for the reasons that i said i said before because brazil is very interested in pursuing this under the radar kind of strategy it probably calculates that it's better to not alienate the u.s. so i think brazil will go up to a point with its rhetoric but not maybe not go so far as to join with the alba countries the more radical countries like venezuela and ecuador so how would act with automatic short range safe passage for science because after all as soon as he steps out of the embassy. onto the territory of britain he will be arrested well i don't i don't really see necessarily. way out there's been talk about the diplomatic pouch is which is seems really arcane to me but it's to be sure there is

this custom of diplomatic pouch is where you can bring that through the airport in they could put him in a bag but it just seems very arcane and far fetched to me if a sound does end up on ecuadorian soil what kind of consequences will it have for the country and ordinary people living there well at first i wasn't really sure how this issue would play for korea politically just because i think a lot of ecuadorians are very poor they confront just a daily battle for survival and so at first i thought this this is a pretty esoteric issue people have more bread and butter concerns and yet in the past few days you've seen protests in front of the british consulate in quiet on the players and the scene pito and it's just been a kind of a bizarre and surreal sight to see indigenous people dressed in traditional clothing with a handkerchief of julian assange manage which is very surprising to me so maybe

this suggests that maybe this issue resonates that maybe korea struck a chord and a lot of ecuadorians are. resent the bullying of the united states and they don't like getting pushed around and so they're going to take the to this issue the u.s. state department has said that it believes that the issues surrounding julian assange is a bilateral issue between ecuador and the united kingdom and that the u.s. has no role to play in the matter and that other countries should not get involved how plausible is that i find it completely implausible that the united states is not involved in this in some way and then the other day the united states said very ridiculously that could or should not bring this matter before the organization of american. states that this was a matter between ecuador and britain but that's just completely preposterous it's

totally legitimate for ecuador to raise an issue of its own sovereignty at the organization of american states and i think this just points to us i pop received because the u.s. wants to get its way in the oas and has done so historically and now it's saying no you shouldn't bring this issue before the oas international media keep stressing that the u.s. has not made any moves to requests songes extradition do you believe that washington is actually planning on getting a songs or do you believe that they have no interest in brain stanched america well i think that there's this grand jury that in virginia that's that's empowered to side on it that was a sealed indictment. but well we don't know but i think the state department and many parties in washington would love to see julian a songe brought to justice and many republicans and even some democrats like dianne

feinstein so the power elite in washington will probably stop at nothing to get its hands on julia songe for releasing the cable gate scandal and embarrassing the state department but openly they're not going to say why i don't have it as well i think that they don't want to look bad in the international arena they don't want to look vindictive so they're saying this is a matter for sweden these other countries to work out but i think probably behind the scenes united states is aging on britain i find it rather difficult to believe that britain would not have made these threats without having been pressured by washington. so given the fact that a number of whistleblowers are being persecuted by the u.s. government as a matter of fact the obama administration is considered to be waging an unprecedented war on whistleblowers how do you think that will play in this fight

against extradition for julian the songe and impact the entire whistleblowing movement well i think you'd have to say on balance that this exerts a rather chilling effect because who the hell wants to see diplomatic refuge if they can avoid it and i think a lot of people might be interested in whistle blowing but not if it means that you're going to be stateless and you have to seek. protection in a foreign embassy nevertheless i'm interested to see that in september there's a new whistle blowing organization that's being launched in iceland and which has international support so maybe in a sense what goes around comes around people will see that there's been persecution of wiki leaks and then it actually might ricochet and they'll be more whistleblowers as a result because they'll see that there's this crackdown and so now there's more of a need than ever some experts say that the united kingdom and in fact all the

players involved in this circumstance surrounding julian assange have managed to dig themselves into a hole on this issue diplomatically speaking what would you consider to be the smartest way out for all of them well i think. i think that i personally hope that cooler heads will prevail i think that that. it's rather absurd that sweden did not did not. question join us anjan the ecuadorian embassy to begin with and i think a lot of this crisis could have been avoided if sweden had just gone there and just proceeded with the questioning but now that it's escalated beyond that point i think i hope that cooler heads can prevail and that britain doesn't go invading the territorial sovereignty of another of another country thank you very much for your time all right thank you you.

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t.v. is not required to watch all its food all you need is your mobile device to any toy . looking east asia pacific nations hope to jumpstart global economic growth at the apec summit in russia's far east with developing giants russia and china building a closer bond. bring fury over crippling caught spreads from athens to the country's second largest city as thousands of people including police are to protest against a fresh susteren package. and canada cuts diplomatic ties with iran over its nuclear program and support for the syrian regime expected move seen as part of the u.s. led campaign to increase to iran's isolation. they have. next with paul scott.

thank you very much marina welcome along to the sports headlines that was coming our. way or winning start russia victorious in their first competitive match under fabio capello week in northern ireland to nail in the open world cup twenty fourteen qualifier. came and set the match maria sharapova is out of the u.s. open tennis selflessly set to think to victoria azarenka in the semifinal. and the gloves are ready to tally klitschko puts his w.b.c. heavyweight title on the line as he takes on manuel shot here in moscow later on saturday. the first football and russia have got their twenty fourteen world cup qualifying campaign off to a winning start maybe northern ireland to know in moscow in fabio capello's first game in charge but defies only in scoring on his competitive debut before

a man short off penalty sealed the win twelve minutes from time which of import late was that. fabio capello got exactly the start he was looking for in his first competitive match as head coach of the russian national team as his family eased to a two nil victory against northern ireland while russia dominated both position and territory throughout perhaps could have won by a bigger scoreline however battalion was more than happy with the team's performance it was difficult because the beach was. difficult the bluey the ball in the field. was difficult to find this piece because the. players. of the goal in the food goes through it as if we were given this piece of what is by this being capello's first competitive match in charge of fans failed to turn up in numbers with the stadium only being around half full at best however for those who did turn and face or a very good at russian performance as they really dominated the game from start to

finish well in particular along the glory of was very impressive his team really made a number of key passes and created a number of chances for teammates in particular alexander kids or call of the long island it was a very difficult game really because we just had didn't have enough time on the ball possession to really trouble you go out in favor of russia goal was a virtual spectator for most of the match and russia only won praise from michael moore neal northern ireland head coach first of all russia a very strong team we knew that. from obviously the in our says that we did. i think the team is very similar to the team on their advocate i didn't see any particular differences in the style of play. we knew. would cause us problems playing narrow from way the areas of rb a capello brought in a number of new names into the starting line up but i sort of picked a fight in who made his first competitive sample the russians and then she scored a goal on his debut as well as

a long awaited return for vladimir brewster all of and to me to come by out of who's been in excellent form so far for sponsored mosque and all those new faces really didn't. meanwhile think there's a call for he didn't have the greatest time of the european championships of course in poland and ukraine and he had a number of good chances here but didn't manage to find the back of the net but that's something that's not really worrying there's any strike at the moment as long as russia keep winning i have some challenges but i don't really want to talk about my own performance it's better to discuss how the team played tonight we are here to play for our country and not for ourselves and we will give all for sure we managed to win and get all three points enough the most important thing overall this was a decent performance by the russians yes we could have perhaps won by a larger margin but will certainly take the three points in the first competitive fixture of the world cup two thousand and fourteen campaign said we'll be getting off to israel and surely that will be a much tougher test but certainly fabio capello's side will be looking to make it two wins out of two in tel aviv on tuesday. d'arcy. well after

that victory russia's top goal f one goal difference from portugal who secured a narrow two one win in luxembourg by john and israel drew elsewhere italy were held to a two two draw involved area but france the netherlands england and germany all opened their campaigns with victories. to tennis. his quest for a second grand slam win of two thousand and twelve is over she's been beaten by world number one victoria azarenka in three sets in the semifinals of the u.s. open the russian started brightly enough with an early break to name three in the opening set she eventually took six three the french open champion then broke in the game of the second set before her game started to misfire in particular leaving a lot to be desired as a ranker who. final of the australian open in january securing a three six six two six.

well as a ranking faces a three time champion serena williams in the final the softer the american dream. passed it to me sort of early in straight sets the six one six two victory was secured in just one hour and four minutes as the thirty year old looks for a fifteen career grand slam picture. now the athletics season finished with a bang on friday the final diamond league meeting of the summer so american aries merritt set a new world record in the men's one hundred ten meter hurdles he knocked a massive seven tenths of a second off the previous record set by cuban they were mobilized four years ago finishing in a time of twelve point eight zero seconds the twenty seven year old who claimed gold at the london olympics last month has dominated the sport all campaign but admits friday's time surprised him. when i saw two of eighty one come out it was about what what what what is the what is this of the like i was in complete

shock and i just couldn't believe to have anyone popped up on a board and then i run it down to twelve twelve eighty and i just and i just started screaming because i was just in complete shock. now to boxing where the w.b.c. heavyweight champion of the well vitali klitschko put his belt on the line here in moscow later on saturday dr and faced is up against challenger manuel shah what about danny and has the preview. even those who don't like him have to face the fact the school has already become one of boxing's greats forty six professional boats forty four wins with forty of them claimed by no chaos the second best result in history after the great rocky marciano dr iron fist himself has never lost by decision and he has yet to ever even if he can miss and despite his illustrious career it has never let him to the russian capital until now on saturday night the forty one year old is set to defend he struggled once again in

musk ill against joe nice money. for. the dungeon boy with a flawless record of twenty one wins in twenty one belts he's on the eve of his first major title shot despite the pressure the twenty seven year old soon turned his open training session into master class winning kids' hearts. charice feeling confident i can see it it was far from trainee she was just playing with the kids no worries he just does what he wants to do and it looks like he's good at babysitting how about his boxing skills we'll see on saturday night his younger halves. the only thing that's good about where the hero when he referred to people like how he possibly can even if he's talking is false however younger brother who holds the rest of the world's major heavyweight belts is not

underestimating char you may have the chance of a lifetime to shine any person that. feels this way that he sees life chance we'll do much more than actually he can do are capable of doing this where we're expecting melcher being very aggressive. if he's going to move forward and it will challenge cali. knows it of course will be sure to give belcher no chance to even get him once it was better once so tonight moscow is the place to be defined out even down and boy is firm enough to resist the iron fists of the crisco robert r.t. moscow. finally the paralympics in london have been the most attended in the history of the games thousands of fans have been going to events all across the english capital but why has this event caught the imagination of the locals when on

course or after i to find out. this is a typical every day scene at the main paralympic venue in london with thousands of spectators from across the u.k. making their way to the coveted event many of them admit that even the locals did not expect such a huge turnout at the second part of the summer games but also picks are great success people use of you know so the paralympics seem to be fierce just so i think everybody wants to be part of that. but now in these tests i think it's just want to. you know it's just affected everybody have you know i've never known anything loud it's amazing. to be honest i really don't know because i mean before it was going horribly covered people know about it but you know not really took that much interest and. it's just brought everybody in as the

latest paralympics edition draws closer to conclusion of the athletes continue to inspire for countries like russia or china to name just a couple the overall medal count is paramount but for nations with a smaller number of participants it's more about taking part in a meeting like minded people from all over the world. so important to let people see that all these athletes in wheelchairs the amputees and visually impaired just ordinary people we can show the whole world that they're not disabled but are completely adapted to an active life moreover what athletes from other countries are capable of and realize that they prove the point again and again all this makes me feel happy meanwhile on the nerves and guests of the british capital continue to inhale the paralympics atmosphere knowing that such experience comes once in a lifetime the london games were not without controversy but those few short falls that they did in comparison to the global exposure. of the paralympics the bank is

we're almost back to the rafters on a daily bases with the british ensuring their home games are the most watched in history the growing cost sort of artsy and the london. and that is all from the world of sport for now with plenty more later here on our tape the world weather is next.

you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harvey welcome to the big picture.