was the blower on the run and what's known finally submit a request for a temporary asylum in russia and is expected to and is transit limbo at a boston airport in a matter of days. a campaign against pot of sovereignty the british government paints a grim picture of how independence would damage scotland with repercussions ranging from currency problems to high moral baal phone chargers. and what made weapons destined for syrian rebels and out in the hands of pro-government forces sparking concerns that the u.s. is unable to control which groups get ahold of its deadly firepower.

it is one pm in the russian capital you're watching r t was marina joshie welcome to the program you just have whistleblower edward snowden could soon be able to leave the confines of a moscow airport transit zone where he has been stranded for over three weeks now u.s. intelligence leaker has officially requested temporary asylum in russia with a view to seeking long term refuge in south america farmer brings more on this from shipment to the airport. after being here for three weeks mr snowden should walk through the exit here and on to russian soil proper within a few days and that is because he has applied for temporary political asylum and although that could take three months to process in the meantime he is expected to receive documents within five days that then when i allow him to walk through passport control we should remember at the moment that he doesn't have a valid passport or a valid visa now his lawyer has said that mr snowden has applied for asylum because he fears for his own life should he return to the u.s.

if you get. when asked by a migration service agent why he chose to file his petition in russia and why he came here he replied that he fears for his life and wellbeing and also fears that he could face torture or execution and what he says sounds quite convincing as the u.s. still of ministers both capital punishment and. therefore i believe that under such circumstances and considering his written petition he should be granted temporary asylum i think this would be a humane step and since russia is acting humanely but the u.s. government cannot view this as hostile behavior towards the united states. while the lawyer did add that mr snowden has agreed it appears in principle not to release further documents that could harm u.s. interests while he is on russian territory in his words mr snowden's words that goal is attainable now that is an important point because president putin has made

this a precondition of asylum he went to great lengths to stress that russia's role in this saga is a humanitarian one and should not be seen as a hostile act to the u.s. he also said that mr snowden's actions were actually in defense of human rights. human rights work usually carries some cost for those involved when this work is done under the auspices of the united states government with its financial and political support it's quite acceptable but when someone criticizes washington the situation becomes much more complicated the incident with the bolivian president's plane illustrated this mr snowden will have to find accommodation we're not quite sure what sort of help he will get to do that but we are told that's one thing he will have to do if he is granted temporary asylum it will mean for one year he will be able to live and work in russia as an ordinary russian citizen after that we're not sure what will happen maybe he will decide he likes it here maybe he will

decide that he would like permanent asylum here he also has other options on the table notably latin america and three countries there venezuela bolivia and nicaragua have in principle offered him asylum so this is the long term the short haul we do know is that mr snowden is probably feeling poor tease and he can look forward to starting perhaps a new life and a new chapter in russia. on that request for asylum in russia is accepted snowden is expected to apply for a long term protection in south america artie's contributor afshin rattansi says that the case has become a diplomatic headache for all countries involved. these applying for temporary asylum presumably so he could just go about his business as a normal citizen walk into the venezuelan embassy in moscow walk into the ecuadorian embassy and fill out forms and papers the obama administration was so quick to just say right make him

a normal citizen and cause him trouble in this way well they didn't just go that route so drabble because most go to trouble because all sorts of governments trouble notably the bolivian one with of course the high jacking drove a. few weeks ago. good to make lots of allegations in the press and you'll see them in lots of right wing newspapers that the national security agency is a beacon of freedom and without their ability to surveil your skype account your outlook dot com account and recent revelations about microsoft the forces stationed in iraq and afghanistan would have sustained formal casualties what rubbish we know the american government and the corporate surveillance state is desperately seeking around to prove that they need to be able to be through all of our emails all of our phone calls for our own security. and i would have been closely following the twists and turns in the snowden saga both on air and on the web so go to our home for our timeline also there you can see the full interview with the russian

a lawyer a helping former n.s.a. contractor with his asylum request. scotland is looking ahead to its september twenty four thousand vote on whether to become an independent country but in london the government is campaigning hard against succession our boy who has been investigating the warnings from westminster that scottish nationalists have dismissed as scaremongering. it's just over a year until scots have to answer a simple yes or no question about whether or not they want to break with the united kingdom the scottish national party says there's absolutely no doubt that scotland has the potential to be a successful independent nation with a strong economy but the british government wants scotland to stay in the united kingdom. i believe that england scotland wales northern ireland we are stronger together than we would. it is time to speak out whatever the consequences because

something very special is in danger but sense of danger is one that the british government has recently been accused of playing on too heavily though in the run up to the referendum westminster has been busy publishing papers on how it believes independence will be bad for scotland the latest and most bizarre caution is about mobile phone bills a new government paper suggests that if scotland breaks away then scots visiting the u.k. and using their phones will need to pay extortionate very ming charges the scottish government has already debunked that myth saying that all roaming charges in the european union will be abolished in twenty sixteen but according to whitehall scotland might have to reapply to join the european union as well the british government has also been keen to remind that the royal mail and the post office will no longer be for scotland should they choose independence nor will the two hundred or so public bodies that deal with bureaucratic procedures such as issuing

driving licenses managing roads and even broadcasting such as the b.b.c. if all that hasn't put off for any of those considering voting yes in the referendum next year well a recent think tank report has cautioned that an independent scottish army would struggle to defend itself and what about money well the scots say they'd like to keep the pound something the u.k. chancellor george osborne has been quick to dismiss so if the scots choose independence it could be no pounds no easy you know army high phone bills and not even any royal mail to use as an alternative their piece of cautions have led to accusations that the anti independence campaign is engaging in scurrilous scaremongering what we're getting now is the kind of fear front to imagine you can't be part of a single currency union a struggling union if you have independent you can't have this you can't have got no these are big. substantial debating point but should be used as

a gun to the heads of score if you vote for and eventually this is going to be a punishment scotland's first minister has already said that the british government's so-called project fear isn't going to walk that we go through that to be every. good munging initiative will be dismantled a couple of disintegrate like truculent all how more horror film the release of caution zone obscure subjects has reportedly and get senior figures in the u.k. government by telling on petty issues such as these many say that only giving credence to the scottish nationalist party boy care london or earlier my calling rory says she heard both sides of the argument from johnson chafee from the radical in the past campaign and george eden who writes for the new statesman magazine february poll suggests that thirty percent of scots are supporting independence to join shafiq. these numbers sound accurate to you right now think the support for

independence is increasing just as the government and the coalition government waste minister increases its attacks on working people with things like the bedroom tax with things like for example the cutting of public services as we see these things happen i think that support and the paines is rising because people want to break with corruption they want to break with a right wing government they want to see a socially progressive scold me feel we've got much better opportunity of doing that independent and scotland itself go it alone or george eaton some say scotland is the richest part of the u.k. outside of london so perhaps scotland actually could go it alone. i agree with that i think scotland could go and i think it would be economically viable and i think there's still it's still a big risk and it would create a lot of economic uncertainty for instance what currency would scotland use that examines as consistently given different answers on that what would its borrowing

rate be what its credit rating be and we need much greater detail on this but i think scotland can make a good go of it and so on and so in their countries some of the size which do you wish him well on their own but i just think that scotland is better for being part of the u.k. and the u.k. is better for having scotland as part of it the truth of scotland is more secure today i can omit clearly if we are breaking with where we want no truck with illegal wars which cause security problems we want no truck with the standard to which cause great deal of issues for people that are facing not just job losses but actions from their own homes and we have the opportunity here to build a society which is in fact did have a house of everything that was doing just no should we want to oppose war we want to push trade and we want to oppose a state in their place we want to see scotland taking a peaceful role in the world but we also want to see scotland it's actually building an alternative to the markets and you look at those in which let's be honest there's one rump and wish minister and there's run rampant in the city for

too long out of the major issues to bring up here and that is the nuclear deterrent issue the tried and defense system the fast lane nuclear based another major issue many scots want it gone but it employs six thousand people in the region that would be a sizeable loss to the local economy mr shafi wouldn't that be true see the train and she isn't just a question of money it's not just a question of economics it's also a question of models it's a question of where you see your country standing in the world and actually britain looks out of the basement still looks out under the facts and i would argue that washington looks at it as that this is not anything to do of defense this is everything to do with the projection of imperial power and we want an answer in fact to the vast majority of scots. and in detroit. i still have for you this hour we'll look at the outpouring of public anger in the u.s. following the acquittal of george zimmerman who was accused of murdering a black teenager. and as a world student games draw to a close and russia with

a record medal haul for the host nation competition comes under fire from critics alleging the event has become politicized. some of these traditional chili lines they've been bred and developed and passed down from generation to. this is a total destruction of the culture of mexico by telling them i mean this is not going to impact asylum in mexico whatever happens here throughout the whole world now we're eating out about it in the in the open in the eighty's you know all the ordinance or. genetically engineered crops why do you think this country is full of obese and sick people because we have a crappy food system. choose

your language. make it with the infidels going to kill some other. treatments good use good consistent you. choose your pain use the degree to. choose the stories but in the light. choose be access to. welcome back this is r.t. and u.s. and european arms in tanna for syrian rebels are ending up in the hands of pro-government forces pictures have a lot of the international wing shi'ite militias fighting alongside president says troops using western weaponry and fuel concerns that washington is unable to control words weapons are ending up as argues gannett she can now reports.

weapons don't discriminate us made arms are national going up in the hands of iranian backed militias fighting in syria analyst philip smyth points to photos with hezbollah fighters coding u.s. made m. sixteen s and m. force fitted with laser and holographic sights as well as an two or three grenade launchers how do they end up in there and if there's a will there's a way and if you want to get let's say an m two zero three grenade launcher on an m four car being they'll find a way to get it so long as you have the right amount of money and the right amount of for connections it's not clear whether the weapons were captured stolen or bought on the black market this weapon might be ended up in the hands of hezbollah from. the. military at all even his army of course illegal but they believe that is and. could be the source of this weapon in iraq. similar

u.s. designed weapons appear in the hands of syrian rebels including fighters with all new sort of front and al-qaeda affiliate the us has designated a terrorist group it shows the alarming tendency for the weapons to change hands in unexpected ways but despite this the obama administration has decided to directly arm the rebels in syria a move supported by washington's hawks and we can give them the heavy weapons that they need who's there who's them i know them i've met them they're there unfortunately for senator mccain some of the rebels he met in syria were kidnappers and his office had to issue a statement saying the senator did not know that when he agreed to do a photo op with them but not everyone in washington thinks flooding syria with more arms is the solution a group of congressmen have introduced the legislation to block an unauthorized u.s. military aid to syrian rebels arguing that the law prohibits any military assistance to syrian opposition forces unless congress issues a formal declaration of war since our nation's security interests in syria are

unclear we risk giving money and military assistance to our enemies. there's great ironies supporting the syrian rebels one will be supporting forces that are associated with al-qaeda the two thousand and one use of authorization of force said specifically that we could go after the taliban al qaeda and associated forces we will now be one of those associated forces because we will be allied with al qaeda against assad the voice of caution comes not only from the president's opposition in congress but also from former administration officials for us to think we can influence or determine the outcome of that i think is a mistake i thought it was a mistake in libya. and i think it is a mistake in syria we overestimate our ability to determine outcomes you may think that the u.s. has learned the hard way that by arming friends you may be arming your animals but things with leaders yet again are ready to take that risk in washington i'm going

to take on. the u.s. government is facing domestic pressure over a court ruling that sparked public outrage thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in cities all over the country following the acquittal of george zimmerman a neighborhood watch volunteer in florida who faced second degree murder charges over the killing of unarmed black teenager trayvon martin last year law professor charles roe says that aside from racial profiling issues the case as highlight of the need for tighter gun controls the ropes of ease with which you could not only purchase a weapon but then use that weapon to defend yourself in the state of florida in approximately twenty other states is really what led to this tragedy not the issue of race i prefer to think that what it gets us in the united states to do is to what we as a nation of immigrants always need to do to talk about how we come together and that issue of race is an issue that's always present within the united states and

it gives us an opportunity once the emotion is run itself out to talk about this in a way that can be positive for the country in the long term why. it's not about race it was about self-defense and who was the aggressor race had nothing to do with it but it's become synonymous with racial issues within the united states and that's what something takes on a life of its own becomes very difficult to separate them but what the objective truth is my big and over an hour website or two dot com we're asking today whether using zimmer man's acquittal was justified let's now take a look at the responses so far as you can see the largest share of our viewers agree with a chorus decision saying zimmerman's actions as legitimate as self defense is slightly smaller in number who disagrees saying zimmer man a racially profiled the victim and instigated the violence about seventeen per se and are not concerned by this particular case and they remain there are undecided

and say not enough evidence was provided but you know let us know what you think of this issue by logging on to our web site r t v dot com. authorities said one time a base is a mass hunger strike there is relenting with some of the prisoners now accepting meals the lawyers are playing down those claims though saying the prisoners only accepted a token amount of food to break the first day all around the down fast meanwhile human rights lawyer clive stafford smith who is on a hunger strike in solidarity with inmates says the root causes of the protests are still being sidelined. it doesn't really matter how many people are on strike

because the real principle here is that fifty two percent. for release should just be released and president president said so so they just need to do it now in terms of the ones who are on hunger strike the u.s. military. and they've done this for the last thirty years. some of the prisoners are in the taking a little bit to eat because that sort of program does during ramadan to break your fast but i'm not giving up i think the military says make plans to continue with force i'm afraid but the other thing the military understands is trying to force people to bend to their will. i don't think the united states won't start releasing prisoners and i think finally we're getting the message through the words house and hopefully some prisoners will start being released too late. to some other world views in brief egypt's interim president has sworn in

a new cabinet dominated by a liberal and leftist politics the current government doesn't include any members of the muslim brotherhood which propelled mohammed morsi to the presidency the cabinet will have to tread carefully as it starts work in a tense atmosphere of daily street protests and rioting by the ousted leader supporters. tensions remain high in belfast after riots that have been raging for the past five nights members of the probe redish unionist movement hurled pads for bombs at police force the crowd back with water cannon the unrest falls an orange order parade which was barred access to a street in northern belfast separating loyalists and nationalist communities. french police have arrested a norwegian having musician on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack christian victor ness was previously convicted of murder in norway and reportedly has close connections to the neo nazi movement he has been

described as a sympathizer of andrew's brevik the norwegian mass murderer responsible for a bombing and shooting rampage two years ago that claimed seventy seven wives. the world student games are drawing to a man's in his russian city office on russia's overwhelming lead in the medals count has been somewhat overshadowed by criticism that the government's been politicizing the games aren't useful scott isn't the host city. well for the last twelve days because has played host to more than thirteen thousand student athletes from over one hundred sixty countries now these games posted more sports than ever before and there were more gold medals on offer than even at the london olympics last summer three hundred fifty one gold watch for grabs in total that is a record breaking number tens of millions of people have watched these games worldwide and russian estimates seven hundred thousand spectators have descended on design over the last fortnight since the spectacular opening ceremony which took

place in the forty five thousand old seem to cause an arena behind me now has been one of the largest university of all time but it hasn't gone without its criticisms on the russian organizers have stressed from the start that they see this is a dry run a dress rehearsal if you will for the winter olympics and the hope is that if there are any organizational issues that need to be ironed out lessons can be learned from and taken forward to next year while russia topped the medals by some margin as well they currently have one hundred fifty one gold medals to their name challenger in second place they were up just twenty four percent you can see that russia leads the medals table by some margin a staggering distance and it has led to some people suggesting that russia politicizing the games in the intent to enhance the nation's sporting reputation added what is going to be a massive decade of sport for the country how this criticism stems from the fact that russia do have a number of professional athletes competing in their ranks up against the amateurs

. who are the games governing body the committee that oversees the games they check every athlete for eligibility for dentures and all the rules are the same for anyone and for russia's part they say that less than ten percent of the entire squad is actually made up by professional athletes now the other criticism of the police being a indication the organizers the cost of the games at the start of the games russian estimates said that the games cost four point five billion you. yes dollars now that's not just a one off payment that's what organizes jesting it's one of payments for a twelve day parties a long time investment not just in the future of russian school to the next generation of school to operate but also in the city of design which is undergoing a huge renovation in the last five years that the new transport network you heard tells a new student university campus and of course the new sporting venues will be built from scratch in fact one local resident told me that the city is simply unrecognisable from how it looked five years ago when the city was awarded the

games. little attention turns to the stadium behind me where tonight's closing ceremony is set to take place prime minister dmitry medvedev will be in attendance and the bottom will officially be handed over to south korea hosting the games in two years time. all morning is about half an hour here in our team but for now i'll report on the powerful interests behind the genetically modified food industry. wealthy british style. markets. find out what's really happening to the global economy for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines to come as a report on our.

controlling the seeds is not some abstraction whoever provides the world seeds

controls the world's food supply arlington steel vanity fair. for the first time corporations are patenting products that are self replicating uncontrollable and irretrievable. genetically engineered pollen carried by wind insects bacteria viruses and humans has inadvertently traveled the globe. scientists in laboratories and corporate spokespeople would have americans believe that pollen from flowering plants in the open environment can be controlled farmers hay fever sufferers and anyone who observes the chaotic natural world would disagree tonight a look into the world of genetically modified organisms to the lens of new mexico's

iconic chili peppers. at the plant genetic engineering laboratory on the campus of new mexico state university in los crucis scientists are developing a genetically engineered chili pepper. genetically engineering the new mexico chili pepper has stirred controversy because it is a cultural heirloom and defines new mexican cuisine this is what he mexico is known for and this is what makes us unique i mean this is this is threatening this is very threatening to our stars there are. well. the seeds are sacred some of these traditional chili lines they've been bred and developed and passed down from generations here in new mexico or where we interface with nature we interface with traditional culture we have a different experience and a lot of it is reverence all of the social and economic and marketing ramifications in.