mass protests erupt in the more than one hundred cities across america after the killer of an unarmed black teenager walks free from court on grounds of self defense. convicted. years in jail. but is freed pending an appeal. in our. military base to carry out an air strike on syria allegations that have been. reports emerge germany's intelligence service eagerly helped the n.s.a. and its surveillance. over america's spy program.

and live from our studios in moscow recapping the week's top stories. with us. have been gathering all week in cities across america to protest against the acquittal of george zimmerman this after a jury found him not guilty of murder in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager trayvon martin the ruling set off a nationwide debate on racial hatred from washington. as the story. we've seen protests in dozens of cities in the u.s. throughout the week following the verdict in the george zimmerman case people took to the streets demonstrating at courthouses and police stations throughout the country demanding justice for trayvon martin the seventeen year old black man who was struck dead by a neighborhood watch volunteer dozens of people were arrested most of the arrests

were made on charges of a lawful the family some places like examiner and you don't protest for in violence demonstrators the rocks the passing cars many many americans were following to zimmerman trial it's obvious that racial disparities in the application of criminal laws in america remain all these people think that trayvon martin being white he would have been a white trayvon martin could have been me. thirty five years ago there are very few african-american men in this country who have the experience of being followed when they were shopping in department store. that includes me. very very few african-american men who have every experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of course. that happened to me at least before i was the son of the fact of the matter is that under florida's stand your ground law the defense doesn't even have to prove that their client is

an angel it's enough to prove reasonable doubt that the defendant after fifteen self-defense and they're free to go so in this case you have a clash of different issues great civil rights vigilantes guns in self-defense laws these people see a clash between the law and just states a very recent example also in the state of florida a black woman a mother of three was sentenced to twenty years in jail because she fired a bullet at a wall to scare off her abusive husband nobody was injured and the woman is in jail for twenty years while george zimmerman walks free so you see the basis of these people's outrage. the protests against of the court's ruling have been gaining steam and are trying to high profile names to the cause it is a broad additional spotlight and momentum to the rallies like this one in new york now the u.s. attorney general is urging a review of state self-defense laws while the justice department has agreed launched a probe into the murder to see if a racial profiling played

a role in the crime when he spoke to martin luther king jr's daughter bernice who told us that the case illustrates a lingering racial discrimination in the u.s. the fact bad had this been a white american a white young man and i doubt very seriously george zimmerman would have reacted so so swiftly in this situation i think he probably would have thought about it twice a lot of things have changed in america so we can't say nothing has changed i just think we're still contending with just laws and more importantly laws that disproportionately affect african-americans and african-american males. more than any other. group of people in america and so you know these kind of issues were very prevalent in my father's time oftentimes you would have all white juries and most times when there is a black victim in this case and when i'm a victim is the one who did. nine times out of ten back in the sixty's or should i

say ten times out of ten. that person would have walked this is george zimmerman zimmerman walked in this particular situation and there's plenty more. regarding the justice for trayvon campaign we've got some of the best pictures of the nationwide rallies video footage and a social media reaction lined up for you there all that just a quick away on our web site. now russian anti-corruption campaigner and opposition activist alexey vonnie was sentenced on thursday for five years in prison for stealing half a million dollars but a day later he was freed on bail much to the delight of his supporters after prosecutors insisted on his release before his appeal is heard it has been following the case. former workers are five and four years in prison alexina vining to that if it's ever spent at sea for setting up a dummy corporation and defrauding a state owned timber company to the tune of half

a million dollars the judge insisted the verdict was not politically motivated but foreign media the blogger supporters and opposition activists declared otherwise critical and a convict at the conviction meetings that he won't be able to stand for mayor of moscow says the embezzlement charges brought against him politically motivated an outspoken critic of the russian president vladimir putin has been sentenced to five years in prison one gets the feeling that people have already made up their minds before the case even started before the trial even started and they're not actually looking at the facts of the case or of the way the trial was actually conducted but are simply following their own opinions which they formed in advance what kind of comments is that someone like mr valma should not be prosecuted on this kind of charge because he is a famous opposition personality now that seems to me to put things

completely the wrong way round thousands of people in moscow's many years in the square a stone's throw from the kremlin indignant at the verdict calling it unfair and immense police presence and if east of panic on social media for a while it looked like the situation could escalate. but there was a curveball from the prosecutor's office a request a friend of i me enough to serve until their verdict comes into effect the immediate arrest a preliminary detention to stick to measure as you put in spokesman said there was nothing unusual about the trial or the prosecutor's appeal stressing that the president cannot and does not influence the court decision and that those convicted should carry out their punishment as prescribed by the judge and his blog novelis said that he was ready for a long term preliminary confinement ordering books from the library and battling mosquitoes and his self but he spent less than. for hours in detention before being released from this court house straight into the arms of his supporters eager for his campaign to continue so who is the sense of pointed opposition figurehead who's

running for mayor of moscow a lawyer by profession now where he spent the better part of the last few years flirting with nationalistic movements as well as leading a popular blog exposing the hope still corruption and trying to make it for into politics his trial the verdict and the surrounding media frenzy may have been closer to that goal he can according to your earlier report from moscow city mayor he can give as many interviews as he likes it's an absolute publicist a godsend for him it doesn't remove him from politics at all it's the absolute ideal solution for him in a sense that's been referred to a broad as russians mandela moment perhaps too bold a claim the b.b.c. there's the state run where british broadcasting corporation calls it russia's mandela and they've been running stories all day just as previously you know bill keller the executive editor of the new york times used to lord this man you know novell me you already outlined his nationalist views here in this country we have

laws against incitement you have the semitism incitement to neo nazis ism which of course this man has flirted with repeatedly although he may not be major household name in russia yet. he seems to have some serious support abroad he is paid by or has been paid by the united states of america when he set up a democratic alternative party a year or two ago it received money from the ne d. the n.e.t.'s the national endowment for democracy funded by the u.s. congress that was the main organization funding the orange revolution in ukraine back in two thousand and four novell nice party received money from the american state as wiki leaks showed not so long ago it even goes quite central russian and still to come this hour in germany reports emerge accusing of the countries in. working hand in hand with american surveillance programs. alleging that the n.s.a. provided its sister service in berlin with software to aid in the collection of

private data of ordinary germans. later in the program. israel has reportedly used a turkish military base for a recent attack on syria that's according to an r.t. source who provided the information earlier in the week strongly denies the allegations condemning even the mention of it by the media the alleged air strike on the syrian city of latakia took place in early july and is believed to have targeted a russian made battery of anti-ship missiles our middle east correspondent has been following developments. there was a lot of talk and uncertainty in the region this week after our sources revealed that we have information that is will launched a strike on syria from turkey now the reports are been ekta to a strike back in early july on the syrian city of latakia if accurate this would be the fourth time in recent months that tel aviv has launched an attack against syria the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has neither denied nor confirmed

these allegations he simply says that israel's policy is not to allow the transfer of dangerous weapons to hizbollah and other so-called terrorist organizations and that this is a policy that the country will not deviate from that and now who also saying that every time something happens in the middle east israel is to blame the turks for bayside have denied the allegations the turkish foreign minister saying that turkey will never be a part of nor a partner to such attacks he also said that the allegations were aimed at destroying turkey's power and reputation what is interesting is that relations between turkey and israel are at an all time low they deteriorated after the for tiller attempt back in may two thousand and ten in which nine turkish activists were killed an f. was an attempt to bring humanitarian aid to the people of gaza back in march the israeli prime minister apologized to the turks for that incident and what is

happening now is that real questions are being asked about the sincerity of that apology there are also questions being asked as to why would turkey ally itself with its arch enemy in the region is role to launch an attack against another muslim country now it's no secret that turkey has spoken out against the regime of bashar assad in syria but this certainly is not a sufficient enough onset as to why turkey would work with israel to launch an attack against syria policy r.t. on the israeli syrian border. now let's track her previous israeli air raids on syrian territory which have not been confirmed by officials in israel a military compound a just outside of damascus was bombarded twice in january and in may and rockets also struck a warehouse at the capital's international airport allegedly containing surface to surface missiles on all occasions the attacks were explained as operations to wipe out iranian missiles thought to be bound for hezbollah in lebanon historian and

middle east expert mark all meant believes israel's motives go beyond preventing weapons from reaching the target group it sort of has an interest in preventing hasbro getting the weapons but the broader context is not just syria but also we are wrong and i think that's what turkey is cotton or could place because turkey is a historical military ally of israel with a lot of cooperation between the turkish military and israelis but it also is a low country and it's also borders iran but it could be a conduit for a potential strike into iran so it's an aspiration to make it much more difficult to do something coming from israel out of say the israelis worry that missiles sent from iran to hezbollah vos syria could be used as a revenge attack if they were to move the much discussed plan to start trying to knock out the rain to facilities with the by themselves or with the hope the americans israel may find it quite useful for turkey to be thought to be an active

ally in its operations against syria and potentially against iran so that even if the israelis have plans perhaps to strike a duran from a completely different direction the risk is that the turks a turkey turkey will be held responsible and turkey could be drawn into conflict and this is going to be. destabilizing inside turkey. meanwhile britain's prime minister david cameron appears to be softening his rhetoric on the syrian conflict in a b.b.c. interview he said he still fully supports the opposition but it needed that there is too much extremism among the rebels it signals quite a change from november two thousand and eleven about half a year after the syrian conflict erupted back then mr cameron called on the international community to engage more closely with the rebels he upped his appeals for more aid the following year saying the syrian regime must be put under pressure fast forward a year and the rhetoric slightly changes he was still vehemently anti assad but not

so sure anymore that arms shipments were the only way forward this brings us up to the present with of the syrian government advancing on rebel militias the official opposition failing to unite and mr cameron describing the situation as a stalemate political analyst a deep policy explained earlier what could have been behind the u.k. leader's shifting position. situation is complicated i told him he will have difficulty getting. approval. because there is a lot of week after iraq with this coalition partners the liberal democrats are armstrong remarks or do we have been very public opinion is not. wrong you just being realized in the west that no matter. how much there are sure instance from western governments that. only the good guys will get help in terms

of lives that's not the case on the ground and saudi arabia is very what it is about the rise of islamic fundamentalism in syria because jordan and some of the white cloaks the minute the united states britain indirectly by the are helping the syrian rebels that has not stopped and still to come on r t more bad news for greek workers have things bend over backwards to please its international lenders at the cost of tens of thousands of public sector jobs we have the full story in just a few minutes. germany's foremost a news magazine it claims the country's security services have been working hand in hand with the n.s.a. to spy on ordinary citizens their spiegel alleges software provided by the n.s.a.

was used by both domestic and foreign intelligence agencies the latest revelations run contrary to angela merkel's outrage over the revelations she has denied any previous knowledge of the u.s. spying edward snowden revealed weeks ago that washington is it keeping europe and especially germany under close watch but news that the german intelligence is a willing participant is bound to send shock waves through the country. says any american a whistleblower and former m i five agent. we have a situation in germany where because of their historic experience its critics joppa in world war two and the stars in east germany they put in place a very strong castalia constitution to protect people from invasion that they're pretty pink spied on and this is what the germans have for decades taken for granted they have certain legal protections and we've seen this time and again when other european like lots of try to be imposed on germany where you know things like facial recognition data over google face facebook have been banned in germany and

yet the b.m.d. and the intelligence agency in germany have been doing this sort of spine so i think the hypocrisy is is quite astounding it's a great deal of anger and questions right to how much the german government you know that what was going on meanwhile the whistleblower responsible for exposing german cooperation with of the n.s.a. is still stranded at a moscow airport awaiting russia's decision on his application for temporary asylum edward snowden is currently on the run from u.s. authorities for lifting the lid on their global spying program however he needs travel documents to move on after the state department cancelled his passport moscow says snowden will have to stop any further leaks if he wants to remain on russian territory jim killick from open rights group hopes the whistleblower will find a way to continue with his revelations. i hope it doesn't mean that he has to not

talk about what the united states have been up to in broad policy terms i mean he's been very careful not to threaten individual peroration is not to expose particular agents or to make claims which would result in people safety being compromised rather he's been talking about the broad programs that the united states and u.k. have been dealing with he says he's got a lot of material and i certainly hope he has more to tell us it does seem that way aides completely change the debate right now and it's very important not to bait keeps happening i think a lot of things are happening in the wake of that there were at least two legal actions being launched in the u.k. on the back of what he's revealed i expect will be more in the usa the tech companies are challenging on the basis of their own free speech and also to clear the names of i will speak going on so there is a lot to happen whether or not he's got more material to give but i really would like to see whether he has got more to say and i hope he does and you can always

head online for more stories and the latest updates here's a taste of what we have lined up for you right now in fact things got a little shaky in new zealand a six point five magnitude earthquake rattled quite a few residents in a remote archipelago but fortunately no one was seriously hurt you can find the full video on our youtube channel plus. australia's great barrier reef grief that's after american warplanes mistakenly dropped an unarmed bomb on the world heritage site go to our web site r t dot com to find out how the pilots got it so so wrong. rick workers were dealt another blow on wednesday with the government approving more massive public sector cuts in order to keep the economy afloat on bailout cash injections. athens laid off twenty five thousand to civil servants the measures were pushed through despite

a general strike and huge rallies which are broad services to a halt under a bill passed by parliament at least four thousand state employees will lose their jobs by the end of this year up to one thousand workers are being fired in greece every day according to surveys by helen a statistical authority since two thousand and nine unemployment has skyrocketed from a little over nine percent to almost twenty seven percent and greece's economic output has plunged by almost one hundred billion euros you've got a piece going off as the story protected by law since the nineteenth century public workers are still considered to be the foundation of the greek economy but its creditors of demanded that the government cuts up to twenty five thousand public jobs before the end of this year otherwise greece is not going to get its latest financial aid package worth over six billion euros so doctors teachers security guards and when they're supposed police public transport drivers and others got on strike and gathered at the country's problem in athens to fight for their jobs it

does the beginning they have in mind to destroy every public service in greece we need teachers we need people in the health sector sector we need people. who got a beach front of anything for the past six years bigger economy has been in recession unemployment is at twenty seven percent but there are many of those who do work at this we would haven't seen their salaries in months to handle three graduates are able to find a job there is a write off drug addict and including those with a fine job creation and decades worth of work experience but the general feeling on the street is not only the government which is to blame for the situation we have people in the private sector people and. in the public sector for the for the first time that we need to use a new poll. only in greece but in the european

union a new policy in the eurozone amount to what happens next labor unions like you of organizations say not going to back down until the troika and waffles actually realize it's not only about adding or subtracting numbers but about the real lives not real people you've got to start off our table. greets to british tourists on a fishing holiday and their interpreter have been killed in a helicopter accident in northern russia three died just after getting off the french made chopper when it suddenly overturned on takeoff while the pilot survived authorities are investigating but suspect that he did pilot error or strong winds on the landing zone could be to blame the tour company that organized the trip frequently flies people into the area on luxury fishing tours. time for a look at some other stories making headlines from around the world this hour. at least seven people have been hurt after a huge oil pipeline exploded near mexico city those injured were mostly police and

firefighters responding to the resulting fire the blast is believed to have been triggered by an illegal attempt to tap the pipe for fuel. one thousand soldiers have been killed in gun battles with the fark rebels in colombia the defense ministry says twelve militants were captured during two separate attacks on army units this comes despite both the government and the rebels engaging in peace talks in cuba for the past seven months has it been fighting the government for almost half a century. at least eleven people are reported dead and eighty one injured after a five point nine magnitude earthquake hit central china according to local media the death toll is expected to rise as authorities continue the search for survivors the gansu province is one of the least populated in the whole country. in egypt a group of legal experts have started work drafting the new constitution that will

amend the previous charter which was penned mostly by an islamist panel that says the country is still gripped by mass rallies for president morsi was ousted earlier this month in the last seven days ten people were killed during protests that brought the monthly death toll to over one hundred the political deadlock and street chaos has apparently encouraged militants to ramp up their attacks on the sinai peninsula the most recent such assault left at least six people dead on tuesday the interim president swore in a new cabinet which has no minister linked to the muslim brotherhood islam mr rushed to denounce the move and called on their supporters to press ahead with their protests egyptian journalist shot euro amine is certain that excluding the brotherhood from the political process will not bring peace to egypt. i think that is a fatal mistake excluding any political faction from the transitional political process is a fatal mistake people were complaining that morsi was in one eyes in the state and

now they doing exactly the same keeping the islamists sidelined hoping to push them back underground just a short while ago there was a very brutal crackdown on pro morsi protest is outside the parliament we're already hearing jihadi groups say they will launch. a holy war to defend islam this will have very serious implications. coming up the state of the american economy is up for discussion on cross talk with peter lavelle and his panel of guests. choose your language. fully recover though if they feel some.

of the fumes get consensus you can. choose the opinions that invigorating to. choose the stories that entire life choose be access to your office or. limitation and free liquid intake should free liquor store charges free to make amends three lists three stooges free limone free blood counseling video for your media projects a free media. tom you. live . live.

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please say. hello and welcome to crossfire all things are considered on peter lavelle many americans still have the almost cult like believe that america is the greatest nation on earth but objective facts belies its exaggerated patriotism for the past thirty years the us has been in decline relative to other countries during this time washington continues to fight wars abroad and engages in nation building is america becoming a third world country. to cross-talk america in decline i'm joined by george samuel in new york he is a fellow of the global policy institute.