video for your media project free media. as iran's new president calls for dialogue with the west seeking to ease crippling sanctions. while u.s. lawmakers possibile tightening the. american russian vodka in protest of the country's law against homosexual propaganda and we sort fact from fiction and what's being a crackdown on gay rights. which is nearly three hundred people in. prison as a court judgment on an underground network accused of masterminding a revolution these are live pictures for you right here just west of the court hearing about to take place right now inside what you're seeing is a prison. good

morning. monday here with me rule reese to show you this hour's top world headlines . iran's new president has called for dialogue with the west but warned the language of sanctions just don't work. made his inaugural address softer being officially sworn in as the islamic republic's president and the moderate cleric. by promising to put an end to the country's international isolation over its nuclear energy program but waited steps to ease tensions with the rest of the world and not finding much response from some in the west as. iran's new president hassan rouhani is widely seen as a moderate politician particularly significant detail where western leaders are

concerned after years of string diplomatic tensions in what is seen as an attempt by terror wanted to ease of that isolation the government had sent out invitations to e.u. countries including britain to withstand to be a swearing in ceremony. excluding the west and israel now the position was that only tehran a base of diplomats would attend but the u.k. had not sent anyone at all the reasoning given by the british foreign office is that we does not have an embassy in tehran but this has been criticized by members of the opposition labor party here particularly of the shadow foreign minister douglas alexander let's call this a misjudgment as well as a missed opportunity adding about diplomacy involves meeting with people would you disagree now in light of the steps upward that tehran appears to be taking it moving this invitation to european leaders as well as appointing a foreign minister with relations with washington as some are reading it's really

wanting to rebuild those relations with the us and europe well we spoke with labor m.p. barrie gardiner for more on this the u.k. foreign minister william hague he had said we will respond in good faith to positive action by iran and improve relations on a step by step basis without remark shouldn't this invitation to attend the president's inauguration in iran have been accepted i think it would have been a very good opportunity to say look he starts with. a clean sheet as far as we're concerned we want to take him as we find him and it would be a good opportunity for to go to have informal discussions are around the inauguration. and to do some sounding. to how he was going to behave in office so i think it's an opportunity mints. i hope that there are conversations going on that are beginning to try and work out

a new relationship with what is after all a new president at the end of the day in this very careful dance between tehran and add a western leader it's every action and non-action will certainly play a part in that equation on where relations are we headed reporting from london and test ourselves. the main challenge that hassan rouhani faces as the new president is easing the economic sanctions grinding hard on the iranian people over the past two years the country has faced its toughest most comprehensive western penalties to date the most painful have been punitive measures by the us and e.u. targeting iran's oil exports its trade and banking sectors ultimately crippling the economy in two thousand and twelve alone iran is thought to have lost at least fifty billion dollars in oil revenues the resulting economic recession has caused a significant rise in prices for basic food for example bread milk and meat and the country's medical institutions claim the sanctions make it difficult for millions

of people with serious health issues to obtain drugs it's been reported actually that last year six million iranians suffering from diseases such as multiple sclerosis hemophilia and cancer could not get access to the medicines that they so desperately needed now despite signals from iran's new leadership washington for its part has shown no inclination it will abandon any sanctions on the contrary now just days before warnings integration u.s. lawmakers passed a bill toughening them the bill would see iran's oil exports slashed by another million barrels per day be from the national iranian american council says that well some people in washington are simply more interested in what war with iran iraq than finding any sort of solution to the ongoing nuclear issue. the fact that they would vote for new sanctions before the new iranian president who has been saying positive things and who is going to himself face so many obstacles for the

house of representatives to go forward with this vote demonstrates that this is a chamber dominated by politics instead of pragmatism and is dominated by ideology instead of. an actual desire to resolve the problems that. lay before the united states now the reason that they went forward with this vote was because of immense political pressure from pro sanctions groups and neo conservative and hawkish organizations that are more interested in seeing a war with iran than seeing a diplomatic resolution to the nuclear standoff. and iran is proving to have an easier relations not only with the west but also with many countries in the middle east and tensions with saudi arabia and they came into focus ofter an incident with the president of sudan's plane which was heading for to iran stopped from entering the gulf kingdoms and space independent research and right to survive supported it can you explain how saudi arabia might actually be benefiting from the conflicts in

the region. historically saudi arabia has been iran's rival more importantly than that and it's the side from the fact that saudi arabia serves the united states and israel and carries that through or does in the region and saudi arabia if should there ever be peace with iran. coming from the west it would really threaten saudi arabia feels very secure for as long as they can be of service to the united states saudi arabia benefits from war and conflict in the region so there's no reason for them to change and this is smart enough to know that down the line is that to be their turn that they're not going to be accepted no matter how hard they work for israel and america no matter how steve who is housed in how will they carry out their orders and work with them they will not be want to and eventually. their turn will come to an l.t.r.

sophie shevardnadze discussed what's in store for iran under the new president with criticise of course and mahmoud ahmadinejad among other issues of the interview focused on terror and controversial nuclear program and recent allegations made by the israeli prime minister that iran is pursuing an arsenal of two hundred nuclear warheads so if it goes full program coming your way later today and i'll go a quick look. workers with iran is going to have two hundred warheads that's what he says yes. this is something that i've said many times before which is it is not of any use to us to have nukes to. use it i mean nuclear weapons is that they're useless.

it's good to have you with us here on r.t. today russian vodka down the drain that's the latest protest a move against what's seen in the west as russia's crackdown on gay rights activists in america and europe have been outraged at a new law against quote propaganda of homosexuals to minors name often shortened by the media to the ominous russian anti gay law they've also been calls out to boycott the saatchi winter olympics to which moscow has said well anyone who's coming to participate or even watch the olympics will not be stopped from coming in let's see how the numbers add up here on r.t. ultimately the supporters of the law argue that it holds the views of the majority of russians the latest survey carried out by russia's independent levada center and the overwhelming majority of russians ultimately are closely divided between seeing it as a bad habit or as a condition gained as a result of psychological trauma only twelve percent believe it's

a sexual orientation as good as any other it's interesting to know that the same poll regularly conducted over the past fifteen years has basically been giving about the same results for example these here are the stats from one thousand nine hundred ninety eight and something perhaps to try and contradict the western media as claims of a so-called shop a rise in anti gay sentiment due to the propaganda. the now way now tries to dissect the problem. there is. no stoli no sochi. dumping russian vodka and calls to boycott the olympic games the l g b t community in the west is furious with the passing of a new russian law banning gay propaganda to minors a detail almost never mentioned lot of here putin signed a law and some very strict anti-gay measures these laws absolutely obscure they're not clear in what they mean of course it will not have a wide ranging gretzky's of being applied everywhere and to everyone and members of

the gay community have been attacked and arrested you cannot say that there is massive suppression or massive attacks against gay people in the streets and that wherever you say that you're gay you will be killed or beaten russian gay activists are taking their case to the european court of human rights and say the law is meant to target specific individuals but see the picture of gay life in russia from abroad is warped these pictures being shown and being portrayed just because this little became a symbol of a protest against the suppression of l.g.b. community in russia supporters of the law argue it represents the russian majority . if there is a large number of people who believe the law is too soft thirty years ago there was criminal punishment for being here if you take examples from some states in the us the relationship is much improved and stricter and this propaganda law course of

this one. it's important to remember this law is about gay propaganda to minors and it will be enforced with fines not criminal punishment russia is still a very traditional conservative country he wants to call on to that. this is one of moscow's many gay nightclubs yes it's in a discreet location but it holds three thousand people is. on the weekends and is full of foreigners and its owner has asked us not to film on the inside to protect the privacy of its clients but reassure us business is booming there is a happy arriving excitable you know wonderful gay community which is how great martin andrews is british openly gay and living in russia for eight years he opposes the law but won't be dumping his russia is dominated by the church in general far more than the u.k. i think if you compare america for example you can't look at some friends of the

sons of these and new york and then look at the middle part of texas and that's what russia is especially moscow you've got the old meets the new and you've got soviet mindset he's with this capital base with excising west lifestyle homosexuality is illegal in over seventy countries across the globe so martin asked why russia why do the western media why do people and the west never mention cuts off the world cup is coming up going crazy about lympics i was in such a last week filming there's a gay community there is a great day scene then but the west has a b. and its on it regarding russia but it's a great. state repression got to go and even now a r t moscow. artist i have for you this hour here on. in the crosshairs in the united states as protesters hit the streets on mass for a full stop to the big show going by the government.

and i remember this big guy apparently the meteor that made an enlightened entrance over russia earlier this year had some friends maybe late to the party but they're still planning to come details on that in just a few months. americans have long seen latin in south america as part of their geopolitical backyard stereotypes die hard but new realities on the ground give reason to believe this continent is on the rise and just charming to control its own fate regardless of washington's unilateral perceived interests and given the trends should americans be learning spanish.

right to see. her street. and i would think that your. orders. are this quarter past the hour here in the russian capital i'm real re sushi i live on r t after a trial last thing more than five years almost three hundred people in turkey will finally discover their fate today and they're accused of belonging to an underground network which is plotting a military coup a case of spot concern and whether exposing the illegal movement was simply

a witchhunt all right now let's have a look at these live pictures right here from the complex west of istanbul is where the final verdicts are expected to be delivered probably in the next few hours though it will be a closed session but as you can see in these live pictures that people are gathering outside the prison sentence area to support those who are on trial i should clarify this is a prison complex with a ready made court just behind those glass doors for now though all these are in english go she certainly has been closely following all the events leading up to now. allegedly it's a large scale nationalistic movement which involves some of the this is the country's most top ranking army officials festers journalists prime minister erdogan has said that he is ready to stamp out this antidemocratic movement which he said has been brewing in the country for decades a lot of people have fallen under that umbrella but people here say that essentially are going to call on is just to be tense under which the prime minister

is going down in jail so as to get rid of all dissenting voices these trial has been greedy and it ends with the expected from the beginning expect the. verdict will be no surprise for no one. and it will be the end of trust you know don's government for a lot of people and it is also the end of the judicial system of turkey this is happening after large scale protests have broken out in the country spreading from istanbul all over this state where people who are disagreeing with the policies all the prime minister have taken to the streets all of these protests have been widely dispersed in fact it does look at this point like protests are happening at burning almost on a weekly basis and get they get broken out by police who are using tear gas and water cannons to this has also been the case in the stumble this weekend as a matter of fact as well so people here really are expecting some skirmishes to break out between the supporters of those who they believe were wrongly accused of

participation in this alleged plots to overthrow the government and of course of the police. we're going to go reporting right there you cannot follow the trial just by looking into her twitter feed here are some of the latest posts right now basically saying that the local media estimates that security men number ten thousand and they brought about thirteen water cannons with them to the court building just in case things get a little out of hand. right to see the. first strike. and i think you're. in the. eye.

thanks for joining us here on our team today the panic and i have seen in the russian urals last winter when a meteor the signs of a house exploded in the skies well we could be said for repeat scientists say the shooter rock might not have been flying solo was first thought but rather as part of a group of asteroids which still pose a threat to the frost on joining me live to tell us more about this good to see you oh gosh let the panic begin before we get into what could be what some are already calling the buddies of the asteroid that came down earlier this year can you remind us exactly what happened back in february yeah that's right who could forget the asteroid on the fifteenth of february hit around nine twenty local time eleven thousand ton rock eighty eight meters wide crashed into chelyabinsk of course the mountains that separates europe and asia we've got some sound of what the russian dash camera so widely used in this country actually caught that very important

morning february fifteenth let's listen to what we've got. thank you. very dramatic video there and when that story came out people were very very shocked because we all wanted to know why it wasn't detected and it scared obviously a lot of people no one was killed in this more than a thousand were injured but no one lost their lives and that was what was such a shock to so many in this situation and that is the fear is this went on detectives that's why scientists are trying to figure out if there are more possibly. on their way i mean certainly it was not only more early morning commute when this was going on or so you were a world i was here at work as well bloggers were going ballistic over this when you were just showing the footage there of windows exploding from buildings that are

supposed to sonic well whatever it is i mean this was a bomb stop it was huge and it caused massive chaos and a fair amount of panic as well but the videos are just absolutely startling but the news today lindsay is apparently that monster rock may not have been alone exactly now it is what scientists are calling sibling asteroids and here's how it works so as i mentioned the asteroid went undetected obviously frightening everyone and so what scientists it is they ran they ran a simulation billions of simulations to find sibling asteroids that may have been on a similar orbital path to the one that hit in chelyabinsk look at that just astonishing and what they found is nearly twenty different asteroids that are on this the similar path they span between five and two hundred meters across and they could one day follow their sibling to earth if scientists if they are actually following this asteroid on on it's similar path now scientists do think it broke up the large

asteroid itself broke up about forty thousand years ago creating all of these other rocks that are floating serious. but don't panic just yet because scientists to also say that they haven't gotten a good two year chunk of time to monitor these asteroids they've only only got a very short amount of time to look at their orbital path and not only that but the gravitational pull of various planets could knock these rocks off of of their of their path so it doesn't necessarily mean that russia is going to see another one of these dramatic events anytime soon but scientists are on the case although twenty similar asteroids floating through space on the similar path but that doesn't that doesn't sound. right to be specific you get any idea about a timetable here i mean do you know. when and where or a lot of these they were only observing for thirty four days they need two years to actually see when something could ever could ever hit earth so good as the world's a telescopes our national security and all that kind of stuff they can spy on you

doing anything and what they call and tell us when these guys are going to hit it's disheartening isn't it is pathetic i'll go i'll go check twitter see if they're releasing any of the fronts get out to you. it was good to have you on the program with us today on many more stories coming your way and many online as well including flagging up resentment american rockers the blood flee russia. and showered. provoked outrage by well you can see here the russian flag right down his pants and then pulling it out. plus at least fifteen crimes committed in america with the blessing of the very agency it was designed to protect the people of surprising revelations about this. right now.

the united states still reeling from edward snowden's revelations of the n.s.a. snooping surveillance schools of people took to the streets across the country to protest against domestic spying and the violation of privacy so we. went to march with the demonstrators to find out exactly what they saw. so. how did the action in over a dozen cities across the west inspired by george orwell's novel nineteen eighty-four an anti utopia written over a half a century ago about mass surveillance so frightening it sends shivers down a reader spine these protesters say apparently the u.s. government has been using it as a manual theme of this one is about the surveillance and the fourth amendment

rights you know we're losing our country and i'm really sad about that this is one of the many demonstrations concept i have manged americans are out onto the streets to demand their wives right back what do you think we're to specifically you guys can do about us and i mean do you think this always can be done surely rests this is one part of the process right here marching on the streets raising awareness for calling congressmen letting them know that this is not something that we stand for and it should not be done in our name of course comes out every weekend with the help of a thirty year old law firm or s a contractor edward snowden that we are national security agency that was has been conducting sleeping inside millions of americans and corners around the world and these people are now marching in the streets of new york to say they want to talk to the surveillance state the n.s.a. is collecting the information of every american regardless of whether they're suspected of doing it wrong or of any british stationery be illegal there's going

to everyone's information and the fourth amendment says that they can't say got to break it was ever reason to believe the year or have committed a crime i am very concerned about the volume of surveillance that is not performed by the national security administration we know more and more about what's going on but we still don't understand a lot of the technical details underlying it protesters are now chanting outside eighty in t's office is one of many companies that the n.s.a. was able to retract information from about u.s. citizens phone calls being. the messages being sent the length of the phone calls being made as well as where the people were speaking all of these major concerns for u.s. citizens now coming onto the streets basically tell the government that they've had enough and they will not stop coming out to protest until their mates message is heard we are outraged we're outraged that we're still learning to what extent all of our contacts telephone calls are. shat on line are being

monitored and we're not happy with this these protests urbanites by a group called the story of the war grassroots privacy rights movement demanding the restoration of the fourth amendment to the us constitution. and the search all these people are now on the street because the government is really not been playing this role the way it should and has forgotten about the rights of its citizens. are before cross-talk now the world and nineteen u.s. embassies across the middle east and north africa remain closed until the tenth of august due to an unspecified threat by al qaeda washington's travel alert for u.s. citizens in the region will also remain in force for an unspecified time and u.s. officials said that based on intelligence evidence they are particularly concerned about the diplomatic mission in yemen meanwhile in pakistan the country's capital has been placed on its highest levels following reports of planned. and each of the

country's military has ordered the former deputy chief of staff of the ousted president mohamed morsy to remain under arrest for two more weeks now facing murder charges the appeals court has also set a date for the trial of the muslim brotherhood officials who are accused of inciting violence in egypt has been embroiled in chaos since the military coup with thousands of morsy supporters defying the government's calls to abandon protests. that's given to him stepping aside peter. vell and cross talk next. while revolutions in the middle east sure get

a great deal of coverage but you don't mix a lot of sense revolutions are exciting t.v. peaceful protests are nice but footage of moloch tough cocktails flying and crazed crowds of local middle easterners really grab attention so there's a logical next reason why some protest movements get a lot of coverage in the mainstream media well others kind of adult please forgive me for being conspiratorial but there is one revolution going down which does have all the exciting visuals of the arab spring but just doesn't get any of the mainstream coverage in fact unarmed people in this country recently stormed the parliament trapping ministers and lawmakers with that they held them down for eight hours demanding the government reside until police with shields smash their way through creating a narrow corridor through which the officials could escape now that sounds like exciting and visual news but why did you hear about it all over the mainstream press that's because it didn't happen in libya or egypt or any other exotic country but in good old boag area right in the e.u. where u.s. and e.u. interests are best served by the status quo being maintained there is no need to high.