this is r t today at the top. flames already arrived in moscow within the last ready for a red square spectacular to set off an epic journey across the twenty fourteen winter games host country of course we're following its progress live for you again this hour. covering two other shorey is the other stories that shape this week the u.s. government shutdown and a looming default threaten to severely damage the country's economy sending shivers down the spine of international lenders. the netherlands demands that russia stop the prosecution of greenpeace activists for piracy while moscow insists the protesters attempt to scale an oil rig posed a threat to the crew and the environment. and u.s.

forces capture a suspect wanted for embassy bombings back in one nine hundred ninety eight during a raid in libya while in a separate operation in somalia they've failed to find the al shabaab militant target there after reporting on to this hour. hello this is the weekly on our roundup of the top stories of the last seven days with me kevin i mean but dominating our coverage from moscow this afternoon one big story for russia unfolding right now a story day for moscow the olympic flame for the twenty fourteen sochi winter games touched down a little earlier in the russian capital less than an hour ago in fact. the iconic symbol of the games landed on a special flight from athens ahead of the ceremony which will kick start the

russian leg of its record breaking really over the next hundred twenty three days. in red square hagai said so go to one of the airport again first of all election the plane landed the flame is off the plane tell us what happens next. well i literally saw about five seven minutes ago how the olympic flame was carried away from the airport to draw literally ten fifteen meters away from me and now it's headed to the red square it is being exported by motorcade of the night biker group it's not just the average bikers this group consists of business off sports. different singers and these other people who see biking as their whole beach and they are privileged to explore the olympic flame to the red square where we'll see the culmination of the ceremony where thousands of athletes and the country's

leadership volunteers of sorts of twenty forty games will be attending the ceremony a large concert where the olympic torch will be lit with the olympic flame and the longest ever. torch relay in the history of winter olympics will be kick started it will spend the next two days in moscow then it will travel across russia covering more than sixty five thousand kilometers and if this will be as i've said the longest torch relay in history and we could go the olympic flame was lit in the town of olympia in greece just like it always happens to have any olympic games and exactly yesterday twenty four hours ago the flame was handed over to the russian side to the representative of the russian government because of who landed in moscow and gave a speech here at the airport greeting the olympic flame on the russian soil a truly historic moment for the first. and more than three decades since nine hundred eighty when russia when moscow

a back then it was soviet union of course hosted the 1980's summer olympic games this time it's the sochi winter games next year and now we are all for the relay one hundred twenty three day relay which will culminate on the opening day on the opening ceremony of the sochi winter games every the seventh next year yeah now the fun begins isn't it thank you for that update from going to cover the airport to will be coming back to later maybe let's go now to red square where that flight will be arriving i guess in an hour or two with those by kids in tow a big events planned there all night where you are. going to have and the level of excitement here on red square is will be hard to underestimate scores of spectators of all already gathered we're expecting the president the country to come here a little bit later as well also as he said musical and dance performances for ceremony will take place but it's really of course the olympic torch which is the main reason for all this commotion and this will be the longest torch relay in the history of the olympic games is going to be taken pretty much through the whole

country we're talking about three thousand one hundred towns and villages is going to get to go to the highest mountains on top of them and down the biggest lakes including a lake baikal is going to go into volcanoes and even is going to get to go to the international space station and it's going to be taken outside into open space also for the first time in history around fourteen thousand people apart from the bikers which are already engaged in this whole process fourteen thousand people are going to take part here and there in the torch relay they say that at that at some point every citizen pretty much of the country is going to be in the reachable the distance from the torch reform the torch and so there will be able to either even participate in the relay or see the torch for themselves truly a story to vent for the for current. now we're waiting for the torch to be first delivered to the the heart of the russian capital absolutely will be coming back to

come up when that happens throughout the course of the afternoon of course and follow it throughout for the night as well we'll bring you every stage of the torch is journey as well as the spectacular live ceremony in fed square you can stay with us for that. the olympic torch is on its big journey to structure. one hundred twenty three days. through two thousand nine hundred towns and cities of russia. really fourteen thousand people or sixty thousand. in a record setting trip by land air sea and others be. a living torch relay special coverage monarchy. expect from us ok well we wait to go back to a red squirrel bit later than let me take you through now were some of the big stories that we covered in the week here at r.t. and u.s.

military forces have conducted two raids on foreign countries targeting senior terrorist leaders in somalia u.s. navy seals stormed the villar of a leader of the militant group responsible for the deadly attack on that my ruby shopping mall last month and another operation was carried out in the libyan capital tripoli to where the military seized the suspect in the nineteen ninety eight u.s. embassy bombings in kenya and tanzania. spoke to peace activist ryan dawson says washington knows only against those who oppose his policies. the u.s. has no problem supporting terrorists all over the rest of the world so for them to be fighting terrorists in somalia sounds a little disingenuous when they're supporting. al-qaeda in syria as well as and many other terrorist groups all over the world but why do you think it is such double standards as you just mentioned i mean what's the reason behind all that well the war on terrorism has really replaced the cold war to justify massive military spending and so when they are supporting

a dictator like hadi in yemen who want to election because it is the only name on the ballot or they are supporting al qaida or getting mercenaries in syria or whether it's in the being in afghanistan or any of these terrorist groups or drug cartels and so on if they are supporting u.s. policy in the region then it's not terrorism it's not spoken of if they are opposing neocolonialism in us and they're terrorists it's not about how the actor who they kill or what they do that makes them terrorists what makes them terrorists in the eyes of washington is are they being washington it's not just the u.s. accuses supporting terrorist organizations russian diplomatic sources have suggested this wave of terror group was behind the oldest deadly chemical attack in syria it's claimed the u.s. so was aimed at provoking foreign intervention in the conflict independent news out of the james colbert told us it's no surprise foreign players though heavily involved and most widely seen the soviet civil war. mistaken assumption that's often purveyed in the media that what's happening in syria is some sort of civil war as some sort of internal conflict and

a lot of the narrative has been framed around that that frame but i think it's fundamentally false to assert that i think we have to understand what's happening in syria as the planned result of a nearly decade long intervention foreign funded foreign armed foreign supplied foreign trained intervention in syria that has been arming and training syrian opposition groups on the record documented lee back to the bush administration as far back as two thousand and six they were starting to fund and train the opposition forces in syria so we have to understand that this is not some sort of spontaneous uprising and that as a result there are many different outside forces including the united states including the saudis qatar ease and others who are fight funding and financing their own fighters to go into this conflict and many of them are motivated for different reasons and are there for different opportunities and some are motivated as mercenaries others are motivated by jihad jihad and the chance of establishing an islamic state but just because they all have the same end goal of overthrowing

the assad government does not mean that they're there for the same money. the u.s. house of representatives has approved back pay for the eight hundred thousand federal workers laid off because of the government shutdown one sits out but there's no sign of that yet all of a budget deal between the democrats and republicans have a right in the country's debt ceiling to avoid a default economist max cried wolf says the dispute sending shock waves across the world. the truth here is what the federal government the united states congress and the white house have exhibited rather aggressively over the last several weeks including through the shutdown is that there's literally nothing the u.s. government can't and won't do for unclear reasons sending whatever shock waves they feel like sending into the u.s. and global economies i can't imagine a recipe that would undermine confidence in the dollar and the u.s. or particularly the u.s. government faster or more effectively than what we see on every news channel in the world every day for a week and counting we're already starting to see hundreds of thousands of people

get an involuntary unpaid vacation those hundreds of thousands of people are going out to dinner they're not going to the dry cleaner they're not buying a new car or going to have trouble making house payments are going to have trouble making mortgage payments and rents and all the rest and we know the money they didn't get today and tomorrow on the next day is money that they're not spending now and if they get paid later it will still be damaging to the economy well some of america's cutting edge programs have also been disrupted by the shutdown considerably known essential most u.s. space agency stuff have been sent home to your job they used to oversee the international space station for nasa ito's repercussions and likely to follow. there are missions that are coming up in say four or five or six months fairly critical motions or missions that robotic rights are going to the planets they have launch windows that have to remain jane and if the workers are working and being done so there is going to be in a park down the line and i was the director of the johnson space center and we were

flying the space shuttle and of course flying missions to time so we had to maintain a schedule so i managed to keep the workforce. working and we kept our going on in the johnson trade center and the kennedy space center in florida and we didn't really have an impact but this time with about ninety seven percent of the workforce at the johnson space center laid off there will be an appellate down the line. is kind of situations not new though of a grave it is not the first time washington is holding its service workers hostage over political discord in fact shutdowns quite similar to the quite familiar and they've happened before in less than four decades in fact they've been eighteen of them in some cases several times a year london based market strategist mike gingrich told us washington will be looking for another thrill even when the current crisis is of a city thinks makes him look like idiots quite frankly i mean as you i think

previously details. that the government just about managed to avoid a shutdown two and a half years ago and at that point in time credit agency standard pulls down graded u.s. debt from its aaa status and one of the reasons they gave was they said all that you know this country is becoming ungovernable there's no visibility on what your fiscal policy is because politicians are just playing with fire a year after year and here we are again now it's two thousand and thirteen in the same situation and i would have to say that even once a deal is finally thrashed out at this time right and one was told that that will actually happen. probably code to be in the same sort of situation next year. much of our government must now shut down until congress funds it again. looks at the latest in a confrontation between greenpeace and russian authorities after activists tried to scale that all platform the arctic is just at.

this point being the expensive car saloon. the new fashion show. also in designer bangs and shoes in the best shop windows. but. luxury is a school. this is a lost cause. constantly on our cheap. first strike. and i think.

for. me and. again the netherlands has filed a lawsuit against russia with the international maritime cold claiming that potentially twenty eight greenpeace activists and two journalists was unlawful the activists were detained after the attempted to scale that russian oil rig last month they were arrested on board the dutch registered ship the arctic sunrise and now face fifteen years in prison on piracy charges russia says it was acting within international law repeatedly requested the vessel to halt its activities for greenpeace inside its supporters staged vigils across the globe protesting the actions of these authorities insist their actions posed a danger though to the crew and environment of greenpeace native patrick moore

spoke to a scene. believes the activists should have found a better way to get their message across this time. you can't expect to have people allow you to continue to storm their oil rigs oil rigs are a very serious operation with really big safety issues and you start scaling the rig and then people have to come and try to get you off it puts them in danger and so i can certainly understand why they were apprehended and finally towed away from the site the other thing that's quite ironic is greenpeace is using a diesel powered ship to. occupy a or oil rig and so they you would they needed oil to get there if they had sailed there or rode there in a boat maybe it would make more sense i do tend to agree with president putin that they are not pirates it's pretty obvious i think their intentions were not to loot the rig or anything like that but they're still putting people in danger and it is a serious situation it's my understanding that this is the first oil platform that

is done zines specifically to withstand ice the intention is to make it a safer way of extracting oil. my colleague bill told and i spoke to ben alle if i had to greenpeace is campaign he says it's the gas problem or platform but poses a threat to the fragile environment not bad. greenpeace's spent a lot of time in russia talking to the office or at least talking to gazprom about the specific risks that this rig platform posed at every stage we've been ignored we've written letters we've sat down in conferences said you shouldn't do this time and time and time again we've been completely ignored this platform is about to start drilling they're about to start the pumps working this platform has been cobbled together from decommissioned oil rigs that sat rusting in the amount shipyard for nearly two decades we haven't published a full oil spill response plan but isn't it reckless to storm an oil rig with all

those safety issues at stake. well i think we did not storm the platform we tried to put a team of two climbers up the side of it to protest that what gazprom were doing and the threat that this region that the platform itself poses to the arctic region our people were very well trained we have expert climbers at no point was there any danger of anything happening to the platform and the big news story that we please in washington d.c. and now set to launch an investigation into the use of deadly force by officers who shot an unarmed woman miriam carey was killed on tuesday after a high speed chase through the heart of the u.s. capitol police went after her after she tried to run a car through barricades at the white house details now from r.t. sam sachs. we're learning more about the suspect who led police on a high speed chase through washington d.c. her name is miriam carey thirty four years old from connecticut reportedly suffering from mental illnesses including postpartum depression she was recently

laid off from her job as a dental hygienist she tried to gain access to a secure area near the white house here in washington d.c. just really a block away from the studio here she was confronted by police she did a three point turn striking a police officer and sped off to the u.s. capitol where she was again confronted by police shots rang out she alluded police again where she drove another few blocks near senate office buildings the car was then crashed and police opened fire killing her only then realised killing her in front of her one year old child it's worth noting she was completely unarmed the only shots fired during this entire incident were from the police and some people are saying this could have been a misunderstanding if you know this area around d.c. there's constantly drills going on there security checkpoints going on. you know it's hard to drive around and figure out and if someone made a wrong turn and were confronted by police someone who might have a history of mental illness could get confused and drive off it's tragic that it

would end someone's death will be investigations into this i mean we're talking about the two most secure locations probably in the plain of the u.s. capitol the white house which might be why police were quick to jump to lethal force but a lot of people be saying you know why he why didn't police try and shoot out the tires when they had the vehicle cornered why wasn't another police car brought in to further box in the the suspect vehicle and once the suspects car was immobilised the third time why was she just shot dead and really on a week to week basis unfortunately in the united states where we're hearing stories of police shooting unarmed people who they perceive as a threat and weren't so this is just another tragic instance of that unfortunately here in the nation's capitol. some sacks of us raise a lot of questions you can see how the chase unfolded thread central washington but take a look at this map we put together a few that started the white house the suspect then advances all the way to capitol building coming under police fire the pursuit ended about three kilometers away

from the white house where the driver was killed brought back a direct of the hands of coalition against war and racism says the u.s. police are too quick to reach for the gun. there's five or six police officers just inches away from her head with guns drawn and that's when she starts to flee she runs from them she's running away and they start opening fire and they keep shooting and finally when she's when her car is immobilized she's riddled with bullets why the police now terry gainer who's the sergeant of arms at the u.s. senate formally the chief of capitol police he said there was no possibility at all that she could have gotten access to the capitol grounds because there are so many barricades so if her car is disabled and the police chief or the sergeant at arms says there's no possible way for her car to pose a danger to congress why then did they open fire i mean it's because they shoot first ask questions later the police in washington and around the country have a license to kill they know there's never

a prosecution and as we saw in congress the congress members just cheered they cheered over this slaughter and it really was the slaughter of an unarmed black woman in front of her baby. four world news stories making headlines right now for soldiers from the nato led coalition of being killed by insurgents in afghanistan another was shot dead by security guard in what's believed to be an insider attack instance follow a nato air strike on saturday that reportedly killed four civility. a fresh surge of violence struck a rock was suicide bombers now targeting a primary school and a police station in the country's northeast it's thought at least eight children and two police officers were killed in those attacks dozens of people have been reported injured the blast follows saturday's attacks in baghdad in the city to greet the plane over sixty lives bombings and shootings in iraq left over a thousand people dead. some five hundred pro british lawyers to take to the streets of belfast northern ireland in defiance of an official ban protesters were trying to complete their july twelfth

already jodhaa parade it was blocked for the time by local authorities the ban on the july march through here is separated loyalist international communities resulted in five nights of clashes and dozens of injured policemen. in spain hundreds of rallied for anti corruption demonstration in madrid people voiced their anger over the ruling party's use of public money to repay debts incurred by private banks protesters also called for nation's prime minister to step down recent figures show the unemployment rate in the country's top twenty six percent. back to our top story big day for russia big day for moscow right now is the limping flame for the twenty fourteen sochi winter games touches down in the russian capital. eagle piskun off is in the center for still ready an hour or so ago sold the plane land of the look of the airport special plane a plane it was on the flight might gather although it arrived earlier is now on its

way courtesy of some leather clad bikers but not quite as it seems the very well to do very. very well respected by his tell us a bit more about how it's getting to you what's going to happen when it gets there well in general this horse really is going to be very unique and the way it's happening already how it's being delivered from the airport to red square by a group of bikers is already quite unique you know anything about that these bikers are very well known in russia called tonight wolf the thing is they themselves are made up of athletes and businessmen some olympic champions as well so for them this is sort of the sign of their respect to the olympics and to the whole story with the olympics and the fact that they're going to take place in the russian city of sochi here on the red square which is their next stop in the next stop off the

olympic flame the level of excitement is hard to underestimate scores of spectators will see already gathered waiting for the flame. we are also expecting the president of the country to come here a little bit later on. ceremony will be held here as well including music and dance performances but it's really of course the olympic flame which is the main reason for all this commotion now this is going to be the longest torch really in the history of the olympic games. we are talking about over three hundred thousand and one hundred cities and villages across the whole country it's really going to be taken through the whole of russia the olympic flame is going to be taken on top of the highest mountains. or on top of volcanoes down the big. lakes including lake baikal it's also even going to be taken on board the international space station and is going to be taken outside into outer space so truly some more unique facts

about the procedure also the flame is going to be transported by pretty much all possible means of transportation apart from cars and. it's also going to be transported by. air balloons and space a rocket so quite a few story for the whole country. right now we are waiting for the flame to arrive here to the very heart of the russian capital excellent well we'll continue waiting with you will go to our next program we'll come back to the a bit later of course as it arrives in the capital and the fun commences all right see later. in the center of red square. thank you for being with us to the next program and as i mentioned after the break we look at the toxic environments one of the workers that provide european markets with cheap leather it's something you don't think about often but we've got this story coming up.

you know i'm old enough to remember on reruns when gomer pyle used to cry citizen's arrest when he saw something wrong in mayberry and a new law in russia could allow our city average to do the same thing by helping to enforce laws in the country this low allows citizens to protect public order by becoming volunteer workers deputy policeman and even forming people's militias which will in theory prevent crime or at least allow the police to be informed more quickly and accurately of course this like any project which sounds nice on paper is all about the implementation so we'll see how these deputies and militias will work overall i think this won't have much of an effect on crime but it could have a huge impact on non-criminal bad public behavior you know i am not the bravest guy on the planet and it is hard to confront a group of five drunk guys who are just as big as you who are acting like idiots on

the street but doing so with ten stone sober militiaman buddies could provide a much more convincing argument for the drunkard's this could be a big step forward for democracy when you actually have at least a scrap of power or control over the events in your neighborhood then you're sure feel like people actually have a lot of power and this could be good for the country but that's just my opinion. his area bank is classified as one of the world's most polluted sites it's time there is an ecological disaster laying to waste everything around them every day the factories belch full fifteen thousand cubic meters of toxic refuse leaving it to pile up into housing and along the river bank. to demand soon the waste floods into two endings penetrating the soil and filter. down to contaminate the water tables. the bridge gang the river flows through the slum is paying the highest

price. the tanneries use vast amounts of water millions of liters of water required to wash treat and tender skins. this water goes into the sewers. it is no longer useful you know that it is discarded. it ends up polluting the river. haven't you noticed the state of the burger rivers water this is the water that flows into it. all this water laden with chemical products is dumps directly into the river with no purification.