Good evening, an Egyptian Court today sentenced three journalists from the al jazeera news channel to seven years behind fwars. The trio are convicted off charges of helping a terrorist organization, charges that they strongly deny. Western governments and Rights Groups have expressed dismay at the sentence saying the case raises serious questions about freedoms in egypt. Seven years in jail, thats the sentence of three al jazeera journalists handed down by the egyptian judge, the maximum trio available to help. They are found guilty of helping the muslim brotherhood, a charge they strongly deny. They include canadian Egyptian NationalMohamed Fahmy and peter greste. The Australian Government is shocked at the verdict in the peter greste case. We are deeply dismayed by the fact that a sentence has been imposed and we are appalled by the severity of it. A third defendant, egyptian producer Baher Mohamed received an additional three years on a separate charge. The three journalists have been behind bars since december. They were among 20 defendants in a trial that has triggered international outrage. In july 2013, ng the authorities have been riled by the coverage of the deadly crackdown on the supporters. The government considers al jazeera to be the voice of qatar and accuses do har of backing the muslim brotherhood. John kerry was in the egyptian capital where he announced more than 500 million of frozen military aid would be available to cairo and pressed the president on the question of the countrys political freedoms. Lets cross to our washington correspondent philip crowder. How is this sentencing of the al jazeera journalists being viewed there in washington . Well, its been condemned by the obama administration. Lets have a look first of all at the words of the man who as you said was in cairo only 24 hours ago and discussed this with the egyptian president , that is u. S. Secretary of state john kerry. He called to express his serious displeasure. This is a chilling and draconian verdict coming out of cairo, that verdict read 24 hours after that same secretary of state, john kerry, was in the egyptian capital. We also got a reaction from the white house here today. The white house is calling on the Egyptian Government to pardon all of the journalists involved in this case or to commute their sentences. This is a call from the white house for their Immediate Release. The only good news in all of this is that the United States appeared to now start or at least kickstarted a new relationship with the egyptians with that visit by john kerry do cairo yesterday maybe gives the United States a bit of leeway here. Again, this is a call for an Immediate Release from the white house and if there is any leverage from the United States, this is the time to use it. And is this likely to have any impact, do you think, on u. S. Egyptian relations not the east lets got forget kerry only left egypt a couple hours before that sentence was announced. Well, its certainly embarrassing for this u. S. Secretary of state, only one day before this strong condemnation from john kerry, he was in egypt to discuss this, says the state department, to talk about the free press, the rule of law, and the due process in a democracy. The day after this is condemned by the United States this was discussed by u. S. Secretary of state john kerry with the egyptian president and clearly didnt get the results that the United States would have wanted. That would have been freedom for all of the journalists involved. Its a very strange and uncomfortable relationship for the United States this one calling for the release on one side and on the other side while increasing its military aid to egypt quite clearly the military aid was freed up yesterday and it looks like the aid that comes from the United States and goes to egypt will very soon again be at that 1. 3 billion mark per year. That is a very uncomfortable situation, of course, for both countries to be in and certainly embarrassing for those members of the administration who have been calling for the liberation of these journalists at a time when the United States believed to symbolically with this visit by john kerry, it could restart a relationship with egypt which has been very fraught lately and one would expect will be fraught again today after this verdict in cairo. Phillip crowder in washington, thank you very much indeed for that update. As we just heard, the u. S. Secretary of state john kerry moved on from egypt to pay a surprise visit to baghdad where he met the countrys embattled leaders who have been struggling to contain a twoweek long insurgency led by isis jihaddist fighters. Kerry promised intense support for iraq, but he added that the deeply divided country if the government takes urgent steps towards uniting the people. Lets take a listen to what he said. Iraq is a Strategic Partner of the United States with shared interested encountering the scourge of terrorism, maintaining stability of the Global Energy markets and easing the sectarian polarization that plagues this region. The support will be intense, sustained, and if iraqs leaders take the necessary steps to bring the country together, it will be effective. John kerry speaking there. Well, jihaddist are continuing to make gains right across iraq and one of the militants latest gains brings iraq main Border Crossing into jordan under its control. That has prompted the authorities to dispatch reinforcements to its border with iraq. Traffic has thinned, Border Crossings are shut and jordans army units are in a state of alert as Sunni Islamists continue to advance in western iraq. According to witnesses, the iraqi army has retreated and militants are running and manning checkpoints in large stretches of the baghdad amman highway. The army has withdrawn from the border. This is an unstable border. The entire situation is unstable. Only the police remain here. The armed islamist militants are now are 35 kilometers away from this part of the border. The capture of the main Border Crossing with jordan mes after the fall of four towns in the Islamic State of syria. That has cut the main boundary to its neighbor making jordan a target for the al qaeda breakaway group. Meanwhile, the u. S. State, john kerry, has warned of the isis activity for the entire region. With Iraqi Security forces fleing, its up to jordan, an u. S. Ally, to dispatch reinforcements to protect itself from the conflict. The israeli Prime Minister is warning that more troops and tanks may be deployed to the goalan heights if required. Benjamin netanyahus comments come a day after israeli air strikes on military positions which left 10 dead. Those strikes were in response to an early crossing the border attack of that cost the life of an israeli teenager. Netanyahu said any further attacks against his country would be met with force. Here in france, the trial began today in which nine men stand accused of plotting attacks some three years ago. Some of the men are reported to have recently returned prior to that from fighting in pakistan and afghanistan. This trial comes against the backdrop of fresh concerns over the flow of jihaddists from europe to syria and the threat they pose upon their return home. Talks got started today in the ukrainian city of donetsk aimed as drawing a line on the deadly violence. The european officials and others took part, while earlier this evening, the insurgents taking part in those talks said they would honor the ceasefire agreement declared by the ukrainian president on friday and take part in more talks aimed in resolving the conflict. The e. U. Ministers are gathering threatening russia with fresh sanctions if moscow doesnt do more to restore peace to the region. Our correspondent tells us more. Diplomatic efforts to equally the crisis is thought to be a subsidy sighsive week for ukraine as e. U. Foreign ministers meet to address the details of a peace plan. Ahead of the meeting, the british Prime Minister urged moscow to cooperate. We look to russia to take actual action. Stop the flow of arms over the border into eastern ukraine, to encourage illegal armed groups to stop what they are doing and in the absence of that, the European Union will be able to take further measures, further sanctions on russia. Hague says the e. U. Is ready to enter phase three sanctions and target specific economic sectors. On of that. The 28nation bloc could send experts to train Ukrainian Police forces. Peace is essential for the future of the country for not just the obvious reasons of preventing people from being killed or injured and for the country to go forward. Well be looking what we can do especially on our mission to try and support helping them secure it. The e. U. Is expected to make a decision by friday. Thats when the ukrainian leader is due to sign a historic trade deal with europe. Well, lets change now and on a sporting note, well check on what is going on in brazil with the world cup. This evening, the netherlands beat chile 20 to finish first in group b. They have won 33 matches and the outgoing spain champions ended their World Cup Campaign with a 30 win over australia. Well, lots of exciting games to come. Before we talk about those, lets check in with dan levi, our Sports Editor who is there in Rio De Janeiro who joins us now. Hi there, dan. Talk us through the exciting games we have seen so far today. So far today we saw the netherlands clinch group b after a win over chile, very impress. Ian robben in fantastic form. Many think he is the player of the tournament. On the score sheet once again, chile looking pretty strong and awaiting brazil in the next round. The netherlands stopping the roup with a 20 victory. The final four years ago against the spanish and now spain taking on australia in the final game in the spanish column, the goal scorer leaves with 59 goals in 97 games as the spanish having a much changed side, three points on the board after winning their last game. At least they go out with a win. Dan, just judging from the sights and sounds of where you are, that Party Atmosphere that everyone hoped for in this Brazil World Cup very much being delivered there, lots of excitement around you. Talk to us about the big games today. Cameroon, the host brazil playing, croatia and mexico. Tell us more. Lets start with the croatiamexico game, only one can go through. Its a shootout to see who will make to the next round with brazil. They could go through if brazil loses by a given score and it changes. It looks like they will be basically have to choose between croatia and mexico. The brazilians taking on cameroon. They know a draw will send them through as well. The brazilians are extremely confident. They havent lost a group match since 1988. Cameroon is out of the competition. They played african teams on 33 occasions ans won all of them xcept for one. Not playing today, still suffering from a knee injury, but the cameroon camp has been n disarray improvising players on the pitch. The brazilian side, you know, they havent necessarily put everybody away. Their ok solid and attacking efforts not like they did, i think theyll go through and after this evening, who knows. Hey have played top of the group. When you look at them, theyre probably face in the next round chile and then colombia and in the semifinals argentina, or germany. If theyre second, theyll face the netherlands and costa rica and argentina. Dan levi in a very festivesounding Rio De Janeiro. Thank you very much indeed for that update. Lets get a reminder of our top stories. A surprise visit with jihaddist fighters continuing to gain ground, the u. S. Secretary of state arrives in baghdad for talks with iraqs embattled leaders. Shock and dismay, western governments and Rights Groups condemn an Egyptian Courts decision to sentence three al jazeera journalists to seven years behind bars. And a possible breakthrough in ukraine following fresh talks, insurgents in the east of the country say they will honor president Petro Poroshenkos peace deal. Lets check for the top business stories. Marcus carlson is here. Were looking at the fallout of the long saga, namely the selling of parts to General Electric. We have been talking about this story since april. That is when General Electric first said it was interested in buying alstorm. Over the weekend, the details of that deal were hammered out. That includes an agreement that sees the french government take a 20 stake in the company. The chief executive says this monday that the deal will save jobs and protect Frances National interest. G. E. On its part says its combining its forces to savings above 1 billion. Josh has more details. The end of a fiers twomonth battle over alstom. The c. E. O. Says its selling most of General Electric will create jobs in france and protect French National interests. It addresses everyones concerns. This is a good deal, activity and employment will be consolidated. Its a good undertaking for General Electric whose way of doing business wont be affected. I think it also addresses the governments concerns. He will stay running alstoms business. Meanwhile General Electric will take over the companys highly profitable turbine business and will Share Ownership of the Renewable Energy and power grid sector. Hey also expect to make almost 900 Million Euros in cost savings. The government has a 20 take in alstom. Everybody seems to be a winner. But the employees arent all onboard. General electric used to be one of our major competitors. I hear everybody talking about them being complimentary and all that. Honestly, i have no idea what the future will bring. Alstom will allow them to pay off debts, strengthen its transport arm and return cash to shareholders. Now the investor reaction to the finalizing of this deal has been a pretty lackluster. Shares were down more than 4 at the close this monday, the shares are up since the news of general electrifirst broke in april. The shares are trading lower on wall street this hour. They are down more than 8 . The french government is looking to buy its 20 stake in alstom from a conglomerate. We saw that companys shares down 2 of the close here in paris earlier. Other shares were down on monday as well along speculation that the french state will have to sell its stakes in them to finance the alstom deal. The defense companies, those shares were down almost 2 at the close of trade on monday. And that takes us to a check of the wider stock markets, just like General Electric, the wider markets were trading lower earlier. This is a picture of the european markets earlier. The london ftse down about a third of a percent and the of a ac down almost. 6 percent. State side this hour, red arrows state side as well, the s p 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial average. The nasdaq every so slightly above the flat line. Were looking at a story that seemed to put a little bit of a dampener on european trading on monday. The recovery in the eurozone appears to be losing momentum with the Business Activity slipping this month, a closely watched index from research for markets dropped in june in comparison to may. It was the second month running that the socalled purchasing Managers Index slipped. Once again, france was the main disappointment with its private sector contracting. Lets take a closer look at the figures. Theyre reading over 50 signals, an expansion and the eurozone as a whole is still above that key level with germany leading the way. As you can see the individual roading for france fell further below 50 from 49. 3 in may to 48. 0 in june. Were going to look at some individual company news as well. Shares in the french bank b. N. P. Paribas nearly a half a percent down. Reports that it will pay 9. As a set thement. The case has become a source of transatlantic tension with the french government arguing that a deal must be proportion in that and fair. Now unlike the wider market on wall street, shares in the company are gaining pace. Reports that oracle is buying it for 5. 3 billion or 3. 9 billion euros. It provides software and hardware for the hospitality and retail industries, it would be oracles biggest acquisition to date. A strike is over. The head of the union says he will sign a deal with mining on tuesday to end the strike. They should be back to work on wednesday. It started back in january during a standoff over pay. Miners say the walkout has cost them more than 2. 2 billion in lost revenues. That is the Business News for now. Ill be back in in an hours time with more business headlines, tom. Thank you very much indeed marcus carlson. Lets take a look in what is happening online. Web news is next. Welcome to the web news with our pick of the stories making the online headlines. Coming up todays show, the Online Campaign to remove a controversial Instagram Page in kuwait. Teenage girls in the u. S. Hallenge dress codes and abandonning a paintbrush for a football. This page cannot be found. Anyone trying to access this Instagram Page set up by a kuwaiti user in june is met by an error message. It is created with urging fellow citizens to post pictures of those who are run away. Social networkers are asking for the controversial account to be removed. The many have taken to the web so voice their outrage over the web page. It shows platform administrators to blockage says. It was relayed on twitter and posted messages willing to instagram to take down what is an inhuman, disgusting and inappropriate page. It paid off because the page is now inaccessible. They have questioned the outcome. The migrant rights points out the controversial account was actually very popular in kuwait before it was closed down. The supporters of the initiative said it was useful to identify runaway Domestic Workers so people would know not to hire them and to notify he police. Children in the United States are pushing for a change to their high school or College Dress codes under the i am more than a distraction hashtag. The social Network Campaign s proving very popular so far. Hundreds have taken to the web to challenge the restrictions imposed on girls who often have to wear tight fitting trousers, short skirts or dresses considered to be too revealing. Critics point out the School Dress Codes are normalizing a notion that girls bodies are a distraction for boys. Slamming this way of thinking saying the strict rules affects it and girls are to blame if boys act inappropriately. There is another article in slate. Com. These rules are a reflection of a culture that wants to control girlsnoa7guc 06 23 14 06 23 14 [captioning made possible by democracy now ] from pacifica, this is democracy now freedom and freedom of the press is fundamental to democracy. And we are deeply concerned that this verdict is part of a broader attempt to muzzle the Media Freedom that upholds democracies around the world. Three al jazeera journalists are sentenced to betweeve