half a million dollars worth of fraud and embezzlement says russian anti-corruption blogger alex and of only get five years behind bars but an appeal is expected soon. the judge presiding over whistleblower bradley manning has refused to drop the charge of aiding the enemy the most serious claim against a soldier which could see him jailed for life. and exploiting the conflict chaos reportedly announces plans to create its own state in syria using land captured by the opposition and seizing its money and weapons. and there's more money to be made by getting britain out of the e.u. we were poured on how one thing tank plans a road map ward ahead of a proposed referendum.

thanks for joining me this hour i'm lucy catherine if we've got live news and analysis for you you're watching our one to our top story russian anti-corruption blogger alex a of only has been handed five years in jail for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from a state enterprise he was immediately arrested after the verdict and led from the dock in handcuffs. is in central moscow with reaction to the ruling now igor we have heard from these supporters of mr not only they're supposed to head out to where you are and my national plushest to protest describe the scene what's going on so far. exactly we're at square right now this is the very center of moscow one of the most busiest spots trapping traffic wise this is pretty much the peak of the evening rush hour traffic right now and well this is where over ten thousand people said that they come around seven pm to protest the verdict

. in the earlier police cleared the whole square from people mostly spectators and journalists no protesters were there at the time but now since the square is blocked people activists or not only supporters really began gathering around the intersection off to describe a street and the street is also one of the busiest intersections in the city you can probably see them. clapping there in support of the opposition a blogger and other crowd gathered to right across the street near the state duma they are chanting free and nonviolent none of these rallies so we're authorized by the official some cars driving by are also honking their horns apparently also taking part in this. sort of a rally which is taking place now and it's not only in moscow earlier people said that they take to the streets to protest the verdict in the twenty over twenty

other cities across russia despite these rallies not being authorized and these are certainly a controversial case for the benefit of our viewers could you outline the details of the case and what led to the guilty verdict. here. initially became known due to his online anti corruption projects and now the court found him guilty of organizing of criminals team to steal around half a million dollars worth of timber from the state company back when he was a volunteer to the governor of a region or to establish that it was done through another company which was headed by i feel that i could set up. he received four years behind bars i did see him when they received five years behind bars why the maximum penalty for such a offense is ten years the prosecution act asked for six but in the end it resulted in five years for the he himself denies all the accusations claiming that the case

was purely political and was fabricated due to his anticorruption activities opposition activities and the criticism off the authorities and we're now getting reports that your own money is no square police have detained around ten people so far some of the protesters since so these rallies once again were not authorized by officials earlier and who or what does the verdict mean for mr have all these political ambitions. well basically if he's left guilty then he is planning to file an appeal against the verdict so his defense has ten days to do so but if they don't succeed then this basically puts a cross on all of his political future since now while he was planning to run for mayor at the upcoming election this fall in moscow and well earlier he said that if he wants to be found guilty which he was then he retracted his candidacy from these

elections officially he still hasn't done so but he also earlier said that he didn't rule out the chance of him running for president as well but once again if they don't succeed with an appeal then there's going to be that's not going to be legally possible now and he did become known to do online anti-corruption activities but now and then again even more popularity during the second wave of mass protests two years ago following the parliamentary election and there's another aspect of the controversial aspect to this figure is his open sympathies to the nationalist movement that's why perhaps. you may have lost some of the supporters but still he is considered to be one of the key leaders of the opposition even though there is still no unified opposition movement in russia you can probably hear from time to time the crowd begins chanting again to free no one the but these are the people which were mostly organized through the internet and

while this is more widely supported if you look on the scale of nationwide support for talking about roughly one hundred forty million russian citizens then it's much less since recent poll conducted by about a center revealed that only ten percent of russian citizens even followed the criminal cases around him but like i said ten thousand said that they're going to come here to my nation. square in moscow alone so we'll see how events are going to be developing since again none of these rallies were authorized all right although maybe a small group but certainly vocal are going off keeping us up to date from central moscow thank you for that. well the verdict has caused concern in the european union to talk more on that will joined life by european m.p. tatyana jon mann thank you so much for taking the time to speak to us here on r t i am curious in terms of the criticism that has been. that as emerged in this case

from the european union what exactly do you find wrong with the guilty verdict against mr not only. yes of course. one of the following is yvonne. who is the president of liberals. of course people are saying. that motivated sentence if i would be defender of conspiracy theory i would those seeing this it is a very good plan of creation of an image. from mr. i man i'm curious the u.k. has said the justice in russia is selective do you believe in that. i see exactly. right and but then many countries including my own lead to justice is very selective and do you think that the outcome would have been different if not only himself was unnecessarily involved in politics in russia. it's

very hard for me to true true to make some comply. because of course if you are entering politics justified against corruption you must be met and it is evident that mr no violence is not in that person then entering. this fight against corruption as if for he he he was sentenced and there was some background for the sentence but of course it will be used to say. in a sentence is politically motivated you get enough to avoid such an approach and certainly that has been the criticism leveled against this case but i'm curious how much of a threat from your perspective has not already been to the russian government. yes it is it is a program for russian government. dition is free from being charged for fees

offenses yes but if you are sentencing fish and you are always have a danger to be accused of being politically motivated and heroes is is it kids. and i'm also curious there's been some mention of has so called nationalist background how how familiar do you think european members of parliament are with those charges against about me that's made a strange that for example liberal politicians close their eyes for his nationalities political background and that's saying is it is very very adventurous situation because it is ever then puts it to miss them not to have a big support from so-called straight diligent reach but this debate that put all of this their actions seem to be well and not well he's training i guess to attract more support from brought us greater just by using to explode things it's not

a stick out there and six of them for from my point of view very very dangerous approach and very briefly do you think they'll be any sort of fallout in terms of russia's relations with european union countries. zuda lation some of the. opt in now as well you know that and for me as russian speakers being a member of the libyan problem and they're presenting costly russian speakers from let through it's right it is said situation then that i feel some tendencies then don't see enough on the international dixit or dory. unfortunately zero zero zero because then there are some reasons for forensic case of not writing the bill being very quickly reason for new on that i shouldn't complain made. only addition. to spread around in political circles are all european member of

parliament john aka weighing in there thank you for your time ma'am. a military judge has refused to drop the most serious charge facing whistleblower bradley manning that of aiding the enemy if found guilty the former private accused of leaking classified information to wiki leaks could face life in jail without parole let's cross live now to our teams andrew blake for the details of andrew you've been of course following this trial both in d.c. and outside of the d.c. right now but now you've been covering it for quite some time why it was the charge upheld. so manning as you know is charged with around twenty different aiding the enemy is the most significant of these if convicted he would receive a maximum of life in prison it's actually a conviction that could come with capital punishment but the government has already elected to pursue that charge anyways manning could still be convicted under aiding the enemy after today because the presiding military judge said that the government

actually did provide enough evidence so that they can actually go on and properly proceed with the case now david coombs to civilian defense attorney representing private manning he had argued after the prosecution rested earlier this month that the government could not provide adequate enough evidence that would necessitate to the judge having to rule either that private manning did or did not aid the enemy now government prosecutors on the other hand they insist that when manning leaked intelligence the web site wiki leaks that material because it was eventually ending up in the hands of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula the indirectly aided al qaeda and therefore should go to jail forever so the significance of today is that while manning earlier faced a maximum of only twenty years in prison if the judge wanted to drop this charge going back to facing a possible life sentence if convicted of aiding the enemy and very briefly hundred do we expect protests any sort of reaction on the street from this verdict or pardon me for the consideration that these actions taken now. i mean the purchase

of been been here for three years already it was over one thousand one hundred days before private manning's court martial officially restarted back in early june and at this point there's demonstrators holding vigils outside of fort meade at the military base in maryland where the court martial is being held every single week there is a vigil held outside the gate and there's demonstrations being planned all over the world on a weekly basis i know there's one going to be in d.c. this week and more around the globe as the trial. continues in its schedule to wrap up next month or. blake keeping us up to date on the bradley manning trial thank you for that update. well northern syria could be facing the prospect of becoming a terrorist state within a state sources within the free syrian army which is the major rebel group there claim that al qaeda plans to declare islamic rule over territory near the border with turkey now until recently the opposition was believed to be cooperating with extremist groups in its fight against president assad but there are now signs of

that relationship could be growing sour more now from artie's again if you can. you imagine okai hiding in some remote mountains not anymore they want their own country they found the land it's the part of syria which is under the rebels control we're talking about the northern part of the country that borders turkey according to an influential arabic newspaper off charcol outside which cite the source of the free syrian army a card affiliated militants intent to accidently assert their control over the territory immediately after ramadan ramadan and around the ninth of august according to the source of pride is the ballot to announce an islamic state. they want full control over the weapons coming from turkey and the money coming from oil smuggling in syria's eastern province of their own lives or for example a network of tribes and smugglers has exploited the chaos of war to create an illicit oil trade with the reports that the al qaeda link. that understanding with the tribes over the division of spoils the all crime has of course used this

property by more weapons and pates fighters now apparently they want more they feel powerful enough to want more it makes some of the rebels nervous of course many rebels ordinated their efforts with the all new threat but those who refuse to do that risk their lives recently the all nusra have killed several members of the free syrian army including all member of the western backed supreme military council the territories controlled by the rebels now all the signs of becoming quite a land and in this new all the land you have things like checkpoints where the militants check whether people are fasting more or no local from near aleppo say they check their songs to see their fasting and if they are not the militants beat them many syrians are of course deeply saddened by what's becoming of their country. earlier i had interviewed the free syrian army spokesman for hot on the situation now he believes that announcement is part of a foreign backed plots to weaken and separate the country. dividing syria into

parts is now being spoken about a lot likely by many sides as a hezbollah presence in croisset homes which is also trying to separate syria as the announcement of the islamic state in the north of syria to be established after ramadan will only help the syrian regime find and take attention away from the killing of see damascus and the other fact is that these islamist terrorists and whatever supported by some regional states and i think your nation is in the world . we are asking why your military and financial support is reaching those extremists and the free syrian army doesn't get the arms there's an international will to make syria weak serious unity is under threat. right please try to get the upper hand and protestors in northern ireland say arrest their continuous politicians put their heads together to try to find ways to head off parade season of violence next year but i tell them that story coming up in just

a few minutes. i would rather as questions for people in positions of power instead of speak on their behalf and that's why you can find by you know larry king now right here on r.t. question more. technology

innovation and. developments around. the future are covered. welcome back looks like a large cash prize is awaiting anyone who can come up with a winning blueprint for britain's exit from the european union now the u.k. think tank behind the offer plans on pitching in to the government show to britain hold a referendum probably boyko takes up the story. picture the scene is the year twenty seventeen and britons have just voted in favor of exiting the beleaguered european union so the government now needs to implement a road map for how to leave that's what the u.k.'s institute for economic affairs

think tank is also economists who imagine in order to come up with the best blueprint for britain's potential exit from the european union it's a competition and the winner who comes up with the best proposal will be awarded one hundred thousand euros well to talk about the challenge i'm joined by dr richard wellings from the institute for economic affairs dr weddings why launch the competition now it's four years until the referendum and even so britain's might vote to stay in the european union at that point that's true but i mean it is such an important issue that is important that economists start thinking about the consequences of britain potentially leaving the given that there is such a large amount of your skepticism most british public it is quite plausible that in a few years time britain will be leaving so i mean is absolutely essential that we have some idea of where britain is going to go with the winning strategy be put forward to the government to use in case of a euro exit yes i mean where we're going to publish the winning strategy along with

some of the other better entries as well said to be plenty of ideas there for the government's low cards and hopefully come out with a very very sound plan now the prize is aimed at looking at the least disruptive way to leave the euro but there are those that say that leaving the euro zone will be detrimental to the case economy no matter how you do it obviously i mean that we're major upside potentially because the u.k. can then get rid of all this very burdensome e.u. regulation on jobs and climate change and so on all the red tape is suffocating business but obviously key to this is whether we retain very strong free trade links with the rest of europe that's absolutely essential that we have great free trade links with europe and the rest of the world will be the key to success in the future dr welling's thank you very. as for telling us about the competition now the prize is going to be judged by a panel that includes former chancellor nigel lawson who recently claimed that the british economy would be better off if britain were outside the european union.

azzi london meanwhile authorities in northern ireland are set to rule on whether loyalists can march through the nationalist area of belfast where riots first broke out six nights ago the major political players there will now meet to thrash out exactly how their current violence can be stemmed in the future or firth has more details for us. well the former u.s. government peace envoy to northern ireland richard haas bank installment yesterday party moves in ireland tools now first minister peter robinson has said that all party group has been set up with the purpose of seeking an alternative to the parades commission the other groups rules say going to be looking to bring forward a set of recommendations by the end of the year on parades and protests flags and symbols a hugely important issue to northern ireland blackpool with and really seen by many as the only result parts of the peace process now all too often we see days

cultural elements really a motivator for the sectarian flare up over the sort that we've seen following on from last friday's july twelfth parade now after that we saw the trade commission's controversial ruling in force by police that then led to very serious writing by the loyalist marches in moved belfast and there's been really a period of sustained well i think i know the orange order had yesterday applied to the parades commission to have another parade on saturday this coming saturday very near to that contested area now that's been seen by many to be quite a provocative me move some people speaking out saying to the orange order haven't learned any lessons from the violence he's seen of recent days already more than seventy police officers injured more than sixty people arrested more than one

hundred bombs training everyone hoping that which it has being here these party talks now getting underway can bring an end to violence. the u.s. congress has given the intelligence community an ultimatum scale back the surveillance or lose the power entirely now all this happened at a house judiciary committee hearing where cross party lawmakers demanded greater accountability and some though doubt they'll make good on that threat among the missing the cone to the legal director for the electronic frontier foundation which is one of the groups challenging the n.s.a. surveillance program what they've been able to slow us down with is the argument that it's just all too secret and can't be decided by the courts because of national security and state secrets well not only did they lose in the courts with that argument but now they've admitted the central facts of the program we're talking about so we're hopeful that that will help us move forward with the cases a little more quickly i would point out that trying to change things through the

u.s. congress is also a slow process so you know while it's frustrating for those of us who want change neither the courts nor the congress move particularly quickly i think there are many members of congress who are in a situation in which they basically signed off on this and now maybe perhaps feel that they need to defend it rather than taking the steps that i think the american people want which is to stop it. time for a brief world update a we begin with greece where the greek parliament has narrowly a proves a public sector reform bill that will force thousands of people out of work the ruling is despite a large scale anti-authority protest throughout the country but it is needed to secure nine billion euros in financial aid from international lenders now the german finance minister has visited today to discuss its financial troubles. in the ghana sam eight people have been shot dead on their way to work in a province just south of kabul the men aged between fifteen and twenty five were

forced out of the van that they were travelling in before being executed it is unknown who carried out the attack but local authorities suspect the taliban is to blame. schools across south africa have celebrated the ninety fifth birthday of nelson mandela the country's first democratically elected president he's been in the hospital for almost six weeks fighting a lung infection although his condition is said to be steadily improving the iconic leader's health has certainly left the nation anxious. to stay with us coming up as the future of the u.s. homeland security and surveillance drones in breaking the set it watching r.t. . if you want is something truly baffling the u.s.

supreme court has ruled that generic drug makers cannot be sued for bad reactions to their products only the original bridge creators of the drug scam the court's decision was five to four overturning a multimillion dollar award for a woman who was horribly wounded by taking a medication which gave her toxic epidermal necrosis which is basically the equivalent of getting third degree burns all over her body and of course after winning the key. mutual pharmaceutical company is demanding their millions of dollars back from the woman who they naturally blame for having side effects from the medicine they made themselves remember this is not just a ruling about one drug but a ruling about all generic drugs which are eighty percent of the u.s. market all of them will not have any accountability i cannot wrap my head around the logic of only punishing the creator of a product and granting immunity to anyone that later reproduces said product i mean would any sane person say that if you shoot a person with a colt forty five pistol that is a crime but if you use a copycat call made in mexico to blow your neighbors off well that's ok because

it's a generic copy no no sane person would allow generic drug producers to have no liability for their product but that's just my opinion. to live on one hundred thirty three bucks a month for food i should try it because you know how fabulous and what i don't. i mean. that i'm. really messed up. very closely with the. worst. white house or the. radio guy. from the. what close to good use never seen anything like this and.

what's good folks looking to break in the set i mean all ruffle oh you know between all that coverage of shark nato and the news of that nasty heat wave crawling up the east coast i'm glad the mainstream media did take some time to talk about this important news story. as american as baseball apple pie and so lebron. gossip twinkies are returning new owners are heralding the sweetest comeback in the history of. the day in american history one of the great tragedies in american history average several months ago would quicky one out of business put them back parity that got leaner operating costs so twinkies may also be a little you know the new box is hitting sales lists that takes it as having two hundred seventy calories and a weight of seventy seven grams. that's right folks everyone's favorite preservative filled piece of americana is back. with the sugary piece of the sea

while the hostess company has returned they'll have as much smaller payroll having downsized from twenty five hundred to just eight hundred workers the fewer employees are the result of the company choosing to outsource delivery and the automation of many of the old jobs the company also used to have about six hundred outlet stores that served hostess products directly to consumers but those stores will be won't be reopened either so it's not really great news for hundreds of former hostess employees that might have been hopeful if that was in bad enough hostess union workers are also officially a thing of the past since the company basically declared bankruptcy last year in the midst of an ongoing conflict between unions and c.e.o.'s and the company plans on having zero unions this time around as you can imagine that affects salaries pensions and overall working conditions to me it sounds like hostess is following the typical footsteps of american corporations outsource jobs replace employees with machines and kill worker unions but that's a side of the story you're not likely to hear in the corporate media which is exactly why we're breaking a sweat.