coming up on r t a judge makes a major ruling in the bradley manning trial will a wiki leak or face the aiding the enemy charge we'll have a report from fort meade just ahead of a lawsuit against a key provision in the indiait has been thrown out there are fears that the prison that the provision allows the detainment of anyone anywhere suspected of helping terrorists more of this court decision coming up. and the first week of ramadan in iraq has been that deadly insurgency and sectarian violence have created a sky rocketing death toll more on the chaos and goal thing iraq later in the show .

it's thursday july eighteenth four pm in washington d.c. i'm meghan lopez and you are watching r t while the last line of defense for wiki leaks or bradley manning's legal team failed today in court military judge denise lynn dismissed the team's request to drop the most serious charge facing the army private first class the charge of aiding the enemy here's why she turned it down george allen says that manning's terror training made him aware of the fact that terrorist organizations use the internet therefore he should have known that the seven hundred thousand military and diplomatic documents that he leaked could is out in the hands of america's enemies one day so is this a prelude to the ruling and what type of example does it set for future trials against was a blowers earlier i spoke with ortiz liz wahl who has covered the trial since day one at fort meade and i asked her about this ruling and if it is big blow to the defense's case. magen definitely

a disappointment for the defense today as you had mentioned the judge did not dismiss this charge of aiding the enemy no serious charge that bradley manning faces so as of now cause the possibility of life behind bars without parole still stands for the army the army private now the court so far has examined testimony and the evidence that we've heard so far and for nolan found that there was enough evidence to move forward with this charge of aiding the enemy also today the judge denied this motion to dismiss the computer fraud charges so right now these charges still stand now what colonel lynn said or wait what the court cited today when they made the thing is this job that bradley manning had as an intelligence analyst the prosecution has said that because of his job as a military intelligence analyst that he should have known the consequences of his actions they say that he should have known that when he leaked this information to the n.c.c. secrecy website wiki leaks that he should have known that al qaeda osama bin ladin

or al qaeda affiliates would have seen this information they say he should have known the way that al qaeda operates and how they they obtain intelligence and should have known that they obtained some of their intelligence by going on the internet now the defense of course has maintained that bradley manning is a whistleblower and he leaked these documents in an attempt to spark a national debate and to expose government wrong in doing magen so definitely a blow for the defense today to lose how is manning's defense team david coombs in particular responding to this dismissal could be seen as a prelim to how the judge is leaning in this case. well of meghan it's important to point out that with this action today there is not as much of a burden of proof when it comes to the motion to dismiss charges oftentimes the defense once the prosecution has rested its case the defense will try to get at

least some of the charges dismissed that's considered kind of routine and at least at this point the judge found that there was enough evidence presented however when it comes to the verdict the burden of proof is higher the prosecution will have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that bradley manning had actual knowledge that he was aiding the enemy when he released this information and so is it a freeloader we don't know we're going to have to wait for the verdict to find that out but it's important to note that the verdict there is a higher burden of proof meghan and what else happened in court today liz i know you were there since early this morning. yeah so the big big news today are these motions the motions to dismiss definitely a lot of attention on that today because. that was basically this is the most serious charge that he faces right now we're hearing rebuttal case as as we know the prosecution and defense both rested its case so now we are in the rebuttal

phase of this trial so we are wrapping up should hear closing arguments soon there's rumors of that happening as soon as tomorrow after those closing arguments magen it's going to be up to the judge colonel lindh to deliver the verdict in this case and lose we've been waiting for the prosecution to deliver this rebuttal since last week how has the prosecution been doing in this robot and what it specifically has they've been saying against the witnesses this event brought up. well i think what the prosecution is going to try to do is kind of rebut how how the defense. characterized manning of course the defense is characterizing him as a whistleblower as somebody that did not have an evil intent when he leaked these and for me when he leaked these documents on to the internet so what the prosecution is trying to do and what they said at least when they announced their

intent was there they were going to bring up some some more testimony of one piece of testimony kind of hinted that bradley manning seek notoriety when he leaked these documents what the prosecution is going to try to do is expected is to try to to challenge the defense's theory that bradley manning did this. for noble causes so we're just going to see how it plays out maggette all right we're getting to the end of this trial here and we also know that the prosecution is trying to prove that wiki leaks was not a news organization or a legitimate news organization liz waller to correspondent up in fort meade maryland thank you so much for bringing us the latest updates. and it is not a good day for civil liberties advocates either a federal appeals court threw out a lawsuit that would have prevented the u.s. from indefinitely detaining people under the national defense authorization act the second circuit of court of appeals found that the group of lawyers journalists and

activists who brought a lawsuit against the obama administration cannot mount a case saying they quote lacks standing because section ten twenty one says nothing at all about the president's authority to detain american citizens the non-citizen scientists also fail to establish standing because they have not shown a sufficient threat that the government will detain them under section ten twenty one so the group maintains that the n.d.a. which by the way was reluctant two thousand and twelve is unconstitutional and it could possibly lead to the arrest of innocent americans they are now looking to the supreme court for a final verdict for more i'm joined now by tangerine bowl and she's the founder and director of revolution truth and also a plaintiff in this india case hi there tangerine so let's start off by talking about this ruling how far back does it put your cause in your opinion. well the fights are over we have plenty more to try with this case but you know it's just writing it's frustrating it's a bit exhausting. just from

a personal standpoint and from our team standpoint it's unfortunate. now journalist chris hedges was particularly disappointed in this ruling and the statement that he released to drew truthdig he said quote it means there is no recourse now either it within the executive legislative or judicial branches of the government to hold a steady assault on our civil liberties and most of basic constitutional rights and means that the state can use the military overturning over two centuries of domestic law to use troops on the streets to seize u.s. citizens strip them of due process and hold them indefinitely in military detention centers now your program argues that the indefinite detention clause has a unique effect on journalists can you explain that a little bit more detail. i can say we stood as you know over two things the first amendment in the first amendment in regard to the first amendment it has had a chilling effect on speech on my speech microplane speech and other journalists

that we know who are not part of this case combine that with the revelations about the n.s.a. surveillance dragnet surveillance and the unfortunate clapper case really like her said it was also part of we know that the government has absolute right to target any one of us it's not that difficult for them to do so and you know combine that as well with as i say assault on whistleblowers and it's definitely chilling our speech and our freedom of association we're all worried about who we provide a quote platform to which might be construed as substantial support or being that's associated for us and i think that's particularly worrying for people who have worked with her background. now on the judge in this case ruled that you do not have standing to bring this case up as i mentioned earlier so then my question is who has standing if anyone to bring this case up. so i have two part answer to that it's a great question and the people who would ask any of the people that we have no way

to are they are indefinitely detained somewhere on this planet we can't reach them and they have no right to access the next forty or even family members or friends advocate on their behalf it's surely happening people have been definitely detained who are innocent we saw that and we see it's probably happening outside of outside of so but we have we're powerless in this instance just like with clapper with the banks as couldn't prove that they were being targeted they were sort of the targets de facto targets of surveillance we can't prove that anyone's indefinitely detained because you have no right to know that and if you recall october the government or any actually refused to assure a thing court that the provision had not been applied in that it were an injunction which would have taken them to court. credible. where we have no rights no coward no recourse to find out what you've been going on and then we're going to have acting it's just absurd now after the federal court of appeals the next step is the supreme court but they also have the right to not take up this case in your

opinion does the highest court of the land that really stand to take up this case because it is so controversial. well so there are a few other options we have before the supreme court we can file in on bond petition which are which would we would be we're asking the full twelve judge court in the second circuit to hear our case we can actually go back to judge for us and ask her to clarify a few things and then we can get it to the supreme court you're right because he doesn't have to take the case we have hopes based on the supreme court's very strong stance on first amendment issue. is that they will actually take the case it's certainly such a critical case and there are so many ambiguities here that the second circuit didn't result it would be very surprising because it didn't take a case it would be it would be pretty rough for me burris ago you were all of us if they didn't take the case because it would be so shocking very interesting and we know that on our show yesterday we talked about congressman rush holt and he trying

to repeal the patriot act and parts of the fisa act as a result of the n.s.a. leaks it'll be interesting to see if one of these people actually takes up your case in the india a and indefinite detention in specific tangerine bowl and founder and director of revolution truth and a plaintiff in the n.d.a. case thank you so much for shedding some light on this. let's head now to cuba where guantanamo bay officials are making notable progress in their attempts to end the hunger strike at the facility a military spokesman announced this week that dozens of detainees had quits their hunger strike bringing the number of men participating in the forced starvation down to seventy five with forty six force fed also new this week u.s. district judge rosemary collyer rejected the request of three detainees to block the military's practice of force feeding she said that the detainees have failed to show that the military's policy is quote on reasonable now there are a few reasons attributed to why so many men or ending their hunger strike for

a staf montano mulvey officials are in thai sing them with communal living arrangements if they choose to resume eating also it is the month of holy ramadan is the beginning of that month anyway meanwhile the obama administration has appealed and won the right to search the growing of detainees each time they enter the camp after meeting with their lawyers here's the reasoning the obama administration provided for the first time to the government's knowledge a federal court has restricted a military commander from implementing routine security procedures at a detention facility holding enemy forces notwithstanding the universally recognized need for the maintenance of discipline and order in those facilities however lawyer david remes says that this is a scare tactic meant to punish the men. devout muslim and i think it is the. one of the worst forms of humiliation there could be and for that reason if they don't want to leave their camp because of the searches they end up

not being able to meet their lawyers not being able to have telephones with their telephone calls with their lawyers not being able to have telephone calls with their families no reeves went on to say really went on to say that he believes that these searches will stop when the hunger strike ends but given the obama administration's adamant stance on the issue that premonition is unlikely to become a reality at this point. back here in the u.s. the death of a chechen man who was being questioned by the f.b.i. is becoming shrouded in even more secrecy of florida medical examiner's office said tuesday that the f.b.i. has ordered it not truly it's autopsy report of twenty seven year old. todashev was a friend of the suspected boston marathon bomber tom our lives are naive and was being interrogated in his home possibly about a triple homicide that happened back in two thousand and eleven and here is where

things get weird todai of was surrounded by at least three f.b.i. agents and massachusetts state police officers being questioned for the fifth time in his home when he was shot and killed by those agents his family released photos they say are of his autopsy that shows that he was shot six times in the torso and once in the back of the head officers inside the house at the time have also told conflicting stories about the moments that led up to the shooting one said that he had a knife others said he had a blade some say that he had a metal pole or maybe a broom or a ceremonial sword or that he threw a chair or maybe even pushed a table today the f.b.i. and the justice department say that they are forbidding the release of the full report. it's about the shooting because of an ongoing internal investigation they are actually checking for any wrongdoing by these f.b.i. agents but if you are waiting for

a sponsor don't get your hopes up it should be pointed out that the f.b.i. has internal shooting review process has reviewed one hundred fifty f.b.i. shooting cases in the last twenty years and it's found its agents culpable and not a single one in the medical examiner's office said that it would check with the f.b.i. every month for permission in order to release the autopsy report and we will be checking with them. meanwhile the violence in iraq is at its highest level in years the first week of the holy month of ramadan is traditionally marred with violence but this year is the deadliest since two thousand and seven r.t. correspondent aaron a takes a look at the numbers and the possible reasoning behind them in iraq ramadan this year is shaping up to be one of the deadliest the country has seen in years the first ramadan following the two thousand and three u.s. led invasion began with a blistering wave of suicide bombings at police stations and the red cross headquarters now in two thousand and seven nine hundred thirty six people were

killed during ramadan including two hundred thirty six the first week according to an associated press count but this year just seven days into the islamic holy month suicide attacks car bombings and other acts of violence have killed at least one hundred sixty nine people the death toll in the first week of ramadan hasn't been this high since two thousand and seven intensifying fears that iraq is slipping back into widespread chaos and a potential civil war now no one has claimed responsibility for many of the terrorist attacks but the indiscriminate and coordinated bombings used in most of these attacks are a favorite tactic of al qaeda which hopes to fuel hatred and undermine iraq's shiite led government al qaeda and other sunni fundamentalists consider shiites to be infidels in the groups extremist ideology acts of jihad including suicide bombings that are carried out during ramadan. are seen as more blessid and at other times of year now a spokesman for iraq's interior ministry sodeman abraham said that the militants heightened spiritual enthusiasm during ramadan is partly to blame for the upswing

in violence along with the fact that large crowds often gather at soft targets such as mosque mosques and cafes during ramadan giving attackers a chance to kill several people at once now ramadan last year also got off to a deadly start with more than one hundred forty killed during the first week most of those victims died during a single day of attacks claimed by al qaeda some days saw no deaths at all something that has yet to happen this time around from washington d.c. aaron a good party ramadan is a holy time for the muslim faith and yet iraqis are being slaughtered by al qaeda and its affiliates by the hundreds this is something that isn't new to the country but it isn't getting worse here to talk about the current status of the iraq war of what's going on in iraq in more detail is michael o'brien he is the author of america's failure in iraq michael thank you so much for joining me so let's start off by talking about your experience in iraq what is ramadan from your experience the most deadly time of the year i thought it was supposed to be this really holy

time well it's both. you know ramadan is it's a period of time every year it goes on the cycles of the moon so it shifts by about one week every year and it's the holiest time of the year the end of ramadan there is a period cold for about three or four days i can remember exactly so it's the main event of ramadan which is about thirty days i believe and it is about three or four days afterwards but the point is is the time of the year. for worship for pilgrimage. but also it's a time for the clerics specially the really hardcore extreme fundamentalist clerics to people up. to a frenzy and. you know of course in iraq you know i'm a tall solder and and some of the others there the hard core. moms

this is their this is their you know happy times this is when they can really get people whipped up into a into a frenzy as i said about islam about the whole meaning of it and you know you know going after the infidels very interesting so how volatile is the situation in iraq on him at the moment could we possibly see as country slip into a civil war well we could see it slip into a civil war just about any time but if there's one time during the year that more so than probably any other it would be the it would be ramadan it's very very symbolic it's a symbolic as it gets for in the muslim world and you know the fasting when i was over there. most most of you know iraq is a is a secular country it was under saddam and it still is so many of the muslims practiced the fast they fasted religiously but many of them did not

a lot of people may not know when they say fast they really mean it nothing until sundown not even a cup of water nothing the entire day and it's like oh here we are in d.c. it's about feels like it's under ten it's the same thing over there so i mean there's the physical aspects of it you know the exhaustion and then at the end of the day they really go all out and eat and they drink and they make merry but also it's a time for the to really get people worked up and i understand that people in iraq right now are choosing to stay indoors because those times when they go out and they are merry are the times that a lot of these suicide bombers and car bombers choose to strike and when these people are celebrating but a lot of people's kneejerk reaction whenever something that is violent in iraq happens is that it's the u.s.'s fault and just to remind people of the us overthrew saddam hussein and his ba'ath party that was support.

as we know. saddam was sunni it's the minority the minority of the population of iraq iraq is sunni and shia sunni is probably maybe twenty thirty percent shia is the balance they're all muslim it's like ireland the they're all christian they're all christian but catholic and protestant but but iraq that's the best analogy i got i can think of. so when we went over there and overthrew the regime and then all of the thing the other things that happened the desponding of the iraqi army in the national police by paul bremmer we didn't have enough invasion forces over there. you know we we created we created the civil war that really erupted in zero

six zero seven which was when i was over there. and now we've got a shiite government the shiites want to run the show the show and the sunni's are going. well not so fast you know we were in charge all these years we like being in charge but they're outnumbered so it's it's a mix of religion and who's what religious what religious parties in power in iraq right now and it's a terrible situation but we had a very big role in creating it by totally dismantling all of the security infrastructure of the country and then essentially walk away and if and when saddam was in power he kept the lid on everything but it's a very serious situation that's going on right there we will be sure to keep our eyes on it with michael o'brian he's the author of american failure in iraq. while

flipping through the news channels each day could give viewers a skewed vision of what's really going on in the world the george zimmerman trial commanded hours of programming as has the wait for prince william and kate middleton's first child and really who could blame these news outlets and an industry that is bleeding viewership these stories soak up the ratings and consequently the advertisers dollars but it is the media losing sight of what news really is about as it focuses on the business side of the industry are to correspondent margaret howell explains students anger people and rage by this rolling stone cover we're all on royal baby watch the birth may be eminent. man's best friend this pop sticking by his owners side even in mid air. john there is. a deadly cocktail of farewell and that's what killed actor corey monte why does it seem mainstream news does everything but cover well actual news it is about who can

generate the most controversy who can sound the dumbest. loudest dumbest yet loudest in other words you're creating a soap opera and a news program and you have villains and you have heroes you have heroines you have the shining armor you might have the nasty bits you know those are the means the soap opera characters that they draw upon and just like a soap opera the news media is obsessed not with informing people but with scoring high ratings according to t.v. guide the three most watched shows of last season were crime drama football and a sitcom so is the news media taking its cue from here well with all time low ratings n.b.c. took a plunge devoting nonstop in c.i.s. style coverage to the zimmerman trial and they weren't alone fox and c.n.n. followed suit in the style of high ratings and courtroom drama rather than the real court. news taking place at the bradley manning trial and we know how the

mainstream news media covers politics it's just like sunday night football your team versus my team and then there's celebrity gossip rip straight from your favorite entertainment shows all of this is having an effect on people's faith in news and journalism a recent pew poll shows that public opinion ranks just about a business exacts and attorneys the lowest percentage of americans since the study began that journalists contribute to the overall good of society professor chambers believes corporatization is to blame we saw the death of real news many years ago the die was cast with corporate consolidation in the eighty's where you had huge corporations buying up media properties this is continued and it's just a natural do you have allusion to the death of investigative reporting and hard news reporting in the american media is the mainstream media dumbing down america if it's really all about the ratings

a better question should be are we capable of decipher in real news from just a ratings grab in washington margaret howell r.t. while talk about sweetening the deal panamanian officials were performing a routine cargo check on a boat bound for north korea after receiving information that there might be two wrongs on board when they found this buried inside a container or sugar a carry sugar bags or two hundred and forty tons of soviet era defense weapons including two anti-aircraft missile systems nine missiles in parts and two in my g twenty one jets according to cuban officials cuba says the weapons were en route to north korea for repairs on our quote obsolete but regardless this is a direct violation of trade treaties since it is considered undeclared military cargo experts believe that the sugar could be was payment to north korea and exchange for repairing those west and questions the crew could face charges of

illegal weapons smuggling in panama. i make a lot i see you're right back here at five pm for more news and up the interviews. wealthy british style. time. market why not come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's cancer for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds a report. if

it possible to navigate the economy with all the details and specifics in the information and media hype will keep you up to date by decoding the mainstream headlines stating if in your. view.

good afternoon and welcome to prime interest i'm parry and boring and of all the english let's get to today's headlines. i don't understand gold yes that's what our beloved the fed chairman actually told congress today maybe that's why germany wants three hundred tons of it back that would be the goal of the fed is holding on its behalf we have just one word for you finance minister. tungsten but don't worry chairman bernanke he assured the s. and p. five hundred now it all time highs that the monetary q.e. stimulus will continue until the economy can stand on its own feet so it should be anthropomorphization is quite quaint for an economy tradition isn't it we debunk the likes of bernanke you can talk about the mortgage if you believe with the common.