up to. fifty. massacre mass hysteria struggles to confirm claims by the syrian rebels that government forces have carried out a major chemical weapons attack near damascus and the alleged incident comes just days after u.n. investigators arrived in the war torn state. what's next for bradley manning and u.s. judge will decide on how much time the whistleblower will spend behind bars despite a strong army of those who say he should never have been tried in the first place. britain brings to bear is produced tara powers to quash the debate on surveillance publications journalists and even their spouses but will it work we're reporting on the media's reaction.

it's a busy day for news here on r.t. thanks for joining us for the program. live in moscow. damascus is the denying that media claims about an unprecedented chemical weapons attack and massacre just outside damascus at the saudi owned media network citing a syrian rebel group now claiming that hundreds of people have been killed in an attack all this so just days after u.n. inspectors arrived in syria to probe earlier reports of chemical killings our correspondent in the region. has details. the initial reports suggest that the attack was on the rebel held areas of eastern damascus according to which is a saudi arabian network activists at the syrian rebel missionary c'mon council say

that. these are forces loyal to the syrian president. aside with flying over the area off to a bombardment using chemical agents the numbers are not clear all i would be is reporting that more than six hundred people have been killed but mainstream networks say dozens have died now we have spoken to the information minister we've also spoken with people living not far from this area and none of them have confirmed the attack but as you can well imagine the reports are creating a massive storm on social media and everyone is discussing this al-arabiya as i mentioned is saudi arabia's network and salvi arabia has its own agenda inside syria it is anti the president bashar assad and so it is possible that these reports are a way of pushing saudi arabia's agenda against the timing certainly is significant it comes at a time when united nations inspectors have come to syria to conduct a probe into the use of chemical weapons the situation regarding chemical weapons

is very unclear at the united nations is that it has received up to thirteen reports of usage of chemical weapons inside syria one of those reports coming from the damascus regime and the race coming mainly from the united united kingdom france and the united states both sides of the conflict both the rebels and the government have denied using any kind of chemical weaponry but back in may the united nations independent investigator khalid appointer said that they were large and strong suspicions that the rebels have been using illegal saturn guess for months unverified video clips showing purported victims of chemical weapon these these victims choking foaming at the mouth and displaying other possible symptoms of chemical used in syria have been making their way onto you tube some journalists have also allegedly interviewed victims of chemical attacks inside syria of course each side in the conflict has accused the other of using chemical weapons each side

having its own agenda and outside nation. backing the government or the rebels have also gotten involved generally backing their allies version of events so one of this way has become part of political manipulation president obama has to create that if there is any proof that timmy co weapons have been used this would be a red line that would trigger american involvement inside syria and in just a very short while ago i spoke to william and gul geo political analyst and author of myths lies and oil wars he believes the report is nothing short of an anti assad media campaign the syrian government the assad government has absolutely nothing to gain by using chemical weapons and they know that. i think the key point here is is the point that obama made this very unfortunate statement putting themselves that is crucial to chemical weapon use fired by the government has demonstrated that's

the red line for u.s. military involvement no fly zone the whole thing and. this has become now the the line in the sand issue between war and not war in the size of the u.s. and nato in syria so it's no surprise that the saudis who are quite abit backers of the regime change. slowly in this in their in their news media to try to create the impression i think of. a gas attack by the assad government. are lots more to come here on r t today there's a state of emergency in russia's far east as waters swamp a once flourishing region as flood levels in the area beat all time records there are fears if they rise just one meter more a key facilities will be destroyed in a major hub and that story is also coming up for you. but for the meantime here on r.t. no hero to some a traitor to others private bradley manning will hear its fate on wednesday when

a u.s. judge decides what sentence he deserves for spilling the hordes of secret government data to wiki leaks there's no doubt he will be locked up the key question though is for how long a details now from our lives waller she reports from outside the courthouse in maryland. well the judge is now deliberating bradley manning subtends the judge colonel denise len says she'll deliver the sentence wednesday morning manning faces a maximum of ninety years after he was found guilty of most of the charges against him including asperger knowledge in the closing arguments of the sentencing hearing the prosecution requested that manning spend no less than sixty years in prison for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the web site wiki leaks they say and doing so manning betrayed the trust of the united states and of his fellow soldiers national security at risk and her diplomatic relationships that offends on the other hand urged the judge to be lenient they did not require an

exact number of years but manning's attorney david coombs asked the judge to take several factors into consideration in order to give manning a fair sentence these factors include manning is a young age who was twenty one years old at the time that he was deployed in iraq manning's troubled mental state was highlighted during the sentencing phase military mental health professionals testified that manning suffered from anxiety and a gender identity crisis who has also said manning had good intentions when he leaked u.s. secrets that he was he thought that he could spark a national debate possibly bring an end to the wars in iraq and afghanistan coombs asked the judge to allow manning a chance at life and becoming a productive member of society the judge is now and deliberations here in maryland liz wall. a wall broadly about it could become america's first leaker

languishing behind bars for the rest of his life the obama administration does have a history of silencing whistleblowers. and offering just more of what exactly he did forget exactly what's coming. bradley manning was found guilty of espionage for leaking government secrets but let's take a closer look at how exactly this verdict breaks down now the first charge against him was comes after the u.s. uniform code of military justice under article ninety two of the five charges against a man was found guilty of storing classified information transferring data onto his personal computer while he was based in a wrong now manning was also found guilty of two charges under the computer fraud and abuse act of article one hundred thirty four but those violations brought to light what's been known as cable gate where than two hundred fifty thousand cables between state department officials and diplomats throughout the world now they date back from one thousand nine hundred sixty six all the way up to twenty ten now the

army private was also found guilty of seven out of eight charges but those violations brought to light hundreds of thousands of classified military logs related to the wars in iraq and afghanistan now they also included a shocking video of a u.s. army helicopter gunning down a group of civilians in baghdad including two voyagers news staff now secret files on that one tunnel bay detainees that revealed interrogation techniques as well as indefinite detentions and the video of the faroe massacre in which scores of afghan civilians mostly women and children were killed in an airstrike and of course much much more now bradley manning that may have broken the law but his supporters say that his actions shed much needed light on flawed a u.s. diplomatic military and intelligence operations and while manning may have been responsible for the biggest leak in u.s. history he's not the first nor the last american to blow the whistle on the government now more than four decades ago a former military analyst by the name of daniel ellsberg gave confidential

documents about the vietnam war to the new york times and the washington post now he became the very first person to be prosecuted under the espionage act and the so-called pentagon papers revealed that the u.s. government had been drastically expanding military operations in vietnam. and that four successive administrations openly lying to the public about their true intentions meanwhile a former senior executive at the n.s.a. thomas drake he was charged with violating the espionage act two when he lead classified documents to the baltimore sun now he had claims that if the n.s.a. use their resources more effectively it could have prevented the september eleventh terrorist attacks that have killed thousands of americans and of course triggered the subsequent invasions of of gamma stan and iraq now moving on to former cia official john kiriakou who faced up to thirty eight years in prison after he was charged by the government for leaking classified info to the press and he was the very first cia official to publicly confirm and detail the bush administration's

use of waterboarding and while the charges against him filed under the espionage act were drawn up just part of a deal he is currently serving two and a half years in jail for his actions now the the us administration of barack obama has prosecuted more government officials for alleged leaks under the world war one era espionage act than all of his predecessors combined and he has this has raised concerns that future whistleblowers of government fraud and abuse are likely to think twice before speaking out this week after not reporting in moscow our team so one of the questions being have a bradley manning's actions done much harm to u.s. security at all according to wiki leaks activist i'm blogger clocks to play. barack obama for example campaigned in two thousand a on the promise to protect whistleblowers and we've seen the complete reverse actually we've seen obama go after eight whistleblowers. and so i think what will really have

a big impact on the future chances of clemency or a pardon would be winning the nobel peace prize i think it's very important that those who actually decide on the nobel peace prize winner take into account that over one hundred thousand people have signed the petition for bradley manning in the sentencing hearing we learned that there was no harm done by these leaks no one was killed no one was wounded several activists had to be moved around but that was about it so in the meantime though it's almost fifty fifty when it comes to public opinion to have manning's disclosures so auntie's more important i went out onto the streets of the big apple to last and whether they give the thumbs up or the thumbs down when it comes to money's whistle blowing. it's very important what he did is really important and i don't think he should be punished for doing something that's very american i want to know as a trial but he you know what he did was against the law he's

a young guy and he's got his whole life ahead of him and it's not like a serious thing where you deserve so much jail time seems harsh sixty years to see is a long time i mean he obviously had his reasons for doing what he's doing and the government's . reasons for doing what they're doing mostly just to i guess protect themselves protect the state's i think he's guilty i think he should go to prison not for sixty years but he should go to prison you know to sticky situation but sixty years sounds a little harsh i mean you have people who are committed worst crimes against other people being sentenced to last sound money i mean i would definitely have mixed feelings well because i see the importance of national security. at the same time revealing work crimes always an important thing also for. just generally a human rights so i'm really kind of torn on the issue he's not a threat to people i think he is not going to go stab somebody hopefully but i

think he could be put to work for communities rather than putting people in prison it's ridiculous. bradley manning is a sentence will be announced later today here on ars he will be keeping our finger on the pulse of the latest developments from the courthouse in fort meade maryland do stay tune with us our special coverage beginning at two pm g.m.t. . for me this is sarge with a child in. her. life. just about a ton quarter past the hour here in the russian capital it's odd to see life from moscow and more of the walls top headlines in just a sec. with

. the consumer. choose to. choose the stories that him. choose.

thanks for joining us here on our. often although from thwarting chinese spies to fighting terror and the british government's having a little trouble justifying its efforts to stamp out the surveillance debate and the lengths it's going to a causing an outcry and journalists are threatening legal action rights groups are incensed even the usually public is taking note. you've had your fun now it's time to return in the documents said the unnamed government official to the newspaper editor it could be the stuff of movies only it isn't we were faced effectively with ultimatum from the british government that if we didn't hand back the material or destroy it they would move to law in recent

months the guardian newspaper has come to be known as the paper that's been exposing secret material from a trove of information passed on to web by former contractor of the national security agency edward snowden but in recent days the editor of the newspapers also publicized the what had gone on a behind closed doors here how security officials had ended up in the basement of their offices overseeing the destruction of hard drives and computers which contained the very information the paper's been exposing a bizarre turn of events salaries moochers says that came all the way up from the prime minister's office once it was obvious that they would be going to law. i would rather destroy the copy than hand it back to them or allow the courts to freeze our reporting and i was happy to destroy it because it was not going to inhibit our reporting we would simply problem erica not from london a twenty first century possibility in a highly digital and connected world the revelation by rusbridger came just a day after the detention of david miranda partner of the guardian journalist and

glenn greenwald the journalist who had broken the story of snowden's leaks and the same materials around it was obtained under the u.k.'s terrorism act and was held in question for nine hours at heathrow airport it caused an outcry among politicians and journalists and even david anderson the independent reviewer of terrorism laws who demanded an explanation prompting the u.k. home office to go on the offensive the government and the police have a duty to protect the public and our national security those who oppose this sort of action need to think about watch their condoning. if they want to protect the public to tell the public what it is they're protecting them from a generalized statement about terrorism in general doesn't really do the trick you've got to be able to say well be information he's got what endangered the public for the following reasons you've got to have reasons for no such reasons have been advanced and we ran this new tension as well as the destruction of computers in the guardian's basement have one of britain's most respected

newspapers in the spotlight the story teller has become this story this is a very damaging moment actually for britain's reputation for free speech being laid bare the way that the british state is very prepared to use terrorism legislation to use accusations of terrorism in order to shut down what looks to be journalistic practice good healthy investigative journalism with some of pointed to be noticeably lackluster response from the country's other newspapers following his revelations especially considering that press appears to be at stake the business of reporting securely and having confidential sources is becoming difficult in these documents there is the stated ambition to scoop up everything and store it all to master the internet this is the language that's being used internally does or cilia r.t.e. london and wiki leaks spokesperson kristen told r.t. that his organization of warned many years ago that it would of course be the

journalists next in the firing line. you have been warning about this for years let me remind you that three years ago when we was under massive attack even under dress threats and a journalist in the mainstream media did not to come to our defense or even work directly against us we said you should to think twice because you are next and that's exactly what has happened in the escalation in the war on journalism we see the phone records of a.p. journalists in the states being seized we see an attempt to brand in the us journalists who were working with blowers us coconspirators who could be prosecuted and now we see this recent development the u.k. this is part of an escalation against the freedom of the press and we were about to say years ago so just how much of the net is being watched by the n.s.a. actually may have been underestimated in the past a new report saying the government's powers to intercept communications including

those of americans may be far more sweeping than previously thought in fact speaking to r.t. ecuador's president rafael correia who gave asylum to julian a songe he told us that instead of ending the surveillance of its own people in the west just spends all of its energy hunting down supporters of whistleblowers. it didn't even prevent it what is happening in europe is simply terrible we're talking about irresponsible behavior on the part of various governments such as that if the united states surveillance cannot be tolerated instead of protecting their people who are being spied upon wholesale they did not yet space to prison evo morales it's scandalous fortunately the ensuing reaction from latin america was both strong and just we did not want it to happen but we reacted accordingly instead of defending the rights of their own people instead of rejecting surveillance they prosecute those suspected of helping snowden something must change in the world.

a lot of stories every hour being loaded to the dot com for example one of the stories you can see there right now and check out the footage of the worst flood to hit russia's far east in more than a century and for the show the footage right there of the devastation ultimately stretching as far as the eye can see these crews have been filing numerous stories from that region to r.t. dot com. also a desperate times call for desperate measures an exam in drone hunting could become a new challenge for iranian pupils as the country's military hopes to bring a new security improving subject straight into the school curriculum. right the scene. first rate. and i think your. orders would.

be in the. now one of the biggest cities in russia's far east is on the verge of literally drowning is being swarmed by the worst flood it's ever seen and it will only take one more meter of water to ruin key infrastructure these poles cots in the region he's got the latest. in the region are cautiously optimistic that the worst has passed and the water levels are beginning to recede however that is not the case but particularly in the city of how about oscar which is on the threat of becoming just the administrative center of russia's far reaching also the second largest city behind but it will stop water levels that have already broken records are continuing to rise now russia's emergency services are heading east and we're going to join them. now from the skies the damage caused by the floods is clear but also

see one point five million hectares of land submerged under water affecting around one hundred fifty communities and attention is now shifting east up until now it's been made her whole communities affected by the floods but there's a real concern to the city a puppet of his about to be so mudge work is on the continuing to run the clock twenty four hours a day to fortify the city was flooded levels continue to rise with the big expected in the next twenty four hours also now the deputy to the minister of the plains has been explaining exactly why focus of attention is now shifting east. water levels are finally going down especially in the northern parts of the region right now we're mainly concerned with evacuating people and the cleanup operation it's a very important stage we have a lot of work to do as the flood has dealt a lot of damage we also need to provide locals with food and drinking water and we

have all the equipment required for this. now a cold good like the pull of the hate is also heading towards the city and it's going to be deployed to the temporary accommodation centers that have been set up around the region to get her to drink the water and shelter to those who have been displaced but with the waters no such normalising till mid september but could be a few more called planes and all they needed. over the next few weeks into pakistan we go now for the r.t. world update where security forces are arrested ten people after seizing a hundred tons of chemicals along with detonating equipment used to make explosives police raided a warehouse after earlier stopping two men driving a truck with fifteen tons of substances the authorities say the materials match the type used in bombs that killed more than one hundred twenty people in two attacks earlier this year. and to america where a school was evacuated in the state of georgia after

a gunman with an assault rifle fired shots as teachers helped everyone to safety a police stormed the building arresting the man after a short firefight it was back in december of last year that another gunman killed twenty six people most of them under the age of seven at the sandy hook elementary school of course that spoke to issues debate on policies. well i will thanks for joining us for the program here on our team today i'm stepping aside for abby martin she's taking a look at the protests against the u.s. government and its order to end definitely detain americans without due process breaking the set is coming your way. into the future. dungeons drills into texas on this one show we found out why

security state may soon be a girl's best friend already can you truly machine make sure its workers saw it was a design classic still has room for improvement on wheel and how to dispose of tires and improve roads in one fell swoop. leave the country. with economic ups and downs in the final months but learn to deal sang i and the rest to be making it will be every week on the. wealthy british soil it's time to rise. to the. markets why not.

find out what's really happening to the global economy cause a report on. you live on one hundred thirty three bucks a month for food i should try it because you know how fabulous bad luck. i mean to tell you that i'm seeing really messed up. in the old story so actually. it's. worse for the legal white house or for the. minister of a. local or a power to have you never seen anything like this unfold. so

long guys yesterday i had the amazing opportunity to take a break in the set on the road to new york city and we set up shop right outside of the thurgood marshall courthouse downtown where groundbreaking trial was taking place and what might be one of the most historic civil liberties pieces of our generation and group of activists and journalists are seeking justice in a lawsuit against the federal government it's called hedges versus obama and it's a lawsuit that was filed last year over section ten twenty one b. of the national defense authorization act one that authorizes the military to indefinitely detain american citizens without due process while the lawyers lawsuits maint plaintiffs as journalist chris hedges the case is also being fought by revolution troops founder pandering bolen pentagon papers whistleblower daniel ellsberg author noam chomsky and many others yesterday i heard the second round of oral arguments against the white house and that healed to a decree made by a judge to agree.