as for your media. free media. massacre all 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 the un investigators arrived in the water on. what's next for bradley manning and u.s. judge will decide on how much time they will spend behind bars despite a strong army of those who say he should never have been tried in the first place. and britain brings to bear as prodigious terror powers to quash the debate on surveillance targeting publications journalists and even their spouses but will it work here on r.t. we report on the media's reaction.

a very warm welcome to you on this wednesday i'm. with your world headlines live from moscow. now damascus is denying media claims about an unprecedented chemical weapons massacre just outside damascus the saudi owned media network al arabiya citing a syrian rebel group reporting that hundreds of people have been killed in the attack all of this just days after u.n. inspectors arrived in syria a probe earlier reports of chemical killings. corresponded in the region now is all a poor will go to her in just a moment but for now on the program it's a cross over to our reporter and stringer may who joins us here on the program and i hear you are just getting set up a very very short notice made as rory sushi in moscow i hope you can hear me ok you're on the ground in syria regarding this alleged chemical weapons attack so far

i know it's short days and early days yet what can you tell us. sorry i can't hear you well. hello it's rule research. in the moscow studio i'm sorry you can't hear us well i understand you came in a short notice the allegations of a chemical weapons attack in syria what are you hearing. oh well ok ok hello according to the activist the syrian or the usually command council says that the region fighter planes that were flying over the area after the bomb but who are being. accusing the forces loyal to the president bashar left off using chemical agents. well. if you want the real story you can.

you can say or you can you can assume that the. attack was in the rebel held areas of the eastern damascus. well. the minister off foreign affairs and now that there is no chemical attacks where implemented in those areas those areas like. ours and then cut or any areas and damascus and the chemical weapons doesn't even exist and if it is does if it does they are not. to be used. at any time. yes. or it may may struggle there for us in damascus i thank you very much indeed for joining us we understand it's very difficult at this point to confirm the stories

coming out but you just told us about a syrian ministry official spokesman denying the event of this alleged chemical attack will continue plugging away to try and get details on confirmation may thank you so much for rushing in and joining us here in our to today thank you very much . all right well just a short while ago i spoke to paul a sillier she's in the region and she has more details on these allegations of a chemical weapons attack. they said the attack was on a rebel held areas of eastern damascus according to our arab which is a saudi arabian network activists at the syrian revolution mary c'mon council say that regime fighter jet so these are forces loyal to the syrian president bashar assad will sign over the area off to a bombardment using chemical agents the numbers are not clear our 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 saudi 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 the united nations says 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 liberals and the government

have denied using any kind of chemical weaponry but back in may the united nations independent investigator khalid appointer said that there was a strong suspicions that the rebels have been using the 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 sometimes of chemical usage in syria have been making their. way onto you tube and some journalists have also allegedly into the victims of chemical attacks inside syria of course each side in the conflict has accused the other of using chemical weapons tried having its own agenda and outside nations backing the government over 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 declared that if there is any proof that jimmy cole weapons have been used this

would be a red line that would trigger american involvement inside syria r.t. course want to point to syria and i just a short while ago i spoke to william and gul a geo political analyst and author of myths lies and oil was 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 called mama made this very unfortunate statement putting themselves in athens that is proof of chemical weapon use fired by the government has demonstrated that's the red line for u.s. military involvement no fly zone the whole saying and. this is 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 a regime change. slowly in this in their in their news media to try to create the impression i think of. the gas attack by the assad government. live from moscow it's r t 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 at a major hub that story is coming up for you in just a few moments here. for the meantime on the program a hero to some a traitor to others a private bradley manning will hear its fate on wednesday when a u.s. judge decides what sentence he deserves for spilling hordes of secret government data to wiki leaks and there's no doubt he will be locked up the key question though is for how long now details from maryland now in fort meade just outside the courthouse with artie's lives while. well the judge is now deliberating bradley

manning subtends the judge colonel to new zealand 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 aspin 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 website 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 urge 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 now 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 in. 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 in the liberations. maryland liz wall or two and while bradley manning could become america's first leaker to end up languishing behind bars for the rest of his life the obama administration certainly has a history of silence and whistleblowers. brings us more of what exactly he did to get 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 the 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 there are 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 espionage charges but those violations brought to light hundreds of thousands of classified military along with related to the wars in iraq and afghanistan now they also included a shocking video of a u.s. army helicopter going down a group of civilians in baghdad including two new staff now secret files on book

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 may have broken the law but his supporters say that his actions shed much needed light on flawed or 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 therefore successive administrations openly lying to the public about their true

intentions meanwhile a former senior executive at that and say 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 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 but 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. one of the central questions being have a bradley manning's actions done much to harm u.s. security hole according to wiki leaks activist and blogger clock struck. brock obama for example campaigned in two thousand and a on the promise to protect whistleblowers and we've seen the complete reverse actually we've seen obama go after eight whistleblowers and 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 and it's a currently about fifty fifty when it comes to public opinion to manny's disclosures so lottie's more important i went out into the streets of the big apple to watch the people that they give a thumbs up or thumbs down when it comes to money. 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 only i was going to 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 six years is a long time i mean he obviously had his reasons for doing what he's doing and the government has a. reasons for doing what they're doing mostly just to i guess protect

themselves it'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 the 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 south. i mean i would definitely have mixed feelings as 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 really kind of torn on the issue he's not a threat to people i think he is not going to go and stab somebody hopefully but i think he could be put to work for communities around us and putting people in prison it's ridiculous now manning's sentence will be announced later today and here at r.t. will be keeping a close watch on all the latest developments and indeed out from the courthouse at

fort meade our special coverage beginning for you two pm g.m.t. today. and we've got the rest of the world's top headlines coming your way in just a moment do hope you can stay with us. what defines a country's success. faceless figures of economic growth. or a factual standard of living.

but he sees things that sighted people don't notice. things most people never do they call him disabled but he's the world's first deaf and blind doctor of science. professor. of. the great life lived against the odds. thanks for joining us here on our. way from walking chinese spies to fighting terror the british government's having a little trouble justifying its efforts to stamp out the surveillance debate and the lengths it's going to causing an outcry journalists are threatening legal

action rights groups are incensed even the usually dose all public is taking note so are his tester australia went to investigate. you've had your fun and now it's time to return of the documents said the unnamed government official to the newspaper editor it could be the stuff of movies all week it isn't we were faced effectively with an ultimatum from the british government that if we didn't hand back the material or destroy it they would be moved 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 newspaper is also published size 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 of 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 do a 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 what they condoning defame. 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 it no such reasons have been advanced and the rand is new tension as well as the destruction of computers and 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 is 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 rust merges revelations especially considering that press freedom appears to be at stake the business of reporting securely and having competent full 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. london and a wiki leaks spokesperson kristinn hrafnsson told us or at r.t. that his organization warned many years ago that of course it would be the journalists who are next to finding themselves in the firing line. you have been warning about this for years let me remind you that three years ago when we were under massive attack even under dress threats and a journalist in the mainstream media did not come to our defense or even work directly against us we said you should to think twice because your next and there are six ecu what has happened in the escalation in the war on journalism we see the

phone records of a journalist 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 develop in 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. may actually have been under estimated a new report says 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 correa who gave asylum to julian a songe he told us that instead of ending the surveillance of its own people the west spends all of its energy hunting down supporters of whistleblowers. it is really prevented what is happening in europe is simply terrible we're talking about

irresponsible behavior on the part of various governments such as that of 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 over there loads more stories on our website every hour right now including a trickling time bomb the threat level of the crippled fukushima nuclear power plant is about to be raised to a serious as the operator says contaminated water seeps from one of the tanks but they can't even track where it's going. and desperate times call for desperate

measures and examine 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. for now here on r.t. one of the biggest cities in russia's far east is literally on the verge of drowning. it's being swamped by the worst flood it's ever seen and it will only take one more meter of water to ruin key infrastructures. in the region with the latest. in the region are cautiously optimistic that the worst has passed on the water levels are beginning to recede however that is not the case particularly in the city of how about oscar which is under threat of becoming just the administrative center of russia's far east and also the second largest city behind a lot of austar 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 just plain old to see one point five million hectares of land submerged under water affecting around one hundred fifty communities in attention is now shifting east up until now it's being made her whole communities affected by the floods but there's a real concern that the city of cut off is about to be submerged workers on the continuing around the clock twenty four hours a day to fortify the city was flood levels continue to rise with the big expected in the next twenty four hours now the deputy to the minister of the plains has been explaining exactly why focus of attention is now shifting east. would levels are finally going down especially in the northern parts of the region right now where 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 full of the latest also heading towards the city and is going to be deployed to the temporary accommodation centers that have been set up around the region to get drinking water and shelter to those who have been displaced but with the water is not set to normalize until mid september but could be a few more calls all they needed over the next few weeks. straight to pakistan now to open up the r.t. world update security forces have arrested ten people after seizing hundreds of tons of chemicals along with new york quickly used to make explosives a police raided a warehouse off the earlier stopping two men driving a truck with fifteen tons of substances the authorities say the materials much the type used in bombs that killed more than one hundred twenty people in a pair of attacks earlier this year. and to germany where left wing anti fascist

activists clashed with police in berlin as the crowd protested against the national democratic party members of the n.d.p. recently staged their own rally just outside an accommodation block for asylum seekers and they oppose a legal immigration saying it's damaging german culture of the party founded back in the one nine hundred sixty s. though he's been repeatedly accused of being racist. all right thanks so much for joining me here on r.t. today just a moment now we explore the fate of us small scale farmers in ghana who have been left to starve it's coming your way in just a moment. all

of. these. people. good laboratory. to build.