masika hysteria struggles to come father claims why the seaward rebels that government forces have carried out a major chemical weapons attack near damascus village they didn't comes just days after un investigators arrived in the water holes to take. what's next for rocky manning a u.s. george 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. britain brings to bear ridiculous terror powers to quash the debate on surveillance targets and publications journalists and even that sounds like a well it was on the media as a reaction. this

is coming to life from moscow hello and welcome to the program the sewer and government is denying media claims about an unprecedented chemical weapons massacre outside damascus these saudi owned media network al arabiya citing a sewer and rebel group is reporting that hundreds of people have been killed in the unconfirmed a tug all of this just days after a yacht inspectors arrived in the war torn country to probe early reports of chemical killings and a correspondent in the region paul asli is joining us now live paula nice to see you so what exactly are you hearing from that. well media reports are citing the syrian revolutionary command council which says that government forces loyal to the syrian president bashar assad were flying over the

area after the bombardment using chemical agent now this is attack happened in the rebel held area of eastern damascus in a place called eastern ghouta the area has witnessed heavy fighting between opposition fighters and the army what we are hearing is reports that the north through a front which are fighters that are affiliated with al qaida are also operating there now some reports do suggest that more than a thousand people were killed in this latest attack but other reports talk about dozens dying graphic images have flooded the internet showing an alleged victims choking foaming at the mouth and displaying other possible symptoms of the attacks in syria the origin of this footage however is and verified and that point needs to be made that no one knows where it was filmed or who filmed it we are trying to give more details at this stage from the area we have been speaking with local residents who complain that there was finding there earlier but they insist that

there have been absolutely no signs of any kind of chemical attacks the first to break this news was the saudi arabia network r.b.f. now suddenly arabia has its own agenda inside syria it's anti these syrian president assad and therefore any kind of reports of the use of chemical weapons we must take this into consideration. a pullout ought to be in reaction to the to this alleged worldwide. there has been international reaction the reports have been vehemently to much denied by the syrian government while they have caused a huge storm elsewhere in the world the u.k. is demanding an immediate action by the united nations security council the arab league says that the incidents should be investigated at once and all of this comes at a time when u.n. inspectors are inside the country conducting a chemical probe the situation with chemical attacks is far from clear we need to

make the point that the first reports of chemical weapons was that they were used in the field back in march the nineteenth this year by the tech fieri terrorist groups when they launched a rocket attack in cold. now that did cause widespread destruction in syria immediately demanded an investigation from the united nations the syrian government also has said that it is aware that sarah and projectile are being manufactured. in the suburbs of damascus and this has been confirmed by fighters who've been arrested by the syrian army the united nations for its side has said that it has received up to thirteen reports of chemical weapons used in syria the one from the damascus government of the rest mainly from the united kingdom france and the united states both sides of the conflict and here we're talking about the rebels in the government have however denied using chemical weapons the inmate the united

nations independent investigator carla del ponte to say that there was strong support suspicions that the rebels had used this illegal seven guests the issue has become part of political manipulations in terms of what is happening inside syria the american president barack obama has declared that any kind of chemical attack would be a red line that could ultimately trigger american intervention inside syria but as i say what actually happened today at the moment false unclear. paula thank you very much indeed for that update for. over the course of the civil war there have been numerous rebel claims of chemical attacks and atrocities and many of them have coincided with major political events and here are just a few of the examples for you in july twentieth twelve as the one discussed a possible intervention in syria the rebels announced a civilian massacre in trend that carried out by the government that later proved

to be falls by your own observer mission to the town in august just days before your own security council meeting the darius massacre occurred once more assad was blamed but it was later found that the rebels will most likely be perpetrators in december as russia the us and the one met to discuss a peace plan the west accused assad of arming chemical weapons for imminent use that also was not to use that december as u.n. peace and he met with assad in damascus the rebels alleged another civilian massacre after an ass try on a bakery and after an initial media frenzy it was later reported but those killed were likely opposition fighters in april of this year the rebels reputedly provided the u.s. and britain with proof that assad had used chemical weapons and that was seized upon the west to funnel arms to the opposition while a u.n. independent investigation found it was most likely the rebels behind the chemical at time. given all of that is the view that they need to be

a caution before taking the rebels at their word and in light of past experiences and investigation is paramount before blaming one side or the other but we have a political analyst and author of myths lies and oil wells tells us the reporters just a more of the. 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 pinning himself he didn't say 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 thing and. this is become now the line in the sad 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 are. slowly in this and they're in the news media to try to create the impression i think of. the gas attack by the assad government and political analyst patrick henningsen explained worry with fangs it's to early to jump the gun and point the finger at the syrian government. of course if we look at the history of this particular region go to a region where the attack is said to take place is very active with the front and they've also been implicated in using makeshift chlorine bombs in aleppo back in march so there is a track record there the evidence unfortunately does not stack up with these present claims of the syrian government perpetrating these attacks or who benefits from a chemical attack in syria while the opposition benefits it's quite obvious the syrian government does not benefit the opposition benefits because this would be the key

to unlock the. airstrikes and bombing campaign over syria all of libya. the opposition would like a libyan style coalition with nato in order to force the regime out of power in damascus so they clearly benefit from any reports of a chemical attack in syria. and of course we'll keep you updated on the unfolding story in syria meanwhile there's a state of emergency in russia's far east as well to swarm a once florsheim region flood levels in the area being all time records there are fears if they rise just one me simle key facilities will be destroyed i don't major hub that story is coming out. here or just some a traitor to others private bradley manning we'll hear his fate on wednesday when a u.s. drone decides what sentence he deserves for spilling all of that secret government data to wiki leaks and those no doubt he will be but the key question is for how

long the details now from his will those outside the court in maryland or. well the judge is now deliberating bradley manning son tends 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 man who spent no less than sixty years in prison for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the anti secrecy website wiki leaks they say and doing so manning betrayed the trust of the united states and of his fellow soldiers but national security at risk and her diplomatic relationships that offends on the other hand urge that 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 intentions when he leaked u.s. secrets that he was he thought that he could spark a national debate possibly by. iraq and afghanistan coons asked the judge to allow manning a chance at life and becoming a productive member of society judge is now and the liberation. of all our t.v. . while could become america's first leader to end up languishing behind bars for the rest of his life the obama administration has

a history of silencing whistleblowers also brings us more on what exactly to do to get what's coming to. 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 comes out of the u.s. uniform code of military justice under article ninety two now of the five charges against a man who was found guilty of storing classified information transferring data on to 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 within 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 as been shocked 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 gunning down a group of civilians in baghdad including two new staff now secret files on but 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. unflawed to 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 to the 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

now 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 that and say thomas drake he was charged with violating the espionage act two when he lead classified documents to the baltimore sun that 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 reporting in moscow. so how bradley manning's actions done not chom to us security holes things that we can make sacks of a stand alone got. 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 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 no was wounded several activists had to be moved around but that was about it. on this almost fifty fifty when it comes to public attitudes to disclosures all season or in a fortnight i want to ask people in the big apple whether they give a thumbs up or down when it comes to his whistleblowing is very important what he did is really important and i don't think he should be punished for doing something that's very american really i was in 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 it's not like a serious thing where you deserve so much jail time did he seems harsh sixty years or so years a long time i mean he obviously had his reasons for doing what he's doing and the

government has their own 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 the sticky situation but sixty years sounds a little harsh i mean you have people who have committed worse crimes against other people being sentenced to last sounds like i mean i would definitely have mixed feelings as well because i see the importance of national security. at the same time revealing work crime is 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 and stab somebody hopefully but i think he could be put to work for communities rather than putting people in prison it's ridiculous. the sentence will be announced later today and we will we'll be

keeping our finger on the pulse of the latest developments from the courthouse at four to me to stay tuned coverage at two pm g.m.t. . he this is such a child in. the car you know you are you still you. and more news coming out for your ultra short break to stay with us.

speak your language. programs in documentaries in arabic it's all here on all t.v. reporting from the world talks about six of the ip interviews intriguing story so you. see arabic to find out more visit arabic don't cheat don't call. this is all see welcome back from small scene chinese spies to fighting terror the

british government's having little trouble justifying its efforts to stomp out the civilians debate but the lengths is going to a causing an outcry joe this is threatening legal action rights groups are incensed and even the usually doso public is taking notice. of appeal. you've had your fun now with starting to return of the documents so the unnamed government official to the newspaper editor it could be the stuff of movies only it isn't we will face difficulty with ultimatum for the british government that if we didn't hand back the material or destroy it they would be to law in recent months the guardian newspaper has come to be known as the paper of 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 publicized 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 salary richards 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 that attention and david miranda part of the guardian journalist and glenn greenwald the journalist who had broken the story of snowden's leaks and the same materials were rounded was detained 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 this sense of 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 can do to fade. 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 the information he's got would endangered the public for the following reasons you've got to have reasons for it no such reasons have been advanced miranda's detention 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 the 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 competent full sources is becoming difficult in these documents there is the stated ambition to scoop up everything and store it all to the internet this is the language that's being used internally to search celia r.t.e. london and we can expire and conference and told him that his organization won't hears ago that it would be the journalists next in firing line. you have been no warning about this for years let me remind you that three years ago when we were under massive attack even under dress threats and the 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 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 whistleblowers 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. just how much of the net is being watched by the n.s.a. may be they have previously been underestimated a new report says the government's powers to intercept communications including those of americans may be far more sweeping than previously thought and speaking to r.c. equus president rafael correa rare who gave asylum to judo and told us that instead of ending this surveillance of its own people the west spends all its energy hunting down supporters a whistle blower's it illegally 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 yes space to prison evil morale is 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 which is that of rejecting surveillance they prosecute those destructive of helping snowden or something must change in the world. always plenty of stories on our website for year including a trickling time bomb before work level of the crippled fukushima nuclear power plant is about to be raised to serious as the operator says contaminated water seeps from one of the tongues but can't even track wade cause. and

desperate times call for desperate desperate measures and examine trying hunting could become a new challenge for your rank as the country's military hopes to bring a new security improving some tricked into the school curriculum. one of the biggest cities in russia's far east as on the verge of literally trying habit of says being swarmed by the was flood it has ever seen and if levels rise by just a myth. some more it could be her and the infrastructure called is in the region bring us the nicest. 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 on the threat of becoming the administrative center of russia's far east and also the second largest city behind but it will stop water levels there have already broken records by 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 all to see one point five million hectares of land submerged under water affecting around one hundred fifty communities and attention is now shifting at least up until now it's being maybe little communities affected by the floods but there's a real concern that the city of cut off is about to be submerged work is on the continuing around the clock twenty four hours a day to fortify the city so you must flood levels continue to rise with the peak 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. wooden levels are finally going down especially in the northern parts of the region right now we're mainly concerned with evacuating people and

a 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 our cold good full of the ladies also heading towards the city that is going to be deployed to the temporary accommodation centers that have been set up around the region to give thinking water and shelter to those who have been displaced but with the water is not such a normalizing till. mid september but could be a curfew move called obey needed over the next few weeks. stay with us for some hated debate cross talk is coming up next.

the news a secret lover a tour to mccurry was able to build a new most sophisticated robot which all unfortunately doesn't give a dollar amount anything tunes mission to teach music creation why it should care about humans and world this is why you should care only on the r g dot com. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture. underwater comedy why she's making news polish face i decide to go.