breaking news this. private bradley manning has been sentenced to thirty five years in prison after he was found guilty of handing america's secrets to wiki leaks. russia says an alleged major chemical attack near damascus looks like a provocation time to coincide with a visit by u.n. inspectors to syria and pending peace talks in geneva. also reporting that a former egyptian president hosni mubarak will be set free after a court ordered his release despite a pending retrial over his involvement in mass killings during the two thousand and eleven revolution the top stories.

international news and comments from our studio center here in moscow it's just ten pm this is. breaking news. bradley manning has been sentenced to thirty five years behind bars the former army private who leaked thousands of classified u.s. documents to wiki leaks we'll also be dishonorably discharged manning's defense is planning to call on president barack obama to release an ati producer andrew blake was in the courtroom. well denise lynn just handed down a sentence of only thirty five years and i say only because private manning came into this case looking at potentially a life a life sentence he would have faced life had he been found guilty of aiding the enemy and then when the conviction was finally handed down a few weeks ago he was downgraded to a potential maximum sentence of only ninety years so thirty five years is really much less than a lot of people had expected and even the prosecution asked the court for

a minimum of sixty three years ago that he was first picked up outside of baghdad iraq he was deployed as an intelligence analyst at the u.s. army and he was arrested and charged with a number of crowds related to his admitted role with the anti-secrecy website wiki leaks manning earlier this year actually admitted yes over the course of a couple of months i uploaded and shared all sorts of files that were diplomatic state department cables guantanamo bay detainee assessment briefs documents from the afghan war the iraq war manning did all this he said because he wanted to lift the fog of war he wanted people to actually see how the u.s. people is behaving overseas and his revelations really did spark a lot of debate which is exactly what he wanted of originally he said that he made these disclosures so that people can make informed decisions recently he also said you know maybe i took the wrong route he made a statement in court last week and said i there were other ways i could have done this perhaps you know who am i to think that a junior intelligence analyst could really change the world later on in the defense will begin the appeals process they plan on petitioning president obama to pardon

p.f.c. manning and we'll have a little bit more details on that later in the day following a press conference this afternoon. when the name i continue to shop of one of the aunties news editor of the court in corresponding discussed the plight of manning and we're also joined by michael cohen he's president and general counsel for the national whistleblower center and also leader of the power of party in the u.k. laws ok. this is a leak of classified information and very upset with my government having charged him with espionage is over reaching it's trying to clamp down on a society society saying if you try to release information we're going to go after it was hard as we can and instead of doing a balancing test and looking at the nation's right to freedom of speech in the first amendment versus the government's legitimate need to protect it do you view his relationship with wiki leaks as a mistake in that respect do you see him as

a principled whistleblower who simply made the wrong call choosing the wrong publisher of the wrong platform. absolutely it was new on the blog no one under stood exactly what it was or how it was going to fully respond to information that was. gone through congress he would not be sitting in a jail cell. and that is a great shame the leaks themselves i mean there's a it's been described by critics at least within that within the u.s. government at the moment that there isn't a sort of a push towards overclassifying information i mean in the year two thousand and eleven this is long after manning was done in the custody of the u.s. classified ninety two million documents so that sort of makes that very difficult to decide you know where that fine line should be drawn and the other issue that we should keep in mind is of course that bradley manning at least according to his own statements he did try to approach the new york times the washington post with the leaks initially before going to wiki leaks he was rejected and so he felt at that time that we could leaks was his only options definitely several issues to consider

here overclassification being one of them and then of course it's not just the military guys that we're going after here there's also been a push to essentially make it more difficult for journalists to push this government. does the pursuit of mining send to whistle blowers in the u.s. do you think let's face it this is decades in prison bradley manning is facing decades in prison this is a devastating blow for him of course but of course all of us who have supported the work of whistleblowers and supported the importance of actually protecting the work of whistleblowers let's not forget that that was the reason why bradley manning did what he did it was very he was very clear about it it was about holding power to account this is an attempt to actually put a chilling effect on the work of journalists and to intimidate sources but

nevertheless i think what we've seen recently is that actually people are not willing to be intimidated. former m i six agent an emotion i spoke to a little earlier she believes we still blows like manning should have some way of safely leaking the truth. the response has been disproportionate so for example in the u.k. if you blow the whistle on the military and intelligence agencies you face two years in prison even if you betray your country to a foreign hostile power you face fourteen years in prison and yet he's facing thirty five years in prison for exposing the crimes of others which have yet to be investigated by the way so it's the disproportionality that is troubling i have to say as well that i think there is a crying need as our countries get more and more involved militarily and with drone strikes and with extraordinary and titian and with torture and with cia kill list there is a crying need now for some sort of avenue to be provided for young men and young

women of conscience to come forward and say we are troubled by this we would like an investigation have to risk that the rest of their lives being locked up in a maximum security prison by doing that because they are actually providing a service to our democracies. and in this case a spot intense debate within the u.s. as well as internationally what is going to try to come report on whether americans see the whistleblower as enemy or hero. among bradley manning supporters we hear outrage on the one side thirty five years murderers get more leniency and some sort of a relief on the other side he will not spend his whole life in prison but he will certainly be robbed of his youth as his lawyer put it many people support bradley manning not just as an individual but because they support the public's right to know they don't necessarily support the fact that he broke the law but they realize that there are things that would have never been exposed never been debated had it not been for bradley manning now generally speaking americans don't care that much when it's about their government's wrongdoings abroad to take care

a bit more about domestic policies possibly that's why you don't see a huge percentage of support for manning in opinion polls but bradley manning may have actually gained more support in the wake of edward snowden's revelations more and more people are starting to realize that the government will always be trying to sweep controversial issues under the rug u.s. troops may have never left iraq had the iraqi government granted them immunity from prosecution something that the obama administration is trying to negotiate around the same time bradley manning leaked all those are opening files president obama would have not announced a review of n.s.a. surveillance programs if it weren't for edward snowden whether an out that review is just a symbolic gesture is a question worth asking but still we wouldn't be having this conversation if it weren't for the leaks and if he's been following bradley manning's trial closely a web site or two dot com is keeping you up to date where you'll find the latest analysis and opinion on this case. russia has suggested

allegations that the syrian government launched some massive chemical attack near damascus could be a deliberate provocation there are conflicting reports about the alleged assault some say dozens maybe even hundreds of people were killed well syrian officials deny and the involvement well let's get to the latest on all of this now from the commissioner who joins me live from moscow to tell us about moscow suspicions and really over what allegedly happened. just outside damascus today. moscow has several points of contention when it comes to to the allegations coming out from the opposition forces first of all moscow said that the timing as well as the nature of these statements is highly suspicious it's not the first time that such statements are coming from the opposition or the rebels response when a un investigation mission is on the grounds of moscow said that they have as a matter of fact launched their own investigative action into this matter but of course they're hoping that to the rest of the international community will also

pick up a place and a closer look at these allegations and also the russian minister of foreign affairs said that indeed early on wednesday a rocket has been fired but from the territories which are under control all these treatments and the rocket is very similar to the one which was fired some time ago again by the extremists with the chemical of unknown nature so these are several issues that russia has with the state visit also saying that the way a dad to the opposition minded media in syria has picked up on this story is also indicative albeit that this is a carefully this is a carefully planned. a ruse in order to provoke a some sort of investigation and reaction to words the president also a dead horse that calls for international decisions were also voiced by london the united kingdom has also called for a u.n. security council's involvement in the for examination of these claims of possible

chemical usage in syria but it is important to go to noted that the head of the u.n. the u.n. investigative mission which has just landed in syria on wednesday has already called these are statements coming from a weak opposition highly suspicious as well as isabella other people who have been following the events in syria over the past several several years but you shouldn't . and i'm going to moscow thanks very much indeed for that update. allegations of this attack came shortly after u.n. inspectors arrived in syria as arena was saying to look at earlier claims of chemical weapons used by both sides ortiz correspondent in the region paul asli it takes a detailed look at current and previous accusations. 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 a test 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 norse are a front which are fighters that are affiliated with al qaida 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 of a possible symptoms of the attacks in syria the origin of this footage however is verified and that point needs to be made that no one knows where it was filmed or who filmed it we are trying to get more details at this stage from the area we have been speaking with local residents who complain that there was fighting 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 or beer

now suddenly arabia has its own agenda inside syria its antique the syrian president assad and therefore any kind of reports of the use of chemical weapons we must take this into consideration reports have been vehemently demarc 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 be arab league says that the incident 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. 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 kabul. 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 size has said that it has received up to thirteen reports of chemical weapons used in syria the one from the damascus government of the race 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 gas 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 for some clear. political analysts petry and then believes even if the attack did take place it's too early to point the finger at the syrian government. of course if we look at the history of this particular region the region where the attack it's 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's a track record there the evidence unfortunately does not stack up with these present claims of the syrian government perpetrating these attacks who benefits from a chemical attack in syria well 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.

libya is a little 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. over the course of the civil war the syrian opposition has repeatedly accused the regime of mass atrocities and chemical attacks many such claims coincided with major political events and diplomatic efforts and in most cases the number of victims proved to be exaggerated but here are just a few examples for you in july twenty twelve as the u.n. discussed a possible intervention in syria the rebels announced a civilian massacre interim say carried out by the government well that later proved to be false by a u.n. observer mission to the town in august just days before u.n. security council meeting the massacre once more assad was blamed but it was later found that the rebels were most likely the perpetrators in december as russia the

u.s. and the u.n. met to discuss a peace plan the west accused of arming chemical weapons for imminent use well that arsenal was not used later in december as u.n. peace envoy lakhdar brahimi met with in damascus the rebels alleged another civilian massacre after an airstrike on a bakery after an initial media frenzy it was later reported that all the people were opposition fighters killed in that battle and in april this year the rebels reportedly provided the u.s. and britain with proof that assad had used chemical weapons now that was seized upon by the west to funnel arms to the opposition while a u.n. independent investigation found it was most likely the rebels behind the chemical attack. well we'll be back after a short break with more news including. the base surveillance getting publications journalists and even their partners report on the media's

reaction.

down in the final. days. and the rest. will be. coming up to twenty minutes past the russian capital news continues here on r.t. the former egyptian president hosni mubarak ousted from power and the revolution of two thousand and eleven could be freed from prison as early as tomorrow a court has ordered his release as part of a case into allegations of corruption but still faces a retrial of the claims he ordered the killing of protesters two years ago reports now from current. this is actually a legal decision grounded on proper law even though it seems quite ironic that two and a half years after this revelation people are calling for. ouster and wanted him to

be in jail he could be seen walking on the streets in the next forty eight hours basically hosni mubarak has been in detention in prison now for the next month the time someone can be detained without charge now because we're seeing a retrial that means essentially the clock is being turned right back to two thousand and eleven before he started any of these trials so it's almost like he'd never been sentenced in the first place because he's already been in detention for several years they now can't keep him in the pool he's actually sentenced to death you know with he has been in jail obviously because they've been other charges against him knew a charges in regards to to corruption now that he's been acquitted if they're used there's no reason to keep him in jail however he still have forty hours left for the prosecutor to basically appeal the decision to release him if they decide that he should be released that he will remain in jail that almost see you know how long they'll keep him as the trial goes forward the reaction in the streets is being brought largely makes people here a kind of reeling from the situation in the last few days because basically when

the bloodiest weeks in egypt in modern history in the fighting between mostly supporters and security forces. by that the fun of hosni mubarak could be free to the same time is almost too much for some revolutionaries here he is speaking to me and told me that what was the point of coming out of the streets two years ago what has been the point of fighting for justice and freedom and bread in the last two and a half years is the very person they started by to get is to be walking free we will see what happens as his trial is set to restart again on the twenty fifth of august at the same time as many other leading muslim brotherhood figures will also stand trial and some ironic that these two that figure is it because it means you could be facing trial at the same time but largely on the streets people are pretty upset that this much hated figure could be seen to be walking home in twenty forty hours with details of the. all those stories can be easily found on our website r.t. dot com also that right now trickling toyman bomb threat level of the crippled fukushima nuclear power plant is about to be raised to serious as the operator says

contaminated water seeping from one of the tanks they can't even track where it's going. to speed prepared and examined drone hunting could become a new challenge for iranian peoples as the country's military hopes to put a new security improving subject on the school curriculum those stories and others . the british newspaper that broke america's mass surveillance was forced to destroy followers provided by edward snowden as explained why it gave in to government pressure the guardian editor said authorities threatened legal action to stop the paper from reporting the n.s.a. leaks all together and chose to destroy documents which had been copied anyway or. reports. you've had your fun now it's time to return in the documents so the unnamed government official to the newspaper editor it could be the stuff of movies oh 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. 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 work 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 of god 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 salary 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 a. 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. 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 glenn greenwald the journalist who had broken the story of snowden's leaks and is a materials randall was detained under the new case 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's 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 the permission he's got would endangered the

public for the following reasons you've got to have reasons for no such reasons have been advanced miranda's 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 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 russell religious revelations especially considering that press freedom appears to be at stake the business of reporting securely and having companies. well sources is becoming difficult in these documents there is the stated ambition to scoop up everything and store it all and to master the internet this is the language that's

being used internally it does syria syria r t london. one of the russian far east biggest cities is braced for mass evacuations with floods expected to break records levels the deluge in the region caused by heavy rains earlier this month that left more than one hundred towns and villages submerged tens of thousands of people were forced to flee from their homes in search of shelter ati's crew has been following the emergency operation which is now advancing to the east according to forecasts the flood has not reached its peak regional capital and most of its infrastructure could be left under water of these pools scott has the latest. authorities here 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 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 flood just all to 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 being maybe rural communities affected by the floods but there's a real concern that the city of kabul is about to be so blood work is on the continuing around the clock twenty four hours a day to pull it up by the city was flooded levels continue to rise with the peak expected in the next twenty four hours now the deputy to the minister of defense 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 good full of the hate is 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 hug him drinking water and shelter to those who have been displaced but with the water is not such a normalizing till mid september it could be a few more cold go all they needed over the next few weeks. further upstream along the amir river in various parts of china severe flooding in a typhoon is claimed over two hundred lines of one hundred still missing while more than eight hundred thousand people in the worst hit areas have been evacuated to safety more downpours are expected within the next twenty four hours and a growing number of rescue troops are being deployed to the flood it runs. off the

life here in moscow coming up we explore the fate of small scale farming and be left to starve that's coming your way shortly and i'll be back with the news team with more news for you in just over thirty minutes from. right see. first street. and not a good thing.