only on our team. when you say no to the government. they have the ability to take everything. the owner of an encrypted email side is used by n.s.a. leaker edward snowden tells out here about his confrontation with u.s. officials and why he was forced to shut down. forgave the whistleblower bradley manning will request a presidential pardon after being sentenced to thirty five years for leaking america's secrets dance as he reveals he'd like to spend the rest of his life as a woman called chelsea. and live out of prison reports say egypt's deposed leader hosni mubarak has left jail for house arrest despite facing a retrial on charges he ordered the killing of protest. this

is r.t. coming to live from moscow hello and welcome to the program after being implicated in world wide surveillance america appears now to be targeting those who help users protect themselves against the n.s.a. spying is the owner of a secure email service used by whistleblower edward snowden is locked and of court battle with the u.s. government after being forced to shut down and here's a statement that love a bit leveson made two weeks ago when he took his service offline indicated that you are society's demanded information about his customers or else but according to him that would amount to a crime against the american people so he took this service offline instead levison

isn't allowed the to disclose many details because of ongoing court proceedings but he did explain his decision to fire that to my colleague mark reza. if i had continued to operate i felt like it would have put me in a ethically compromising position. in other words the service no longer would have been what i intended it to be which was a secure and private method of communication for americans so you posted a message on line saying that you were in an impossible situation that either you would quote do you hear become complicit in crimes against the american people or walk away from a decade of your hard work what do you think you would have faced if you didn't shut down the service when you say no to the government. they have the ability to take everything they have the ability to take your business take your money and take your freedom and the really isn't all that much you can do about it.

so i was looking at the very real possibility of an impossible debt and possibly being put in jail and still not being able to tell people why i was even in jail you wrote on the line that without congressional action or strong judicial precedent that you would advise people users against trusting a company that has physical ties to the us why is that all of the major providers here in the us. have provided. our government with real time access to the private information of their users and they don't really have a choice about it and they don't really have the ability to tell anybody about. it so the fact is if you trust your data to a company. even if they they haven't already been approached. and

been required to provide access fact is they could be in the future. the british government has also been making an apparent effort to strike back at whistleblowers the partner glenn greenwald who's been publishing surveillance leaks was detained for nine hours and questioned under the terror act on sunday and the guardian newspaper was told to destroy files containing n.s.a. data all this has drawn condemnation across europe germany's human rights chief sad that the detention of david miranda was an acceptable marcus learning things cross the red line because he doesn't think questioning miranda under the terror act was a chance to fight the council of europe it is made while not happy with britain destroying the guardian's files they've written a letter to the u.k. home secretary expressing concern for press freedoms guaranteed under the human rights convention and daniel hogan is director of communication at the council of europe who worked on that letter is joining us now live right now welcome to the

program it's nice to have you on r.t. so the letter said there could be a chilling effect on journalistic freedoms what exactly did you mean by that. well all interventions in the press. interventions in newspapers can potentially have that effect the purpose of this letter was to inquire with the u.k. government how do you see these two actions the detention of the partner of greenwald and also the destruction of the hard drives how do you see this in compatibility with article turn of the human rights convention which is freedom of expression of course what you get official still got the the guardian had to destroy n.s.a. files of a national security concerns what the problem when the government to defend itself we're not refuting that there may be national security concerns. we have road.

reports and the responses from that you can government i think this is simply. a reminder that there is article ten of the convention that press freedom is a very very high value across europe and we apply the same standards to all our member states europe call that many states have been in the spotlight regarding press freedom especially in eastern europe europe has been commenting the situation in hungary recently but also in turkey and other states but i think we have to apply the same standards to all our members and these two actions do pose certain questions we're asking some background information from the u.k. government and i'm pretty sure we will receive a response very soon do you think the british government directly violated the human rights convention signed by the e.u. member states by doing this nobody is suggesting that the letter doesn't make any reference to violations it is simply inquiring how the u.k.

government sees these two actions under its obligations under the convention we know the guardians editing chief said the newspaper has digital copies of that data outside britain do you see the government going after those too. this is really not for me to comment but what i would say is that the letter has some grounds indeed as you would have noticed that the partner of green glenn greenwald has a one temporary injunction before britain's high court protecting his material so there is there is some grounds to our concerns and for us to have written the letter so i think we must protect journalists no matter where they work they're doing some fundamental work for for for democracy across europe but at the same time of course we respect if there are national security concerns and i'm sure

that the u.k. government will respond accordingly. we know david miranda was questioned under the terror act for many many hours and many of thing that his attention under that particular law wasn't justified or do you think. again we need to have the facts and the response from the government to make an assessment of all we are saying and suggesting in that letter is that actions of these tyrants have a chilling effect on freedom of expression but again we are not making a judgment and we do respect member states rights of for right to state secrets and protecting those secrets on our right to danielle holguin director of communications at the council of europe thank you very much indeed for speaking to us now he was toppled during the arab spring and is facing life in prison for allegedly ordering the killing of hundreds of protesters but

egypt's former leader hosni mubarak has been freed from prison now back in court on sunday but will now be preparing for house prissie but those proceedings while under house arrest are true has one. egypt's ousted leader hosni mubarak has left tora prison where he's been held for the last few years to an undisclosed location where he will be under house arrest now he's been put under house arrest despite the fact that he walks free today because the prime minister said yesterday that basically according to emergency law he needs to be under house arrest and we're not sure what will happen to him after that but he is due for his retrial to start again on the twenty fifth of august which is in a few days now the reason that has been allowed to walk free today is because he has served his maximum amount of time that someone can spend in detention without being charged he was sentenced in june last year to guilty for being responsible for the deaths of protesters however the appeals court found that trial to be.

procedural grounds and therefore all the organized the retrial this means that basically the clock turns back to the end of the journey was devised evolution as if he'd never been sentenced and therefore it's almost like he was never tried so he can't keep him in prison any look much longer however he is still facing trudges charges of corruption as well as being involved in the killing of protesters so he will continue his trial but will be kept outside of prison under house arrest differences of egypt military bank's interim leadership are involved in almost constant clashes with supporters of ousted president morsi and cairo based would winning journalist at how could time me says the current situation is so bad the news of mubarak's release has faded into the background. you have the president the democratically elected president in jail but i guarantee there is the case against him and mubarak is going to be released it's kind of everything's been flipped over

the news of his possible release was just a kind of cherry on top for everyone so much has happened so many people have died that mubarak has faded into the background a little for a lot of people when you think that was being tried for which is the death of the protesters in eighteen days and then you compare the fact that a greater number of history died in one day last week it kind of puts things in perspective though for a lot of egyptians. still ahead this hour on l.t. as zero hour contract means zero guarantees over a million brits phrase being left panel is despite having drugs as fans use the economic crisis as an excuse to employ people with no promise of payment. or react with force france wants the international community to take serious action if a location is that the syrian government used chemical gas against civilians are confirmed that after this break.

what defines a country's success. faceless figures of economic growth. or a factual standard of living. dramas that can't be ignored. in the. stories others use to notice. places change the world right now.

take your world today. from around the globe. dr. this is coming to you live from moscow welcome back. whistleblower bradley manning's defense will file a request to the u.s. president to have the former army private pardoned manning has been sentenced to thirty five years behind bars for disclosing the largest amount of classified data in american history meanwhile bradley manning has revealed that he would now like to be known as chelsea manning and live the rest of his life as a woman. is joining us now live from washington d.c. a very interesting new twist gaius so what can you tell us about manning's

announcement and how will it affect the situation around his sentencing. well you know your how it's going to affect the sentencing. it's how it may affect the appeal process and maybe maybe he could be part of we don't know that but upon bradley manning's request we now have to refer to him as chelsea manning he or she also requested but we're going to go with he for a while and then then we'll figure out how we refer to him here in the news but he also requested hormone therapy the army responded to manning's decision to see to see corman therapy with a statement that said the army does not provide hormone therapy or sex reassignment surgery for gender identity disorder the do was be that's united states disciplinary barrett says implemented risk assessment protocols and safety procedures to address high risk factors identified with the prison rape elimination

act that's so the army says no the attorney bradley manning's lawyer says he's going to be working hard to get him on therapy. his attorney also said he does not fear for manning safety in prison and that bradley manning will not ask to live in a female prison he said everyone that's in a military prison is a first time offender these are soldiers who have done something wrong they have gone to prison and are really trying to do their time and then get out that that was the lawyers statement turning also presented an e-mail to a former supervisor from april twenty ten in which he said he was transgender and joined the army to quote unquote to get rid of it in the e-mail which had the subject line my problem also included. a photo of manning in which

he is wearing a blonde wig and lipstick during the mending is nine months detainment in. quantico virginia following his arrest in two thousand and ten he sent two letters to his counselor using the name briana. and then he apparently went for for chelsea non the less so in recent weeks the court in court the soldier's defense team tried to show that he's judgement was impaired by his fragile emotional state as he struggled with his gender identity in an unforgiving military culture and now that we know the sentence now after the sentencing and manning's lawyer says to stress however that he was under was mostly to give context to what was going on at the time it was never an excuse it was never an excuse he said because. because that's not what drove his actions what drove his actions was a strong moral compass and bradley manning supporters say he's sentenced to thirty

five years in prison is unjust and unfair after all many who committed murder got away with less than thirty five years and bradley manning has received a prison sentence that was ten years longer than the period period of time after which many of the documents he released would have been automatically declassified bradley manning and his defense are submitting the request for a pardon the president of the united states has of course the power to pardon him but bradley manning also has supporters who were somewhat relieved by by the sentence at least is not going to spend the rest of his life in prison as prosecutors wanted the lawyers said he expects bradley manning to be released on parole in seven years. there is hardly any chance president obama will pardon him really especially in the current environment of the government's crackdown on whistleblowers. right now she's going to live in washington d.c. is going to thank you very much. manning could be released on provable but no

earlier than twenty twenty one is going to said activists across the globe continue to hold demonstrations in support of the whistleblower and campaigner peter tatchell sees no justice in this five year prison sentence it is quite extraordinary that bradley manning has got thirty five years for telling the truth and exposing us war crimes lies and cover ups while the people who committed these criminal acts have walked away scot free they have never ever been prosecuted it is a notable fact that president obama has chased and prosecuted more whistle blows but even right wing republicans like richard nixon and ronald reagan that is a pretty damning indictment of president obama and his democratic administration whistleblowers are not criminals they are the canaries in the mine who warn us

about danger they warn us about untruths about reality that people in power don't want us to know whistleblowers are central to the. and of course you want and i want to you think about this story on r.t. dot com we're asking you what effect a bradley manning sentence could have and so far the majority of you say whistleblowers will not be scared away about fifteen percent of you think that. that the sentence will spark a major backlash and lead to even more leaks and unless a public outcry could lead to the sentence being reduced while not many believe manning's example will stop others from blowing the whistle have your say log on to r.t. dot com and take part in our live poll. right to see. were struck. and i think.

on our reporters. russia's calling for a fair and professional investigation into an alleged mosque chemical attack near damascus moscow also denies earlier pools that had bloke's a u.n. statement on the he said toxic weapons in syria let's not get moles on all season exceed a chef ski he's joining us now live and it's a nice to see you international tensions are brewing over these latest allegations of chemical attacks in syria can you tell us more. yes indeed it's another brick in this block of the conflict of syria which has been happening for almost two years now and obviously this is another case when russia stands firmly that proper a thorough and professional investigation needs to be made into the claims which

appeared on wednesday that coming from the syrian rebels that the government forces used chemical attack on the people and the rebels have been claiming that at least thirteen hundred people were killed as a result of that attack now according to a spokesperson of the russian foreign ministry none of these sides in the conflict has the real information the truth and any substantial information on what exactly happened in syria if anything happened at all because all of these reports all of the claims have been coming basically judge basically on the on the reports of several arabic channels and a local media as well so russia needs to investigate that now obviously there have been claims as well that after emergency meeting of the un security council on wednesday following the claims about the chemical attack russia blocked a u.n. security council statement now mr luker show which also denounced denounced all

such allegations and moreover with calls from france to conduct the use of force to intervene with force should these allegations prove to be correct russia also said that through the spokesperson of the foreign minister on wednesday that. there are suspicions and there are certain reports that a rocket which was carrying talks tickle substances and landed in a part of damascus was in fact fired from the part of damascus controlled by the syrian rebels so it definitely according to the russian foreign ministry all this all this speculation is hampering the peace process. in particular the geneva conference which was agreed upon in moscow between john kerry and sergey lavrov and obviously we'll see some more developments into this story in the new year is days . a line from central moscow and say thank you very much your

inspectors already have the mission to axes this science of previous alleged chemical attacks to expand their mandate and investigate wednesday's assault they'll have to get new approval from the syrian government and as antiwar and civil rights activists brian becker explains the timing of that time suggests it's highly unlikely assad is behind it completely root ludicrous that the syrian government would use chemical weapons at the very moment that the un is a launching its investigation about chemical weapons and especially since the syrian government has its advantage but none of it matters what really matters is what the intention is of the white house and their their friends in london in terms of escalating their own intervention and i think the big goal of the of those who carry out the stage provocation is to disrupt any sort of negotiations that could lead to a positive outcome for the existing syrian government meaning that the forces of

the civil war had not succeeded in this lodging the assad government that's their plan because they know without western intervention without escalated foreign intervention there is no possible way they can succeed on the syrian battlefield they don't have the popular support in syria and they don't have the military where with all to defeat the syrian government. and if you missed something on screen a mouse click we'll take you to our website on the dot com and here's what we have there for you today a huge blaze has destroyed hundreds of pictures of spain's island of my old grandpa's falls dozens of to flee. fire breathing footage are now in motion page. ten straight to our you tube channel russian style holidays just imagine relaxing and sunbathing on this sunday in the russia's western city of colleen grad one this one phoebe a small start of a whole a craft descends to head the decides to hit the beach too so we're all about surprises at you tube slash artsy. desperate for any kind of job

low paid workers in the u.k. are being caught in the trap what's become known as our contracts. looks at world where an employment doesn't mean there's any work or any money. you have a job but you don't know when you'll work or if you'll be paid that's the reality for a million brits employed on zero hours contracts donald has admitted that it employs ninety percent of its u.k. workforce in this way stuff are expected to be ready for work in the mornings in case the summoned by their boss says they also have the right to refuse crucially though there's no guaranteed minimum set of working hours per week hence the zero and that's why this man in his twenty's is almost zero hours contract with a well known restaurant chain every morning he waits for the call telling him whether or not he'll have work really in charge as it were you working there to be

able to. make that much profit this week so actually we're trying to stuff as we can you guys can all be cut and we'll just do and three stuff this week is complete and for the government has promised to investigate the controversial employment amidst concerns that leaving an increasing number of brits in financial limbo with few rights low pay and no stability or no guarantee of other jobs or wasn't making enough money to pay the rent has fallen the number of zero hours contracts is short top during the recession some economists forecasts that employers will return to hiring workers on better terms when the economy recovers the trade unions buying it in recent months and years we have start to see a growth of. particularly amongst public sector workers no longer are these small groups of workers who are employed on temporary employment now in some sights is this type of abusive employer my life as it is becoming the norm macdonald sports

direct dominoes and even buckingham palace zero hours employers they've been accused of exploiting people desperate for any kind of work is part of the race to drive down the thames and conditions the pay. of all working people of course from a big business use in the us they're in measures in the government economic crisis as an excuse to use these contracts but business representatives say that the financial crisis is forcing companies to use zero hours contracts so those people who criticize your hours contracts have got to recognize the impact that that would have on unemployment levels it's actually the flexibility as offers wasn't available to employers i don't think it would be acting as the kind of employment stabilizer we're seeing it work out but terms of these contracts may suit the bosses but many of the young people on them say that while they're on the zero hours they've got zero chance of any financial stability i think they're the wrong

no i think they should so i think they should shouldn't be less extreme than they are because it was it doesn't happen that you don't have zero hours and you can sort of expect that at some point you made. arty london. for some news making headlines around the world and here to see now are the most recent pictures of a space walk under way outside the international space station and russian cosmonauts you chicken and was are trying to add a new optical a camera there this is the fourth of six outings plans this year for the russian team they recently world the country's record along with space walk but it doesn't always go as planned it time to astronauts from its hano now an escape drying up so mostly leaks into his helmet during an outing back in july. the french capital was involved in smoke entre fire not far from the eiffel tower one hundred firefighters were called into battle the blaze near the historic hotel condé police say it was sparked by a nearby motorcycle accident the flames left

a two kilometer high column of smoke honey over the coming hours after it was for towers. a storage tank has leaked three hundred tons of contaminated. into the ground at japan's fukushima nuclear plant find workers are currently inspecting hundreds of other storage tanks that tepco the company leading cleanup operations has warned the toxic liquid may have already reached the ocean japan's nuclear watchdog has clustered as the most serious crisis to he'd be devastated area says the post tsunami meltdown in twenty eleven. and after the break it's our special report. they see geopolitics is a lot like a schoolyard and what obama.