with the top headlines of the week today. syria's government with. the authorities in damascus hundreds of people on wednesday meanwhile ministration has warned against a u.s. led intervention. middle east. following the latest developments i should say. well it appears that the u.s. is no longer just using words to address the ongoing syrian crisis plans of possible military action are now being deliberated now despite the fact that the unconfirmed reports made by the syrian rebels have not been verified president

obama has called recent allegations of chemical weapons being used by the syrian government a big event of grave concern now white house official says that the u.s. has a range of options and that the obama administration is going to act very deliberately in making decisions consistent with u.s. national security interests and how washington can advance its objectives in syria meantime on friday the u.s. navy had repositioned ship armed with missiles in the mediterranean u.s. defense secretary chuck hagel said obama has already asked the pentagon for options are in syria according to c.b.s. news potential targets include command bunkers and launchers used to fire chemical weapons now up until this point the u.s. leader has been very cautious over intervening in syria previously saying quote the u.s. should be wary of being drawn into very expensive difficult costly interventions that actually breed more resentment in the region unquote however one year ago

obama also said that chemical weapons used in syria would be a red line for the united states and now he is under pressure growing pressure to act u.s. officials have acknowledged that there is no conclusive evidence linking syrian president bashar al assad to this week's alleged chemical attacks nonetheless a state department spokesperson has also said that washington doesn't believe the rebels are capable of carrying out a chemical attack so logically this would lead one to think that the white house has already found the syrian government guilty of the alleged chemical weapons being used in syria now the media has also played a significant role in recent days with many west. thing very sad and shocking video of dead victims in syria while reporting that the assumption is that the syrian government is behind the mass killing. and while the u.n. inspectors have yet to determine whether chemicals have been used and if so who

used to still be no clarity over the number of casualties either in fact michael maloof a former senior security policy analyst in the office of the u.s. secretary of defense he says investigating the alleged attack will be a tough task for inspectors. the syrian government has actually called upon the un to investigate but they cannot. open up areas that are under the opposition control they can certainly. ask that the u.n. come in and look at whatever documentation they might have but so i think that this is a very serious development and what's happening is that there are regular media is just assuming that it's the it's the syrian government when in fact they're being fed information from the opposition so i think everyone has to be very careful and certainly policymakers need to be very careful before they take any action it's going to be very very difficult to really get to the bottom of this latest episode

and here it out here we've been closely following the latest escalation of the syrian crisis a line that i thought called loads of updates and extensive analysis for you just a click away so if you join us right there for it. for the meantime here on our team this week the british newspaper which spilled the beans on the n.s.a. was in turn forced to destroy the materials provided by edward snowden when it came clean on why it gave in to government pressure the got the guardian editor said london threatened legal action to stop the paper from reporting that sensitive leaks all together so they agreed to destroy the original data which had nevertheless already been copied details now with these tests rossley. you've had your fun now it's time to return the documents said the unnamed government official today newspaper editor it could be the stuff of movies only it isn't we will face the victory with an ultimatum from 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 that's been exposing secret material from a trove of information passed on to wit by former contractor of the national security agency edward snowden but in recent days the editor of the newspaper is also a 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 and computers which contained the very information the paper has been exposing a bizarre turn of events salaries 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 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 that attention of david miranda partner of the guardian journalist glenn greenwald the journalist who had broken the story of snowden's leaks and the same materials around it 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 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 can do if they were. 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 has one of britain's most respected newspapers in the spotlight the story teller has become this story this is a very damaging moment actually for britain's reputation for free speech being laid bare the way that the british state is very prepared to use terrorism legislation to use accusations of terrorism in order to shut down what looks to be journalistic practice good healthy investigative journalism with some of pointed to be noticeably lackluster response from the country's other newspapers following his revelations especially considering that press appears to be at stake the business of reporting securely and having competent full 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

desart celia r.t. london now across in the united states independent online resources are coming under way nude pressure to hand over user data to the n.s.a. my colleague spoke with the founder of an encrypted private messaging service who wants to move its website offshore to try and protect privacy what's happened is the spies have turned the companies like apple and google into spies themselves i think the whole n.s.a. spying has had a seriously. negative impact on the trust and faith people have in the political and legal system in the united states at this point i think that people are looking at moving themselves their assets and their information offshore. one of your previous interviews you had said that you feel the u.s. could turn into electronic prison can you elaborate on a little bit well if everybody is watching everything that you do and you don't know where that information is going there's no recourse in terms of what happens

with the information there's no recourse in terms of. how you can remedy things you know for example the no fly list there's no way you don't even know you're on and so you go to the airport and they say you can't fly and there's no way to get yourself off of it and you don't know what got you want in the first place so you know that's just for flying now we start talking about the electronic surveillance it's becoming a serious problem for a lot of people lot of people are now starting to realize that the terrorists aren't the people they're after it's the people who are just ordinary people paying taxes and doing their jobs president obama has said some privacy could be breached in order to provide security where do you think privacy rights are headed in the u.s. where they're headed in the u.s. i don't think they exist anymore in the u.s. that's what i'm hearing from our customers they are you know they understand that there's been it's not just a privacy breach it's like the whole dike has to spin completely excavated the oceans been pouring in and i'm staying with the u.s.

convicted whistleblower bradley manning who post proof of american war crimes to wiki leaks is now seeking a pardon from the white house manning was sentenced to thirty five years in jail this week for the biggest leak of military data in history and a letter addressed to barack obama that was a blow to stressed he's a patriot who acted to protect the very liberties that americans hold dear but the mainstream media has launched a fresh smear campaign against him as a tease guy nature can reports. bradley manning sentence of thirty five years behind bars has said unimpressive dennet punishment threshold for whistleblowers bradley manning should be walking the streets and being treated for who he is a whistleblower who exposed war crimes in iraq afghanistan secret war in yemen and the other corruption of the governments the us supported bradley manning supporters gathered outside the white house to call for the president to pardon the whistleblower the supporters of bradley manning say what's at stake here is not just men and the troops but also the future of journalism and the public's right to

be informed on the actions that their government is taking on their behalf manning's defense team has submitted a request for a pardon but there seems to be little chance that it will be granted with the government's ongoing crackdown on whistleblowers under the current administration and unauthorized leaks to the media of classified information is viewed as being tantamount to aiding the enemy. the government wide crackdown on whistleblowers and the extension of this crackdown to journalists threatens to stifle the flow of information that is vital to our public but the media in the us has largely failed to stand up for bradley manning government officials and t.v. pundits all but convicted the whistleblower even before any trial took place who cares whether the army killed some innocent people or not over in iraq really no we don't want to we don't want to be a part of that we it's very uncomfortable so if it's a complex issue and it's uncomfortable americans generally will pull back from it

allows the media to fill that gap and portray bradley manning as a traitor manning's own personality has grabbed more headlines than the shoes that he uncovered and the day after sentencing manning's six became the main story who is healthy this week bradley manning announced that he wants to spend the rest of his life as a female and asked to be referred to as chelsea manning one of the defense i. at trial testified that manning has narcissistic tendencies and i wonder if there's anything to that in the sense that she's now saying this in this very big public way no i think this is really trying to let people have the answer that they wanted she never really wanted this to be public to begin with and when the information came out you need to understand that she gave it to her in a limo in a very private setting in a one on one chat never expecting this to be public now that it is unfortunately

you have to deal with it in a public manner chelsea manning's attorney also said his client never wanted personal issues to become the main story and overshadow the debate that the whistleblower wanted to start through the leaks in washington i'm going to. and i will exact. one of those complaining in support of bradley manning he says the whistleblower deserves the nobel peace prize a view shared by more than one hundred thousand of them. broke obama for example campaigned in two thousand and they 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. it's good to have you with us here and still to come your way after a very short break. the entire house is completely submerged and it's clear looking around this going to take a lot of time money and efforts before this place returns to normal and we assess just how bad things have become for those living in the far east in the city of so much as the crews remain on high alert made warnings the worst of the record flooding is yet to come. plus even a thousand pound dead can now for some brits into selling their own homes those details ahead for you with the rest of the week's top headlines.

exactly what happened i don't. build. years later is when i got arrested. for a crime i did not do. we have numerous cases where police officers lie about polygraph results. innocent people to confess to police officers don't beat people anymore i mean it just doesn't happen really. in the course of interrogation why because there's been this is like no because the psychological techniques are more effective in obtaining confessions than physical abuse they were taking they could get what they wanted they can say what they wanted and there was no evidence of what they did or what they said.

well the top stories of today and of the week being highlighted today with the weekly on r t a disastrous flooding in russia's far east has affected the livelihoods of more than eighty five thousand people and the water levels keep on rising emergency crews are working around the clock to fortify the city of how bad off gets the worst hit area right now artie's paul scott's been there for almost two weeks you filed this report. like this is marina a resident of bolshoi risky island and this is marina's house water waist high the entire ground floor resembling a cesspit rather than

a home now it's only when you enter the properties that you see the extent of the damage that these floodwaters have caused now despite marinas best attempts to try and keep many of her treasured possessions out of the water it was simply in vain the entire house is completely submerged and it's clear looking around this going to take a lot of time money and effort before this place returns to normal marina is one of hundreds in this region to have been evacuated in recent days by russia's emergency services she can take everything with her and doesn't know when she'll be able to return for now she'll stay with friends. who have been crying all week we've lost all our property and that's after we've renovated hundred wallpaper a place new carpets although some hardy souls remain predominantly this village is like a ghost town but despite the chaos there are resilient attempts to carry on as normal

the shop remains open although when we visited business was slow. many of those evacuated from their homes and up in temporary accommodation centers in schools and sports holes or thirty's and volunteers providing supplies such as food drinking water and medicine that some rest bites for those who have lost everything just get the policy it's good that aid is going to come there is good they do have there but he needed to stay here they face patel te's greet the treat us like the children although the situation in the how about oscar region remains critical for the west there's hope the worst is over in the region attention is now turning to the cleanup operation just as. the situation is changing and we're going to regroup our forces people now come from the neighboring more region for planes arrive here every day but now water levels in some parts of this region have already beaten records that have stood for more than one hundred and twenty years not of six

hundred and forty two centimeters and the fear is that as the rains continue that could push the eight meter barrier causing even more devastation and destruction to people's lives and homes the military and emergency services continue to work around the clock to reinforce how about ask concern the defenses could be breached by water that at the moment shows no signs of receding and with flood levels not expected to eight until mid september the true extent of the damage is yet to reveal itself and it could be some time yet before the full picture emerges postcards. about oscar. all right on air and online twenty four seven here's what we're covering at r.t. dot com for you this hour point friendly supporters of the controversial cyber currency gathering in when you can find out how it's all been going down so far. plus thousands take to the streets in bahrain demanding democratic reforms we've got the footage plus the timeline all that just

a click away on our web site right now. for the meantime here on the program egypt's former president hosni mubarak released from prison this day after an appeal against his detention it's seen by many in the nation as a rollback on the changes that flowed from the arab spring mubarak is still facing a retrial of charges of complicity in the killing of almost nine hundred protesters during the twenty year eleven uprising. politicians say his release could escalate tensions even further there's been nonstop protests and bloodshed in the country since july the top of the country's first democratically elected president mohamed morsi pro-democracy activist mohamed believes the interim military backed government is full of mubarak supporters and is now swept morsy aside to free their exports from prison. comes a tool no surprise that mubarak was released at the end of the day it was sisi and

the military junta releasing the books and it's the judges the corrupt judges are releasing the one person and the the head of the state that people went out on the twenty fifth of january but listen to talk of what we're seeing now is not only the return of the mubarak regime it's actually the return of head of the mubarak regime as well egyptians went out on the twenty fifth of january revolution we wanted a free country and we wanted the judiciary to actually be that that represents the people not the one that was appointed by mubarak it's it comes as no surprise that told those who oppose where appointed by mubarak are the ones that actually got him released from prison. well time here on the program i will start with tunisia where thousands of people have rallied in the capital calling for the resignation of the islamist led government a coalition of opposition parties staged other mass protests demanding new elections be held demonstrate to say the tide of the inability of authorities to

maintain security and restart the economy and the ongoing unrest which erupted in july it was spotted by the assassination of a left wing opposition politician. a state of emergency has been declared in the u.s. state of california after a raging wildfire swept into yosemite national park the blaze doubled in size overnight and forced the city of san francisco to shut down some power lines but the wildfires have also led to the evacuation of hundreds of people from a nearby town officials report that only five percent of the blaze is being contained to serve. now here on the program more than half a million brits could be losing their homes over a debt as small as a thousand pounds and that new regulation applies to people's unsecured loans as poorly both reports. frankie's ran up several thousand pounds worth of credit card bills that he can't pay off and because of new laws he could lose his home as

a result new regulations state that an individual needs to own just a thousand pounds on their credit card or personal loans for a lender to force them to sell their home through court nobody asked me or twisted mile for somebody to take out the credit write that small doing until i like but the word unsecured was attached to it secured borrowing is borrowing that it isn't attached to anything initially you're not at risk of losing anything if you don't reply but after government you tan all that changed a charging order is a way for a lender to secure a debt from a credit card or a personal loan against an individual's house back in two thousand and ten the coalition government promised to make the threshold for charging orders over twenty five thousand pounds but they change their minds which means that frank who is now being pursued by the by and can face is losing his house over a debt of six thousand pounds we wanted bout threshold set at twenty five thousand

pounds if we want it back extra layer of consumer protection the government has made it easier for lenders to get charging orders frankie says he feels angry about the coalition's change of heart the situation should never of come to me unsecured means unsecured. but it's not like they will secure the property when i didn't sign for a secured loan he's not alone persons office of fair trading has already warned major banks over threatening to force debtors to sell their homes over debts of just over a thousand pounds but the justice ministry says that by introducing the threshold they're actually helping protect debt as people having to sell their house to pay off debts should always be a last resort we want it to stay that way which is why we've introduced a minimum threshold on charging orders that provides appropriate protection to creditors and debt is one ensuring that even fewer people have to sell their homes but house prices in the u.k. are on the rise and debt charities are predicting a surge in charging which is it's very disappointing that they produce that

threshold because that one thousand pounds is an incredibly low sum of money to i want to own a credit card or personal life and we don't think it should ever be the case anyone is it is a danger of losing their home over such a small sum frank he says he can't afford to pay back his debts how does that make you feel the need for losing your. how do you think it makes me feel mean i feel for really sick and more war through was a really sick over it it's something in the good times we took pride in being and the bad sourness we've struggled very very holds this extra pressure financial pressure is causing a rift between. our relationships were strong and. lost and with his court date penciled in for september it's beginning to hit home to frankie could lose the house he's lived in for over twenty years. r.t.

london or up next one r.t. johnny lord the five over link wish weapons the documentary justice. they say geo politics is a lot like a schoolyard and while obama snubbing a meeting with the president of russia to in theory punish him for the stone incident sounds kind of amateur that is the kind of stuff the girl you did when you're sixteen would do cancel a date just to show you how much your feelings are hurt let's not mistake this cancelled meeting with cutting off diplomatic relations which is the total rejection of any form of discussion with another country which really sent a bold and possibly dangerous buckle message but obama did was more like a minor annoyance he knows that he will talk to putin again in the near future i

mean how are they not going to talk in the next g. eight summit what is he just going to have to hide behind merkel the whole time and hope it works out or ducked behind the shrimp cocktail whatever here's a russian accent one could argue that to appease republicans he had to do something to look strong after the snowden debacle but this grandstanding just comes across a silly passing something like a new jackson varick amendment yeah that is how you could shows people that you're really mad even if your anger is irrational because stone pretty much did the right thing but that's just my opinion. the crime is that a viola man voom a seventy four year old woman found dead on the twenty ninth of november one thousand nine hundred eighty eight along the track. dozens of suspects will be questions and will be released including frank sterling seen in this photograph. two years later detectives trained by reed to reopen the case not convinced frank

is guilty. a few years earlier his brother it means. sentenced to prison for raping. and franks is thought to have wanted revenge. the police are relentless and press sterling until he cracks on the eleventh of july one thousand nine hundred ninety one and exhausted frank sterling admits to the mudda his confession is recorded. many years later the murder of a four year old girl is arrested he confesses to the murder of viola manning and traces of his d.n.a. confirm the fact i crank sterling is released on the twenty eighth of april two thousand and ten after serving nineteen years now age fifty four frank has become frail and anxious.