huge fire breaks out of one of the world's most iconic cathedrals. paris leading to the. conflict. between the songs now in jail foreign and peace old a media conference outside to show their support for a man they see as a hero because the media shocked you to. compute rights organizations cry foul after palestinian activist is denied entry to the united states we spoke. about his experience. of the u.s. administration has been mobilized now. in trying to silence.

international human rights defenders. with the belgian government center for cyber security fails to find evidence of any threats from wall way despite the chinese tech giant being accused of spying by the u.s. and allies. thanks for joining us here on r.t. international. four hundred firefighters have been battling a massive fire that single paris is iconic. the building's massive spire has already collapsed in the flames president has declared the blaze a national tragedy. let's go live to the french capital and our correspondent charlotte dubin ski and i know that you've been speaking to people in the vicinity

but also keeping an eye from your perspective you can just about see the flames any sign of them dying down at this point. it's actually quite difficult from where we are to see what's going on but i've just been looking at some of the live images that have been taken from the side of not done cathedral and it doesn't look as if that fire is under control o'toole the firefighters desperately poor ring mortar to try in dampen those flames down but it does seem like the entire center of not cathedral remains on fire at the moment not much smoke coming up but we are occasionally seeing those embers. and it looks a little bit like when you see a volcano about to erupt you see those sort of first sparks coming out and that's what we're seeing occasionally from our viewpoint here but from the side it does look like not cathedral remains on fire engulfed by flames as those firefighters

are desperately trying to stop that the president might call in when he visited in the last hour described this is being a national tragedy and i can say from speaking to the people on the ground here the hundreds possibly thousands who have been stood out watching this unfold for the last two hours that is echoing exactly how they are feeling tourists as well as parisians and french persons alike all just absolutely be upset at this catastrophic that is unfolding in front of their very eyes this is a day that parisians will remember as being a dark day for this city this cathedral some eight hundred and fifty years old was built in the eleven hundreds it was built to show that power. this was the capital of not just political and economic power but also cultural power and it has stood

here as a symbol for hundreds of years since being just that an iconic statue an exquisite example of french gothic architecture so much so that it is the most visited site in paris with some twelve million people coming through its jaws every year that's not to say about the millions of people who don't even manage to get tickets to go inside and just come to sit outside don't and bask in its glory look at the detail of those sculptures the carvings in the work that went into this building that was built all those hundreds of years ago that fire still raging the firefighters trying to put it out but for of parisians and tourists alike they stood here on the street just watching some people actually i just behind me i don't know if you can get their taste through of it but they're actually singing spontaneous singing is broken out people trying to cling on to anything for some

sense of hope what is total despair we have no idea what the damage will be but it's coming to be considerable we can see from those pictures and the fact that that fire has been burning for such a long time we're not just talking about damage in the possibly millions if not billions of euros we're talking about damage that is irreplaceable cultural icons which have been destroyed forever gone up in flames today when i arrived not long after the fire started we rushed and i saw people just stopping in their tracks looking up at the cloud of smoke that was coming up from the cathedral and just saying no just gasping at that just incredible scene something that i have never seen in paris and it seems to be. hang on the hearts of the people here who are just stopped in their tracks and watching. reporting live from the french capital

r.t. charlotte dubiously thank you. let's get some expert analysis now and we can bring in dan eggleston who is the president of the international association of fire chiefs dan thank you for coming on in such circumstances i say sad because there's a lot of talk of this being a tragedy national and global what i have been stressing though is thank goodness surely the silver lining is that we've not heard any such reports of any kind of injuries all were what what's your priorities a firefighter when you go into a blaze like this first and foremost is get the people safe then worry about the structure. certainly life safety is always a priority and here it's such a devastating fire because you're talking about a cultural icon eight hundred fifty years old so that must be extremely devastating from the personal side but firefighting in. firefighting in historic buildings like this are extremely challenging because they're not typically built to modern fire

code large wide open spaces are prone to collapse and because the cathedral was under construction and renovation in certain areas it made firefighting even more difficult with scaffolding in access for the firefighters on so risk of injury in a typical fire like this is much higher so due diligence in terms of safety is really important for that comes the firefighting effort you mentioned that you know part of the problem is just how old the structure is does that become a bit of a tussle that people in your department will have with the people in charge of the building sometimes because they're going to say look you can't bring us up to this level of code the because you're going to go damaging history but you've got your job today how difficult is that discussion it's dreamily challenging because it is historic building and it cannot be renovated to some extent to modern construction so there's lots of other different needs that can be addressed in terms of prevention needs but here we have are such a devastating to the real focus now is to continually fight the fire save as much

as possible without going into what injured and we've heard reports that it actually found fungus we're trying to get inside the building to try and save some of those you know would savant a story but i mean you must worry full the people who would doing that job because this is extremely dangerous what they're doing and that clearly struggling with to keep this blaze under control it is extremely dangerous in my. heart goes out to the firefighters fighting the fire know that they are doing their very best to protect what is a historic cultural icon for not only paris but for the entire world and seward stream lead. our hearts go out to them but on no they're have such as horror historic heroic efforts to try to do their very best to save that building but do it in a way that's safe for the firefighters how would you assess from your expertise the damage that we're talking about hey you are seeing some of the pictures no doubt we getting reports around four hundred firefighters but this place has been going for

several hours those flames look pretty big to a layman just how extensive do you think the damage is. i think it's going to take a while to really get our arms around the full extent of the damage to this building it may take weeks to fully understand the forward stick it on right now i know that the firefighters are concentrating on continuing to keep the fire from spreading to taint it as much as possible do it in a manner that is safe for the firefighters and the citizens that may be exposed to this but i think the damage is going to take a while to really understand deeply what she'll mentality in a situation like this is that sometimes we need to just stop it getting any further in terms of spreading containing it sometimes is that sometimes a priority over actually extinguishing the blaze at the center. well it's such a massive building in itself the amount of heat and the amount of fire makes it really difficult to extinguish so sometimes that the strategy is to keep it from

its to news much as possible it's just a. it's a very large building in a large amount of liar really difficult based upon the size and staff lean to really gain access to the heart of the fire so in some cases it just means to keep it from spreading to other buildings at all possible and just talking about logistics i said four hundred firefighters the been at this for several hours now they've yet to extinguish the flame what kind of problems do you run into a day does does it help to have more numbers on the ground there the does it become an issue as to where you can get the water from because it's not going to carry on forever where do you look for more resources certainly and i'm sure the firefighters have been in touch with the public works in order authorities to ensure that hon water supply bream fresh firefighters in that can help relieve those who have been working very hard for the mountain time here and there is really something i'm sure they're working on as well so they can bring this thing under control as quickly and as safely as possible i mean those be so many elements

you trying to keep the public safe even things like wind must must play a factor what you can of your biggest challenges in a situation like this. is the biggest challenge by far is to is to try to stop the amount of damage as quickly as possible but do it in a safe manner we're talking about a building here the jewel that is historic of nature i'm sure the emotions alone are very item at this point of view but also it's a large structure and prone to collapse and we have to really pay attention to how we can position the firefighters in a way that we don't injure them this same time make sure that we can protect as much of the story as possible that actually brings me to a point that was made by donald trump he said on twitter made the suggestion perhaps flying water tankers could be used drop from above. and official response they must have been listening to donald trump's comment official response came from france a civil security agency saying that they've done everything but that because of the

fear that it could actually completely destroy the structure does that sound about the right thing to you it might seem an obvious move to the layman but it's got great consequences certainly i mean urban far fine especially historic buildings has a totally new dimension and dimension we often don't have to deal with it requires . often elevated streams fire streams to protect exposure and it is you do have to be concerned about potential collapse so i am confident that our fighters there done all they can are doing all they can in that urban type firefighting environment to safely sting wish and try to contain this fire in a way that can protect the building itself as well as surrounding buildings in the fire for do you have a timeframe when you're going in when you first arrive on the scene of the blaze and you thinking we need to really get on top of this in the first hour or two hours or we really know we're up against it. well when it comes to far finding time

is of the essence the quicker the better can get there when there are some fires are very small and to put them out before they do get much larger this type fire is it strangely challenging or could it grown to a point where it was beyond a simple firefighting effort required a much more defensive type posture as well as the challenges associated with the size of the building and the fact it has been under renovation with scaffolding makes access that streamlet difficult and presumably materials on location make a big difference to how the fire burns i mean one would think looking at it externally that you know not saddam is is predominantly stone but you mentioned a lot of scaffolding this is surprising how quickly they supply seemed to get out of hand and yes it it's a beautiful stone structure on the outside but inside or very a ornate wouldn't materials that large spans that make a fire for any efforts very challenging in spirit as well extremely fast because of

the openness and the type in the age of the wood material inside i think leads to a more intense fire and what we're seeing here on the media given that this is been burning now for several hours we've seen the flame still. quite visible across the night sky line in paris do you think that's a serious chance of total collapse of the building. i think it's possible it's certainly possible and i know that that's on the top of the list of the firefighters running the fire it does point to be concerned about how this building may collapse in and make it possibly collapse out of the game put firefighters and citizens at risk so i'm sure that they're from the new green firefighting efforts to consider any further collapse. and again just to point but then it's so easy to forget. there have been a new reports of injuries we saw the spire of the cathedral collapse earlier any

firefighters have been anywhere near that. i mean that would have been well it isn't defies mentioning but it's is paramount isn't it to constantly be thinking as much as you're trying to do your job your own safety. it is absolutely and then again it's a building that's very ornate it's very historical it is one of the reporters said it's a cultural icon for the world and to be fighting fire and building like there is is it's difficult in terms of the work at hand but it's also an emotional toll on the firefighters as well and to see the building burn with such intensity and you know you try your best i'm sure it's very challenging for firefighters but again there their focus at this point from our point of view is to continuously seek to apply water to keep it from spreading and hopefully get to a point where it can be a sting which up further damage to where structures will name and you mentioned

earlier that because it's such a historical building it's hard to enforce implement that what would maybe be the standard fire safety precautions but given the i mean if you just look at the sheer dollar value of what's inside this building as well as what it means emotionally to people would an organization go out of the way to have almost over the top five safety precautions but perhaps not the ones that you would regularly enforce that certainly in the next a challenge how can we retain the historic nature of a beautiful building like this if the same time trying to apply modern fire detection them suppression. technology. that's truly the challenge because you're maybe not be in a position to renovate to to accommodate such protection but the same time can we push the technology such that we can have much smaller and efficient fire protection systems in but not upset this nature of a building like this. down is pretty fascinating to get your expertise and we

appreciate you can appreciate you coming on out international chief down eggleston is the president of the international association of fire chiefs many thanks dan thank you very much. and this is what we've been talking about this is the scene right now in central paris and sadly it is all too visible still the flames reaching up into the paris night sky. this was the scene earlier at. least those flames have been reduced somewhat they still burn but this is just how devastating they were earlier on this is of course flocked to the scene four hundred firefighters reported and devastating damage done to this eight hundred fifty year old iconic cathedral. moving right across this story with you this evening or not international scenes of devastating

destruction there not to dung beetle in central paris. let's turn now to other stories from today and wiki leaks close founder julian assange is now in prison and had a hearing next month about extradition possibly to the united states lawmakers have spoken to the media outside the jail they've been shuttle to meet with the sounds in the could or an embassy in london that was of course until last week's arrest auntie's and isha sesay reports. i'm outside belmarsh prison where julian assange is being held in custody is a category a prison in south east london now earlier today members of the german bundestag and the european parliament were in front of the prison holding a press conference protesting against a songes arrest they believe it sets a dangerous precedent worldwide for journalists. journalists.

and needs international protection and not the criminal criminalization we recently he gave. truth he didn't provide the truth to the public about the war crimes you rock and afghanistan and therefore he should be awarded more criminal like he said most of the sins of the knights and. his accusers as. he came to prison for all their life and it's not fair because he only did the law as the cases that corruption cases the right information to society to people in the wall now the spanish m.e.p. and a memorandum of the times talking to area where she received an official invitation from the ecuadorian embassy to visit a song on monday however this was of course not possible over the weekends we had there were many supporters head right outside belmarsh prison carrying banners with

the phrase don't shoot the messenger and since julian the sanchez erasto we've seen an outcry from an international audience regarding the potential extradition to the united states if anything though this is made people more aware about the revelations of wiki leaks and about questioning people and political power but the people i spoke to earlier the chairman and pays and the spanish i mean paid well they believe some kind of this information campaign is starting against a songe and they're very concerned about the. tensional extradition hearing to be held on may the second. debate over whether the we can leaks co-founder julian the psalms is a criminal or a journalist is continuing to heat up in the united states in fact l a t met it is done cohen himself had a bitter exchange with some politicians this is first hand account. of the house foreign affairs committee tweeted democrat eliot engels statement in support of julian assange just prosecutions saying he is in fact

a tool of lattimer putin and the russian intelligence service now there's never been any evidence that proves let alone suggest a connection between we q leaks and the russian state or russian intelligence furthermore we can access actually published embarrassing information not only about the united states and its allies but also about russia we can expose files series revealed more than two hundred documents about russian surveillance contractors so i responded with a tweet saying angle statement is an endorsement of president trump attack on press freedom and i called it absolutely reprehensible now the house foreign affairs committee came back at me tweeting quote the first amendment protects free expression even for russian propaganda outlets like the one you work for it doesn't protect criminals who weaponized stolen information and i thought this was revealing for a number of reasons a song just charged with allegedly helping chelsea manning log in to

a department of defense computer under an alternate identity computer that manning already had access to not weaponized and stolen information and that's a reference to publishing stolen or perhaps a leaked e-mails from the hillary clinton campaign that proved that the democratic primary was rigged in favor of hillary clinton and against bernie sanders but it also shows what many have argued that this show. charges a thin veil for in the words of guardian op ed to punish those who expose and barest things secret about its actions about the united states actions now on top of that assad has not yet been extradited if you even will let alone try it in the united states and there are two amendments in the u.s. constitution to talk about due process and there is a concept called innocent until proven guilty for the house foreign affairs

committee has declared a sponge is guilty for a crime that he's not even been tried for so this many would argue that this really reveals the true nature of his prosecution and we've seen many american politicians celebrating his arrest senator joe manchin even went as far as saying he's our property the property of the united states if you like democratic presidential candidate tulsi gathered have come out in his defense as has the american civil liberties union they've also criticize songes arrest but they have been in the minority. songes and getting that much support in the media months hailed as a hero outlets now with a largely see turned on and painting him even as a villain gets to have a look suppose behind the full from grace. you want to see just how radically the media you turned on a songe from champion of the press to

a leper an outcast all you need to do is watch saturday night live it's comedy but boy does it hit home. thanks to wiki leaks you can see how corrupt governments operate in the shadows and then lie to those who elect them thanks to facebook you can finally figure out which sex and the city character you are have attacked u.s. military. because i'm an actor james bond supervillain and i'm one step away from destroying the god. because reality is entirely less funny what i songes faced a tidal wave of smear really ugly stuff a little over a decade ago the us military declared war on wiki leaks drop a plan which we need a plan to discredit it and terrorize whistleblowers and it looks like they're winning. wiki leaks uses trust as

a center of gravity by assuring insiders leakers and whistle blows who pass information to wiki leaks personnel or who post information to the website that they will remain anonymous the identification exposure terminations employment criminal prosecution legal action against current or former insider is leakers or whistleblowers could potentially damage or destroy this center of gravity and deter others from considering similar actions from using the wiki leaks website back then at the turn of the decade as sanj was a hero of the pundits cheered his leaks exposing bush era war crimes exposing the elites corporations politicians how they loved him for it is outstanding journalism their words he was given on or after on or including the economist's new media award back then we get leaks was news wiki leaks is an

online news organization that specializes in publishing documents alleging government and corporate misconduct we invited judean a song editor in chief of wiki leaks in pity. how times have changed what was news in two thousand and ten is enemy propaganda now journalistic hero or enemy agent asks the same economist neither reads the subtitle just a useful idiot who the economist awarded for his stellar journalism or take time magazine who gave their front cover to a songe in two thousand and ten now they run virtual hit pieces quoting and headlining anyone that doesn't like a songe it seems be it hillary clinton or a judge that met him once and labeled him a narcissist gets much dirtier uglier out. outlets that have historically

supported and cheered america's wars such as the atlantic put out the seas pact hate mails or the equivalent of musingly enough the hacker behind this story first calls out assad just permissibility with facts and almost immediately after says this r.t.s. tagline is question more and indeed one might inquire how it came to pass that the spin off of a kremlin propaganda organ and now registered foreign agent in the united states first arrived on the scene i stand ready to answer your inquiry unlike other networks and publications who all learned that the same time that might be leaving the embassy we could leaks told everyone unlike them we took it seriously we went and documented what happened this is called journalism journalism

like what i did when he exposed various war crimes he's a publisher news he's a journalist he. and the material that he leaked we know from the pedestrian mails from the war logs is real and credible and was published by mainstream organizations once it was released by wiki leaks the very news organizations that over many did over several decades of which the documents that wiki leaks provided last instantaneously once those documents route turned on assigned him so that rate prodding from the national security state so of course there was an effort to discredit weiqi weeks and to carry out of very sustained and unfortunately quite effective. character assassination of the shah assigned to isolate him and demonize him in the eyes of. at the end of the day come on we all

know the exact moment these people turned against their former hero. maybe you're kind of picking up where julian a songe was before he went bad because we used to like you know we used to really be doing a good service and then something happened i guess is hatred for hillary clinton maybe is would turn to him basically into someone who was a russian. aid really yes yes of course as sanjay did hillary never did anything wrong she was perfect wasn't she. was speaking of hillary clinton she says that the son ish should answer for what he's done however you released f.b.i. documents obtained by the conservative activist group judicial watch suggests that she and her team also have things to answer for and this watchdog cites more than four hundred pages of f.b.i. documentation that reveals evidence of an operation to wipe compromising e-mails

sent by clinton it also says that the u.s. intelligence community had concerns over classified information in some of the messages he's done has been taking a closer look. email's the reason why you freddy krueger is dressed up as an i.t. guy in hillary clinton's nightmare as the f.b.i. found almost fifteen thousand and released e-mails in two year long investigation of her private server the head of the f.b.i. called you out for careless handling of classified documents said she believed the seaver confidential in some documents actually stood for the order of paragraphs some three years on when everyone thought it was all over and gone new f.b.i. documents reveal more juicy details like what happened to our half of the e-mails that were raised clean by the clinton team we're not talking just a few dozen or hundred or even a thousand e-mails here we're talking some thirty thousand all private according to

clinton she did provide.