that. was an. attack on journalism and a direct assault on the 1st amendment action pause in the for media freedom group as you well thought authorities found 17 new charges against julian a song each carrying up to 10 years in jail. and emotional to reason may cause us a day announcing she will step down as conservative party leader on june the 7th. i do so with no ill will but with a normal. gratitude to a part of the opportunity to serve the country i love. the president trump announces he's sending another 1500 troops to the middle east as tensions with iran mounts but the number is much lower than the recent reports

suggested. a very warm welcome you watching r.t. international with me becky aaron. the decision by the u.s. justice department to slap julie no songs with 70 new charges has sparked the concern of media freedom groups. any government use of the espionage act to criminalize the receipts and publication of classified information poses a diet threat to journalists seeking to publish such information in the public interest irrespective of the justice department's assertion that the sun is not a journalist this is an extraordinary escalation of the trumpet ministrations attacks on journalists and the direct assault on the 1st amendment when a sandra's dragged out of london's ecuadorian embassy last month and arrested by british police he was slapped with

a us extradition request immediately and it only listed one charge against him and that was a single count of conspiracy to a computer and it carries a maximum charge of 5 years a fairly small fry but that has been padded out substantially now by washington the charges against him now list 17 counts of violating the espionage act and press freedom groups journalists whistleblower have condemned this escalation of the case that's been us indictment of his sons for bob listening is an extremely dangerous frontal attack on the free press bad bad bad the department of justice just declared war not what we can expect in journalism itself this is no longer birju in the songe this case will decide the future of media this is madness it is the end of national security journalism and the 1st amendment all the additional 17 charges heap to a song each carry a maximum of

a 10 year sentence which means that his adventure will sentence could be a 175 years in prison julian assange has been charged under the us espionage act which dates back to one team 17 and so far it's only ever been used against government officials who disclosed secret information it was never used to charge journalists who publish those seek. documents and a song to the weekly team and of course the sponsors loyal supporters as i have always argued always only ever acted as a journalist which is something that the department of justice in washington refuses to acknowledge and they say that songes revealed the names of military informants in war zones and thus put their lives at risk the superseding indictment alleges the dishonest was complicit with chelsea manning a former intelligence analyst in the us army unlawfully obtaining

a disclosing classified documents related to the national defense all of this is very much linked to chelsea manning who leaked astonished the now notorious iraq war logs and manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison but was then pardoned by then president barack obama back in 2017 she's now been subpoenaed to testify against a songe which she refuses to do so she's actually ended up back in custody as a result of that and this whole saga really entered its new legal phase last month when a songe was dragged out against his will from london's ecuadorian embassy the ecuadorian authorities revoked his claim to political asylum he's now serving out a 50 week sentence in a london prison for skipping bail back in 2012 when he originally entered the embassy he's also wanted in sweden stockholm is about to go through the motions

of issuing their own extradition request because they want him to answer questions about an alleged sexual assault dating back to 2010 which is why here originally sought asylum in the embassy fearing he'd be extradited over to the u.s. and i think what's interesting here is that a stange is a very mom might characters very divisive there are more there are some people who are more keen to see him as. rather than a hero of sort of epic journalistic proportions and yet even those that don't supported him have come out now and said wow this padded out more serious case against assad and from the us authorities is very heavy handed i think which may be for the good. they do not deserve to go through a lot of secrets all over a lot of emotionally which is upset a lot of people he's done what he's done are sure he's paid for. the one year is

about probably. he should be protected from the american system. there's no there's probably no perfect legal system in the world. really new i mean i think here it's 75 you know it's all about it's a little much more study information with people will be aware before him he's put himself on the line for that he will see anybody who says otherwise is going. to remind you here are some of the biggest revelations made by our sounds over the years back in 2010 thousands of documents and classified video related to the wars in iraq and afghanistan were made public but leaked details among other things the indiscriminate shooting of civilians in iraq a year later the so-called get mo files reveal the routine torture of the koran tunnel obeyed cam and the death of inmates through harsh treatment and in 2016 wiki

leaks revealed a pro clinton media bias during the 2016 presidential campaign and the plot to push bernie sanders out of the race. while the u.s. media has picked up on the mounting concern over these new charges against a song questioning the move of the justice department has been looking into the coverage. certainly there have been a number of voices who have come forward and expressed concern about freedom of the press and the implications of these charges against a son now it's important to note that the u.s. department of justice is insisting that julian assange is not a journalist however many of the voices that have stepped forward are saying that essentially that point doesn't really matter because what hassan is accused of doing is what journalists do that would be publishing information making information available to the public now the new york times i have recently wrote an

article on articles published by the new york times recently regarding the julian assange case the new york times itself has in the past printed classified information provided by a leaker here is what was written in the new york times regarding the case. notably the new york times among many other news organizations have trained precisely the same all kinds of documents from wiki leaks without authorization from the government it is not clear how this is legally different from publishing classified information now it's important to note that some of the voices now speaking up with concern regarding the julian assange case are voices that have not been juliana songes biggest fan in the past these are some of the very voices that have been harshly critical of wiki leaks and its activities but even they are voicing some very serious concerns in the aftermath of this new indictment is a pretty aggressive new move by the justice department a big deal here for a 1st amendment advocates the government is now trying to assert this brand new

right to criminally prosecute people for publishing secret stuff and newspapers and magazines and investigative journalists and all sorts of different entities publish secret stuff all the time that is the bread and butter of what we do now it should be pointed out that the charges against assad have nothing to do with the 2016 elections or the publication of hillary clinton's e-mails the charges in no way raise that activity however it was chelsea manning who leaked that classified information as a member of the u.s. military who ultimately was charged chelsea manning was found guilty at trial and sentenced to 35 years in prison now she was then released after barack obama commuted her sentence as he was leaving office chelsea manning at this point is back in federal custody is back in prison after having not been willing to testify against you in a son before the grand jury however the founder of wiki leaks his son now faces far more essentially 5 times as many years in prison as chelsea manning was originally sentenced to 35 years just facing up to 175 years in prison so number of voices

have spoken up about the implications of the use of the u.s. espionage act a law passed in 117 and at this point. even some of the. does that have joined in efforts to denigrate or smear julian assigned to come forward and said they are quite worried about the implications of these new charges so forces are waiting to see what could happen what could be the implications for freedom of the press in the united states if indeed a songes extradited and then indeed does stand trial on these charges which seem to implicate him for the crime of publishing classified information that he was provided from a leaker from an inside source had differing opinion on these latest charges from monk at. we're talking a lot about 1st amendment issues and 1st amendment rights and it is very important to look at that i mean we're looking at social media mass banning censorship of certain political party outputs certain media commentators this is another platform

we're talking about these are laws that really need to be looked at the 1st amendment has come up a lot not just with twitter banning but with banning of other people and a lot of the people that are being banned are journalists are either freelance journalists or members of the media in some way and so this is a very important case to look at the prosecution of today in the sand is part and parcel of trump's war on the free press full stop and i think we'll be limited takers for that actually both i think the u.s. and here look the reason important process exists both in the united states in america and across the world although the 1st amendment the reserve to be a news gathering and clearly where julian the songs go see united states of america assuming he does that there will be a court case to the supreme court related to that but if you look at bradley manning released all they say information he was ultimately paul didn't brock obama not because there's there's a process here what cannot be allowed to happen. a group of people in the military

intelligence services. break the laws i think it's a basic mark of respect to chelsea manning to get her name right and and give her due respect on that score in addition she was never pardons by the bomb the administration i wish she had been her sentence was commuted which means that her conviction her conviction stands which is something that she is still being appealed and i believe will go all the way up to the supreme court i think if you look at the elements of the espionage act itself and of what's happened i mean this this could seem like a case where there could be some issues that he has to face and that he has to own up to but there also is the the facts that have come out that they haven't seen a lot. people who were who were either killed or damaged in the light of duty because of this so they're have to look at actual damages and harm that this cause it's worth remembering that that particular claim was for hearst during chelsea's court martial was no it was never proven at the court martial and information

extracted from the us government by a freedom of information request subsequently has shown that in the very extensive surveys the us government did after the manning disclosures they could not find a single person who had been harmed by those disclosures he's not a proper journalist it will be for the american courts to decide whether what he did was not terrorism and that spirit knowledge or whether he is a genuine journalist my own view is that julian is sarge was dragged out of the ecuadorian embassy like a scared badger in the headlights and actually the truth the matter was he has been afraid of making his case to a group of juries i'm courts that actually properly constituted judge you are in i'm serious i think he needs to go to america and he needs to make his case in front of the american courts which may although you may not accept that he's a journalist but what you can't do is what he did when he ridiculed the united kingdom by hiding in the ecuadorian embassy here in the science has been

a member of australia's accredited journalism union and since 2007 julian of psalms is pretending that britain and america are like north korea i think julian charge should do is make his case and good luck to him i think it's going to be a fight but i think i think he can win it because what has happened with this superseding indictment it makes the issue absolutely crystal clear i think this is going to be a much bigger case than people imagine look at the end of the day i could scream and cry and insult others and just and just sit there and sob and baton being my feet like a baby in call conspiracy theory when i don't like something but there are facts there are laws and all of that is going to be assessed very soon. theresa may have announced she is stepping down from the role of you kate. time minister speaking outside 10 downing street residence she expressed regret over failing to get a break that deal over the line despite her best efforts so step down as party leader on june the 7th full there remain as prime minister into the successes

chosen this makes may the 2nd prime ministerial scalp to be claimed by frogs that. will surely be heading to buckingham palace to see the majesty the queen well tender my resignation as prime minister. today announcing that i will resign as leader of the conservative and unionist party on friday the 7th of 2 so there's a successor can be chosen. with enormous during gratitude to attach the opportunity to the country i love.

from the beginning of her premiership it to reason may said her goal was to deliver bragg's it as tasks she has found impossible with m.p.'s rejecting her deal 3 times the withdrawal agreement she negotiated with the e.u. has been criticised by people all across the political spectrum earlier this week she announced to try a 4th time to get it passed and offered m.p.'s the chance to vote on a 2nd referendum if they backed her. where it goes next is hard to tell what becomes of the official conservative stance depends on who succeeds may labor the main opposition party except the referendum result wants a deal but not may's ukip and the brics that party are both advocating a so-called hard drugs it where britain also quits the e.u. single market liberal democrats the green party and change u.k. all want to reverse briggs it and a 2nd referendum mark almonds director of britain's crisis research institute

oxford sais the country faces uncertainty and scales. it's going to be a difficult task because the house of commons is still strongly against leaving the e.u. except on terms which involve remaining in a customs union almost certainly so that there's going to be a disconnect between the tory party members and supporters and presumably the people who defected to the briggs's party who are mainly conservatives who want a serious break with europe and the members of parliament and so unless you change the arithmetic in the house of commons whoever succeeds mrs may if they want to leave the e.u. was going to face huge problems in the same sort can they force a new general election what will be the result of that we don't know but there's going to be a great deal of uncertainty and as i say there's this looming deadline of the 31st of october which is the end of the extension of britain's membership and the british politicians seem to forgotten that in the modern world divorce can be initiated from both sides the remaining members of the european union may decide we

find you too much trouble we want you to leave now and so there could be a chaotic disorderly brigs it. coming up president has announced more american soldiers they're heading to the middle east to come on that's after the break. join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics small business i'm show business i'll see you then. next as a financial survival guide stacey let's learn a salad let's say i'm not sure i get it here please. come back from the fight well straight thank you for.

the story 6 that's true if. we are not to shy to talk about vision to turn chinese navy into the navy actually we have but it's clear that a by mid a century a will be developed hopefully into a world class a military that would even crude 1st the classic chinese navy. welcome back the u.s. secretary of state my pumpin has confirmed the approval of transfers to saudi arabia the united arab emirates and jordan as part of an effort to deter iran by directed the department to complete immediately the formal notification of $22.00

pending arms transfers to jordan the united arab emirates and saudi arabia totaling approximately $8100000000.00 to deter iranian aggression and build partners self-defense capacity these sales will support our allies and hence middle east stability and help these nations to deter and defend themselves from the islamic republic of iran. but came off the president trump announced on friday that the u.s. troops will be sent to the middle east to maintain the status quo in the region however the number being sent is much lower than recent reports suggesting. we want to have protection of the middle east we're going to be sending a relatively small number of troops mostly protect. some very talented people are going to the middle east right now and we'll see how and we'll see what happens. it'll be about 1500 people we have seen

reports in recent days that the united states was preparing to increase its troop presence in the middle east was some reports claiming that national security advisor john bolton was pushing for at least 120000 troops to be sent to the middle east to prepare for a possible war with iran there are reports of claim that that number will likely be between 510000 troops this comes after reports from u.s. intelligence claimed they're wrong was directing militias to target american forces in the middle east in response to those reports the united states increased its military presence in the region and it also won as far as to call for the withdrawal of all non-emergency personnel in iraq citing threats from iran congress has yet to pass a resolution declaring war on iran and the senate foreign relations committee felt that passed a proposal that would have require congressional approval before any military action against iran multiple senators expressed frustration with this and they

pointed to the fact that without the need for congressional approval the united states can continue to wage war in the middle east as it has done in countries like syria iraq afghanistan and gehman without any checks or balances our biggest focus at this point is to prevent the running of this calculation. are you worried very much that intentionally or unintentionally we hadn't created a situation in which a war will take place this is about deterrence not about war that's been our worry from the beginning that this is a blind escalation with the hope that the iranians will come to the table in the end hoping that this show of force will result in deescalating not escalate i think when you do that you're talking about a war that will go on and on and on. despite the fact that multiple u.s. officials have continued to warn about an imminent threat from iran against u.s.

forces in the middle east president trump has said that he does not want to go to war with the country and at the same time iran's president has also said that he does not want to go to war with the united states and he has called for a merchant he talks to be held in a neighboring country so for now it remains to be seen just how many troops the united states well the ploy to the middle east if that number will remain at 1500 or go even higher and exactly what those troops will be used for this is a situation that's still fluid we don't know it's going to go this is clearly a message the president is sending both internally. and of course that is willing to send more forces through protect its interests in the area bucked up at the same time he's sending a message that this is not truly an escalation and his emphasis as he reported.

this news item basically said that you know or good given the authority of the secretary of defense acting secretary. troops to them at least the lonesomeness is sending a message that this is protected this is not a large number of forces so in no way. saying that the potential is there will depend on what it is. this is the numbers are. anywhere near where you are. leading french journalist who broke the story about president emanuel mccracken's aide beating up a protester has been summons to appear before the country's intelligence services it's the 5th case prompting grave concern for media freedoms in the country both key picks up the story. the alarm has already sounded here in france about possible infringement on media freedom and now it's ringing even loudest still with

a 5th journalist haven't been summons to meet with the country's intelligence services. this is. a seasoned journalist from the french daily and last year she broke an explosive story concerning a security aide to president emmanuel mccourt it centered on this man alexander who was accused of beating up made a protestors in 2018 whilst wearing a police helmet videos also emerged of the incident. was. since then she has continued to write about the banal or a fair point in the history of the current police say it ministration is being

accused of covering up the affair by failing to report to the authorities and while banal a was the latest sacked he remains the subject of a number of ongoing inquiries limone says it's concerned by the summons and stands by its articles. it is in the public interest to be able to investigate aides inside the elysee and the matin yong and their outside links and associates the new someones is all the more worrying as it follows a similar procedure used very recently gainst other journalists what he's talking about there is the fact that the secret service is here have already questioned 3 journalists who publish details how french soldiers saudi arabia and the united arab emirates were being used in the war in yemen their investigation was based on a leaked military intelligence dossier showing that tanks artillery and ships are

being used in yemen something the government has repeatedly denied with president saying he's even received assurances that french weapons are not being used in yemen and that is said this from disclose is one of those who was questioned he told r.t. it immense to intimidation and. we were very surprised that we were summoned because it's unusual for journalists to be treated in this way we were summoned yesterday morning disclosing national defense secrets and we were told from the beginning that we were not there is journalists and the case would be decoupled from our role as journalists i think the freedom of speech needs to be supported by as many people as possible this is not an isolated case there have been many documented instances of intimidation especially during rallies. a 4th journalist has also been summoned as a witness in this inquiry over whether these journalists compromise national defense secrecy it's provoked outrage from human rights organizations the

undersigned n.g.o.s consider the information unveiled by disclose and its partners to be of essential public interest the threat of prosecution against the 3 journalists constitutes an unacceptable threat to press freedom and the protection of journalistic sources $37.00. media outlets in france have also voiced support for their colleagues saying they were just doing their jobs the fear now is that these actions could constitute pressure on journalists particularly in a bid to reveal their sources something that would break the professions code of ethics so let's. see paris. we love to hear your thoughts on all of our stories so do get in touch by following us on social media and leaving a comment that i wanted to get at the top of the out for the latest headline.

i. i. i. i. i. they will begin to see that happen to you it was not feet because they managed to overthrow all the previous governments the the former president and c.e.o. of course which to free you the country people wanted much more and they didn't want just. to travel freely with your if they want to for it to become part of.

this is very far way to go still in ukraine. this is a story about what happens austria stray bullet kills a young girl in the streets. to have family and daughters in florida know the mother daughter is innocent terry it really messes with your head what happens to the community the public was screaming for a scapegoat the police needed a scapegoat so why not choose a 19 year old black kid with a criminal record who better to pin this on than him and what happens in court. shot after shot as far as our society we feel that we don't know just brutal.