believed. rebels in the syrian army exchanged fire in washington looks to clamp down on damascus and its backers despite admitting that it has a massive battle on its hands against terrorists in the region. a trial that threatens the fundamentals of journalism a media freedom group says the industry's future's at stake as wiki leaks founder julian assange has a possible extradition to the u.s. we hear from his father about his health concern. julian says in the 1st appearance in judge wright says the judge threw in his name and his birthday he was in such poor condition that he couldn't remember.

the protests between locals and police in ukraine over the coronavirus of quarantine nationals return from china. germany holds vigils for the 9 victims of wednesday's shooting in the western town of the suspect xenophobe motives were behind the. 9 am this february 21st i'm calling brain r t h q with the news 1st this friday the european union is calling for an immediate end to waging conflict in the final hotbed of the war in syria as turkey steps up its operations in the province meanwhile washington is pushing for diplomatic action to be taken against syria and its backers over the military actions in the region despite admitting that it lives become a haven for terrorist groups. to be a magnet for terrorist groups especially because it is an ungoverned space in many ways the river rights of groups there all of them. hundreds of thousands of

civilians who are just trying to make it through the winter and next correspondent takes a look at how the syria conflict of alving. it's coming to shove in syria turkey and the us russia israel and multiple militant factions all skirmishing in the country and previous motives for warring are fading into oblivion. it's time for assad to get out of the way.

we have won against isis we've beaten them and we've beaten them badly all that is a thing of the past now as new goals vividly take shape the latest fighting an adlib is a mere accessory to the geopolitical carnage is global and regional superpowers sparring with each other for dominance ideological and moral borders are blurred with turkey a nato country teaming up with terrorists to push syrians out of their own province. the operation is imminent in particular we will not leave it to the regime which has not yet understood our country's determination on this issue and those who are encouraging it for a few minutes and making it live a safe place for both turkey and the people of the region at all costs.

militants shamelessly boasting turkey provided a.p.c.'s coming on. marse covered by turkish artillery fire russia's air force joins the party together with the syrians repairing the onslaught as moscow officially asks ankara to hold its fire and so it does to prevent militants from moving deeper into syria into su $24.00 the russian force at the request of the syrian command have carried out as strikes against the van singh on terror groups this allowed the syrian troops to successful the ripple all attacks but turkey is not alone in this fight while jihadi groups are doing the bloody bedding on the ground washington cheers from over the atlantic that a very good job or sation with president her was the fact is that he's fighting on it led he doesn't want people to be killed by the thousands and hundreds of

thousands the united states will continue to coordinate with turkey on diplomatic approach is to restore a cease fire to the it led deescalation zone in a cheap a pullback of assad regime forces to the 2800 so she ceasefire lines the u.s. has its own stake in the syria war and it hasn't signed on very particular and well predictable prizes from geo political dominance to well oiled we did leave so just because we're keeping the oil we may have to fight for the oil that's ok i like the oil and there's yet another act in this conflict israeli jets routinely hit targets on syrian soil it's clear what israel wants to to weaken iran's influence yet another power playing its hand and this massive and messy political gamble unfortunately for the people of syria since 2011 their country

has been used as a chessboard on which the syrians appear as pawns and it's somebody else's geostrategic. board in particular the united states and its allies basically tore syria apart partly designed to topple the secular legitimate government in syria the sovereign government the government recognized by the united nations partly to topple that government and partly to claim different parts of syria for themselves syria has an important place in geo strategic we in geographically in this resource rich region of the middle east it also has. so yes what we've seen the tragedy of syria the tragedy of the so-called civil war is actually a proxy war by international players using the syrian country the syrian battlefield as a proxy battlefield. syria's civil war ends as yet another pivotal stage in the fight against terrorists later this bulleted we're going to take

a look at how the united states is criticizing its own military for allegedly failing to secure weapons with millions of dollars in syrian. media freedom groups are giving a stark warning about the health of we can expound a judean a songe as he prepares for his u.s. extradition hearing next week he's been speaking to his father about uniontown consent. then one of julian's of the 1st appearance in judge borat's is court the judge and julian his name and his birth he was in such poor condition that he couldn't remember this is very unusual for a judge to continue hearing the plea of the prisoner when they come from a member of the or in. concert consequently we believe that julian or 2 of them immediately sent. in a teacher a little that's what would happen in

a stroke the judge would not continue the hearing because that proved prisoner was not well and all the $100.00 doctors from around the world are still rallying against britain's handling of the a song's case saying that he's being subjected to psychological torture in jail they're also calling on the australian government to intervene to protect its citizens this is now the 4th open letter for medical professionals the director general of reporters without borders told us that this latest chapter is much more than just an extradition hearing that distressful that no this is not just the story of one individual it is about the ability of journalists to publish information relating to state secrets mr assad has been targeted because of his contributions to the game as a mentor of late and his work is being targeted because he revealed so much that you see if you believe in u.s. military operations in iraq and afghanistan i never saw a g.'s force to stop the trial in the u.s. if it is extradited to as if this will pose a major threat to all just really has been nothing short of a dramatic decade for julian assange is tracing back to those revelations of

wrongdoing by the u.s. military in iraq and afghanistan and later this hour on the tape we're telling his story. i 1st heard about wiki leaks. from the helicopter footage in iraq. and i think the general people who remain in the u.s. military who have never forgiven him for it this guy's a traitor and treasonous and and he has broken every law the united states illegally shoots out of the u.s. really historic to have. independent journalist a guy with his computer to seeing you is a lot of crimes and to a global audience. the idea of developing an anonymous digital truck parts and applying it to a media organization is what he makes that was the 1st. i didn't the tour anticipate that he would be for a short while world fame and run one of the world's most powerful you use the

rise ation when you're in standard founder julian assange in the sun already in the sun and there was a great deal of jealous in the mainstream towards him particularly why won't he be more like off that you seem. sneering feces on the walls. system. we have julian assange and in solitary confinement in this prison for terrorists away to the house alive in person the person worked with. i don't want to see him die any u.s. prison. and i think that's what he's facing. a flight carrying 73 evacuees from china has caused uproar across 3 ukrainian regions travelling from the epicenter of the corona virus outbreak it landed in the

ukrainian city of hama calls on thursday but it triggered a violent response from locals as 9 police officers and one civilian were injured in protests one hour from all things done a quarter. say some new people moved into the neighborhood they came from the epicenter of the deadly coronavirus pandemic perhaps you'd be worried or angry but it would be hard to match the anger brewing in ukraine to just that situation. for the past several days ukraine has seen violent clashes across the country scores of policemen have been injured by locals throwing bricks riot police have been called in to disperse angry mobs and it's all because the ukrainian authorities tried to do

a good deed for the international community they accepted with open arms a number of their countrymen and foreigners trying to flee by plane assuring the public the passengers were 100 percent coronavirus clean an important detail when ukraine itself has yet to see a case of the disease a quarantine zone was even set up at a health center in poltava just to be sure but the protesters did all they could to stop that plane from landing and when that failed they started blocking roads until riot police removed them by force. the buses made it to their destination in the end but their unwelcome reception

wasn't exactly what kiev expected presidency lansky even called out the protesters for showing the uglier side of their humanity it's a shame the not all of us can be proud of the hue. main reaction the efforts to shut off highways to block hospitals not to let ukrainians back to ukraine were not demonstrating the best of our character here especially given the majority of the passengers are under 30 to most of us they are almost children children are not ukraine's protesters don't seem to be up for a game of russian roulette with the coronavirus. cities across germany have held vigils for the 9 victims of wednesday night shooting in the west of the country the suspected attacker killed his mother and then himself and is believed to have racist motives 5 of the victims were turkish nationals reporting next from germany his peter all of a. on thursday evening we saw people coming out onto the streets of berlin and elsewhere in germany in memory of those who were killed and what's being investigated as

a potential right wing terror attack in the city of how now on wednesday evening at the brandenburg gate the iconic symbol here in the center of berlin we saw people forming a human chain in solidarity with the people of haiti now also at another location in the city people saying that they've come out on to the streets against racism and semitism and right wing terrorism there's also been a vigil taking place in the city of hanau where this incident took place frank falta steinmeier the german president who is in attendance there there have been other politicians out and about various events that have been taking place on thursday evening 9 people were killed 2 separate locations 2 she shipyards in the western city of head now not far from the major city of frankfurt a 42 year old man who is believed to be the main suspect was later found dead at his home alongside his 72 year old mother those that were witness to these 2

incidents in how now describe what they heard what they saw as the shootings took place you don't have such if you have to go i heard gunshots then i ran out and looked in the direction of the she should but i couldn't see anything and neither the doors were open and people were running out of the other restaurants i heard from my neighbor that someone was shooting at the restaurant around back and told my guests to stay away from the window. i walked with my 2 little kids. who pulled the shooting began to actually 100 meters from the place when i went up stairs i heard 5 to 7 gunshots. you know i came home at half past 9 park my car and went upstairs we want some t.v. then my wife said there was a helicopter hovering overhead and i thought what's the matter. we waited a little and then looked out the room window and saw a large group of police officers about 25 of them with about 20 vehicles and they surrounded the house and it was

a strange thing to see this showed of the attorney general is confirmed the investigation is focusing on a potential right wing extremist link this is after a 24 page manifesto belonging to the main suspect was found in this manifesto he talks about a hatred of foreigners their hatred of nonwhites the extermination of people from certain nations in the middle east in north africa and in central asia it is riddled with racist tropes and far right theories on things such as eugenics there's also a video which is emerged that was posted by the main suspect just a few days ago or. there is no clue in this that he was planning to carry out this type of attack it seems that it's being directed towards those in the united states this video is well before all of conspiracy theories what we have heard though is strong words from politicians here in germany saying that they want to get to the

bottom of why this happened and dylan merkel the german chancellor counseled her apartment on thursday and said that no stone would be left unturned when it came to this investigation. that it's too early to give a conclusive assessment everything is being done to find out what was behind this murder but a lot already suggests far right rhesus not absolve the attacker he apparently acted out of hatred towards people of different descent religion. racism is a poison hatred is a poison and this cloisonne exists in our society and has led to many crimes. but there are a lot of questions including how was this man able to get a gun in the 1st place in germany a country which has very strict gun laws the overall feeling at the moment certainly one of sadness while of mourning but also one of anger at just how this was able to happen in the 1st place. still ahead this friday the paf coming back to

britain as the back brace along for the facts unfold out of power. in the united states presidential candidates debate the future of the u.s. and the world. stacy her but dig into the burning questions of this election cycle . every week. student debt trade was money universal basic. and more catch up with what's front running this sunday exclusively on. most people think in this business you need to be the 1st one on top of the story

or the person with the loudest voice of the biggest raid. truth to stand this is just the right questions and demand the right answer. questions. hello again the tug of war between the u.k. and greece over classical sculptures has seen athens fail for decades to get relics return that it says was stolen however it could be about to change all that with reportedly backing greece is claimed that the so-called elegant marble in brussels could push britain to return them to the collection was originally part of the

parthenon in the greek capital but they're currently on display in the british museum in london greece claims they were stolen by law delegate in the 19th century while the u.k. insists it acquired them legally and it isn't budging. the u.k.'s position on the parthenon sculptures remains unchanged they are the legal responsibility of the british museum that is not up for discussion as part of our trade negotiations cultural historian wendy earle and political and social commentator mo and earlier discussed the links between democracy and the importance of history. you can't go around the world nicking stuff and then just saying we're going to keep hold of it because it's really valuable and we want people to come and see it it just is awash now adays in a i hate saying it but in a relatively woken like in society people are asking for their stuff back and it's very hard to construct a case when we go around the world stealing stuff and don't get back i think history itself is a very complicated place to go is complex we do very well in britain threat education system and so our western media missed telling and misstating it we we

don't half pick and choose what and how we tell history i mean we can say that will item and this is the worst of it. but in time to me we should be trying to we should be trying to have a decent discussion about this rather than you trying to interrupt me and the point i know it's a case not only do i know he believes there is a history what we can do with these mothers now is continue to learn about history continue to understand their histories and continue to develop our knowledge by returning them back willy nilly to places that demand them we're not caring for the objects themselves we're not looking at these as. pieces of our heritage of global heritage every single argument you make for keeping them away can be used for returning them i'm sure the greek people you know the home of democracy some great thinkers you might consider will be able to figure out how to display this to the public we shouldn't be just using them as as kind of political footballs all taking

the moral taking taking the moral high ground taking the moral high ground we live in a world that is constantly changing and we need to i think recognise that you know that these are bigger than the most dismembered in history my concern is that by not coming under the auspices of the european court of justice we're not going to be held accountable how on earth is the british government ever going to be held accountable for the sins that it commits as a state at home and overseas if we don't have a higher court to answer. so i think britain is is perfectly poised to be able to do exactly what it wants and i think in terms of brecht's it that discussion about it is a discussion about democracy it's about sovereignty there's no point in kind of really hashing old historical arguments when we're when i think we're in a completely new place where people in britain are thinking about how do we have a future where we're free of a bureaucracy outside of person that we're not that is not accountable to us and

how can we can tie or define our lives to run a losing argument. well ok that's your opinion. and we can report accused to the u.s. military of failing to keep track of weapons worth hundreds of millions of dollars in syria it suggests weapons were left vulnerable to a lot of effort which has in turn skyrocketed operational costs and had over major consequences as well here's artie's kind of open if you were spending hundreds of millions of dollars to send weapons to a foreign country it would probably pay to keep track of them but apparently that's the last thing that was on the pentagon's mind when it came to operation inherent resolve in syria. special operations joint task force operation inherent result person no did not account for the budget is 715800000 of count arses trained and equipped fund equipment for fiscal years 2017 and 28 seen hundreds of weapons were not properly stored to duplicate purchases were made the amount spent went higher

and higher now that might give critics of the military industrial complex something to complain about but that's not the crux of the problem here take a listen to this special operations joint task force operation in hebron resolve on 1st that sustainment command personnel left thousands of counter arses trained and equipped for and weapons and sensitive equipment items fordable to muscle theft without conducting consistent inventor reason ensuring proper security for c t e f s equipment 1st c.s.c. could not determine where the items were lost or stolen which could delay the initiation of an investigation so let's be clear they're saying they're not 100 percent sure that these weapons and that up in the hands of isis terrorists but that there's a pretty good chance they did now that should raise plenty of questions especially for those who recall that back in 2718 the so-called vetted opposition was getting

stock loads of handouts in weapons from the pentagon. the original fiscal year 2017 president's budget requests to train and equip and fits in syria funds training and equipment for about 14000 part of foods troops from the vetted syrian opposition seems like some of these vetted opposition were not really interested in fighting the i.c.l. terrorists they just focused on their ongoing efforts to violently overthrow the syrian government one of our partner forces there unilaterally conducted patrols outside of the agreed upon deescalation zone and engaged in activities not focused on fighting isis it seems like american weapons pretty consistently end up not in the hands of terrorist fighters but in the hands of terrorists themselves let's see what's been captured.

you will. need to be. able to get to the. $715000000.00 can buy are a lot of ammunition now and that much goes missing in a war torn country that's crawling with terrorists eyebrows should be raised for comparison the republic of the congo and gonna spend less than $715000000.00 in their annual military budgets latvia spends slightly more in $27.00 team approximately $1000000000.00 worth of arms transfers were not properly monitored by the pentagon big mistakes were made in this arm and equip program partly it's an accounting issue because the pentagon as we know has never been successfully

audited they tried to audit the pentagon once and it was an absolute failure. they have no idea where the money goes and that's one half of the problem they just don't care because it's not about the fence it's about 1st of all the military industrial complex the more weapons you lose the more you can buy and it's this kind of symbiosis that the war machine in washington has so that is on one hand but on the other hand i think there's an intentional lack of oversight with regard to weapons in syria we've seen so many times advanced american military technology in the hands of isis and al qaida and their offshoots in the region there's of been a flood of weapons into the region there are no consequences to the us it's only a benefit to the well politically connected military industrial complex in washington d.c. to manufacture and send over more weapons they don't care about the misery of the people on the ground who have to suffer u.s. leaders frequently describe their operations in the middle east as efforts to

stabilize the region but nothing brings stability like going into war torn country is crawling with terrorists bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars worth of weapons and then accidentally losing them up and r.t. new york and just 20 minutes past the hour that's how it looks from here this hour on the way as promised with just a few days to go until the we can expound a faces extradition hearings in london get up to speed on the few highs but many lows of a turbulent 10 is the asylum story is next. i'm .

now. going to get money to charles event that yelled out to me. the nobility of our facial or the kind of good intentions or both approaches that were in christening to earth or maybe even 40 years ago or simply evaporated of the goodness of the compressor of the 5. julian associate travels to sweden to deliver a speech while there he met 2 women aged 31 and 26 the wiki leaks founder was soon involved in an intimate relationship with both of them. the woman who had it and fired it to him to speak also offered her comment to which is studio so there's only one there's only one bed in attentions and i'm going to be

away you can stay so greg. how everything's chang and the woman came back to early and. wanted julian to stay there anyway. those women the really approached him it seems like especially the younger ones saw him on t.v. felony law whatever that means. to be the person that it looks like someone who wants to be a rock n roll groupie nothing approaching a man really chasing him down and finally she also succeeds in it and they share a one eyed stare which at some point becomes a balticon dog. it was only after learning that a song should slept with both of them at the women decided to go to the police.