twitter briefly suspends big of an r.t. america correspondent only agreeing to reinstate it once a decade old video of alleged u.s. war crimes is removed. former u.s. intelligence analyst faces years in jail for exposing america's drone assassination program we speak to a whistleblower who is in close contact with him. he did it because he was exposing a war crime he's not allowed to see that and so he really doesn't have any chance of acquittal. after. seeing his in the spotlight as the european medicines agency top officials get to blood clots while the medical body itself goes on pointing to the jobs benefits. and fire bombs and bricks the price of

post border checks in northern ireland we look at the background to the weekend's violent attacks on police. broadcasting live direct from moscow this is our international i'm certainly glad that you were. a correspondent with r.t. america had her twitter account temporarily suspended with the social network only agreeing to lift the block after she removed a video of alleged u.s. war crimes which she had earlier tweeted we're about to show you some of that footage but be warned you may find it disturbing 1st released by wiki leaks in 2010 the once classified u.s. military video appears to show the indiscriminate shooting of over a dozen civilians in a baghdad suburb from an american helicopter among those killed are 2 employees of

the reuters news agency said it had managed to obtain the video from a number of whistleblowers r t america's rachel blevins shared earlier what she was told by twitter. so i was simply given a notice in which is that i was locked out of my account and the only way to get back into my account was to take down that tweet without video and now they said that they were doing this because i violated their graphic content policy essentially because in that video you were watching civilians and journalists lose their lives and the context that they give behind that is to say that for the families of those victims that would be hard to watch that would be hard for that footage to be out there and to that extent they're correct about that i mean this is disturbing footage this is graphic and yet at the same time it's also even more disturbing for those families to know that even though that footage has been out there the attackers the murderers who are responsible still have not been brought to justice and so i wanted to put that video out there to service their own minder

even though it has been alive and years since this footage was released those pilots those u.s. soldiers you see in that video who are literally murdering citizens civilians and journalists in broad daylight has no consequences for those actions over the years the video the twitter claims breaks its rules has been posted by many other users but it is her post as an r.t. journalist the trigger to its system but rachel blevins insists that although graphic footage still needs to be brought to the public's attention. something that is a reminder of just what us orange has accomplished because here in the united states are major media organizations like say c.n.n. or fox news they don't show you for it it's like that they don't show you how horrific it is when the u.s. military commit these terrible war crimes in other countries they don't tell you what is actually going on with this so-called war on terrorism and yet it's people like us on to have taken the steps to put that information out there to bring the

actual footage to light to show the public public that and now at the same time you see the u.s. government going through from obama by even attacking us songs going after him trying to get his head on a platter moralize as a notice to anyone else who may try to do the same who may try to bring other footage to light i think that what we're seeing is. increasing moves on the part of these digital corporations and we know nothing about them they're completely opaque they know everything about us as forms of censorship for the ruling elite in particular the establishment elites in the republican in the democratic party who are blocking their critics on the left or the right you have to remember that during the obama administration and barack obama's vice president was of course joe biden they expanded the targeted assassinations through militarize drone drones and

there's complete continuity between republican and democratic administrations on this issue which is why the biden ministration has supported the appeal in london to get julian a songe extradited to the united states. the former u.s. intelligence analyst faces up to 10 years in prison for blowing the whistle on washington's targeted drone assassination program daniel hale pleaded guilty to transmitting and retaining national defense information his case comes amid mass disclosure of similar crimes allegedly perpetrated by the u.s. .

i have to tell you when he called me a few hours ago he was surprisingly upbeat and optimistic and he he remarked about how much press this issue has been getting since he decided to plead guilty so in the end i think that he thinks that this is been worth it that americans know more about the drone program now than 8 they did 6 months ago or a year ago and even though he's likely going to go to prison it was worth it the u.s. is flying these drones or at least it was until recently that were used ostensibly to kill terrorists or would be terrorists but in reality to kill anybody who might resemble a terrorist and that included women children the elderly and anybody else who

happened to be on the ground i believe that we're we're a nation of laws and we have to abide by those laws whether we like them or not if we don't like them we should change them go through the process and change them if congress has not declared war on a country we don't have a right to attack it we just can't decide that we don't like the politics of whoever happens to be in charge in a place like yemen or pakistan or afghanistan and then launch drone strikes against them it's a violation of international law dado which hale gave to the online news site the intercept back in 2014 was made available to the public and he is now accused of disclosing classified intelligence information his supporters say these kind of exposures are necessary for a strong society. using the espionage act in this way to prosecute journalists sources and spies chills newsgathering and discourages sources from coming forward

with information in the public interest particularly when it relates to national security where government secrecy is at its height these documents detail the secret unaccountable probe says for targeting and killing people around the world including u.s. citizens through drone strikes there are a vital public importance and the related to their disclosure is protected by the 1st amendment hale was arrested 2 years ago and charged with violating the espionage act and other related offenses when joe biden can depart some hope that there would be changes to the drone program but now there are reports he aims to boost exports of unmanned weapons to countries including those with poor human rights records former cia analyst john kiriakou who you heard from earlier told us that the terms of the espionage act leave hale with little hope. this is the really the worst part of the of the espionage act this is the reason why ed snowden can't come home this is the reason why i couldn't go to trial this is the reason why

jeffrey sterling the other cia whistleblower was convicted because there is no affirmative defense we are prohibited by law from going into court and saying i did it but i did it for this reason and in in the case of daniel hale this was a war crime he did it because he was exposing a war crime he's not allowed to say that and so he really doesn't have any chance of acquittal the best thing to do for daniel as it was for me as it was for so many others here charged under the espionage act is to take a deal and to hope for the lightest possible sentence the decision that was made early on even before joe biden was inaugurated to pursue the appeal against julian his son it was that decision that made it clear that joe biden was going to pursue national security leaks just like barack obama did and just like donald trump did after him you can see our full interview with john kiriakou on the latest edition

of watching the hawks which is online now at our 2 dot com. a connection between the astra zeneca code vaccine and blood clots does exist officials from the european medicine agency but its cause is yet to be determined meanwhile the agency itself isn't rushing to link the 2 as artie's showed dubinsky explains. well they still have the confusion on tuesday over the safety over astra zeneca 1st of all we had this down the indictment from the m a a european medicines agencies top official one of the top officials saying that in his opinion they was think it is so you see asian between the astra zeneca job and the rare form of blood clotting this is blood clotting in the brain. mariya cover larry made the accusations in an interview with an italian newspaper and those accusations have now gone a viral around the world this is what he had to say we're trying to get the precise

picture of what is happening to define in detail the syndrome due to the vaccine in my opinion we can now say it is the reason association with the vaccine what causes this reaction however we still do not now despite that being his opinion he said that the risk benefit ratio was still on the side of astra zeneca and he suggested that any change in advice on how that job is used would be in regards to age groups rather than anything else that's already something that's taken place here with france germany and norway where astra zeneca now is being given to young age groups however may within hours of this interview came out and said itself in a very brief statement that despite that claim it is not yet itself reached a conclusion as to whether there is an association between astra zeneca and these

incredibly rare blood clots and it is continuing of course to monitor the situation in regards to that so it doesn't appear as if the advice is going to change from the major a plea today but these need to top official from the board the are likely to just heighten the concerns that there are about the job already there are complaints is a manslaughter case being looked at here in france after a 38 year old social worker health worker received one dose of astra zeneca and then died less than 2 weeks later a rare type of blood clotting so there are concerns about this job and if you're somebody who's just had a astra zeneca and you are in one of these younger age group categories do you to have your facts seen in the next. days in this really no must be a worry because once again the safety of this vaccine it is a question now if i say if the official here may advice does change

in the next few days or the next few weeks that might also pose questions with people wondering whether they can trust the safety of what's being approved by the way and it will raise a lot of questions about the process it is undertaken when it came to approving vaccines like astra zeneca. meanwhile the world health organization says there is no link to so far between astra zeneca and blood clots highlighting the positive benefit risk assessment of the vaccine. what's happened is that there are a number of committees right now and regulatory agencies and regulatory authorities looking the data and new data is coming every day and assessing the data so there is no link for the moments between the vaccine and the throne political events the trial of the astra zeneca job on children in britain has also been put on hold while the u.k.'s medical regulator makes its own checks we ask people in london if

they are concerned about the vaccines potential link to blood clots. i had my 1st. big bow problem. because you saw this from some health condition she's not getting it simply because of the but all clots and we do actually know someone who's had a stroke in the vaccine and i'm not. you know because a lot of people has been vaccinated they're ok this will be even more side effects that we don't even know about this is just one thing the picking out they have no idea what this can cause i guess the fear is not a bit bigger actual problem we've got a good public health system keep an eye on these things and obviously go be looking at the latest research but while the advice to still take the vaccine i would still take the vaccine that nurse and health campaigner naomi bennett believes the e.u. regulator should act immediately to not put lives at risk. i think it would have been very useful to treat this is very seriously because we're dealing with the lives of people so i think from the moment there was any doubt they should have

acted very quickly on that and know people are very worried and they. prefer him to go for a different type of rats in one shot and yet the general feedback that i'm receiving is that people are unsure what to do because there's so many different complete guidance is given out so it's very difficult for people members of the public to make their mind up definitely need some confirmation of the risk and we need to know how serious and how dangerous is the vaccine if it is dangerous or if it's not believe me it says rather than just allowing people to be eating pigs and just allowed to be given these facts in 1000 without that assurance and reassurance i definitely hope that they have learned from this and they start listening to people's back in concerns you know what if they can reassure us entirely then i guess it will be a different thing so i filmy it be wanted to get the assurance from them because

recent not long ago they said that there was no connection with blood cause and and today surprisingly we've been that we've learned that they could be or maybe a connection with this red type of brain. and that's the issue and that's the concern because always the we just need to get beyond says and be able to make informed decisions about which friend of vaccination to use. coming up italian businesses are pushed to the brink by repeated lock downs with tempers flaring and rome that story much more after a short break this is our 2 international. you know a lot of people speculate why they're not god exists or not i'll tell you one thing that i can guarantee does not exist financial regulators.

is your media a reflection of reality. in a world transformed. what will make you feel safe from. the isolation community. are you going the right way or are you being led. by. what is true what is faith. in the world corrupted you need to descend. to join us in the depths. or a maid in the shallows. says

arch international now a march in support of struggling italian businesses that has turned violent in rome with protesters clashing with riot police in front of parliament. that was the unrest was sparked by an extension to easter coronavirus restrictions until the end of april they included the closure of all non essential shops and take away only service for restaurants and cafes many venues have already gone bankrupt unable to withstand the financial pressure of a 3rd lockdown in a year leaving many italians furious at the prospect of more restrictions. oh. she's yelling cut and our chain sonali sells because we can't go ahead and accept the situation we want to reclaim our jobs and now freedom we ask for an immediate

end to the national walk down and for the immediate opening of all commercial activity without any restrictions regardless of the statistics related to the disease the fact we can't go out after tenet nights that we can't go where we want not respecting our rights which are constitutionally mandated is a form of tyranny the founder of an anti and conservative think tank told us he believes government inconsistency is are driving people to dispair. i think that people are frustrated because if we don't have a date for the hand of the lock down or we don't have a plan for the next 2 weeks and we don't have a date to hold the next we certainly don't know if they're locked down wolf i don't know in the hand of fate but we don't know if that lockdown will finish in the hand of me how every week and have rebate for the government to change it in the laws and have remake of the government to say that the long now we need it for the next

weeks and this ignition is fight difficult for the interest in the world the 1st article of our constitution say that italy is a democratic country based on the noble so if the number of people in the secret since can open in their shops can't hold me in the restaurant how they can sleep so i handed stand that people really understand the people that grew up in the street that the most free and tried to see their goals and the problem in our county in this nation is that the government don't have the money to help this people so that's why the people who are angry today it was found was that the research where . in part and each time he says you see that from the last year. we lost in 1000000 jobs in our country so you can imagine how it's difficult how the k'naan seclusion is difficult economy in this one so the government has to help old people . northern ireland has seen several nights of unrest with protesters hurling

petrol bombs at police and anger over post brags that trade roles are to be edwards dusty has more. we've seen numerous police officers injured and as these violent clashes as well as dozens of people being arrested some as young as 13 and 14 years of age and so now police are really appealing to community leaders to try and stop this disorder and stop this on the breast as well but it all follows on friday decision not to prosecute leaders of the irish nationalists the shin fein party for allegedly breaking coronavirus restrictions for attending a funeral of a former. leader last year that funeral was in june and allegedly around 2000 people attended so that is one part of the narrative but also receiving rising tensions due to post bricks issues as well as a specific part of the threats that withdrawal agreement that's the northern ireland protocol is coming under fire today what we're seeing is it all boils down

to the fact that these new trade barriers between northern ireland and the rest of the u.k. essentially creates a defacto border on the irish sea quizes that goods entering the night in from britain will have to go through specific e.u. checks a century treaty a completely different to the rest of the united kingdom it's always been a huge sticking point in both theories of may's attempted bret's that deal but also boris johnson signed sealed and delivered bricks it deal that is a huge sticking point officials in brussels dublin and london just sore on technical terms but actually what we're seeing is a real a motive behind it it's an erosion of serenity for some it's a betrayal by the british government and all acutely rips up the good friday agreement all together and all the promises of peace within it as well it does seem like neither the shin fame for that matter nor the d.p. are in the mood for to taunt anytime soon when it comes to these violent clashes all to do with that milton art and protocol and it seems all of this stoked up

tensions is accelerating by breck's it seeing the appetite to unify northern ireland an island really increase in the last few weeks if not months. to its highest level of around 42 percent not just confined to the wishful nationalists either but that appetite is also growing amongst the devolved nations too we know that over in scotland that appetite has been growing for some years but nicholas sturgeons reenergize efforts are seeing that trajectory continue as well even though looking at wales which is the 2nd smallest nation of the 4 nations they're jumping on the independence bandwagon too with around 25 percent in the polls saying that they would vote for independence which is double what it was around 6 years ago so it seems like these recent clashes over the last few days in northern ireland really are just real reflect of real concerns when it comes to the disunited kingdom. the political commentator for our hughes

futile to try and renegotiate the northern ireland protocol. this is what has always happened here by a political response to the destabilization of the peace process here on continue. creating a positive factor. using violence to try. to renegotiate. that's not going to help anytime soon so it's a complete waste of. noise flexing their muscle trying to use violence. for political reasons representatives. and the. space is cool a soyuz rocket is in position on the launch pad at the baikonur cosmodrome in kazakhstan it is due to blast off for the international space station on friday

a few days before russia marks the 60th anniversary of your ego and becoming the 1st person in space constantine rushkoff is following his latest mission. for those who are not involved in the space program itself this is arguably the best moment to see the rocket up close when they transfer it from an assembly hangar to the launch pad and i mean wow just look how look how big it is then you know i got to tell you something that i watched this on t.v. many times but this is absolutely different when you see something like this in person by the way the sawyers rocket is 50 meters long and it weighs over $300.00 tons. of course it takes a base to retrain even to haul it they move it slowly and carefully because as you can see we can move along in more alaska pop with it there is no need for haste at

this moment because it's important not to do. struck the assembled rocket just days before liftoff the reason why the soyuz rocket is so big because it needs a lot of fuel to overcome gravity and that's what a space rocket basically is is just a massive fuel 10 opp to 90 percent of it burns out during the flight sequence in the past and then used parts simply fall back to earth and that's why by the way that was one of the reason why baikonur was built. in sparsely populated steps of kazakhstan because you don't want used parts of rocket to fall on someone's house the spacecraft itself is much smaller if you compare wood with the rest of the rockets it's right on the tip of the rocket inside a capsule let's go in to protect the space crew while they're going to make blast their way to orbit.

and this time we have 2 russian cosmonauts and want to merican astronaut. despite and asked me how in space is dragon program they still dependent on russia and paid the country to san its astronauts into space anyway the preparation is in full swing now his massive for russia's peer dubrovsky this is going to be his 1st ever space flight leg novitsky now the russian crew member and space ships captain on the other hand has more experience he's already has 2 space missions under his belt the same goes for mark bonner hey who's not only been to the i sat in the past but also perform several spacewalks now if everything goes as planned they will be in space at this 60th anniversary of your garden's flight which made him the 1st average human in space and set the space age which we live in today just over 550

people have been able to visit. earth's orbit ever since but thanks to your good daryn and other pioneers of space travel we know that this is possible and that gravity is not our limits. love it around your watch march international back 32 minutes with a nother full and fresh look at your news so. i've.

hello and welcome to cross talk where all things are considered i'm peter lavelle russian officials have borne care of a renewed military assault on the country's east could lead to the end of ukraine itself this is how serious the situation is washington and its nato allies blame moscow for the escalation of tensions will the west back ukraine if kim starts a war.

crosstalk in ukraine i'm joined by my guest mary to shift in london she's a columnist for the independent on. foreign affairs in washington we are all rescues and he is the executive vice president of the eurasia center and here in moscow we have gabriel gavin he is a moscow based journalist covering central and eastern europe for a number of outlets including our team our across the uk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate mary let me go to you 1st here this is a very ominous situation that we're facing right now we have 10 tensions are escalating. the rhetoric from kiev is quite harsh moscow is reacting and nato allies are reacting as well here what's going on here i mean who's driving this is this is it washington is an accommodation of bowl and what about the timing the early days of the biden ministration because the b. team that's running american foreign policy was the b. team over the obama administration same figures same people same names same.