the in the, in the top headlines here on the desk told of choose, explosion of the chemical factory in germany is expected to rise with the official saying that's quoting little, the hope that the missing will be found alive. american whistleblower daniel hale is 10 times the almost 4 years in prison for leaking classified details about washington's drone assassination program. we get a reaction from others who have chosen to make public a deadly state secret when we kill civilians and then put in the official reports that they weren't children for example, they were go. that is a war crime. it's really a warrant for, it's not just with

a government is that war with its own people and things are getting hated at the olympic as a russian chinese star. danina met with his challenge during a press conference. the question, more about politics than 4? ah, well, a very good evening to you from all of us here on the international in moscow with just off the atm here in the capital. i'm ro, reese, to share with your top schools. well, there is a little hope that the 5 people still missing after an explosion that a chemical plant in germany on tuesday will be found a life that is according to the company that runs the plan. a 2 people confirm dead over 30 injured peter. all of her father's report from the side. well, currently the company they run, the facility just behind may have confirmed that there was 600 to 900000

liters of industrial solvent at the site in tanks where that explosion and subsequent fire took place on tuesday. now it has been confirmed that at least 2 people have been killed over 30 wounded in not explosion on the subsequent fire. some of those who are injured are said to be in a very serious condition, but this facility isn't just on the outskirts of the city of labor cruise. and it's pretty much a short walk from the very center of the city that contains over a 160000 people. i spoke to some of those who said they were absolutely terrified when the explosion happened. it was terrible. i was very scared. i live nearby and i could see everything from my balcony when my windows were rattling from the blast at the start. that was incredibly frightened. then i saw the white glove. at 1st i thought it was a tornado. i was worried. we'll leave here. we know what they make and store here,

and there are dangerous chemicals on site. it was about $945.00. we were in our apartment when we heard a lot extreme, a loud bang, but i was, it was a container being dropped from a nearby construction side and people came out of the store here. everyone was very concerned. yeah. so 1st we didn't see anything, but just 10 minutes later there was a huge cloud towering over the town. i saw the cloud moving away from the city, so that made me less worry. nevertheless, we took precautions, shut our windows and doors, and all other common sense measures for the concern now is if there is any long term effect from that cloud that people were describing to me. and we've seen on all of the footage from tuesday now the health and environmental protection services of the state of northrop with the valley away. it took place as well as the, the german federal equivalent soft carrying out a lot of texts all around the clock. right? now, so far they've said that there's no elevated pollution risk in the area following what happened on tuesday. they continuing to test the air, but also the soil,

the water, the was falling from the sky as well. precipitation. we actually had an awful lot of rain on wednesday morning. that's all being samples and tests carried out. we're expecting to hear by the end of the week whether there. busy has been any increased pollution risk, but at the moment, so it's continuous tests that are taking place show that their house and, but that doesn't mean that there's not massive precautions in place that is being explicit information given out by the authorities to people in the local area, particularly those who live in the area where soft from the fire fell. they've been told that they're not to eat anything that's come out of their gardens, that they're not to allow children to play in playgrounds in those areas. you're not supposed to sit on any garden furniture in those areas as well. and if you have a pool in your back garden, do not use it whatsoever until those samples have being tested. and the all clear

has been given particularly what they're looking for. here is to do with substances called dioxin that come from when chlorinated compounds are l burns. and that's exactly the situation we've had here. so they're not taking it lightly as it stands . they saying there's no elevated risk, but those tests are continuing to see if there's any long term effects from the fire and the explosion here in labor cruise and an american whistleblower has been sentenced to almost 4 years in prison for leaking classified information about america's drone program while serving in the background. and i've gotten this donna a decade ago. daniel hale helped id tockets for south nation. when he came home in 2013, he shared secret details about the drone program, with journalists revealing the true extent of civilian casualties in the middle east and africa in march. hail pleaded guilty to leaking classified documents, which revealed that 90 percent of strikes that actually hit civilians. now the u. s

. begun is drone program, this was back during the obama administration. and since then as low as more than 14000 drones drugs and ghana stone pakistan, yemen in somalia, thousands have been killed with more than 300 children among them. and we spoke to whistle blower and the former us intelligence officer john curiosity, who attended hales sentencing and hearing the mood was one of great apprehension and the courtroom was packed for daniel hale. it was all quite dramatic, but we were apprehensive because we really didn't have any indication of which way the judge was going to go. and then he surprised everyone by clearing the courtroom and sealing it for 2 hours. while the justice department argued in a classified venue for a sentence of 9 years to me, the fair verdict would have been to, to, for the judge to come off the bench, shake his hand, thank him for his service to the country and let him go home to his family, i didn't think he deserved any prison time at all because he revealed

a crime that was being committed by the u. s. government, the crime of, of the murder of innocent civilians. these are war crimes. when, when we know that civilians are within the strike range, that makes it a crime when we kill civilians and then put in the official report that they weren't children for example, they were go. that is a war crime and it became a matter of course, it became something that many drone operators and their supervisors were doing ahead of the 7 thing a hail wrote a letter detailing some of the things he had witnessed in his work, concluding the death of 2 kids and one strike. he also slammed the claim for my president brock obama. the drone killings abroad were protecting americans. the policy of drone assassination was being used to mislead the public, that it keeps us safe. whenever i encounter an individual who thinks that drove warfare is justified and reliably keeps america safe,

i remember that time and ask myself how i could possibly continue to believe that i am a good person deserving of my life and the right to pursue happiness. and other rather well known whistleblower edward snowden has commented on the case on twitter. he condemned the court decision and praised mister hale. so we got a reaction as well from brandon bryant, a former us drone operator who also lifted the lid on what his work involved. he says in the choice between ignoring civilian killings and making the public aware his conscience made up his mind. it's really a war untruth. nicest whistle blowers, we've got people that have been propagating this war over in the middle east for almost 2 decades. now. the government is at war with its own people. if you get your part of the machine, the car runs this machine, yet you have to bear witness for it. not just some unfeeling part of the machine you're dealing. and eventually you have to find yourself in the middle of that storm and be like, you know, this, i have to do,

i have to do this because if i don't do it, who's going to i find it strange that conscientious individuals that are inside the program that are trying to hold us accountable for the obvious blayton war crimes that we ourselves are doing are being punished. and it seems that they are punishing people in order to make them an example. and that really does disturb me, especially if america supposed to be this great country and freedom fighter amongst the world, how we're punishing our own people who are trying to do the well. i meanwhile, ecuador has revoked julian sanchez citizenship saying his original application actually contained mistakes and he also never paid the fee. apparently, his naturalization status was put under review in 2019, not long off the u. k. police forcibly removed him from the ecuador and embassy in london. sondra spent 7 years seeking refuge following sex assault allegations in

sweden, which have not been dropped. and since his removal, he's been held at a high security british prison waiting for a court decision on a us extradition request. he's wanting to buy american authorities on espionage chargers and faces up to 175 years in prison. wiki leaks, which co founded, published thousands of classified falls a decade ago. we spoke to a scientist lawyer who says ecuador, the decision to strip his client of citizenship is actually illegal. this was developing according to a pre plan scenario. after astonish, lost his diplomatic asylum, former ecuador, imprison lenny moreno needed to somehow justify the invasion of british police at the embassy. and the only possibility was just to deprive julian, his orange of ecuador instead of the ship, which is again that door in legislation. so it would be ecuador in foreign ministry council, the soldiers naturalization, so that the bridges, please good end to the embassy. they needed to show that he was not in ecuador

incentives, and at the time since the echo during constitution prohibits the extradition of its citizens to a 3rd country. this was deliberately wrong, a legal, unjust, and contrary to the constitution and human rights, they simply followed this unworthy scenario, thereby exposing ecuador in the extremely unfavorable light. the tron against the thorns is a political one. not only that in the decision to revoke us on just citizenship, they rely solely on a report verified by a former state official who's currently accused of corruption. and a trial is underway against chicago. mayor laurie lightfoot says she isn't sorry for her decision to give interviews only to non white reporters. i think that it has triggered a much needed debate. i would absolutely do it again. i'm unapologetic about it because it's per a very important conversation that conversation that needed to happen. that should have happened a long time ago. the mad to find it also noted that the media conferences that

dominated by white reporters. and so just high time outlets better reflect the make up of american society. who's being sued by reporter for the daily call. see a thomas cut or not? she argues that she's violating basic principles of freedom of the press. but it's not the 1st time the chicago mayor has come under fire for her racial policies. last month, lightfoot declared racism a public health crisis and val to allocate nearly $10000000.00 of covert relief money to improve the wellness of non white communities in chicago. executive director of an hyphenated america. christopher hires says democrats like to play the racial con to distract people from their own failures. woke agenda is nothing more than smoking mirrors. it's a small screen just to distract people from all the other things that are taking place. it's a poxy, we can just run on down the line, all the people out there,

whether it's the elected officials like laurie lightfoot, or other people in the media who are out there trying to gin up race wars and all that is a slight of hand to try to, to do just to distract you from the things that are not working with their public policies and look at the results. the black community or somebody say the african american community is one of the ones that suffer the most by continuing to vote for people like laurie lightfoot in for the party that she represents. because it just leads to more swirling around the toilet. that's essentially what ends up happening in the black community. the kremlin has a strongly refuted claims by us president joe biden, that russia intends to interfere in the 2022 congressional elections. the russian president, spokesman has also said that moscow in washington can hardly be called partners these days. russia has never interfered in us electrical processes. the results of many investigations conducted in the u. s. confirm that russia certainly does not,

and has no intention of meddling in any electoral processes in foreign states. if you haven't noticed, it's hardly possible to cold russia and the u. s. partners now rather there are opponents with whom we negotiate. i mean, it seems like never ending deja vu to be honest, we have another us election here and more baseless accusations of russian meddling . i mean, we heard from moscow, they outright rejected those claims because the only thing we have to go by with them is basically biden's word. i think we also need to take on the rapid disinformation look at russia is doing already about the 2022 elections and this information to pure a violation of our sovereignty. barton was apparently given this information by the us intelligence community, as at his daily meeting. again, without any evidence that we know of at least it's being claimed that russia is intent on meddling. and in the u. s. mid term elections that are going to take place next year. now at that time, the entire house of representatives and

a 3rd of the senate are going to be up for grabs. so that really makes you think, you know, it's going to take a lot for someone to see how radically rig elections on a scale like that, you know, but anyway, but also specifically called out president russian president vladimir prudence. so let's take a listen to what he said. when i was with mister prudent, who has a real problem, he is sitting on top of an economy that has nuclear weapons and oils and nothing else. he knows, he knows he's in real trouble, which makes me more dangerous. in my view, this is pretty weird. biden would say that though, because washington, i mean, has nearly the same amount of nuclear weapons as russia does, making it just as dangerous as moscow in that department. so why is russia in trouble? i mean, the, the entire situation really just seems like hot sal rhetoric coming from across the atlantic and it's very timely as well. because remember, just last month there was a summit between joe biden and vladimir putin. well, it is

a day 6 of the tokyo olympics and the pressure is rising. a russian tennis star the kneeled med for this last out. that a question during a press conference he feels was unwarranted and inappropriate right off the latest . when alexi chef ski has the story, he would think that the olympic games is something only about sports where the athletes have been preparing for all their lives to take part in this ultimate event for many athletes across the world. but this time, it's starting very political. every time an athlete from russia is appearing at a press conference or after winning a medal a he or she is being tested with questions about the doping scandals of the past and about why russia is allowed to participate in the olympics at all. so was the case of worlds. number 2 in tennessee, then you'll meet the idea of who just won his game and unbearably hot conditions. it was very humid and very, very hot on the court. he almost collapse at one point even, and the questions were directed to him were not about the situation. he faced all

the court. but one journalist came over and asked whether mitigate, felt that russia's participation in the olympics was cheating in itself. madrid came up with a very sharp response. first time in my life, i'm not going to answer a question. you should be embarrassed of itself. i think you should wire him from the olympics. i don't want to see him again. the international tennis federation responded that it will lot ban this journalist that a journalists have the right to off questions. but speaking of the question, this is not the 1st time this is happening. as i said to athletes representing russia, media, just call it china also said the same that he's been tested with questions about the doping scandals of the past. and i'd like to remind you of you with that russia participation in the tokyo olympics. this time is very much limited because of the doping scandals of the path because the world anti doping agency, effectively band, russia and it's symbolic. strom taking part in major competitions across the planet

for 4 years. russia won the appeal in the cost in the court for arbitration of sports, and thus the country was allowed to take part in the olympics under the name r o c. this is an acronym for the russian olympic committee, but even that name and full cannot be used. it's just r o c. and this is something that russian athletes and ross have been observing since day one of the olympic games. even the opening rest conference at the tokyo olympics, it lasted about an hour 20 minutes, long, 45 minutes of which was dedicated to russia's participation under a different name in the olympic games this time. and despite all that, despite all this pressure coming from all sides, because not only kind of plant, but obviously the athletes and all other disciplines are being asked questions like that, trying to ignore them all the time. despite all that, russia or the r o c. if you my is performing very well right now, it stands for and the overall metal stable nearing on its 20

a metal in the olympics and day 6. and that is something that many journalists, particularly those sports related, not politics related, cannot avoid. and they note that russia is performing or the r o c is performing very well at the olympics. and it wasn't the only reason people's focus is shifting away from that actual sport at these games. a team usa is the most decorated gymnast simone biles hit the headlines by withdrawing from the competition to head up a final round. so this was due to mental health concerns. yeah, i say put mental health 1st, because if you don't then you're not going to enjoy your sport and you're not going to succeed as much as you want to. so it's okay. sometimes the even set out the big competition to focus on yourself because it shows how strong of a competitor person that you really are rather than just battle through it. with a bio so essentially started shocking hours before the competition which prompted

her to tell her coaches that she couldn't carry on the final result in the us team winning silver medals. a teammates and other us sports figures praised vials for her bravery. she may still continue with 4 individual competitions pending further evaluation. now, besides mental health games have also thrown of spotlight on sexism. the german female gymnastic team chose full body uni. todds, instead of the more traditional bikini caught leo todds, the decision was made to protest the sexualization of athletes that he made a similar protest at the european championship earlier this year. meanwhile, the australian swimming coach was found herself on fire after celebrating the team winning gold by thrusting a barrier with the groin area, prompting accusations of a toxic masculinity. bullets learn a little bit more about this or ellis has more professor of sociology and after university joining us as the, as a international affairs commentator, marco gothic and social activist,

joanne at bon morales. all 3 of you. thank you very much for joining us on the international, a very warm welcome to all 3 of you, joanne, 1st to you. let's start with a fairly angry outburst from russia's tenant. start to think it was appropriate to ask him about carrying a stigma of cheaters and i don't think it's fair and i think he knows. and depending on the kind of accusation that was there, not him, he has every right to defend himself. and i don't agree with that completely at all . okay, my market, what about the issue of all of i guess politically loaded questions for athletes? i guess they acceptable, especially right off his match the person is entirely innocent or anything being completed by these words that the journalist use with something that's being condemned is a disgusting question for them to come by that we don't want to see him again. yes, it's come from a journalist, but it's the kind of thing that we should all be repelled by because it is

a kind of racism you're a russian. therefore, the russians are being taught with the cheating brush that, but we'll put that one to you. if it was directed to a black person on the same basis, would be repelled and i think i'm personally repelled by the way that should pull that question. and it's sort of over to you. let's move to the protest by the german, the gymnast over the sexualization in sport, all the lympics, the right for him to thing to, to stage. busy this kind of front, perhaps, perfect, actually, rory couldn't get a better stage. only last week, we're talking about the hannibal scandal, where the, the, the handbook team was instructed to wear bikini bottoms instead of shorts and obviously a fine with impose this whole issue of uniform. and the sexualization of women has to go quite soon and it can be so very simply, you just say, here are the uniformed men and women. no different. obviously,

to preserve modesty in swim where we have to little bit to difference here and there. but in the main women cricketers play in the same uniforms as mel cricketers as a do the same in football and all of the sports. exactly the same and quite agree that the germans have made a legitimate protest here. if they want to play performing unit towards, that's perfectly all right, bye may. and more of the better as far as i'm concerned. any, any sport that tries to segregate male and female on the basis of uniform is really back in the 20th century. alright. alright. and marco over to you, because on the, on the, on the hand, you know, the uniform thing is it is a big deal to the athletes concerned. i mean, surely they do have the right, i guess, to feel comfortable when competing. yeah, they do. and there are certainly some cultures which don't feel very comfortable

wearing the kinds of clothes that we consider normal. so we do have a bit of a problem be on the one hand the olympics is designed to extol, abuse in the perfection of the human body operating at peak efficiency. so it's there to be admired. all the other hand, we have contributed lympics, who may feel uncomfortable with that being a limb. in particular, maybe there's a case for some element of choice, but at the same time, we don't want to lose the essence of what the lympics is. so we have to have a really the limit games is there to provide a common platform for athletes, old cultures. i say it's, you know, it's a common platform, but a common platform such as the olympics will have common rules as well. joe, over to you, rules are rules, right? i mean there are, there limits you thing to the kind of protest lympics should tolerate. oh, i know, i don't agree with rules rules the uniform, to be honest. one of the biggest things about the elliptic pattern and your skills isn't actually, and that's what you're judging, not charging the uniform and what,

what people don't realize, the sex libation of women when they can be very self conscious when wearing we're beating clothing, which might actually performance, so really if we really care about the school and the athletes and the skills, we should allow them to feel confident in what they wearing for ela over to you. because let's, let's move over now the focused on, on the, the store. you just a moment ago that the mental health issue of simone biles, she withdrew. i mean, this must be very, very difficult decision for gigi think perhaps she's set an example by doing this. i think no me a song to play example. when she pulled out of wimbledon, and of course, she was quite open about it and she said, you know, i do have mental health issues and most of them have been caused by the media. so that looks his back to met the dad really in a certain way. she said she was uncomfortable with the major attention and that she didn't like the questions being asked. and she didn't like the fact that she was being obliged to talk to the major all the time. and i'm guessing the bylaws is

cognizant of a soc, is experience and felt that her, her game wasn't exactly right to me. clearly, she was way, way off her peak the 1st couple of days of competition. and so she decided to pull out. i think there's a bit of an irony though, you know, rory here. the fact that she has withdrawn as bull further attention to her. i mean, if she sort of quietly underperformed and, and perhaps explained to the media that she does, this is just one of those events. she can't be at her peak all the time and then quietly slipped her white fine. but she really has made an announcement him put mental health health back on the map. again, import one that rory does run away with the idea that i don't think this, but young people in sport today are subjected to the most intense pressure to

perform at that peak. no, not at all. and you think about the, the limbic athletes. i do apologize for jumping in at us, but you think about, you know, these are and then p and say spend that lives training, you know, just for a couple of days every 4 years. and so the, as you say, the stress and the pressure must be immense on these plays. but joanne, you look like you want to get in here and forgive me for being devil's advocate. but while this is all laudable, for example, addressing the clothing issues, the costume, issues of sports players, or for example, 11 sports player and libya and who's, who's suffering perhaps from mental health issues. you think we're all somehow getting just a little bit lost in all of this? not, not really, not to patrick time to speak about these topics, especially with the, with, with the whole thing about the mental issue is a topic has had such as the years and only recent need to accept people have mental health and i think they lympics is a path example, why not express how you really feel like you said, especially in, in can say they,

they really try the years and years and they carry the country on that showed it is okay. has to be like, okay, i have mental health, i'm not gonna be home. and if she can't do it now and pay for the young people, that might be the pressure then when, when else would be able to do it. as a good point that joanne marco, over to you, i wanted to ask you the wide range of issues that are being now thrown off at these games. does it suggest perhaps that athletes concerns are only being taken seriously when it's too late? they're raising a concern at a grand event like this. well, that's the way it gets more attention than anywhere else. i mean the, i think we need to keep our eye on what the lympics is about. it's supposed to be an event which comes along every 4 years where the people who participated in oper pay both mentally and physically. i mean, the whole word olympians implies a level of a peak performance mentally and physically which is beyond most of the rest of us. so i think that if, if there are these issues, we better if they were applied to hurley though the importance of mental health

issue obviously shouldn't be underestimated about perhaps putting that on to the lympics as well as press too much is a sporting event should be kept as a sporting event, if one is not ready for one really shouldn't, shouldn't be there. you can only find out sometimes that you're not ready for it. when you're there already. we have respect, as in the case of biles, she deserve it because it can be an easy decision for her. why want to go want to get to alice now because it's not necessarily an issue of a mental health, but let's discuss the celebration ellis by the australian, a swimming coach or thrusting the barrier with a growing area. was that inappropriate? or what was the many carried away by the moment and that's totally excusable, both in and approach any, any oh you did get carried away. mark has just made the point. they things come around every 4. yeah. so you know, you're working, working and work every day of your life before your 5 years in this case,

frustrated by the code. so i think we have to cut people a bit slack, you know? all right, joanne, before it, before i close out this lovely panel discussion, are you afraid perhaps that non sport issues or political ones in particular for example could, could become main talking points in the future olympics? no, i'm not worried. i think it's, like i said, i think it's a great opportunity. we've seen so many changes already and i'm not worried. i still feel like eventually it will kind of not 5 down, but we will respect, respect that with the school. and i'm happy. and alice, over to you, your comment on that. it's a different hill in picks. let's put it that way. it's an a everyone watching on tv and watching, you know, 68 tests and see to stadium with every c vacant account. pretend i'm enjoying it as much as i do. other olympics i have to say, but you know, sports is to be enjoyed by everyone.