Or broadcasting studios in moscow this is r. T. International im sean thomas certainly glad to have you with us now we start with our developing story a rocket attack has been reported at the airport in baghdad iraq reports say 12 Iraqi Servicemen are injured we can now cross a live to our d. C. And who is staying across this story for us certainly interesting the timing of whats been happening there at the embassy what do we know so far. Well its not exactly clear what has happened at the Baghdad Airport however it appears that the airport has been closed off with flights being suspended after what is being reported to have been a rocket attack now reports seem to indicate that 12 Iraqi Service members have been injured by an apparent rocket attack not exactly clear furthermore are we are seeing reports that a leader of the Popular Mobilization forces of shia muslims in iraq has also been killed and that this individual was someone who was involved in the recent protests that took place at the u. S. Embassy in baghdad now its important to note that this incident whatever it is not exactly clear we understand a possible rocket attack something at the Baghdad Airport that it comes just hours after the United States warned that washington was gearing up to attack iran to attack irans forces claiming that to iran was responsible for the recent protests at the baghdad u. S. Embassy and furthermore claiming that iran was gearing up for some kind of attack on the United States this is what we heard earlier from mark asper who is the secretary of defense of the United States. Draw some indication that they may be planning additional attacks if thats happened and by the way if we get word to the taxes some type of indication will take preemptive action as well to protect American Forces to protect american lives now earlier it was announced that the United States intended to send 750 more troops to the middle east region this is in response to the fact that a crowd of protesters stormed the u. S. Embassy in baghdad denouncing u. S. Bombing raids on iraq and syria and militia in iraq and syria and the result being that 25 people died from these raids that were denounced by the protesters to point to note that we did see a show of force earlier with American Helicopters flying over the compound firing flares as a warning to any further protesters so were waiting for more information about what has been developing at the Baghdad Airport were seeing the reports about 12 Iraqi Service members injured were seeing the reports about a leader of the Popular Mobilization forces of shia muslims being killed were waiting for more information we do know however at this point the Baghdad Airport appears to be closed and flights are suspended or to scale them up and there in the United States saying across the situation for us we know that as it develops you will be the 1st person to be on top of it so thanks for that. All right switching gears now donald trump thinks that foreign interference could complicate the situation in libya he raised his concerns during a call with president to want to turkey both leaders agreed to maintain diplomatic cooperation in the conflict this comes after the Turkish Parliament voted on thursday to back the un recognized government in libya giving a green light to a Troop Deployment there and libya has been in a state of war since the protests in 2011 and the ousting of the countrys leader Moammar Gadhafi in recent months the un backed government of National Accord has been losing ground to the rival administration of general. Who leads the Libyan National army forces currently control most of libyas territory including crucial oil and Gas Resources the un backed government meanwhile formally requested military aid from last month. And the arab league believes the deployment of turkish troops will further escalate the conflict in libya neighboring egypt has also strongly condemned the decision saying it would hold turkey fully responsible for any negative repercussions possibly or has more. We know that this emergency session took place this afternoon in ankara we did see opposition from the Main Opposition Party and their major concern is really that of all tensions in libya and that is a concern thats being expressed here across the region that number one we could see the libyan situation becoming more and more inflated and at the same time tensions trickling over elsewhere into the region now the initial mandate we understand is that troops will be sent for a period of one year of course and course saying that this deployment is vital for turkey for her interests in libya and also her interests in the Eastern Mediterranean last month an agreement was signed between and libya and according to the turkish president in that agreement he was requested by the tripoli Prime Minister fires to send such troops the government has been embroiled in both her fighting with the military command of tar and his libya National Army now theyve been unable to reach the city center of tripoli but there has been particularly in recent weeks a lot of fighting around the capital turkish political analyst use of erin. Feels it has exhausted nonmilitary options. Turkey doesnt want defeat or at least turkeys not going there to combat at least not initially i expect a very immediate deployment of 200. 00 marines there to serve as a stopgap at least raise the cost of hopped hours of pensive on tripoli knowing that there is a turkish presence knowing that if any of them are harmed there would be a much greater retaliation from making the star and his ellen a think twice before bombing bombing tripoli president add one has tried to reach out to his nato allies especially his e. U. Allies multiple times this is basically a last resort right now when diplomacy doesnt work unfortunately there comes a time where you have to flex your hard power and there is an important saying what happens on the military field the diplomatic table were seeing turkey become more and more now the major player in not only libya in the north africa and the east and the middle east turkey is showing that its not going to shy away and president add one is willing to use his military muscle to get the results he wants at the diplomatic table as well. A senior u. N. Official has launched a scathing attack on the United States over its ongoing detention of whistleblower Chelsea Manning saying her treatment amounts to torture special meals meltzer made the claim in a letter to the u. S. Government which was written in november but has only now just come to light. The practice of coercive depreciation of liberty for civil contempt involves the intentional infliction of progressively severe mental and emotional suffering for the purposes of coercion and intimidation at the order of judicial authorities such deprivation of liberty does not constitute a circumscribed sanction for a specific offense but an open ended progressively severe measure of coercion for filling all the constitutive elements of torture or other cruel inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment Chelsea Manning was a u. S. Military Intelligence Analyst a but was arrested in 2010 for supplying classified information to wiki leaks she was convicted in 2013 and sentenced to 35 years in prison president obama commuted her sentence just before he left office but she was arrested again last year for declining to testify against wiki leaks a publisher Julian Assange lawyer and activist kevin zeese explain to us how the law is being used to coerce manning. In a grand jury which is a secret process before someone is indicted or you before it prosecutions occurring to determine whether someone should be prosecuted this is a power of the court to coerce someone into testifying now this law of can allow a person in the United States to be held for the length of the grand jury in order to coerce them to testify before the grand jury and no longer serves the purpose it was intended to serve its now become a weapon of prosecutors it was initially designed to protect people who are being investigated the reason theyre kept secret because it trying to protect people being investigated before theyre indicted so you dont know that theyre being investigated but in all manner serves our purpose and now serves the purpose of being a tool for prosecutors thats abused and i think Chelsea Manning is a victim of that abuse the report by Niels Meltzer does give an Additional Air of legitimacy to the case of manning to really back up all of the things that mannings supporters that a staunch supporters have been saying now for over 6 months this is unjust that this is unfair theyre trying to create something new this is the whole point of coerced trying to coerce manning to come up with something that the d. O. J. Can use to make a real case against the sunday shows you how flimsy this is this is the degrade degradation of the Justice System in the United States and also in the u. K. As well in the case of the songes more like more resembles a Banana Republic style facade of a state judicial apparatus this is all part of a campaign to reframe to reframe julius aunt and wiki leaks as it is from a journalist and a publication to being a cyber criminal in a hostile Foreign Intelligence Agency the entire case all the indictments against dishonor are based on that really framing principle. And they are trying to get Chelsea Manning to give him something to actually make that miracle work and shes not shes not volunteering anything and this is frustrating the u. S. System tremendously. Is not fairing much better he is also behind bars in a british prison after being dragged out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in london where he had spent the previous 7 years. Taylor comets. Few buildings in the walls have. As much scrutiny as this one here at the door and. In those 4 walls for 7 years possibly the most famous was a pro who time to get a song would hold off until age 2019 the 48 year old was sensationally dropped out which should start to ease. For the wiki leaks founder this was a huge betrayal by the latin American Country that had sheltered him since 2012 aquittal said the relations had soured with the songe and his bad behavior triggered them opening the door to the police and revoking his asylum but its worth noting that just a bit acquittals bank account own might boost with a 4200000000. 00 loan from the i. M. F. Where the u. S. Has huge Voting Rights a staunch is currently sitting in prison in the countrys capital something out to beat sentence for jumping bail in 2012 but many are saying that what hes been handed is a death sentence because over 60 doctors wrote an open necked government saying that he might die in prison britain for its part denies any wrongdoing the allegations mr son she was subjected to torture and founded and hold false the u. K. Is committed to upholding the rule of law. And ensuring that no one is ever bought it but love to its defense rings hollow in light of reports by Many Organizations including the web which claimed that as a Scientist Health continues to deteriorate authorities are simply standing idly by the blatant and sustained arbitrariness shown by both the judiciary and the government in this case suggests an alarming departure from the u. K. s commitment to human rights and the rule of law unless the u. K. Urgently changes course on the alleviates the inhuman situation mr sanders continued exposure to arbitrariness and abuse may soon end up costing him his life but as sanchez battle for his wellbeing is not only fight on his hands ever since wiki leaks exposed gross misconduct by the Us Government washington has been pushing for his extradition on espionage charges giving him a helping hand the British Government despite International Outcry the u. K. Home secretary signed a us extradition request putting us on that one step closer towards being charged for publishing classified information and conspiring to hack the top of my computer the 18 charges that washington has put forward could carry a maximum sentence of 175 years behind bars the reaction all over the wild people are crying foul they say that this is not a case about punishing a crime but of silencing for us julian or singled out for special treatment for one reason only heres the truth hes such an innocent important man is because he is a Freedom Fighter however much you dislike. His case is the most important for me give you freedom this is just. Miss rule of law and operation. Which i thought. Washingtons bid to get asylum stateside was also helped by not the european country sweden the scandinavian nation was investigating a Rape Allegation against the whistleblower and would have been within its rights to request his extradition to face trial since that case predated the u. S. Request london would have been obliged to send a songe to stockholm fast but sweden has now closed that investigation conveniently removing the final obstacle for the americans funny how it all wiped out a songes extradition hearing is set for factory 2020 but in light of these recent talents of the bands peers are grabbing the does little charts of play this close to sure i mean what and of course what the United Nations pressure on tortures. Corrupts and stress that the entire system in the u. K. Including the judiciary and the media has because when it comes to julian. You know before you call course earlier this year this was a confirmation that what neil smelters said seems to be true that julian. Just lots of what journalists fear a trial into while one always hopes that may lead to justice it will prevail u. S. Authorities of rags bad applied wired for a start so it might well turn out that when a country is dirty secrets are risk of being exposed just as that is what thats up for interpretation so as to tailor r. T. And try to have suspended a joint Stock Exchange project within the u. K. Over to support for the hong kong protest of the un on that more after the break stay with. Her. Thank. You. Theres a lot of here is the economy where china has caught up or surpassed you know the mobile payments markets 50 times the size the us over here still writing checks our Banking System is not innovated. Recently woken up the last couple years and go wow we dont even have a company that can make equipment its been a win win for china and its been a lose lose for the us. In a world of big. Lot and its time. To dig deeper to hit the stories that made stream media refuses to tell more than we need to be smart we need to stop slamming the door. And shouting past each other its time for Critical Thinking its time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now for watching closely watching the hawks. International china has reportedly suspended a joint shanghai london Stock Exchange project over britains position on protests in hong kong which some in beijing view as meddling the link up in question was launched in june last year and was meant to enable british and chinese firms unprecedented access to each others markets Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesperson it was vague when asked about the matter but expressed hopes for their cooperation between the countries. Well im showing you we hope the u. K. Will provide a fair just open a nondiscriminatory Business Environment for Chinese Enterprises and create conditions conducive to principal corp between china and the u. K. In various fields all the backdrop to this has been building months of protests in hong kong antigovernment demonstrators in the former british colony have been calling on london to intervene while china has continually stressed to the International Community including the u. K. That it is a purely domestic issue more than a 1000000 people reportedly turned out for a demonstration in hong kong for the new year around 400 arrests were made. Was financial commentator Charlie Boyle believes that if the project has been suspended it was all about sending a message. And thats certainly going to be an interesting year i dont think its particularly you know significant economically right now but it certainly sends a signal i think the chinese have also started to realize especially in the last couple of years that we are entering a global recession whatever that whatever form that takes whether its the next month or the next couple of years and trying to reset it quite a good position especially with with. Looking for reelection later this year and hes backtracking on the a lot of that stuff. It just makes sense for them to send a message to the u. K. That theyre on the radar as well especially at this important time for england u. K. Rather. The Sputnik News Agency has announced to it is shutting down its bureau in the capital. After dozens of its employees resigned saying that they fear criminal prosecution is medina. For. This but i think agency published a statement on the 1st of january saying 35. 00 foot staff and as stony and had terminated their labor contracts and resigned fearing possible criminal prosecution now the Sputnik Agency in astronomy is controlled by the russian state media organization. Unfortunately experience dictates that despite the apparent absurdity of the governments threats criminal prosecution of journalists is a reality in todays europe last month a telling a story to us towards. That stuff members could be prosecuted due to the european same sions against russia and if that would have happened they would be facing up to 5 years behind bars now moscow sees this demand as an obvious attempts to silence the russian president commented on the situation he offered support to the adrenalines who worked for the agency. You do a lot. Of if you can go on. Im very surprised because russia is always accused of all evils including pressure on independent media and they do the same that they accuse us of this is cynical government measures such as restrictions cant work because you will hold those who want to spoke to schooled between the countries we call until now its you must try to work in those countries the risk of your information the is done in government continues to insist that it is not doing anything wrong with the countrys foreign minister said that targeting sputnik was about enforcing e. U. Sanctions and in our town estonian officials also froze the bureaus assets and asked ploy to vacate the offices that they were ranting by the end of february now or a stunning i said that they plan to appeal to a number of International Organizations we consider the actions of the authorities is to be. Remiss and to be used to such International Organizations as the un the council of europe and e. C. H. Are demanding the proper amount of the unprecedented case of violation of freedom of speech in recent years and measures to ensure the right about journalists to carry out their professional activities and concerns about this situation have been forced by a number of european officials in particular at the o s c e representative on freedom of the media cold honest anya to refrain from against journalist meanwhile sputnik estonia as a website will not be completely shut down it was reported that the website will continue as work as it will be reorganized in a way that avoids permanent pressure from the estonian authority. That does it for real be back with more news at the top of the hour thats in about 36 minutes watch marketers. The world is driven by dreamers shaped by the 3rd person or those with. The dares thinks. We dare to ask. Anyone else seemed wrong all all just all. The world yet to shape out just they become educated and engage an equal trail. Once on a find themselves worlds apart. Just to look for common ground. Come shotgun is a peninsula in the russian east one of the nations least densely populated regions. There are no roads and no become chaka and sponsor the scattered villages can only be reached by l. My dawgs. There is a dog sled race and its different from others in this race professional Athletes Team up with working dogs that polkadot every day of their lives however the prize money they compete for is on a par with the worlds most prestigious races to win against roughly 47000. 00. A year what he did was drive a dept sending me to court put in the not a widow lady or shes got me at the. Medical use downs for the leak only guard. The road crossing come chance to go is 2100 kilometers long and is a regular claim is the worlds longest dog sled race. Theyll be 25. 00 stages every day theyll be a start and a finish. And i know that you. 15 sleds lined up at the very 1st and most important start. With you. And your sister. And then your body you thought that you grew up. One of the favorites to win the race is the reigning champion valentino lefkofsky known as leo i need to be the natural wanker like answering it with the one. Who. Sort of where right there up and down the road before you know it really mama i was over here and im. Back with walkers youre arguing are. Mostly. Just because of what she may give people do what only do look at us. And if you thought much youd know i hope it was when you. Get into my family i dont have enough fuel. But im going to win or amount of the thing about 5 of the most. I dont know i think what you dont pay more or. Less than us. Here is you and i think. Its the 1st time elisa is change that has been in the race shes a student a 4 time champion and another favorite andre some. Elisa is driving a team of dogs from her farm one she trained herself. What do you do for a pretty sure you mentioned to us muscovite bitches love is a professional dog team driver hes raised a lot in the central part of russia but has never experienced conditions like these you know weve. Had enough and you know the current. Plan if you were. Born. Youre finishing you. Wouldnt come one day and you could see it was more that was you you couldnt really but. Were going to go with