Broadcasting live from our studios in moscow this is our 2 International Thomas certainly glad to have you with us we start with a very important developments in the middle east this hour reuters is reporting the u. S. Has struck iranian linked targets at Baghdad International airport it is also reported that a high profile iranian general so the money was killed in that strike along with an Iraqi Militia. And as more. It appears that washington is confirming that it did indeed carry out air strikes against iran linked forces in iraq now at this point were hearing that 2 vehicles were hit outside the airport in baghdad and 5 members of the Popular Mobilisation forces were hit as well as 2 additional guests and that among those killed was qassam a solomonic the leader of the could force of the Islamic Revolutionary guard corps a very prominent figure in iran that he apparently has been killed in this strike that took place outside of the Baghdad Airport this comes its important to note in the aftermath of an announcement from mark aspart the u. S. Secretary of defense that the United States was planning action against Iranian Forces in the region and that the u. S. Say it believed that iran was planning a strike against the United States this is what we heard from mark as for hours beforehand through some indications so that they may be planning additional attacks if that happens and by the way if we get word to the taxes some type of indication will take preemptive action as will to protect American Forces to protect american lives now on tuesday a crowd of protesters stormed the u. S. Embassy in baghdad in response to the usa said it would deploy 750. 00 more u. S. Troops to the middle east furthermore 100. 00 u. S. Marines were moved from kuwait to protect the embassy in a show of force we had the United States helicopters flying over the compound firing flares as kind of a warning of protesters the embassy on rest came in the aftermath of a u. S. Strike against forces in iraq in syria they say have ties to iran 25 people were killed dozens were injured in the aftermath of this strike we had protests at the u. S. Embassy. In baghdad. However we have donald trump on twitter iran will be held fully responsible for lives lost or damaging its any of our facilities they will pay a very big price this is not a warning it is a threat happy new year as tensions escalate in the middle east the United States continues to blame iran for incidents and say that it will respond to this pattern of tension between the United States and iran tension that has been escalating seems to be continuing now that we enter the new year. Donald trump thinks that foreign interference could complicate the situation in libya he raised his concerns during a call with president to one of 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 in libya has been in a state of war since 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 general us forces currently control most of libyas territory including crucial oil and Gas Resources the un back to 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 artist as more. He knows at this emergency station took place to soften in and we did see opposition from the Main Opposition Party and then major concern. An israeli that it will tensions in libya and that is a concern thats been 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 chris 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 air him and told us feel as if 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 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 pop star and his 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 heeds 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 reparatory notes are made the claim in a letter to the u. S. Government which was written in november but has just only now 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 when an open ended progressively severe. Measure of coercion fulfilling all the constitutive elements of torture or other cruel inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Chelsea manning was a u. S. Military Intelligence Analyst 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 publisher Julian Assange lawyer and activist kevin zeese explained to us how the law is being used to to coerce manning. In a grand jury which is a secret process before someone is indicted or you before a prosecutions occurring to determine whether someone should be prosecuted this is a power of the court to coerce someone into testifying now this law can all 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 theyre trying to protect people they investigated before they were indicted so you dont know that theyre being investigated but no longer serves their 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 its own supporters have been saying now for over 6 months this is unjust 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 o. J. Mused in the u. K. As well in the case of the songes more like more resembles a Banana Republic style facade of the state judicial apparatus this is all part of the campaign refrain you can to reframe julius on and when he leaks as it is from a journalist and a publication to being a cyber criminal you know hostile foreign intelligence agencies the entire case all the indictments against dishonor are based on a frame in principle and they are trying to get Chelsea Manning to give them something to actually make that narrative work and shes not shes not volunteering anything and this is frustrating the us system tremendously and. Join us on just not very 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 comments. Few buildings in the walls have. As much scrutiny as this one here at the doorway and. In those 4 walls 7 years plus the most famous whistleblower who time. Until age 2019 the 48 year old was sensationally dropped out. For the wiki leaks found that this was a huge the trial by the latin American Country that had sheltered him since 2012 aquittal said the relations had soured with the songe and his bad behavior trick of them opening the door to the police and revoking his asylum but its worth noting that just a bit acquittals bank account gotten only mighty boost with a 4200000000. 00 loan from the i. M. F. What the u. S. Has huge voting rights. And prison in the capital now. If its to be sentenced for jumping bail back in 2012 but many are saying that what hes actually been handed is a death sentence because over 60 doctors wrote an open letter to the u. K. Government saying that he might well 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 loved its defense rings hollow in light of the reports by Many Organizations including the new web which claims 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 and 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 world people are crying foul they say that this is not a case about punishing a crime but of silencing a voice. Surely honor singled out for special treatment for one reason only he is a truth teller hes such an innocent important man is because he is a Freedom Fighter however much you dislike because. His case is the most important for Media Freedom this is just. Miss rule of law and operation. 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 targets of the battles fears are growing that does little charts of play just goes to show up you know what and of course what the United Nations special report or tortures how corrupt and stress that the entire system in the u. K. Including the judiciary and the media has to go on when it comes to julian. You know before you call course earlier this year this sort of was a confirmation that what neil smelters said seems to be true that julian was. A lot of attention was fair trial into while one always hopes that made justice will prevail u. S. Authorities a rabs bad a point wired for a start so it might well turn out that when a country is to secrets hard risk of being exposed just as it is what the. Up top potations. Ati. China has reportedly suspended a joint shanghai London Stock Exchange project over britains position on protest in hong kong which some in beijing view as meddling and 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 was a vague when asked about the matter but expressed hopes for further cooperation between the countries. Involved we hope the u. K. Will provide a just open and nondiscriminatory Business Environment for Chinese Enterprises and create conditions conducive to principal corp between china and the u. K. In various fields the backdrop to this has been the 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 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. Financial commentator Charlie Boyle believes that if the project has been suspended it was all about sending a message. Its certainly going to be an interesting year i dont think its particularly you know significant economically though 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 china is even quite a good position especially with with. Looking for reelection later this year and hes backtracking on all a lot of that stuff and 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 the u. K. Rather. The sputnik a news agency has announced that it is shutting down its bureau in the estonian capital tallinn after dozens of its employees resigned saying that they fear criminal prosecution arties medina has more. This but i think agency published a statement on the 1st of january saying 35 of its staff and a star on the air 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 that i. C. C. Void 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 just told. That stuff members could be prosecuted due to the european sanctions 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 journalists who work for the agency. You do a lot. Of its you can go unnoticed im very surprised because russia is always accused of rules including pressure on independent media. They accuse us of this is cynical measures such as restrictions cant work because you will hold those who do schooled between the countries we cant allow it you must try to work in those countries the risk of your information is stunning and 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. Saying sions and. Estonian o