that may hold secrets for coral survival globally. >> reporter: sarah clark, al jazeera, hong kong. more on our website, aljazeera.com. demanding an investigation. doctors without borders wants answers as to why their hospital was hit in an another round of strikes against isil. russia steps up attacks as syrian ground forces step in.

that hit a hospital in afghanistan. 22 people were killed including 12 medical staffers. where the u.s. mistakenly targeted it, defense secretary ash carter said the responsible people will be punished. >> we're conducting a full and transparent investigation and we'll make the findings of that investigation known as they are found and we'll hold accountable any responsible for conduct that was improper. but doctors without borders says that's not enough. tom ackerman joins us live. what country or countries is

doctors without borders asking for an investigation to be initiated? >>reporter: actually, they have not said which countries. there are 76 signatories to the international humanitarian fact-finding. they've been implemented under the geneva conventions. they still have yet to investigate anything. but the pentagon,on going pentagon investigation and a separate investigation by nato, doctors without borders says that simply is not enough. >> the facts and circumstances of this attack must be investigated independently and impartially particularly given the inconsistencies in the u.s. and afghan accounts of what happened over recent days. we cannot rely only on internal military investigations. today we announced we're seeking an investigation into the kunduz attack by the international

humanitarian fact-finding commission. this commission was established in the additional protocols of the geneva conventions and is the only permanent body set up specifically to investigate violations of international humanitarian law. >> just a few minutes ago, the white house said president obama had telephoned doctors without borders and personally apologized for the incident. we have not gotten any reaction yet from doctors without borders. presumably their insistence on an independent investigation is still standing. during the briefing they gave today, they pointed out that as recently as september 29th, they had given the coordinates of this particular hospital in kunduz to the pentagon to the command so as to avoid that target and in fact that had been standard operating procedure for

the organization's operations in yemen and syria and so they simply cannot understand how this happened. and, again, the prospect of this being investigated as a potential war crime is the thing that i think raises the level of seriousness of this. because a war crime implies that this was a deliberate attack on a civilian target in the course of war. >> tom, how is the u.s. military explaining the contradictions, the shifting stories? has the explanation for the attack been clarified? >>reporter: well, the last explanation, and this is the third explanation we've heard so far from the pentagon, it was given yesterday at a senate hearing by general campbell who said that this is simply a mistake. the "new york times" is quoting officers close to the investigation preliminary investigation saying that none

of the rules of engagement were actually followed. that this was air strikes are to be restricted to terrorists, to assisting american military who are under fire or to afghan forces that need assistance in this case none of that happened. and the question is how far up the chain of command the mistake was committed. also, this is -- you know, there is precedent for this kind of thing where the united states admits a mistake. the one that calls to mind for me is the 1988 investigation of the u.s.s. vincenz attack on an iranian airliner in which over 200 people were killed in which the united states did not admit to legal liability but paid iranians $60 million and admitted this was a tragedy that

was their responsibility. the question is in this case will we be seeing something of a repeat of that kind of a scenario. >> got you, tom. tom, thank you. we are getting new images today of the russian air offensive in syria. the country's defense ministry released this video just a short time ago. the kremlin says it shows russian ships hitting dozens of targets. russia says it's isil forces. syrian forces say it was hitting opposition forces. >>reporter: air power is helping launch a counteroffensive against rebels on the ground. what we saw over the last week was russian air strikes targeting in the country side of homs and hama and idlip.

targeting opposition on the front line that surrounds government-controlled territory in the west. the aim of those air strikes were to stop the rebel advance in that area. the rebels were advancing towards the government strong hold to weaken their defenses. now we understand it's a major military operation on the ground. the government trying to push further north. now, the opposition is telling us that they're going to fight back. they've also said that the latest offensive displaced tens of thousands of people. we cannot independently confirm that but we've seen video of families packing belongings and heading north. now, this area in the west of the country is very strategic. it's located on a main highway between two major cities, damascus and aleppo. it is under control of the rebels and the government will need to open this highway if it wants to send reinforcements to the north, push towards the north to capture territory. so what is becoming clear is

that the russian aerial campaign is to help the government change the balance of power on the ground in its favor. while russia says this is a war against terrorists, russian officials are also making it clear they're not just targeting isil. for them the majority of the opposition are considered to be terrorists. >> defense secretary ash carter has ruled out coordination between the united states and russia in syria calling russia's strategy there flawed new claims today that eastern european smugglers are helping supply isil with nuclear materials. the associated press uncovered cases where members of criminal groups were caught trying to sell chemicals to groups like isil. the fbi arrested a man who was demanding $3 million for enough material to make a dirty bomb.

president obama today is hosting the first-ever white house summit on worker voice. union and business leaders are at the white house today talking about issues important to them. the president started the conversation saying he wants every american to be part of the economic recovery. >> the biggest challenge america continues to have is making sure that everybody in this new economy is participating, everybody who works hard is getting paid a decent wage with decent benefits. everybody has some basic economic security. >> mr. obama said the summit will focus on how employees can make their voices heard in the work place. the auto industry is bracing for its first strike in eight years. by midnight tonight fiat-chrysler workers in four states would walk off the job if a deal is not met.

>> i have 30 years. i'd do it. done it before. >>reporter: workers are ready to walk off the job. the uaw sent this letter to management setting an 11:59 p.m. deadline for a new labor deal. weeks ago the two sides reached what they thought was a long-term agreement but the auto workers overwhelmingly rejected that proposed deal by a two to one margin. the biggest thing dividing chrysler and their employees is the issue of so-called tier two wages. the pay for people hired after 2007 who often earn as much as $11 an hour less than more veteran employees. union workers are also concerned about fiat-chrysler's plan to move production to mexico and increased healthcare costs. >> we all got to fight for what we want. i think the company is doing good and it should treat the workers fair. >>reporter: stakes are high for

both sides. chrysler could lose $300 million in revenue each day the strike lasts. as for the workers, there are plants in michigan, indiana, ohio, and wisconsin. it's not clear if all workers would work out or if the target will target specific sites like this transmission plant in indiana. a strike there could cause slowdowns throughout the manufacturing process. some workers say the union has not been giving them enough details. >> weren't clear on nothing. they weren't saying nothing. >> well, this would be the first uaw strike on a big three auto maker since 2007 when workers walked out on both chrysler and gm. one thing not to expect, replacement workers. they have not gone down that road in decades. hillary clinton strikes back at republicans over their investigations into the benghazi

committee.

fema officials will be in north carolina for a long time after last week's historic rains. there are concerns some dams could still break. national guard members putting out sandbags this morning because of a threat. crews also busy trying to repair roads. we are live in richland county,

south carolina near the hard hit area of columbia. how would you describe the scene where you are now? >>reporter: well, tony, where we are as you mentioned just outside of columbia and richmond county. it's a lot better than it was 12 hours ago. you can see to my right a group of national guardsmen and other workers on. this is the beaver dam at the bottom of boyd's pond. there was an evacuation order in this area because of fears the dam would fail. they worked around the clock overnight dumping 400 tons of rock into that breach and now they say it's stable. you can see how much the level of the lake has been dropped. i don't know if you can see that drain out there but the drain was damaged due to the volume of flood water and debris. so it's not been working.

they've been pumping water over the dam releasing it through a smaller breach as well. this is one of 62 dams in the state that are being monitored after this massive amount of rain over the past week or so. >> paul, what's the governor saying about all this? >>reporter: what she has been saying is, look, the rains may have stopped. this is the first blue sky day for the state in two weeks. but earlier this morning she gave further warnings about what people should watch out for. let's listen to that. >> please be ready that you may see voluntariy mandatory evacuations. the water is slowing. we're watching of the thousands of dams in the state across south carolina, 62 we're monitoring currently right now. 13 that have already failed. so we will continue to monitor those as we go forward. >>reporter: as you heard, 13 there have already failed.

they're hoping obviously that this will not become the 14th here, the beaver dam just east of columbia. >> thanks, paul. south carolina, nicole mitchell has the day's forecast for south carolina. >> so the system that caused all the rain has ended but even with that we saw a number of flood areas because of the moisture. what is highlighted in orange are places that saw two feet or more. many places saw a foot or more in the surrounding areas. so so much water is still left and it's now all flowing down stream towards the ocean. so some places have crested with river levels but some that might not until this weekend. so still a lot of flood watches and warnings across the area and a lot of recovery that's going to be going on. this is not the only place we're worried about flooding. the most serious place, but we also have some concerns as we get towards parts of new mexico

and texas because of some moisture in this direction. so that could cause some flash flooding for a minute. here's how all this looks as we put it into motion and also watching a front across the northern tier of the country. so the heavier downpours again towards the south could cause the biggest potential for flood but watch this front progress for the next couple of days. the midwest, the ohio valley. friday for portions of the east coast. and the trailing edge of that could be the next chance of rain for places like north and south carolina possibly into saturday. we'll have to watch that closely. this is more of a normal system, not that soaking stuff we just got but any rain at this point would not be helpful. temperatures in the meantime with all of this pretty decent for a lot of the country. 70s up through the northeast. a few 60s more where that front is going through but a lot of temperatures pretty nice for an october fall day. back to you. >> that's for sure. nicole, thank you. the investigation into hillary clinton's use of a private email server is

expanding. a connecticut-based company says it will turn over everything it has to the fbi. the company had been backing up her e-mails on a cloud storage system since 2013. investigators are trying to recover e-mails she said she deleted because they contained personal information. clinton is hitting back at critics for another investigation. this one into the attacks on a diplomatic compound in benghazi, libya. it is all part of clinton's first national campaign ad. here's that story. >>reporter: hillary clinton's first national television ad is a pre-emptive strike. it comes two weeks before she's on the hot seat in front of the national committee about benghazi. clinton's campaign unleashed the ad on tuesday pouncing on a recent comment by kevin mccarthy, the man likely to be

the new house speaker. >> everybody thought hillary clinton was unbeatable so we put together a benghazi special committee. what are her numbers today? they're dropping. why? she's not trustworthy. but nobody would have known that had happened had we not thought something -- >> i agree. >>reporter: clinton supporters have said all along the investigation into the deadly attack into the american embassy in benghazi is all about partisan politic >> look at the situation they those to exploit, to go after me for political reasons, the death of four americans in benghazi if the. >>reporter: her aggressive stance comes after months of scrutiny over her use of a private server while secretary of state. >> you get them thinking so much about what their own guy said and so mad that they're either going to come off as ineffective or overly aggressive when they

question her and that's the strategy she's trying to play. >>reporter: clinton has been losing ground in polls. this ad hits the gop and is meant to rally those voters who began as ready for hillary and have recently become ready for hillary to fight back. michael shore, al jazeera, washington why flint, michigan is trying to make water safe after high lead levels were found.

>> one of the biggest publishers in the united states is promising to revise a textbook that refers to slaves as workers and suggested the american slave trade was a form of immigration. a texas teen spotted the inaccuracies in the textbook and told his mom. she took action. the former chairman of the texas board of education told us earlier this was just simply an error. >> statements that popped up in textbooks were probably written by someone out of university hired to sit and write these books and it just got past the editors and reviewers here in texas and the public. i'm glad that this has been found because it's certainly inaccurate. >> mcgr-graw-hill is offering

stickers with a new caption to cover up the mistake. a landmark bill today to set in motion the most ambitious plan to battle climate change in the country. double energy efficiently in existing buildings. california has already doubled its electricity from renewable sources over the past six years >> a public health emergency in effect in flint, michigan this afternoon after dangerously high levels of lead were found in the drinking water. >>reporter: gavin is an active 4 year old but his mother says earlier this year her son's health took a turn for the worst. >> we noticed whenever he would come in contact with the water,

baths or our pool, his skin would break out in this scaly, read irritated rash. >>reporter: a blood test revealed he had abnormally high levels of lead. her son's immune system was weak and he weighed just 47 pounds. >> we didn't have this problem. we've lived here four years. we never had this problem before. so the only thing that it changed was the water source. >>reporter: concerns over the taste, smell, and appearance of flint's tap water began to surface last year when the city pulled out of the detroit water system and began tapping into a cheaper source, the flint river. >> we are in michigan. we have access to the great lakes. so the irony is unbelievable. you would expect this in a third world country but not in michigan. it was a perfect storm of badness that created this mess. >>reporter: and a report released this summer virginia

tech university researchers found that unlike the detroit water system, water from the flint river is more co corrosiv. in september a pediatrician revealed the results of her study on nearly 1,700 children in flint. she found that the percentage of those five years and younger with elevated lead levelled nearly doubled in the past two years from 2.1% to 4%. >> the only thing that really changed in this time period was the water. so looking at the levels from 2013 and then at 2015, the water switch happened in 2014. >> how dangerous is this? >> it has significant impact on cognition, behavior, adhd-like symptoms. >>reporter: after the report, city and state leaders addressed

the issue last week and were met with protests. >> no more lies. no more lies. >>reporter: for months, the city maintained the water was safe but changed its course after the county declared flint's water crisis a public health emergency october 1st. >> i want to urge everyone to follow the guidance in the county's health declaration, test, filter, and flush, and take time to understand the facts of the lead problem we're facing. >>reporter: the state is spending $1 million to supply filters and free water testing to the 90,000 residents. they're pushing for the state to do more. >> greater controls in place that should have been in place at the beginning and the regulators dropped the ball. but when they didn't do this, in the long term we also have to look to see what happened, how this happened, make sure it never happens again, and find

out really at the heart of it who is responsible. >> the fact it's gotten to where it is now means it should have never gotten this far. >>reporter: walters and her family have decided to move out of flint but they are concerned the damage caused to gavin and hundreds of other children has already been done. three scientists including two that work here in the united states have been honored with the nobel chemistry prize for their research into dna. paul modrich from duke university, an aziz zankar from chapel hill university. they will share the $960,000 prize. that's all of our time. thanks for being with us. the news continues next live from london here on al jazeera.

>> hello, i'm lauren taylor live from london. russia launches airstrikes in syria from its fleet in the caspian sea. flashes of ramallah, students fight with israeli forces in rising tensions across the west bank.