today's news on the week's top stories hold up in a moscow ad for full three weeks former n.s.a. contractor edward snowden speaks to human rights activists as his bits vasan and a still up in the air. also the sound i know most u.s. sources reveal could have been behind at half time considering a missile systems near a key port which could be its fourth strike on syria in the last six months. plus as gyptian prosecutors four will be deposed president on spying and inciting violence but i took a closer look at the impacts the political crisis is having on the country's forming economy.

the latest news the week's top stories this is the weekly here and i'll share with me. where one welcome to the program. to this week so little trying to the plight of edward snowden the whistleblower remains in the transit zone of moscow's sheremetyevo airport but he did manage to talk to representatives of human rights organizations and replayed his bid for refuge in russia or negative. until now it was all it was all guesswork where is he what is he doing and what is his next step well the meeting took place during which edward snowden has pretty much described his situation how he was living and what drove him to where he is right now a little over one month to go. home in paradise and i lived in great comfort. i also had the capability without any warrant of war to search for see these and

read your communications anyone's communications at any time there is the power to change people's speeds it is also a serious violation of the war of the former and this a cia contractor it has been on the run essentially from u.s. authorities following his interview with the guardian's glenn greenwald in the first part of the interview was published in may and the second part just came out in which edward snowden has explained his motivation for actually breaking his silence and leaking the information that he was privy to increasingly was exposed to true information that had not been propagandized in the media. that we were actually involved in misleading the public and misleading all the public's not just the american public in order to create a certain mindset in the global consciousness and i was actually a victim of that i grew up with the understanding that the world i lived in was one

where people enjoyed a sort of freedom to communicate with each other and the privacy without of being monitored without being measured or analyzed or or or sort of judged by these shadowy figures or systems i think a lot of people of my generation anybody who grew up with the internet that was their understanding well of course now the united states has unleashed a full out manhunt for edward snowden which is peculiar considering that everybody seems to know where he is but still the u.s. cannot get their hands on it on him even though not for the lack of trying definitely you have to understand that does. snowden's passport has been altered by u.s. authorities saugus lee he can't really get anywhere without having proper documents on him so this application for asylum in russia which by the way russian authorities say they haven't received he has seems to be the only real way out at least to have some sort of documents on him which could either help him either stay in moscow or which seems to be the plan to head on over to one of the three latin

american countries be that his relative or will believe or whichever country else he may think off which will be willing to take him in. by requesting asylum from snowden has also agreed to comply with the condition laid out by presentation that he stops harming the u.s. and russia and pave interest life nique and of who was at the meeting believes this now qualified snowden as a political refugee. human rights activist of lawyers who were there. at the end worry green he was prosecuted for political reasons rather than on legal grounds taking into account that he came out with. snowden though came out with recognition of those conditions that he is not going to hurt the united states probably he is realistically too soon we can realistically snowden can get political asylum. words there whether he's prepared to comply.

and he said yes it's easy because one. you've. heard the united states' interests that was in the best. and if there is a scandal now it's something which has to do with journalists rather than with snowden. and second he is not prepared to hurt the united states as a country. i wrote snowden's revelations have stirred discontent among americans with government with a recent poll saying only one in six now trust washington to do the right thing marina where can i. tell the truth or someone might just tell it for you does the n.s.a. collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of americans no sir it does not not wittingly there are

cases where they could inadvertently perhaps collect but not wittingly in america it's a crime of violation of federal law to lie to congress during testimony i responded in what i thought was the most true for at least untruthful manner by saying no the us director of national intelligence james clapper publicly acknowledged his error only after n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden spilled the beans on america's clandestine espionage activities the director of national intelligence is now apologizing for what he calls his erroneous response to congress over n.s.a. surveillance programs one of those covert programs indiscriminately collects the phone records of hundreds of millions of americans secret surveillance once criticized by a familiar face no more illegal wiretapping of american citizens no more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of

a crime but upon entering the white house u.s. president barack obama seems to have had a change of heart my assessment and my team's assessment. was that. they help us prevent terrorist attacks government lies surrounding the n.s.a.'s programs has raised questions about the possibility of additional untruths being told in the name of national security i have been crystal clear about my position on iran possessing a nuclear weapon that is a red line for us the fact is u.s. intelligence officials and the united nations have concluded that iran is not currently building a nuclear weapon but that hasn't stopped washington sanctions if we're throwing accusations that are not true that cloud the domestic debate the political debate and also send negative signals to the other side we make it much more likely that diplomacy can succeed and we end up going into

a war that was of avoidable. in the case of syria's civil war the french and others had already. concluded that he's using the sharing gas in small quantities but again piers this is the red line and we alleged they killed between one hundred nine hundred fifty people washington recently began arming the rebels after independently concluding that damascus used nerve gas against the opposition findings u.n. investigators have not supported. your. here in haiti we have. a british rule you know u.s. government. under well as for the whistle blowing website that aims to expose the truth the u.s. has listed wiki leaks as an enemy of the state until the obama administration comes forward with a way to roll out open this into the national security debate there's going to be

a problem of people trusting what the ministration is up to the american public has witnessed a top u.s. official lie about the nation's pervasive surveillance program and an n.s.a. contractor reveal the truth yet only one of those men is being punished and prosecuted for their actions and if people can't trust not only the executive branch but also don't trust congress and don't trust. federal judges to make sure that we're abiding by the constitution due process and rule of law then we're going to have some problems are. welcome to your problem mr president. our team members on referring to those claims that assad have used chemical weapons and see where this week russia slammed the glass and its allies hold it cold bridgie saying maximum allegations with minimum credibility but most cars were believed to have conducted its own investigation into the incident and

discovered the syrian opposition was in fact responsible for the atrocity wish that took twenty six people dead russia's u.n. envoy out of that western claims to the contrary appear to be aimed at bring an independent investigation into the chemical a time and here is how the tonnage churkin unshaded russia's findings. the results of the analysis clearly indicate that the ordinance used in communist cell was not industrial and manufactured and was filled with sudden. the study and technical specifications prove that it was not industrially manufactured either the project island old is not is standard once again it will use therefore there is evident you seem to believe that it was the armed opposition fighters who used the chemical weapons in. recent explosions of the key syrian port of latakia were carried out by israel that's according to statements made by three anonymous u.s. officials the pre-dawn blas illegibly targeted a russian made on to ship missile battery which say were same two years ago i was

he trying to get reaction from the israeli defense force but told her she's comment and he is our middle east correspondent paul is here with more detail. american officials speaking anonymously have revealed that explosions reported at a key syrian port some nine days ago would likely the result of an israeli air strike now the allegations refer to dorney explosions in the city of latakia and they allegedly targeted russian made and he ship missiles not only a quantum missile betty was supplied by russia to the syrian armed forces back in two thousand and eleven a permanent russian naval base is in the city of tire to us which is about eighty kilometers from the turkey or what we're hearing from the syrian observatory for human rights is that fighter jets were seen in the skies around the city of haifa which lies east of latakia not several troops were reportedly killed and wounded in the explosions the syrian rebels do acknowledge to quote them that foreign forces

destroyed these advances and missiles and they hinted that is what might have been behind the attack the spokesperson for the free syrian army said that the attack was either by an air raid or long range missiles fired from boats in the mediterranean what we're hearing now according to iranian media however is that syrian officials have denied reports that israel was behind this attack so far the israeli government has declined to comment all confirm or refute allegations that it is responsible for these attacks but however if these reports are true this attack would mark the israeli strike on syria within the past six months. some of those air raids over syria which have only been confirmed anonymously by israel's military officials and military compound just outside damascus was bombed from the air on january the thirty first this year and second similar operation

reportedly took place on the first of may so rockets struck a warehouse at damascus international airport allegedly containing surface to air missiles and just to. days later massive blast that was described as earthquake surely the same targeted in january that happened on may the fifth so on all occasions that time were justified as operations to wipe out to wipe out iranian missiles bound for lebanon's hezbollah and the oren senior correspondent of the haaretz newspaper told my colleague. this month's reported raid have the same intentions. what i'm trying to portray is israel's defensive agenda of not clashing with syria but when a terrorist organization such as love tries to get its hands on such a sophisticated missiles we have no current confirmation of direct hezbollah involvement we also know that these russian weapons were actually sold to syria

more than two years ago now if indeed israel is involved in these airstrikes what's tell of eve's motivation here israel does not go out and preempt syrian missiles it does so only when syria seems to be on the verge of transporting transferring those missiles to hezbollah so rather than wait until these missiles will reach beirut or side of israel probably decided to preempt and hit. i dish and police are deployed to belfast shortly we'll bring you the latest from northern ireland's council which has been engulfed in sectarian violence for the second night in a row plus. the town still as independent businesses find themselves on the receiving end of a star it's the matches in france all that plate. intact

another significant amount of small arms into these already extremely volatile the region with porous borders. what kind of implication would it have not only for syria but also for the rest of the region it's a power game i mean if the opposition gets more weapons which can really strategically hurt the government it could change the question very rapidly.

i. know this isn't he coming to you live from moscow let's continue now egypt's interim government has begun investigating the ousted president mohamed morsi for spying ruining the economy and inciting violence the military is clamp down on the muslim brotherhood stopped it soon after mostly was toppled but its top members are arrested and islamists t.v. networks shut down huge crowds have been out in cairo all week some demanding more says a reinstatement of the celebrating the fight has gone on monday fifty seven people were killed in clashes between the army on the deposed president supports those involved a cold and massacre by the authorities the brotherhood continues to bring coachloads

of people from the promises to rally and some senior figures have called for more demonstrations tomorrow middle east commentator and blogger col sharrow believes democratic transition can only be achieved by several means. let's remember what their interests of the ministry here is it's not that continuation of a democratic rule you sense the many interests that are being in sex to carrying out this school is to stop this threat of a genuine or popular uprising and that's end of the day the muslim brotherhood was elected with people who normally would. they were not only they won the presidential elections when they have of course i wasn't political affiliations but they also wanted parliamentary elections tend to forget those and which were constant and the parliament was also another that and. egypt should have given the chance to the resignation towards a more democratic future and carry out the process and for the muslim brotherhood

to be kind of kicked out of office by the sorting through the democratic process not military means egypt's interim government has vowed to get the country back on track planning a new constitution and the parliamentary vote in about hope for yet but the bike by the country's economy tourism shows little prospect of recovery when the deadness trade battles across the nation doing little for its image is cairo correspondent truth our poll. behind me is the egyptian museum one of the most popular tourist destinations in the whole of the country is the first port of call for many tourists coming off the plane here in downtown cairo however it isn't empty this is a scene that's been seen across the country in all the most popular tourist destinations following a week of political turmoil after the ouster of mohamed morsi egypt's tourists and history which makes up eleven percent of the country's economy has taken a massive beating since the tiny would be defined revolution particularly as terrorists are becoming increasingly scarce in the last week we've seen

a massive nationwide demonstrations funded by clashes between rival groups on sunday fifty people were killed in clashes between security forces and supporters all the deposed president leaving many to face the terrorists won't come to egypt in the future that bin travel warnings are going to shoot by embassies including the u.s. embassy actually sent most spend on measures to stop crime after u.s. citizen was stopped last week in these bloody clashes made to international tour operators that are becoming can also count so that to speak to my oldest on september fearing the first bush term i will continue to stoop to this this is a free like but the work place has most kids however local tour operators on souvenir shops and you don't have international backing spare plug the gaps be pooled one months. we need to to see the budget the mail list them five percent and then we seem to be doing that somebody placed those and you feel

as if the job was you know old world if you see these three people thank you very much sharkey. so people are fearing meant as those supporters of the previous leader mohamed morsy remain in a sit in and refuse to go home in various parts of the country never going to see further clashes but those like shoki working in the tourist industry they feed this means tourists are going to continue to be scared from coming to egypt and actually the future of egypt tourism is going. maybe even worse. police in several u.s. cities are reportedly on high alert amid mounting riots sponsored by a highly controversial verdict that some have slammed as racially biased a court found neighborhood watch man george zimmerman not guilty of murdering an unarmed blunt teenager is about on the faced line behind bars a victim but the jury ruled that in self-defense when he trayvon martin last year

in florida the case of survival rate across america and reignited a sharp racial divide. and you can stay up to date with the story owner and online as well as simply had to call for live updates including images from the scene of protests taking place across america and also on our web site right now for you. there is this way the video shows how saturday's horrific accident in moscow could have claimed even more than the eighteen lives it did if not for the steering skills of passing tribe. and also in line for you jubilation in southern china as the authorities scrapped an ambitious nuclear project for huge projects and how much this respect of public opinion or calls the chinese government called.

now mind an economic malaise and scrambling to raise money to bring down its deficit the french government has again turned to taxes to get its economy back on track despite a host of increases this year the finance minister has still refused to rule out to get more hikes in twenty fourteen but as she is maria financial reports the how the burden is already pushing independent businesses to the brink of bankruptcy. it's that's happy time of slashed prices in the stores of paris but behind some of the red cross tags there are said stories for pascal whose flour and give chop has been in business for twenty five years it's a closing down sale for many months the taxes he pays have been it in up all his profit he simply doesn't make money any more. they don't understand that we small businessmen at the engines and guarantors of the country's development and they are stifling us i can't afford starr and i do all the work myself for twelve hours

a day but that isn't enough. to businessmen from china and the arab world have already responded to his almost two hundred thousand two year offer to sell up for scholars not surprised at the lack of domestic interest french pockets he says around pretty it's a dramatic situation the same as in greece spain italy unemployment is soaring just around the corner mario a pizza restaurant owner puts on his apron and heads to the kitchen his still hopes he can save his business and avoid so in up. we are charged too much i pay around sixty five percent of what i earn but i also have to pay my staff and i need to buy produce this means i affected or nothing. slush in public spending and hike in texas while introducing new taxes as well was part of the socialist

governments and to crisis strategy when it came to power loss here and it seems of treatment has had the opposite of the desired effect but we are suffering more and more taxes more and more relation and more and more uncertainty the entrepreneurs don't know the there will be a trigger for type one to a few and next year maybe the next month or so it's very difficult for them to to plant their activity to to plan what they have to do what they have to invest so that the we know investment we have no problem is that we have another president we're not going to know consumers to purchase more and more and said no growth. another tax lawyer the most so tough to specialists these days so as that businessmen a constantly in defensive mode and that this stops them from developing and advance in the economy. some thirty years ago there were many small businesses from paris

and they punch and wells but now they've disappeared that means no more production and people that used to work there are most likely unemployed now it's a dramatic situation some say things could become even more dramatic very soon september's the month when the french return from their vacations and realize that they've spent all that money and it's also time for them to feeling that tax to corrections public anxiety is growing on a stretcher burden and many here believe that if things keep going they swayed anger could soon manifest itself on the streets or even national not seen from paris. all right as a part of next on a boycott is next. remember

how all the sudden an afghan card protest group became world famous and in we're completely forgotten by next month yeah i'm talking about the feminist punk rock group pussy riot that performed a vulgar anti prayer and one of moscow's most famous orthodox cathedrals one possible reason for their explosive popularity in the media's eyes was revealed recently by a german actress on a book the actress claims a german t.v. channels e.d.f. paid her a large undisclosed amount of money to come out on behalf of the activists banned show said on a t.v. discussion that she doesn't even remember what she said except for wishing them well with dealing with their incarceration it would be very odd for an actress to just make up a bribery scandal especially one she was complicit in but it makes you wonder just how many other people's e.d.f. may have been given a little extra motivation to cry travesty overall i think that most important of what her public revelation is that she said that you know what it's a bit dumb when actors talk about politics and i couldn't agree with her more but that's just my opinion.

hundreds if not thousands of that's happened written on conflict resolution and he's building one that taught us down the subject and universities all over the world but the lessons of people's complete sympathy for god with every war the international community often allies down the spread of violence and sometimes openly aiding and well to. because the subject i'm now joined by fred tanner the director of the geneva center for security policy thank you very much for your time sir now when i was a student at one of them merican universities i took many courses on the external and internal dynamics of war and of course i never expected to utilize this

knowledge but these days you can pretty much cover international politics without covering war so i wonder with so much knowledge and it could demick expertise on this issue why is it that violence is sparked so easily and sustained for so long. i think clearly it is a distinction between theory and praxis we all know intellectually that. of war spat use of force is that civilians will be victims but then of course to apply the concepts of peace theory of war terminates isa completely different story because you find those so why is it they're completely different story if we know how bad the war really nice for the civilians i guess some might argue that it is precisely because we know the dynamics of war so well that well some countries would resort to using war as

a policy tool exactly i think we find ourselves into in the real politic politics where interests of states or such they they may lead to to go beyond the threshold see the problem with with series of international relations is that. there's a term acceptance that conflict is not bad we have conflicts every day being that home at work but that we want to avoid that conflict turns while it but of course i think that that perception the conflict in. aware that while it is all important to you a signal number of countries because people on the receiving end of those policies sidney don't think that conflict is ok yes i think of course one theory. democratic peace which.