damascus allows u.n. inspectors access to the site of an alleged chemical attack the u.s. says it has little government carried out but russia's warning against forced assumptions. also this week military whistleblower bradley manning requests a presidential pardon after being sentenced to thirty five years in jail for the biggest leak in america's history plus. difficulty with an ultimatum from the british government that if we didn't hand back the material or destroy it they would be to law. the editor of the guardian newspaper reveals how he was pressured to destroy files he received from n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden top stories.

a look back at the top stories from the last seven days and the latest developments this is the weekly here on. damascus has given u.n. inspectors permission to access the site of an alleged chemical attack this is the u.s. says it's almost certain the assad government carried out the assault and pitched a serious response alongside its the u.k. middle east correspondent is following the growing tensions. well damascus has agreed to allow u.n. investigators access to the scene of the alleged chemical attack but the point needs to be made that damascus is that will do its maximum to ensure the safe passage for the investigators the actual territory is held and then so ultimately it will be the rebel forces who determine whether or not the u.n. investigators have the access that they require we're just hearing however from the

united states who says that this now comes too late we are however hearing from the u.n. that they will regardless begin their investigation come monday now this comes as the united states says it has very little doubt that damascus was behind this chemical strike the u.s. intelligence basing these claims on the number of reported deaths we're hearing that upwards of one hundred of one hundred people were in fact killed it also is basing these claims on the types of injuries and on eyewitness reports these kind of discussions are emerging from a meeting of the american president barack obama with his security advisers we know that he's been prevented with a review of possible options in terms of american response if indeed there has been the use of chemical weaponry president obama has repeatedly said that if assad uses chemical weapons that would be a green light that would be a red line in terms of which american and foreign intervention would be justified

now all of this comes as the you in moves its naval forces in the mediterranean closer to the syrian coast and we are hearing from the united states that it would be prepared to strike if indeed called upon to do so this comes as syrian state television is reporting that syrian soldiers entered a number of tunnels in a damascus suburb that had been used by rebel fighters and they they found evidence of chemical waste and they were empty shells that had mocked on them made in saudi arabia and saudi arabia of course being a very vocal critic of. the syrian president bashar assad there seems to be a lot of reports and evidence that the rebels in fact are responsible for carrying out these chemical attacks but let me make the point that all the footage we're witnessing and all the reports that are circulating online are as of yet i'm verified the rebels for themselves are vowing revenge we have heard from our mr leader in an order recording that's also been posted online saying that in revenge

they will fire thousand rockets at the assad regime. reporting there while the russian foreign ministry is worried about the pressure being put on assad's government despite the u.n. investigation into the alleged use of chemicals having even started thomas has more on moscow's reaction. russia is urging caution to the west saying that assigning blame to soon over the alleged use of chemical weapons in syria would be a tragic mistake in fact in a statement released on sunday the foreign ministry did not mention the u.s. by name but i'm going to read what they said it says we strongly urge those who in trying to impose their opinion on u.n. experts ahead of the results of an investigation announce the possibility of military action against syria to exercise discretion and not make tragic mistakes now again they did not mention the u.s. but this comes as a broke obama has met with his security advisers as well as his military advisers

and even spoken to the prime minister of the u.k. cameron and basically saying that they are prepared to use military action making sure they know what is on the table there but president obama has not made a decision as of yet now russia has suggested that in these situations it can be tricky to decide who is actually responsible in has said that it might even be the rebels who are responsible for a chemical attack if in fact a chemical attack has actually happened and in a separate less formal statement russian officials said on sunday that we've seen all of this before in fact discussing the situation in iraq back in the bush administration saying the u.s. administration pointed to weapons of mass destruction which were never found in iraq but that led to an occupation and invasion ten years plus of united states involvement in the country so russian officials are urging caution saying that the world community does not want to see

a repeat of this situation in syria and is basically asking the west to hold off until the you an investigation has taken place and they know more about the situation. thomas reporting there were despite harsh rhetoric against the syrian government and the u.s. military waiting for a green light to attack it appears that americans don't want an intervention here's what the latest poll has revealed that in the states just nine percent of the u.s. citizens who took part in this poll they want their president to act what about sixty percent said america should stay away from that civil war in syria what else about washington support for the opposition about one tenth said a bomb a should do more for the rebels and just send all means to them while almost ninety percent of what america to help the opposition well meanwhile medical charity doctors without borders say they have received more than three thousand patients suffering from intoxication on wednesday when the chemical assault was reported three hundred fifty five of them died exactly who was behind the attack is still

hard to verify so far the u.s. and its allies have assumed a set is to blame but geopolitical analyst patrick believes it is the opposition that is profiting here. of course if we look at the history of this particular region the region where the attack is said to take place is very active with the front and they've also been implicated in using makeshift chlorine bombs in aleppo back in march so there is a track record there the evidence unfortunately does not stack up with these present claims of the syrian government perpetrating these attacks who benefits from a chemical attack in syria well the opposition benefits it's quite obvious the syrian government does not benefit the opposition benefits because this would be the key to unlock the. airstrikes bombing campaign over syria. libya is a little the opposition would like a libyan style coalition with nato in order to force the regime out of power in

damascus so they clearly benefit from any reports of a chemical attack in syria. international tensions are running high as the pentagon moves naval forces closer to syria despite obama being cautious over an intervention so what do those preparations for attack usually mean will tell us what you think on our web site that's our online poll at r.t. dot com so far the majority almost half of those who have voted so far say that washington wants to divert americans away from its domestic problems around thirty percent think that the pentagon is ready to strike no matter what obama says about being cautious while fourteen percent say the u.s. wants political leverage over the chemical arms and the u.n. investigation there and the minority this eleven percent so far think that the pentagon is readying for attack just in case so do log on to r.t. dot com to cast your vote good to hear from the.

right to see. her straight. and i think you're. going to. be a. whistleblower bradley manning was sentenced to thirty five years in prison this week he was responsible for the massive leak of classified data that exposed alleged american war crimes in iraq and afghanistan the former army private is now hoping for a pardon from the u.s. president now addressed a letter to a bomber insisting he acted out of love for his country seeking to protect values and ideals of the united states the acts soldier also said he would gladly pay the price for living in a free american society but as a tease going to church can reports it's the debate over his personal issues that

is now grabbing the headlines. bradley manning sentence of thirty five years behind bars has said unimpressive dennet punishment threshold for whistleblowers bradley manning should be walking the streets and being treated for who is a whistleblower who exposed war crimes in iraq afghanistan secret war in yemen and the other corruption of the governments the us supported bradley manning supporters gathered outside the white house to call for the president to pardon the whistleblower the supporters of bradley manning say what's at stake here is not just men in the air but also the future of journalism and the public's right to be informed on the actions that their government is taking on their behalf manning's defense team has submitted a request for a pardon but there seems to be little chance that it will be granted with the government's ongoing crackdown on whistleblowers under the current administration an unauthorized leak to the media of classified information is viewed as being

tantamount to aiding the enemy. the government wide crackdown on whistleblowers and the extension of this crackdown to journalists threatens to stifle the flow of information that is vital to our public but the media in the us has largely failed to stand up for bradley manning government officials and t.v. pundits all but convicted the whistleblower even before any trial took place who cares whether the army killed some innocent people or not over in iraq we know we don't want to we don't want to be a part of that we it's very uncomfortable so if it's a complex issue and it's uncomfortable americans generally will pull back from it allows the media to fill that gap and pro-trade bradley manning as a traitor manning's own personality has grabbed more headlines than the shoes that he uncovered and the day after sentencing many six became the main story who is healthy this week bradley manning announced that he wants to spend the rest of

his life as a female and asked to be referred to as chelsea manning one of the defense psychiatry at trial testified that manning has narcissistic tendencies and i wonder if there's anything to that in the sense that she's announcing this in this very big public way no i think this is really trying to let people have the answer that they wanted she never really wanted this to be public to begin with when the information came out you need to understand this she gave it to her in a limo in a very private setting in a one on one chat never expecting this to be public now that it is unfortunately have to deal with it in a public manner chelsea manning's attorney also said his client never wanted personal issues to become the main story and overshadow the debate that the whistleblower wanted to start through the leaks in washington i'm going to. you're watching the weekly stay with us because just after the break we head east where experts predict floodwaters. for another seven days forcing rescuers into

a round the clock failing to pile sandbags into me to high flood walls that's another story after the break. what do you think would be enough prize for americans and the west in general to realize that this loading with mines is actually extremely counterproductive to our own national interests. and veena all they are logged in to be many of them in the least income to be created all the create state and went about it is a failed state this is the best place for actually i think the organization to establish bases. drama. stories others who refuse

to notice. faces change. the picture of today. from around the globe. the. news continues here on r t there's a new leak from whistleblower edward snowden today it says that the national security agency has been listening in on the united nations report in new york has the details on this latest revelation. america's national security agency allegedly cracked the encryption guarding the united nations' internal video conferencing system that's according to german newspaper der spiegel the publication says that

the n.s.a. surveillance of the united nations. and really after happening into the video system america's spy agency had allegedly boosted its number its number of such depicting the occasions from twelve to four hundred and fifty eight now for anyone who doesn't already know this spying on the united nations is illegal under international law spiegel also reports that the u.s. maintains a monitoring program called the special collection service in over eighty embassies and consulates around the world often without the knowledge of the host country now many wondering why is it that the united states would want to buy on nations that spy on its allies because as as we've been reporting and as us president barack obama said himself recently the n.s.a. is in place to protect american security and target only potential terrorists what

we do with it or some mechanisms where we can track a phone number or e-mail address that we know is connected to the terrorist threat now it's unclear how spying on the united nations and international partners coincides with america's war on terror if anything what many critics are saying is that what may come out of the n.s.a. is world wide surveillance is a loss in confidence and reliability in the united states because you have to think about it if you have a friend that you trust to find out is always spying on you is listening to what you're saying is watching what you're doing is reading what you're typing does that relationship still stay strong and that is a question that is clearly coming to light not only following this report but those questions have been coming to light over past months ever since edward snowden blew the whistle on n.s.a. spying programs. the leak that marina was just talking about came from germany but britain's guardian newspaper has published many of edward snowden's previous

revelations and that led to the government forcing them to destroy secret files because they feared data could fall into the wrong hands if the paper's servers are hacked but the documents weren't even stored on there and there were other copies of these to sicilia as more. you've had your fun now it's time to return the documents said the unnamed government official to the newspaper editor it could be the stuff of movies only it isn't we were faced effectively with an ultimatum from the british government that if we didn't hand back the material or destroy it they would be moved to law in recent months the guardian newspaper has come to be known as the paper that's been exposing secret material from a trove of information passed on to wit by former contractor of the national security agency edward snowden but in recent days the editor of the newspapers always a publicized what had gone on a behind closed doors here how security officials had ended up in the basement of their offices overseeing the destruction of hard drives of computers which

contained the very information the paper's been exposing a bizarre turn of events salary richards says that came all the way up from the prime minister's office once it was obvious that they would be going to law. i would rather destroy the copy than hand it back to them or allow the courts to freeze our reporting and i was happy to destroy it because it was not going to inhibit our reporting we would simply problem erica not from london a twenty first century possibility in a highly digital and connected world the revelation by rusbridger came just a day after the detention of david miranda partner of the guardian journalist glenn greenwald the journalist who had broken the story of snowden's leaks and the same materials around it was detained under the u.k.'s terrorism act and was held in question for nine hours at heathrow airport it caused an outcry among politicians and journalists and even david anderson the independent reviewer of terrorism laws

who demanded an explanation prompting the u.k. home office to go on the offensive the government and the police have a duty to protect the public and our national security those who oppose this sort of action need to think about once they condoning defame. want to protect the public to tell the public what it is they're protecting them from a generalized statement about terrorism in general doesn't really do the trick you've got to be able to say well the information he's got would endangered the public for the following reasons you've got to have reasons for no such reasons have been advanced miranda's new tension as well as the destruction of computers in the basement has one of britain's most respected newspapers in the spotlight the story teller has become the story this is a very damaging moment actually for britain's reputation for free speech is being laid the way that the british state is very prepared to use terrorism legislation to use accusations of terrorism in order to shut down what looks to be journalistic

practice good healthy investigative journalism with some of pointed to be noticeably lackluster response from the country's other newspapers following his revelations especially considering that press appears to be at stake the business of reporting securely and having confidential sources is becoming difficult in these documents there is the state ambition to scoop up everything and store it all to the internet this is the language that's being used internally to search cilia r.t.e. london. just to remind you we got even more stories for you online here's what you can find on r.t. dot com right now racist haven a neo nazi man is trying to turn a small town in the u.s. state of north dakota into a white supremacist to find out how he's going about it on t v dot com. the moment bargaining with a bit coin supporters of the emerging digital currency brought their cyber wallets

to a special event in berlin log on to r.t. dot com and what happened there. we're now to russia where extreme flooding continues to devastate the far east experts say levels have not yet peat and may continue to rise until the second or third of september now that's another whole week for a region which is already more than seven meters underwater now this is where it all began the river burst its banks after weeks of unrelenting downpours covering an area the size of french france and germany combined it's been a federal emergency for nearly three weeks with more to ritual rain feeding the rising flood waters now these three regions have been the worst affected up to eighty five thousand livelihoods are under threat in the habit of region alone three dozen towns of over three thousand inhabitants are already under water and as you can see here the regional capital a city of over half a million lives only

a moon where it meets the serene river now there are rescue volunteers and soldiers fighting to fortify a riverbank over thirty kilometers long scott brings us the latest now on those efforts. this is marina a resident of culturally also risky island and they say is a marine his house water waist high the entire ground floor resembling a cesspit rather than a home now it's only when you enter the properties that you see the extent of the damage that these floodwaters have caused now despite knowing as best attempts to try and keep many of her treasured possessions out of the water it was simply in vain the entire house is completely submerged and it's clear looking around that's going to take a lot of time money and efforts before this place returns to normal marina is one of hundreds in this region to have been evacuated in recent days by russia's emergency services she can't take everything with her and doesn't know when she'll

be able to return for now she'll stay with friends the move here that. we've been crying all week we've lost all our property and that's after we've renovated hung new wallpaper a place new carpets. although some hardy souls remain predominantly this village is like a ghost town but despite the chaos there are resilient attempts to carry on as normal the shop remains open although when we visited business was slider. many of those evacuated from their homes and up in temporary accommodation centers in schools and sports holes or thirty's and volunteers providing supplies such as food drinking water and medicine that some rest bite for those who have lost everything just get the policy it's good that aid is going to come there is good they do have the opportunity to stay here they face patel te's greet the treat us like the children

although the situation in the how about oscar region remains critical for the west as hope the worst is over in the region attention is now turning to the cleanup operation just that the situation is changing and we're going to regroup our forces people now come from the neighboring a more region for planes arrive here every day. now water levels in some parts of its region have already beaten records that have stood for more than one hundred and twenty years that's of six hundred and forty two centimeters and the fear is that as the rains continue that could push the eight meter barrier causing even more devastation and destruction to people's lives and homes the military and emergency services continue to work around the clock to reinforce how about i ask concern the defenses could be breached by water that at the moment shows no signs of receding i'm with flood levels not expected to eight until mid september the true extent of the damage is yet to reveal itself and it could be some time yet

before the full picture emerges postcards. about ask. now some other stories making headlines around the world in our world update germany's top euro skeptic electrician was attacked on stage during a rally in bremen two are known assailants all with knives jumped on burned looking as he was making a speech at the. campaign event some two dozen others and sprayed the audience with pepper spray to get his party which wants the euro abolished has been the subject of several attacks in the last two months. and another day of deadly attacks in iraq where at least twenty three people have died in eight separate attacks near mosul five soldiers were shot and burned after being stopped at a fake checkpoint blast and five other cities including the capital killed civilians and left dozens injured authorities blame insurgents for the bloodshed but have not named any group in particular. the prominent anti corruption blogger and candidate

for the mayor of moscow. has been released after being held in police custody for about an hour he was initially arrested during a meeting with his supporters in the capital and police came in and tell us that the stage he was speaking from saying he was in violation of laws related to hosting mass rallies was previously held more than seventy such meetings with the supporters of the merit of elections which are on september the. from moscow this is all to be much in the weekly and after the break. no effect of america's war on terror that is in world's appalled to people it's.

you know people in moscow say they're like whoa websites and facebook groups about the childfree lifestyle which i didn't believe until i saw the cover for the august twelfth copy of time magazine yes childfree is no real thing sadly basically these are people who have started a cool trend of not having children and using their time and resources completely for themselves you know if you don't want to have kids that is your business and i really couldn't change your mind even if i wanted to but there are people all over the internet who are just swimming in their own self-satisfaction like pigs in slop because they are part of the no kids trend the sickening part about this trend or should i see mentality is that these people glow in adore themselves for being too selfish to give their time and money to a child oh i'm the center of the universe and i'm proud of it. this is an extremely antisocial and destructive mentality to adore yourself for contributing nothing to . anyone else nothing to society and nothing to the future but wait let me put it

this way if your life is shopping wearing ironic t. shirts starbucks and texting on your i phone about your stupid feelings that maybe it's for the greater good the church childfree but that's just my opinion. hello and welcome to worlds apart piece here in the united states mark the second a new birth to be reading the world of a summer bin laden so far the main fairly rare victory in america's self declared war on terror but after more than a decade of fighting and trillions of dollars spent on is the united states and developing tantaros safer than they used to be to discuss that i'm now joined by

abdel bari atwan the editor in chief of the pan arab newspaper. mr atwan thank you very much for your time now just recently u.s. president barack obama gave a speech on america's war on terror and what i think went unnoticed by mainstream media is a bomb a staffer is to redefine the nature of that war let's listen what he had to say as most define our effort not as a boundless global war on terror but rather as a series of persistent targeted efforts to dismantle specific networks of violent extremists that threaten america. so essentially what he's saying here is that america can no longer afford this global engagement but of course the irony is that when his predecessor george w. bush launched that global war on terror that al qaeda presence was very much localized areas nowadays when obama tries to scale it down.