mask viewing inspectors access to the site from the alleged chemical attack u.s. is blaming the us government but russia warns against jumping to conclusions. also this week military whistleblower bradley manning asked barack obama for presidential after being sentenced to thirty five years behind bars the biggest leak of classified data in america's history plus. he will face difficulty with an ultimatum from the british government but if we didn't hand back the material or destroyed they would move to law the editor of the u.k.'s guardian newspaper reveals how he was pressured destroyed files he received from the n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden.

from moscow you're watching artie's weekly. given the u.n. inspectors permission to access the site of an alleged mass chemical attack this as the u.s. says it's almost certainly as our government carried out and pledged a serious response together with its ally the u.k. . middle east correspondent assesses 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 while the damascus says it will do its maximum to ensure safe passage for the investigators the actual territory is rebel 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 this comes as the united states 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 are witnessing and all the reports that are circulating online are as of yet unverified the rebels for themselves are vowing revenge we have heard from and our mr leader

in an already recording that's also been posted online saying that in revenge they will fire a thousand rockets at the al assad regime and meanwhile the russian foreign ministry says it's worried about the pressure being put on the assad government despite the u.n. investigation into the alleged use of chemicals have not yet begun. thomas has more and more scars 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 bear 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 the 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 and investigation has taken place and they know more about the situation. well despite the harsh rhetoric against the syrian government and the u.s. military waiting for a green light to attack it appears that most americans don't want an intervention well here's one recent reuters ipsos poll has revealed just nine percent of u.s. citizens who took part in the survey want the president to act or about sixty percent said americans should stay away from the civil war in syria when asked about washington's support for the opposition eleven percent said the president should do more for the rebels and just send alms to them oh most ninety percent. don't want the u.s. to help the opposition one time barry an antiwar activist with the code pink campaign says americans are weary of war as the country has been involved in for

the last twelve years the united states has been fighting. a war of choice in iraq it war of choice in afghanistan that turned out to be longer battle the longer fought war than the then the vietnam war which also was a war of choice the american people are war weary we know that what's going on inside syria americans even the average american know it's a proxy war we know we're not going to get the correct information from our government and we know that our government officials are only interested in continuing what would be a fear tactic of a continuation of war after war after war to keep the american public in check in the american public is no longer going to buy into it. well international tensions are running high as the pentagon moves naval forces closer to syria despite president obama appearing cautious over intervention where you can tell us what you think on our website r.t. dot com today so far almost half of those who voted say washington wants to divert

americans from domestic problems around the third think the pentagon is ready to strike the writer wants the president says about cautious and very dirty thirteen percent believe the u.s. is looking for political leverage over chemical arms and the u.n. investigation just eleven percent say the pentagon is readying for an attack just in case you can log on to r.t. dot com and cast your vote. to see. first rick. and i think you're. going to. be a. former u.s.

army private bradley manning was sentenced to thirty five years in prison this week for his unprecedented leak of classified documents to wiki leaks exposes through light on america's alleged war crimes committed in iraq and afghanistan whistleblower is now hoping for a pardon from the u.s. president when his letter addressed to barack obama insisted that he acted out of concern for his country striving to protect the values and ideals of the u.s. and then also said he would gladly pay the price so that other americans can live in a free society because art is going to choose a kind of force it's not personal issues which are now in the spotlight. 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 and the trip 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 but the government's ongoing crackdown on whistleblowers under the current administration and 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 portray bradley manning as a traitor manning's own personality has grabbed more headlines than the shoes that he uncovered and the day after sentencing manning's 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 and when the information came out you need to understand the she gave it to her in a limo in

a very private setting and a one on one chat never expecting this to be public now that it is unfortunately you 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 check out. coming up on our in a russian as far east experts predict floodwaters prone rise for another seven days or so in rescuers into around the clock mission. sandbags into nine metre high flood walls still ahead. a new a leak from whistleblower edward snowden has come to light sharing the national security agency has been listening in on the united nations parties report not raising new york with 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 took place last summer and three weeks after happening into the video system america's spy agency had allegedly boosted its number its number of such decrypted communications 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 der 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 spy on the united nations would spy on its allies because 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 full member or e-mail address that we know is connected to. 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 worldwide 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 the past months ever since edward snowden

blew the whistle on n.s.a. spying programs. or prior to this the same german media outlet revealed how the n.s.a. had bugged e.u. offices here and the starter a member of the european parliament representing the swedish pirate party says that despite all this you lawmakers are reluctant to introduce new data protection legislation we did make a good data protection regulation and we are discussing nuclear got a protection the equation in the european union however the national security debates around it out of protection of the nation are now incredibly toss in it seems that european political leaders are not as willing to. teach steps to safeguard the trust and confidence in public networks and internet newsgroups that maybe we as citizens would like for them to undertake but so in general look we seem to europe this is a mishmash of outreach statements and political inaction or the league that our portal marina portnoy talked about earlier came from germany where britain's

guardian newspaper has published many of edward snowden's previous revelations that lead to the government forcing them to the stronger secret files because they fear data could fall into the wrong hands if the papers serve as well hacked copies of the files had already been made and sent to servers outside the country artists australia is more. you've had your fun now with starting to return to the documents so the unnamed government official to the newspaper editor it could be the stuff of movies only it isn't we were faced effectively with ultimatum from the british government that if we didn't hand back the material or destroy it they would move 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 newspaper is also 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 and 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 parker of the guardian journalist and glenn greenwald the journalist who had broken the story of snowden's leaks and the same materials were random 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 can do if they were. 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 it no such reasons have been advanced and the rand is an attention 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 but 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 stated ambition to scoop up everything and store it all to master the internet this is the language that's being used internally jesser celia r.t.e. london. we have more stories for you online you can find com right now just a click away that america's founding fathers or extremist ideology. defense department tree document. you know the full story online. plus a former member of activist group anonymous accuses the u.s.

government of. foreign targets a website. to russia stream flooding continues to devastate the far east experts say levels have not yet peaked continue to rise. into the second or third of september well it's another whole week for a region which is already about seven meters underwater let's have a look at the region here on our map and well this is where it all began the hour murder of a burst its banks after weeks of unrelenting downpours covering an area the size of france and germany combined. it's been declared a federal emergency for nearly three weeks with water ensure rain feeding the rising flood waters and these three regions have been the worst affected and up to eighty five thousand homes under threat in our oscar region for example alone three dozen towns of over three thousand inhabitants already under water as you can see

here the regional capital a city of over half a million lives on the murray. river where rescuers volunteers and soldiers are fighting to fortify a river bank over thirty kilometers long haul scott who brings us the latest on the efforts. like this is marina a resident of culturally also a risky island and this is marina's 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 marina best attempts to try to 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 it's going to take a lot of time money and effort 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 or move here in. the plug has 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 a policy that's good that aid is going to come there is good that we have there but

you need to stay here there has patel tease greet the treat us like the children who are the situation in the how about ask region remains critical for the west is hope the worst is over and the region attention is now turning to the cleanup operation just as. the situation is changing and we are going to regroup our forces people now come from the neighboring a more region four planes arrive here every day but now water levels in some parts of this region have already beaten records that have stood for more than one hundred and twenty years lots 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 oscar. now for more international news embry another day of attacks in iraq a frame the largest forty eight people in eight separate assaults most deadly was the northern city of mosul where eleven died in a car bomb explosion blasts in five other cities including three in the capital killed civilians and left dozens injured authorities blame insurgents for the bloodshed of not named any particular group. rejection court has adjourned the trial of former president hosni mubarak was accused of complicity in the killings of protesters during the twenty eleven uprising that was sentenced to life behind bars last year it was granted a retrial after here you the ruling hearing comes amid a new spark of internal strife triggered by the muslim brotherhood's removal from

office by the egyptian military. cargo train known for transporting central american migrants the road in southern mexico killing at least five people and leaving scores wounded the crash occurred in the remote area of tabasco state run two hundred fifty markets were traveling on the infamous bester train when it didn't grow old and are known that number of people remain trapped inside. and germany's top you're skeptical titian has been attacked on stage during a rally in the city of bremen you are known a certain some didn't know i was jumped on the ground ok i see who is making a speech other anti don't campaign event in two thousand others then covered the audience with pepper spray and. his party which once the euro abolished has been the subject of several attacks in the last two months. layoffs in the welfare cuts

a growing number of britons are being left in financial limbo by their employers firms are increasingly adopting the controversial tactic of zero hours contracts even their star for the possibility of ending up tennis as well working themselves to the bone what is pretty boy has this report. you have a job but you don't know when you'll work or if you'll be paid that's the reality for a million brits employed on zero hours contracts mike donald says admitted that it employs ninety percent of its u.k. workforce in this way stuff are expected to be ready for work in the mornings in case the summoned by their boss says they also have the right to refuse shifts crucially though there's no guaranteed minimum set of working hours per week hence the zero in the title of this man in his twenty's is almost zero hours contract with a well known restaurant chain every morning he waits for the call telling him whether or not he'll have work really in charge of your own destiny as it were you working

there to be able to. make that much profit this week so actually we're trying to stuff as we can you guys can all be cut and we'll just do on three stuff this week is completely and the government has promised to investigate the controversial employment amidst concerns that leaving an increasing number of brits in financial limbo with few rights pay and no stability or no guarantee of other jobs or wasn't making enough money to pay the rent is falling behind as the number of zero hours contracts is short top during the recession some economists forecasts that employers will return to hiring workers on better terms when the economy recovers the trade unions buying it in recent months and years we have start to see a growth of. particularly among the public sector workers no longer are these small groups of workers who are employed on temporary employment now in some sights is

this type of abuse of employment ship is becoming the norm macdonald sports direct dominoes and even buckingham palace zero hours employ is they've been accused of exploiting people desperate for any kind of work it's part of the race to drive down the terms and conditions the pay. of all working people i know fortune a big business to use in the history measures in the government economic crisis as an excuse to use these contracts but business representatives say that the financial crisis is forcing companies to use zero hours contracts so those people that criticize here as contracts have got to recognize the impact that that would have on unemployment levels contracting the flexibility that. wasn't available to employers i don't think it would be acting as the kind of employment stabilizer we're seeing it work out but terms of these contracts may see the bosses but many of the young people on them say that while they're on the zero hours they've got zero chance of any financial stability i think they're the wrong no i think they

should i think they should shouldn't be less extreme than they are because it was it doesn't happen that you don't have zero hours and you can sort of expect that at some point you may do polyploid artsy london. coming up after the break it's worlds apart host oxana point. choose your language. we can.