crime you can't just extradite anybody merely for questioning because you fancy that they might have done it so you see that step one point of course this is the first day of a two day extradition hearing is going to carry on on choose day and we're not even sure that we're going to have a result at the end of choose day in fact the judge might says that he might take several weeks to deliberate the outcome of this the charges that julian assange is wanted for for questioning in sweden includes allegations of rape molestation and unlawful coercion made by two women back in august in sweden he has always said i thought in itself that these charges are politically motivated as in relation to the release of u.s. embassy cables on wiki leaks which are deeply embarrassing for the american administration now the defense argument that's being heard today includes the fact that human rights are understood to maybe be being violated sweden has in the past and sighted people to egypt which has been accused of torture so that's one of the

arguments and there's also his lawyers say a risk that the u.s. will seek his extradition internally or even illegally subject him to a legal rendition to the u.s. and then from then on there's a risk they say of him being held in guantanamo bay or indeed elsewhere they will face a risk that he'll be subject to the death penalty and if they can argue that then his extradition looks like it won't take place because e.u. countries can't extradite jurisdictions that have the death penalty too i mean we'll have to wait and see what the outcome of this is but it looks like we're not going to know for at least several weeks don't him and washington have a very close relationship and that may mean that it's easier for politicians to get involved and extradite ourselves to america although again the prosecutor's office says that politicians are not involved in the legal process in sweden but my colleague i need to now way has filed a report on a still claims relationship with washington. let's see what that says. so we didn't

a quiet little neutral scandinavian nation the current foreign policy establishment in sweden has a remarkably close relationship with the united states the country that gave us our flat pack furniture for dollar meatballs top models and long bombshells may not be so neutral after all american influence is everywhere from food to feature films but in sweden it seems to be supersized just the other day the deerhunter film was shown again on swedish t.v. for simply sixtieth time it's an awful film it's the worst propaganda politics through the back door like sweden's times with nato you have the military and some politicians cooperate intensively with the united states nato and the large mass of the population being totally unaware of all the stuff going on but

it's not just what swedes are taking in it's also what their leaders are ready to give from julian assange to terrorist suspects to nato support when america wants something they get it but why and what's in it for this so-called neutral nation they get. all the benefits of being an intelligence partner of the united states without the baggage of being in nato it's a partnership decades in the making there has been a willingness to. do the ariens of the united states over many years from. questions. making asylum seekers in sweden. both to the cia freddy's is particularly strong now with a raid leaning government in sweden and with the us wanting him for spying and sweden wanting him for sex crimes julian assange is wanted by quite a two. and the songe wiki leaks case seems to be just the next continuation of this

very old intelligence relationship here's some other relationships we dug up julian assange ticks off the us with fierce reaction from one of the country's most notorious neo cons is not a particularly credible source and he is a you know tamil in my mind as it is a criminal only ought to be hunted down and grabbed and put on trial for what he used earlier these words from karl rove who claims he's part swedish and just happens to be advising the country's pm while the former swedish minister of justice is a partner in the firm who filed charges against a songe for sex crimes with another link to the us thomas von stroheim is claimed to have handed the cia asylum seekers from sweden who were then tortured a question about neutrality became even even clearer thanks to some of the documents from exactly wiki leaks and if the u.k.

can secure asylum for bodies because of ski and ahmed zakayev both wanted for serious crimes in russia it could be argued there's another room in the british justice system to protect julian assange from the united states of sweet merica and let him keep blowing his whistle and he's a now a r t stockholm sweden meantime and journalists are wrong or right now i told me earlier. that the u.k. will face heavy pressure to comply with washington's interests in the case. so many horrible crimes have been revealed already and the united states continues with the same policies they make some excuses here or there and their former president he admits it in his own autobiography that he gave orders for torture so i'm skeptical that just because one knows how bad the the devil is that that will curtail them from from prosecuting. on the on the other hand sweden of course or great britain

if they if they delivered him that would be bad propaganda for them the people would be very upset and most people i think would be very upset but again that's not the only determining factor for a government to make a decision as to whether or not they cooperate with the united states i mean the united states is so powerful they can they can harm economically and politically both the swedish government and the british government. it with r.t. live from moscow and stuck in a vicious circle of debt an increasing number of americans find themselves unable to afford the bad necessities of life so bankruptcy and the government's struggle to cope with a debt crisis. moscow has denounced renewed japanese criticism of a visit by president dmitri medvedev to russia's a coup real islands which tokyo claims as its own the foreign ministry has also

issued a note of protest such a pattern over the burning of a russian flag by activists in tokyo the islands in the pacific ocean passed to the soviet union after the second world war and part of the russian federation ever since to me treatment together paid an historic first visit to the koreans in november russia's defense minister also went there just last week foreign minister sergei lavrov gave short shrift to the japanese criticism and said moscow only wants its friendly relations with turkey. the expressions used by the japanese officials of far from diplomatic and in great contrast with the polite and friendly tune of the meeting between president give and prime minister now to come on and you can. see i don't know perhaps is due to the. day it's been celebrated in japan today at the same time as we have said repeatedly we are still willing to closely cooperate with the japanese in carrying out specific projects lose regions of russia. let's turn our attention now to egypt

where the anti-government protesters show no sign of giving up after two weeks off or evolved the country's a new cabinet has had its first meeting as thousands maintain a human chain in cairo's central square they are still demanding that president hosni mubarak step down that's not a cairo get more. part of the demonstrations continue in the heart of the capital but it's not all about protests in egypt today. now it's certainly not all. about protests life here in the egyptian capital is slowly returning to some kind of normality at eight o'clock this evening local time and till six am tomorrow morning there is a curfew in place but outside of that curfew there are many more shops minimal businesses minimal banks that have been opened and what we've seen in the last few days the major supermarkets are still closed and this is because there is a fear of looting now the fact that people all choosing to try and get back to some kind of daily life is not because they do not support the protesters who still are

camping out in tokyo square which has been the focal point of these demonstrations for the last two weeks but one other that is a very real need here particularly in a country where many people rely on a daily wage to get food back on the table for the families now we're just hearing reports that the egyptian government has agreed to increase the salaries of government employees by fifteen percent and we are also aware that the egyptian pound has hit its lowest rate in six years we're also hearing the facts of were destroyed in the last two weeks of violence all being restored and then within the next five days it is expected that a major historical sites here in the country will be reopened talking does still remain the focal point of these demonstrations and for the fourteenth night protesters all preparing themselves to sleep under the cold egyptian skies there is tense between the protesters and the army tanks continue to surround the government

buildings embassies and other important institutions here now we are hearing unconfirmed reports that the police have raided the homes of a number of locally gyptian journalists earlier today monday was a symbolic procession to tell you square that was headed by the wife and the daughter of an egyptian journalist who was killed. we were just showing the latest pictures from the protests in cairo we had some live pictures in there as well so thousands of essential to rear square there and. even though it's nighttime where you are the people are still there making a very impressive statement ahead to the government two weeks of protests and they're still stepping down although asking for mubarak to do that on sunday the government started to talk to opposition groups and the muslim brotherhood movement was also present for the first time ever in that country do you think the islamic political agenda could prevail in egypt and further influence the government. well

that certainly is a concern that's being expressed here it is important though to note that here today sunday's talks between the opposition groups and the vice president almost saw them and did not really cultivate a sense of moving forward particularly among those protesters and tough you square those that i've spoken to either feel that the government is simply lying to them about any kind of commitments that it's prepared to make and others really do not believe that any kind of progress was made the kind of commitment that sort of man made to be opposition groups was that he said he would institute a committee that would look into parliamentary reform he stated would investigate the violence of the past fortnight and bring those who were responsible to book the government also committed itself to free and independent media and communications as well as lifting the state of emergency as you mentioned the muslim brotherhood was party to those talks this is a movement that is banned in egypt and if you'd asked anybody for two weeks ago whether or not they could envisage the muslim brotherhood sitting down with the government talks it would have been. but the fact that the muslim brotherhood is

coming to the fore is significant because it certainly is sending out a lawn bells another need to elsewhere in the region that this group which does to some extent have an islamist agenda could be gaining momentum the muslim brotherhood after meeting with the government did issue a statement in which it did not trust the government so how this will evolve and how this will develop remains to be seen but as i discussed with a number of people it certainly is an issue that people are focusing on. it didn't get more than. passing mention in the mainstream media hizbollah him us and muslim brotherhood members in a jail break. from here and one to lebanon there's no way to go to lebanon from egypt only to go to the sea or to fly so who help them any one of the thousands of protesters on egypt streets. support for the demonstrators has faded fast and although the muslim brotherhood the country's largest opposition group with an islamist agenda got involved only on day three that says mom to ramsey is part of

the plan the muslim brotherhood will appear when they're sure the presidency will fall and when they have the support and power to control everything they work in every arab country there they're below the surface and there they're now talking with the government and they support as i hear shouting on the streets in two weeks of demonstrations they are rallying call hasn't changed step down mubarak i heard any level of his friends travel for forty eight hours to get here they've come all the way from eritrea to be part of what they believe is the new revolution sweeping the middle east i was a new a true and i watch everything on t.v. i wish i was here before but coming here now is my contribution i am asking all my brothers in egypt to express their opinion without fear we will never leave the blood of her martyrs who were killed in this revolution without revenge. the brotherhood gets some of its funding from the ran and tehran is already cashing in

its foreign minister says the protests show the need for an overhaul in the region and ayatollah ali khamenei has called the protests an islamic awakening there's an opportunity for an increased role for muslims in the international arena from a political and economic perspective for the first time in quite a long while six years ago the american national intelligence council which is linked to the cia warned of exactly this it mapped out a report on the global future it consisted of a caliphate one big muslim state created through social unrest a slowdown. in the economy and fueled by religious movements if such a pan regional union did genuinely come into being such a regional union would necessitate the breaking of very strong very resistant bonds that exist between the us and many of the participants in such a putative arab muslim world and the us is already feeling the heat with confusing messages coming from an administration that's unsure what to do when the protests first started president obama was careful not to abandon his old friend hosni

mubarak but his loyalties soon shifted and he sided with the protesters to try and keep on top of things for sure of the muslim brotherhood reach the top of egypt's though impose those special agenda they'll go ahead to establish a religious state and despite them saying they don't want to be in the government they do they want to rule egypt and it's not just egypt many theah much of the arab world today saying if it can happen in the streets of cairo but what's it going to happen here so as the brotherhood sits down for talks of the government it despises it's not just egypt's future that's at stake but so to that of the region policy r.t. kyra. you're with r.t. live from moscow russia as law enforcement agencies will go through a fundamental overhaul after the president signed a new reform bill it involves a complete rebranding and the introduction of new standards of service artie's accounting a matter of a house more on this. petey's the long awaited report lays

a key plank of president made better if reform agenda ideally this law on police said was just part of this major reform of russia's interior ministry which the president started about two years ago and he has said that the main aim of these police reform is to make russia's police officers more efficient and the work of police transparent. i've been asked many questions as to what exactly this law means it's just what we need it's a detailed regulation of police rights powers and. it's fundamental for police to work effectively not to be tempted to abuse their powers a minute this is why the bill is a breakthrough should look like any other law it's not ideal and we should bear that in mind from the very outset i'm sure that implementing the law will trigger a number of suggestions and opinions which we can also use in the future russian milly's have a butt image for a professional shortcomings for not leading up to social romney to all protecting

its citizens said russian police officers are known for severely beaten demonstrators for being corrupt for not following the rule of law themselves for power abuse one of the worst examples of that was the so-called court case when a police officer went on a shooting massacre in moscow killing two people at a supermarket and endangering the lives of over two dozen others but the most obvious change will be the change of tack from his post soviet name elites it will be renamed into a russian court police will another dramatic change was actually how the law was at all. cost in russia because for the first time the public was invited to contribute to this debate on this truck bill all among the mountains introduced on measures to increase public and paul mantra control over the police and to ban the forests from the private security sector where it is now the key player also one of the restrictions imposed on the bill. this is a bad on the use of the rob

a bit songs like tear gas during demonstrations even if these are unsanctioned rallies also it allows for a telephone call to a lawyer and interpreter in case of detention this is something new to russia's legislation on police all and all over the thousands a month most were considered and four hundred of them rejects that now that this bill has been sealed with the signature of the russian president it will go into force in less than a month. twenty minutes past the hour here in moscow let's check out some other stories from around the world this. guy and a cambodian troops are battling for a fourth successive day over a disputed border area the conflict is centered around a temple internationally recognized as belonging to cambodia although thai authorities just the clashes have so far claimed five lives since friday and forced a thousands of villages to leave their homes has urged the u.n.

security council to intervene to prevent the conflict from escalating any further. sudan's president says he'll support the southern part of the country's secession ahead of the announcement of the official results of an independence referendum preliminary results from late january show that nearly ninety nine percent of voters wanted a split from the north but instances of voting ballots were discounted southern sudan is expected to become independent in july. and bush fires driven by hot summer winds raging on the outskirts of australia's western capital almost sixty homes have been destroyed and many more damaged hundreds of people were forced to flee the area which has now been declared a natural disaster zone meanwhile the cleanup from floods and cycling's which struck queen victoria on the east coast last week continues that left thirty five dead and cost an estimated five point six billion dollars in damage. well

as the u.s. budget has slashed the specter of bankruptcy grows even larger and with americans finding themselves in a vicious cycle of that some are wondering whether the government is really coping with the ongoing financial crisis seems long list as more. it's the reality america cannot escape with the city's roughly two hundred eighty million dollars debt more and more people are talking about bankruptcy news of debt like that hitting cash strapped cities and states all over the country all together it could amount to two trillion dollars and a bill many may not be able to pay the problem of the state and local debt is more serious than the real estate bubble serious because with millions of americans still unemployed and losing their homes there isn't enough taxpayer money to pay creditors local governments which aren't allowed to operate in the red must come up

with the cash this means some may be choosing between default or devastation in many cases it will be fairly simple for cities to cut services before they actually default on their debt cities and states coast to coast seem to be trying this route and the toll it's taking on the streets of america is undeniable. camden new jersey is the second most dangerous city in the country you didn't see many cops on the streets to begin with and now. any the city's had to lay off nearly half of their police force in detroit a city where people have been too broke to bury their dead the city's too broke to repair dying infrastructure to fix roads or lights in the desert state of arizona cuts have been a matter of life and death. governor jan brewer taking a lot of heat over the death of another transplant patient after the state cut funding for the operations here in new york city huge piles of garbage like this

one are all over city streets this city's behind on picking up trash after getting behind cleaning up after ice snow storm help public officials blame that on any number of reasons but one accusation that keeps coming up is this is the result of budget cuts cuts have consequences you can't just sort of cut and there isn't enough wasteful spending so to speak to cut you're actually do have to cut services that people depend on analysts say the slashing will amount to an increase in unemployment and a lowering of wages dragging more americans down and the economy with it while the prospect of bankruptcy is threaten the pensions of public workers and may cause a run on municipal bonds so that will push the city counties over the over the cliff in the past not a solution either scenario seems to be causing a widespread decline in the american city once relegated to ancient history it's a feedback forge economic shrinking downsizing and they are been

a zation exactly the same thing happened in the roman empire when in the end broom was left almost a deserted city and all of the production shifted back onto the land that's what you're faced here although the land in this case looks like it'll be a broad rather than in the united states as investment please to other countries threatening to take with it the american dream lauren lyster r.t. new york. now in just a few minutes time people. debate whether the west can continue to tolerate multiculturalism in the face of a growing muslim population but first is that like his business news with the maitreya. thanks very much rory is suspending its share buyback program following a ruling from a court in the caribbean the injunction in st kitts and nevis was sought by elected in part because roussel which owns twenty five percent of north nickel now the out

of them company is in a fierce takeover battle with interest group for control of the mine and there's been talk in the market that no one nickel would scrap its dividend to fund the buyback program and this was seen as a blow to resellers they would not receive money to pay off their. take a look at the implication of that on the. stocks in just a second first of all u.s. markets as you can see a very positive trade about one hundred thousand trading this is on news of. reports and deals in london based. as agreed to by rival pride international in a deal worth some seven point three billion dollars pushing down some set stock markets of course advancing on this positive outlook in the states banks are among the strongest performers and also shares of mobile phone maker nokia rallied on. management shakeup in a rush a last minute recovery in monday's session there was fairing lower all session long

but finding some positive news out of the united states post russian stocks tuesday could look at some of the stocks in more detail one of the few stocks one of the few major blue chips which is losing this b.c.b. it was down one percent the weakest and the weakness in the bank's current share price is seen by on this as a buying opportunity without carly managed just not sheen gains following reports that shareholders of the merger with sylvanus and norris nickel is worse than the markets on news that it's suspended its share buyback program. rushes exactly and energy rose four point six percent london. most in two months after the producers discovered oil into its two fields the stock has advanced as strongly since the start of this year reflecting steady growth in output. italy's biggest insurer generali could become a primary investor in the privatization of. the prospects for russia's second

largest lender says generally may take around a percent stake in the bank with three hundred million dollars now that's as v.t. which is currently eighty five percent of state owned starter roadshow to sell a ten percent stake in the bank to raise around three and a half billion dollars the first big sale not as ambitious privatization program but it was not put us off deputy head of research at uni credit says we t.v. is a special case. i don't think that success of displacement real have any influence on on the tradition program this kind of special case the possible investors will be of use to investment funds were various over investment funds or insurance companies for example or certain today you can read them mr bug repellent sure so it's going to be probably a long term investors which are interested in russian financial markets so for now we'll be back in one hour's time i'll see that.

wealthy british style it's time to rise. in the. markets why not.

find out what's really happening to the global economy in these kinds of reports. it's now a seven thirty pm on monday here in moscow with the headlines now. website wiki leaks is in a london court he's fighting attempts to have him extradited to sweden. fears of stockholm could the u.s. for prosecution. egyptian officials try to find opposition with concessions to mubarak's regime has held president talks with the muslim brotherhood movement. in the country but after a fortnight of rallies demonstrators in cairo say they won't leave the streets until the president resigns. and russia's police force is in line for a massive overhaul. after the president signs

a bill to help them read rounded and reform the changes are aimed at fighting corruption and abuse of power by officers. who are watching r t it's good to have your company now up next it's cross talk and in this edition people of l. i discuss the debate over whether the western should be worried about the ever growing muslim community and whether it should still be willing to tolerate multiculturalism to stick with us. the latest in science and technology. meet.