i would international good to cheat every green lower till. it's the day that could decide whether wiki leaks founder julian assange is extradited to sweden where he's wanted on sex crime charges and i'm here at the cool to bring you all the latest. however sweden may be just a short stop for a song leaked cables on the cover an american agenda behind a swedish wiretapping law that might allow washington to press espionage charges on the whistleblower. and egypt bracing itself for the hardest protests in anti-government unrest began two weeks ago president mubarak has reiterated he won't step down until september and the country's military has vowed to support him . also russia warns japan against pushing forward its tops down from the greil

islands a territory tokyo's wanted since the end of world war two. a warm welcome to you live from our headquarters in central moscow this is r.t. it's four pm here in the russian capital one pm in london where the founder of wiki leaks is back in court for the last day of his extradition hearing julian assange is wanted in sweden on sex crime charges allegations he denies he claims the high profile case was fabricated so the u.s. can use sweden to head him over on espionage charges let's cross live now to our laura who is outside the court there's been already media speculation saying behind the verdict is likely to be postponed but still from what you've heard so far is there any chance that the decision will in fact be announced today. well this is in

fact the third day of what was only supposed to be a two day hearing we were here at the beginning of the week when it was adjourned until friday for the defense and the prosecution to deliver their closing statements we are hearing that the verdict may be perspiring and possibly for two three weeks or so the judge can go back to his chambers and consider all the evidence that he's presented with properly but we also believe that this today gap that we've heard in between these two sets of hearings might have given him the time to do just that it's it's not clear whether we're expecting a verdict today but we are expecting these proceedings to be over for today quite soon what we've been hearing today are essentially summaries of the evidence that's been presented over the course of this extradition hearing that the prosecution has continued to maintain that there's no reason why the julian assange shouldn't go to sweden to answer the questions that he's being presented with in connection with these rape charges and then also accusing the defense counsel of trivializing these

charges of rape that have been brought in turn the defense has talked about some quite graphic details of these two these sexual encounters with these two separate women that we've been talking about they've gone into that in quite a lot of detail and the defense lawyer also made an angry wait angry comments about a statement that the swedish prime minister has made in parliament the defense calls his comments a devastatingly prejudicial attack suggesting that the government of sweden is wholly against julian assange and he said that the swedish prime minister had spread malicious lies about us on suggesting that our stars believes that women's rights are completely worthless and also suggesting that our soldiers already been charged with these rape allegations when in fact no charges have been brought at all he simply wanted for questioning in terms of how the investigation has proceeded so far i spoke to goran right playing who's swedish rate campaigner and he told me that this has been an extraordinary investigation in terms of procedure

the most extraordinary rape came investigation that he's at the scene that's let's hear what he had to say. it looked like julian was declared innocent by one prosecutor and then you have to immediately find out ok what's the truth what's his side of the story what they did instead was trying to collect evidence. and they interviewed all the witnesses in another way which was something very good to try to build a case against him it's like what there was it's like a prejudice. like this saying. he's guilty let's get him in and there are thirteen people interviewed by the police three or four tape recorded only three julian this tape recorded on the thirtieth of august the two witnesses that could speak in his favor are tape recorded all the other witnesses

are just summary interviews sometimes accused to change their story and if we don't have that story we can compare it to the suspect story it's impossible to investigate. now throughout this case in these hearings we've seen this stiff descend into a sort of farce we've seen all sorts of people jumping on the bandwagon of us on this case and trying to make a name for themselves on the back of it and the latest of those is a man called daniel dumpsite burke who used to work with us on wiki leaks and he has published a book which is out today felicitous timing for him he accuses us of having an emperor a complex of being what wanting to be all powerful all the time and he also says that our son has turned into the kind of man that he used to hate and that he used to want to bring to some kind of justice by leaking information about him but the most extraordinary allegation that jumpshot burke has made about us anjan his new book is that he accuses him of harassing his cat during

a time when they lived together he says that assad entered into a battle for supremacies with his tomcat that he would attack the cattle a regular basis and sometimes he would come out on top and sometimes the cat would come out on top so really this is this is turning into somewhat of a force with a lot of people jumping on the ass on fame or infamy bandwagon. all right laura what farce of the side drawing a slant has been constantly saying that has actually addition to sweden may become just a random stop have there been any facts suggesting our farms may end up in u.s. custody. we haven't heard anything from the u.s. recently since a few months ago they said that that what we were hearing reports that the u.s. was preparing espionage charges against him and also trying to change the espionage law in a way that could be used against julian assange and of course the defense's main fear if a soldier is extradited to sweden is that it will only be

a stopgap for him and that he'll go straight on from there to america the when he has received some death threats from people including u.s. politicians including sarah palin the governor of alaska he says that he should be hunted down like al qaida so there is certainly a worry that if he does go to sweden he would he with there then go on to the u.s. and in fact he has had sites of some wiki leaks cables that talk about the relationship between us the u.s. and sweden which is an extremely close relationship and might affect this case i filed a report on that. bugged and wiretapped at the behest of the u.s. swedish intelligence service the ethyl a has the power to monitor and intercept all internet traffic in the country and thanks to leaked u.s. state department cables we now know the controversial law was adopted after pressure from washington and the security services were deliberately kept out of it

to reassure sweets there was no funny business force to operate under strict data storage and protection laws for swedish citizens they are concerned that the public may perceive their involvement as an attempt to work around these restrictions by using a foreign intermediary that's poisoning any chance for success the u.s. interest is clear eighty percent of all the internet traffic from russia travels through sweden and from there to america but most men from by by government representatives that now know that the purpose is not to spy on swedes it's the morning monitor among other things russian trying to traffic but what kind of information are they are worth i think the information that is made accessible to special services by this law is of course sensitive and there are ways it can harm russia's political interests well that was the law has been slammed by some as the

most far reaching eavesdropping plan in europe and prompted widespread protests ahead of its implementation cables also suggest the swedish government was colluding with the u.s. to avoid involving the public at all costs. the agreement may have to be presented to parliament and a vague constitutional requirement for matters of great importance if so the process will take considerably longer and be subject to public scrutiny something the government of sweden will want to avoid as the ministry of justice continues to analyze the proposed text it is also considering how to craft in a range meant that will avoid the need for parliamentary group. there is no parliamentary control over what the. us. and of course the general public in sweden has even less controlled much of the pressure coming from the united states and from the corporate industries it's being in the swedish government the more than happy to. to to do whatever these american corporations. ask through the

american government judging from the date on the leaked cables while sweden was debating whether to pass the bill the americans were already negotiating with the swedish authorities on what kind of information they wanted they see the twenty third meeting as an opportunity to seek precise details on the type of information the united states wants and over a move the agreement and it's clear the u.s. ended up getting what it was after at least in terms of information on the eighty percent of russian internet traffic that passes through sweden our intelligence cooperation with sweden on brusha is excellent do you directed left when you general burgess will be here next week for exchanges with the swedes on russia and of the topics now it's not just information on russia that the u.s. is off to its reportedly carrying out its own investigation into wiki leaks founder julian assange still says all this information to see if it can bring espionage

charges if it can and applies to sweden first extradition all this close cooperation that we've seen may mean his feet won't touch the ground floor and it's r.t. . the egyptian army has announced its siding with president mubarak in an official state minutes said it supports the peaceful transfer of power and fair elections later this year the move has only intensified demonstrations with thousands of egyptians flooding the streets of cairo with protesters vowing an unprecedented rally people have gathered at key sites including the presidential palace angry at the president's thursday night t.v. address in which he again vowed to remain in office until september in the statement he promised to transfer some power to his vice president but not step down himself the two year old also cited his reluctance to bow to international pressure something many believe he's done on a regular basis aren't going to chen has more from washington. the u.s.

wants an orderly transition as they say president obama said hosni mubarak statement on the transition of authority was not clear and needs more explanation mubarak basically said in his address that he was not going to run for president in september and egyptians will have the chance to elect whatever leader they choose but in the meantime he said he was not going anywhere we spoke with senator ron paul earlier and he thinks mubarak is following washington's plan we have a lot to do with. being in power and staying in power like we subsidize and we all know these are puppet dictator he does what we tell him because he gives so much money he's gotten probably sixty to seventy billion dollars and understand his family has sixty or seventy billion dollars stashed away in swiss accounts and other places around the world washington can hardly be considered to be impartial when it comes to power struggle in egypt it's a strategic location for the u.s. mubarak has been a close ally for thirty years the u.s.

has been pumping billions of dollars into the egyptian military and they certainly don't want to lose that whoever is in power there is a great chance that they won't lose that although the position is it's up to the gyptian people to choose their next leader washington is apparently clearly some stray. the man who was sort of the charge during this tumultuous transition and who is seen as a possible alternative to mubarak is a big cia friend it's all marsalis he has reportedly orchestrated the brutal interrogation of terror cells suspects abducted by the cia also in the run up to the u.s. invasion of iraq in two thousand and three the cia rule i don't mean to beat confession out of a detainee who said that employers saying had connections with al qaeda something that was proven to be false but back in the day was perfect for the americans who desperately needed an excuse to invade iraq so he's an old friend not hostile to israel at that that's basically all the u.s. wants from a future leader of egypt in official statements of course u.s. officially says. u.s.

officials say they want to see a leader who hears his people's riven says but there's certainly progress if you're just a year ago when asked about human rights violations by the egyptian government i remember obama's response was this our close schools ally and it's not the job of the united states to a lecture eject on democracy and human rights rather recruitment has changed in recent weeks the u.s. took up its is old the role of democracy preacher but if you watch american t.v. you listen to american politicians it's all about u.s. interests not really about egyptians that they want democracy for egypt but a democracy that will be ok with the united states. he's going to canberra from washington well protesters are vowing to make friday the largest of the eighteen days of demonstrations so far former cia officer and knock are said mubarak's reluctance to go is making the situation dangerously volatile. now that the

president mubarak that is as said he would not leave i'm afraid that they are going to expand their religion and take it beyond darrius the way our government buildings as we see them and do it in fact the movement has already selected a leadership role for team people and this leadership consists among other three groups of the muslim brotherhood so i do not believe that the muslim brotherhood necessarily will get over the who made the movement remain secularized live through our professional movement from across the ship genocide so it is not one specific ideology so there are some members who are extremists but for the most part the muslim brotherhood has participated in egypt general elections and already indicated they would be willing to participate in fair and free elections eat meat

. here with our team live from moscow still coming up for you this hour a talent that never intended. parties cause that team brings you the culture of russia's western europe and an unusual addition to the country of europe vision rock star. but first russia will not tolerate japan's radical approach towards the far eastern creole island which tokyo claims as its own moscow's official stance comes as the japanese foreign minister is in the russian capital for talks the islands were handed to russia as part of his relation agreement at the end of the second world war however no formal peace deal has ever been fined between the two countries europe is going on has the details. no radicalism or any preconditions that's the message from

russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov right after his meeting with his japanese counterpart if you pour your full when you can adults are radical approach towards the peace treaty with russia which happens regularly and is shared by the countries' governments it's impossible to negotiate these issues and i said to mr million that we're still ready to work on this piece treaty that with no preconditions the terri through dispute between russia and japan over the southern crew islands has been going on for over half a century now and swears up every year during the so-called northern territories the in japan tokyo claims that these southern crew islands are traditionally and historically japanese territory while russia says that a b. or a strategic port of for russia and that is one of the outcomes of the second world war so we continue standing firm on their positions but nevertheless both sides

said that they are ready to talk more about this issue and also to work together in many others years from culture and energy to business of course which is only growing every year. well christian finance journalist fred we are says the issue could have been solved a long time ago when the japanese side not so aggressive and its rhetoric the basic issue was settled in one thousand nine hundred fifty six there were there was a deal struck which was never followed through on under which the two will sell to violence would be given back to japan russia agreed to the soviet union agreed to that and as far as i understand they say that that deal is still on the table so i guess that if the japanese were to take a different approach rather than this fairly militant angry approach. that we that we are hearing. that maybe maybe that that deal certainly could be negotiated at

least older russian experts i talked to say so. well after a surprise inspection of one of the major railway stations on thursday dmitry medvedev is continuing with his on scheduled security checks this time he dropped in on the capital's third largest airport the president said he was satisfied with the level of control there even went through the scanners at the airports entrance where he was checked by staff in stark contrast to the scenes witnessed twenty four hours before when the president covered major security lapses at the rail hub transport security and russia was supposed to have been following last month's terror attack on german that of an airport which killed thirty six and left. many more injured. well and speaking of new coven news just in here at r t a business jet has made an emergency landing at that very airport of course where president visited today the flight from moscow had to land on its belly no injured

have been reported we will continue to track the story and bring you any details when and as we kept. our close of teams discovery of the western your roles area continues now as they get an inside look into the culture and traditions of the region and the city of egypt. the republic is known for its rich culture and traditions many of which have been passed down through centuries from cuisine to music the region's creative spirit has been has given rise to a wealth of local talent some of which has spread around but kolb arena glooscap discovers how song gets martha moving. when you come to you are in for a surprise though it's known for its weapon producing factories and plants the first thing that catches your eye is the city's architecture which seems to have

changed a little over the centuries and once you dig. deeper you find more people are good at preserving their heritage and not just on the outside when the culture for me is a part of my life it's. my life my marbles lullabies my friends my. hope and fairy tales told me this is very become logical very educational to thing i'm coming and term very close to nature culture but of course to get a full taste of the culture you have to get out of the city and go to the village where traditional songs dances food and drinks are still very much a part of everyday life so when we hit the road trudged through the snow and ended up in the village of gran of a and the home of local celebrities who made waves in russia's last bid for your vision song contest glory but don't expect to find any short skirts and hair extensions here most of the stars are over the age of seventy

. much more tastefully when. we come here in the evening meet so which t.v. during the commercials. these grandmothers became an unexpected hit coming one place short of representing their country but they still caught audience's imagination with their songs giving some of the world's best new hits a new sound. was . that. it was a. year. after your vision we wanted to come home quietly that would more people and we didn't want to make a fuss but people found out and when we got back to our village they gave us

a grand welcome back party with songs and dances. and these bugs because take a creative hands on approach to everything they do but i'm trying to do right now is help these readers but it's your which is sort of like me working so you make this little basket and then you have to put the stuff you decided this is a traditional dish and we're going to try and squeeze out of it the people here seem to have a song for every occasion be it a wedding gapped is a birth or see need young man after the army or whatever life throws at them the good will to find a way to market the levy it's that approach which has kept these traditions going strong for hundreds of years even if you look r.t. . let's take a brief look now at some other headlines from around the world hundreds of thousands joined in marches across iran for the country's national day the rallies which are backed by the state marked the thirty second anniversary of the islamic revolution established in one nine hundred seventy nine b.

a slum a republic was created followed by the revolt led by the late ayatollah khomeini. police marksmen have a shot and killed the gunmen who had taken seven hostages during a bank robbery in the us state of north carolina following a three hour standoff the one thousand year old walked out of the bank holding a female hostage and pointing a gun to her head police then opened fire on seven hostages involved in the robbery were said to be unharmed. well let's get down to business to me but he joins us and it looks like the russian markets are finally recovering well somewhat of a recovery there were massive losses the previous sessions but we're seeing banking stocks and mining stocks feeling really well today we'll look at just a second first of all british oil major b.p. looks set to get its dividend from. the russian joint venture now a russian. promise to block the estimated one point eight billion dollar payout for

the fourth quarter that was after b.p. and russian oil giant both in the aftermath of the massive swap and arctic exploration. claim that the zero compromise the competitiveness of. count to be a lot more details now from the time you know. under the shareholder agreement is obliged to pay at least forty percent of its net income in the fourth quarter to be beat as dividends now that's about one surge of b.p.'s profits a lot of money for b.p. herb the company that that has lost a lot of money last year due to that will spill now earlier eight are the russian partner in t.n. k.b.p.s. that owns fifty percent shares in the company has said that the t n t v p's not going to be the dividends. a deal between the russian oil giant ross nafta and the b.p. that was announced recently on the asset swap and arctic exploration according to

the russian board eight are they do you breach is their shareholder agreements in the all new ventures of b.p. in russia and ukraine have to be down to know whether or not our has the right to veto this agreement between b.p. and ross now it will be decided during a court hearing that's going to take place in london on the sounds of march. to go to the markets now stocks in europe us struggling to find some kind of direction on friday mobile phone giant nokia is posting heavy losses of church agreed to form a software partnership with microsoft shares are dropping around eight percent this . year and russia's stocks are snapping the three days of losses as oil line boosting outlook for producers on thursday russian equities suffered their biggest one day four in seven months right now they're recovering myself one percent state numbers burbank is up almost three and a half was through double the genuine that profit to nine hundred fourteen million

dollars several stahl is up with four and a half percent there on the my sex after the steelmaker canceled an initial public offering of shares in its nordic gold unit more on that in just a second bucking the trend is gazprom it's losing a war most of us are. from a russian mine an old gold is postponing its i.p.o. in london due to uncertain demand and volatile markets recover he sought to raise four billion dollars in the offering or gold operates in russia kazakhstan and africa and produces around six hundred thousand ounces of gold that's the stats from last year. gazprom expects to supply an extra nine percent of gas to europe this year and predicts prices will be fifteen percent time now that would give an average price of three hundred fifty two dollars per thousand cubic metres compared to three hundred six last year exports to europe are planned to about one hundred fifty two billion cubic meters of gas this year but are still below pre-crisis

levels of one point five eight billion in two thousand one hundred fifty eight that . russia's largest oil producer gazprom now has increased its profit by eight percent to three point three billion dollars in twenty ten turnover roast almost thirty seven billion dollars that's a thirty six percent gain on the previous year. is a subsidiary of gas problem. so for now more in headlines are next with a nice in just a sec. thanks

. down stop going to. come back. we'll have a rally we'll sell lots of beer lotion on the fade i'll pull wear uniforms the little damage is in the black family but very little.