the stories that shaped this week gyptian president hosni mubarak's resignation preceded by weeks of mass protest is hailed as a triumph for democracy around the world at some point that if you park your city of the west that is backed by mass a dictator for decades. russia's most wanted terrorist bought of claims responsibility for jagger responding at moscow's airport the attack killed at thirty six and led to intensify checks into security lapses at major transport hubs plots. u.s. influence on sweden seems to be growing from juliano songs to terrorist acts to nato support when america wants something they get it but why and what's in it for this so-called neutral nation.

twelve noon in moscow this is r t thanks for joining us now this week has finally seen an ad to more than a fortnight of rest in egypt as the country's president finally decided to step down powers to the military for a period of transition well the army has begun taking down the makeshift tents in cairo stuff to your square and that's have to restore traffic flow hosni mubarak's location is still unclear with contradictory reports suggesting he's either in his residence in sharm osho or fled to the united arab emirates or his resignation on friday was hailed by the u.s. president as a victory for democracy however as art is going to check out reports washington thirty years support for the dictator took the sincerity from obama's sentiment.

hosni mubarak ousted from power is eventually part you're not without the help of washington he had a phone call from the white house the persuaded him to leave. the former egyptian president left cairo just hours after he addressed the nation saying he was not going anywhere the screws have been put upon him a by the army no doubt by the u.s. state department but it was a very serious risk for washington and in the end they decided it would be safe to dump mobarak in the west mubarak's departure was hailed as a triumph of democracy with the cheerleader in chief buraq obama gyptian said made it clear that nothing less than genuine democracy will carry the day but it's egypt's military largely financed by the united states which will now control the country until it gets to lose their next president they have a very close relationship with the pentagon don't always very very close to robert

gates they talked on the phone at least by this past week or so or because the washington will be supervising any sing that happens that's unlikely to satisfy the overwhelming desire as many egyptians for change which drawled the revolutionary events of the past few weeks if you heard the slogans that were being chanted it was egypt egypt egypt meaning we are fed up of being bullied by foreign powers and forced into peace treaties which don't do us any good and our generals bowl to directly with billions of dollars by the pentagon mubarak is yesterday's man for the us now after thirty years of being their top pants man in the arab world when a blind eye was turned in the west to appalling human rights abuses under his rule bigger problem with the us policy and that is cozying up to. dictators in the first place that we really don't need to cozy up to and then when they get into trouble

we get into this hypocritical position of supporting an autocratic regime when we're spouting democratic rhetoric here in the united states mubarak was kept him. hour by american support and huge payments to making him one of the richest men in the world some estimates put his wealth that as much as seventy billion dollars in a country with widespread poverty we had a lot to do with mubarak being in power and staying in power like we subsidize and we own him 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 i understand his family probably has sixty or seventy billion dollars stashed away in swiss accounts and other places around the world as you say is the second largest recipient of american aid in the world after its neighbor israel the u.s. is pumping billions of dollars into the egyptian military which gives washington huge control over the running of the country and its future egypt now celebrates

the end of rule by an autocratic leader restricted political freedoms and economic progress so too did people rejoice for a time on the streets of carious then and ukraine in recent years after so called democratic revolutions with western approval but the leaders who came to power were later rejected by their own people even though there's a lot of celebration and jubilation going on in cairo we don't know really whether the military is going to give up its power and authority and if they do to whom how far will they share or what's going to happen some say the lesson that the west could learn from recent revolutions is to abstain from supporting a leader just based on how convenient they are for the west rather than how much they can do for their people got a check on our t. washington d.c. now william spring of christians against nato aggression says the fact that swiss bankers decided to freeze mubarak's accounts just a day before his resignation shows a massive amount of hypocrisy. suddenly the european union wakes up off the

thirty years to the fact that there's been a major violations of human rights and the swiss government suddenly decides to seaquest right somebody assets this is quite unacceptable what are they being doing for the previous thirty years. actually torturing people. putting down you know opposition by force we turn it in the last week or so we've seen the degree of the bulb hours of the mubarak regime and suddenly the swiss bank has wake up to the fact that they should see question. what about the assets of other dictators who are still in power no i think it's appalling. the political unrest is seeping further through the region as thousands of algerian stick to the streets of their capital to demand the resignation of president. police detained more than four hundred demonstrators in clashes across the city algeria has

officially been a state of emergency for nineteen years that's allowing authorities to battle public demonstrations where protesters ignored the ruling following uprisings in tunisia and egypt forcing authorities to reconsider the declaration. and coming up in about twenty minutes r.t. spoke to the voice of the u.s. streets and the activists in a political rapper m one who says everything is in place for a revolt to happen in america. same set of conditions that existed in cairo exist in new york city exists in miami florida they exist in los angeles you have a ruling class with abuse of power i was recently in cairo. and i was there on a humanitarian aid mission to help the people in gaza in order for us to get to gaza we had to jump through so much. and we began to understand that not only did

the government what were the controlled by bureaucratic politicians in. israel have a huge stake in making sure that. the state of egypt was the way that it was and that is definitely the situation in the streets look at what we have inside the united states. all russia's most wanted terrorists omar of claimed he orchestrated the deadly suicide attack on moscow's the airport last month well the incident drew attention to serious lapses in security at transport hubs which as the country's president himself has discovered haven't all been addressed. well looks at this week's developments. russia's most wanted terrorist claims thirty six more innocent lives have been taken by his deadly complain jason bourne said this week he was the mastermind behind january's bombing at the idea of the airport when one of made the

claims in a video message posted on an extremist website he described the suicide bombing as his special oh poor a sion and promised more terrorist attacks security experts say the massachusetts in full says why he's no longer described as just a chechen warlord but as an international terrorist group. around the world you know there are undoubtedly. in parts of afghanistan but some have been skeptical whether mark was indeed behind the bombing the terrorist is stalking himself they say as a self-styled bin laden to make sure foreign investments. he's a man who wants to put all the trappings of bin laden is and if you will listen. to his actions and therefore it's not always clear how much authority he really has in fact from within his own group there was a rebellion i think of last year when he resigned and then he remained his

resignation and the younger members apparently wanted him out so it's not quite clear where they can directly is in charge of a barge number of these militant groups or where they can simply putting himself in a position of their own near in order to gain more authority him self meanwhile this week security forces arrested three suspected accomplices of the airport bomber all three are from the north caucasus republic of english and are believed to have known about the attack planned by a twenty year old evil with a manhunt is on for seven other suspects wanted in connection with the bombing at the security operation gathered pace the president shifted the focus from what has been down to sort out the aftermath of the tragedy to what is being done to prevent similar tragedies from happening again and the best thing to do he decided is to go on inspection personally. he checked security at one of most schools busiest railway stations and was left unimpressed to say the least. as i see private

security agency here but where is the police and where any metal detectors i don't see them we don't have metal detectors that's true these baksh and didn't reveal any c.c.t.v. either and just to compound concerns no police in sight. through the whole station and i haven't seen a single policeman no police there's a church well at least you have some place to pray. but the time when people relied soley on god not police may finally be over russia's anti terror law is likely to be seriously amended just as the country's police force is now undergoing a major overhaul it's hoped the changes to the police will put an end to cop corruption and security lapses. r t. all year with r.t. and coming your way in

a matter of minutes teenage kicks the. legal drinking age in russia is eighteen years old so how easy is it for a teenager to get his or her hands on some hard liquor we sent our hidden cameras to find out what fuels other age groups addiction is to blame. and germany's chancellor is quizzed over the deaths of dozens of afghan civilians in an empty taliban airstrike two years ago. now this week a week of leaks founder julian assange faced extradition hearings in london the verdict on whether he will be handed over to sweden for questioning over sex assault allegations is expected later this month and with the u.s. reportedly preparing its own a case against a son many are seeing a fear of conspiracy between the two countries and he said no it has more on the law lasted us swedish cooperation. 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 of the country that gave us our but flat pack furniture for dollar meatballs top models and lawn bombshells may not be so neutral after all politics through the back door like sweden's ties with nato you have the military and some politicians cooperate intensively with the united states and with 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 is been

a willingness to. do the errands of the united states over many years from. questions. making asylum seekers in sweden they are 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 a son is wanted by quite a team 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 unloveable and he said. you know it or not in my mind it is a criminal only ought to be. put on trial for war 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 the questions about neutrality became even even clearer thanks to some of the documents from exactly where to me the big question now is there enough room in the british justice system to protect julian assange from the united states of sweden america and let him keep blowing his whistle and he's now i r t stockholm sweden. all the head of the pirate party laws case says there's overwhelming support for julian assange among the public but that there's a risk you could even end up in guantanamo bay the extradition case is going to be

used as an as a pretext by the united states to get hold of judea sourish. we think there is a very real danger julian assange could be actually taken to the united states even possibly detained in quality time obey and actually basically pursuit of some kind of spear knowledge charges it's going to be impossible to see any kind of fair trial or just is happen if if june in the song is going to be extradited to sweden and i was what i'm saying in terms of how people are spondon to the wiki leaks is that actually people overwhelmingly support the the freedom of information we can see how the free flow of information has been absolutely crucial to democracy. and next hour we've got more another legal fight a song could have on his hands it's time with one of the league's publishing

partners the guardian the british newspaper has recently been accused of leaks in line with this editorial and. while many are ringing alarm bells in russia as under age alcohol use becomes more widespread than ever before while you find it easy to buy booze without being asked for id that store owners escaping punishment for selling alcohol to minors lark is indeed a go to school made towards stores in the russian capital to find out how accessible alcohol is to teenagers. these teenagers just may be russia's future and it's looking rather bleak. the problem is that kids start drinking around fourteen fifteen years of age regularly dependence it takes a few years to fully so when they are brought to us the has already been for not always we can pull them out of this tough situation according to n.g.o.s there are anywhere from twenty to sixty thousand in the country and many blame the fact that

it's far too easy for a teenager to buy alcohol legal drinking age in russia is eighteen years old so how easy is it for a teenager to get his or her hands on some hard liquor we're going to follow a couple of enthusiasm rushing youth organization into that liquor store right across the street which is one of the largest supermarkets selling hard alcohol to find out whether or not they will be successful in getting their hands on a couple of bottles of whiskey we've been in with a hidden camera but the experiment didn't work the first time around so no go here the teenage girls were not sold any alcohol they were asked for identification when they didn't provide it they were refused service but we're going to go to another place just down the street and see whether they will be able to get some vodka or beer there follow us. sure enough each of them had no trouble getting a beer from this. when confronted this serious woman got defensive but didn't seem

too fazed with breaking the law oh not that way it goes ok how many times did we tell you not to sell alcohol to the under-aged and you still continue to do that. unfortunately practically every second or supermarkets sell cigarettes and alcohol to adolescents and we have to make positive tendencies to russian parliamentarians have been trying to implement stringent punishment for those who sell alcohol and cigarettes to minors but so far there has been very little progress parents are responsible for the children until they turn eighteen and i think if we make parents pay a fine when the kids are good drink it will raise the level of responsibility because presently teenagers do all these things practically with a parent's permission. several routes of this alcohol became an intrinsic part of the russian culture after world war two we have a tradition to drink for any reason and that's a huge problem we need to tackle fortunately many youngsters themselves realize the

scope of the problem and part of it as life they want to relax to feel grown up but i don't think if you drink two three bottles of beer you automatically become an adult as things stand there is little consequence or punishment for kiosk or store owners willing to cash in on minors health but it could be the country's future at stake it even goes corti mosco. or you can always question more and have your say of the stories we're covering on all website r.t.e. dot com and here's what's all live for you right now basel our country seems to be a must for any politician but that doesn't necessarily mean they're qualified to do so well find out what dominates the corridors of capitol hill or their ads. there are some sense among us a man who stumbled across more than a hundred thousand dollars a castle northern russia decided. on a stopped and returned to the police a simple question is why are all the details at our dot com.

a german chancellor angela merkel faced questioning over a military airstrike which killed scores of civilians in afghanistan almost two years ago well the strike ordered by a german officer after two fuel tankers were hijacked by taliban militants left up to one hundred forty two people dead the majority of them civilians while the bassa girl left the country and allegations of a cover up cost the resignation of dozens of officials including the defense minister but the chancellor denied that she had held back the true number of civilian casualties to prevent a loss of previous election but the questioning came just days after germany voted to extend its process in afghanistan despite tremendous public opposition we spoke to christophe more of a business and government consultant who says that voters have little saying any more. we are there because of nato to put it straight

because washington ordered to be there and that is going to continue. to eighty percent of the german people are opposed to this military to get engaged still the politicians are not listening and that means they must be more afraid of washington than they are filled people and of course this is a very severe you know political decision to go against your own people is to be elected politician and that means that our democratic structures are no longer well functioning. constantly about the afghan war our politicians and the whole selection process even of members of parliament to be candidates for to stand for election is not democratic anymore we are killing mostly civilians there is no sign of any better future through nato enough. in fact we believe losing this war we are losing the good will of the population. and in

a special report later today we find out about a silent casualty of war the advice that scarred lads had wondered lives is coming up later in the day on r.t. . well one one deals with war for us to realize that this tremendous amounts of damage that are done not just human damage but damage the physical environment in which the battlefield takes place tremendous amounts of damage done by earl bombs by napalm boy chemical city whether it's a sonic boom sea track to marine mammals or it's the burning oil field syria or iraq or it's destroyed coral reefs in the pacific for women purposes the list just goes on and on the geneva conventions of forty nine states that are shall be taken in the war to protect involved against widespread long term and severe damage to the united states although it is accepted

almost all of the provisions of protocol one has taken exception to that. russia has japan over its radical status of the coral islands which tokyo claims as its own well it came was a japanese foreign minister visited moscow earlier this week. the peace treaty with russia which is regularly issued by the country's going to manage. these issues i said to mr monk. peace treaty with no preconditions. involved leading historians from both sides to help call dialogue over the territory was rejected nevertheless are two sides decided to work together on nuclear programs and develop business ties all the islands in the pacific ocean were handed to russia as part of

a handover agreement at the end of the second world war however no formal peace deal has ever been signed between the two countries. and now some other headlines from around the world has declared that it terry an emergency following the recent influx of over three thousand in asian immigrants most of the asylum seekers who sailed across the mediterranean in small boats were intercepted by the coast guard and taken to a sicilian island where the government has increased sea patrols and requested additional aid from the european union the authorities fear further arrivals in the coming days from north africa including algeria and egypt. eleven people have been killed and twenty nine injured in a stampede at a campaign rally for nigerian president goodluck jonathan in the southern city of port harcourt well the may have occurred at the city stadium as the president was addressing the crowd as part of his reelection campaign the panic was reportedly

caused by gunshots fired by a police officer into the air and control of the crowd. has been hit by a surge of violence in recent weeks in the run up to the presidential election. now switzerland is holding a referendum on a longstanding tradition of owning guns following military service well opinion polls suggest the country is even. divided over the issue with proponents of firearm restrictions pointed to the highest rate of gun suicide in europe all opponents fear storing far arms in public arsenals would cripple the national militia forces switzerland has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world with the estimated number of firearms in the country at over two million. two more cuban dissidents have been released by the country's communist government as it continues to free opposition activists arrested in two thousand and three a construction worker and

a journalists had been promised freedom last year but were kept in prison as they refused exile in spain it follows the release of four other political prisoners earlier this month or the two men are among the fifty two dissidents that president raul castro agreed to free last year seven more still behind bars. and coming up for you in an hour a time line of decline find out how cities across the u.s. are suffering as the government was strapped for cash and faced with a record debt slashes and wages and cuts vital services. well that brings you up to date i'll be back shortly with the headlines do stay with us.

well. bringing you the latest in science technology from around the world. we've got the future covered. news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of china.