hotel jerusalem. the week's top stories here on our egypt's leader stepped down handing power to the military after weeks of violent protests while the western powers held it as a triumph for democracy analysts wonder if an external agenda could be behind the events. russia's most wanted terrorist who claimed responsibility for moscow's deadly blast in january the attack exposed lapses in the country's security at major transport hubs. julian saunders in a legal limbo waiting to see if he'll be extradited from london to face questions over sex crime allegations his supporters claim it's washington's attempt to ensnare him.

very well well we are running down the top stories of today and over the past week well this week has seen an end to two or three week long unrest across egypt as the country's president eventually surrendered his powers handing them over to the military the army has since formed a supreme council and began taking down the makeshift tents in cairo's tahrir square in an attempt to return things to normal on sunday prime minister ahmed shafik help the first meeting of the egyptian cabinet since mubarak stepped down is that resignation on friday was hailed by the u.s. president as a victory for democracy however. reports washington's or long term support for the ousted president has many questioning the sincerity obama said.

hosni mubarak from power is eventually parcher now without the help of washington he had a phone call from the white house that 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 on a 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 have 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 its tools their next president they have a very cool relationship with a pencil don't always very very close to robert gates they talked on the phone at

least five times this past week or so all because the washington will be supervising any sing that happens that's unlikely to satisfy the overwhelming desire of many egyptians for change which drove 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 being their top pants man in the arab world when a blind eye was turning 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. our buy american support and huge payments to making him one of the richest men in the world we had a lot to do with mubarak being in power and staying in power like we subsidize and we own him he's our puppet dictator he does what we tell him because he gives so much money he's gotten probably sixty seventy billion dollars and i understand his family probably has sixty or seventy billion dollars stashed away in swiss accounts in other places around the world as europe is the second largest recipient of american aid in the world after its neighbor israel the us is pumping billions of dollars into the egyptian military which gives washington huge control over the running of the country and its future now celebrates the end of ruled by an autocratic leader who restricted political freedoms and economic congress 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. . well the mood of discontent in the region has also been spreading to algeria where thousands gathered to demand the resignation of president abdel aziz abou the flicka more than thirty thousand police would have been deployed to prevent an uprising similar to that what happened in egypt hundreds of demonstrators have been

detained in clashes across the capital algiers the country has been under a state of emergency for nine years allowing north or east to outlaw public demonstrations in the wake of the uprisings in tunisia and egypt the government said it would lift emergency room. where you always got to be it's good to have your company today we have a plenty more ahead for you this hour and you can find out why the u.k. is the guardian newspaper is in a bit of break up with its former collaborator wiki leaks some has even been threatened with libel chargers by the whistle blowing website. and under attack we look at the plight of iraqi christians forced to flee their homes after being continuously targeted by extremist groups. all this week one of the world's most wanted terrorists doc who claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on moscow's busiest airport last month the deadly bombing drew attention to serious security lapses at transport hubs which president medvedev discovered

himself haven't been addressed. in the culture of reports. russia's most wanted terrorist claims thirty six more innocent lives have been taken by his deadly complain. said this week he was the mastermind behind january's bombing at the monday of the airport more of made the claims in a video message posted on an extremist web site he described the suicide bombing as his special open ration and promised more terrorist attacks security experts say the message reinforces why he's no longer described as just a chechen will it. but as an international terrorist group. around the world you know their own downfall. in parts of afghanistan but some have been skeptical whether mark was indeed behind the bore me the terrorist is stalking him

they see as a self styled bin ladin to make sure foreign investments. he's a man who wants to put all the trappings of bin ladin ism if you will a sort of grandeur 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 waived his resignation and younger members apparently wanted him out so it's not quite clear where they who is in charge of a barge number of these militant groups or where they can simply putting himself in a position of their own mirror in order to gain more authority him self meanwhile this week security forces arrested three suspected accomplices of the former all three are from the north caucasus republic of english and are believed to have known about the attack planned by twenty wrote them if you will with a manhunt is on for seven other suspects wanted in connection with the bombing as

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 moscow's busiest railway stations and was left unimpressed to say the least. as i see private security agents here but where is the police and where are any metal detectors i don't see them we don't have metal detectors that's true these factions didn't reveal any says the 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 so 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 it didn't occur children r t. and this is. just one in ten minutes past the hour the extradition hearing of wiki leaks founder julian assange has been adjourned until the end of february he appeared in court in london on friday as he continues to fight against extradition to sweden where he faces questioning over sex crime allegations he claims the case has been fabricated so the u.s. can use wheat in to get its hands on him. and he said now explores the cozy relationship between washington and stockholm. sweden 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 model and one 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 the. sixtieth time it's an awful film it's the worst propaganda of politics through the back door like sweden's times with nato you have the military and some politicians cross-breeding 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 get from julian assange to terrorist suspects to nato support when america wants something they get it but why and what's in it for the 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's been a willingness to. do the errands 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 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 just ticks off the u.s. with fierce reaction from one of the country's most notorious neo cons is not a particularly credible source and mobile and he's seen as 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 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 songs 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 in no way are to stockholm sweden. meantime jon lester wrong right now believes that both the u.k. will face heavy pressure to comply with washington's interests in the case. the world should know that the united states is the world's greatest terrorist in the wars that they conduct the torture they conduct it so many horrible crimes have been revealed already in the united states continues with the same policies they make some excuses here or there and their former president a 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 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 has so powerful they can they can harm economically and politically both the swedish government in the british government while the wiki leaks founder julian assange is also set for another high court battle he's accused the guardian newspaper of quote malicious libel over its tell all account of the online whistleblower the pritish dailies also being blamed for adjusting wiki leaks diplomatic cables to fit its own editorial policy ati's law and it has more on the rift between the form of bedfellows and exposing us embassy secrets to the world. they were bedfellows in exposing u.s. embassy secrets to the world but now wiki leaks and the guardian have rapidly fallen out of love and it's turning nasty in the original agreement between wiki

leaks and its partner publications the partners were to help publish cables on the whistle blowing web site blocking out names to protect the innocent was allowed but sources close to wiki leaks maintain the guardian went one step further accusing the newspaper of redacting the cables to suit its own political and editorial agenda something the guardian denies one of the alleged missions focuses on iranian dissident politicians and the guardian we. have. they don't want such things to be known for their own tales they will. want to cover the world and so view. everything that was good to a boy or girl position. in such a way that either of the guards or than the virtually any that are of the killings would never know how those people themselves view their own leaders the guardian

reports ali had been a is just another political liar an intriguer. but what it leaves out is his why did description of the opposition as lacking organization and freezing problems of ultimate direction and leadership specific opposition figures are. very stubborn but not charismatic karoubi courageous who would if you institutional allies tommy cautious and weak in cables about the activities of western companies in kazakstan the guardian fail to publish details of alleged bribery the actual cable talk of an internal investigation in a western company over five years during which former employees caused the company to pay five point two million to agents with the intended disappearance would influence because artificial to allow the company to obtain business in other words bribing officials to contracts to the companies allegedly involved british gas and

any italy's gas giant that this isn't necessarily the story that the guardian wants to tell that the that there are editorial pressures on them but it also could be simply the lawyers at the guardian are getting a bit jumpy and saying well look we can't accuse people of bribes because they're incredibly powerful and they're rich and this is one of the problems with a lot of libel and the lawyers at newspapers is that they're actually only afraid of the rich and powerful ordinary people they will say almost anything about them because these people don't have the means to sue the guardian princess who was cocky verging on rude in kyrgyzstan. although britain's prince andrew may have wished the guardian had edited information about his behavior in kyrgyzstan more. elsewhere some media commentators say the reason for the guardian's alterations was to help simplify the information it's the only way it to be done the so much

material and it is so a lot of the form that easynews is difficult to inaccessible it has to be translated into journalism people who understand the guardian declined to give us an interview but did send a statement saying they redacted cables for two reasons to protect sources who might be placed at risk or to protect the guardian from legal action under u.k. libel law but being sued is something the guardian might have to get used to wiki leaks founder julian assange is threatening legal action over the newspaper's book which i thought alleges contains malicious libel wiki leaks made a political choice when it decided to publish through the guardian a left leaning nice paper that takes a liberal line but certainly in this case it has to be the wrong one and with the guardian's recent publication of the book portraying the newspaper's dealings with wiki leaks in a deeply under favorable light it's a relationship that's gone truly sour your average r.t. london. now the russian embassy in london has

a new visa to guardian journalist luke harding after his previous one was an old in moscow last week he was denied entry and passport control upon arrival in the capital russia's foreign ministry said harding had violated our whole series of rules for foreign journalists border guards. and sent him back to london after allegedly detaining him for forty five minutes. well you can always find more to have your own say on the stories we're covering on our website. let's take a quick look now of what's waiting for you online and the euro two thousand and twelve championship promise is a new wave of excitement and a brand new soundtrack find out about the traditional instrument which struck a chord with problems. and months of space travel are finally about to pay off for the landing on the red planet find out how the crew of that simulated mission is preparing to go where no man has gone before.

former u.s. secretary of defense donald rumsfeld has lifted the lid on life at the helm of the war on terror by publishing his memoirs entitled known and unknown charts how he served two american presidents. george w. bush in an interview with fox news channel here not only defended the russian invasion also called one ton of movies detention center one of the finest prison systems in the world brian becker from the anti war coalition says it's because of rumsfeld that the world now sees america as complicit in the business of torture. to france to get set up an interrogation regime that allowed a starting of course anchoring with allowing the american government to be understood by the entire world is nothing but torture inc torture incorporated that

he helped set up along with the cia not only not only. the u.n. described as a torture center but all sorts of black cold prisons and secret detention centers where people were horribly tortured and murdered in fact and now he has to describe this is something that was good. so of course from the point of view of rumsfeld and bush and cheney they want to rescue their image they want the american corporate media to treat them kindly they want of course as they do constantly to make mega millions of dollars from this kind of promotion but i think the record is so clear the world recognizes the bush administration as nothing but torture inc and at the center of that at the center at the top of their command was donald rumsfeld secretary of defense. without the life of oscar what's now about her twenty two minutes past the hour ongoing sectarian violence is forcing iraq's religious minority to seek safe haven in

a relatively calm northern region of kurdistan hundreds of thousands of christians have fled there in the years following the two thousand and three u.s. led invasion and sebastian my reports from iraq those who remain are putting their lives in danger on a daily basis. every night miriam gets ready for bed with her family but it's not her bed it's not even her house miriam and her family are christian iraqis who have been forced to flee from baghdad to the semi autonomous kurdish region because they become targets of extremist groups in the country in two thousand and seven miriam was hit by a bomb that was planted outside her house they lack i'm going to put my arms just to buy some chocolate and come back and went out and didn't see anything i just had the bomb and i fell to the ground and the room was lying in the street with her foot dangling from her leg her father i had rushed outside. i saw my daughter lying when it was

a live and. my daughter was lying in the growing and people running show you everything was covered in dust and shortage of glass so i picked up my daughter with her dying i almost lost it i was showing my daughter's gait she's been hit by a bomb. luckily i had was able to get her to a doctor who could repair her leg but others have not been so lucky in october last year fifty six people were killed by militants when they attacked the our lady of salvation church in baghdad in the following weeks dozens more were killed in attacks across the country many fear that eventually christians will be driven out of iraq completely of the eight hundred thousand christians in the country before two thousand and three almost half of fled in the past month alone four thousand have moved to the comparative safety of the northern kurdish region here they can worship and live in peace but in living their homes they've lost absolutely

everything many like miriam's father and are forced to make a living cleaning toilets in bars and restaurants. i served first seven years in the military under saddam hussein i'm an iraqi christian and i don't have a square switch of lines in my name why what's my crime many in the church feel that countries in the west are responsible. americans are liars we don't trust their reputation is terrible because everywhere they have light the us train the sunni and shia and they just watch while they kill it is impossible not to see all these murders and they don't get involved. it's the end of a long day and time for the family to go to bed everyone gets ready and eventually the lights are switched off in the darkness and uncertainty miriam and the rest of her family are left to dream about and hope for a better tomorrow sebastian meyer r t so i'm in the iraq. now the german

chancellor angela merkel has faced questioning over a military airstrike which killed dozens of civilians in afghanistan almost two years ago up to one hundred forty two people were killed the majority of them being civilians as a result of the strike on two fuel tankers hijacked by taliban militants the incident sparked a political storm in germany claiming the jobs of several top military officials merkel rejected claims the party and her coalition government covered up the incident so it wouldn't affect the results in an election at the time the chancellor's testimony came a couple of weeks after germany's parliament voted to extend the military mission in afghanistan by one year christophe a business and government consultant believes nato countries are just dancing to america when it comes to the afghan war but we are there because of nato to put it straight because washington odd it to be there and it is going to continue no

matter that seventy to eighty percent of the german people are opposed to this military a good gauge still the politicians are not listening and that means they must be more afraid of washington than they are the old people and of course this is a very severe. decision to go against your own people is there to be elected politician in bed means that our democratic structures no longer well functioning mass media are lying constantly about the afghan war our politicians are lying 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 it's no sign of any better future through nato in afghanistan in fact we are losing this war we are losing the good will of the population. from moscow and we have plenty more stories coming your way next hour including american

dream or american nightmare cities across the u.s. hard hit as the government faced with record debt slashes wages and cuts vital services. and with more guns per person than any other european country many swifts are wondering if it's time to finally say a farewell to arms. plus the problem of underage drinking russian the youngsters are finding it easy to buy spirits without being asked for id as a lack of law enforcement is leaving the country with thousands of teenage alcoholics. and i'll be back with headlines in just a few moments to stay with us. this

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