week's top stories here on r.t. egypt's military dissolves the previous parliament and suspends the constitution after president mubarak steps down power to the army while the west triumph of democracy analysts wonder if an external agenda could be behind the events. russia's most wanted terrorist. response ability for moscow's deadly airport blast in january. exposed the lapses in the country's security at major transport hubs. in legal limbo waiting to see if he'll be extradited from london to stop home to face questions over sex crime allegations his supporters claim it's washington's attempt to ensnare him.

this is r.t. as we highlight the stories that made headlines this week but the military supreme council in egypt has dissolved the parliament and suspended the constitution after president mubarak stepped down and handed power to the army following eighteen days of unrest across egypt the military authorities have now begun clearing makeshift tents in cairo's tahrir square it had been the epicenter of the protests for hundreds of thousands of people the president's resignation on friday was hailed by the u.s. president as a victory for democracy however. reports washington's long support for the ousted president has many questioning the sincerity of obama said. hassani mubarak out step from power is eventually. departure not 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 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 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 egyptians choose 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 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 bolts directly with billions of dollars by the pentagon mubarak is yesterday's man for the u.s. now after thirty years being their top panch men 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 u.s. 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. reporting an autocratic regime when we're spouting

democratic rhetoric here in the united states mubarak was kept in power by american support and huge payments to making him one of the richest man 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 has so much money he's gotten probably sixty to seventy billion dollars and 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 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 rule by an autocratic leader who 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 in 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 abdelaziz a bill to flicka more than thirty thousand policemen have been deployed to prevent an uprising similar to what happened in egypt hundreds of demonstrators have been detained in clashes across the capital algiers the country has been on. there

a state of emergency for nine years allowing the authorities to outlaw public demonstrations in the wake of the uprisings in egypt the government said it would lift emergency rule. or you are with your company today we've got more ahead for you this hour including american dream or american nightmare cities across the u.s. hard hit as the government faced with record debt. vital services. and with. any other european country many are wondering if it's time to finally farewell to arms. the problem of underage drinking youngsters are. being asked for id law enforcement is leaving the country with thousands of teenage alcoholics. well this week one of the world's most wanted terrorists claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on moscow's busiest airport last

month that deadly bombing drew attention to serious security lapses that transport switch as president discovered himself haven't all been addressed. reports. russia's most wanted terrorist claims thirty six more innocent lives have been taken by his deadly complain g.h. in-born 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 operate and promised more terrorist attacks security experts say the massachusetts enforces why he's no longer described as just a chechen warlord but as an international terrorist group. asli round the world you know there are undoubtedly. in parts of afghanistan but some have been

skeptical whether morrow was indeed behind the bombing the terrorist is stalking himself they say as a self-styled bin ladin to make sure foreign investments. he's a man who wants to put all the trappings of. his and if you will a sort of ground. to his actions and therefore it's not always clear how much authority he really has in fact from within his own group and there was a rebellion i think of last year when he resigned and then he is resignation and the younger members apparently wanted him out so it's not quite clear whether he is in charge of a barge a 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 at the level of 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. 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 specs and didn't reveal any says the t.v. either and just to compound concerns no police in sight. we've walked through the whole station and i haven't seen a single policeman no police but there's

a church shop 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. are teeth. and it's now at ten minutes past the hour here in the russian capital 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 his 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 sweden to get its hands on him and he said our 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 models and won 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 deer hunter 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 swedens 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 give from julian a son 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. 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 right 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 us with fierce reaction from one of the country's most notorious neo cons is not a particularly credible source and mobile and he is a you know to milk my mind as it is a criminal only ought to be grabbed and put on trial for what he has done here these words from karl rove who claims he's parts we. dish 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 wiki leaks the big question now is there are not 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 meantime head of the u.k.'s pirate party laws kay says what it may become just a brief transit stop before a songe is handed over to the united states the extradition case is going to be used as an as a pretext by the united states to get hold of junior sound which. we think there is a very real danger julian assange could be actually taken to the united states even possibly detained in quantity. and actually basically pursuit of some kind of. charges it's going to be impossible to see any kind of fair trial or just is happen if if june in the sand is going to be extradited to sweden and i was what i'm seeing in terms of how people responding 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. in just a moment as we're going to be talking about. bedfellows. with . wiki leaks. with. web site that's coming your way next hour long with. a rock look at the plight of christians forced to flee their homes after being targeted by extremists. with the russian government trying to rein in the country's excessive drinking it seems their efforts may be missing the real root of the problem. now finds out

about russia's youth and how many are under the age limit but are often over the drinking. 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 four so when they are brought to us the grossest has already been for and 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 russian 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 were going to go to another place just. down the street and see what they will be able to get some vodka or beer there. sure enough each of them had no trouble getting a beer from this kiosk i went confronted this is woman got defensive but didn't seem too fazed with breaking the law. 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 kiosk or supermarkets sell cigarettes and alcohol to adolescents and we have to mark positive tendencies to russian parliamentarians have been trying to implement stringent punishments 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 smoke or 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 problem 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 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 in those corti moscow. and you can always find more oil on the stories we're covering and have your say as well let. us take

a quick look now and see what one point at this moment of the euro two thousand and twelve championship promises a new way of excitement soundtrack find out about the traditional instrument which hopes to strike up. cool with fire. and months of space travel off oddly about a payoff with a landing on the red planet find out how the crew of the simulated preparing to go where no man has gone before. as the united states economy struggles in the wake of the current downturn many states are strapped for cash debt ridden city authorities are cutting back on police officers lauren lyster explores how budget cuts seem to repeal the american

dream further and further away from reality. 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

in 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 you may really see any the city's had. 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 and 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 we have our first snowstorm public officials blame this on any number of reasons but one accusation they keep 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 the solution either scenario seems to be causing a widespread decline in the american city once relegated to ancient history it's a feed back towards economic shrinking downsizing and the urban ization 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 faced here although the land in this case looks like it will be broad rather than in the

united states as investment flees to other countries threatening to take with it the american dream lauren lyster r.t. new york well political activist on iraq one says that many americans are ready to take action against their own government our interview is coming up for you next hour but here's a quick preview. we african black and brown subjects community colonial subject sat down in the street and an obsessive kind of way fifty shots sixty sets laying on our stomach. in our back as we run or as we walk or flee in retreat from the scene this is an abuse of power which is a powder keg upon which we said no and we've discussed our already the jobless rate we've discussed already the idea that there's a crisis even in the ideology of america and who would be the next to lead so there isn't a competition about that happening as well the people who are charged people are

charged and are waiting to jump into action. that interview is coming your way in about an hour's time here on arts here now switzerland holding a referendum on the long standing tradition of keeping guns at home following military service opinion polls suggest the country is evenly divided on the issue with anti gun supporters citing switzerland's rate of firearm suicides as the highest in europe however the debate goes much further with many people questioning whether the country with its mutual image needs armed forces at all as australia reports. training for combat preparing for war except these soldiers are from neutral switzerland and are unlikely to ever experience wartime combat more and more the country centuries old militia is being challenged the swiss are voting on the longstanding tradition of keeping

a government issue weapon at home a support of military obligations public outcry about high rates of fire arms suicide a lot of calls to tighten gun ownership regulations but the militia and the country's beloved village shooting clubs under fire whatever the result it's just the tip of the iceberg of a much bigger battle local activists like this stuff by day has been pushing for a complete abolition of the armed forces as normal cold war we totally surrounded by the european union which is. militarily speaking totally friendly so we have no war so the army has no reason of being no enemy just the tradition do you think that's what someone should have an army. for. you know it. just makes fun you know. just play a bit more but we don't. we don't need. a nine hundred eighty nine referendum on the issue revealed that more than a third of the swiss are in favor of dissolution

a figure significant enough to pressure the government to take some action to rein in military activity the size of the army and its budget while still a substantial four point five billion dollars have been cut and the option of joining the civil service instead was introduced. there is a political clout which means that the parliament is. rich people and rich people or an army. because they feel insecure there's still about two hundred thousand army personnel with compulsory military service for swiss males and private gun ownership for all conscripts living up to a local saying switzerland does not have an army it is an army not a pleasant prospect for young draftees like adrian feller who just don't see the point. to shoot. more. or.

in my opinion an army to get some kind of false security if you say well i thought we can do. anything against terrorism they can't do anything against social problems and disorder so why should we we knew about five billion of swiss francs for something to help solve the problems we have the arguments are there give the swiss with jordi still can. not imagine a nation without their men in uniform you know classics is a good not only the political left support evolution we're still a minority in this country it's hard to convince the population because it's really a tradition that is deeply rooted in this way psyche the last there's the rise of populism and demagogy each one is meeting. many swiss feel that abolishing the armed forces is a kid to letting go of a tradition of losing that sense of security real or imagined so does a neutral country with no enemies really need an army while support for abolition

is elusive the question has been asked and the debate is about to continue just are still here r t switzerland. nationally our special report about wars a silent casualty out of the environment that's coming away in a few minutes that'll be right after a recap of our top stories just ahead. well

when one deals with water it has to realize that this tremendous amounts of damage that are done not just human damage but damage to the physical environment in which the battlefield takes place tremendous amount of damage done by aerial bombs by napalm boy chemical city whether it's sonic boom city tractor marine mammals or. the burning oil fields here in iraq or destroyed reefs in the pacific for ramming purposes the list just goes on and on the geneva conventions of nineteen forty nine states that share shall be taken in war to protect the involved against widespread long term and severe damage the united states although it is accepted.