this week's top stories in egypt's military dissolves the previous parliament and suspends the constitution after president mubarak steps down and hands power to the army while the west tells it is a triumph of democracy analysts wonder if an external agenda could be behind the. terrorist model of claimed responsibility for moscow's deadly airport blast in january exposed that says in the country's security a major transport hubs. is in legal limbo waiting to see if he'll be extradited from london to stockholm to face questions over sex crime allegations his supporters claim it's washington's attempt to.

back at the top stories from the past week the latest developments this is r.t. here in moscow 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 the makeshift tents in tahrir square that had been the epicenter of the protests for hundreds of thousands of people president's resignation on friday was hailed by the u.s. president as a victory for democracy the result he's going to go on reports washington's long term support for the ousted president has many questioning the. obama sentiment. hosni mubarak ousted from power is eventual departure 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 by the army no doubt by the u.s. state department but it was a very serious raise 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 egyptians choose their next president they have a very close relationship with a pencil 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 him

missing 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 u.s. 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 in power by 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 has 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 if this is the second largest recipient of american aid in the world after its neighbor it's well 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 progress so too did people rejoice for a time on the streets of carious then 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 thousands gathered to demand the resignation of the president more than thirty thousand policemen have been deployed to prevent an uprising similar to that in egypt hundreds of demonstrators have been detained in clashes across the capital algiers the country has been under a state of emergency for years allowing authorities to public demonstrations in the wake of the uprisings in tunisia and egypt the government said it would lift

emergency rule. but you're watching. twenty four hours a day we've got more ahead for you this hour including american dream all american cities across the u.s. are. faced with record debt slashes wages and cuts vital services. and although they have. a european country swiss voters have rejected proposals for tighter controls. under-age drinking russian youngsters are finding it easy to buy. and lack of law enforcement is leaving the country with thousands of teenage alcoholics. so those stories told to come from first this week one of the world's most wanted terrorist doc 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 inventive 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 chechen born model 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 these groups move more fiercely round the world and you know there are undoubtedly shouldn't operate in parts of afghanistan but some have been skeptical whether mark was indeed behind the bombing the terrorist is talking himself out 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 bin ladin is 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 read 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 twenty wrote the evil 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 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 specs and didn't reveal any sissy 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 but there's a church shot 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 to. 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 a case is being fabricated so the u.s. can use sweden to get its hands on him but isn't he so now he 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 deer hunter film. it was shown again on swedish t.v. for the. 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's been a willingness to. do the ariens of the united states over many years from. questions of. making asylum seekers in sweden available to the cia freddy's is particularly strong now with a red 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 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 said he is a hero to milk in my mind as it is a criminal only ought to be hunted down and grabbed him 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 why. 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 wants his claim 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 they are now firmly 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 r.t. stockholm sweden. well the head of the u.k.

is part party laws kay says sweden may become just a brief transit stop before a challenge is handed over to the u.s. the extradition case is going to be used as an as a pretext by the united states to get hold of judy sarge. we think there is a very real danger you're going to be taken to the united states even possibly detained in quality time in my day and actually basically pursuit of some kind of espionage 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 spawned into 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. well yet another legal battle looms for julian assange you can find out about the bitter breakup between the former bedfellows the u.k.'s guardian newspaper clashes with its ex collaborator wiki leaks and even threatened with libel by the whistle blowing web site that's coming your way in the next hour here on r.t. along with. under attack in iraq we look at the plight of christians forced to flee their homes after being continuously targeted by extremist groups. 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. find out how russia's youth may be under the age limit often over the drinking limit. 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 process has already been for 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 hear the teenage girls were not sold any alcohol they were elsewhere than to the station 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 was. 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 i would have never had those 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 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 you know parents are responsible for the children and. turn eighteen and i think if we make parents pay a fine when the kids drink it will raise the level of responsibility because

presently teenagers do all these things practically with a parent's permission. 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. 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 punishments for kiosk or store owners willing to cash in on minors health but it could be the country's future at stake. by the way you can always find more and have your say in the stories we're covering on our website r.t. dot com here's what's online for you right now the euro twenty twelve championship promises a new wave of excitement and a brand new soundtrack. the traditional instrument which hopes to strike a chord with fans. and months of space travel or finally about to pay off with

a landing on the red planet you can find out how the crew of the simulated mission is preparing to go where no man has gone before. as the u.s. economy struggles in the wake of the downturn many states are strapped for cash and debt ridden city authorities a cutting back on key services. explores now how budget cuts seem to be pushing the american dream further and further away from reality. yes intentionally it's the reality america cannot escape with the city's roughly two hundred eighty million dollars debt more and more people are talking about bankruptcy news of debt like that hitting cash strapped cities and states all over the country all together it

could amount to two trillion dollars and a bill many may not be able to pay the problem of the state and local debt is more serious than the real estate bubble serious because with millions of americans still unemployed and losing their homes there isn't enough taxpayer money to pay creditors local governments which aren't allowed to operate in the red must come up with the cash this means some may be choosing between default or devastation in many cases it will be fairly simple for cities to cut services before they actually default on their debt cities and states coast to coast seem to be trying this route and the toll it's taking on the streets of america is undeniable. camden new jersey is the second most dangerous city in the country you didn't see many cops on the streets to begin with and now may release any the city's had to lay off nearly half of their police force in detroit

a city where people have been too broke to bury their dead the city's too broke to repair dying infrastructure to fix roads or lights in the desert state of arizona cuts have been a matter of life and death. governor jan brewer taking a lot of heat over the death of another transplant patient after the state cut funding for the operations here in new york city huge piles of garbage like this one are all over city streets this city is behind on picking up trash after getting behind cleaning up after our snowstorm the public officials blame this on any number of reasons but one accusation that keeps coming up is this is the result of budget cuts cuts have consequences you can't just sort of cut there isn't enough. wasteful spending so to speak to cut your 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 bankruptcies 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 well it's not a solution either scenario seems to be causing a widespread decline in the american city once relegated to ancient history it's a feedback 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'll be broad rather than in the united states as investment pleased to other countries threatening to take with it the american dream lauren lyster r.t. new york. well political activist and rep and one says many americans are ready to take action against their government our interview is coming up in the next hour but here's a quick preview for you. we have young african black and brown subjects

community colonial subject being sat down in the street in an obsessive kind of way fifty shots sixty shots 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 the powder keg upon which we sit now 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 will be the next to lead so there isn't a competition about that happening as well and people are are charged people are charged and are waiting to jump into action. swiss voters have rejected a proposal for tighter controls on gun ownership in a referendum and gun supporters had campaigned on the fact that switzerland's rate of firearm suicides is the highest in europe however the debate goes much further

with many people questioning whether the country with its neutral image even needs armed forces auntie's to source it has more. 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 as part of military obligations public outcry about high rates of far on suicide and 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 likely stuff by barry 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 in the me 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. certainly not a joke guys make fun you know. just play a big war against 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 it's not enough there is a political clout which means that the parliament is made moves a lot of rich people. i mean people want to know me they feel 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. this will more. or. in my opinion annoy me to some kind of false security you say well i saw what the army can do and they can't do anything against terrorists in the can't do anything to social problems and disorder so why should we every year about five billion of swiss francs for something to help us solve the problems we have the arguments are there give the swiss we're jordi still cannot

imagine a nation without their men in uniform. only the political left supporting a belief 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. last there's the rise of liberalism and demagoguery it war is leading. 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 or so you're r.t. switzerland. and our special report about was silent casualty the environment is coming up in a few minutes. give your summary of stories about. well

when one deals with war for us 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 amounts of damage done by ariel bombs by napalm boy coming from the city whether it's sonic boom city factory marine

mammals or it's the burning oil field syria and iraq or egypt's destroyed coral reefs in the pacific for ramming purposes the list just goes on and on the geneva conventions of nineteen forty nine states that there shall be taken in war to protect the involved against widespread long term and severe damage the united states although it is accepted almost all of the provisions protocol one has taken exception to that. in the united kingdom is available in the house bill and the forty one hotel the old waverly hotel they can also tell the mill stone hotel and some of the country house.