opposition protests on monday left two people dead and in egypt where the military has replaced the government at least temporarily strikes are gaining force and their party's policy looks at whether civilian rule is any closer to reality. mubarak's out the army is in and the question now who's next. to this. country's going to. sit out. it's nearly a week since he gyptian generals promised to lift a fifty year state of emergency but there's still no sign of when that will be the army knows his limitations when the decision was taken not to door open fire not to do any slaughter him. within their own people the most of the ability to be the next controller has been the controllers of egypt but they do want to be the controllers of the peace and therefore the army if it once can keep the state of emergency in place for as long as it says it's necessary but not

everyone thinks its intentions are noble finian cunningham is a middle east expert in bahrain from way visual and internet communications have been cut by the authorities in egypt general and. protestors went. to supposedly but actually the state of emergency. grilled in a country where nearly thirty years but the market will be buying we chuckled assurances. what right would be skeptical or. intentions of the military my mind see on is a photographer who couldn't wait to capture egypt's revolution on film but he was stopped at the border by gyptian soldiers. so just how different is egypt today under the generals from the egypt of yesterday under mubarak urgency all of the. central component of the government apparatus when are you. like the present. it's in chess or water

or. generals and for as long as a state of emergency remains in place the hopes that millions of egyptians to the streets remain up in the air egypt's not the only country the middle east that lives in a state of emergency across its border here in israel depending on who you talk to this country to has its emergency doors our marriages even the small is because we live in a bad neighborhood day you have. to move to see our elected politicians. israel is another state in the region. in part or somebody and it. becomes democratic. it is real routinely we lose wars of aggression against neighbors jockey karen train. these are his office that of emergency his will is living the usual life no one moved from from the center for themselves or from the

north to the center but wherever it is there's no denying that a country in a state of emergency is a country where democracy is ignored and if in egypt the generals don't make clear signs to move towards democracy soon in many protesters might be wondering what exactly they were out on the streets for the r t tel aviv. are now let's get some more information on the situation in the middle east and north africa and i'm joined by something that president of the arab lawyers association in the u.k. so well with mubarak now toppled in egypt do you think that there's a chance that other leaders in the middle east and in north africa whether of all to spreading are they feeling nervous at the moment perhaps are squirming in their seats a little bit. well i'm certain all of them really very want to now i think we are having domino effect they don't they most of the rulers are denying this everyone is saying we are not mubarak we have not denied it but i think everybody is feeling the pinch including monarchies we have

a problem in bahrain which is very very serious one at the present moment yemen is really on a very very hot seat. despite the americans trying to comfort king abdullah of the situation that he had to make dramatic changes and it's still fighting the people and i think we are seeing the era of revolutions there was in the fifty's the. military takes over i think there is now a domino effect of people revolting this is the revolutions of the people in that part of the world i think we're seeing really history in the making this is the equivalent of the fall of the berlin wall if nothing else that's in that region i think we're seeing dramatic changes and regardless of all the talk about democracy and what have you of course the revolutions revolutions have their own momentum the present moment you have to suspend the constitution you have to get rid of the

clique of the civil servants and the military who are most of them unfortunately in egypt americans and americans are counting on some of those people putting things back into the way that the american foreign policy and western foreign policy indeed. i think they would have difficulty in doing that i think europe and the u.s. actually feeling their way through they don't know how to deal with the present situation all of them are counting on some of their supporters who will remain after the changes in the regime but i think there is a tide this is a change a dramatic change a very interesting what you're saying here because you're saying history in the making these are. taking place here interesting how you're saying that western powers particularly america are feeling are rather nervous as they're seeing possibly potential loss of allies in the region when we talk about the regional protests and instability are these protesters in different areas are they all

united in their calls here are they calling for a change in politics are they calling for democracy are there other reasons behind these protests are all they all looking for change in governments. well there is certainly the unifying factor is that all of them have had enough of tyranny enough of dictatorship of subservient to the west and i tell you that this is what's going to happen the governments that have all been so subservient to the west that this goes against the will of the people in that region not because there is any particular alienation except that the generally speaking the interest the national interest of the west is contradictory to the national interest of that region of countries have a problem with israel they have a problem with the americans they have a problem with capitalism and this is going to this is a unifying factor at the present moment. is is raising banners against the u.s. or israel or anything but this is absolutely the fundamental backbone of this

movement i mean let's talk about what's happened over the past couple of weeks in egypt getting toppled two weeks worth of what were quite a lot of violent protests in the square in cairo but with egypt showing little actual progress with this move towards democracy since the overthrow of mubarak do you think protesters regionally speaking can actually become disillusioned here what are we fighting for well i'm. i'm sure and i think this is a misreading of the events you have to give it time the revolution only succeeded about less than a week but there has been dramatic changes you've got rid of the suspended the constitution they have. disbanded the so-called parliament there they have put many of the senior government officials under house arrest they are changing i know the army is still in control and all the top clique of the army all the probably marshals and what have you and all those people who are in first line in the army

they are all approved by the americans they've been there since kissinger time their whole be very very pro-american but their time has gone i think it is the right. it will take place i think there will be dramatic changes it will take time but at the same time i think now that the genie has gone out of the of the of its. it cannot be brought back and this is where the drive of the revolution that is going to take place it may be difficult it may be. even sometimes violent but i think at the end of the day that is the way that it's going and unless countries actually see that it's countries cannot continue to work on the wishful thinking policy because we want them to be pro-american or well pro israel or accept this or accept that i've heard the media international media all talking about well look at the demonstrations there they are not raising anti american anti

israel itself of course people are not doing that people at the present moment to have the freedom and once they have the freedom and once we in the world accept that people have democracy democracy lately to governments we don't like may lead to policies we don't like but we have to decide whether we are with democracy or we just make a lip service as the americans are doing. the president of the arab lawyers association thank you. for the big guns of america's military establishment are taking a defensive action on capitol hill to protect their budget defense secretary robert gates warned cuts any deeper than the seventy eight billion dollars proposed by president obama would have quote tragic consequences christine for sound looks at who is really standing to benefit. times are tough for many on main street but most in government agree before assisting people like this it's more important to assess people like this. perhaps this is one reason the us military budget is more than

fifty percent of the entire world and once again the top brass came to washington to defend defense it is my judgment that the department of defense needs an appropriation of at least five hundred forty billion dollars for fiscal year two thousand and eleven for the u.s. military to properly carry out its mission maintain readiness and prepare for the future defense secretary robert gates also discussed cuts he's made to the military budget on programs no longer needed what you may not know is that most of the seventy eight billion dollars he's cut would take place in two thousand and fourteen and twenty fifteen when there will be a new secretary of defense and possibly a new president still and this was his announcement last month that i'll describe how these reform efforts are followed through to completion will make it possible to protect the u.s. military size reach and fighting strength despite a declining rate of growth and eventual flattening of the defense budget over the

next five years as far as that flattening budget here's a look at current spending compared to previous war efforts and even after the cuts experts say in twenty fifteen the military budget will still be about one hundred billion dollars larger than in the bush years and about fifty billion more than the reagan years so what's going on here economist richard wolfe says it's simple all the beneficiaries of government spending the companies that get subsidies the military producers who sell goods to the government the working people who get some benefits even if they're small all of them have mobilized to hold on to what they get to make it politically costly for any congress man or woman to go again. them here's congressman buck mckeon chairman of the house armed services committee who has fought cuts tooth and nail there will be winners and losers in this process tough choices must be made but i will not support initiatives that will leave our

military less capable and less ready to fight. in addition to the wars in iraq and afghanistan and the health and safety of men and women serving and there are also other expenses more than eight hundred military bases in places like the marshall islands and a seven million dollars sponsorship by the army of notecard. usually pleas for money come cloaked in the name of life or death drastic reductions in the size and strength of the us military make millet armed conflict all the more likely with an unacceptably high cost in american blood and treasure but the real treasure lies with those with the real power according to trends research institute director gerald solenn today it's as simple as they had writing on the wall it's called the military industrial complex is in charge of the nation and until that changes there will be an invisible cloak around the pentagon that will allow no one to touch its

budget what you will think by the things that are sacrifice the basic cuts in services the roads that go on repair and people who are forced to live on the streets and a continuing decline in the health education and overall quality of life for most americans in washington christine for them now are going. to remember there are always plenty more stories for you to explore dot com we'll take a look at what you can find right now and facing jail for speaking out with one young politician is in trouble for his views on who's to blame for that the rest of the country twenty years ago which don't match the official line. and in the freezing wilderness of antartica read about how. tom. it's got a warm welcome and exclusive interviews with its most incompetent he's currently there filming in the moment you can blog. dot com.

for two years after restoring diplomatic relations the russian president is in the vatican for a meeting with the pope european defense cultural ties are on the table alongside ways to improve links between the russian orthodox and catholic churches relations between the confessions has never been smooth but dmitri medvedev could look to heal any rift by inviting the pope for an historic visit to moscow in the near future it's the second day of the russian president's trip to italy on wednesday he met prime minister silvio berlusconi in rome where they started twelve months of cultural exchanges as a part of a year of russia in. well three years after declaring independence from serbia because of a continues to face social and economic turmoil the recent elections that were widely criticized russia's envoy to the un pointed to a number of violations and voiced concern that radical parties were able to gain

votes with high unemployment and rising poverty the self-proclaimed balkan republic of kosovo is offering fertile ground for hardline islam there are now growing fears the region could be turning into a major terrorist hub right in the heart of europe and sarah furthest brain finding out extremist rhetoric speaking imported alongside foreign aid. i mean cause of a's capital and the mosques are overflowing ninety percent of the population here are muslim and known for their liberal interpretation of the faith but there are now growing concerns that a fundamentalist strain of islam. is taking the most fundamental strain. on the mental strain from the harbison so i think when you have this kind of ideology saying you have to literally follow the child from the koran. you can quite easily have a situation where for example terrorist acts can be justified hobby is i'm

originally from saudi arabia and many mosques destroyed in the balkan conflicts are being rebuilt with saudi money in fact the saudi government has poured tens of billions of dollars into building mosques schools and charities worldwide charities that in kosovo helping support poor members of the community. don't have jobs sure the charity bring in food which we need for i would children of the order but with nearly half the population employed and widespread poverty closer they could be becoming a fair to hold breeding ground the influence of well financed wahabi the impact of saudi financing in course of a now is clearly evident and the fear is that it's not just the money that's being bought in there will be ideology as well a lot of saudi money is often this is this is tied up in ideology and i don't think

saudi arabia massively keen on the west especially for. building a democratic structure which. has been right for four months and the mosques are supposed to be carefully monitored by the islamic community in course very to ensure that there adhering to moderate teachings. try not to be under later control because really hard to appoint and v other companies to really do appoint their months re control however recently a mosque was closed down after a petition to remove him and he was allegedly using money to win a for the poor it was this illegally built mosque in the hand of marina was able to operate for ten years though it's being closed down now locals are asking why it was left to them to take action because you could tell there was something not tried going on there were young children full body cover and she was taking them

are really just troops abroad so we felt we had to do something about it. the moderate muslim community here has made it clear that hardline teachings will not be tolerated there are warning signs the fundamentalist islam to be sneaking in to the back to the right into the hearts. serafin. of a. life in the heart of the russian capital you with arts he now moscow's ex mayor yuri luzhkov and his wife yelena by putting russia's russia's richest woman they found themselves at the center of another scandal they're under investigation for a suspected four hundred forty million dollars embezzlement scam it's claimed the money was initially learned by city hall into the bank of moscow the same amount most of it allegedly then learned to a dummy company which was used to buy land from but arenas company was cough was sacked late last year over corruption allegations. well

nato is keen to get the few remaining western european countries not members of the alliance on board sweden is one of the latest now to be enticed but as agnes norberg a swedish activist tells us here at r.t. the expansion is simply part of u.s. attempts to strengthen its influence in europe and beyond. what are they doing to get them on the hook what are they doing what are they promising them or i really i don't have the answer because for me it's insane. it's pure insanity oh many things can united states government show that they don't care if about people's when they show they torture in for instance all these terrible torture places you know. every place they are violating international law all their life lady all treaties all treat and they come away with it.

and you can catch that full interview in just over an hour's time here we're not all right now let's get to some other news making headlines around the world this hour. in the hollow northeast vietnam killing a local guide eleven tourists who were all in the top and at the time it's believed at least twenty one foreign travelers were on the vessel when it went down before dawn a local official said nine people and six crew had been rescued so far it's not clear why the boat sank but it is known that the weather was calm at the time of the incident. belgium has now gone a two hundred forty nine days without a government it's a feat some are saying equals the record held by iraq eight months stalemate has divided down a language line between leaders of six million dollars speaking flemings and four and a half million french speakers only one serious political protest has taken place

to do. with belgians instead of venting their frustration through the media the record is yet to be verified. colombian rebels have released the last two captives of a group which had been expected to be freed last weekend but far freed a thirty five year old police major seized in two thousand and seven and an army corporal captured a year later it brings the total number of hostages released over the past week to six the country's president criticized the rebels accusing them of kidnapping two factory workers at the same time. now the u.s. senate has voted to extend the controversial patriot act for ninety days it's giving lawmakers time to discuss its future the anti terror laws allow enforcement agencies to top phone access business records and carry out surveillance on suspects but the act has faced huge criticism of among those who consider these powers an infringement of civil liberties the extension was passed comfortably approved by

a vote of eighty six to twelve. times out of the business with you. that's right time for your business update and a very warm welcome gaspar was joining the elephant oil field project in libya in an essay with italian energy company any the deal was sealed it during russian president dmitry medvedev said earlier a visit to italy and the agenda of the visit included a number of other economic issues archies isn't wrong with the details well first of all an agreement was signed on russia's involvement in developing the elephant oil field in libya russia's gas from will acquire thirty three percent stake in the project taking half of the shares from its hourly is any company in the south stream project was also discussed during president visits to rome the gas pipeline that's meant to deliver gas from russia to the south of europe of course energy

corp is crucial for russia and italy but also the two countries have agreed to invest jointly into major infrastructure and energy projects in the north of africa members of the russian delegation have also said that they expect up just thirty italian companies to participate in russia's skolkovo innovation center where we're discussing a number of projects with italian energy companies including as well as machinery manufacturing firms i hope will reach agreements with both big companies that will become our partners and with small research groups that are interested in cooperating with school. italy's russia second largest trade partner in the european union after germany and according to preliminary reports trade volumes have increased by nearly twelve percent since two thousand and nine reaching up to thirty six billion u.s. dollars last year. let's have

a look at how the markets are faring this hour european stocks have slipped into red but just marginally as a flood of earnings news. some stocks in motion europe's because defense contractors be a systems is down four percent after its profit missed estimates but banking shares are pushing the indices higher of world bank of scotland is four percent and lloyds banking is gaining two point six percent resource shares are also suffering its structure is down about three percent and b.h.p. billiton this suffering a loss of one point eight percent. moving on and here in russia indices are still trading in the black this hour how whether they failed to continue the steady rise soon in the morning did well brant crude oil rose about one hundred four dollars a barrel in the middle east tensions investors so we'll be expecting another bunch of statistics from the u.s. to later in the day it's time for us inflation data will be in focus.

and let's have a look at some figures most of the blue chips are climbing the south bank is gaining on the news that it could serve up its oil related as is worth of a one point two billion dollars as soon as this year will carly is down one percent whether after negative news on fertilizer pricing coming out of asia and follows gold is rising as the price of gold in just one thousand three hundred eighty two dollars per ounce. and russia has almost tripled its exports of diamonds during the first nine months last year in almost two point two billion dollars in overall revenue at the same time the import of gemstones fell by more than two fold is russia's main diamond producer with ninety seven percent market share and accounts for twenty five percent of global production. and the listing of the russian rail operator freight one may take place in london though the issue is

still open to question that's according to the president of russian railways. this is the government to decide what will be the formula or prioritization of this company that is not settled yet so you know if if the gears of the procedure will fly pure then possibly unloveable but if it will be if it is the direct selling there to build build russia. ok that's it for now you are now updated and join me in time for more business news.

more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images cold world has been seeing from the streets of canada. trying to corporations are on the day.

it with all to you live from moscow the headlines now demands for political reform with violence and uncertainty in the middle east and north africa as the domino effect continues libya is not the latest country to see clashes on its streets. america's top military officials stand guard over their budget as defense secretary robert gates warns that deep productions would have quote tragic consequences but protecting the military is pushing us to come on to the rest of the song. three years since declaring independence cause of a continues to face social and economic turmoil there are enough for you as it could be turning into a training ground for terrorists as aid from saudi arabia is coming in alongside extremist islamic teaching. it's time now for some of the spring cleaning on wall

street so. his programs coming up next in the report. are this is the kaiser report you know the value of real farms and cities is going down due to the eco eco disaster of degradation of the ecology and deflation in the economy but the value of virtual farms in the cities is going up going to be stacy herbert tell us all about it yes max there's a global conflicts going on between real and fake we can't tell the difference anymore between real value and fake value carlyle group lost one hundred five million dollars on a fictional chinese food.