in and the question now who's next. to. which way the country's going to be easy saying 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 if it once can keep the state of emergency in place for as long as it stays it's necessary but not everyone thinks its intentions are noble my mind 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 finian cunningham is a middle east expert in bahrain from way visual and internet communications have been cut by the authorities in emergency all of the. central component of the government apparatus when our arab like the present our interests

are more or. general and for as long as a state of emergency remains in place the hopes that brought millions of egyptians to the streets remain up in the air but egypt's not the only country the middle east that lives in a state of emergency across its border here in israel this country too has its emergency north for the last six decades since the birth of the state of israel we've been in a formal state of emergency which in israel has set into power a number of laws that were struck civil liberties and civil rights in ways that we find problematic 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 that many protesters might be wondering what exactly they were out on the streets for the r t tel aviv. well coming up in just a couple of moments here on r t it's a religious affair in rome russian president dmitri medvedev visits the vatican and

we have all the details of his meeting with the pope and how it could change the relationship between the country's church and. also still the wealthiest woman finds herself in the middle of a multimillion dollar theft scandal you get all the details later here on r.t. . but first u.s. congressmen and pentagon officials are debating how best to trim the country's fourteen trillion dollars national debt president barack obama has already proposed cutting the massive defense budget by seventy eight billion over the next five years well the pentagon is making sure the cut doesn't come at the expense of america's ability to wage war all non-essential programs are being slashed the proposed budget will actually see the pentagon spending grow this year we cannot cross live to the u.s. capitol and talk to me she's from the national security center for american progress thanks very much indeed for joining us here on our team the defense secretary robert gates is asking for nearly six hundred billion dollars for the

military now that equates to half of the entire world's combined defense budget but since the u.s. is involved in afghanistan and iraq and we're seeing this turbulence in the middle east surely this money is justified the u.s. needs this money doesn't it you know actually what people don't really realize is that the defense budget is is actually higher now than it was at the peak level of spending during the cold war we're spending more on defense spending during the war in vietnam as well and defense spending in the country is actually doubled since two thousand and one so really i think we need to do a better job of matching our resources and our priorities. are doing the right thing by calling for a reduction in the defense budget. what people don't realize about this you mention the seventy eight billion dollar reduction the defense budget is that this isn't actually a cut in the budget what it is is a proposed reduction in future levels of defense spending in projected levels most

of these cuts actually won't come until two thousand and fourteen or twenty fifteen and so when the secretary gates and when admiral mullen the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff talk about these defense cuts in two thousand and fifteen they're really depending on the military leadership congressional leadership and the leadership that's in the white house at that point in time to follow through on these promises and we're going to have some changes obviously we'll have a congressional election coming up in two years so it's really not clear at this point whether those so-called culture are actually going to materialize over the long term do you agree that the money does need to be there for the u.s. for example to support the likes of iraq and afghanistan once the troops are withdrawn from those countries you still need to spend a lot of money for the transition process and did the military's in the governments in those countries need the support from the u.s. so that's going to cost an awful lot of money isn't it. absolutely and i think it's fair to say that we need to fund the pentagon in

a level that allows us to meet our critical national security needs but i think since two thousand and one in this country we've sort of gotten into the mindset of buy everything do everything in a sense we've decided that if we can spend enough money we can sort of in a way address every threat that's out there we can buy perfect security and that's just not realistic actually secretary gates was testifying on the hill yesterday in front of the house armed services committee and and he was asked about this very idea you know how much money do we really need to spend for all these security needs and he said listen you know there is no amount of money that you can spend they can actually take our risk down to zero and that's just it's an illusory concept so we need to do a better job as i said of matt. our resources and our priorities and at this moment time with the difficult economic situation in the u.s. we really just can't afford to increase the pentagon budget year after year as we have been doing over the last decade but some may say that you can spend your way

out of a recession you're talking about priorities you're talking about the economic situation then you in the u.s. now many may say that in fact if you spend a lot of money on the military therefore you're going to be creating jobs and income for people who if you didn't spend that money wouldn't have it at all. and that's an argument they hear a lot on capitol hill and i think it's one of the reasons that lawmakers find it so difficult to cut a lot of these big take it weapons systems that they see in the pentagon budget but the fact is that that's just not sustainable over the long term yes these programs do relate to jobs in congressional districts for example the extra engine for the f. thirty five joint strike fighter that the house voted to cut from the budget just yesterday connects to some of the jobs that are in the district of the speaker of the house john boehner but the fact is that these are long term weapon programs they indicate billions of dollars of spending over decades in some cases and to use these defense

programs as as as sort of a jobs program is just inappropriate there are other elements of the u.s. government that work on those issues and it's really not the defense department's role their role is to. you know take the resources and apply those to the threats that are actually addressing the country right now really interesting to hear what you have to say thanks very much indeed for joining us live from the u.s. capitol or economy from the national security center for american progress thanks. to kosovo and it's marking the third anniversary of its declaration of independence from serbia but the republican two news to suffer from huge economic and political chaos and the crisis has been further deepen by a recent critical report submitted by the council of europe it accuses some of course of his leading politicians including the current prime minister hutcheon touchy of being involved in horrendous crimes during the one nine hundred ninety nine or so session among allegations of executions of doctrines and organ trafficking on wednesday serbia called on the un security council to investigate the charges marco does it from the british urban alliance for peace told me earlier

that the claims weren't investigated by the us and the e.u. because they would blame for their role. those crimes that were committed a great service at that time was so huge that to admit that in fact the reality was that the albanians that the us was sponsoring at the time they couldn't go back from their original claims without admitting that they'd be lying all along particularly in one thousand nine hundred nine and that would have meant that those who bombed serbia were culpable in criminal terms for that bombing and should answer before an international court so of course it would be very difficult for them to say actually yes we are indeed wrong we were wrong we supported the wrong side and under that and that was one step too far for them there seems to be nobody charged with the task of actually investigating these findings so it will require a brave brave security council and a committee security council one that wants the truth to actually appear and i have my doubts whether that will appear out of the security council. pope benedict says

he wants to learn russian that's what he told me to him even if he's currently on an official visit to the vatican it's just over a year since moscow and the holy see restored tiny's following decades of disagreement in the telling of a has more. this is the first visit over russian president putin vatican city after russian vatican establish diplomatic relations back in two thousand and nine president dmitry medvedev and both been addict the sixteenth touched upon a number of global issues as well as cooperation between russia and its really within various international organizations but they also talked about the cross concessional dialogue between the russian orthodox and the roman catholic church as members of the russian delegation have been saying that the relations between the churches have been improving recently and that right now a possibility of a meeting of the leader of the russian orthodox church patron cureall and they had all the roman catholic church who benedict the sixteenth is now much more possible

than it was several years ago so in that respect this visit has been very symbolic also during president video of visits to rome a number of energy deals have been signed russia and it's really have agreed to jointly invest in two major infrastructure and energy projects in more south africa also it was decided that russia is going to be involved in developing the elephant oil fields in libya together with its sleeves and career it's really is russia second largest trade partner in the european union after germany and according to preliminary estimates. trade to volumes have increased speed with the two countries by nearly twelve percent since two thousand and nine ton in africa reporting that well still ahead for you this space fashion courtesy of our unarmed former agent who spy scandal made headlines around the world. on the shotgun is on

a mission to get the russian space industry to look fabulous all the calls make details there a little later. police have raided the offices of russia's richest woman yet in the book is the wife of moscow's former mayor who was sent by prison to meet him inventive last year when all these evil pursuit of explains what's behind this raid. officials are saying that these searchers are part of an investigation looking into the embezzle mint thirteen billion rubles which is over four hundred forty million u.s. dollars from the bank of moscow which is russia's fifth largest bank and they see that you know about to know the wife of moscow's former mayor. are directly connected to this case which actually started in december investigators believe that the investment was conducted through a loan deal between the bank of moscow and several if you go up in companies and they say that the money simply ended up on

a personal bank account not what's also interesting is that investigators say that this transaction happened on the same day as the government allocated around fifteen billion rubles to the bank of moscow for other purposes and there's already speculation that this state money may have been used by about two to cover up the debts for a company in teko for recent years both the union and udall school of moscow's former mayor have been subjected to controversy although neither of them have been found guilty of any illegal activities there's a lot of speculation that you know who is the russia's richest woman and the only female billion in the country she was able to gain this fortune with the help of her husband's resources as the mayor of moscow her company and talk also always got the most attractive deals in the city when it comes to its development and what's

also interesting is that since stopped being the mayor of moscow into also stopped getting all these good deals. and her lawyer so deny all the accusations saying that the investigators have absolutely no grounds for such claims he says that neither she or her company in teko were connected or involved. in any criminal activities and said that these soldiers and this case are pressure on her and her husband meanwhile the investigators say that they're ready to call up everybody in the including enough for questioning if it is necessary. you got a piece cannot reporting that now to some other news making international headlines this hour a series of a military base in tanzania killing at least thirty people it happened near the airport in the country's largest city. explosions it started in one step before spreading to others in the camp four thousand people have fled the area and have

gathered at the country's national sports stadium similar accidents at another tanzania i mean mission facility in two thousand and nine killed three people. there's been a second day of violence in southeastern turkey off to rot smocks the twelfth anniversary and capture of a prominent kurdish rebel leader testers held stones and petrol in the city of the peer who responded with tear gas and water cannon several people were arrested the protesters accuse forces of being too heavy handed to them as early as this week or two months continued imprisonment. tourists were among twelve people killed when a boat sank in north eastern vietnam the vessel went down before dawn when most recently from their cabins it's believed there were twenty foreigners on board and those who survived nine people and six crew members jumped into the water where they were rescued by other vessels is the deadliest tour boat accident since the country opened up to foreigners twenty five years ago. to belgium now and it's going two hundred forty nine days without

a government which some are saying equals the world record held by iraq the eight month stalemate is divided on language lines between the leaders of the six million dollar speaking flemish and four and a half million french speakers hundreds of people from both sides organize a flash mob in french speaking. calling for the creation of a unity government that was one of many being held across the country. were known former russian agent and a chapman will add a dash of glamour to the country space program the red head now wants to try a hand in designing new uniforms for the space industry what is it has this report . the laboratories are taking center stage and businesses seem so donna chapman is just the latest to try and cash in on your v.a.p. status well to begin with she registered your name as a trademark so no officially she can sell her name as a brand and the latest appeal creative ideas will be reflected in a collection of quote sport ross course most people spacemen on the ground at a space controls and also the country's largest straining center will be trussed up

in what we believe might be very glamorous and she outfits it's not specified though in what capacity issue will be participating as a designer or she will take part in the projects financially would not have told the last year for the first time in her life on the chaplin visited the baikonur space cosmodrome in kazakhstan where she soit a rocket launched into orbit and perhaps it was there where follow the inspiration looks around at those brave men and decided that their next mission will be to make them look small they feel as though since july last year when she was deported from the united states of america it seems that the sultry spy service has become the least kept secret in russia she was offered a job on television she's now hosting a t.v. program where she's supposedly uncovering the world's secrets she was also appointed an advisor to the phone surveys bank which shares the nie shows with the country's

a top secret service the aphis b. and just recently she joined a movement so yes it seems that these days she is here and there and everywhere. moving on to sweden now where there's increasing pressure for the country to join nato with many european countries already members of the alliance an expert says the only a matter of time before stockholm follows that lead when i met up with a local peace activist who claims all these attempts are america's way of trying to gain control of more countries that interview is coming up next on our team.

is on a mission to tell the world how far and how much needle has gone taking over the globe tells r t why the activist has dedicated her life to stop what she calls the u.s. nato war machine in the south korea and japan where you can go through there so proud to be one of the guys. why did people know so little about nato sweden cooperation there sort of don't think about the connection between afghanistan the troops we have in afghanistan and nato it's sort of kept aside so people in this country they are not in favor of their soldiers in

afghanistan and it was not at all brought up in the campaign for the election last autumn. so i can on that i can see it sort of simon's the whole thing it was very obvious when it was. it was. a suicide bomber set off in got down no news paper connected this with the fact that swedish troops are in afghanistan we don't know for sure what the kind of connections were but they did the newspapers didn't connect the don't talk about the thought that the problem it was it is not discussed and why does the swedish media ignore these kinds of things why are people talking about this not until i show the man and show the global reach of

nato and how what they are doing up in the north like us was born being training bomb training in north bought then the it said this is all you are telling the truth because it's not told what if we russia goes to canada and train bombing shouldn't it be a little bit. unfeeling if we didn't it would have warped i mean i would be very very scared if they started bomb being close to another country came over from the other side of the ocean and started training boom being a course the americans should have the right to be to be to be unsecure is what's going on here what are they planning for people who have endured such a horrifying war like russia you shouldn't treat them that way west is treating russia today by encircling

strangling pointing at you we're from the submarine from one month outside so more months to have tried in submarine surrounding the whole a ratio what does that. but the international community says they understand russia's caution about nato do you think they really do it's about surrounding erase shia and in the end strangle maybe not bomb but strangle and threaten so you get your guess you get the same bierria scats you can put up your your oil pumps and like they tried during jensen i mean it was almost there they really wanted to to to come into the core of the russian foreign ministry and then grew but then put in cape. and then what what was they telling what was the calling putting all hitler is a ho ho ho he says what has he done he said stop enough is enough why does the

country's political elite want to help or to most likely be in the alliance 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 this policy it's pure insanity ho many things can united states government show that they don't care or about peoples when they show they torture in for instance all these terrible torture place in. every place they are violating international law they are violating all treaties all treaties and they come away with it do you think that sweden hides behind partnership for peace to cooperate with nato oh it's we all knew some of us knew for heaven's sake

partnership for peace is just the end to chambre for nato but the partnership for peace was the most i haven't heard that they told us told me when i was in new york a couple of years ago the pentagon said. had said partnership for peace is considered the most brilliant idea the pentagon ever had come forward with it was so successful because you could look at what the partnership for peace has turned into what may be almost olympus and almost all countries that former partnership or peace they already made to and why is partnership for peace so brilliant because you get a lines right into the foreign policy. to start to discuss to get the possibility to just start to talk with their with the people who are who are responsible for four of four for important policy that is partnership for peace and they fooled a lot of peace organizations are you crazy are you really crazy you are going with

nato on no admit that it's appears organisation so they were talented those who brought this they were but the worst thing and the thing that made us just be wanting to put war joining european union and then after this it was just partnership for peace i mean it was it was the it was the case i mean joining european union richard holbrooke who came here in ninety four and said hello to to us you know richard holbrooke when he is around beware now he's dead but there are certain other others coming but richard holbrooke and he said why don't you can take on the baltic states so sweden did look at what we're doing now we're almost one of the best guys in the club in the two we do more than the other parties that are in nato and that was sweden is now it's a shame it's

a shame i've shamed i mean my country it's joining in nato secretly pulling people. that would thank you very much for sitting down with us. our local coffee shop we are going to come back.

we'll have a rally we'll sell lots of beer low. they will wear uniforms that little damage is down the black man moving but very little damming the white. and they are the key to our problem are already. download the official location on the phone called touch from the choose ops to. life on the go. video on demand on t.v.'s money filled costs and r.s.s. feeds now in the palm of your. question on the dot com.

or. street she could. feel. like. in.

this frustration with. africa as protesters push for change at the same time egyptians are starting to question the. political.

brings up to date for the moment i'll be back with more news in her. life the former soviet leader nikita khrushchev that's our special report next. a politician full of contradictions and paradoxes for nearly two decades his name received no mention in the soviet press many continue to remember him or his resignation should i think he was the best emperor of the soviet era yes he was. publicly that the soviet union would catch up with america and do it to. communism his country eighty. possible and compelled to share that belief. nothing came out of it anyway communism was a far cry from reality. when he was in.