government so that the u.s. can do as it has in history carry out regime change relations between london in tehran took another hit this week iran said its to sing with its decision to kick its english language news channel press t.v. off british airways was a clear example of censorship the official reason cited for evoking the channel's license are breach broadcasting rules over editorial control as a failure to pay a fine that was imposed press t.v. says a speed of silence for its dissenting views it believes it's being targeted for its highly critical coverage of issues ranging from the cost of the british royal wedding to last year's london riots still recent u.k. based media analyst and author thinks that press t.v. is yet another victim of the ongoing campaign against the country and. if this had been separated from geopolitics then no with this would not have happened and some other kind of sanction would have been would have been made and the deal would have been struck so i think the press t.v. has been viewed through geopolitical terms and that is the breakdown of relations

between britain and iran at the end of the day i think that most of the criticisms of press t.v. ad been due to its coverage because you know it sees the middle east very differently for example than the mainstream media in britain repeatedly comes up probably is really groups repeatedly complain about it we know very well that the british government at the very highest level was discussing with the american ambassador how to limit press t.v.'s output in britain so now what we've got is we've got a real limiting of dialogue in the me in the british media and i think that's a tragedy and certainly a tragedy at a time when british relations are at their lowest ebb for a long long period. u.s. congress were called to controversial anti-piracy bills this week after a massive internet blackout and hacker attacks on government websites millions of net users and web giants including weiqi pedia and google joined together to stand against the proposed legislation that was dubbed sopa and pipa if the laws passed

they would have allowed top media conglomerates and copyright holders to shut down large portions of the web meanwhile the anonymous hacker group was retaliating against a shut down of file sharing site mega upload claiming to have brought down the websites of the f.b.i. and the white house barack brown whose work with anonymous on various operations believes mega upload shut down shows the government could act even without the laws in place the problem is the track record and all government. is such that giving them power to do one thing is almost always interpreted by them so . i mean giving them power. so and the way that you know this is right on mega upload cars and dope and that showed that even without local already in place here they are already arresting and arresting the owners of megaupload and shutting it down and in the future the very near future and. there will be a number of other groups that will pop up. more military not. that us and it's

worse in the grass and felt that's going to be notable the war in the us. over a million people visit our web site r.t. dot com for more information on this story and join the masses let the let us know your opinion on the two controversial bills and take a look at what else is available at r.t. dot com addiction activists have been urging nationwide street protests. saying the revolution is not over in the country is a long way from becoming democratic they want the downfall of egypt's supreme council the armed forces and a handover of power to the newly elected parliament saturday's election results from the first post mubarak parliamentary votes islam is parties capture an overwhelming majority of seventy five percent the new assembly is due to sit for the first time on monday but yeah called lap it up order from the jerusalem post says the new egypt will be a much tougher political partner for the west. people have called for democracy in egypt this is the result when people call for democracy they may not always realize

that the electorate has a very different vision of how they would like their societies run then in other places such as western europe we have islamist hardline parties coming to power and it's going to be an earthquake for both egypt and for the region the muslim brotherhood has been preparing for this moment for decades they have a very thought out detailed agenda for how they wish egypt to look like and it's a very different egypt from what we've known until now going to be a much more religious conservative place and much more hostile to the west. take a look now at some other stories making headlines across the globe in a farewell speech yemen's president dalia apologized for his mistakes and said it's time to hand over power he's leaving yemen to have medical treatment in the u.s. yemen's parliament recently approved immunity from prosecution for a solider who's been accused of suppressing protests and ordering the killing of demonstrators he's not expected to return to the country. another bombing on

saturday night in the north nigerian state of which he has killed eleven people including several police and army personnel patrolling the checkpoint two churches in the area were also attacked while the death toll from a series of bombings in kanal on friday now exceeds one hundred seventy continuing to rise islamic sect boko haram claimed responsibility for the majority of the violence plaguing northern nigeria since christmas. republican presidential hopeful newt gingrich has convincingly won south carolina's g.o.p. primary in the u.s. the win comes as a surprise since gingrich finished last in two other states south carolina seen as a significant indicator and the winner there has won the nomination for the presidential candidacy every time since one nine hundred eighty s. the turn around closes the gap between gingrich and fellow republican contender mitt romney as both look to challenge barack obama in the november election. this week russia saw a build up of political debate ahead of the march presidential vote rival camps and

candidates are winding up with vladimir putin setting out his vision for the country and some members of the public increasing their efforts to ensure a transparent vote artie's arena has more. with just under fifty days before the march presidential election and major campaign was still simmering in the candidates headquarters mr putin decided to unleash his powers of persuasion on the electorate and nonpublic speaker for change he's decided to be more scholarly picking up the pen for the first in a series of articles outlining his vision for the future of russia what he's calling for its new economy to be built. and the gravitation away from dependence well high spending welcoming political dialogue and the strengthening of civil society in russia putin however said people should concentrate on just what candidates are promising to do rather than the theater of personalities we need extended dialogue about priorities about long term choices

national perspective and development this article is an invitation to such dialogue it's important to say that prime minister has never denied the possibility of establishing such a dialogue and they just become friends his ravenous and this is what is making people take the initiative into their own hands this week some of the most prominent participants of december's post-election protest pulled together to form the league of constituents so they all know where should the new public mood has blossomed people are showing a desire to make an educated vote to know where their votes are going on the understanding that the country needs competitive politics those behind the other group are quick to point out they're not going to turn into a political party but do go to become a major support group for anyone wanting to make a difference with their vote i didn't have the elliptical activists are nothing without this type of newly found public support there to help boost them are the

key to public support is the media and that's recruiting found he found two in the crowd while criticizing one of russia's most popular radio stations and moscow for being too pro western in its coverage. the prime minister's. chief. sent. me with liquid crap from. the government. all seem to realize they have to think fast and act quickly in order to get the ball rolling with the president just around the corner. which. for years the political. parties. stay with us here on our back with the.

this is claude. nolen sitting on the edge of past and present. missing reality as nothingness. but if you enter this part. the mystery of supernatural will reach you. shaman or siberia on our team. when an uncomfortable question means to engrave accusation the answer who is more xena farming or. the president who isn't supposed to hide anything. someone asking him why do you make a secret of it when the powers to be suppress the voice of those who think different culture when you go experiencing very serious problems often the saakashvili government came to power in two thousand and three but. that was when

the problems began piling up. interviews were now off limits to our journalists they were all from beason up and humiliated in public and one of the attempt to protect property puts life in real danger in fact we have been deprived of the only means of earning a living and i have a call to our original zoo for all the papers i'll be at the little ice the ownership rights on the basis of the company's freedom becomes just a stage prop. good . news.

i am. eight thirty pm in moscow these are your r.t. headlines arab league officials say their observer mission in syria that expired this week will be extended for another month and the number of monitors will also be increased this despite criticism from the syrian opposition who wants to see the e.u. when step in. croatia voting on whether the country should join the e.u. the issue already sparking protests and violent clashes as the bloc continues to be shaken by anti austerity rallies with people in romania now rising up against their

government. other stories that shape the week tensions are around tehran's nuclear program stirred further by e.u. plans to impose an impartial on iranian oil in the us building its warship presence in the region. and the power of the internet in action a massive online backlash over u.s. plans to expand web censorship leads to the suspension of pending anti-piracy laws . when it comes to big money in u.s. politics the lobbyists are the people who know exactly how it works jack able used to be one until he was convicted of conspiracy and mail fraud for his role in an extensive corruption case he now tells us why he thinks washington is corrupt to the core of the interview coming up. i. am sitting down with jack abraham off once the most powerful lobbyist in washington referred to as the man who bought washington he brought government officials in

order to gain political support for his clients in two thousand and six he was convicted of raping office clients jack abramoff served three and a half years in prison guilty of conspiracy fraud and tax evasion mr abrams thank you very much for coming since your release from jail you've been very vocal about corruption in washington i read your book and i got a sense of your frustration about the fact that while you were sent to jail people involved in the same corrupt practices are sitting pretty in their offices on capitol hill well i'm a mom is frustrated that people didn't go to jail or prison and prison is not fun and i wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy but i guess what i'm frustrated about is that when they had my hearings and trials and when i was sent off there was a big exclamation and celebration here that they cleaned up washington but in fact

they didn't clean up washington and so when i came out you have to rethinking my life and what i was involved in decided that they want to clean up washington and i would help them figure out exactly how to do it during that senate hearing when you were publicly bashed by the senators what were you thinking what were your thoughts as you faced the distinguished panel well i probably was thinking they were a little less distinguished than others were thinking i was reminded continually by every word out of their mental that they were among the many who participated in some of the corruption that they were accusing me of when one of the senators a senator campbell was accusing me of corruption and me wrecking the democratic system i was thinking back to the breakfast. i had with him a couple years before where i handed him checks from my clients as contributions and he said that they would never have a problem with his committee so i was thinking that basically about each of them i didn't know a lot of them personally because i had people working for me had

a staff of about forty lobbyists and some of them knew the people who work for me but. i found the whole thing to be hypocritical it was a kangaroo court and it was a show people say you were a tory it seems your ability to buy members of congress how did you do that i don't think i was necessarily except on the margins much different than most of what goes on here but what happens here and what's on porch and aim which what i did in terms of pushing over the lines even of this activity is lobbyists and people want something from congress raise money for congressmen give money to congressmen in terms of political contributions by meals for them take them golfing take them on trips take them to sporting events and i probably did more of it than most did and i pushed over certain lines that are in the sand and broke the law but it is something that goes on far too often in washington you want that and i found it very very interesting that that once you just a moment you offered a job to

a congressional staffer you own them right there was no greater control that people could have over congressional offices than to have the head of that office know that they're going to come in a few months to come work for a lobbying firm from that minute on those people are focused on that lobbying from their clients and it's not just me i saw it all over tell it's not something i bet it it's something i noticed and something that i propose now to get rid of by banning people who work on capitol hill who are members of congress from ever joining the lobbying industry or the influence industry in america what did your clients want by investing in politics by investing in you well mostly my clients one of the federal government not to. get all over the back and tax them and. they're businesses most the lobbying is deep that's keeping the government from doing things to industries and to companies and likely going to help them avoid to the exact day or night when i got presented in a bunch of indian tribes and the way i got into it the first representation i had

with the tribes was to stop the federal government from putting a thirty percent tax over the gross revenues of their gambling industry what was interesting about your case it was not just politicians who cheated but also you cheated your clients namely those indian tribes with gambling interests who paid them aliens and got what i thought was what i did was where we're about to pled guilty to was some of the efforts that we did for the clients in their states worst to stop their competition from taking away their markets they would crush their competition yes we would attack their competition and we would do everything we could to keep them from invading the market of our client and that's normal in america fortunately for better or for worse that's not something we we made up we're going to have any regrets about doing that well at the end of the day i regret using the political process as a weapon against competitors because at the end of the day i don't think the government should be used like that i didn't have a problem with that then and i shouldn't even if we're talking about millions of

dollars in contributions it's still peanuts for any big corporation it's a tiny fraction of what they make did you get a sense of how powerless average americans are when the interest so big guys like that are at stake on capitol hill well americans have a very tough time competing with these special interests special interests come in with a lot of money and you're right it's miniscule amounts of money compared to what they could do and some of them do a lot of money but it's still a small amount of the problems the average citizen is not engaged politically and when they're able to bring in money and influence members of congress to vote on things that are not good for the country and not good for the general interest because somebody with the special interests you. pushing on it that's where the problem starts so what i propose in my book and the effort that i've been engaged in since prison is a way to separate money out of politics here and basically to say that if you're a lobbyist or you're somebody who's trying to get something from the government

here you may not give a dollar politically of any kind and that's one of the four things that i propose to clean up the system i think is very important because the end of the day political contributions if i give you something if you're a congressman and i give you a contribution and i want something from you that contribution may not be cold a bribe but it is a broad hit the end of the day how many members of congress are involved in corruption like that in bribery like that well i mean ultimately every member of congress is taking a check contribution from a lobbyist or from a company or from a union or anyone who needs or get something from washington whether it's conscious or not they're involved in it alternately you can't accept something from somebody without unless you're at it all do well yes absolutely they all do and what i'm saying is you can't as a human being if somebody gives you something you're going to feel gratitude and even if you don't do with that person once right there you say look you can't buy

my vote for two thousand dollars and most of them say that of course but the issue is if you do something nice for me in my heart i'm going to have to fuel a little bit better about you and what i'm saying is that is the moment of the problem if you're a public servant with all the crimes that you committed there's still a sense that you were used as a poster boy a kind of a scapegoat for the corrupt system that is very much alive and kicking i want to ask you about the supreme court decision from almost two years ago that allows on limited campaign contributions lobbyist must be really happy about that decision aren't they some are some are you i think the decision was for the most part very good the decision basically said that people shouldn't have the right to get money constricted i don't have a problem with that what i have a problem with a. people who want something back giving money even a dollar that's the difference with with me now corporations the problem with corporations the reason why are contradicting yourself you were just talking about how any contribution can be seen as bribery and now you're saying no being able to

funnel as much money as you want these perfectly fine in today's politics no i don't think so i think people should have the right to get think i've been fairly consistent and not to expect anything in return one one on why should you expect something in return there are lot of people who give money in this country by the way because they like the ideology of the candidate they like the candidate themselves they're not going in there and asking for a grant or a tax break or or a contract most people don't do that but it's still contradicts what you were saying a few moments ago and that is with any form of contribution especially a big contribution an elected official finds themselves in a situation when they told their benefactors if somebody is worth a trillion dollars they live in some form in kansas and they never have any contact with any congressman ever and they see some congressman they love they want to give him a million dollars because they think they're fantastic and they never asked for a thing from that person i personally think that's all right they have been very hard to track down who asked possibly i've talked i've talked to law enforcement

about this about my ideas and once the laws are set in place i think that they are capable of figuring it out that decision only created a further complication in my view in the sense that it brought corporations them as a possible donor to political efforts and again don't you think it effectively legalize this corruption in washington i think corruption is legal in washington right now thousands of people took to the streets across america to say no to jack paper amounts to saying no to politics same washington do you think there is a chance that action like that that awareness like that can change anything i think the occupy wall street movement had behind it some good as things the problem is that they didn't organize themselves like the tea party mood. it did which was politically tea party movement had a dramatic impact on the last election and probably will still in this election and i've spoken to the occupy people quite a lot and told them that until they get themselves organized politically they're

not going to be meaningful because in america street protests don't really meaning that people don't like street protests in america first of all the destructive there's vandalising there's unsanitary things that go on and most americans in repelled by that but what most americans will respect is political activism an organization on the left or on the right now i think that there is anger out there and you don't have a money to hire a lot of. well that might not be a bad thing but. you know american people don't need lobbyist they need to organize themselves i think that in america getting it to first of all class and b. i think is very dangerous we've seen that every great. tele tarion movement in certainly in the twentieth century started with class and instead of class and be able to focus themselves not on those who succeed but those who cheat to succeed in the sense of using the government and using the state to make their lives easier to make more money and there are plenty of those that get it like like i did like i help my clients do and like every lobbyist helps their clients do importunately had

it not being for the jail time would you have been just as we're painting as you are now if i hadn't had the fall if i hadn't had been destroyed i would love to sit here and tell you i would have all my own come to how bad this was and you know i should have been doing and i should have been involved in that kind of lobbying but i'm not going to lie to you i would never thought that i thought i was doing the right thing that's the sad part of it all for me so as i look back i would have stopped i would have still been doing it instead of sitting here with you i'd be sitting on capitol hill negotiating something for one of my clients. took my getting killed for me to come that would realisation that i should have been there what do you plan to do. in the process of. possibly one amp with a t.v. show thank you.

this is flawed. it's all in sync on the edge over the past and present. reality nothingness. but if you enter this time. the mystery of supernatural creatures. shaman of siberia. observed nature and discover its beauty.

communicate with the wild. test yourself and become free. to. see what nature can give you the. arab league officials say they're observer mission in syria would not expire this week will be extended for another month and the number of monitors will also be stepped up this despite criticism from the syrian opposition wants to see the un step in. croatia voting on whether the country should join the e.u. with the issue already sparking protests and some while in clashes as the bloc continues to be shaken by. sturdy rallies with people in world mania and are rising up against their government. other stories shaping the week tensions around tehran's nuclear program stored further advice in the plans to oppose any bardot on

iranian oil and the us building its warship presence in the region. was the power of the internet in action a massive online backlash over u.s. plans to expand web censorship news to the suspension of pending anti-piracy laws. sports news next with kate stay with us here on r.t. . hello and welcome to the sports and here's what's coming up. easy does it rafael nadal and roger federer coast into the quarter finals of the australian open. while different strokes kim clijsters comes back from the brink while carline defies a second set fight back to reach the last eight. and showtime east meets west once again in the annual all star extravaganza in front of

a sellout arena in the latvian capital of riga. to test a tennis and second seed rough on the doll has beaten fellow spaniard philip the our live in straight sets to book a place in the quarter finals of the australian open the two thousand and nine champion was broken only ones as he eased to a six four six four six two victory against his misfiring davis cup team mate i can't think of a fifty two on course there is warm adult felt a little remorse after knocking out he's off. for a number of days one of my best friends and. that's the game that's a sport and you understand that so. i gave him the stand. everybody wants to win their way by wants to have. the ones who finish the match with the with a better result than the motions i simulate you know it's happens very often and i think that and up next minute.