goal is the united states government has embarked on a course of extreme economic aggression against iran with the hope that by creating economic suffering economic isolation economic misery that part of the population will rise up or become disenfranchised with the government so that the us can do as it has in history carry out regime change. iran was the main issue discussed by american and israeli military officials when they met friday with washington opposing any unilateral israeli action against nuclear sites but as polish lawyer reports it's not only our around the fears the military strike people in israel are also on edge. from this rather spartan recording studio in jerusalem one israeli jew has been reaching out to people in iran for fifty two years ties between tel aviv in tehran off a bit in but it's never stopped menasha amir from reading the news in farsi every night and hosting a weekly show for listeners in the persian world to share their views he thinks

around a million rain ians tune in and the topic they most want to talk about the possibility of a foreign attack on iran they are very much afraid that the iranian nuclear installations will be bombed by a foreign powers where they're israel or the united states or any other country but it's not only be rainy and who are suspicious of israel or america taking action people here in israel since something's in the air you can see signs of wink and nod from israeli officials when talking about it israel is signaling to the world. if the world doesn't do anything if the wall doesn't call for more fierce action for more crippling sanctions quoting the secretary of state clinton then israel would take the initiative and strike along some wonder if israel hasn't already declared an unofficial want to ren but suspicions raised further after the assassination of another iranian nuclear scientist earlier this month while on his

way to work putting everything together it is clear that whoever it is but if someone or somebody or some agency is very successful in infiltrating understanding last sabotaging the iranian nuclear project the attack is the latest in a series of mysterious accidents linked to iran's nuclear program two aircraft accidents in the space of three years scientists disappearing equipment damaged and computer viruses unleashed and the fingers pointing at israel. and the united states this is a very respectable grammar notion but. iran has. learned it's not. adding fuel to the fire the plan for israel and the united states to conduct the biggest joint military drill before the end of the year it

would see thousands of american troops deployed in israel. it's the most blatant find that in attacks coming but no one in israel will come on record and say there is a covert war on iran all talk of an israeli strike is limited to the airwaves. jerusalem . tyrone's relations with the u.k. have been further strain this week over london's decision to take iranian english language news channel press t.v. off british air iran called the move a clear example of censorship british officials say the channel broke broadcasting rules of editorial control and it failed to pay a fine imposed last year press t.v. believes it's being silenced for just something new so recently u.k. based author and media analyst believes the channel is another victim of an ongoing campaign against iran so much. to give this had been separated from geopolitics this would not have happened 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 of 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. has been due to its coverage because you know it sees the middle east very differently for example than the mainstream media in britain this repeatedly comes up pro israeli groups repeatedly complain about it we know very well that the british government at the very highest level was discussing with the american ambassador here 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. polocrosse of the atlantic a freedom of speech battle of a different kind was underway the u.s. congress buckle to pressure and recall to anti-piracy bills this week after

a massive internet blackout and hacker attacks on government websites millions of net users and web giants such as wikipedia and google joined together to stand against the proposed legislation if passed the sopa and people laws would have allowed top media conglomerates and copyright holders to shut down large portions of the web without involving the courts at the same time the anonymous hacker group retaliated against the shutdown of the file sharing site mega upload claiming to have brought down the f.b.i. and white house websites baird brown who's worked with anonymous on various operations believes the mega upload shutdown shows the government will take action even without new laws in place. the problem is that the track record of the us and all governments is such that given the power to do one thing is almost always interpreted by themselves as a means of power many of the things so and the way that you know the rate on

megaupload cards in this opens it shows that even without sopa already in place you know already arresting and resting the owners of megaupload and shutting it down and in the future the very near future as you'll see there will be a number of other groups that will pop up using more. military. situation it's worse in the grass and smells of war and the notable civil war in the us. now look at what else is making news around the world this hour yemen's president. saleh left his nation after a farewell speech in which he apologized for his mistakes and said it's time to hand over power he's leaving the country to have medical treatment in the u.s. after which he is expected to return as head of the general people's congress party yemen's parliament recently approved immunity from prosecution for saleh who's been accused of suppressing protests and killing many demonstrators. another

bombing on saturday night in the north nigerian state of which he has killed eleven people including several police and army personnel controlling a checkpoint two churches in the area were also a torrent meanwhile the death toll from a series of bombings in ca no on friday now exceeds one seventy and continues to rise islam the sect boko haram has claimed responsibility for the majority of the violence that's plagued the northern nigeria area since christmas. beijing rings in the chinese new year in spectacular fashion from a bell tower in an ancient part of the capital it's tradition to sound the bell one hundred eight times to herald the start of the lunar calendar year the night sky was also lit up by fireworks displays across the country as more than a billion people celebrated bringing in the year of the water dragon.

this week russia has seen al build up of political debate ahead of the march presidential election rival camps and candidates are lining up with putin setting out his vision for the country and some members of the public increasing their efforts to ensure a transparent ballot. has more with just two hundred fifty days before the march presidential election in need you can see simmering in the candidates who orders. mr putin decided to unleash his powers of persuasion on the electorate and nonpublic speaker for a 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 that built. the gravitation away from dependence on oil high standing welcoming political dialogue in 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 the desire to make an educated vote to know where their votes are going to standing up the country needs competitive politics those behind the new group are quick to point out they're not going to turn into a political party but do hope 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 what conclusion found himself to record while criticizing one of russia's most popular radio stations and called moscow for being too protester in its coverage the prime minister told its editor in chief not to take offense at his words since you don't get mad when you cover me with liquid crap. just going to the governments the opposition and the electorate all seem to realize they have to think fast and act quickly in order to get the ball rolling with the presidential election just around the corner of their house down which some say lasted for years the political life in russia is up and roaring in moscow goes cold. and i'll be back with a recap of this week's main headlines in just a few minutes stay with art. to

. get are sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm charging welcome to the big picture. down the official ante up location to your i phone the i pod touch from the jumps

to. life on the go. video on demand all t's my old posts and all registry just now in the palm of your . machine on the dot com. thanks for being with us a round up of the week's top stories in today's headlines the arab league calls on syrian president bashar al assad to surrender some of his powers to his vice president and form a national unity government but the opposition says comes as the league extends its observer mission despite a lack of progress. and doing almost a year of violence. early results show croatia has voted in favor of joining the european union as comes as yet another member of the financially stricken union of

romania rises up against its government and stared measures. in other stories that shape this week tension over iran's nuclear program reaches new highs as the e.u. debates an oil embargo and the u.s. stops its military presence in the region. and the power of the internet and action a massive all mine 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 american politics lobbyists are the people who know exactly how it works jack abbott mole fused to be won until he was convicted of conspiracy and mail fraud in an extensive corruption case he now tells us what he thinks of corruption in washington. i. am sitting down with jack abrams 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 ripping off his clients jack abramoff served three and a half years in prison guilty of conspiracy fraud and tax evasion mr 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 senate is 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 in the 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 most unfortunate in 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's something that goes on far too often in washington you want to say 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 that. their businesses most the lobbying is deep keeping the government from doing things to industries and to companies and likely going to help them avoid to behave when

i've 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 and 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 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 worse to stop their competition from taking away their markets they would crash 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 it 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 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 at 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 who's taking a check a 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 and 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 feel 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 those 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 it allows on limited campaign contributions a lobbyist must be really happy about that decision aren't they some are some are and 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 the. people who want something back giving money even a dollar that's the difference with with me now corporations the problem with corporations do you 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 his his night and not to expect anything in return one on one and why should you expect something in return there are a 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 are 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 ask for a thing from that person i personally think that's all right but i did 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 corrupt politics in 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 political tea party movement had a dramatic impact on the last election and probably will still in this election and i spoke to the occupy people quite a lot and i 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 vandalizing 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 choose 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 unfortunately had it not being for the jail time would you have been just as we 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 to the 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 claude. nolen sitting on the edge of chast that's present. mixing reality as nothingness. but if you enter this time. the mystery of supernatural will reach you. shaimaa know siberia on our team.

and. now round up of the week's top stories in today's headlines the arab league calls on syrian president bashar all the songs to surrender some of his powers to his vice president and form a national unity government with the opposite opposition this comes as the league extends its observer mission despite a lack of progress in ending almost a year of violence. early results show croatia has voted in favor of joining the european union this comes as yet another member of the financially stricken union romania to rise up against its governments and styled charity measures. and other

stories that shape this week the tension over iran's nuclear program reaches new highs as the new debates an oil embargo and the u.s. ups its military presence in the region. and the power of the internet in action the massive all mine backlash over u.s. plans to expand web censorship leads to the suspension of the pending anti-piracy law and some. sports news is coming up next with kate. hello welcome to the sport and here's what's coming up. easy does it rafael nadal and roger federer coached into the quarter finals of the australian open. while different strokes kim clijsters comes back from the brink while caroline wozniacki defies a second set fightback to reach the last eight. and showtime east meets west

once again in the annual k h l all-star extravaganza in front of a sellout arena in latvian capital riga. but first a tennis and second seed rough on the doll has beaten fellow spaniard phillip the arlo path in straight sets to book a place in the quarterfinals 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 unforced errors warm adult little remorse after knocking out his off court. for a number of days one of my best friends and. that's the game that's part of and you understand that's all the. game in the stand. there by wants to win their way by one still to have. the ones with the most with the was the better result but that the motions.