the latest news on the week's top stories the birthplace of the arab revolution is simmering again to news here has been gripped by protests for and of murder of a prominent opposition figure. similar scenes have been unfolding in egypt where is mr rulers are accused of a clampdown on freedoms fresh showdowns between police and the protesters and the closure of a popular social networking site. protests hope john brennan's confirmation hearing senators a child away from probing his extensive history of drones torture and targeted executions. divisive and tough in the e.u. budget risks unraveling european parliament threatening to veto your stereo package . russia's black sea resort of sochi celebrates one year before the

start of the most expensive winter olympics. maybe shuffles on the games officials to keep organize a from it. from moscow you're watching. it's been a restless week for the country has witnessed a rise in public fury ignited by the assassination of a key opposition figure on wednesday crowds of protesters flocked to the streets of the capital tunis and in the blame for chalky murder on the islamist government. there with more. forty eight year old lawyer shockley belied criticize the islamist government for creating a religious state in tunisia and burying democracy now belied is dead but his ideas

and not. the country has been in crisis economic political and social the ruling troika how to chauncey's really a year and a half but we didn't see any progress the death of all com rate becomes the last straw. and to move to the streets with protesters demanding the authorities and they bow to protect its citizens to leave was i was. there so i'm crying because i believe was a symbol of dignity and a symbol of the defense of the country that this is a political assassination and that means the violence is not over. the interior ministry said that one million and they have joined the ceremony that turned into a political minister station people said that if the crowd reached the city center it would have been the last day of the government. as you're attending the funeral of shockey belayed on friday after the sermon to try to make their way to the

city's main avenue to continue to come in for tests but they were not allowed to do that at least used tear gas immediately was such a such a street was packed with people with slogans we're hearing a completely different. carrying an islamist flags people massed to rally in support of the ruling and not a party the local branch of the muslim brotherhood police were at the scene to protest and demonstrators this time this reverse gathering didn't do more than five thousand participants and the government used this to illustrate that's their position was still strong. men did it through the people support and believe our party is all over. they try to save face but don't have the choice that they lost credibility and have no choice but to dissolve the government which is by de facto dissolved already. standing on the brink of

a political crisis prime minister proposed to form a new cabinet and consisting of neutral politicians his own party rejected the plan and treason in sight of a possible for the plate and fears are growing that the political divisions may lead to even more victims i was threaten to another guy from the opposition was attacked at the funerals i don't want to panic and say x.y.z. that person but there is a list of people those who fight for the revolutions principles liberty democracy dignity we're all in danger two years ago tunisia became the first nation to have an arab spring revolution that has been hailed as a success story praised for the minimum of violence and turmoil but as we watch the country face a political implosion it may be only now that this crane that has been wound up tightly it's been sprung for three days clashes between police and protesters shook the country leaving many injured and cars burnt out across the city but it all

finished as quickly as it started just hours later the capital looks empty and calm and the loudest noise here at the moment is sound of bird streets or in. malaysia nationality jeezy a huge well other country that still looking for stability for in the arab spring is egypt plumes of smoke until i guess the cover the country's main cities this week ordering street battles between the antigovernment protesters and police of thousands of people on the stones and petrol bombs on race their anger against islamist president aristide the political turmoil has also been fueled by you for his blocking of the video sharing web site you tube for months hosting a controversial anti islam film ati's beltran reports from the capital courier the decision has been received by the opposition. there's been nothing for condemnation of the ban by protest movements to see you keep as a. vital resource for disseminating information about human rights abuses by the

security forces it's also an indication of an islam mind zation all egypt there's been a number of quite controversial statements made by these hardline muslim clerics in the last few weeks including a religious edict calling opposition forces to be killed and a muslim cleric speaking to an egyptian. justifying a sex mob attacks on egyptian protesters in tahrir square you had a very restive country here in egypt in the last few weeks especially since the second anniversary of the generations of five revolution when thousands gathered in the streets of egypt complaining that their president mahmoud c. had not made key changes in demands of the revolution friday we saw more protests as part of friday's day of dignity thousands of protesters gathered across the main running points in this in the country which devolved into clashes between county government protesters and security forces in the capital here by the presidential palace when groups talk to the building with molotov they were pushed back by take us and want to come in and so bloody in violence in the in the governor with

unconfirmed that's improper shake as well as violent clashes and alex. we have more protests on the horizon with further expected violence we don't see this finishing anytime soon. but education journalist and blogger. says that nothing has changed since the revolution which overthrew the autocratic rule of president mubarak two years ago but the muslim brotherhood right now is trying to do is restore autocratic rule and much like or not. governing and i think the way the political actors see it is that the bar was not. freedoms enough to sustain israel and this is what they're trying to remedy the you tube verdict comes in light of. you know many other decisions that clamp down on freedoms and it's no surprise that they will try to install the infrastructure necessary to clamp down on. various websites that they see as

a threat to their rule where we're going to see more waves of protests and we're going to see more violence because if you look at the situation in egypt the regime did not die the symbols just changed we just have new people following the same rules. were coming out battles raged close to the heart of the syrian capital rebels and government forces clash over control of a vital supply road also a week of fierce combat zone position says it's preparing for a final assault on c. south. a champion over drone strikes on barack obama's choice to head the cia john brennan faced his senate confirmation hearing this week there was tension in the room as the session got on the way but it wasn't the lawmakers who were the most vocal from the onset jason catcalls erupted from the audience to judge the protests to be moved lawmakers then prodded brennan on

torture cia shortcomings and targeted executions seemingly reluctant to challenge his own says given brennan is a performance at the senate on and off the current travel says his confirmation could set a troubling precedent. this is a complete our constitutional rights. due process of those laws and equal protection of the law and here within ministration is doing here is they're usurping the constitutional right not to the maccan citizens and saying that we can be judged jury and executioner we can show american citizens abroad without them having. court we can say they are jurors and we can go there and the dangerous is when you look at ministration says we can determine who the jurors then that means go in the room or any american without any drugs

without any problem and that is a very dangerous precedent when a closed hearing now awaits john brennan in order to iron out sensitive technicalities but already speculation is rife over the direction he might take cia but on the issue of drones his confirmation any broaden the horizon for america's unmanned fleets has got a chicken ripples. in the shadows no more drones are moving into the mainstream with drone makers and the u.s. military pushing to defend the killing machine drones are more properly titled remotely piloted vehicles allow us to do is to project capability without projecting vulnerability and their revolutionizing warfare by allowing us to see and kill from half a world away a major drone manufacturer lockheed martin has financed an hour long documentary on drones aired recently on u.s. public television counting the technological capabilities of the killing machine

from trailers like this pilots of the predator and its larger cousin the reaper have killed thousands of individuals since two thousand and one using remotely piloted aircraft contrary to popular belief actually provides the greatest degree of ethical oversight for their use of this young man in pakistan he would probably disagree several of his family members died at the remote hands of a grown up more than a thousand other civilians were reportedly killed by u.s. drone strikes in pakistan and yemen we find ourselves murdering people in many cases children with no evidence whatsoever that they're involved in any criminal or terrorist activity so the numbers should not come as a surprise considering the broad definition the obama administration gives as to who should be on their kill list the leaked memo uncredited assassinations on the us justice department suggests the us government can kill people even without evidence that they are actively plotting against america somebody

a us citizen or otherwise is believed to be thinking something that could lead to actions against united states then this illogical logic would present the idea that it would be ok for the president to order that that person be killed the spite the u.n. raising concerns about the legality of the use of drones the u.s. is said to. and it's remote control warfare setting up new drone bases across the world has redefined war during intervention in libya he made the case that the war powers act didn't apply because there was no risk to american soldiers and so under that rationale he can expand the global war while in his state of the union address queening that we don't need perpetual war for peace but it is perpetual war when you can drop bombs on any country and then claim that it's not working john brennan often referred to as the architect of the administration's drone war how it's the new opportunities for the us to wage wars without risking american lives there is

another reason the targeted strikes can be a wise choice strategic consequences that inevitably come with the use of force. as we have seen deploying large armies abroad won't always be our best offense all in all the u.s. now has around ten thousand drones in its fleet not all of them carry weapons of course a lot of them are for surveillance both domestic and international there's a great push both from the administration and the drone makers to present them as america's next best thing john brennan if confirmed will soon be at the helm of the cia and no one doubts that under him the program will expand even further in washington i'm going to go. well drones are the only cia issue causing controversy at the moment so i had few the sorrow thousands of americans forced to take going to take to texas to keep their jobs companies once a very intimate questions. will

be. science technology innovation all the least developed from around russia we've got the future covered. government no longer represents the. people. the way i. played.

them back. now a twenty five hour marathon of talks snubs and haggling out left the e.u. with a new budget for bit one that may not have satisfied anyone coming in at nine hundred sixty billion euros sits the first time in the blocks of history that spending plan has been cut with differences of opinion were visible along a geographical divide traditionally wealthier countries from the north and by britain calling for cuts in continent. of france and poor e.u. states resisted with spats between opposing the it is threatening to undermine the

talks or because the chair of the group think tank says it this unity within the e.u. . we have seen the limits of integration here we have different national interests clearly colliding and there is the situation was national governments are having to impose austerity across europe not just in the eurozone but also in britain because of course there's just not money available any lot of course there is also another issue to do with the budget and that's to that's to do with the fact that eighteen years now the european court of order to haven't been able to sign off awfully the accounts because a lot of the spending is goes on wasteful projects but of course more alarmingly it's also subject to a great deal of forth and corruption and that's why literally eighteen years the accounts haven't been fully signed off. of a deal envisioned sweeping cuts to a number of e.u. projects including integration and infrastructure where millions of euros are

reportedly still being allocated for a p.r. blitz against the blocs of critics on social media websites you're skeptical nigel faraj from the u.k. independence party says the project would violate one of the main principles of the european parliament. they decided that they going to train in house staff in the run up to the european elections of twenty fourteen train those people to go online to look at facebook twitter other social media sites and to correct that's their word not mine to correct any misapprehensions that may exist about the european union and i have to say the fact that it's a parliament that is doing this that is using taxpayers' money to do this says a lot about the issues that all what about parliaments is the person is it's him a chair of parliament he's the speaker in westminster he's the chairman in other parliaments around the world but he has all the rest of the staff are supposed to be neutral they're not supposed to take any political position and the fact of the

parliament decided he's going to spend money time and resources doing this shows you that frankly they're no better than a banana republic. well lighted a bush hacked access to the private life of a former president who gets access to the email i counseled she's family of issuing some personal photos online more about l.t. dot com. and you're the only now foreigners in russia will do military service if they receive citizenship even if they've already served and then other countries forces. john to cloke's are taking all over russia officially starting the countdown to the start of the sochi winter olympics black sea resort through a spellbinding celebration marking one year into the games get underway artie's andrew father accept the construction already completed and how much work is still

ahead. fireworks lit up the sochi sky this week marking exactly a year to go before the winter games begin since two thousand and seven piece by piece the city has been putting its a limpid dream together in the company in charge of construction says russia will be ready and. we plan to introduce all the facilities before the games start training facilities are ready practically all of them of host to test competitions all hotels in the olympic villages are in the final phase of construction being referred to and furnished the shuttle's to open in the autumn we plan to complete construction long before the end of the year said personnel can train a managers can gain experience in providing a good service however such a vast undertaking has not been without its problems presentation was in the region this week to check on progress and was taking no prisoners the ski jumping center the only venue not yet up and running and it sparked this exchange with russian

olympic officials are the costs of this whole facility cost what's the overall. initially we were assessing the amount of the. story what's a rough estimate. this initial price of one point two billion now it's a. one point two billion has turned into a billion yes well done good work let's move on. it resulted in the sacking of a key member of russia's limp dick committee at fifty billion dollars the sochi games will be the most expensive in nearly history they have cost ten times more than the last winter games in vancouver and ten billion dollars more than the some against however the results can already be seen and they are impressive if you do take a quick look around you can see what money can buy at the center of the olympic park which is six pennies all within a stone's throw of each other to host the curling the skating and the ice hockey

and this is the job. in the qur'an the bolshoi i study. the vast arena was she strikes spectacular skating she i was part of the countdown celebrations and in a year's time it will have you see and in the i saw the final in the she so tropical like ation the cycle for thought she twenty fourteen is hot cool your top because they didn't pick pockets than by the blacks in case their i'm cold because all the alpine events or take place alone just forty kilometers away. progress is rapid that there was a resort has sprung up from nowhere to become the home of alpine skiing by athlone and cross-country courses have also been created along with the bob sleigh track and a ride to really the last spectators to get from the mountains to the coast in just a few minutes sochi itself has undergone massive upheaval as kilometers of road am

rail lines are put in place a new hotel it's all built but the man believes the region will reap the benefits for years to come our residents are aware of the conditions they have to face during changes especially on this scale we certainly have many inconveniences because there's not a single street in sochi without renovation going on the roads are regularly dug up which causes traffic jams all the time however the residents are aware that it's necessary for their future those brilliant future. then has been overhauled in just six years but the transformation easel most complete in a black sea resort believes it can and will deliver the games to remember this time next year andrew farmer. self chief. well the olympic spirit even reached new york this week because un chief ban ki moon join the celebrations there organizations headquarters and just to remind those action lovers amongst you don't want to miss the games tickets are already on sale and

available online. the syrian capital damascus this week saw some of the heaviest fighting in months as rebels advanced on the government strongholds beta spotters were over control of a key highway leading north not off by opposition forces and also seized several army checkpoints into within a mile on to the rebels say they're preparing for the sysiphus assault on damascus a satisfactory result is unlikely even for succeeds in toppling the president's going into iraq and syria tribune news website. it's just like there

was it will be lighter and there will be nicer ones different than it is down and it's not look very happy indeed the can actually called for and they try even when the youth has listed the most that's it on it's a black list the amount of defending it because they know they're going to control it will only be able to do what its founder and i mean find and think the. entity will ask them to do it and if they don't do that they will lose the financing and lose the support so they have to do this and say i'm glad they don't know how to hold and they cannot because they are not united and they don't have the same view was there it's a big mess and yet the west would like to see this big mess fall in the country. now your financial state sex life and personal relationships all information that is apparently relevant to u.s. national security according to the cia thousands of people in america now have to answer very intimate questions or taking obligatory polygraph tests what is

reported to the story. for more than three decades john sullivan worked as a polygraph examiner for america's central intelligence agency today the retired cia employee is offering some strong opinions about the nation's lie detector policy too many honest people are too many people who should be passing their tests aren't and there's no there's no accountability for that. last year more than seventy three thousand americans were reportedly required to undergo polygraph tests in order to get or keep jobs with the federal government according to an investigation by mcclatchy newspapers a growing number of u.s. agencies are asking employees and applicants intimate questions that extend way beyond the realm of national security probing matters such as sexual conduct financial matters and past personal relationships a woman was pressured to talk about her experience being molested as

a child and when the polar bear for said that he refused to go on with the interrogation he alleges that he was pressured to go back and continue interrogating our scientists found that polygraphs aren't reliable enough to prevent innocent people from failing and deceptive candidates from passing i think it's important to understand that the polygraph is not just. for screening it's an interrogation tool lisa ribicoff is an independent polygraph examiner and investigator who uses the polygraph program designed by homeland security she contends that it's ninety eight percent accurate i do think that there are some questions pertaining to some emotional aspects and personal situations should not be included but i do understand why they're included on the basis of that the government needs to see how exactly what their breaking point is however applicants who are denied a coveted position after failing

a poly. raph are prohibited from accessing the records of their interrogation and are often barred from contesting the results were filing complaints in federal court in two thousand and four the cia veteran who conducted lie detector interrogations for thirty one years failed his own screening there was absolutely no question in my mind the test was rigged it's this was a terrible test sullivan lost his security clearance and was denied a job with a federal contracting agency he claims his examiner falsified the results possible retribution for cell phones book detailing america's polygraph system the obama administration is now promising to draft a new national polygraph policy that would prevent agencies from pushing legal or ethical boundaries during screenings but at the moment the program has no oversight or accountability meaning tens of thousands of u.s. citizens will continue getting personally probes.