tonit on "worldfocus" -- >> the russians aise president obams decision to cael a missile defense system i eastern europe. and nato sugges its linking it missile defenses wi russia's new anti-gernment protests inran and new harsh words from president ahmadinejad, w continues to dy the holocaust. we'll ke you to france where asylum seekersrom iraq and afghanistan endure salid conditio in hopes of finding a better life. and we will visit israel and show you what being touted as the latest prescription for od health. salt therapy. om the world's leading reporters and alysts, here's what's happening from arnd the world. this is "worldfocus."

madeossible in part by the followinfunders -- mar support has also been ovided by the peter g. peterson foundation, dicated to promoti fiscal responsibity and addressing y economic challenges facing america's future >>good evening. i'm daljithaliwal. m daljit dhaliwal. tonight we're going to foc on america's retions with russia and iran -- ter that important cision yesterday by presiden obama not to basa missile defenssystem in the foer soviet-bloc untries of poland and the czecrepublic. russia vwed the shield as a threat, d today its president, adimir putin, praised president obama's decisi to cancel it. about and the to secretary-genel suggested new cooperation between russiand e alliance.

in tonight's lead foc, the reacon from russia and beyd. we start our rorting with itn's samira ahmed. >> to protect the u.s. homeland -- >> reporter: a sn of weakness or fresh start for americ-russian relatis? nato'secretary-general announced today that psident obama's ange of plan on the missile defense shield washe latter. >> it is possible for to and ruia to make a new beginning and tonjoy a far more productive relatiohip in the future. we shoulexplore the potential for linkinthe u.s. nato and russn missile defense systems at an appropriate time. >> reporter: russia's president medvedev welcomed the decisn last nit. and pre minister putin called it a "corrt and brave decision," adding at he expect further warming of relations with the u.s., enabling russia,azakhstan and belaruto join the world trade organization.

a new tone has emerged from noh korea, too, overnight. ju months after defying a ban to test fi long-range ballistic missiles and an undergund nuclear test, president kim jong-il s told a chinese envoy they wanto restart negotiations. pyongyang's rece release of two american journalis now looks like credibanked for this ment, though south korea's foreigminister was deeply skeptical. >> translator: now tt north korea isn possession of new weapons, ty intend to have u.s.-north koa arms reduction talkshich america must n accept. rea, through this, is trying to get u.-north korea pee treaty and, more over, a removal of u.s. med forces in south kore >> reporter: and then ere's iran. lying, ang with north korea, on what prident obama's predecessoused to call the axis of evil, they tooefiantly tested their sejill 2 ballisc missile a few nths ago. speaking to american televisn

last night, esident ahmadinejad said hwas prepared for fresh talks, but insiste he'd never aband a civil clear program. >> translator: today a new arrangement shou be put in plac basedn new principleso that the word is direcd tords peace and tranquility. no cleararms, we believe, they belongo the past a theast generation. >> reporter: preside obama's criticin washingtonlaim his unilateral declaration over changing e planned missile ield in eastn europe will embolden america's enemie but even of the past 24 urs suggests h decision could be a frh way to tackle then during problems of nuear proliferati proliferation. >> and as you just heard, iran is prepared f new talks withhe united states and other wod powers on its nuclear program. but today alsorought some harsh, new rtoric against

israelnd the west by president ahmanejad. the occasion was an annual politicaevent throughout the muslim world -- a show of solidarity for the palestini cause. it's called qu day and in iran, it also broughout tens of thousands of demonstrator for -- and against -- the government. in tehran today itppeared to be busins as usual as tens of governme rally.rcherjoined a th carried signs condemning both thenited states and israel. lar in a speech before friday prayer at tean university, ahmadinejad laced intosrael, calling e holocaust a lie used to justify the jewish ste. >> translator: with lies and propaganda, it was made that the jews were oppreed. propagandaas so effective many have been ceived by them.

borzou daragahi is the mide east correspondent for the los angeles time 's based in beirut, and has been monitoring toy's events in tran. >> the rhetoric is me heated th talk abo israel corolling the western government, ittle bit mor explicitly stated. he hasn't explicitly questioned the hollocaust in a long time, and he d today. and, of course, this has a design behind it. he has fod that making the sorts of comments on the inrnational stage makes him stronger by allowing him to feed off of the negative energy he gets when iran is condemd. >> reporter: phaps more notabl throngs of opposition protesrs also turned out in tehranoday. these picturesrom the internet arbelieved to be of today's anti-government protts. >> this is extremely significan thishows tha despite months of official violence, jailings,

torte, forcedonfessions aired on television of hrsh repressi, no one haseen cowed into submission. >> here, the protesters can be heard chanting "mir hossein"n support of oppositioleader mir hossein mousi. an english language irian televisi channel aimed at the west broadcast iges of mousavi at today rally. >> ts was big rally, shows anher critic of the current iranian government, formerranian presidenmohammad khatami, also joined the anti-governnt protests. at one pointkhatami was attaed by a group of hard-linerand shoved to the ground, one iranian webse featured pictureof what's believed to be that atck. it waseported he left the march shortly thereafter. there were also rerts of attacks opposition protesters in other cities around in. >> forore about the situation in iran, we're joineby ervand abrahamian.

he is a distinguished pressor of history at the city universi of new york. he was born iran and has written several bos about that couny. welcomto the program. >> thank you. the islamic authoritie haven't been able t stop the demonstrations. where do you see t situation headed nt in do u see it becoming more explive? >> i the short term i think t regime can handle the situatio because they he the means of violence to control it, so the demotrations might go on for a while. but it's not going to unravel the whole system. in t long run,though, i think theyave a serious oblem of legiticy because, as long as the electis areonsidered rigged, the last election that means the democratic aspect of the republic is no longer there. so tt's been very important foracy for the last 30 yes. so if people feel tre is really no more popular

participatioin polics, it's going to really question the whole leitimacy. >>nd a few months ba, the authorits seemed to b divided about how to deal wth the proteste. what is the situation now? >> there are die-has, like ahmadinejad would liketo have arrestmore people and be very tough with the opposition leers, the very top leaders. but there is also, i think, resistce within the gime especial at the supreme leader's level that he wouldn't want to actuallyring the top leaders of the opposition t trial. it one thing arresting peopl around them, buto actually arrest mousavi and put them on trial would beserious. >>alk aboutan's nuclear prram. united statehas given iran until the end of the month to me to the table and negotiate.

do you see itompromising in e terms of theackagef proposals itlikely to put forward to western negotiators? >> it's a gd opportunity for iran now, actually, to be forthcoming because the u. has moderaits position. it position was that iran shun have a nuclear program. the obama administrati is willinto accept a nucle prograas long as iran c give arantees that it's not actually interested i nuclear weapons. soul so all iran has to did i give verifiable ideas tothe negotiatio. >> have you hrd anything about the predent's decision to revee the deployment of t missile defensshield in europe, which is supposed to counteracthe threat from ir, whent came to long-term missiles? >> y, that's been well-received in ira but there is t underlying pblem, which is the iranian vernment realizes that u.s., by doing that, is trying to get russian

support for a u.s. policy of prsuriirn. so it's a med blessin for an. >> all right thank you very much for joining us. >> tnk you. we want to knowhat you think about l of this. our question tonis -- doou think the obama adminiration is making a mistake byngaging ahmadinejad? tell us "how you see it" by gointo the website at worldfocus.org. president oba's special envoy to the middle ea, george mitchell, s had repeated meetings ts week with israeli and lestinian leaders. those meetings ctinued today withsrael's prime minister benjamin nanyahu. and al with palestinian president mahmoud abbas. but the sessment from both the palestians and israelis was not good. the chief palestinian netiator id wide gaps remained betwee the two sides. and that raised dots about the possibility of a three-w

meeting in new york nexteek among netanyah abbas, and present obama, coinciding with eting of the united nations general assembly. one day after six italn soldiers were kied in a bombing in afghanistan, e attack continued to rerberate italy today. th suicide attack happened in kabul and broughto at least 20 the number of italians losin afghanistan. italy has about 3,000 trps therand has had a strong commitment to helping the ws the conflict but today, prime minisr silvio berlusconi sd there needs to be wt he called a "transition rategy" to give the afghan govement more responsibili. yestery, he went much further. >> translator: we are al convinced that t best for all iolved is to

leave as soon possible, to no longer have a presencehere. >> as the conflict in afghanistan deepensone aspect of t war hasn't gotten much attenon -- the thousand who leave afghistan in search of asylum elsewhere. one place they want to go eat britain, and to get ther many wait for theichance acrosshe english channel. in theoastal french city of calais. the, they live in a squalid camp, determined to smuge themselves aboard trucks heang to the united kingdo but now, french authories plan to troy the ca, as we hear in this report fr phillip williams of c australia. reporter: they call it the jungle for go reason, where hundds of would- asylum seekers cp they try toget to britainnd is is ho they do. the trucks boar the ferry a in couple ofhours they can be in what th consider the prised land. >> lonn, london

>> reporter: butow the british and french authorities say, all th haso go, thesylum seekers are being ld to pack up positions and leave. one spoke on condition hiface wasn't sho. >> they say we areestroying the jungle buteverays what will happen to us. we arerightened about e future, about our lives, you know. reporter: no one wants to s here anylonger than it takesto jump a tru but f some, that can be mths in the mostkaul lid conditns. >> i have ner seen coitions such as this. people have no medic help, ey have no running war, they cannot wash. and the condiions here areust appallin >> reporter: aempts to move asylum seekers on ve failed fore. a few yearago, they were housed in a massive shed run by the redoss. and the british pressure that closed only f the jungle to ke its place. and that's the proble

for as longs brita is a desirable destation, people smugglers wi oblige. it's kely another justike it will reappr somewhere clo and the human afficking will ntinue. phlip williams, abcews, london. time now forur friday round table discussion of me of the week'top stories. we'll lo at president obama's reversal on a missile fense plan for europe and at went intois thinking on the change. is t united states gaining the upper hand or not in the bate against islamic militas? as more suected al qaeda and talin leaders are targeted and killed? and we'll asse this week's young report on thear ga, which charges at conduct by

isra and the palestinian militants amounted to wa crimes. joining us once again caa roins, deputeditorial page editor of "the n york times" and david andelmana former reign correspondent for "the neyork times" and cbs news, annow editor of world policy journal. good tsee both of yo welcome to the progr. >> thanks for having us. >> thank you. >>hat are theigtories this week, presidt obama's reversal on the miile defee shield for cenal eastern europe. give us your sensef whatow to yao think went intohis inking on making that change. >> well, really, i thk a lot had to do looking at realies of the situaon on the ground and the realitys that the ssile defense pla -- msile defense shield as planned probably wouldn'have done anything. it would have been aother one of theseort of absystems that stawar systems, if you will, neverble to shoot down ything. the techlogy has been move, no question about that. in political terms without

question a lot of the central eupeans, particularly the polish peel, have begun to mo away from this kind of thinking that they need to ha this american shield to defend them against russia. they need to really kind of not embrace russia, at least deal wi them in some fashion. the fear, think, this wa rtitioning europe seriously at time when that really wod not rk very well. it was time to get out of this. >> what do you thi formed the president's decision on th? >> ithink he was never a b enthu enthu enusist about miile defense woulwork. they're focusing on producing short and medium rage missile this would notave defended agait short and medium range missiles. secretary gate, once a b champion of t bush plan, they can put it in place faster, it will address the treat that exists ow, which in the short and intermediate range one if you get the benefit you can move

forward with oer things wi russians, grea the problem thathe bush administration pressured the czechs and the pols to commito this, czechs and ppolsommitted becausthey wanted a better relation with th united states. so there are a lot of bruised feelings but fom a technological point of view from a diplomatic point of view from a stregy ex-point of ew it was a pretty good call. >> is this goi to mean the uned states is perceived as a less reliable partner in eastern and centr europe, especially for the pols and the echs. >> there wl be a lot of complaining about that. they were worried about at beforeecause bush was commted to them, sothey thout. let's not photogforget the polp troops in iraq didn't get the deals on visa thbush admintration undermined na. these countries worked so hard to get into nato an nato was a club noby wanted to be in. this is fixab diplomaticay. makes a huge amount sense me strategically.

>> we had an interesting piece in our cuent issue of world policy journal from a stinguished polish commentator, mst of the people did not want the plan, they did not want to get backed intthe position a they were in the cold war being the tart. >> let's mov on tohe administration's aroach of targetg and kling militants. notae successes this week what does it really add up to inhe end? >>ell i think it adds up to the fact na that we are being more successful in tgeting al qaeda and aqaeda elements all over t world, no estion about that. wh impct is thatgoing to have? al qaeda irecent years has acted as a franchise than a direct operative i the world. they're franchising serations out. it's becoming more fragment in different parts of the wold. we are fightingeally mini wars on whole lot of diffent fronts. this goes as diplomatic as well ave to get governments like

somali which is a,ou kw, sometime questionable ste to begin with,o approve of our going into he us, at least not thwathat. >> thais why we're partly having more successes bause there is greater cooperation? >> in some places. think the intelligence is there and youet lucky and knock some guys off and that's great news. but then you'vegot to do that r a very long ti. the chalnge is not to be creati more militts while we're killing o a few of them and that's why we have to sve the oblems in iraq and afghantan, a lot of other issues o perception of t united states around t world. just want to roun up our discussion by talking about the unitedations report in gaza which blamed israel and pastinian militts as conduct whichas -- could amounto committing war crimes. what do you thk is the mst importt thing that came out of e report for you in terms of th peace pross and where we go next? >> i think it should be a warning to both sides and

partularly to the israelis, because they ha -- they're the table or potentially at the table, which is sort of asymmetric warfare. nobo winwith it and civilians lose. that's aeason you don't want to he another war. wee had two wars in the last three years. the israel are furious about the port, furio about essure from the obama adminiration about settlements. unless there's negotiations d some 0 sort of peace agreement between the palestinians a the raelis, we'regoing to have these horfic, hoff riffic wars are going to coinue the timing is unfortateas we are trying to get a coominium between all of the differe sides in middle east and working vy hard to do that, this kind o report doesn't help it. >> it came at the wrong time. >> it came athe wrong time, extly. >> is whent was going to come out. right. >> you ao made an ieresting poin about accountability. i mean, talk about that. >> there a need for

accountality. we have too what happens. governments are not willing to investigate themselv, certainly hama has not been willing to investigate what 's doing. the israeli governnt has refused to adm the level of ffering and civilian deh that tk place in the gaza war. the accouability is a good thg. justice goldone is a responsibl jurist a investigator but the bottom line'sot to be, the israelis say it's asi mettic warfare, we can't help it. have to leave i there. thank you veryuch for joining us. >> thanks for having us. as celebrations of rh hashan the jewish new year, begin this even, president obama issued a mesge renewing his call for pea between israel

d its arab neighbors. and we're going to end t week with a difrent view of israel fe -- a peaceful and relaxin place on the dead a. for althe talk about how salt isn't good for y, those who believe in the curative powe ofhe sea and its salt beg to differ. o'sullivan of media ne went to have aook. >> reporter: man has lonsought to u nature's resources for their theraptic value. nowhere is this more visible than here at the dd people have come for thousds years to benefit fromhe minerals found in the muand the curative powers believedo be contained iits salty water. >> it is a bit itc and it's wa, but it feels quite good. they told that it can do some good for the skin. >> translator: when u leave here, yo skin is soft as a baby's bottom. yo soul, as it's as if you were born yesterday. new d clean. like an angel.

>> reporr: the dead sea is the lowest st on earth. people come from around the world to breathe salty air and treat skin diseases. but the world's largest naral spa is quickly disappearin while efforts are under wato prevent the a from drying up, people are already seeking alternatives. jerusalem, patients are w being offered speleotherap which treats conditions su as asthma ung the dead sea's key ingredient, salt. when he gets his weekly treaent his knows at all he s to dos sit on a comfy chair and play his computer game. it's kind of weird becau it made of st, it's something very unusual. when iame re, i see this ace is very nice. i fee les mucous. i feeletter when i live re. >> repter:side from h, the

comfy chair and th computer game, everything in th room is made out of saltbricks. from the flooro the iling. thsalt absorb the fluids in the lungs and dri out the excess mucous, a that is fering a new form of reli to sufferof respirory illnesses. >> didn't have to swallow any pill. i didn't have to rub any ointment on my body. i didn't have to read any packe to see what's in ths, is there anying thatcan harm me. you sit in a room and breathe. >>eporter: salt room are popular in easternurope and are no starting to be popular in israel. >> this is something that will be in the u.s. and it's going to be big. we consider right nothe biggest thg you've never hea of. reporter: from jerusalem, this irea o'sullivan f the immediate ne. >> and that "worldfocus" for this friday night and this wk. i'm daljit dhawal. in new york. a reminder to tells what you thinby visiting our website, worldfocus.org.

for the entire "worlocus" news team have a good night and a great weekend. see you bck here on monday. buh-bye. "worldfocu is made possible in part by the foowing funders -- major support has alsoeen provided by the ter g. peterson foundatn, dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibity and addressing key econic challenges facing erica's future.