tonight on "worldfocus,". >> from haiti, the curse of corruption. questions surround a fod aid program while elsewhere a little girl's fate hangs in the balance. from greece, unhappy workers take to the streets as the government considers a new austerity plan. from iran, the reports of a crackdown in advance of tomorrow's anniversary marking the iranian revolution. scores are said to already have been arrested. and from britain, there are those who like to travel the world in style, and then there is this man. join him on his quest circle the globe on penni a day. from the different perspectives of reporters and analysts from around t globe, this is "worldfocus." major support has been provided

by rosalind p. walter and the peter g. peterson foundation, dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility and addressing key economic challenges facing america's future. and additional funding is provided by the following supporters -- >> welcome to "worldfocus." i'm daljit dhaliwal in new york. four weeks have now passed since the devastating earthquake in haiti. and although the story may be fading from the headlines, we believe the crisis in haiti does and will continue to merit our attention. it's an unfortunate reality that in any disaster, there are those who will seek to profit from the situation. a fact reconfirmed by allegations that some haitian officials are rigging the system by which food aid is distributed. that's left thousands of

families without food. this as the number of dead grows to more than 200,000. tonight we have two reports from haiti, beginning with our lead focus from rob reynolds of al jazeera english. >> reporter: distribution of vital food supplies to hungry people in a section of port-au-prince were abruptly halted monday after u.n. officials found people trying to use counterfeit ration coupons9 to take rice they were not entitled to. >> these are fake coupons which started turning up. and this morning, as i understand it, yellow in color. now the distributions that we gave out for this particular -- the coupons that we gave out for this particular date yesterday are green. so it is immediate apparent to us that there is some fraud involved here. >> reporter: as a result, 10,000 families are going without. there have been a number of attempts to take improper advantage of the humanitarian aid process since the earthquake january 12th.

and while most aid is funneled directly through u.n. agencies and nongovernmental organizations, there are alletions that haiti's long record of government corruption involving officials high and low has not been broken. outing "she stole the rice" in creole, protesters marched on the office of the mayor of patienville. they accuse the mayor of manipulating the distribution. >> i've been here e[4k day trying to get a coupon, but they don't give us anything. they give them to their own people. >> reporter: the mayor told al jazeera she vehemently rejects the accusations. the anti-corruption watchdog group transparency international has consistently ranked haiti near the bottom of its index of the most corrupt states. now with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of international aid flowing into the country, there are fears of new corruption on a massive scale. it's little woer that many

haitians downtown the honesty of their own government. >> haitians are all thieves. they won't help us. we prefer americans to be our leaders. >> reporter: we put the question of corruption to the mayor of port-au-prince. what do you say to people who believe that the government is too corrupt to handle the humanitarian aid and rebuilding? >> we don't have any problem with that. when you said there is corruption, you have to prove that. >> reporter: it will be up to the u.n. and international aid agencies to impose and keep the controls needed to ensure the world's aid reaches the haitians who really need it. >> that was rob reynolds for al jazeera english. earthquake victims unable to get life-saving food isn't the only problem plaguing haiti. sometimes free food alone isn't enough to help the survivors. take the case of young landina.

like scores of other haitian children, she needs an operation that can only be performed overseas. but getting her the care she needs is like moving a mountain. >> reporter: baby landina's)gz4. she needs an urgent and complicated operation on her skull, one that cannot be done from this hospital in port-au-prince. doctors in britain are ready to perform it. but she needs the haitian government to allow her out. and so far they haven't agreed because doctors cannot prove she is an orphan. to move an injured child out of haiti, paper proof is needed to prove the child is either an orphan, traveling with a family member, or soone acting with a guardian. in this destroyed country, few have any papers. in landina's case, her parents are missing, presumed dead,nd

doctors cannot find any other relatives. a government neurosurgeon was due at this hospital to assess landina's condition. but for the past two days, he never showed up. so i went down to the ministry of health to find out why, and finally located the health minister, who agreed to talk. the minister, alex larson, told me he had heard about landina's case, but wasn't aware of the urgency to get her out of the country. i stressed to him just how urgent it was, and explained doctors' concerns that this needed to be expedited very quickly. mr. larson started working the phones, or as best he could in a country where communications are barely functioning. after a couple of attempts, he managed to reach the social affairs minister. >> listen, i have a case at msf.

it's a little girl of two months who has head injury, and everything isor her to leave the country, but we need to get authorization. she is getting worse by the minute. >> reporter: he then wrote out details for a letter for his secretary to type, saying he was happy to provide the letter if it would help save the child. >> so i'll give these documents to the social affair minister, and then medecins sans frontieres has to sign a form guaranteeing this child will be returned to haiti. it should take, this form to pierre, the social affair minister, and then she will give the authorization. >> reporter: with a flourish, he signed the letter, and asked me to pass this to medecins sans frontieres so they could now fast track the process. he admitted the story about the american missionaries and accusations of involvement in child trafficking had cast a cloud over efforts to assist

real orphans in urgent need of medical attention.!wdjrv >> especially now, we have a big issue. even with the best intention, they are taking out people without authorization. >> reporter: so this is a rather unusual situation. we've just met haiti's minister of health, and he signed this authorization letter and asked me to pass it now on to medecins sans frontieres. for several days now, they've been trying to get approvalor the child to get this urgent operation. this letter now has to go back to them, and then it's supposed to go to the ministry of social affairs and perhaps they will then give the final authorization for the child to leave. this signature could save landina, coming just in time to get her out of here and to a fully equipped hospital. however, her cases not the only one here. it's a wider problem, and several injured children are facing potentially lethal bureaucratic delays.

there used to be several medical flights a day, but since the american missionaries were arrested, there has been just a handful. >> there is two evacuations that fell through last week, fell through because the pilots missed their slots, which are precious commodities at the airport here. very difficult to get. and they just simply wouldn't take off without the proper documentation in hand. >> reporter: arrangements are now being made to ensure landina can be transported safely, given the urgency now surrounding her case and concerns about her deteriorating condition. msf and its partners are working on finalizing visas for a medical team traveling with her. it should be in the next couple of days. they're keen to ensure she is moved before her condition becomes any more urgent. channel 4 news, port-au-prince. the uncertain fate of

haiti's children and allegations of corruption in the u.n. food program aren't enough, there is yet another controversy brewing in haiti. this one involves donated medicine that was meant to be dispersed for free. now there are allegations some hospitals are selling those medicines to earthquake survivors. in an effort to end the improper sales, the united nations is now considering cutting off shipments of medicine to some haitian hospitals. and that brings us to tonight's "how you see it." the reports about cruption and how and medicine are being distributed in haiti. our question, do reports of these alleged abuses make it less likely that you will donate to the haitian relief effort? you can tell us what you think by visiting the "how you see it" section of our website, and that's at worldfocus.org.

over the past week, we have been reporting on how crisis in greece could jeopardize the world's economy. ping to avert a crisis, greek officials recently proposed a new austerity plan. well, today workers throughout greece took to the streets in protest, bringing the country to a near stand still. germany's deutsche welle reports. >> reporter: greek cil servants joined wednesday's 24-hour strike to protest against sweeping cuts. they don't think they should have to pay off the state's debt. per claims the government's planned pay cuts for public sector workers will be ahigh as 15%. the government says they will only be 5%. but workers say any cut is too much. >> everyone has got to take to the streets. because it's the only way.

justice is not simply handed to you on a plate. >> reporter: athens airport has been largely deserted since midnight. air traffic controllers also walked off the job. the same goes for schools and universities. hospitals are working with reduced staff, providing only emergency services. greece is on the brink of bankruptcy, and is under pressure to drastically cut spending. there is concern that its huge deficit could undermine the entire eurozone economy. the crisis has already taken its toll on the european currency. the euro has been falling steadily against the u.s. dollar since december. european leaders are due to hold a special summit on the european economy in brussels on thursday, where the greek crisis is likely to top the agenda. >> that reportrom deutsche welle. from iraq, there is news about the company once known as

black water. today iraqi officials ordered about 250 current and former employees of the company out of try. the order comes after the recent dismissal bay u.s. judge of charges against five blackwater employees in the september 2007 shooting deaths of 17 iraqis. that dismissal unleashed widespread anger in iraq, and the obama administration has promised to appeal the judge's decision. turning to the latest from iran. today's "new york times" reports that the iranian government has engaged in an epidemic of arrests in advance of the 31st anniversary of the iranian revolution which takes place tomorrow. those arrests are designed to head off opposition street protests. according to the article, the ranks of those imprisoned now include artists, photographers, children's rights advocates,

women's rights activists, students, and scores of journalists. in the article, human rights group say some of those arrested were roused from their beds during midnight raids, disappearing without an official word to family and friends. for moren the situation inside iran, we're joined once again by ervand abrahamian, an iranian-american who is a distinguished professor of history at the city university of new york. professor, nice to see you again. >> thank you. here. so a human rights organization in iran is reporting that one thousand iranians have been arrestedand this is something that has happened within the last two months. is this an indication of the government's weakness, or is this an indication of the government's strength that they're able to do this? >> i think it's government indication that they want to prevent any sort of mass demonstrations on thursday, which is the anniversary of the revolution. so what they're trying to do is disrupt as much as possible

opposition groups. there are now 17 opposition groups have joined in calling for demonstrations. so they're calling, basically trying to arrest the leadership of those groups. the problem for the government is that you can arrest the top leaders, but there are others there who will replace them. so it's a much more of a mass movement, which is hard to basically eradicate. >> right. and it's been reported that many of those who have been arrested are from women's rights organizations and journalists also have been rounded up in much larger is there a reason why these particular groups are perhaps being singled out in this way? >> very much. the women's movementd

>> what do you think is going to happen tomorrow during the protests to mark the 31st anniversary of the islamic revolution? do you think there will be violence? >> i think there will be some violence. but whether there is or not, i think we'll end up basically where we are before the demonstrations. it has reached an impasse, really. >> let's turn to the issue of iran's nuclear program. the united states today imposed new sanctions. where do you see this going next? >> i don't see it really going anywhere, because the sanctions, again, are not really going to put that much pressure on iran. and unfortunately, the sanction play into the hands of the ahmadinejad government, because he can go to the iranian public and undercut the reformers by saying look here, united states is trying to prevent us from

having what we deserve, which is nuclear technology. >> professor, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you for having me. as you just heard, women are deeply involved in the reform movement in iran. but that doesn't begin to capture the complexities of life for iranian women. in tonight's signature story, we look at what has been called the persian paradox. women moving forward in their own way in aociety dominated by men. our report comes from bijan saliani, an iranian-american who grew up in iran and has reported extensively from there.>> repor views iranian women as being silently oppressed. oppress they may be. silent they are not. how women look and act is an

unavoidable national issue, and many women here find themselves in conflict with their authorities every day. to see how that works, look at the scene we found in iran recently. two young women being told they couldn't enter a park because their clothes were too form-fitting, not modest enough. >> how is what i'm wearing different from you? >> you know the rules. you can't come in here dressed that way.'et >> reporter: such scenes happen every day. the law says every female over the age of 8 must conceal her shape and cover everything but her face and hands when she is in public. many find the restrictions irritating, and in hot weather downright uncomfortable. and so on the streets of every iranian city, women push the limits of the law.

to an outsider, the rules seem haphazard. women must sit in the back of the buses. there are separate cars for women. but on the subway they can ride with men if they want to. women can go to class with men. they can drive and go to the movies. but they can't go to the soccer game. and no physical contact is permitted at all, not even shaking hands. a lot of women we met felt that in iranian society, the dress code at least was a >> if i go to the streets with a colorful uniform, they look at me in a very bad way. and i just feel bothered. it's not really good, you know? they look at my body, and i hate it. i feel like i'm exploding. >> reporter: other women, like these law students, don't mind the social segregation. >> they won't allow us to sit in

the front. >> reporter: nor even waiting for the next bus when the women's section is full. >> iy)rq don't mind. there is another one. >> reporter: but the laws requiring the job and social segregation are also indicators of the very different for women in iran. to the critics who control iran law, god made the rules and strictly define the rights and obligation of men and women with one thing in mind. >> islam says because there are some differences between man and woman, there should be some differences between the rights. it doesn't mean that it is always against women, it is sometimes against men, because they have some more responsibilities, more than the women. >> reporter: with that responsibility comes authority, marriage, child custody, inheritance, travel, in every instance, women are legally supervisored by their husbands or male relatives.

so beneath iranian women's scarves and chadors, the government has learned it is much easier to control what they wear than what they think. those in power say the advocates of change are overlooking the very real progress women have made in the 30 years since the revolution. >> before the revolution, only a third of iranian girls could even read or write. now 65% of our university students are women. and in the medical and pharmacy schools, 70 or 80% are women. >> reporter: this is the vice president of iran's census bureau. >> in the past, women were only given opportunities if they were attractive, not because they were smart or had skills. today iranian women are in every arena, from the olympics to industry to science and engineering. they're making a huge impact on the world. >> reporter: compared to places

nearby like afghanistan and saudi arabia, the ayatollah's interpretation of sharia law looks positively open-minded. the idea that women could drive cars would be shocking in any of the persian gulf states. >> i love driving and speed. and my husband was in this business, so it was natural for me to become one. >> reporter: but in iran women at the wheel are okay. the main reason? there is nothing revealing about a racing suit. so women can burn up the track, but iran's olympic teams have no female runners, swimmers, or gymnasts. for outsiders to focus on that stuff isn't really fair say people like former vice president. >> women have improved immensely after the revolution. >> reporter: 30 years ago she

was the spokeswoman for the students who took the american diplomats hostage. at this time just being literate made her a minority. the problem for iran's conservative political and religious leaders is that places like tehran university have now produced a generation of educated women who are focused on how things are now, not how bad they used to be. those women are a demographic time bomb. they are educated enough to be aware of their rights women have elsewhere. they can read the koran for themselves and find in it a vision of an islamic society that truly treats th as equals. this is bijan saliani for "worfocus" in tehran. finally tonight, just when you thought there were no

records left unbroken in this world, no deeds of daring do left to achieve, we bring you the story of graham hughes. the 30-year-old brit is attempting to be the first person in the world to setoot in all 194 countries without getting on an airplane. and to really make it a real challenge, he is trying to do it on pennies a day. annabelle roberts of itn has his story. >> i'm in cuba! >> reporter: cuba was country number 34. his current total is 142. so he is three-quarters of the way through the list to break the world record. his target is 200. >> all i know is i'm really tired. >> reporter: he has to travel by public transport, never by plane, eat street food, and avoids hotels. so far he has been thrown into jail twice. >> i was thrown in jail in congo

that. >> took my t-shirt off me, my they took my glasses. i couldn't see. they threw me in a room for a week. i had to pray to god i didn't get malaria. it wasn't very pleasant. i think they thought i was a spy. when you look at me, i look like james bond. >> reporter: another point was when he turned away at the mr&y having a visa. >> go all the way on coaches and buses, get the visa, come back. it took me a week round trip. i crossing the border and a french border said have you got a visa? no, i haven't got a visa. i tried to get one last week. oh, they change the rules all the time. they gaye me a visa. >> reporter: catching rides on cargo shapes cross the seas, he is keeping costs down and raising money for aid. he says he has learned people are generous the world over. >> you go in any country in the world, in any city, stand there with your bags and say help, and someone will come and help you. >> reporter: so this solitary

traveler rarely feels he son his own. annabelle roberts, itv news. and this is "worldfocus" for now, but don't forget there is a lot more news and analysis online at worldfocus.org. be sure to drop awes line about the program. i'm daljit dhaliwal in new york. thank you for joining us and goodbye. >> major support for "worldfocus" has been provided by rosalyn p. walter and the peter g. peterson foundation, dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility and addressing key economic challenges facing america's future. and additional funding is provided by the following supporters.