let's go back to our top story, the rest of the ally of mahmoud ahmadinejad.ve an iranian expert and logger joining us live. good to have you with us. first, why are we seeing this bitter rivalry between ahmadinejad and the parliamentary speaker? >> this is a fight over the social security organization. this is an organization that is very well funded. to give you an idea of how much funds that have at their disposal, we are talking 5% to 10% of the gdp, very substantive, there is almost no business that can be done without somehow coming into contact with this organization. the money at its disposal is the key to who wins the election. much funds that have at their the social security organization can buy the votes. that is why it is crucial and the fight is over. >> is he being used as a tool in this dispute between ahmadinejad and [indiscernible] or has he been arrested because, let's be honest, the man has a lot to answer for? >> he does, and i am not denying that, but if it had anything to do with the murder of the canadian iranian photojournalist or the

ahmadinejad has probably become the most recognizable iranian face in the world.trageous, provocative statements about everything from gays to israel to the holocaust. but back home, he has always been a dangerous opponent of the clerics who actually run the country. ahmadinejad remembers the layperson without any spiritual authority, but he is a twice-elected president with populist appeal. real power rests with the supreme leader, ayatollah khomeini, the man who controls the revolutionary guards, the military backbone of the regime. on the issue of iran's nuclear program from what we can tell ahmadinejad is actually the moderate. he wants to be the president who negotiates with america, breaks iran's isolation, and makes a deal resolving the nuclear problem. during his last presidential campaign, he was even attacked by the opposition leader mousavi for offering too many concessions to the west. well, this week ayatollah khomeini slapped him down. ahmadinejad and his foreign minister had expressed interest in negotiating directly with the united states, respondi

ahmadinejad's strong arm tactics are nothing new.n 2009, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets amid widespread allegations that ahmadinejad had rigged the presidential election in his favor. the so-called green movement was unlike anything iran had seen in decades. a popular uprising in the face of political suppression. >> the united states and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, the beatings, and imprisonments of the last few days. if the iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect those rights and heed the will of its own people. it must govern through consent and not coercion. >> despite those strong statements, the u.s. remained mostly neutral and as quickly as it began, the movement was snuffed out through a series of brutal government crackdowns. at least three dozen people were killed, thousands arrested. honestly, we probably don't know how many people were killed. leaders like former prime minister mousavi are still under house arrest

the very public feud between iran's president mahmoud ahmadinejad and the speaker of the parliament, gotten so bad that both of them had to write letters apologizing for their bad behavior with the man with the real power in the land ayatollah, who said the spat made him feel sad. there are implications for the rest of the world, which eagerly wants iran to sit down at the nuclear negotiating table. joining me hooman majd and karim sadjadpour. a senior associate at the carnegie downment for international peace. so, what on earth is going on, hooman? this is a very public feud. >> yeah. i think it's related somewhat to the presidential elections coming up in june, and ahmadinejad's desperate attempt to remain relevant after the election, unlike other presidents or the previous president who faded into obscurity. i think he is determined to remain relevant. >> does he have a certain kind of popular power and appeal -- >> i think he has some base. the base is exaggerated by some people who are his supporters, but he does have a base among a certain segment of society and i think he's tr

about what, two years ago i sat down with ahmadinejad. at that time he sent a letter to president obama and he was upset. he hadn't gotten a response which is one reason they wanted to do the interview. he was blaming obama for not responding to him. as you mentioned, here's the supreme leader, here's his quote. he says, quote, the u.s. is pointing a gun at iran and wants us to talk to them. the iranian nation will not be intimidated by these actions, direct talks will not solve any problems. so as you say, why pursue direct talks if they're already turning us down? >> well, there's a split between. ayatollah and ahmadinejad whose term will expire later this year, so these are at best tactical differences. what the iranians i think sense is that this is an opportunity to try to do two things. one e get the sanctions lifted or modified or second, cut a deal with the united states and the europeans that legit mizes their right to continue enriching uranium. the obama administration has already conceded that. it's a huge mistake, but if iran

mahmoud ahmadinejad pulled out an audio recording. in the recording, ahmadinejad says one of his associates, saeed mortazavi, is speaking with fazel larijani. larijani implies that he can use his connections and family -- and political standing for financial gain. there has been a lot of reaction from parliamentarians. they have accused the president of asking -- acting in a manner not befitting of his post. allele larry johnny says if he has -- ali larijani says accusation should be made at the appropriate time, not in the middle of an impeachment hearing in parliament. he accused the president of acting in a manner not befitting to his post and of having bad manners. his brother, fazel larijani, the man accused of the corruption, is threatening to sue the president and saeed mortazavi -. he accuses the inner circle of mafia-like behavior. >> serious has warned that israel will regret it airstrike -- syria has warned that israel will regret it airstrike -- it's airstrike. bashar all assad accused israel of trying to destabilize -- ba

president ahmadinejad wants to praise the country's technological achievements. in bahrain, national talks in ending a crisis are due to restart on sunday. it has been two years since the uprising began. three in nigeria have been killed after being attacked in a northern town. they are all believed to be south korean. it is not yet clear who was behind the killings. police in los angeles say they're looking back at the circumstances that led to the firing of an officer returned punitive -- turned fugitive, christopher dorner. he is now on the run accused of killing 03 people. it is thought he is hiding in the northern mountains of california but efforts to find him have been hampered by snowfall. first lady michelle obama and joined mourners in chicago for the funeral of a 15, new york girl. -- 15-year-old girl just days after performing at the inauguration. >> it happens 500 times in chicago, this time the world takes note. >> no parent should never have to remember this. >> she was gone down in a park less than a mile from obama's chicago home days after twirl

taking a swipe at ahmadinejad.e says, tweeting out here, so ahmadinejad wants to be the first iranian in space. wasn't he just there last week? iran launches monkey into space. some folks say, it's kind of, you know -- off-color, some same racist. what do they make of this in iran? >> well, ahmadinejad is known for his kind of sidebar comments, more or less. and the comment that he wants to be the first -- he volunteers to go newspaper space puts him on the line here. but even that was really -- it was a joke and mentioned in jest. my namesake, 2006, pioneered her own way into space and she paid for her own mission. the first private citizen to iranian -- iranian citizen paid her way into space. >> i had no idea. breaking news. your namesake as well. thank you so much. good to see you, as always. interesting. >>> of course, new craze, taking over here. this is coming from korea. a lot more than gangnam style. >> we'll show you why folks are so excited. >>> the beatles ushered in the british invasion in the u.s. dec

>> i think ahmadinejad is closer to right than wrong. have all the necessary components to put together a bomb within weeks or months. >> why do you think he made the statement? he's going to cairo, egypt. is he trying to be a big shot, sending us a message? >> i think it is a mess sang to the arab world. there is a big arab summit going on. he's closer to israel than he's been in a long time. i think it is a message to the united states. sure, we are happy to talk to you one on one. we'll talk to you about our nuclear weapons program. you can talk about how you will capitulate. >> why do you think he said he doesn't want to attack israel? >> i think he did it for p.r. reasons. right now iran probably doesn't have significant nuclear material to construct more than one or two bombs. they can't put it on a missile and send it anywhere. we don't want to attack israel -- now. >> mahmoud ahmadinejad will be out of office in a few months, this spring? when is the election. >> in june. >> will that change the situation in iran? change iranian

but iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad said he would like to give it a joe. senator john mccain ran into trouble when he tweeted, quote, so ahmadinejad wants to be the first iranian in space, wasn't he just there last week? many in the twitter-verse called the wording racist. he sent another tweet and said the comments were a joke and told the people to quote/unquote lighten up. >>> last night, new jersey governor chris christie paid his first visit to david letterman who in the past has skewed him about his ample weight. during the late show experience governor christie pulls laughed when he pulled a donut from his pocket and ate it. and read back safety letterman jokes. >> here's two. first one was celebrity birthday today, chris christie turns 50, he blew out the candles on his cake and he wished for another cake. [ cheers and applause ] >> a billion dollars will be spent on potato chips for super bowl sunday and that's just at governor christie's house. [ laughter ] >> all right. bill karins joins me now. >> we knew he'd be prepared. >> he was great. at l

everyone in egypt feels the same way with the iranian leader. >> a protester threw his shoe at ahmadinejad >> the shoe didn't connect. it hit a security guard. >> that security guard, it has been reported now has athlete's face. [laughter] you know, i imagine that throwing your shoe at a leader is not an easy crime to get away with. who threw that? ahhh -- [laughter] clearly this conference deserves the attention, if not the world, at least basic cable. [ laughter ] so john oliver sat down with ioc general ihsanoglu to learn mow. >> yesterday i had the opportunity to sit down with the secretary general of the oic, the man who has the ear of every head of state in the islamic world and beyond. what pay chance to understand the subtle intercaseys of entire muslim world. congratulations of your recent summit. >> thank you. it went very well. >> you serve as the voice of islamic countries. >> that's right. that's by the virtue of the charter. >> what does that voice sound like? does it sound like ahh i'm going to (bleep) kill you. ahhh. i'm going to kill your family? arrgh? because occasionall

-- during president ahmadinejad.rita parsi, your response? >> we're not sing either side take the type of serious approach of diplomacy that is really needed. the iranians to complain on one hand the sanctions approach is not the way to conduct diplomacy. on the other hand, the iranians have missed opportunities to except the bilateral conversation with the u.s. prior to many of these sanctions were imposed and try to find a way to resolve this issue. i think there's a lot of fear in the region and beyond that unless both sides to mend their ways, we will continue to gravitate towards form fro-- >> can you reflect on this anniversary of the iranian revolution and what it means? >> i think the islamic republic in many ways is increases through the the behavior of the government right now seems to give the impression that are quite nervous. the ruby elections in iran and a couple of months, rivalries and infighting within the regime is reaching an unprecedented level and taking place very openly. the regime is doing so

the red carpet was rolled out for the arrival of president mahmoud ahmadinejad. the three-day visit marks the first of and running and leave your -- an iranian leader to cairo in decades. for more on those developments, i spoke a brief time ago with a senior associate of the carnegie endowment for international peace. why the warm welcome, this embrace even, for president ahmadinejad? >> it is significant. there was a wonderful egyptian president who once said the only two real nation states in the middle east are egypt and iran and the rest are just tribes with flights. it is significant -- with flags. it is significant that an iranian leader is visiting egypt for the first time in decades. and with the fall of hosni mubarak in egypt, the new government there has a somewhat different feel. they are looking more internal. their politics are much more in line with islamic politics of iran. and they are less beholden to u.s. policy. i do not think there will be an incredibly friendly relationship between egypt and iran. but what we are starting to see is some relat

washington expresses doubt about any space journey but iranian president ahmadinejad now says he would like to give it a go. senator john mccain ran into some trouble when he tweeted, quote, so ahmadinejad wants to be the first iranian in space. wasn't he just there last week, end quote. many in the twitterverse called the wording racist. he later sent out another twitter saying his comments were a joke and told people to, quote, lighten up. >>> last night new jersey governor chris christie paid his first visit to david letterman, who in the past, as you might know, has secured the new jersey governor about his ample weight over 300,000 times, that's what christie likes to say. during the "late show" appearance governor christie pulled laughs when he pulled a doughnut from his pocket and ate it, bam, right there. he also read back some favorite letterman jokes. take a listen. >> here's two of them. celebrity birthday today, chris christie turns 50. he blew out the candles on his cake and he wished for another cake. a billion dollars will be spent on potato chips for super bowl sunday,

mahmoud ahmadinejad -- >> i vote for that! >> bill: can i send a check?a john mccain tweet? >> no. that's coming. so ahmadinejad said yesterday he would volunteer to be the first iranian in space in the name of science. cnn reports he was joking but the comments come after that country allegedly sent a monkey to space and backs and senator john mccain has taken some heat from making a joke on twitter about ahmadinejad's comments yesterday tweeting so he wants to be the first iranian in space? wasn't he just there last week? it was a link to the monkey article. >> republicans criticizing mccain for that? >> i saw that. >> bill: i don't know. i know i'm supposed to be politically correct. i think it's okay to make monkey jokes about ahmadinejad. >> you're going to get letters. >> bill: peter ogborn. okay. i'm going to start evan, with you, with a story i didn't know about until this morning. broke late last night. and that is about american drone policy. we've been wondering nobody knows how many people we've killed. who makes the decisions -- with drones,

. >>> in the region right now, iranian president, mahmoud ahmadinejad, is visiting egypt. he was forced to cut short a visit to a mosque in cairo yesterday, when a man threw a shoe at him. that is a deep sign of disrespect. ahmadinejad's trip is the first by an iranian leader since 1979. >>> federal investigators are laying criminal charges against lance armstrong. he is being investigated for on jux of justice, witness intimidation. investigators are looking into whether he tried to maintain his secrets by threatening potential witnesses. he must come clean under oath. the u.s. anti-doping agents or he'll lose any chance to have his lifetime ban from competitive sports reduced. >>> the baltimore ravens are still partying. tens of thousands of fans lined city streets to cheer on their team as the city shut down for its celebratory parade. the stadium had more fans on the field and in the bleachers. >> ain't no party like a super bowl party. >>> some thunderstorms threatening the central gulf coast. also, it will be rainy in the pacific northwest. we'll have some fog and cl

president ahmadinejad says he will only agree to full negotiations once the west drops its sanctions. m in rome, pope benedict xvi has celebrated his last public mass as pontiff. he was greeted at the ash wednesday service by ecstatic applause and a standing ovation with people packing a vatican auditorium to catch a glimpse of him. >> benedict told the crowd he was stepping down for the good of the church and ask worshipers to keep praying for him. he had stunned the church on monday when he announced he would become the first pope to abdicate in centuries. >> vatican officials have announced that the conclave to choose a new pope will start at the 15th of march. >> this ash wednesday service marking the start of lent is the last public mass said by pope benedict xvi. he was joined for the emotional ceremony in st. peter's by the cardinals and bishops closest to him. benedict spent the morning in an audience with thousands of followers and for the first time provided details about the thinking that went into his resignation. >> i made this decision in complete freedom for the good of

it didn't look like the shoe hit ahmadinejad.d a little bit of a flinch and off he went into his car. and off they went. not exactly a shining moment, suzanne for the iranian president. >> i will never forget 2008 covering president bush when that shoe was hurled at his head. and people really kind of admired the fact that he was able to dodge that thing. the reflexes were pretty amazing. a lot of people talked about that moment. what about ahmadinejad? what's his reaction to this? >> reporter: his reflexes didn't seem as quick as george w. bush. but the reaction is mixed here. we are waiting to see exactly why this happened. the prosecutor says right before this man threw the shoe, he yelled, you killed my brothers, you killed my brothers. could have been a reference to the war in syria, of course iran still backs the assad regime. many egyptians despise him. then the prosecutor says these men were ultra conservative branch of sunni islam. rivals in some parts of the region with sunnis, that could have had something to do with i

you saw president ahmadinejad. why is that concerning? why did that jog your memory?> this should be concerning to everybody. we know there are growing number of iranian shock troops flying directly from taken to venezuela. if you go to venezuela, it's very easy for ahmadinejad to transform himself into miguel, cross the border, even with venezuelan travel documents and then claim to be somebody hen't and use it. in fact we know that's exactly you he terrorists, that's how they got here. political asylum by committing frauds, am necessary city. one of the terrorists in the '93 trade center attack gout agricultural amnesty, claiming he worked for a farm in florida. the only thing he planted was bomb in the garage of the world trade center. >> you think there's a definite threat of terrorists coming across the border whether it's venezuela through mexico, we could see terrorists on u.s. soil? >> could see? i think it would be unbelieve we would. no of course. we know that america is in their cross-hairs and then you have millions of new authorized workers at a time when

ahmadinejad recently said he wants to be the first iranian in space.ain responded to the story by tweetings, wasn't he there had just last week, referring to the country launching a rocket with monkey into space. >> he tweeted back saying lighten up, can't anyone take a joke. >>> 17 after the hour. in news 4 your health. you may want to exercise more and watch tv a little less. not this time of morning, though. researchers at harvard found young men who watched 20 or more hours of tv a week had a 44% lower sperm count than men who didn't watch tv at all. they also found men who exercised at least 15 hours a week had a 73% higher sperm count than those who didn't exercise. researchers studied 189 college students in rochester, new york. >>> right now, athletic tlraines are on the way to new york to discuss ways to keep your children safe while they play sport. a youth sports safety summit begins today. members of the national athletic trainers association will spend the next two days coming up with a plan to make sports safer and that includes drafting

an irrate egyptian threw a shoe at ahmadinejad nearly hitting him. did you see this?re does this leave us. we have a fox news contributor. great to have you back on the show. the shoe strikes again. this happened to george w. bush in 2008. i think he was in iraq though. is this a trend. >> it is humerous for us but inthe arab world it is a huge disgrace to throw a shoe at somebody particularly on a trip like this where ahmadinejad was hoping to rerekindle this relationship that has been estranged. melissa: it seems like iran has come to the table with a big check, and egypt is accepting it? >> they haven't accepted --. melissa: hasn't happen yet, yeah. >> they might accept it because their economy is in shambles. that is to think about why revolutions happy in first place. people are hungry. economy, the country can't sustain the huge population that keeps growing. obviously tourism is a huge moneymaker for the egyptians. it is not the most desirable place to visit that is loss as well. they might say yes. melissa: what would stop them from saying yes. >> would estran

and president ahmadinejad flies into egypt in what is the first trip of its kind by an iranian leader in thirty years the visit is seen as an attempt to improve ties between the two regional heavyweights i made rising tensions with his real. broadcasting live direct from our studios in moscow this is r t i'm sean thomas glad to have you with us now the french military assisted by local militia has taken the city of the last major city still controlled by islamist militants meanwhile french warplanes have continued striking at the remaining militant hideouts in the far north of the country while two senior islamic leaders have been reported captured but while the advance has been swift the conflict is already taking its toll on the civilians archies gonzalo reports from the war torn country . wirelessly that is their money because they know what i'm going to look at today in this town in mali everyone is celebrating the capture of two important islamist leaders one of them is mohammed the head of the demon a group which retired a content book too for months particularly violating the r

president ahmadinejad's remarks have to be taken with a bit of caution. for those who watch it on very closely you know part of the nothing has been sort of a lame duck president for the past one year just briefly from a nuclear security expert a bomb is going to handsful now and what we're seeing in north korea and of course for those tensions ongoing with with iran when he first became president he wanted a nuclear free world it seems to be that the situation got far worse than when he first started. yes indeed and in fact some of the commentators today also mentioned that this show circles by north korea will also indicate it on the ability to act without impunity and international society obviously we need to wait for the after reaction of the international society. we need we need in remarks made today. in fact have been some sort of. corporation with more koreans and. obviously. for the moment no information whatsoever to do substantial difficult final question but is the world a safer place though in terms of nuclear threats yes or no. i would say

. >> greta: president morisy of egypt gave a state visit to ahmadinejad from iran. what do you think the israelis think about this? >> they have to be worried about it. another consequence of the overthrow of mubarak and as much as people don't like his lack of respect for democratic human rights he never would have had ahmadinejad or anybody else from tay ron ran i tehrana leadership position in cairo. they both have their problems and have a clear disagreement about the civil war in syria. if i were israel. >> greta: but they are talking about it. >> looking at how they have supported hamas the terrorist group and the gaza strip i would be worried about these divisions being smoothed over. >> greta: another doal mix and i hate to sound like a broken record on this president bashir of sudan but he is under indictment to the icc was given a state visit a couple of months ago to egypt. you should have been arrested when stepped foot in visit and instead give and a state visit and up to his eye balls with sue and weapons to the sue sudanese mixes factor. >> john brenn