you're the president of egypt. the inheritor of one of the greatest lands and people in recorded history. your people invented civilization. the ancient greeks went to egypt and were like, what have you got there geometry and mythology? are you going to finish those? could we use those? the egyptians invented written language. and paper. toothpaste. people being buried with their cats. that was you. a style of walking people sing about even today. egypt built the great pyramids. maybe you could get some of the folks who built those who work on getting you a thicker skin. well not the same people. i obviously... i can't handle two passovers. i can't handle it. so bassemous receive poked fun of your hat and your lack of promised democratic reforms. what are you worried about? you're the president of egypt. you have an army. he's got puns in a show. you have tanks and planes. we should know. we still have the receipts. look, silencing a comedian doesn't qualify you to be president of egypt. just president of nbc. ( ch

straight to egypt air.efore michael shannon realized they were gone, they were landing in cairo untouchable. confirmation would finally come at the most unlikely time. >> oh, yeah. i received a call from adam. right after 9/11. and he said i'm not in america anymore. i'm not even in new york. he thought new york was a separate country. he was only four years old at the time. he said when are you and pop pop coming to get me. i said as soon as we can. >> shannon planned on doing just that. heading to egypt armed with the law on his side and bringing his boys home. then he called the state department for help. but officials there said there was nothing he could do. >> the state department said the family won't allow it. it's intrusive. i've asked for wellness pness checks and the embassy writes letters to the family and the family simply refuses them. >> there may have been another reason for the state department's lack of interest. >> in the aftermath of 9/11, the united states was leaning heavily on egypt a

chairman of bechtel egypt. he sat on several egyptian government boards of the then dictator hosni mubarak. and he still runs his financial and banking consulting firm near the family apartment building he owns. but one thing osama khalifa did not have was a grandson to take over his empire. >> he wanted grandsons. >> oh, yeah. he had four daughters and six granddaughters and no male children. >> reporter: but that changed soon after nermeen and michael were married. >> come. >> reporter: adam shannon was born on february 2nd, 1997. the first male grandchild of the khalifas. nermeen's mother came over for the birth pf pictures show a beaming mother, father, and grandmother. there was even time for a family visit to cairo. michael shannon says his father-in-law was so overjoyed to have a grandson. he offered michael a job and a house. with just one condition. they had to live in egypt. >> i said, well, the problem is your daughter, my wife, hates this country. she hates egypt. women are second-class citizens her

chairman of bechtel egypt. he sat on several egyptian government boards of the then dictator hosni mubarak. and he still runs his financial and banking consulting firm near the family artment building he owns. but one thing osama khalifa did not have was a grandson to take over his empire. >> he wanted grandsons. >> oh, yeah. he had four daughters and six granddaughters and no male children. ♪ >> reporter: but that changed soon after nermeen and michael were married. >> come. >> reporter: adam shannon was born on february 2nd, 1997. the first male grandchild of the khalifas. nermeen's mother came over for the birth pf pictures show a beaming mother, father, and grandmother. there was even time for a family visit to cairo. michael shannon says his father-in-law was so overjoyed to have a grandson. he offered michael a job and a house. with just one condition. they had to live in egypt. >> i said, well, the problem is your daughter, my wife, hates this country. she hates egypt. women are second-class citizens her

straight to egypt air.efore michael shannon realized they were gone, they were landing in cairo untouchable. confirmation would finally come at the most unlikely time. >> oh, yeah. i received a call from adam. right after 9/11. and he said i'm not in america anymore. i'm not even in new york. he thought new york was a separate country. he was only four years old at the time. he said when are you and pop pop coming to get me. i said as soon as we can. >> shannon planned on doing just that. heading to egypt armed with the law on his side and bringing his boys home. then he called the state department for help. but officials there said there was nothing he could do. >> the state department said the family won't allow it. it's intrusive. i've asked for wellness pness checks and the embassy writes letters to the family and the family simply refuses them. >> there may have been another reason for the state department's lack of interest. >> in the aftermath of 9/11, the united states was leaning heavily on egypt a

aid to egypt.griffin investigates. >>> a line of deadly storms is moving across the southeast and leaving a trail of damage in its wake. it's the same system that brought ice and snow to the midwest. over the last 24 hours, powerful tornadoes across the midwest and south have killed at least one person. the governor of arkansas has declared 15 counties disaster areas. look at that damage right there. a state of emergency was declared in missouri as well. thousands are without power in alabama. a twister that touched down in kemper county, mississippi, was at least a half mile wide with winds topping 150 miles an hour. that county and one other also under a state of emergency tonight. with more, here's randi kaye. >> this is getting big. >> reporter: today in mississippi, extreme weather, barreling its way across the southeast, killing at least one person and leaving several severely injured as this tornado touches down. the storm system carving a path of destruction that stretches from the dakotas

they find out that's enough to keep egypt afloat. >> egypt is running out of dollars. they're down to $13.4 million, enough for just three months, food, gas, and oil imports. but poor countries have thrown egypt a life line. number one is qatar with loans and investments worth $8 billion. but that's left some egyptians questioning whether one country should suddenly acquire so much nfluence, they broadcast a horale salute. >> then there's libya. in march, egyptian security forces arrested three wanted members of the gaddafi regime after a gun battle in cairo and deported two of them back to libya. three weeks later, libya deposited $2 billion in the egyptian central bank. both governments denied the events are related. >> he was on the board of the national bank of egypt. she says far too little is known about the government will use these loans. >> this complicates the problem in the future. >> egypt's third would-be savior is turkey, giving egypt $2 billion in aid, but only if egypt welcomes the army of turkish businessmen who travel with prime minister erdowan and i

you were born in egypt, you spent time in egypt, and then you left egypt and you went to london, if i'm not mistaken, and then you left london and you went to saudi arabia. >> yeah. >> hinojosa: you were being raised in a family that was teaching you your belief in islam, which was that men and women are equal. >> yeah, because i saw that in the life that my parents led. my parents met in medical school in cairo, so they were both physicians, they both did their graduate studies together, and the reason that we moved to london was so that both my parents could do their ph.d.s in medicine. so i grew up in a house where the role models were a man and a woman, professional equals and partners in a marriage that they had to kind of mold along the way, because when we moved to london, my mom would tell my dad, "you know what? the dishwashing, the bed-making, the taki the kids to school, we've got to do it together here, because we have no help, no extended family, no nannies. we're in this together." >> hinojosa: and your dad, a devout muslim, was saying what to your mom? "it's okay, i get i

has sent to egypt during these past 12 years. chaotic in egypt now, but you know, during the mubarak reign, he also got little help. he says because this family are not only wealthy but were tied in with the mubarak regime and therefore, untouchable. >> what do you find when you went to cairo in search of these boys? >> we actually found the boys themselves and while we were still in cairo, we sent michael shannon images of his boys. his boys that he hasn't seen in 12 years. take a look. listen, i want you to do something. you've got a computer in front of you. i want you to open up that computer and i want you to hit play. >> i see it. and i'm looking at a young man with a black tie. >> does he look familiar? >> no. are you serious? are you talking about the man with the tie? >> yeah. we believe that first boy who looks like a man now is adam, and the second is jason, your son jason. >> it could be him. it could be. yes, it could be him. >> looks like a man. >> yeah. i spent the last 11 years with an image of a 5-year-old in my

a christian was from egypt in libya was tortured to death in egypt i.t. there is a mother of seven children who was sentenced her entire family fifteen years. for converting to christianity. she reconverted to christianity. >> i know there are number of specific cases. i want to back to the pastor. the american citizen held in iran right now. you implied that the that our state department has a renaissance about speaking out that this was done at the end of the day on friday. i assume you're saying for some reason deliberately and that the idea -- the fact he's a christian pastor was not mentioned. i want to know why do you think the administration -- what would the reasons be whether legitimate or ill legitimate for for doing this at the end of the week when traditionally obviously things are put out there so they don't get attention. why would the current administration do that? what would their reasons be for not being more vocal about or not mentioning it's a christian pastor? or is that just an oversight. i can't believe there's an oversight. there w

the part that had to do with egypt and the bits that secretary kissinger negotiated between egypt and israel or syria and israel are examples of the united states operating as an effective broker. taught chiefing in all of these cases igant agreements. that has not been the case with regard to the palestinians. >> rose:does that have to do with the nature of the palestinians today, i don't mean that in a negative way but they don't have a state. >> i think it has more to do with the fact that those agreements involved significant strategic interests in the united states. winning egypt away from the soviet union is a huge prize. that explain it. the palestinians are not seeing that. >> rose: doesn't the united states understand that palestinian state is in its own interest? >> i think that everyone of the last, every president since president carter with the sole exception of george w. bush and perhaps george w. bush understood that in some fashion and so did some of their senior advisors. one of the interesting things i talk about in the book with the exsomion of george w. bush they m

. >> it is wheat harvest season in egypt, but these farmers say there is little to celebrate. he says he has never seen such hard times. >> planting wheat now is becoming very difficult in every way. it is simply unaffordable. >> the subsidized diesel fuel is in short supply, pushing them to the black market. that has doubled cost and affected every aspect of the profits. did -- it has left many worried about the government's expectations of a bumper harvest. >> how can we have a larger harvest when we are struggling to find fertilizers? .here are all sorts of pests there are no agricultural advisers to help us like before. flour is is -- four -- used in the main food staple. egypt imports roughly 10 million tons of wheat per year i'm a but this year, the government is slashing that -- per year, but this year, the government is slashing that by half. >> this year, egypt will have the largest wheat harvest in its history. we expect it will be 10 million tons. our dependence on imports will decrease significantly. are facing is we finding silos to store this harvest. >> experts

the second thing is there's lots of foreign money going into egypt from the gulf.and that's very, i haven't seen any documentation of that, but all the reliable people i know say it is the case. so it's only certain types of money. of course, that doesn't help an ngo if it runs afoul of laws on foreign money. i think the main thing would be what does the organization itself want? the democracy and human rights activist in egypt was company on this a year or two back and said, ask of the organization. it's probably the best judge of its own risks and what it needs. so that's all i can suggest on that. >> i'm with the investigative project on terrorism to our organization tracks domestic islamists that are filled with the rugged such as the council -- islamic society of north america and we've been able to see if there's been a close correlation between these groups and lobbying the obama administration. it come out and support the brotherhood in egypt and elsewhere in the middle east. do you think that they are having an impact on how the administration deals with i

papa christian from egypt and libya was tortured to death. in egypt itself, there is a mother of seven children whose entire family was sent insta 15 years. her converting to christianity. >> i want to hear more -- i want to go back. but i'm not .. traditionally obviously things are put out there so they don't get attention. why would the current administration do that? what would their reasons be for not b being more vocal about it, or for not mentioning this to the pastor? or is that just an oversight? >> i can't believe it's an oversight. there's a pattern here. congressman frank wolf held a hearing on iran last week. the administration refused a witness. >> refused to send -- >> a witness to this hearing to talk about the pastor. >> could you guess why that would be? >> i really think it's misguided multicultural, an unwillingness, political correctness, unwillingness to say that christians are victims in that part of the world. trying to be nice, trying to be like and i can't find any other explanation of why -- >> has that ever worked?

in egypt, like jewish residents in egypt, like moderate muslims who disagree with the kind of radicalism that is being forced on them until egypt, and then we find out this week this administration is sending more tanks to be used to crush those who just want freedom in egypt. . so our allies, the moderate muslims in afghanistan, that fought, many gave their lives, they lost friends and family, fighting the taliban on our behalf, and now this administration has figured -- figuratively thrown them under the bus. friendship g to buy and peace, literally buy it with money, with the taliban. that's not how you deal with the taliban. their northern alliance knew how to deal with them. we helped them with some arms, we imbedded less than 500 special operations people in intelligence. and within three or four months, the northern alliance ad defeated the taliban. and then as i learned in my first meeting with northern alliance leaders some years ago , we told them, give us back the significant weapons we've given you, because we're america, we will make sure you're safe now, we'll make sure afg

saudi arabia all could develop their own nuclear weapons if they wish to and egypt. i hope does not develop nuclear weapons i hope nobody develops nuclear weapons but clearly the danger now is very nuclear arms race in the middle east with all the civil conflict that could bring about if ever they should need urgent action now particularly by the usa and the other four declared nuclear weapons states to take steps for their own disarmament but above all to hasty convene this middle east nuclear weapons conference what should israel be doing. israel should decommission its nuclear weapons join the n.p.t. and get on board with the rest of the world in trying to develop a nuclear when you put it another way what is really thinking what is the make israel do that is not going to do it unless it's pressured i guess well israel depends very heavily on trade the european union and military aid from the united states the european union the united states working together in a position to put the most enormous pressure on israel through sanctions or withdrawing aid or lift a l

egypt's ousted president hosni mubarak goes on trial again over the killing of protesters during the revolution of twenty eleven i mean growing chaos and disappointment and his successes on the. international news this is all she would meet you densher paula hello and welcome to the program first playing a tit for tat mosco has evened the score against washington by drawing up a list of americans it's now banned from entering the country due to human rights abuses after the you asked carried out a similar move against a number of assumptions and to give us more impression of what actually sparks and escalates is the diplomatic standoff here is medina with me in the studio medina very nice to have you in the studio with you good to see you too so as promised the russia has finally find bike right who is actually on that list and why russia had to do this true while russia has released to the stealth eighteen officials who are banned from entering the russian federation of. violating human rights violations and now this is really as you just mentioned a direct response to the so-called

and egypt's ousted president hosni mubarak who goes on trial again this over the killing of protesters during the revolution of twenty eleven all amid a growing chaos and disappointment in his successor. live from moscow this is r.t. on. news from around the world. high profile americans linked with torture illegal arrests and abductions of russian citizens moscow has now published the names of human rights violators is banned from entering its territory but the measure comes after a similar move from washington against a number of russians which lawmakers in moscow dubbed as russo phobic to give us more impression of what actually spog an escalator the diplomatic standoff is always within a question of how to give us up to date on this so good to see you today. russia has fired back at who is actually on the list why why did the state actually have to release it rice well it's true russia has tried lists of the list eighteen officials that are banned from entering the russian federation of human rights violations and that's less is really a direct response to the u.s. magnitsky list w

so we have to, as the largest donor to egypt -- we're extremely generous as a country to egypt, bothn our direct aid to the military, the economic aid, and to their farm loans, and we need to draw a red line and say these christians must be protected and their murderers must be brought to trial and justice must be served. >> wendy: we saw the incredible story of the two women from iran. and we know others, including pastor saeed abedini, are still jailed in iran. why does the regime there fear christianity so much? >> well, they derive their ledg legitimacy from their religion of islam. and they see christians, and becoming a christian, as a threat to their law. the grand ayatollah, of course, started iran, and ayatollah still rules, there is clerical rule. they see this as a very deep threat. and there is quite a bit of sympathy there for christianity among the people. >> wendy: miraculously, toes tw those two iranian women that we saw at the beginning of the show, were freed after a year. saeed abedini still in jail. what can be done to help free these christians that are in prison

and egypt's ousted president hosni mubarak goes on trial again over the killing of protesters during the revolution of twenty love and made growing chaos and disappointment in his successors policies. hello and welcome to all t twenty is live from moscow our main story now. preparing to respond with that tit for tat action after after washington released a list of russians it's banned from entering the states you to allege she were rights violations the u.s. move the house for that port sold into the wound of russian american relations more details now from. the obama administration has released a list of russians to be blacklisted under the so-called mug needs act despite moscow's calls not to put such a list together in the first place let alone publish it the list includes eighteen names including sixteen judges and investigators in the united states accused of human rights abuses linked directly to the money it's key case these individuals will be forbidden from getting a u.s. visa as well as have their assets frozen so they might need to keep was a russian lawyer who was arreste

and egypt's ousted president hosni mubarak goes on trial again over the killing of protesters during the revolution of twenty eleven i mean a growing chaos and disappointment and his successes policies. international news and comment live from moscow this is all see with me. and welcome to the program the u.s. has released a list of eighteen russians banned from entering the states due to alleged human rights violations the move sparks and angry response from moscow which said it would respond with similar measures while warning of the damage to relations between the two countries is this a trick and it has the details from washington. the obama administration has released a list of russians to be blacklisted under the so-called mug needs to act despite moscow's calls not to put such a list together in the first place let alone publish it the list includes eighteen names including sixteen judges and investigators who in the united states accuse of human rights abuses going to directly to the mother needs case these individuals will be forbidden from getting a u.s. visa as well as hav

the retrial of egypt's deposed president hosni mubarak has opened with a surprising move on the part of the judge he's withdrawn from the case referring it to another court and the announcement they met with angry shouts and geas mubarak was earlier sentenced to life for conspiring to kill protesters during the unrest that toppled him but a retrial was ordered after he appealed the verdict the proceedings are taking place against the backdrop of growing violence against the current president's policies mohamed morsi in his ruling islam is party facing pressure over a lack of democratic reforms and economic situation in addition the government is also blamed for a spike in sectarian violence as bell true reports. days after a brutal assault on egypt's main coptic cathedral activists and opposition leaders meet to discuss a response many of them like tony sabri a christian protester who was trapped inside the church say they're still in shock a lot of the. attacks asked from everywhere even from the street next to the gas stations by the supporters the police called insults that are th

chaos in egypt as the religious divide widens coptic christians who have in judo no assault on their main cathedral and say police are texting the perpetrators. worldwide news live from moscow this is the with me rule research show us good to have you with us today high profile americans linked with torture illegal it rests and abductions of russian citizens of moscow has now published the names of human rights violators is banned from entering the territory by the measure comes off to a similar move from washington against a number of russians which lawmakers in moscow dubbed as russo phobic to give us more of an impression of what actually sparked an escalated a diplomatic standoff a question about now it joins me live here in the studio good to see you so so russia has fought by who's actually on the list why did the state find the need to publish it get to see it here ari so indies russia has released a list off eighteen officials that are from now own banned from entering the russian federation over. violations that is really a direct response to the u.s. . blacklists which is a

days after a brutal assault on egypt's main coptic cathedral activists and opposition leaders meet to discuss a response many of them like tony sabri a christian protester who was trapped inside the church say they're still in shock . because. they're attacked just from everywhere even from the street next to the gas station by the interest of both police told inside that's not what this is going to be our civilians bombarded us with molotov cocktails rocks rubber bullets and live ammunition and the police protected them homework and they were bishops painting that and the guy in the presence of the nation was shocked on sunday and bloody scenes of egypt's security forces firing tear gas and birdshot but it's directly at mourners gathered at st marks. the main church is to coptic christians president mohamed morsi has promised to investigate and his alleged comments saying an attack on this cathedral was an attack on himself has done little to satisfy the coptic christian community with divisions deepening between the two religions many fear the worst has yet to come in the aftermath

including a retrial of egypt's ex president while the current one faces mounting pressure we look at mohamed morsi is failing to address the spike in sectarian violence much more after the short break. it's technology innovations all the latest developments from around russia we've. covered. the international landlord in the very heart of moscow. and good of you to join us here on r.t. armory sushi in moscow in less than twenty four hours venezuelans start voting for a new leader at the snap presidential election was triggered by the death of chavez last month and will determine the course of one of the most oil rich nations in the world a short bitter presidential campaign has been marked by allegations of conspiracies and assassination plot so let's take a look though at the two candidates and their chances with tester australia now reporting from caracas. important elections for the venezuelan people certainly snap elections after the death of this about a month ago it has been a short campaign for everyone who has been in fold and there are two top contenders in these elections o

saudi arabia or could develop their own nuclear weapons if they fit and egypt. i hope does not develop nuclear weapons i hope nobody develops nuclear weapons but clearly the danger now. it is very nuclear arms race in the middle east with all the equipment that could bring about a very they should be used we need urgent action now the european union the united states working together in a position to put the most enormous pressure on on israel either through sanctions or withdrawing from the trade agreement which also has a human rights closer than it we need action urgently by those two key players in the situation. more stories there tonight the mystery of the bangladesh tower block collapse awful seeing a woman nearly all now we hear of the big western firms that will make you close the so they won't pay for compensation to the victim is just gets worse right on the arkansas right now that warms those affected by last month's exxon all spill that there's still toxic trouble in the neighborhood take a long time to clear again big mess there if you want to read

i go to egypt all the time and i talked to everybody. i talked to people who are connected in various ways and the impression i get is that there is an e egyptian, there is a phobia on the part of people connected to each action officials against any sense of having gaza shoved into thei arms. they are willing to do certain things andy e not willing to take full responsibility partly for enlightened reasons. this is a problem that you have created and you have to solve. but partly for the self-interest of regions because they understand what a colossal burden it would be worthy to be responsible. so i actually don't know what the deal was. i'm not privy to what happened. i was there soon after but i don't know what actually happened between the secretary of the president and his people and the hamas people. but what i have read indicates that no, they did not and i think will not. in fact if you look at what's going on in the politics today, the troubles are being blamed on some of the oppoion on the brotherhood's over solicitude for ham

they're hugely disappointed with egypt post-revolution. >> sometimes i really despair, but i have to force myself to think positively and to believe that god will help us to make egypt better, and that would mean his death was not in vain. >> they last saw their son alive from their balconies. he was heading to tahrir square to fight for democracy. his parents say the fact that his killers might not be brought to justice shows how far egypt is from that goal. >> to italy now, and coast guards say they have rescued hundreds of migrants found heading for european shores. more than 200 people were aboard two large denise -- dinghies more and more refugees are headed for europe. more than 600 people have landed on the island in the past three days. >> a study by one of germany's leading pro-immigration think tanks has come out with the report underscoring the benefits of opening of the country to more migrants. >> at the same time, it is saying that work needs to be done to help those who want to integrate into german society learn how to do more, especially when it comes to language ski

days after a brutal assault on egypt's main coptic cathedral activists and opposition leaders meet to discuss a response many of them like tony sabri a christian protester who was trapped inside the church say that still in shock at the end of the. attacks just from every one of them even from the street next to the gas stations by the teachers the police told inside that's not what this is going to want to civilians with. rocks rubber bullets and live ammunition and the police protect going to the market if they were bishops fainting the. sort of the more the nation was shocked on sunday and bloody scenes of egypt's security post is firing tear gas on bad shot but it's directly at morn is gathered on st marks the beach or here behind me one of the main churches to coptic christians president mohamed morsi is promises to investigate these alleged comments saying that an attack on this could be true was an attack on himself has done little to satisfy the coptic christian community we did business deepening between the two religions many fear the worst has yet to come in the often matte

comedian and satirist known as egypt's jon stewart. issuing an arrest for basram youssef who is out on bail for criticizing egypt's president morsi. youssef told nbc that he's taking the headlines in stride and refusing to change. >> people have said that you are carrying the torch of free speech for egypt. giving a lot of very significant -- >> i would love to be called any of these things. i mean at the end of the day it is a political satire show, we try to talk to people in a different tone, in a different style of things. i mean if you watch or television that's a lot of talk shows and people talking straight. so we just take people outside of that zone. >> this has caused a lot of amusement on both capitals and some concerns. ayman joins me now, i want to talk about this interview. the level of ridicule involved in this. we've seen jon stewart blasting president morsi for what he has done. but at the same time, there is a more serious situation here. which sin creasing censorship and increasing crackdown on free expression by the