mike hanna, al jazeera, cairo. >> and we're live now from cairo. david, what is the expectation as it pertains to hosni mubarak's release? do you people believe it will happen? >> yes, they do. certainly that's the case, rachel, it leaves a big question mark. mubarak's attorney may be right all along when he was saying the former dictator would be released this week, and now the judge making that rule be, making it so he could be released as early as tomorrow morning. you can see it is already evening here in cairo now, and people are worried, frankly, what the result could be if he is released tomorrow. the muslim brotherhood has released a statement saying they want to have large protests on friday after friday prayers. that's a common occurrence, nonetheless, but if he's released certainly that would be mormore demonstrative that perhs it might otherwise be. if he is released tomorrow morning he will join his wife suzanne at an undisclosed location certainly outside of public view. the last thing anybody wants is for him to make a public appeara

mike hanna al jazeera, cairo. >> we have more on egypt coming up, and look at the financial fall outthe political turmoil and the economy is suffering as tourists choose to stay away. and i was a coward, the u.s. army soldier who killed 16 afghan villages apologizes. ♪ what happens when social media uncovers unheard, fascinating news stories? >>they share it on the stream. >>social media isn't an afterthought. it drives discussion across america. >>al jazeera america social media community, on tv and online. >>this is your outlet for those conversations. >>post, upload, and interact. >>every night, share undiscovered stories. it's good to have you with us, this is a look at the top stories from around the world. the biggest ally is urging him to cooperate with un inspectors, russia says syria must give the un team access to the site of an alleged gas attack and moscow wants rebels guaranteed safe access. japan watchdog says the operator of the fukushima plant failed to monitor the storage tanks containing radio active water. the operator has admitted that around 300 tons of water hav

let's cross live now to mike hanna who is in our cairo bureau, hi again, mike, it seems that the securityrackdown and the arrests of muslim brotherhood leaders and supporters have affected protest? >> well certainly yes, the size of the protest on friday, a traditional day of demonstration was muted in the course of the last 24 hours, far, far fewer numbers turned out on the streets than the organizers had hoped for. a number of reasons for this, certainly the intense security crackdown of recent days had the affect of keeping people in their homes. and the military and police imposed bloc blockades, so certy there was lessen shoesas less e. what did occur in isolated precise geographical areas, many of them lasting for only a short time only one incidence of violence was reported. that was a death, where it is reported that those supporting president morsi, and those supporting the military cashed with the as a result of civili civilians fighting each other and one death. throughout the rest of this day very quiet, indeed, and very calm throughout much of the country. >> thank you for th

mike hanna has more. >> reporter: the case was thought to be concluded.osni mubarak was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison for failing to stop the killings of protesters. and those celebrating prepared to begin their life in a post mubarak era. but the proposed president's defense arguing against the sentence. the prosecutors appealing against the courted's decision to acquit mubarak on other charges. all sides greeted the decision to hold a retrial as a victory. but then prosecutors in the morsi government realized that with no new charges formulated, mubarak had legal grounds for immediate release, and haste illy drew up a number of corruption charges. in recent weeks these charges have been dismissed by the court, and his lawyers now contend he should be released. their simple argument, he has to date not been formally convicted of any crime, and the period of detention, pending judgment has long expired. but underlying this complex legal process is a massive shift in the fulcrum of power with the morsi government deposed by the military

mike hanna, al jazeera, cairo. >> jonathan betz joins us from cairo. how long is hase mubarak expected to remain in this hospital? >> reporter: that's a question that we simply do not know the answer to. i can tell you that he faces several accusations, several charge and several trials. he is not a clear and free man although he is free from prison. it's a stunning development, we've expected it the last several days nevertheless still stunning. his next trial date is the next one, the one where he's accused of having a role in the deaths of the mass protest during the revolution. that trial will resumes sunday. he could be sentenced back to prison as soon as tease other trials wrap up. >> we understand that he'll be on trial, but where will he be under house arrest when he's being tried? >> reporter: he'll remain in that military hospital not far from ka cairo. you saw the helicopter lifting him from prison walls and the ambulance waiting to escort him to the military hospital. we understand that he has a private suite there. since he is 85 years old

mike hanna?airo. >> syria's government warned the united states against any military action saying this would inflame the middle east. the u.s. says they're ready to carry out military options against syria if they need to as part of a diplomatic push to respond to a suspected chemical weapons attack. charles stratford has more. >> a rocket shoots sky ward from the damascus neighborhood. al jazeera cannot independently verify the pictures that were up loaded onto youtube. it is the same area where an apparent chemical weapons attack killed hundreds of men, women and children last week. the syrian government denies it was responsible. global leaders are calling for some sort of response. u.s. president barack obama has been meeting his national security visor advisors to consr his options. defense minister says that they're ready to act ton barack obama's orders. >> barack obama has asked the defense department to prepare options for all contingencies. we have done that. again, we are prepared to

. >> reporter: mike hanna is from cairo and how are they preparing for the protests, mike?ll very intensely indeed. the interior ministry says any attempts to attack any target will be met with the utmost force and security forces locked down large areas of cairo and ramsey square as well as rabbi square which are scenes of confrontation in resent weeks completely sealed off by military. the mosques in the squares incidentally closed down for what are said to be renovation. the square locked down by the military surrounded by armored personnel carriers and the city of cairo is very much on a high alert basis as are other cities throughout egypt. >> reporter: with the arrest of muslim brotherhood's members with the state of emergency in force in egypt, why is the military allowing these protests to go ahead? >> well, the interim government stated repeatedly the people of egypt have the right to peaceful protests and it must be seen to allow the demonstrations and protests to go ahead. however, it draws the line it says, if the protest becomes violent or if particular car tar

mike hanna al-jazeera, cairo. >> while many of the world is slowing down growth.elping to drive that growth is energy exploration in the first of a six-part series, al-jazeera will be will be scamming the -- examining the impact of that boom. we traveled to texas, the number one gas producing state. >> reporter: it's midday in nixon, texas. not so long ago, this was a quiet farming town. now it's a literal crossroad of the oil and gas drilling boom in south texas. that boom has been good for the family restaurant run by daisy barajas. she's one of many people drawn to an area where spanish is heard nearly as often as english. [ speaking spanish ] >> we have benefited quite a bit, because we have a lot of oil companies and they have helped us, as well as other businesses in nixon. a lot of people are moving here from all over texas. >> reporter: it's been more than a century since texas saw the first oil crusher, making america the first leading producer, until it was eclipsed by the middle east. with new hydraulic fracturing, they are exploiting the deep shale oil

mike hanna reports from cairo. >> reporter: a helicopter arises from the prison after hours of legal procedures has any mubarak is released, but his immediate destination is a short flight down the road. his release at this stage is very much a technical term. he will remain under house arrest in terms of the state of emergency decry issue decree ise former prime minister. a ban of leaving the country has been imposed. >> we've lost everything, now police state will return, justice will return and every negative thing will come back. >> we have a judiciary. >> reporter: mubarak is expected to be back behind bars in the courtroom on sunday when his trial on charge of complicit in the civilian deaths of the 2011 revolution resumes. on the same day leaders of the muslim brotherhood that opposed mubarak for decades will also appear. they stand accused of inciting violence during the demonstrations that follow the takedown of the morsi government. but the protesters that preceded the military action has called for courts to strongly pursue the prosecution of mubarak and morsi and ironical

that's mike hanna joining from our cairo but row on both cases taking place in cairo today. >>> moving on, dyscrased chinese politician bo xilai accused his former aid of lying. it is the fourth day of his trial where he's accused of bribery and abuse of trial. bo xilai admitted he made mistakes but denied embezzling state funds. harry forcet has the latest from outside of court. >> well, for a second day the two long-time friends and allies appeared in the courtroom together as adversaries. he says that he told bo xilai that his wife was responsible for the killing of the british businessman neil heyward the day after that he says bo xilai pumped him on the side of the head causing fluid to leak from his air ear, blood from his mouth and after that he was dismissed from his post. the prosecution says that evidence should be believed and that it demonstrates that bo xilai did abuse his power in trying to cover up the police investigation into his wife's involvement in the killing. she was sentenced to a suspended death sentence for that murder lost year. bo xilai responded trying to un

mike hanna, al jazeera, cairo. >>> the american soldier responsible for killing 16 afghans last year,ays he is sorry. he described it as act of cowardo cowardous. the 39-year-old pleaded guilty in june to avoid the death penalty. a military jury will determine if his life sentence should offer a chance of parole. allen what did you make attorne always given a chance to make a statement on his own, during which he repeatedly apologized to the familiar list of the 16 people that he killed, many of them women and children. he and the rest of us listened to a lot of earlier testimony about the horrors of war, and specifically about fellow soldiers describing what he had been through in iraq. >> i think he passed on the sense of frustration that multiple deployed soldiers have, when they are just dealing with a normal stress-inducing incident, and everything gets completely out of proportion. i don't know if he conveyed that well. i know that that's the concept of posttraumatic stress disorder, and some of the pressure that sergeant bales was under at the time that his attorney says he sna

mike hanna is live following the protests. e reports, mike, of roads being sealed off and closed off. >> yes, indeed. in cairo, in particular, many areas i saw in the course of the morning, huge areas around mosques were completely cordoned off. also, barbed wire strung across major roads. the intention of this becoming clearer as the day wears on. we are seeing a large number of protests, but all geographically contained. the strategy is to keep the protests taking plagues within neighborhoods to prevent them from coming together in one joint mass demonstration of public dissent. this would appear to have been the strategy within cairo, probably repeated in other parts of egypt, too. we have received reports that there has been violence in various parts of egypt in at least three of the governorrants. we are told there have been clashes between those calling for the reintroduction of the morsi government and those who support the interim government and military that put it into place. we understand there have been several inju

mike hanna, al jazeera, cairo. >> at least one person is dead and dozens injured after a bomb rippedthrough a military bus in yemen. the explosion happened in the capital city of sanaa. so far no one has claimed responsibility for the attack. >>> and influential voice in the african-american community is now calling hillary clinton a war criminal. dr. cornell west made the remarks on talk al jazeera. david schuster is the host. >> dr. cornell west has repeatedly called president obama a war criminal because of the administration's use of drone strikes, and then later we shifted to other topics, including the 2016 campaign and asked dr. west about hillary clinton. >> would hillary clinton be a good president? >> in some ways i would think hillary clinton as i do with barack obama, they're both brilliant. they're both charismatic. they would be head of an empire and both involved with war crimes. of course hillary was right there-- >> is dr. car nell west calling hillary clinton-- >> absolutely. very much. how could she be secretary of state, the same way henry kissinger was. >> that's

. >>> well, let's speak to mike hanna whose live for us from cairo.tart with mubarak's trial. certainly a lot of statements made during that trial. give us a flavor of what happened in court before it was adjourned. >> the judge began the proceedings with insisting on his independence saying he would view the evidence presented to him by both the defense and the prosecution with equal favor making very clear that his decision would be based on the detail and not on any personal opinion. the judge heard ongoing argument from the defense and it was very interesting that the defense was very quick to introduce a new line of argument, related to recent events that defense lawyers said it looks like another deposed president, mohammed morsi will appear in court soon on charges related to accomplicety icomplicity of kilf civilians. those are the charges against mubarak. that's beginning a argument that involves pinning the killings on mohammed morsi taking attention away from the other displaced president, mubarak. interesting there. the judge in adjourning

aljazeera's mike ha hanna is in cairo. mike, what can you tell us about that meeting?is was an urgent meeting called in the past 24 hours. it's been underway for about three hours. it is at ambassadorial level. foreign ministers on present any decision that could be taken there would likely be referred back to the foreign ministers for their resolution on that particular issue, so that meeting ongoing arab nations trying to agree on a common front to the sirian crisis. >> mike, we're seeing a united front with regards to the united states and its western allies, divided when it comes to china and russia. how are the arab league reviewing events that just unfolded in syria? >> well, there's not likely to be any agreement should there be military action contemplated, in particular the concept of air strikes. egypt is very, very opposed to any such strike for a number of reasons, arguing that would create instability in the region, a greater influx, which would further destabilize an unstable country. egypt would be oh poled, you have cutter likely to be arguing in favor

mike, thank you, that is make hanna reporting from cairo.rism has long been one of the pillars of egypt's economy and the industry took a hit after the 2011 revolution but was slowly recovering and that was until last month's coup. the number of torists drop this week and we report from cairo and people depending on this are struggling. >> these boats have never been docked for so long. until a few years ago they have been packed with tourists sailing up and down the river nile. there is no other work for him in cairo and shows up at the dock everyday hoping to find some work. >> before the revolution i would never use the boat for just one customer. this boat can take around 50-60 people and i used to charge everyone about 50 cents. >> he says he doesn't care for politicians and they have other things on their mind. >> i want the situation to be better. most of the people on the streets now are trying to make a living and want a better environment for making a living, that is it and don't think of politics, they live from one day to the nex