need it to actually have representation in the parliament and so never you will see the bipartisan the tea party parliaments in person and very soon bartz not like three or four party problem and so there will be competition but you have to know you have to understand the nature of the political system and how to stop and if you see that if you look at the recent history our political struggle probably stand you will see that everything president actually offer its parliament was carried by the fallen for members and so i don't think we're going to see any competition in the parliament very soon after the election so what you're saying then the ruling party is expected to get a majority of the seats whereas its core supporters come from that in the country. well i think that the really party the incumbent party will still have support and are the people right now that have been the thirty five percent of blacks where it have voted already and some of the support namely comes from the regions and from the big cities from big cities and public start still i believe that the leadership wi

the current military parliament dominates parliament. it won the most seats and quickly criticized the elections of 2010. that will remain the same no matter how many seats are up for election on april 1 better one by opposition figures. that are 40 or so seats are free and to be contested. the national league for democracy says that they will contest all of those, even if it were to win every single seat. it will still only be a small block within parliament. but it would at least have a voice. then the question becomes can other opposition parties -- and there are not many within burma -- can the smaller parties be willing to form a bloc to try to come together to have a stronger voice in parliament? would they be willing to do that under the leadership of sujeidi. it will perhaps changed the tone of the debate, but it will not affect materially the balance of power. >> thank you so much for that update. >> pakistan is to introduce new laws that will make specific crimes of forced marriages and acid attacks on women. there will also be

egypt's new parliament has held its inaugural session.hough it remains unclear just what powers it will have, the new legislature is dominated by islamist parties and will be appointed a panel to draw up the constitution. secular parties said the document should not good is from a central role in political life. but legislators say they have the mandate to do just that. >> supporters of the new lawmakers cheered them on as they arrived at parliament for the first time but the muslim brotherhood have particular reason to be happy. they hold almost half the seats. >> we are reaping the fruits of democracy and the revolution. today is a celebration. for the first time in years, we have a parliament representing all egyptians. >> but not everyone felt represented. the liberal and left-wing groups that led the revolution to topple mubarak account for less than 10% of the seats. there is just a handful of women and a very few members of the coptic christian minority were among those elected. there were some signs of division during the swearing

join us again when parliament returns on january the tenth. can catch up with the best of the day at westminster in the record at 11:00 at night. but for now for me, good life. at a press conference on new year's eve the prime minister of japan promised to tackle social security and tax reform and visit the families affected by last year's earthquake in nuclear plant disaster. during a 20 minute news conference he was also asked about the governments proposed sales tax increase which we jump from 5% to 10% by 2015. try minister noda served as the finest minister in the previous administration and is japan's sixth prime minister in five years. >> we will now begin the press conference with prime minister noda who will be speaking at the beginning. first, please allow me to offer my heartfelt new year's greetings and in my bushes for continuing cordial relations for the new year. i would like to confirm one point, which is that when my cabinet was initiated in september of last year, there were three issues that were considered of highest import

. >> egypt's new parliament sits for the first time since must be areak's downfall. these are live pictures. syria holds firm, rejecting calls for president assad to resign. two founders of the mobile phone company step down. welcome to "bbc world news." i'm geeta guru-murthy. also in this program -- hosting the africa cup of nations is costing millions, so is it money well spent? and find out why the chinese year of the dragon could see a baby boom. >> almost a year to the day since protests erupted in egypt that led to the ousting of hosni mubarak, parliament is sitting for the first time since his downfall. islamists dominate the parliament. the freedom and justice party won the largest number of seats. the hard-line party came second. but it remains up to the president to decide which party gets to form a government. i'm joined by our correspondent, jon leyne. how have the first moments of this new parliament session gone? >> very smoothly. obviously a truly historic moment, probably the first properly democratically elected parliament, certainly in decades, prob

well it remains to be seen i think they had a raucous start to their parliament.you know it was reminiscent really of the birth of america took us to leaven years to get our act together after our revolution so it's going to have to take some time to shake out the muslim brotherhood is in charge we still have presidential elections to be had and the military needs to step down and the west should really come to the aid of the egyptians now when they need it the most especially on the economic front and give them the kind of a that will help their people get on their feet that's what they need now and let's give it some time to shake out but a lot of changes have already taken place a lot more have to do and i'm cautiously optimistic that the egyptian people will find their way ok david if i can go to you i mean in light of what just bradley had to say it seems to me and i'm going to be a senator that's my job here is that the u.s. the west and they feel very comfortable working with the egyptian military they have been partners for decades right now and they're st

democracy with several parties in parliament and some a position media but the essence of the regime is similar to those of the arab countries thats why the first thing the authorities did when their prize and began was to switch off the mobo networks and the internet connection before the people even demanded it out loud the cancer has authority has decided to offer a political reforms the people are now going to the polls to elect a new parliament recent constitutional amendments guarantee they'll be more than one party that has been up until now the challenge now is to keep all the good things stability prosperity. and at the same time allow the society to evolve. meanwhile the authorities have approved millions of dollars worth of programs to give the rest of cd a facelift and create new jobs but unities. the president's close associates appointed to oversee the turbulent region says in a few years and will make some cities in the gulf pale in comparison. come here in a few years and you won't recognize this city while the arab spring may have been sparked protests around the wor

in the entire parliament who's actually been turning round publicly saying anything against the e.u. itself so the fact that we have this amazing groundswell of support at something like forty percent easing credible it demonstrates the fact that the political classes are completely and utterly out of touch with what the people are thinking and what the people are thinking is quite simple they've seen near the scene similar who are emerging european countries such as themselves people like slovakia slovenia is stony are all coming into the euro european union they've joined the euro zone and they find it the worst poison chalice imaginable because slovakia nurses pensioners are not getting paid a third of what they would get paid if they were working in greece and to add insult to injury they're actually paying money to the greeks in order to support their euro zone bailouts that's why the people in croatia are deeply concerned and that's why it's going to be a very interesting referendum result tomorrow and indeed in just just a car here just for a moment here that we're not talking

he once more visibility for the european parliament. >> i am not the first to argue for the parliament'shts, but these are times when many people think anonymous powers are making decisions about their lives. >> a staunch pro-european, martin schulz is expected to leave the parliament until elections expected in 2014. >> ratings agencies and downgrades have not dissuaded investors. >> the eurozone bailout fund staged a successful bond auction on tuesday, with strong demand from investors. the efsf was able to raise some 1.5 billion euros in a sale of six-month bonds. the interest rate was favorable, even despite losing its aaa credit rating from standard and poor's on monday. investors snapped up european debt in the efsf money market auction. it was the yours and rescue fund's first bond sale in the wake of the downgrade. politicians are intensifying their calls for european ratings agency, perhaps one which ranks everything from refrigerators to diapers in germany. >> we want to create a european ratings agency, perhaps as a nonprofit foundation. that is something that will have to be

that this parliament has been properly elected with the acceptance of everyone it it's also commonly believed that the elections haven't been marred by violations or fraud as previous elections did but that doesn't mean that. the most majority in the parliament are not facing a huge challenge particularly with regards to the terrier reading economy in the country which basically is the crux of the demands of the revolutionaries revolutionaries have gathered a year back to demand social justice and this is the promise of the upcoming parliament and the challenge for them is when the us was one of the biggest supporters of former president mubarak preventing cause western allies supported egypt's revolution back in february do you think they will now continue to guard the country's policies through to the next chapter. it will be hard to believe that the u.s. would suddenly stop its relation. with egypt particularly that there is a closed organic relation with the military council now this organic relation needs to be questioned in the week of people's mounting criticism to the militar

what do we know about the agenda for the session of parliament? >> the key item is the budget. it is one of the key responsibilities of the bicameral parliament and to get this budget through. but the question really is how

of course, my criticism and the parliament was like take care. you have a big responsibility because of the events and because of the educational program, you invite people to take the bicycle on the street on a regular day, you have a big risk because your infrastructure is not yet there. so that was part of the political debate. still, i am willing to defend that policy that organizing events, this is in front of a mayor bank in the heart of brussels where the employees have been invited to come to work not by a car and to have a taste, as it says, of another mobility. it is part of the european car-free day which is organized every year, september 22, i believe it's similar to what you have in may, bike to work event. i really think those are good references. people maybe only have one day but a good experience of an alternative way to travel. i have been showing just one hour go, to go, the guidelines in english, it's our regional administration. they're very proud of it. i took one copy and showed it to some of you just this morning. it's re

racial groups and in some countries it needs to be ratified by parliament by the. in every country so we have another. source open people faired but actor is still an option for many many countries it was too much for one french e.u. deputy he quit calling act charade then came the twitter twist the micro-blogging site saying it can now censor tweets country by country. active protests in warsaw were expected to gather up to forty thousand people but a sudden big freeze kept many away nevertheless the intends to rally for several more weeks hoping to urge warsaw's ruling circles to take a step back. states along with poland signed actor but it's only here that the decision has caused so much controversy and public dissent the document is yet to be ratified by the country spar laments which certainly leaves the possibility of more protests everywhere across the european continent let's. see reporting from poland. one of our correspondents in the micro blogging from twitter is in a flap over a censorship scandal of its own we've got more analysis on that on our web s

the iranian parliament is set to vote on an immediate cut off of oil supply to the e.u. in a preemptive strike against the blocks crude embargo on to iran during the summer something man of fear will backfire and europe's economy. well the next modern david and goliath battle as we reported how every cultural giants are trying to eliminate old fashioned farmers. in japan i met with a lot of scientists consumers and processors and in part of us and this document here is a condensed version of the all the scientific studies the japanese have done using monsanto's data is over fifty pages long it has been all translated into english for me and that is on the food issues the food part of g.m.o. was months out always used a term substantially quadrant that the food is very similar but the japanese scientists say that it is not substantially equivalent that food is different and that you have changed it to genetic engineering or genetic modification you have changed the structure of the food and it's not the same and it can have very harmful allergens or bacteria that because

in protest to what the parliament has been doing and in protest of the parliament itself as an entity and demanding an end to the military rule. even if it would be in the form of handing over power to the party. we are starting again the rallies we are starting again the protests the sit ins in various parts of the country starting from wednesday and we are expecting that there will be a lot of blood because already there was a threat from the chief of staff of our armed forces who said if the prime minister mr going to. demand the use of brutal force this time. they will do take such orders and they will do it unlike the previous time during the period during the time of mubarak so we understand that this is a threat. several members of. different movements have received various threats of this murder including myself so it is going to be hard but we are still doing our peaceful nonviolent revolution in the form of protests rallies and sit in a last question here before the elections the muslim brotherhood was standing by the protesters recently their stance seems to have shifted yo

iranian parliament is set to vote on an immediate cut off of oil supplies to the e.u. at a preemptive strike against the blocs crude embargo on to iran during the summer something man of fear will backfire and europe's economy. well the next modern david and goliath battle as we reported how every cultural giants are trying to eliminate old fashioned farmers.

ratified and the european parliament says that i'm seeing something this these people here are hoping for because even the polish authorities have now taken a step back and they say that the rich if it cation will not necessarily happen as it had been predicted by many experts and the european in fact there's been a scandal in the european parliament already with a french deputy in the european parliament already resigning because of actors essentially act is about protecting intellectual property from music and books to different designer clothes and pharmaceuticals but the people here protesting in poland they are afraid that because parishioners would be able to close down websites for let's say harmless links to videos or t.v. shows or movies or something which most of the uses they do on every day basis so they think that this document will be misused by b. corporations and by the authorities and the whole already have been. several examples of that this document actually has a striking resemblance to this sopa bill in the united states so clearly the warsaw protests are the only

the fact that the absolute majority over the first parliament of new age of post mubarak egypt will be taking his limits and conservative parties means that the egyptian society rather secular right now will be under strict religious codes and of course this is something people will not be happy with this is not something they want to they've been fighting for more open democratic society not just one of these of course is expected to fact tourists which is a very important part of it gyptian economy because tourists don't want to go to the country where they are forced to cover their faces and hands of course since moved in brotherhood is supporting the supreme council of armed forces the power from mubarak last february the misery that has been there. in egyptian politics since the fall of monarchy in the nineteen fifties means that the military will stay longer in power and this is of course something also again something people here in egypt are not happy with because they say they want to do the revolution in two thousand and eleven to get rid of the tater she and they don't want

he has had one trip to the european parliament. of course he was conciliatory.e expected. but he's does not show signs of accepting that what he has done so far in setting up this new constitution breaches any human rights laws under the eu, in the democratic rights, freedom of the press, and more. he is prepared to talk, we believe. he is prepared to talk about the technicalities. but the commission is being cautious about suggesting that this situation is resolved. they're waiting for this one- month deadline to expire and see what happens by then. meanwhile, he was a the president of the european commission in brussels next tuesday. >> how worried should europe be about what is happening in hungary right now? >> i think it does show a sense doesrenationalization. many states are retrenching because of the economic crisis. they're watching with interest is illegal position is for hungary. is that a sovereign state with the right to decide on its judiciary and how to make its central bank functioned independently or otherwise? or is this something -- everyone w

between the government and the and the crowds we saw protesting last night who were angry at how the parliament through that turned out. well in a lot of ways this was a statement which was directed is response to the accusations of statements made by the opposition leaders during the protest that has pointed out that russia has already gone through an abrupt and very drastic change a very similar to a revolution during the collapse of the soviet union and that brought the country down into decline essentially into shambles and it took a very long time to get out of the dire situation but russia has succeeded in doing that which is in fact the education levels of employment has also risen over the past fifteen years as the standards of living for eighty percent of russians have increased there is such thing as a middle class which is in existence now it comprises around thirty percent of population something like this was not even heard of in the soviet era so let me put it has more in essentially people in his statement to be wary of that of the statements and slogans of which sound very lucra

continue in a different form i think this is a matter that parliament needs seriously to look at the impact if we're going to say in this country that you can give patents to people that allow them to control organisms that spread themselves around that raises implications that were raised in this case that need to be addressed by parliament and i hope their advice to do so. but i want to ask you a question has been reported by national broadcaster this morning that the supreme court ruled that you deliberately. supplanted it jeanette. modified monsanto a seed in your crops and i just want to know if this is a correct report or if you could straighten the record for that for once and for all in my view if you're not planting something intending to grow around brady crop meaning some crop you're intending to spray with round up. you know i don't see where that goes but as far as the supreme court was concerned in the lower courts. to that to the cultivation of plants with the gene in it was sufficient to be infringement today as a personal as i said it's a personal victory. six years

is sat i was invited to speak there and then in incident happened in it or at the parliament that i'll never forget in town among one of monsanto's representatives also had given a small presentation and i had given a presentation regards how their seeds implants is how it could be contaminated and coming out of the assembly the parliament assembly where i went face to face in two months had his representative from johannesburg and he he was very very out of that i would say rude and a he said to me and shaking his fists to my face said nobody stands up to monsanto we're going to get you and we're going to destroy you and no way and he also went on to say that when i get back to canada i was going to be in big trouble and sure enough three weeks later when i got back to canada monsanto launched another lawsuit against me for a million dollars and for all their car cars because they said i was stubborn i was arrogant i didn't do what months and. you won it and after another year of trial the judge the same judge as to first went out ahead in the federal court or what it must sound one h

pakistan's prime minister calls on parliament for help. the chinese launch of apple's iphone 4s is not quite as smart or smooth as they had hoped. it is midday in london, 7:00 a.m. in washington, and 6 above 30 in the evening in burma, where the government has responded to international calls of the release of more political prisoners. 650 detainees released. among those allowed out our leaders of the student uprising in 1988 and monks who led protests in 2007. also, the leader of the ethnic minority group. our southeast asia correspondent, rachel harvey, has been following this story from bangkok. >> snapshots of freedom. a gallery of dissidents and activists in prison for their beliefs. among the recent releases, min ko naing, prominent leader of the failed 1988 student uprising. outside burma's prisons, the crowds and the expectations grew. former inmates struggling to wakmake their way through. there has been amnesty before, but none as far reaching as this. some of those released today have spent more than a decade behind bars. among

. >> the taiwanese parliament probably experiences some kind of episode of disruption in almost everyon. >> during taiwan's two sessions per year, lawmakers have chewed over every option to prevent bills from being passed. literally. >> the craziest moment to me was definitely not a fight but this moment where one of the legislators, a woman, gets up in front of the legislature, grabs the paper away from the person who's holding it, and eats it. so we can't vote on this bill because it's in her mouth and she's chewed it up, and there are people pulling her hair, trying to get her to spit it out. i mean it was unbelievable. >> lately the speaker of the house has gotten smart, reading the proposals himself. at the podium. but never fear. some taiwanese lawmakers have made a way around that one too. >> he didn't have that podium for very long. either they knew what he was going to say or they didn't like what he said. >> another way to slow down the process is to occupy the speaker's desk because the speaker has to be behind his desk using his microphone in order to conduct the business

kazakhstan have now closed and millions of people cause their votes to choose the country's new parliament and those votes are now being counted the elections come a little less than a month after all workers staging a prolonged strike over poor pay well looked in fatal clashes with security forces that actions were set to take place in august but the president dissolved parliament last november and ordered an immediate vote and there is a poll so far sure that the ruling noura town party has about eighty one percent of the vote with its closest competitor coming in at seven percent and that party will now become the second political group to enter parliament on a boycott reports preempting violent unrest is a priority in kazakhstan having learned disturbing lessons from the arab spring. it wasn't for the snow in difference in temperatures stands capital of aston that could easily be mistaken for one of the gleaming c.d.'s of the golf a village just two decades ago it is now an oasis in the desert but its architecture having a distinct arabic flavor like many arab countries kazakhstan's pr

uranium parliament is set to vote on an immediate cut off of oil supplies to the e.u. in a preemptive strike against the bloc scruton bar go on to ron and summer something many fear will backfire on europe's very old kaname. next modern david and goliath battle as we report on how every cultural giants are trying to eliminate all fashion farmers.

second it can croupe to enter parliament and as acts on a boycott reports preempting violent unrest is a priority in kazakhstan having learned to having lessons from the arab spring but it wasn't for the snow and the freezing temperatures stands capital of aston i could easily be mistaken for one of the gleaming cities of the gulf a village just two decades ago it is now an oasis in the desert but its architecture having a distinct erotic flavor like many arab countries kazakhstan's primary sources of income are all in gas and it is that acts for it that allow this country the luxury of building its new capital city from scratch in fact kazakstan is now producing about as much oil as lieve beer was churning out prior to its civil war and the similarities don't and here both kazakstan and libya have predominantly muslim populations both were consider still roots of calm in their turbulent neighborhoods and both have experienced decades of rule by just one man in terms of style steps fast notional time that is the exact opposite of erratic more market afy and of course he's still in powe

builder is this between the government and the crowds we saw protesting last month angry it how the parliament through the action that she turned out well this is a lot of ways a response to many of the existence of geishas made by the protesters and the opposition leaders during those protests in the month of december and of course the u.s. which and did talk at length about the fact that a lot of lives would be lucrative from this is a very beautiful slogan allies very little substance and few more and basically the public to be weary of that fact to talk about the painful process the structures ation of the country following the collapse of the soviet union if you talk about the hardships which the country and the people went through over the last decade or so and he did mention. that in the lot of a lot of times such calls for very turbulent for the change so he can over lucian and russia has already gone through several of those the latest one of course the. latest one which we could say occurred after the soviet union and he did it and she did say that afterwards it took a very. lot of t

this document by the country's parliaments and we are expecting that certainly it will be ratified in poland given that the ruling party the party of the current prime minister is also ruling in the parliament has a majority there is a very slim chance that this document would not be ratified in the post parliament this whole situation here in poland comes just several days after similar situations in the united states with hacker attacks of the anonymous group on governmental websites with. major websites like wikipedia and google partially obscured and blocking their websites in protest to the s.l. would be document we could be seeing the same situation here in the in europe the same which is happening in the united states. party selects yourself ski reporting right there let's turn our attention to syria now where government forces are reportedly stepping up their assault on the opposition but u.n. security council is expected to vote over the next few days on a resolution aimed at stemming the conflict the draft calls on the syrian regime to comply with an arab league proposal whi