mm-hmm. >> rose: finally, schau the economy in saudi arabia? oil prices have gone through the -- >> floor, yeah. they have risen recently to, you know, in the $40 range. most people don't believe that they will be back beyond the $50 range for at least several years. so the economy -- the government is trying to -- they have cut subsidies. they are planning to impose a value-add tax. there have never been taxes in saudi arabia because, unlike here, the government doesn't get its money by taxing us and then giving it back. they get their money from oil. but they are talking about a value-added tax. they have imposed sin taxes, reduced energy subsidies, trying to get their own people to have to pay a world market price by 2020, but these are all tinkering around the edges. if they really want to reform p, they're going to have to do things economically and probably socially. they're going to have to encourage more women to work. they spend money educating them. they ned to feet get the some -- they need to get some return on that investment. they

. ♪ charlie: we begin with a look at president obama's upcoming trip to saudi arabia. intends to meet with king aluman on thursday. the trip comes after the president raised new questions about the u.s.-saudi relationship in an interview with "the atlantic"'s jeffrey goldberg. joining me now is a reporter who has reported extensively from the middle east. her nude look is called "on saudi arabia,". a," i am pleased to have her back on this program. talk to me in the beginning about where is the relationship as the president arrives there. it is not in a very good place. i know that the saudi's and the americans like to say that we have a close relationship, but the distrust of saudi arabia now, of the u.s., which has been building at least since we 2003, againstn their strong advice, has now become so eroded. they simply do not trust the u.s.. charlie: a series of other events that took place, too. the redline in syria. >> even before that. in their minds, the president abandoned a long-term ally, president will barack -- president mubarak in egypt. then there was the

--s is a fundamental shift it goes well beyond saudi arabia and iran, well beyond u.s. shale. shift in fundamental the way saudi arabia looks at the oil business in its place in it. -- ais a saudi policy

tomorrow, president obama travels to saudi arabia. they are free rider that is expect the u.s. military to intervene heavily in regional disputes like the civil war in syria. it drew criticism from the saudis. more than two dozen family members kills in the 9/11 attacks sent a letter to the white house urging president obama to support the bill giving the ability to sue foreign interest. they contended it would resolve the question of whether saudi arabia or others should assume responsibility for the 2001 attacks. >> rich, thank you. >>> one day before the new york primary, a couple campaign stumbles. hillary clinton tries to clear up confusion over whose side she's on on a bill to allow 9/11 families to sue saudi arabia. bernie sanders tax returns raised eyebrows over what he's paid to the government. ed henry is on the road to the campaigns. >> victory tomorrow. >> reporter: hillary clinton was in full damage control mode today on whether she supports a bill by new york senator, shuck schumer to give them a chance to sue saudi arabia. that came after clinton stumbled. she's r

saudi arabia plans to build a bridge across the sea to egypt. djibouti's president wins another five-year term. >> you said you would do me no harm. >> you said you would do me no harm >>> how two women are using poetry to raise awareness about sexual abuse >>> one of europe's most wanted men is now in custody. he is suspected of taking part in last year's paris attacks. the belgian prosecutor is investigating whether he is also connected to the brussels bombings in which 32 people were killed. our correspondent reports from the french capital. >> reporter: belgian police arrest the man on the street in central brussels, one of five suspects roubded up on friday. part of the investigation into the recent attacks in paris and brussels. among them this man. on the run for five months he was wanted in connection with the paris plat. >> translation: this afternoon he was also arrested plus as other people. their digital prints and other details were identified. >> reporter: he was last seen in this cctv footage at a petrol station in northern france

also ahead, saudi arabia and egypt announce they will build a bridge across the red sea. back in power, the president is reerected making him one of africa's longest serving leaders. as the japanese committee are showing improvements on their economy, some have mass cots >>> one of europe's most wanted men is now in custody. he is suspected of taking part in last year's paris attacks. the prosecutors investigate whether he is connected to the brussels bombings in which 32 people were killed. >> reporter: belgian police arrest the man on a street in central brussels. one of five suspects rounded up on friday, part of the investigation into the recent attacks in paris and brussels. among them this man. he was on the run for five months and wanted in connection with the paris plot. >> translation: this afternoon he was also arrested plus another as well as him, two other people. their digital prints and their d.n.a. was identified in the bay, but also in the car that was used during the paris attacks >> reporter: he was last seen in the cctv footage at a petrol station in no

citizens to sue a government like saudi arabia. president obama sat down with charlie rose and talked about it. hear what he has to say. >> this is not just a bilateral u.s.-saudi issue. this is a matter of how generally the united states approaches our interactions with countries. the possibility that individuals in the united can routinely start suing other governments, we are also opening up the united states to continually sued by countries. in other >> ambassador fraker, the saudi arabia said if that were to happen, if that bill pass, they would off load tremendous amount of u.s. treasuries. anyou think they would pull economic liver lik -- lever like that? >> that's a very real threat. i think congress needs to take account the damage that this would do and the risks, the diplomats and our military put at.l will be economist will look at whether it's feasible for the saudis to unload their various u.s. government holdings. course, it would put them in a difficult position because holdings, if those were to be attached, it woul

and saudi views about what needs to be done in the region, about yemen, about syria, and about saudi arabiass is, the idea that comes in late january, things are going to turn around fundamentally, is just a pipe dream on the saudi part. the reality is, we are stuck with each other, for better and increasingly for worse. katty: richard, thank you. katty: as we have said, president obama is now in the u.k., and the issue on whether britain should leave that european union looms large. the president expressed his views that written is better off staying there in the paper. we are traveling with mr. obama and have this report. reporter: barack obama waived goodbye, probably hugely relieved that this was the last time he would have to go to saudi arabia as president. relations have seriously strained. london will be much easier in comparison. whether or not there will be a warmer welcome controversy , awaits over the brexit. when i spoke to him last summer at the white house, he was for -- he was fairly forthright on the issue. president obama: having the united kingdom in the european union gi

saudi arabia always looks what is the national effect of saudi arabia.f saudi arabia found out that the military government in egypt and actually now with president sisi is not any more military, et cetera a continuation of those who stabilized egypt before. i think this is the best formula. we saw in the past year that sisi took control of egypt. how much egypt has been stable, how much egypt has been forthcoming in the international community. it needs time. whatever damage has been done, sisi needs the time. >> okay. >> a stable power. one of the packages saudi arabia is going to help sisi with is -- >> we will leave it there. i wish we had more time to talk about the issues. there are a lot of them. thank you for speaking to us joining us from riyadh. thank you for your time? >> thank you. >> to the tensions between armenia and azerbaijan. there are accusations fighting continues. azerbaijan says armenian backed troops violated the truce 189 times. robin for tear walker on the aftermath of four days of fighting. >> reporter: the road is littered with

saudi arabia plans to build a bridge over the red sea linking the country to egypt. the king made the announcement during a second day of his visit to the egyptian capital. it will be named after the saudi king. saudi arabia is ready to hold a military campaign in yemen following a deal by parties to cease hostilities on monday. a condition to truce on condition had the withdrawal of houthi fighters. djibouti's present has been reelected to office extending his 17 year rule over the nation. he was expected to win. opposition groups boycotted the election. >> reporter: it was an election with tension. with the benefit of income, the president is in victory. >> translation: tonight the people of djibouti have decided to entrust me with the highest authority again. i thank god for his almighty. it is the second president the cup has had since it gained independence from france in 1977. the 68-year-old former chief of intelligence ran for a fourth term after amending the constitution in 2010 to remove limits. it picked up as the day progressed. the electrical commission

the saudi arabia, the u.s., it's seen as a guarantor of regional security. ria is a substantial threat for the saudis, who have long relied on the u.s. to maintain security against their longstanding rival across the gulf, this state of iran. any kind of pivot away from the region will be seen as a serious threat to riyadh. >> this shift that we've seen in saudi-washington relations, right now putting the focus on the u.s. president, but is it more a reflection of perhaps a wider feeling in the united states? >> think tre are a number of issuest play ere. ere are seriousconcns with rerd to thglobal economy concns that e reliae on l fromthe gulf and fro sadi arabia in articular,uge amounts of oil come from saudi and even more comes from the gulf. and there's a concern about how reliant the u.s. economy is on this oil. we see an increase in u.s. markets, particularly so with regard to fracking. now, there are other concerns about security and concerns about the complicity of saudi arabia within terrorism and violent extremism broadly. there are also conspiracy

unlike the israelis, we do not share values with saudi arabia. e no women's rights, gay rights like there are in israel. but we ask ourselves hard questions about what the saudi kingdom might do if they do not feel that they have a real alliance with the united states. you are starting to see that with their freelancing foreign policy in yemen, which we may not like. this also extends to bahrain and other places in the region. a kingdom that feels afraid like it might go down, it is likely to be a dangerous thing. we have an interest in making sure saudi arabia does not become the next syria. it is fraction at the top as well as at the bottom for having always princes, various sort of religious currents, do we want to see saudi arabia implode? that is not out of the question. ian bremmer: let me ask another question. one way to judge obama's foreign policy over seven years, one way you can do it, to what extent our relationships but it or worse? it is clearly more difficult with relationships in the middle east. i want to ask you, how much of that

countries of egypt and saudi arabia. the monarch's five day visit to cairo. >>> djibouti's president omar galla has won reelection, extending his 16 year rule over the nation. >>> yemen following a u.n. backed deal by warring parties to stop the fighting on sunday. the kingdom will commit to a truce if houthis will pull out, talks aimed at bringing the year long war to an end are scheduled in two weeks time. >>> now so far greece has returned more than 300 refugees to turkey. under the eu deal which came into effect on monday. two boats carrying many pakistani migrants, be arrived in dakili, boarding buses to reception centers where they will be processed. harry fawcett reports. >> they arrived on two separate boats, one bringing people from the island of lesbos, others, who were collected on samos and kos and returned here. these were as we were told, voluntary detainees, majority of them pakistani men, they had health checks carried out and that process is now over. their next stop will be a deportation center in north

president obama was in saudi arabia today when he met with saudi arabia and leaders.t to the nation tomorrow is great britain and what he will address the brexit. here to talk about the broader implications is a talk panel of experts. we have gideon rose of foreign affairs magazine. john micklethwait is the editor in chief of the bloomberg news. bret stephens, foreign affairs columnist in deputy editorial page editor at the wall street journal, and jane harman, former ranking member of the house intelligence committee and currently president of the woodrow wilson center. welcome all. obama in saudi arabia cannot have been the easiest trip of this administration. not a lot of specifics have come out, but one thing i have seen already, ben rhodes said this was an opportunity to clear the air. not something you usually say. bret, i will start with you. how is this, and is there really opportunity to do anything to fix the relationship? bret stephens: i think you can start by limiting the damage. the president dug himself a hole in a number of ways. saudis are disappointe

saudi arabia will try to limit the impact of some cuts on its citizens. tells bloomberg that the government will provide .ash to low income saudi's they are coming ghastly, other juicy, and water. for the first time, benjamin that yahoo! says the country will never withdraw from the: the golan heights. about 20,000 israelis know that there.- now lives a cbs survey shows donald trump 54%-21%.o cruise news 24 hours a day, powered by 150 journalists. francine: thank you so much. that's get now to elliott, a middle east editor. we did not have the soft agreement we were hoping. was there ever a hope we would get something as soon as the oil ministers arrived? elliott: iran's no-show put a downer on things beforehand, but they went ahead with thingsg anyway -- with anyway. they were disappointed, but they had a sense that things were not quite right. they seem to to have everyone on board, and then the discussion longer thanhours expected. they felt to reach agreement. tom: they must move forward to the next event. what is the next marginal event for saudi ara

tomorrow, president obama travels to saudi arabia. they are free rider that is expect the u.s. military to intervene heavily in regional disputes like the civil war in syria. it drew criticism from the saudis. more than two dozen family members kills in the 9/11 attacks sent a letter to the white house urging president obama to support the bill giving the ability to sue foreign interest. they contended it would resolve the question of whether saudi arabia or others should assume responsibility for the 2001 attacks. >> rich, thank you. >>> one day before the new york primary, a couple campaign stumbles. hillary clinton tries to clear up confusion over whose side she's on on a bill to allow 9/11 families to sue saudi arabia. bernie sanders tax returns raised eyebrows over what he's paid to the government. ed henry is on the road to the campaigns. >> victory tomorrow. >> reporter: hillary clinton was in full damage control mode today on whether she supports a bill by new york senator, shuck schumer to give them a chance to sue saudi arabia. that came after clinton stumbled. she's r

petraeus once told me that the most significant strategic shift during his time in uniform was that saudi arabia went from being a supporter to an aggressive foe of jihadi groups. today saudi intelligence is a major ally in fighting al qaeda, isis, and its ilk and yet saudi funding of islamic extremism has not ended and it's pernicious effects can be seen from pakistan to indonesia. the funds now come from individuals, not the government, still it is hard to imagine that the absolutist monarchy of saudi arabia cannot turn off the pipeline of money to extremists. the reason probably is that saudi arabia is reluctant to take on its religious extremists for fear of backlash. hardline preachers and i ideologues have significant sway in saudi associates. they are known for vast and growing social media, last known is within that social media the biggest wars are riyadh preachers and extremist ideologues. were the saudi monarchy to fall it may not be replaced by a group of liberals and democrats but rather by islamists and reactionaries, and having watched this movie in iraq, egypt, libya and syria i'

. >> how much is this saudi arabia just feeling isolated. >> i just came back from saudi arabia and the prince is trying to reform saudi arabia in a way which i think is very difficult to grasp the full extent that he wants to move saudi arabia away from an oil economy. he wants to open up the aftermath of the economy, he wants to change things he's getting rid of subsidies many things which will be announced next week. what's interesting to me is he's actually trying to do these reforms and in the back of his brain it's obviously there's this thing how much can they rely on america. gideon's right in the end for the ease -- saudis is a i thin. >> and starting this conversation. >> yes, you can argue that definitely. but it's a bigger attempt on you. >> i think to borrow lbj's phrase we want the saudis inside the tent doing something out rather than the other way. look unlike the israelis we don't share values with the saudis, there are no women's rights or no gay gay rights. they are starting too see the foreign policy in yemen which we intent entirely like and in the region. a kingdom

saudi arabia's threatening to sell off an enormous trove of u.s. securities, among other assets. what would be the implications if they started to do that unwinding process? >> i think it would be negative. i know people are saying, oh, well, it just would be money moving around. but it's unusual given the size of the saudi assets. they hold a lot of u.s. treasuries. it's been characterized as blackmail or a threat. but really what i think they're saying is that if these issues are settled in u.s. courts and that opens us up to litigation, we'll have to move our assets away. >> they would be worried, i assume, of a court -- about a court order that would freeze their holdings of u.s. treasury securities so they're basically saying, if they -- if congress passes this the law that would potentially allow them to be sued in u.s. courts about 9/11 responsibility, they want to sell now and ask questions later, right? >> hi, tyler. yes, i think that doesn't mean they sell instantly but they have to follow the court proceedings or legislation and if there start being court proceedings t

saudi arabia is what we're watching.is preparing for the twilight, the oil era they created a $2 trillion fund. a big step for the kingdom as it wins is up off the country's most prized commodities. sitting down the dimity crown prince -- deputy crown prince mohammed bin salman. jon had details with his excuse of interview. >> he has this obsession about moving the saudi economy away from oil and basing around something new. this $2 trillion fund into which aramco will go is amazing. it is enough to buy google, microsoft, off of that, the whole lot of them, the warren buffett them all of those things could go into one thing and it was still have change to spare. into that fund will go aramco. have an industrial arm, though at land, property. roughly twice as big as any other or more than twice as big as any other sovereign wealth fund. caroline: more than twice as big. what a phenomenal story. sure to break it down what it means for the oil markets, -- here to break it all down and what it means for the oil markets. we d

so saudi arabia made a very bad bet on that.d other groups are talking about backup being the headquarters if they can get the caliphate across the middle east. -- talking about mecca being the headquarters. obviously going through a deep period of toil. it is not obvious if the united states should have reacted dramatically differently or if it would have been accessible. authoritarianotic territories that were not providing goods for their citizens, and you have revolutions in a lot of these places. -- revolutionsns have not done well. they had a lot of turmoil. someone talked about the j curve, how things go down before they go up. that did notbia have this, had sclerotic territory, and so, nothing in the united states, whether invading iraqi buying, invading aid,ot occupying, giving ignoring the situation, they have all had the same outcome, turmoil and chaos on the ground. the obama administration is saying, we don't know how to deal with this, and we are going to wash our hands a little bit. >> nothing like the explosion o

she is also the author of "on saudi arabia." >> i know both the saudis and the americans publicly likey, "we have a close, long relationship." but the distrust of saudi arabia now of the u.s., which has been building at least since we invaded iraq in 2003 against their strong advice, but it has now become so eroded, they simply do not trust the u.s. >> rose: and there were a series of other events that took place, too. first of all, the red line in syria. >> well, even before that. in their minds the u.s. abandoned a long-term ally, president mubarak, in egypt. and that, i think, really frightened them because they are in the long-term ally category. and then there was the red line in syria, where if assad crossed it, we would do something. and them we erased the red line. and then most recently and most importantly in their mind, the nuclear deal with ira iran, whih they were always skeptical of. so i'm sure that will be the biggest part of the agenda. >> rose: and so they believe or they question whether the president, this president, with not that much time left in his term, would s

saudi arabia backed away from a

maria: and part of this is -- as we've been talking about saudi arabia. number one, we had the production freeze, nothing came out of it. the saudis wouldn't do anything because the iranians wouldn't partake, and you hear saudi arabia saying we may consider taking iran co public, in an ipo, would you buy that deal? >> no. no. maria: why? >> i wouldn't buy it with stolen money. [ laughter ] >> why? >> well, do you think you're going to have stockholders' rights? maria: no. >> zero. how do you like that? anthony: what about a dividend? >> i'd rather buy pioneer. anthony: what are the top three names, boone? >> mine? anthony: yeah, top three. >> pioneer, enron, anadarko. anthony: if you had to pick a big oil, which is the best of the big oil? >> i'd probably pick chevron. anthony: chevron. >> but big oil, i don't know what they're going to do, i don't know what their future is. they now have turned their end decline on production, they have to acquire reserves, they probably aren't going to find it, and they missed the shale play. chevron is big in west texas

, not just saudi arabia. have been involved in terrorism that kills americans. >> you support it. president obama says don't do it. open us up to a lot of suits. the saudi government has threatened to, to, sell a lot of their teasuries that they're holding. >> two issues there. the president has a valid point. it does concern me. what is also involved in there. i believe 28 pages of classified information on 9/11. >> have you read them? >> no, i have not. >> what i think there is some speculation, and not into speculation, is that they indicate that parts of the saudi family may have funded some of the terrorists. look, let's be honest about saudi arabia. this is one of the wealthiest families in the world. this is a family that spread this very virulent extremist ideology which is extreme islam, they keep, they set up schools all over the world to teach this. i have real concerns about that. so i think getting the truth out about the role that saudi arabia may be playing is a good thing. (sounds of birds whi

saudi arabia. lot of politics. we will talk about that. ftse 100 up. we will be back next. ♪ guy: 14 minutes past the hour. --temporary nationalization stress that he does not see nationalization as the answer and is competent that he can find a buyer for the business -- is confident that he can find a buyer for the business. >> i don't think nationalization is the solution. goodo think it would not to rule anything out. i do feel for lots of reasons after talking to many others involved that there will be enough time to find the one buyer working and be able to take it forward. guy: let's talk to a potential buyer for half of the business. signs a group that joins us from our paris bureau. thank you for joining us. have you talked to the british government about these assets? yes, we have had some contact and continued the dialogue. guy: what is the nature of that conversation? everybodytuation took by surprise. it is the beginning of a dialogue did how the dialogue progresses will become clear. g

that's as president barack obama meets in saudi arabia with the king.aying they cleared the air amid tensions between the longtime ally. joining me now, ari fleischer, former white house press secretary. the obama administration argues this bill would allow other countries to retaliate against americans with their own legislation. is that a valid argument. >> i think there's a lot to be concerned about because there is part validity to it. for example, the united states military, we operate in syria. we operate in iraq. we operate in a number of nations. we operated in libya. if our military kills civilians, will we now lose our immunity? will our pilots, our military now have to go to courts in other lands and be sued? this opens up a world that has previously been closes. immunity has been an agreement that has benefited the united states around the world. if we start to unravel it now, here, we could be at risk if other nations misinterpret it to target us. >> saudi officials have long denied any involvement in the 9/11 plot, and the 9/11 commission

which saudi arabia has always denied. 15 of the 19 terrorists were saudi. and many families of 9/11 victims are outraged u.s. law won't allow them to sue saudi arabia for damages. like terry strada, whose husband, thomas, died in tower one. >> why in the world does saudi arabia have so much influence on our country. >> reporter: now powerful senate leaders are pushing to permit them to sue. but president obama is against it. >> if we open up the possibility that individuals in the united states can routinely start suing other governments, then we are also opening up the united states to being continually sued. >> reporter: the saudis have threatened to sell off $750 billion in u.s. assets. a crude attempt to tank the u.s. economy if the legislation passes. the families say key to their lawsuit, getting access to 28 classified pages of a congressional investigation. they claim it proves a saudi government connection. >> the 28 pages relate to who financed 9/11, and they point a strong finger at saudi arabia. >> reporter: the 9/11 commission found no saudi go

a plan to build a brother-in-law linking egypt and saudi arabia-- bridge linking egypt and saudi arabia >> translation: this historic step is a transformation that will increase trade between the two continue incidents to unprecedented levels >> reporter: he made the announcement during the second day of his visit to cairo. a physical link between the to countries would be a powerful symbol of mutual solidarity and arab unity. >> translation: the unique quality of the relations between egypt and saudi arabia, the extent to which the strong and deep rooted would allow us to face mutual challenges. our cooperation will certainly allow us to resolve all of our regional cris es, such as in palestine, yemen, libya and syria. >> reporter: it was a visit about politics and economics. from the king a warning that saudi arabia and egypt would stand together against outside infer feerns by which they mean iran and its ambition in the reap john. for egyptians, much more. the two nations are signing agreements including a multi million dollar deal where saudi arabia will supply egypt's oil needs fo

. >> we turn to saudi arabia now.rices have tumbled, but all producing countries are taking a hit, and even saudi arabia is looking for ways to compensate for the low price of crude. now, the country has cut subsidies for water and electricity. >> deputy crown prince of saudi arabia mohammed bin salman has said he would throttle his country's oil production if iran and other oil producers follow suit. they promised to gain ground in weeks -- in recent weeks but fell once again. following interview on friday, the price declined to under $39 per barrel. saudi arabia, once renowned for its huge oil wealth and generous state aid, is starting to feel the pinch. the government is subsidizing energy and food. citizens do not pay any tax on their income. the country fears being alone in throttling production, and that could give other producers room to ramp up output and take the market share away from saudi arabia. the government is wary of repeating its mistake from the 1980's, when it was the only country to dial down prod

saudi arabia is too big. we are too big or they will overlap, these two countries, and there is going to be a way to see that. hide.not run and they cannot run and hide. they are too big. we are too big. let's take a call from a democrat. good morning, congressman. i have been looking at relations between america and the middle east, from even before i was born. honestly, i feel, and you can tell me if i am wrong, i feel as though the hand we have had in pursuing and spreading democracy with the a turn majority of the people in the middle east who are very true to their islamic beliefs and do not want any part or any hand in democracy. can you say that a lot of the things occurring today has a lot to do with the choices and our hand in trying to pursue a push democracy in areas within the middle east, which goes against a lot of their religious beliefs? democracy isk that compatible with islam. we had a vibrant democracy in turkey. unfortunately, president and the gan is president erdo moving the country away

crude oil, canada and then saudi arabia. talk about that relationship. t: we have a very broad relationship with the golf countries, including the saudis. they like i weapons. there are other sources they can get weapons from. they can get weapons from china, russia, europe, there are other sources available to them in order to get arms. they rather deal with the united states for two reasons. one, we have the best weapons, and secondly, we have the best training and they know we are reliable. we also shared the same mission as far as stability in the middle east. they recognize the differences between our countries. we have major problems with the saudis as they relate to human rights, women's issues, foreign labor. we have got to make sure that we do not ignore the fact that we have a strategic partnership with these countries, but we had to nation that whatever we do furthers our interest rate host: with those two interests on the table, let's take calls. in nebraska, republican. yes, i live in hastings, nebraska, several years ago or last year, the ep

we know saudi arabia, i have a lot of friends in saudi arabia.y would not be there for a week if we didn't defend them. so why aren't they paying us a fair price. we're losing our shirts on every single thing we do and we're going to stop it, okay? we're going to stop it. did you ever hear, we spend more than any military in the world? i hear it all the time. we spend more money than any military in the world, by many times. you know what? we're defending germany. we're defending japan. we're defending south korea. we're defending saudi arabia. we're defending many places. then we take care of nato. we have 28 countries in nato, it's an obsolete deal. i don't mean get rid of nato. i mean modernize it. because we have to make something for terror. we have a new enemy, it's called radical islamic terrorism and we have to do something about it. and we take care of many of those countries, many of whom which are rich countries and they're delinquent, they don't pay. you know why? because we're not led by people that have any clue as to what's happeni

amy: this comes as saudi arabia has the right to sell off $750 billion in u.s. sury securities if congress passes a law to allow the families of the victims of the september 11 attacks to sue the saudi government for any role it may have played in the attacks. the obama administration has lobbied congress to block the bill's passage. to talk more about the significance of obama's visit to saudi arabia, we're joined now by william hartung, senior adviser to the security assistance monitor. also the director of the arms and security project at the center for international policy. welcome to democracy now! the significance of president obama's fourth trip to saudi arabia? >> the thing that amazes me is that since he met with the gcc leaders and may of last year -- in may of last year, he has approved $33 billion in weapons sales to the gulf states, mostly to saudi arabia. at a time when the saudis engaged in a brutal on a campaign in yemen, accused of possible war crimes using cluster bombs. at least 3200 civilians killed. it is not clear to what degree he brought t

saudi arabia plans to build a bridge over the red sea. egypt's president sisi said the bridge will be named after the saudi king. police in el salvador have raided the office of the panama law firm at the center of the data leak known as the panama papers. police seized items from the office. venezuela is taking emergency measures to reduce electricity skrumgs. workers are being forced to take an extra day off next week. >> reporter: the weekend is getting an early stage for venezuelans. the government has declared that fridays are a nonworking but paid holiday for most public sector employees. the decision is part of an effort to curb power consumption, but it's also cutting back on small business. for this man a motorcycle taxi whose clients are mainly taxi servants, the measure has meant less work. >> translation: i made half of what i usually make and this measure won't work because people still use energy by staying home. >> reporter: it is also having a demoralising effect on a population battling the world's highest inflation and sh

. >>> saudi arabia's king has landed in cairo for a five-day trip. hopes it will be an opportunity to boost ties with the wealthy gulf state. the president and the king are expected to discuss economic and military cooperation. sisi went to riyadh in march shortly after king solman came into power. >> reporter: this may help improve a relationship that has been strained. >> we have a normal relationship between saudi arabia, and egypt. it is not as bad as people think. >> reporter: saudi arabia and egypt are allies when sisi came to hower following a coup, saudi arabia offered political support and billions of dollars, and when the kingdom needed help, sisi sent navy vessels and troops, but differences then emerged. egypt saw a cracking down on armed groups as its main priority. president sisi kept ties with the houthi rebels in yes, ma'am mohamed bin nayef, and strengthened cooperation with russia, both seen by riyadh as a problem in the region. egypt's rivalry with saudi arabia over leadership in the arab world goes back to the middle of the previo