the 83-year-old mubarak has been confined for months to a hospital in the seaside resort of sharm al-sheik where his supporters say he is too weak to stand trial. i beth palmer in london has more. >> reporter: it was the moment all egypt had been waiting for, the head of the criminal court hidden behind a mountain of microphones announced that former president hosni mubarak would stand trial to be broadcast live on television on wednesday. for months rumors that he was too sick to appear in court had angered egyptians determined he should face justice. >> our voices should be heard says mohamed ash our, i want to tell the prosecutor make mubarak's trial prompt. it's been so long in coming. >> reporter: even a year ago it seemed impossible that the untouchable mubarak who ruled egypt with an iron fist for 30 years would be brought so low, so fast. but back in january millions of egyptians sick of chronic corruption and poverty took to the streets demanding he step down. more than 800 people were killed in what has become known as the revolution. but in the end the people backed by the army

gulf war, the first and second, we've been through a lot of accidents that took place between cairo, sharm el shiekh and sinai. this is by far the worst. >>reporter: cairo has been by far the hardest hit. this time last year the occupancy rate at the ramses hilton was between 90 and 100%. now it's under thirty. in other parts of the country some hotelshave even shut, although that's not the case in cairo - at least so far. here at the hilton they'vebeen trying to lessen the impact on their staff by paying them they would usually have received from the service charges the hotel puts on its bills. >>from the beginning of what we are going through at the moment - after the revolution our company being hilton and the owning company made sure to subsidise the pay of the team members so they did not feel the difference, which i think is an extremely good thing, but this does not stop them from worrying for the future since how long can this continue, how far can we sustain such aid? >>reporter: the country's resorts along the red sea have fared better. yet visitor numbers have still fallen by fo

as a prisoner i believe, not for his protection but because he's in a prisoner, he's flying in from sharm el-sheikh. do you think assad is now determined to stop this rebellion despite the fact he's slaying so many people, particularly in hamma? >> he was determined to do whatever he could to stop the rebellion. he represents 14% of the syrian population. they control the economy. he would do whatever he can. he's totally ruthless. this is not unique in with the assad family. but the father was famous for the hamas rulers, he killed 50,000 people. he is now killed thousands and thousands of people. and nobody has been able to stop him to date. >> doesn't need emboldening, but if he's looking at this, he doesn't want to end up this way. i think he thinks the alternative is to put counsel -- >> john henry kissinger once said to be an enemy of the united states is often dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal. what we're seeing in aruba be mubarak and people in the middle east is seeing this is what happens to people who have been friends to america for 30 years and then america abandons them

really happening, former president hosni mubarak was taken from his hospital bed in the resort of sharm el sheikh earlier this morning and flown to cairo. outside the police academy where the trial is being held, for security reasons, a crowd of several hundred people has gathered to watch the proceedings on a large screen television set up in a huge parking lot. a short time ago a helicopter flew overhead believed to be carrying the president, the crowd began to whistle and jeer, earlier there was fighting and rock throwing, until riot police showed up and flooded the area to keep pro and anti-mubarak factions apart. president mubarak will be facing charges of corruption and ordering the killing of protesters during the uprising back in january and february. the former president is expected to have to sit in a large metal barred cage inside the courtroom, which is normal procedure in egyptian criminal trials, but it will be a mind-boggling spectacle in this country where until just six months ago mubarak was all powerful and untouchable. in the cage with him will be his two sons, the f

that gives you an example of this respectability, the kind of things the black elite and my family sharm and wanted to have no part of. so i want to come back and say a little bit about women, and one can say i can talk more about what they did in the q&a, but here i just want to point out the way in which women as part of the black elite helped to police the norms of respectable behavior. so they were the ones who were very prominent in defining the norms of respectability. the memoir offers a rare and fascinating glimpse into the social lives of the black elite and tells of the pleasures they enjoyed the sport the horace conditions under which they labored. among the friends of our family or to circle's founded on personal preference. these were led respectively by mrs. clarice, that is his wife, and elizabeth west bowers the former gathered about her the studious and the conservative and kept the open house for all visitors of note. the latter was surrounded by loving folks young and old. and this not to have a good time was impossible. dhaka honor of being able to hope the strain of

he's accused of getting his sharm el sheikh home from a land deal. these are very dramatic scenes we are seeing right now on your television screen. even within egypt's state-run newspaper, they're describing this as a trial of the century where it's very unusual to see a former leader, someone who has ruled egypt with an iron fist, who also has been seen, as zain was describing, as a war hero, to be seen right now in a cage at a police academy which is being used as a courthouse for this purpose. because of his health, because of his described ill health, he is now lying on a stretcher, but is wearing prison garb. >> mohammed jamjoom joins us now. as we were saying, hosni mubarak inside a cage, wearing a white prison uniform on a stretcher, he has an oxygen mask. these are unbelievable extraordinary scenes. no one would have guessed that we would see such a powerful man who ruled with an iron fist behind these iron bars. what is to be the likely effect of an image like this across egypt? >> reporter: zain, it's ut der disbelief, the fact that we're

delayed, might be adjourned, that maybe hosni mubarak wouldn't be transferred from his hospital bed in sharm el sheikh. that all happened. we're outside the police academy, the venue for this court. there's about a thousand people, pro and anti-mubarak factions. there are anti-riot police out here. this is something so symbolic and there's so much passion about this in the streets of egypt, there's a lot of concern there could be demonstrations, violence later in the day. there is an intense and increased security presence trying to make sure any kind of demonstration or violence is quelled as quickly as possible. >> tell us about mubarak's two sons? we're seeing a close shot of it with hosni mubarak. it's a big cage. there are a lot of people in it including his two sons. >> reporter: that's right. again, this adds to how unprecedented and extraordinary it is, not just that hosni mubarak would be in that cage treated as other criminal defendants in egypt. that's the protocol in the courtrooms here, but his two sons are there with him. gamal mubarak, his son was seen for many years as the he

was he in sharm el sheik? another disappearing act so it seems in libya.where colonel gadhafi is. it could be he is still inside the compound which is been his main base throughout that has been shelled many times by nato over the past months. received various direct hits. still remains relatively operative. we believe or it is suspected he's been able to communicate out of there. in the more recent past. could he have been making those calls we've been seeing on state tv in libya from the barracks or from algeria as the bbc reporters suggested where he's gone to? we don't know. the scenes we see operate ground in tripoli are clearly the rebels have -- taken over and are very much in control. there are reports of pockets of resistance. there is free throwing traffic in the streets. a sign there is a mass movement of the regular people who for many weeks were too scared to go out. big change of events there. it all looking like it has finally fallen into the rebels' hands. indeed there is freedom and liberty in libya now. >> gregg: dominic di-natale thank y

that gives you an example of this respectability, the kind of things the black elite and my family sharm and wanted to have no part of. so i want to come back and say a little bit about women, and one can say i can talk more about what they did in the q&a, but here i just want to point out the way in which women as part of the black elite helped to police the norms of respectable behavior. so they were the ones who were very prominent in defining the norms of respectability. the memoir offers a rare and fascinating glimpse into the social lives of the black elite and tells of the pleasures they enjoyed the sport the horace conditions under which they labored. among the friends of our family or to circle's founded on personal preference. these were led respectively by mrs. clarice, that is his wife, and elizabeth west bowers the former gathered about her the studious and the conservative and kept the open house for all visitors of note. the latter was surrounded by loving folks young and old. and this not to have a good time was impossible. dhaka honor of being able to hope the strain of

was just fine enough to stand trial and so they just wheeled him in, they got him on a plane from sharmospital and they took him by helicopter to cairo, and then drove him up, escorted by a heavy military security to this trial. so they think it's -- he's fine enough to stand. for egypt, too, guys, i mean, a lot of people see this as retribution for a man who ran egypt in a corrupt way, who tortured his opponents. there was no freedom of speech under him. there is a division because there are also others in the country that say, well, we had a great period of stability under hosni mubarak. he kept the peace with israel. he kept good relations with the west. so, there's a big divide on this trial. some think it's gone too far, some think it's not gone far enough. >> israel, what seems to be a shift or softening in prime minister benjamin netanyahu's stance on what they'll negotiate to get -- to get peace with palestine and the establishment of a palestinian state. what's the latest on that? >> yeah. remember when president obama said look, you know, let's use pre-1967 borders as a starti

that gives you an example of this respectability, the kind of things the black elite and my family sharm and wanted to have no part of. so i want to come back and say a little bit about women, and one can say i can talk more about what they did in the q&a, but here i just want to point out the way in which women as part of the black elite helped to police the norms of respectable behavior. so they were the ones who were very prominent in defining the norms of respectability. the memoir offers a rare and fascinating glimpse into the social lives of the black elite and tells of the pleasures they enjoyed the sport the horace conditions under which they labored. among the friends of our family or to circle's founded on personal preference. these were led respectively by mrs. clarice, that is his wife, and elizabeth west bowers the former gathered about her the studious and the conservative and kept the open house for all visitors of note. the latter was surrounded by loving folks young and old. and this not to have a good time was impossible. dhaka honor of being able to hope the strain of