what is the prospect of iran wearing of its welcome with the shia. it's already in the fall, among many. >> guest: the power is not welcomed by the majority of the lebanese but it's a little bit different because iran does not occupy the country with its own army and it doesn't control the country directly, it controls iran and syria jointly controls lebanon's foreign policy [inaudible] and his ball occupied and controlled its own territory that hezbollah does and government directly or indirectly anybody else in the country so they are going about it in a much more sophisticated way and if you are a christian living in east beirut or in the coastal city, you're daily life is unaffected. when the syrians occupy the country they realize by the fact that it's occupies. as long as they don't try to get in touch and as long as hezbollah continues to be able to control and dictate lebanon's foreign and internal security policy. >> host: they were treated badly by in lebanon as long as i can remember in hundreds of years certainly by the 80's still a commu

but in both lebanon and iraq is where there are substantial numbers of shia. they actually make up a majority in iraq and substantial minority in lebanon and so lebanon she is were willing to accept iranian assistance in exchange for acting as iran's proxy. against lebanese christians, sunnis and also against the israelis. so it was a mutual win-win relationship for both of them because iran, the revolutionary guard now basically has a forward base military unit. >> host: but after all, the shia of southern lebanon where they are concentrated, had welcomed the israelis when they came in a couple of years earlier. >> guest: yes they did. that is one of the great ironies of the situation because the reason the lebanese shia initially welcomed the israeli invasion was because the shia is from south lebanon were being governed by yasser arafat's palestinian state within a state which was sunni. it was a foreign implant and it was sunni and the plo was rather contemptuous of the shia's who lived in south lebanon and the plo was also putting them in danger by using

so iran responded by sending the revolutionary guard corps to arm and train and fund lebanese shia to resist the invasion and occupation. and over time it grew and became much more sophisticated organization called hezbollah and it grew to become not just the army but also at the same time a political party. and now it is so well on her than the lebanese army and so it's in some ways not only a guerrilla army but a conventional army and the political party and their own territory inside lebanon that they entirely to call, soap lebanon is almost like a schism where there are two governments to different parts of the country. >> host: by 2005 the assassination hezbollah had insisted as an organization since '82, '83 -- 82. okay, what was in it for iran to go in like that? >> guest: iran has a regional -- iran wants to be the most powerful country in the middle east, and in order for them to do that, they need allies in the middle east and they don't have very many because iran with is shia and persian where most of the arab world as eda brother and persian and sunni both lebanon and ira

[speaking in native tongue] >> translator: they are sunnis and iranians are shias. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: and, unfortunately, there have always been differences and conflicts between the shias and the sunniss. [speaking in native tongue] .. both have races -- racist sentiments. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: on the basis of the four reasons there will be relations and political relations between iran and egypt, but it is normal relations mike the relations of iran and italy. egypt is not going to become the puppet of a run. back. [speaking in native tongue] [laughter] >> translator: they found power so sweet that when they left they both had heart attacks. [speaking in native tongue] [laughter] >> translator: i don't know wind, but maybe in the near future khaddafi will have a heart attack to. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: win quadhafi has his heart attack and leaves the country certainly due to the fact that the west has helped the people when libya is not calling to become a puppet of iran because they're not going to f

and shia -- you know, shia was great.re going to be working 17 hour days for 7 months. it's going to be crazy. it's going to change your life. really, do you want to do this?" >> jimmy: "thanks a lot, shia." [ laughter ] >> yeah, it's like, "thanks." >> jimmy: yeah yeah. "appreciate it. i was happy about it. now i'm bummed." >> yeah, yeah. >> jimmy: you shouldn't be nervous. you're in mag -- you're in "maxim" magazine every -- whoa, walala. >> woo! [ scattered applause ] >> jimmy: what happened here? did you forget your shirt this day? [ laughter ] you just showed up, all you have is your jacket? you go, "well, i got to get my --" oh, my gosh, number one "maxim" babe there. oh, my gosh. and then look at this. you're on the cover. >> oh, you're embarrassing me. >> jimmy: oh, it's not embarrassing. look at that, wow. [ scattered cheers ] >> jimmy: holy moly, moly, moly. wow. [ scattered applause ] yeah, i've been on the cover of "maxim" four times. >> you have? >> jimmy: yeah, and it changes your life. [ laughter ] it's a l

that's where the shias live. they live in three little isolated pockets, and you can't carve them out, give them their own borders. it's just not possible. so eventually fair they're going to have -- eventually they're going to have to reconcile with their countrymen and join the political mainstream. but i don't think it's likely to happen until there are either new governments or very serious reforms in syria and iran. because syria and iran are willing to give hezbollah anything it needs, and hezbollah is willing to accept help from outside, and nobody has any reason to break some of these relationships. >> host: well, you know, we're talking today while the arab spring is still in full blossom. it hasn't, at least superficially, it hasn't reached beirut. there's been no revolt against, as one wag said, there ain't no government to revolt against. there's a caretaker, prime minister and caretaker cabinet. so lebanon remains in flux. syria is under considerable internal pressures which haven't been as organized

. >>> shia labeouf reveals a little too much information in his latest interview. >>> coming up, a granderformance by the mets. the in, caa crowns a clamp. and the oddest excuse for losing you'll ever hear. >>> good morning. welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. before and after images from space showed the extent of flooding in minot, north dakota. the dark blue shows just how swollen the souris river was, nearly four feet higher than the all-time high set in 1881. >>> cuban television showed images of venezuelan president hugo chavez talking with former cuban president fidel castro. more than two weeks after chavez underwent surgery there. chavez's recent silence has fueled speculation he was seriously ill. but officials say the operation was for a pelvic abscess. >>> a piece of space debris narrowly missed the international space station forcing the crew to scramble into their rescue craft. nasa says it was probably the closest object ever to pass by the orbiting outpost coming within about 1,000 feet. >>> another rare sight.

all but one of the guilty men were from the island's shia majority. hassan mushaima, a well-known opposition leader faces life in jail. in bahrain's shia villages, more protests after today's verdicts. this one was contained by police. last night, protesters were calling for the royal family to be overthrown, despite promises of national dialogue due to begin on the first of july. how can you have dialogue says this leading bahraini refugee in london who in absentia today was sentenced to life. >> these despots and regimes and tyrants, when they are throttled by the will of the people they just throw out such statements but they don't really mean it. >> reporter: next week sentences are due to be handed down on scores of doctors and nurses who treated the wounded. they stand accused of inciting revolt. >> sreenivasan: the shi-ites sentenced today will have 15 days to appeal. in china, renowned artist and dissident ai weiwei was released from jail today. he had been arrested in april after strongly criticizing the ruling communist party. ai returned to

it looks like it's pay back time for that seven or eight years of violence against sunni and shia, shia and sunni in iraq in the past eight years >> jim, thank you so much for that. there big disagreements over the troop drawdown in afghanistan. we will talk about that with senator bernie sanders ahead. fast-moving wildfires have been raging and they are expanding by several thousand acres and continuing to grow. new orders have been in the third largest wildfire in history. george lewis is in arizona with the latest. >> chris, these are monster fires in arizona. more than a quarter million acres scorched so far and 2100 people on the fire lines and thousands of homes threatened. >> we bumped the lineup. >> firefighters spent the weekend attacks a blaze from the air. rugged force made it difficult for them to get equipment into the area. officials say this particular wildfire near the border has been unusually hard to get a handle on. >> it's mostly in the way it's made. it sets that we can't get anywhere near it. it sets that our resources are a limited value we need people on the grou

. >> we hear about that shia and we hear about the cities. do they have their own culture and language? >> we have our own ethnic identity. it is kurdish. we are kurds, but within that broad umbrella of an ethnic identity, there are various different religions. sunni muslim kurds and shiite muslim kurds. yet some who are christian and some who are jewish, but most of them are out of the country right now. we also have a large indigenous population which belongs to an ancient religion with ties to zoroastrianism. their kurdish by ethnicity, but different by religion. we have a beautiful mosaic of people who make up the kurdistan region. >> if you can put all of those people together and be one person, is there a particular characteristic that makes a kurd a curd? >> we have many, many adjectives you could apply to the kurds, but certainly courageous. we can be stubborn. but we are certainly courageous. we have survived a lot in our history. a lot of atrocities have befell my people. there is that strength within our society that makes it quite

but, you know, he was -- he was about the business of killing shia in iraq. i mean, that was one of his priorities. and indeed there's a distinct antagonism between al-qaeda and the iranian regime in hezbollah because they are primarily shia and not sunni. and that is deeply felt and i sort of go into the genesis of it. but i can't begin to explain why it is that important, you know, some 1400 years later. i only know -- or 1500 years later. i only know that it is. so one of the strains that runs through my book is the calculation that if al-qaeda, on bin laden's part, if al-qaeda does something which causes a military reprisal, an indiscriminate reprisal, it falls on al-qaeda. it's a win-win situation and the west strikes a blow against the west and iran strikes a blow to the west and that's a win for them and that's intensely felt. >> i want to get a little bit in your personal life, not too personal but a little bit of personal. and that is the fact that you were a lawyer. you were trained to be a lawyer. and around age 29 you decided to write a novel and

in iraq but shia extremists groups and they are getting sophisticated and powerful weapons from iranso i do worry about that. and frankly, based on what i have seen in the last few days, i think prime minister maliki is beginning to get worried as well and take serious these shia extremist groups. >> post bin laden, when they thought they were going to make an attack to retaliate u.s. troops killing bin laden. so far it has not happened. are they too weak to launch a strike against the u.s.? >> first of all, they have been significantly weakened. there's no two ways about it. killing bin laden, he's not the first leader we have killed in al qaeda. and so there have been real successes there. and second, most of their operations that we see do take some time to prepare, and get things ready. so we worry about al qaeda central there on the pakistani, afghan border. and we also worry about al qaeda and the iranian peninsula, and yemen, in north africa, and so this is a threat that in some ways has ma tsa sized. the question is, whether the new leader taking bin laden's place can hold th

in iraq, but by shia extremists groups and they are getting sophisticated and powerful weapons from frankly, based on what i have seen in the last few days, i think prime minister maliki is beginning to get worried as well and beginning to take serious these shia extremist groups. >> let me ask you about al qaeda. what does it say to you post bin laden, when we all thought they were going to make an attack to retaliate against u.s. troops killing osama bin laden, it hasn't happened. as far as i can tell, there's been no real lift in the terror warnings. are they too weak to launch a strike against the u.s.? >> a couple things. first of all, they have been significantly weakened. there's no two ways about it. killing bin laden, he's not the first leader we have killed from al qaeda. we've taken a toll on them particularly the last few year, last several. and so there have been real successes there. and second, most of their operations that we see do take some time to prepare and get things ready. so we worry still about al qaeda central there on the pakistani/afghan border. and we al

interesting what is it that chanting syria is united one people christian a muslim allow we saw no shia and so on everyone and you really get this also in egypt you hear you see the christians in the muslims having joint services in bahrain when you know the government troops you sectarian you know foul language against the shia demonstrators they reply on the one hand so what is the natural state of the people in the ministry i think we're getting a bit of an image of it which is actually quite united actually prepared to work with each other and the truth is and i think this is an experience as is the sectarianism or the ethnic or religious strife usually comes with some kind of foreign intervention or some kind intervention in the process that says we want to derail this by turning one community against the other we're not seeing this at the moment and that's the truth. would you agree then that what many would like to see there is a wave of democratic principles being applied to the middle east and indeed to north africa that this is a wave of a democratic movement happening there a

the largely shia population has long complained of discrimination.ttended the protests. the crown prince went on tv calling for dialogue. but when unarmed protesters were kill by the bahraini police, the hopes for reforms dimmed. dozens of tanks were brought in from saudi arabia to quash the rebellion. when we arrived, the streets were silent. we've come across a lot of military checkpoints just driving around here and you see the guys standing there with their guns and they're all wearing masks covering their face. even more disturbing, many of the people we came to bahrain to see had been arrested or gone into hiding. >> hello. this is ali abdulemam. >> reporter: ali abdulemam's website bahrainonline was a virtual coffee shop where bahrainis could openly discuss politics and events of the day. until it was censored. just days before we got here, ali, the father of three young children, disappeared. >> he's very loving person. respected person in society. >> reporter: nabil rajab is a close friend of abdulemam. >> all this chatting forum that we hav

shia majority protests have been put down, violently. >> the former tunisian regime regularly rounded up democracy activists. most disappeared in jails. the most articulate activists were subject to torture and execution. since tunisia and that harry g. have their jasmine revolution, there has been an improvement in human rights. but the same people who profited from the police state remained in their jobs. this keeps in asia from moving forward in their quest for more democracy. >> this has a collection of books on dictatorship, democracy, and human rights. these were unabvailable before the revolution. the book she is looking at is "the fall of the dictator." bin-ali with a hitler m ustache. she has been persecuted and nairlrrowly survived two murder attempts. this bookshop ois a vocal point for her and other activists. >> this was once only possible in secret. people would hide them under their clothes. >> five months afte rthr the revolution, protesters gather daily in central tunis to talk about their anger with the slow pace of change. the police and security forces or the same

shia l these sweet honey clustery things have fiber? fiber one. uh, forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? uh, try the number one! i've never heard of that. [ wife ] it's great. it's a sweet honey cereal, you'll love it. yeah, this is pretty good. are you guys alright? yeah. [ male announcer ] half a days worth of fiber. not that anyone has to know. fiber beyond recognition. fiber one. >>> back now at 8:35, it is not summer without a blockbuster action adventure movie, and "transformers dark of the moon" fits the bill. shia labeouf returns in the third film of the franchise to once again fight the humans -- fight for humans and autobottoms. take a look. >> i have an idea. how about we get back to the important topics like the fact i almost had my face cut off. i would like to lodge a complaint, as a matter of fact. >> we cannot entrust national security to teenagers. if you breathe a word of what you have seen here, you do time for treason. do you understand me? >> i'll take my orders from the autobots. i know them. i don't know you.

mutanabbi street is a mixed shia-suni area. more than 30 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded. this locale is the historic center of baghdad book selling, a winding street filled with bookstores and outdoor book stalls. named after the famous 10th century classic poet, al-mutanabbi, this is an old and established street for book selling and has been for hundreds of years. mutanabbi street also holds cafes, stationary shops, and even tea and tobacco shops. it has been the heart and soul of the baghdad literary and intellectual community. this tragedy is part of a wider and continuing tragedy, but one that we want to isolate and address, not only for the loss of lives but also for the implications underlying the destruction of a street where books were sold. book selling on mutanabbi street is no different from book selling here. we traffic in memory, ideas and dreams. in that sense, we feel that mutanabbi street starts at the front door of all of our book shops. mutanabbi street starts here. our first reader will be

and shia labeouf talks about his latest action adventure "transformers 3."ow keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports, and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. the day today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

almost all the doctors here are see ya doc shia doctors. it was a shia revolt against the sunni government led by the sunni royal family here. they've been alleged that there were weapons found in the hospital as well. we were in the hospital, albeit not for the whole period. but we didn't see that. we did hear the doctors talking about the types of juries they were seeing. what human rights activists are say, that while the government wouldn't give out figures of the injured during those very violent clashes and protests earlier this year, doctors in the hospital were providing information, types of injuries, types of weapons used, numbers of casualties, and this human rights activists say showed the human rights violations by the government, and that's why they say the government is cracking down on the doctors. the government is saying that this -- that the doctors broke the law and this is a natural course of punishment for them all. >> we'll continue to watch this trial with you, nic. thanks very much. >>> stay with us for tonight's fi

shia labeouf, josh duhamel, tyrese gibson, new co-stars, patrick dempsey, rosie huntington whitely and michael bay, director. >> action, guys. with russian red tape it took me a month to get my visa. that's my name in russian. everyone is psyched. >> red square. >> cool. it's history right there. now the tf-3 premiere by the numbers. paramount pictures is turning the 334 rooms of the ritz-carlton into our headquarters. linkin park, a huge part of the sound track will perform for 20,000 fans. constructing their stage in red square takes three days. >> the studio's co-president of marketing said it's an event the russians will never forget. >> everybody at paramount is excited for this. it's going to be a giant red carpet at the moscow film festival. >> "transformers: dark of the moon" premieres in theaters on the 29th and this film has it all. including a love story. t is so good. michael bay showed me 15 minutes of this movie. it is in 3d. i bet you love to see it. tomorrow i'll take you inside that private screening, it's pretty awesome. you want to know something else that's unbeliev

the truth is, most of our kids who have been killed recently have been killed by extremist shia groups, not by al qaeda in iraq, but by extremist shia groups, and they are clearly getting some fairly sophisticated and powerful weapons from iran. and so, i do worry about that. and frankly, i think, based on what i've seen in the last few days, i think prime minister maliki's beginning to get worried about it as well. >> so, fran, what is this warning from the outgoing defense secretary telling us? >> well, as i mentioned, joe, look, this is not a new worry for him. i can remember my own time in the white house, we saw weapons being transferred from iran to extremist groups inside iraq and being used against our soldiers. and so, i think this is an ongoing -- this is not a new concern for him. the interesting thing secretary gates said there is he thinks prime minister maliki is also beginning to get concerned. i will tell you, joe, there are many -- i put myself in this category -- who are suspicious of prime minister maliki's own relationship with ahmadinejad and with the iranian regim

hospitals and clinics to prime minister vladimir putin and on some large scale health care reform the shia. allocates billions of rubles in the next few years to improve health care in the country the aim of most school become a major european medical. treatment and standards that so many state institutions have a long way to go. the m. c. . is a whole different story the european medical center has more than one hundred fifty doctors in both its locations i'm from english french german and spanish they speak a range of languages they also pride themselves in the best services and standards the latest technologies and western style personal approach. changed here now some. might school have at the thought of them here in the russian capital but i can honestly say that having lived here the six years i haven't encountered them once well until now for me. and handbags traffic offenses last past incidents like this happen in every corner of the world. it's useful for everyone to have a photocopy of your documents. from the police if you have any travel insurance claims back to control and he

>> shias fund. she is 17 years old and she is fun and she thinks she knows everything. -- she is fun. that is what draws me to her. the familiarity. tavis: how difficult is it to navigate past the hype and the nomination? how difficult when you come out in their first project and it gets all that a claimant to have to navigate the career beyond? >> i have a very different way of thinking. thinking,eople aren't are you scared, will be hard for you? the best thing about having my first addition leading to an oscar nomination means i do not have to struggle to be nominated for an oscar to provide immigrate actress -- i am a great actress. i know so many who are chasing the statue because they think that is when the world will realize i am a great actor. i have done that already. tavis: it was liberating to be nominated so early on. >> exactly. taking that role, i never thought i would be -- i know what it meant to be nominated. i am glad that i am and i am glad i do not have to worry about it. tavis: i

hospitals and clinics to prime minister vladimir putin and on some large scale health care reform the shia pledge to allocate billions of rubles in exchange for years to improve health care in the country the aim of most who will become a major european medical destination. for treatments and standards that so many state institutions have a long way to go. the m. c. on the other hand is a whole different story the european medical center has more than one hundred fifty doctors in both its locations i'm from english french german and spanish they speak a range of languages but also pride themselves in the best services and standards the latest technologies and western style personal approach. make stuff all the police as very cool be officially changed here now some of us it is i agree right school however the thought of them here in the russian capital but i can honestly say i have been if you have the six years i haven't encountered bam once well until now color me. stolen handbags traffic offenses last post incidents like this happen in every corner of the worlds. it's useful if you want