but on a 2007 trip to tehran, she was accused of treason, arrested, and placed in solitary confinement for 105 days. director of the middle east program at the woodrow wilson center, haleh esfandiari. i'm maria hinojosa. this is one on one. dr. haleh esfandiari, welcome to our program. >> thank you for having me. >> hinojosa: so, in the fall of 2007... no, in the spring of 2007, suddenly i go to my computer and i start seeing these emails that say, "there is an iranian-american academic who is being held in a tehran prison. do everything that you can to try to get her out." and of course i started sending that to many people, and i received it from women's groups, from journalist groups, from human rights groups. i don't remember any of those emails saying that haleh esfandiari was a grandmother who was detained. how did you survive? you were 105 days in solitary confinement. >> it was very tough, maria, but i am a very disciplined person. and being 67 years old and a student of iran, having studied carefully, a lifetime, iran, i knew how to handle my interrogators, and i knew how to m

[speaking in native tongue] >> translator: in tehran where the population is 12 million, not even one permit for the construction of a sunni mosque has been issued. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: of course, the situation of the shias is not that god either in -- is not that good either in iran. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: one example was the attack on the pillar group. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: they were attacked brutally, and a number of them have been arrested. even three of the attorneys who defended them have been arrested as well. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: the government claims that these laws are islamic. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: we can't have any other law pause we're miss -- because we're muslims. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: but what we can say is that the same as other religions that have different interpretations, islam can have different interpretations too. [speaking in native tongue] >> translator: look at the united states. one church does not accept abortion, the other church d

there was some months ago a direct flight initiated between tehran, damascus and caracas. our information is that as at september 2010, flight in tehran had been shot and now it is caracas, to madrid in return. there are pointing out instead that the originals of venezuela are not subject to immigration controls. we've heard the stories, too. we don't have a way of verifying that. since 2006 it attempted to contact the statutory that required an inspection of the airports in venezuela because they are hitting .4 flights in the united states. because venezuela refused to permit the safety inspections, security inspections, in september 2008, dhs issued a public notice on the point informing passengers of our inability to do the inspections. in an example of, you know, i'm not going to call it progress, but there's a change in tsa was able to make a visit to venezuela last week. they spoke to venezuelan security officials. you know, this is not the end of the process. for the first time since 2006 we had a meeting on this topic. in terms of the size of the arabian embassy in

s foreign policy chief baroness ashton called on tehran to prove its peaceful atomic intentions this during an exclusive interview with us here to see how we can all talk to iran's envoy to the international atomic energy agency ali asghar soltanieh and i thank you for joining us today the russian of four minutes or so to get up off as told the press in that president ahmadinejad recognizes the importance of talks the resulting tension around your nuclear program there's so much does it mark a more positive phase in your talks with the i.a.e.a. . well there is a pleasure to talk to you i just want to reiterate that for the last eight years you have the. corporation we die a year about five thousand man the election has been made and not evidence of diversion have been found to military purposes and this is a clear head of the guardian of course negotiations we have always well come in and talk we stand respect and of course without any precondition. guiding the come and interview with the r t of lady ashton i am rather disappointed because they are these sort of your statements. igno

the un's nuclear watchdog a few days ago he used a foreign policy chief baroness ashton called on tehran to prove its peaceful atomic intentions this during an exclusive interview with us here in r.t. and we can now talk to iran's envoy to the international atomic energy agency ali as got a soltani i thank you for joining us today the russian of foreign minister sergei lavrov has told the press in our star no that president ahmadinejad recognizes the importance of talks for resolving tension around your nuclear program is it does it not does it mark a more positive phase in your talks with the i.a.e.a. can you. well there is a pleasure to talk to you i just want to reiterate that for the last eight years we have. received in the corporation we die a year about five thousand man the inspection has been made and no evidence of a version have been found committee purposes and this is a clear beloved pair of the guardian of course negotiation we have always welcomed negotiation and respect and of course without any precondition. guiding the recent comment interview with the r t of lady ashto

there was some months ago a direct flight initiated between tehran, damascus and caracas. our information is that as at september 2010, flight in tehran had been shot and now it is caracas, to madrid in return. there are pointing out instead that the originals of venezuela are not subject to immigration controls. we've heard the stories, too. we don't have a way of verifying that. since 2006 it attempted to contact the statutory that required an inspection of the airports in venezuela because they are hitting .4 flights in the united states. because venezuela refused to permit the safety inspections, security inspections, in september 2008, dhs issued a public notice on the point informing passengers of our inability to do the inspections. in an example of, you know, i'm not going to call it progress, but there's a change in tsa was able to make a visit to venezuela last week. they spoke to venezuelan security officials. you know, this is not the end of the process. for the first time since 2006 we had a meeting on this topic. in terms of the size of the arabian embassy in

aggression hat on monday tehran unveiled hidden underground missile launching pads ready to counter a possible attacks on the country's nuclear facilities. the international monetary fund is expected to pick its new director french finance minister christine lagarde is the clear favorite and if chosen she will become the first female i enough director in history but she has the backing of european members would count for nearly a third of the votes and also russia and china she will replace dominique strauss kahn who resigned after being arrested on sexual assault allegations and the guards opponent mexican carstens ran on the promise to give more say to emerging economies but he failed to rally support. for russia has partially lifted a ban on european vegetables and belgium and another was will be allowed to ship their products as long as they have a special certificate moscow about all vegetables from europe after a deadly e. coli outbreak and so far it's been confirmed that forty eight people have been killed by the virus and four thousand others across europe fell sick moscow's e

in the mountains north of tehran this past winter, i met up with a young woman i call samira. she asked to meet me here because it's one of the few places young people can go and not be spied on. samira is a rap singer and uses her music to give voice to those who cannot speak out. >> ( translated ): what i could do was write about it, what i had seen, and be the voice for the people who are dead or imprisoned. >> reporter: i first met her in the early days of the protests of 2009. she was an activist in the green movement, and had just seen a young man gunned down in the street next to her. >> ( translated ): i went to the street to demonstrate. we held back the basiji militia for two hours just by throwing stones. a man standing next to me with a mask on his face, i'd given him some stones just a few minutes before. he fell down, and blood exploded out of the middle of his forehead. i was shocked. then, somebody shouted that it was a direct shot. >> reporter: what samira saw was not unusual-- countless numbers of protesters were shot by the basiji militia. i met parvin fahim

are really seriously for nonprofessional disarmament and last week in fact i just came back from tehran today we had two days international conference and of course we had delegations from russia and other countries even america as a european countries were participating overtop scholars for disarmament and nonproliferation and last year we had also the same we are forced to or working together with our like minded friends for the wars free from nuclear weapon armistice i am sure you are work you are working together with the international community here but let's talk about how how the international community has been lobbying punishment on iran obama's national security adviser thomas e. delegate donilon the said it weeks ago that the u.s. would continue its aggressive sanctions policy against iran for the foreseeable future all these sanctions effective and are they justified. i just can tell you very simply because of time constraints i have explained the thought orally in the board of governors and in fact in many meetings in different countries when i have had the opportunity to t

on weekly flights to tehran. it's unclear who or want is transported, but the flights do carry weapons. these developments are troubling enough. they are further complicated by the o dasty in the nuclear arena specifically the missile tests and facilities. the nuclear issues pressing and does not exist in a vacuum. in 2009, venezuelan president, chavez, expressed the development and mixed report signaling a possible iranian assistance to venezuelan for deposits. the relationship is more troubling because venezuela serves as a conduit for iran playing an important part in cultivating a relationship between iran and latin american countries. venezuela's involvement with iran is a cost of concern and illegal activities in both hemispheres directly linked to the iranian government, and i welcome today's hearing to explore that further and to look at u.s. diplomatic options with regard to this troubling and growing relationship. with that, i yield back. thank you, mr. chairman. >> i thank you. we'll recognize the gent

we're seeing some disturbing new evidence that officials in tehran are reaching out aggressively to thehe leaders of iraq, and pakistan. we're joined now by cnn's national security contributor fran townsend. fran, by the way, with more than 100 members of congress, some other former senior u.s. national security officials, has publicly advocated the united states take the iranian opposition group, the mek, off the state department's list of terror groups around the world. just as the european union has already done. fran, let's talk about what is going on. in recent days, the leaders of three nominal u.s. allies, iraq, afghanistan, and pakistan, they all went to tehran to meet with ahmadinejad, amidst growing concern, he must say, at least i'm hearing from some u.s. officials that when all is said and done, the dust settles in that part of the world, despite all the heavy u.s. investment, iran could emerge as the big strategic winner. what is your thought on that? >> reporter: this has been a concern quite frankly, wolf, throughout the gulf region. saudi arabia, bahrain, had been increa

i would agree but the building built in the 2000 tehran region in -- era max down the slide triggered by would support -- era maxed out. >> many of the statements made b y president goh also resonate with me, especially the -- i don't know if that wa s a failure to consider a lot split prior to construction, or if that was considered at all. the maximum use was evidence it was built to its full potential, rather than more modest. never having done a condo conversion, it is useful to hear that on both sides of tehe issue. it probably does carry greater home value, so i don't know what offsets what. being more new than president goh, i am aware of the small lot issue, and i am sympathetic in that regard. i am not sure where i am going to land. it is pretty mixed. >> were we to overturn it, we would have to find discretion, and the other way to overturn it is to have error, and there is the fact that it is not the predominant element of that neighborhood, but they do exist. one thing that is very similar with the pennsylvania thing is that if you ride by their tonight and it is not a spl

he has overseen a tehran formation in fifa -- he has seen a transformation in fifa's financial strength. he has fought and won many battles. his biggest may be in front of him. >> to get more on this story and more, go to bbc.com/news. >> hello and welcome. >> see the news unfold, get the top stories from around the globe and click-to-play video reports. go to bbc.com/news to experience the in-depth, expert reporting of "bbc world news" online. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. and union bank. >> union bank has put its financial strength to work for a wide range of companies, from small businesses to major corporations. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet los angeles.

tehran has denied that its space program has military aims. they plan to launch a manned mission by the year 2020. the german government is eying greater government in africa, calling for partnership of equals. they believe they can help africans improve their living standards through german investment and assistance, but non-governmental aid organizations have criticized the plan as favoring german business interests only and ignoring the true needs of the people. >> nigerian fishermen face a bleak future. leaking oil pipelines are destroying the environment and, with it, their livelihood. mismanagement of the country's natural resources has kept the population entrenched in poverty. foreign investment has done little to foster social development. as germany seeks to become more active in raw materials mining in africa, it wants people there to benefit. >> we are offing rica partnership -- partnership on equal terms. >> he also underlined that africa harbors enormous potential. he called for the continent to be given more of the same internat

do not have a nuclear option in defense doctrine we are again said our supreme leader last year in tehran international conference and disarmament our nonproliferation clearly said informed the whole war then declared that their nuclear weapon and with his own mass destruction are at least use the forbidden we had i guess it and we are mobilizing all of the nonaligned movement for you in fact working hard towards the moment of nuclear weapons and that is the policy and determination i assure you would have had one hundred percent transparency on place in any of the history of the i.a.e.a. and you cannot find any place in the of the ports of the director general questioning our enrichment activities that is why i was very disappointed. when i know to you said the the our team tell you we have the radio show and had such a claim therefore i hope. by the advisors of being correctly information from the i.a.e.a. had of course that the president. joined me and other ambassador to. the beginning of this year ahead of this kind of let's say claim or in fact their let's say are on them technicall

have a nuclear option in on the defense doctrine we are again said our supreme leader last year in tehran international conference and on this i mean the nonproliferation clearly said informed the whole war then declared that their nuclear weapon and because of mass destruction are at least you see for me then we are at a game and we are mobilizing all nonaligned movement for you in fact working hard towards the cement of nuclear weapons and that is the policy idea to nation i assure you of that you have had one hundred percent transparency on president in the history of the i.a.e.a. and you cannot find any place in getting reports of the director general questioning our enrichment activities that is why i was very disappointed. when i know he said when the our team tell you we have the radio show and had such a claim therefore i hope that the get out by the advisors of lady green correctly information from the i.a.e.a. had of course that a president leader of a lot more than my show and joined me and other about. the beginning of this year put out these kind of let's say claim or in fact

do not have nuclear option and defense doctrine we are again said our supreme leader last year in tehran international conference and on this i mean the nonproliferation clearly said informed the whole world and declared that their nuclear weapon and of his own mass destruction of religious life will be then we are against it and we are noble aisy all nonaligned movement for in fact working hard towards the solemn end of nuclear weapons and that is the policy idea to malaysia and i assure you of that you have had one hundred percent transparency on preceding in the history of the i.a.e.a. and you cannot find any place in your report of the decade general questioning our enrichment activities that is why i was very disappointed. when i know to you said the in the r.v. interview we had the radiation had such a claim therefore i hope that the advisors of green correctly information from the i.a.e.a. had of course that the personal ego. joined me and other in about. the beginning of this year and out these kind of let's say claim or in fact the less they are on them technically based the sta

not have nuclear option on the defense doctrine we had again said our supreme leader last year in tehran international conference on disarmament are not. clearly said to inform the whole world and declare that their nuclear weapon and because of mass destruction are at least use the forty then we are i guess and we are mobilizing all the nonaligned movement for you in fact working hard towards the end of nuclear weapons and that is the policy and determination i assure you would you have had one hundred percent transparency on president in the history of the i.a.e.a. and you cannot find any place in getting ports of the director general questioning our enrichment activities that is why i was very disappointed. when i know he said the need in the r.t. interview with the lady i shouldn't radiation had such a claim therefore i hope to get out of the advisors of lady green correctly information from the i.a.e.a. had of course that of presently the. joined me and other ambassador to. the beginning of peace year ten of these kind of let's say claim or in fact the less they are technically base

right now the police are busy implementing the project in three main states, including tehran. it will be applied throughout the country in two weeks' time. >> he was on scade -- described as india's picasso and the mavericks -- works of m.s. huasin was one of india's most famous artists. but he also inspired controversy and when his naked pictures of hindu gods brought death threats he left the country. >> during his long career, m.f. huasin became india's best known and most successful painter. his works sold for millions the we're coming into this room now. one of the most famous paintings? the bbc recently filmed a special documentary with him. in it he talked about the loss of his mother at 18 months and the void that that had left. >> many paintings i paint, like mother teresa, i never paint the face. i got all the affection of mother in the cradle i would have been a different man. that's something i'm missing the >> he said he worked every day for the past 80 years. he began his career painting sin eam billboards but went on to be known as the indian pick asa -- pits ac

he and shane bauer have been in prison in tehran since 2009.ir friend sarah shored was released for medical reasons. >> a campaign to bar circumcision takes a bizarre twist. >> they show stereo typical orthodox jews as evil in their facial features. >> from religious leaders say why a comic am book is turning circumcision supporters into villains. >> the green space opened up a whole new world to hikers today. ,,,, [ banker ] mike and brenda found a house that they really wanted. it was in my sister's neighborhood. i told you it was perfect for you guys. literally across the street from her sister. [ banker ] but someone else bought it before they could get their offer together. we really missed a great opportunity -- dodged a bullet there. [ banker ] so we talked to them about the wells fargo priority buyer preapproval. it lets people know that you are a serious buyer because you've been credit-approved. we got everything in order so that we can move on the next place we found. which was clear on the other side of town. [ male announcer ] well

aggression on monday tehran unveiled hidden underground a missile launching pads ready to counter possible attacks on the country's nuclear facilities. i'll be back with the headlines shortly but first all the latest in business with kareena. and welcome to business here in r.t. thanks for joining me the clock's ticking down on greece's judgment day the country will default in july if the e.u. doesn't provide a new bailout you austerity measures are being debated in parliament this week nigel randall from r.b.c. capital markets believes it's make or break time. the problem in greece is that we've had a lot of political difficulties we've had problems with the statistics which has misinformed both the government and the international community to sort of a. living at the eleventh for quite some time but i think we really don't have the five minutes to midnight and there really is no alternative they do have to proceed with this austerity plan there is a risk if they don't push through this historic the program we could see much more substantial impact on financial markets with a negative re

criticized tehran's support of the crackdown meanwhile at least twelve demonstrators have been killed in clashes with authorities in the capital damascus journalist and commentator danny believes the european union and u.s. are opposed to any shift of power in the country. any further economic sanctions on syria will have almost no impact whatsoever on the current situation in syria and on the current crackdown let's not forget that series already subject to american sanctions including age restrictions and export bans. has recently put economic sanctions on the country is well i think syria has exposed in fact the double standard in the international community's approach to all these revolutions sweeping across the arab world in the middle east let's not forget that the nato went to war against libya because it fear that there would be a potential killing of innocent civilians in benghazi now we are witnessing an actual massacre taking place in syria and yet the incan international community has been rather cautious in its reaction towards syria because of its crucial strategic posit

fattal and shane bauer have been in prison in tehran since july of 2009 accused of espionage. his fiance was released last year and returned to the u.s. the three were scheduled for court may 11th but did not appear and no explanation was given. >>> u.s. officials are trying to confirm the death of an al- qaeda militant believed to have -- to have been killed in a u.s. missile attack. ilyas kashmiri is believed to be one of nine militants killed yesterday near the afghanistan border. he was in line to succeed osama bin laden bin. the fax believed to be sent by the militant group, he was heading promised revenge against america. >>> these cupcakes are not thought of as a recipe for terror, but some hackers for british intelligence replaced an al-qaeda file online to detailed how to make bombs with recipes for how to make cupcakes. curtis jackson shows us one of those recipes came from a bakery in ohio. >> no one wants to be associated in any capacity to have your name written in the same paragraph as the words al- qaeda. >> reporter: the owners of main street cupcakes are shake

aggression on monday tehran unveiled hidden underground missile launching pads ready to counter a possible attacks on the country's nuclear facilities. the international monetary fund is expected to pick its new director french finance minister christine lagarde is the clear favorite if chosen she will become the first female i am math director in history she has the backing of european members who account for nearly a third of the votes and also russia and. china to replace the many who resigned after being arrested on sexual assault allegations the guards opponent mexican carstens ran on the promise to give more say to emerging economies i felt to rally enough support. for the u.s. state of michigan is giving up a prized asset to find a way out of its economic woes it decided democracy is too expensive on the elected financial managers have taken the place of elected officials and given a free hand to make decisions unchecked or just going to court takes a look. at the american state known for its great lakes has seen the middle class feed and automotive industry crumble in michigan's po

nuclear watchdog it came as the united nations conceded new sanctions on tehran atomic class demanding prove their program was peaceful and was spoke to iran's envoy to the i.a.e.a. he said his country no longer had anything to prove. many allegations was raised by the united states and i approved of the investigation taking samples and added to go process that all these allegations are baseless in fact before coming to the un i was in charge of escorting all these specters and i was with them in this way to size it which would prove these allegations had no basis. for truth after eight years the boring stories one thing is clear we do not have a program and we are fully cooperating with. the on. board five thousand mandy's we have found no evidence of diversion of nuclear material to prove we did purposes and. or claim by with due respect i categorically reject. well one of the highest teen suicide rates in the wild russia has been jolted into action to reverse the worrying trend but experts say it's not that simple because there are several causes that can lead to tragedy if left and

not have a nuclear option on the defense doctrine we are against it our supreme leader last year in tehran international conference on the solomon the nonproliferation clearly said informed the whole war then declared that their nuclear weapon and with his own mass destruction are at least useless for b. then we had i guess it and we are mobilizing all of the nonaligned movement for you in fact working hard towards the moment of nuclear weapons and that is the policy idea to me nation i assure you of that we have had one hundred percent or as bad as the on preceding in the history of the i.a.e.a. and that sooner the better united nations security council is sure to stop engagement and the political in fact is victoria just a man's bite here and there just company kate this situation therefore my advice is lead to do is job and of course director general should also do his professional work not to put pressure on iran based on united nations security council resolution and swore a suspension or additional protocol because it won't work mr. tawny the iranian envoy to the i.a.e.a. the interna

has been pressuring tehran to give evidence of its peaceful atomic intentions but in an interview to arts iran's envoy to the atomic agency says his country has nothing to prove and nothing to hide. many allegations was raised by united states and i you approved of the investigation taking samples and added to go process that all these allegations are baseless in fact before coming to the un i was in charge of escorting all the spectre's and i was with them in this with a two size it which would prove that these allegations had no basis is a very unfortunate after eight years they are repeating these boring stories one thing is clear that we do not have a program for nuclear weapons we are fully cooperating we. as a said unprecedented the most robust inspection in the history of order five thousand men these pictures gay have no evidence of divergence of nuclear material to prove we did purposes and the statement or claim by radiation with due respect i categorically reject. and you can see the full interview with iran's envoy to the international atomic energy agency in a less than

aggression on monday tehran valid missile launching pads ready to counter possible attacks on the country's nuclear facilities. the international monetary fund is expected to pick its new director french finance minister christine lagarde is the clear favorite if chosen she will become the first female i.m.f. director in history she has the backing of european members who account for nearly a third of the votes and also russia and china she will replace demjanjuk's false calm resigned after being arrested on sexual assault allegations but guards opponent mexico augustina carson's around on the promise to give more say to emerging economies but fail to rally enough support. all the latest business news is next with kareena stay with us. hello and welcome to our business bulletin the south thanks for joining me the clock's ticking down along greece's judgment day the country with will to fold in july if the e.u. doesn't provide a new bailout deal study measures are being debated in parliament this week nigel randall from r.b.c. capital markets believes it's make or break time. the problem in