from phone stupid. stunts on t.v. dot com. braces for a fresh wave of protests sparked by people's anger at president mubarak's latest refusal to step down are two looks at why the embattled leader won't go. shortly after the dispute between moscow and once again the japanese foreign minister is in the russian capital for talks joining me. for more in just a few minutes. sweden is under fire for its controversial wiretap wiretapping law slobbers the most far reaching eavesdropping one in europe. will suggest america is pulling the strings.

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i love it i am here in moscow this is our team thanks for joining us now thousands of egyptians have begun flooding the streets of cairo as protesters promised an unprecedented rally protesters are already gathering at key sites with some reports suggesting that crowds pull out of marching towards the presidential palace later today this comes after president hosni mubarak once again vowed to remain in office until september and a televised national address he promised to transfer some power to his vice president omar suleiman but not step down himself with the eighty two year old also cited his reluctance to bow to international pressure something many believe he's done on a regular basis. has more from washington d.c. . the u.s. wants an orderly transition as they say president obama said hosni mubarak's statement on the transition of authority was not clear and needs more explanation

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mubarak basically said in his address that he was not going to run for president in september and egyptians will have the chance to elect whatever leader they choose but in the meantime he said he was not going anywhere we spoke with senator ron paul earlier and he thinks mubarak is following washington's plan we have a lot to do with mubarak being in power and staying in power like we subsidize them we own them these are puppet dictator he does what we tell him because he gives so much money he's gotten probably sixty to seventy billion dollars and i understand his family probably has sixty or seventy billion dollars stashed away in swiss accounts and other places around the world washington can hardly be considered to be impartial when it comes to power struggle in egypt it's a strategic location for the u.s. mubarak has been a close ally for thirty years the u.s. has been pumping billions of dollars into the egyptian military and they certainly don't want to lose that whoever is in power there is a great chance that they won't lose that although the position is it's up to the

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egyptian people to choose their next leader washington is apparently pulling some strings the man who was sort of in charge during this tumultuous transition and who is seen as a possible alternative to mubarak is a big cia friend it's all marsalis he has reportedly orchestrated the brutal interrogation of terror suspects abducted by the cia also in the run up to the u.s. invasion of iraq in two thousand and three the cia relied on me to beat confession out of a detainee who said saddam hussein had connections with al qaeda something that was proven to be false but back in the day was perfect for the americans who desperately needed an excuse to invade iraq so he's an old friend not hostile to israel and that that's basically all the u.s. wants from a future leader of egypt in official statements of course u.s. officially says. the u.s. officials say they want to. see a leader who hears his people's grievances but they're certainly black receive here just a year ago when asked about human rights violations by the egyptian government i

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remember obama's response was egypt is our close schools ally and it's not the job of the united states to a lecture egypt on democracy and human rights rather wait for it to pass changed in recent weeks the u.s. took up its is old roll of democracy preacher but if you watch american t.v. you listen to american politicians it's all about us interests not really about egyptians they want democracy for egypt but a democracy that will be ok with the united states. well r.t. also spoke with author william and doll who says that mubarak's demise is now a u.s. priority after the longtime washington ally dropped his support for america's middle east policy. mubarak's government realized that the u.s. was preparing a regime change that along the lines of the so-called color revolutions in georgia ukraine and so forth. to the united states sometimes received in the state department sometimes at the national endowment for democracy

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or freedom house these are all quote unquote private and she also specialized training for washington and. what's going on is really a major enough destabilization of u.s. ally mobile iraq has been opposed to most of us policy views of you rather use of the persian gulf nations and these are eleven. over the last several years so he's become in effect a thorn in the side of washington's greater agenda since two thousand and one where friday is expected to see the largest protest since the unrest began more than two weeks ago former cia officer and needed not told r.t. he thinks mubarak's reluctance to go makes the situation a volatile. now that the president mubarak that years has said he would not leave i am afraid that they are going to expand their rouge and take it beyond.

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the way our government buildings as we see they're doing in fact the movement has already selected leadership of fourteen people and this leadership consists among others groups of the muslim brotherhood so i do not believe that the muslim brotherhood necessarily will get over the movement the movement remains secular i have lived through our professional movement from across the egyptian society so it is not one specific ideology so there are some members who are extremists but for the most part the muslim brotherhood has participated in the general elections and already indicated they would be really do participate in share and free elections each full of people in egypt demanding change peter lavelle ask his guest who dictates what democracy is and what exactly is the role

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of those who promote it heated debate and i cross talk show coming up in less than half an hour. till we just why don't the world just let the egyptians alone leave the egyptians alone leave the tunisians alone leave the people of palestine alone leave the people of lebanon alone and let them decide their fate and then we can deal with them. yes that would be the best course but that would involve. it would not involve in action it would involve reversing the status quo namely the us would have to cut off the los alamos labs and president of the united states to it to achieve any of our out there who are saying that is why even bring it repressive to a string of what is left of al and the stress and really interest of the united states of america it's not watching out for the interest of the united states of america we are not trying as he was being. tried as i say how nice it would be imprudent to trying to find trying it's a human being then i just say that we should not be killing innocent people we

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should not be torturing innocent people opposed to the us government i am an opponent of the us government. a territorial dispute between moscow and tokyo is running high as the japanese foreign minister visits the russian capital for talks with his counterpart and it comes shortly after some brash statements from tokyo concerning the karylle islands the russian territory japan is laying claim to. has more. this meeting really can sense the relations between moscow in tokyo in a new direction because many analysts agree now that they've hit the you'll always point since the cold war and one of the main reasons for that is the territorial dispute over the cool islands tokyo claims that these islands belong to japan historically russia says that it's strategic to juries and that is one of the

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outcomes of the second world war so this dispute with the has been going on for quite a long time over half a century now and russia has been making several proposals looking for ways to resolve the situation including creating a joint economic zone in the region but unfortunately none of these initiatives. brought any positive results in fact just several days ago in japan during the so-called day of northern territory's talk strongly criticized the visit by russia's president to these islands last fall and also japanese nationalists vandalized the russian flag moscow reacted quite strongly the russian president once again stressed that the islands are russian territory and are all strategic importance and also said that russia will increase its military presence there for example to mistral helicopter carriers which are currently being purchased from

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france are to be sent there as soon as they're delivered so it is quite a complicated situation it's a warning for businesses on all sides since business is if you go green quite rapidly and this. may cause a negative effect but it's also quite a stressful factor for ordinary people for the russian families thousands of them living on these islands for decades now. well we've got plenty more ahead for you this hour on our team including family support knows no borders were revealed how despite severed ties with moscow cash flow from russia to georgia grows every year that's due to money transfers from those who left their country in search of a better life plus. artes close of series gives you a real taste of the centuries old culture. and find out why the eurovision song

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contest holds a special place in its history. as battles for the extradition of julian assange week uniques cables on the country's close cooperation with the us are provoking a public backlash the text revealed washington's push to influence swedish law so that communication passing through. scandinavian country can be intercepted artie's lore and it has this story. bugged and wiretapped at the behest of the us swedish intelligence service the f. a has the power to monitor and intercept all internet traffic in the country and thanks to leaks us state department cables we now know the controversial law was adopted after pressure from washington and the security services were deliberately kept out of it to reassure swedes there was no funny business force to operate under strict data storage and protection laws for swedish citizens they are

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concerned that the public may perceive their involvement as an attempt to work around these restrictions by using a foreign intermediary that's poisoning any chance for success the u.s. interest is clear eighty percent of all the internet traffic from russia travels through sweden and from there to america but most men from by by government representatives that no no no the purpose is not to spy on swedes it's the morning monitor among other things russian transit traffic but what kind of information they are worth i think the information that is made accessible to special services by this law is of course sensitive and there are ways it can harm russia's political interests. the law has been slammed by some as the most far reaching eavesdropping plan in europe and prompted widespread protests ahead of its implementation cables also suggest the swedish government was colluding with

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the u.s. to avoid involving the public at all costs. the agreement may have to be presented to parliament and a vague constitutional requirement for matters of great importance if so the process will take considerably longer and be subject to public scrutiny something the government of sweden will want to avoid as the ministry of justice continues to analyze the proposed. it is also considering how to craft and arrangement that will avoid the need for parliamentary review very soon no parliamentary control over what they are for us. and of course the general public in sweden has even less control much of the pressure coming from the united states and from the corporate industries. it's been in the swedish government the more than happy to. to to do whatever the american corporations. ask through the american government judging from the date on the leaked cables while sweden was debating whether to pass the bill the americans were already negotiating with the swedish authorities or what

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kind of information they wanted they see the twenty third meeting has an opportunity to seek precise details on the type of information the united states wants and overall a movie agreement and it's clear the us ended up getting what it was after at least in terms of information on the eighty percent of russian internet traffic that passes through sweden our intelligence cooperation with sweden on brusha is excellent do you directed left handed general burgess who'll be here next week for exchanges with the swedes on russia and of the topics now it's not just information on russia that the us is off to it's reportedly carrying out its own investigation into wiki leaks founder julian assange still says all this information to see if it can bring espionage charges if it can and applies to sweden first extradition all this close cooperation that we've seen may mean his feet won't touch the ground you

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know and it's r.t. . all the case leaves many guessing about his fate and you can also have your say about what you think awaits the renowned whistleblower in our online poll and here are the results of the voting so far. well as you can see from the chart half of you say that a song can escape imprisonment if he gets political refuge in russia which has no extradition agreements and more than a quarter believes that due process will see not guilty and twenty percent say assad will do this time in any case but only three percent thinking should collaborate with the u.s. shut down within weeks to have his criminal case closed while you can influence the voting at any time just by logging on to our website at r.t. dot com.

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a life in georgia can be tough especially after the country severed all relations with moscow its largest trading partner and benefactor and every year thousands of georgians pack up and set off in search of a better life in russia but as artie's dennis polaski reports it's a lonely life for those left behind. going to click on the media happy and don't forget about us here come and visit dallas. asked us to show this video greeting to her relatives she sends her best wishes to her son her daughter in law and the grandkids who live away in russia for the seventy three year old they are her only real hope to. learn it is hard nowadays oh i can get is a few lottery here and there. for this big georgian family moved to rochelle fourteen years ago and even though it's hard for these people to make ends meet every month they send money to their relatives and police sleep and they're not the

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only ones with your own families like the gross the streets transferred more than seven hundred million u.s. dollars to georgia making russia the biggest cash supplier for this caucasus republic the number of such were transfers has been growing steadily over the past few years. giving a strong boost to georgia's economy and even though in two thousand aid bill we see officially broke all diplomatic ties with most schools and council direct flights between the two capitals it didn't stop georgians from greeting to russia with the hopes of finding jobs and a better wife we came here as refugees the neighbors were kind to us and they helped a lot so now after all these years we communicated with the rest of the family over the internet sometimes who make phone calls and the wire money to them whenever we can what do you know is minorities daughter in law living in a small mining town lives very well in southern russia she relies on her husband bill small business income that lets the whole family live in russia being for

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their children situation and supporting their elderly relatives oh i didn't see this picture of her but nor does video message finally reached its recipients my year in marina i haven't seen their grandma for more than six years now they're hoping that someday wife in georgia will get better and visiting the relatives will be as easy as going to the bank and making a money transfer then as well or. is very southern russia and now for a brief look at some other major headlines from around the world millions of iranians are staging rallies across the country to mark the thirty second anniversary of iran's islamic revolution among those on the streets are supporters of the uprising in egypt tunisia earlier this year the iranian government up to the pressure on the country's opposition who planned to stage a rival pro-democracy rally on monday the chief prosecutor dismissed the activists

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calls as a ploy to undermine the regime. and the armed teenager who took hostages in a bad robbery in north carolina has been killed after a three hour standoff with police the bad who. nineteen was shot dead by snipers as he walked out of the bag with a captive held as a human shield all seven hostages involved in the robbery were reported to be unharmed and official expressed sadness at the praise the police for their actions . now are close of team continues to explore the western europe as area as they get to know the culture and the traditions of the republic and its capital city. the republic is known for its centuries long traditions which represent a mixture of mythology ancient religions and ethnic rituals its creative spirit

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gives rise to local talents achieving success both at home and abroad and one of its famous sons peter tchaikovsky is still one of the most played composers in the world while others less famous try to make their own cultural mark. what makes it stick. welcome to the latest installment of the course of sirius we're continuing to cover various regions in places russia and this time we learned more to learn steve's and rich cultural traditions it is known as the birthplace of russian composer tchaikovsky this is a place where for centuries christianity and shamanism paganism have co-exist peacefully and of course this is also a place where all of those traditions so pertain and still are very deeply felt to this state because there's a lot more that road more to i can both in terms of cultural and traditional aspects and let's watch report now on some of those things. when you come to

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your in for a surprise though it's known for its weapon producing factories and plants the first thing that catches your eye is the city's architecture which seems to have changed a little over the centuries and once you dig deeper you find the more people are good at preserving their heritage and not just on the outside in the culture for me is a part of my life it's a way of my life you know my mom la la but it's my grandmother's. fairy tale to tell this is very eco logical very educational thing and coming to very close to nature culture but of course to get a full taste of the culture you have to get out of the city and go to the village where traditional songs dances food and drinks are still very much a part of everyday life so we hit the road to raj through the snow and ended up in the village of roundabout and the home of local celebrities who made waves in

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russia's last bid for your vision song contest glory but don't expect to find any short skirts and hair extensions here most of the stars are over the age of seventy and dress much more tastefully. all but we come here in the evening meet so watch t.v. and sing during the commercials. these grandmothers became an unexpected hit coming one place short of representing their country but they still caught audience's imagination with their songs giving some of the world's best known hits a new sound. you're reading you know after your vision wanted to come home quietly that would

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more people and we didn't want to make a fuss but people found out and when we got back to our village they give us a grand welcome back party with songs and dances. and these take a creative hands on approach to everything they do but i'm trying to do right now is up to these leaders which is sort of like me. you make this but all that's good in the new year with the stuff in the side this is a traditional dish and. comes out of it afterwards when you hear something like. what we do people do the same thing in every village and more to. the people here seem to have a song for every occasion be it a wedding gapped is a birth or seen young man after the army whatever life throws at them they would

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move to find a way to market and maybe it's that approach which has kept these traditions going strong for hundreds of years. it even goes r.t. . our business news with kareena is coming up in a few moments. zob . hello and welcome to our business boards and good to have you with us are the russian shareholders of oil major tanky b.p. unlikely to be able to block a dividend payout to the company for the fourth quarter of two thousand and ten that's according to the misty newspaper under the shareholder agreement take a v.p.

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is obliged to allocate at least forty percent of net income towards dividends which account for around one third of the piece profits are decided to oppose the dividend payment of to b.p. announced a share swap and arctic exploration deal with was snapped meanwhile the court injunction put forward by a.r. to block b.p.'s proposed the lines has been extended to march pending a final hearing. question stocks love the most in seven months over deepening concerns that inflation in emerging markets will accelerate the two point seven percent on thursday extending its three day decline till the five percent reversing this year's gain of the m.s.c.i. emerging markets of big struck five point two percent this year as developing countries raised interest rates to fight inflation a research firm far global says investors pulled seven billion dollars from the markets equity funds last week of january that's the biggest weekly three years.

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and a wave of consolidation is sweeping through the world's leading stock exchanges the london stock exchanges to merge with toronto's and frankfurt storage wars is planning to link to link up with new york stock exchange your next with a miser r.t.s. also planning to unite david buick from partners in london says russia will pay will play a significant role in the future. russia is a massive country with huge influence in the world of energy and mining with plenty of money and i think the sense of goodwill that would be seen by russia taking a stake in a significant stake in a bull say like l.s.e. . would be absolutely super there are huge cultural differences at the moment as we know and also regulatory differences in corporate governance differences but these are not things that couldn't be easily owned and if i was a passive investor in terms of wanting to get involved with

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a combination of my sexuality as well to do that by think the rest of the world would see that is very very positive indeed if we believe that global uncertainty in this country we don't think anything else than russia has to play a very significant role of rule you've had many of your i.p.o.'s in london or in hong kong and there's no reason why they can't be on an international basis going forward. have a look at how the markets are performing. down for a fifth day on friday hong kong and shanghai away by reporting chinese hike to small and medium sized banks reserve ratios. early in the session hang sang we japanese markets are closed for a public holiday. and here with. over half a percent of them isaacson's gaining nearly eight percent in the first hours of trading after the most in seven months on thursday most of the blue chips are in the black. eight percent. is up over.

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russian gold miner nor gold has found its i.p.o. in london due to a limited amount volatile markets companies sought to raise four billion dollars in the offering gold operates. and africa used around six hundred thousand ounces of gold last week. that's all for this hour join me in less than one hour from now for more.

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culture is that so much knowledge about the feelings i think if i'm going to give a real m.b.a. i was told that even under the worst kinds of oppression people all around the world demonstrate time and again they want freedom and democratic institutions whose. wealthy british style. is not on the title of. markets financed scandals find out what's really happening to the global economy for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines to name to cause a report on. the for.