21/11/2011 GMT with George Alagiah

A revolution delayed, at least 33 dead as Egypt's activists demand

for changes more quickly. Back to square one, as they did in the

February uprising, the protesters Hello. Welcome to GMT. I'm George

Alagiah. No time for an election honeymoon for the popular People's

Party. Do they have a solution for the financial crisis?

It's only a game, why an invasion of Iran in battlefield three is

It's 12.30pm in London, early morning in Washington and 2.30pm in

Cairo, where the sound of protest is once again spreading out from

Tahrir Square. Nine months after the remarkable 18-day uprising that

ended the rule of Hosni Mubarak, it seems it's back to square one, no

pun intended. The activists fear the military are trying to enTrench

their hold over the country. At least 33 people have died in the

last two days of clashes and Egypt's culture minister has just

resigned in protest at the government response to

demonstrations. Emily Buchanan has this report on a revolution re-

The battles on Cairo's streets are ferocious. Police fire tear gas and

rubber bullets, protesters hold their ground. Their weapons -

stones, pieces of pavement and grim determination. The future of the

country is at stake. Tahrir Square, the scene of so much jubilation

nine months ago, now filled with those desperate to stop their

revolution unraveling. Activists had believed the army to be their

ally, but now there's fury that promises by the generals to oversee

an orderly transfer from dictatorship to democracy have been

broken the there's -- broken. There's little faith in

Parliamentary elections. The military will hold power, enjoy

immunity from prosecution and avoid execute any of budgets.

TRANSLATION: The military Council said up to six months they would

hand over power. Nine months have passed and there's no indication

they are doing that. Vi no faith in these elections at all. The

interior ministry is supposed to safe guard the elections and

they're the ones attacking us right now. Near Tahrir Square, a fire in

a six storey apartment building has become another flash points. People

are enraged the police wouldn't let firefighters deal with the blaze.

TRANSLATION: The tear gas landed inside an apartment. The police

won't allow fire trucks in. Tear gas was not meant to be the

currency of the Arab Spring. Western governments are urging the

military rulers to loosen their decades old grip on power. We do

want to see Egypt a transfer of people. We want to see robust

guarantees of human rights, including the accountability of

security forces enshrined in future laws or constitutions As the

running battles take their toll, make-shift field hospitals have

been set up. Some of the wounded say they're too afraid to go to the

city hospitals for fear of being arrested. Elections are supposed to

be in a week. But with little trust in them and with such a volatile

atmosphere, it looks unlikely they can take place. The army's

determined to have the streets clear for polling, but thousands of

ordinary people are equally determined to risk their lives and

defy the order to go home. Our correspondent, Yolande Knell,

joins me live now from Cairo. We were both in Tahrir Square back in

February. This is a case of day Jew view isn't it? -- de jav? It seems

this is the worst violence we have seen since the revolution. The

latest figure suggest that more than 30 people have been killed.

That's coming from a morgue, close to Tahrir Square. Now we're also

seeing an encampment in the square, people re-occupying the central

area, at the symbolic heart of Egypt's revolution. This is all

something quite new for Egypt in this post-revolutionary period.

Still the violence continuing. Still a lot of volatility there and

numbers continuing to swell in Tahrir Square. It's quite a dilemma

for the ruling military about how to proceed. What effect is this

likely to have on elections, Parliamentary elections, staggered

elections, due to start next week.? Exactly one week from now the

election process is due to start. Elections are due to place here in

Cairo and other provinces on November 28. Now the ruling

military was quick to come out and say that it was sticking to that

time table, but it remains to be seen whether in this security

environment and the bitter atmosphere that we now see whether

those elections can take place as planned. Certainly there's been an

appeal to the new political parties that have been campaigning, they

have posters up around the city, at the moment, for them to get

involved and try to help clear Tahrir Square, but the anger of the

protesters has only been magnified by the brutality that we've seen

from the police, who are being backed up by the military police.

Thank you very much. Let's look at some of the other

stories making headlines around the world today: All change in Spain,

the centre-right Popular Party has won a victory in the Parliament'

election. With all the votes counted, the new Prime Minister is

assured of a clear majority in the lower house. Mariano Rajoy is

expected to tackle the country's debts amid slow growth and high

unemployment. Addressing supporters last night Mr Rajoy said there

would be no miracle to restore Spain to financial health. Spain is

the fifth eurozone country embroiled in the financial crisis

to change its government, after Greece, Italy, Portugal and Ireland

did the same. Joining me now is an eeconomist from LSC Europe

institute. He has no honeymoon period. Most election victories,

especially with this kind of majority, you expect a bit of

leeway. We will have to perform the reforms as soon as possible.

There's no way Spain can wait a single minute. He has a mandate

from the people. The mandate is very clear, absolute majority. It's

time to reform. You say he's got a mandate from the people, what has

he got a mandate for? Because with one in five people unemployed, the

mandate could be make the economy grow, expand things so we have more

jobs. Actually, what the rest of Europe want him to do is shut

things down. That's true. In many ways these elections show a protest

votes primarily against the incumbent. Even if we look at the

distribution of power in the country, we see the Nationalists

won in Catalonia. Clearly the mandate is unclear. I would say

that the people in Spain expect the country to move forward, to get out

from under this, there are serious reforms to be done. You mention

labour market, what does that mean? The flexibility in the labour

market, the exit course or protection of employees in Spain is

far too high. When people say flexible labour market I know what

workers are going to think, this means the bosses can sack us more

easily. That's right. That's right, that's what he has to do? It is

right because that will be the way that new, let's say, jobs will be

created. Really? Sack more people, you get even more unemployment and

you're going to create jobs. No of course sacking some people and then

hiring other people in return. It's not necessarily negative. By

reducing the excess cost in the labour market you will encourage

firm owners and business in general to keep on a highering new jobs,

sorry new people and that essentially means that new jobs

will be created, new activities put forward. As an economist and

looking at this through your eyes, what's Mr Rajoy's first big test?

When is he going to have to show he's got what it takes? I would say

putting forward the labour market reform will be the main thing. Then

being able to contain public finance. At the moment public

expenditure is still contained compared to last year, but it's

growing far too much as what it should grow. Spain needs

significant stability at the moment. It's not being attained by the

previous government. You say this is a protest vote, protest against

the socialist government. What was wrong with that? They presided over

a housing boom. That's right. They identified the problem or went

public with the problem too late. It took a year or more actually for

Zapatero to recognise that Spain was in a weak position. That was

very much opportunistic. He wanted to be re-elected in 2008. I think

that is when Spain started to act too late about one year, one year-

and-a-half late, that actually shows. Thank you very much.

US authorities say that they've arrested a man, who they believe

was plotting to bm a number of targets in New York. Jose Pimentel,

who is a US citizen, originally from the doe minical republic,

appeared in court late on Sunday. He's charged with conspiracy,

possession of a weapon as a ciex terrorism and soliciting support

for a terrorist act. He was denied bail and remains in custody.

Aung San Suu Kyi has confirmed she will stand as a candidate in

Parliamentary by-elections later this year. The party decided to

return to mainstream politics after the new civilian-led administration

in Burma began a series of reforms. The NLD won a general election in

1990, but this was overturned by Burma's then military rulers.

The German government has agreed to compensate the families of victims

killed by an alleged Neo-Nazi cell accused of killing ten people over

a decade. Angela Merkel described the murders as a national disgrace

and questioned how a group, known to police, could have, as she put

it, slipped under the radar. Thousands of air passengers are

facing delays and cancellations because of weather condition as

cross Europe. Worst affected is Heathrow Airport, where more than

100 fligts have been grounded. You can see how the advise --

visibility is there from these pictures. Amsterdam, Brussels and

Zurich has also been affected. Still to come: Libya insists the

trial of the country's former intelligence chief, Abdullah Al-

Senoussi should take place on home soil not The Hague. We'll look at

how his arrest and that of Saif Al- Islam is a real challenge for new

Libya. First, let's get all the business

news. We've been talking,s you just heard,

talking about debt in Europe, Spain and so on, there is a much bigger

debt somewhere else, isn't there? If we think the eurozone debt

crisis is a worry, the US debt crisis could be a monster one,

could dwarf anything we're looking at in Europe. It's back in the news.

US national debt has ticked past the $15drl. -- $15 trillion. People

may remember when this was in the news in July, at the 178 hour the

government agreed to raise the debt -- 11th hour, the Government agreed

to raise the debt ceiling. They agreed to form a super committee,

12 panel members who were going to work together on how to cut $1.2

trillion from the budget over ten years. They haven't agreed to do

that. We could hear from them today that they are acknowledging defeat.

It is a very serious situation. we don't do something, I'm afraid

we're heading down a road that leads to the Greek kind of

situation, really terrible sovereign debt crisis. It's hard to

say when that would occur. I don't think we have ten years. It could

occur next month. There's a worry right there. If they don't agree,

automatic triggers come into place in 2013 where money will be taken

from the defence budget and things like welfare budgets. I hate to be

the first BBC presenter to talk about Christmas, but people are

thinking about travel and holidays and that kind of thing. There's

news from Qantas, not resolved their problems. The flying kangaroo

as we call it at home. There's not a lot of spring in its hop of late.

Good line. The workers and the airline have, the latest talks have

failed. The deadline was set today. It means that both sides will have

to take and abide by a future settlement from an independent

umpire. Of course, this has been going on, last month the CEO

grounded the entire fleet. He was fed up with all the strike action

that's been taking place. This is a bitter row over pay and the airline

wanting to move jobs to the likes of Indonesia and other places in

Asia. Let's listen from the CEO what he said about today's

development. This brings certainty to our customers, employees and

shareholders. Qantas will be happy to accept the adjudication of the

umpire. We know the unions are going back to the court to get

their rights back to strike. If they win that, there could be

disruption over the Christmas holiday period. Anything on the

markets? Markets downment -- are Much more on the outcome of the

Spanish election on the BBC website. And a profile of the new leader.

This is GMT. I am George Alagiah. Here are the headlines: Egypt's

health ministry says 22 people have died and 1,800 have been injured as

protests against the country's military rulers continue in Tahrir

Square. Spain's new government, Popular

Party, has been voted in. Cost of borrowing have risen to nearly 6.5%.

A new video game depicting an American invasion of Iran in search

of nuclear warheads has proved to be a great hit. But battlefield 3

has angered the young of game players in Iran itself and many say

the plot is insensitive. Our reporter has been playing the game

and assessing the impact of Shame. You come to our country to

murder us, get we are the terrorists! The game is set in 2014,

and following an earthquake, the Iranian government is replaced by a

radical militia. America's sense in the Marines to find a secure

weapons of mass destruction and all of this calls for sanctions against

Iran over its nuclear programme. But do games like this have an

impact on public opinion? average player does not think twice

about the story. They are just looking to run around and have fun

in the game world. You can appreciate that by the popularity

of the multi-player games. Some people play terrorists and some

people play counter terrorists and there is no more agenda. It is just

a colourful backdrop. But what if you live in the Middle East? What

if you are playing the game in your apartment in Tehran? I spoke to a

game designer from Iran. TRANSLATION: Westerners can never

understand our situation because they have not seen what I have. But

I remember playing a game called Generals eight years ago. I played

an American soldier attacking Iraq. Six months later, I turned on the

TV and the stuff I was playing before was now in the news. Our

neighbouring country was attacked and we could see the impact on our

own. 5 million copies of Battlefield 3 sold in his first

week. For enthusiastic buyers, the dual politics in the game were not

of relevance. I am not sure of much about the story. I just know it

impulse gums and Iraq. I think it is Iraq... I would assume it is

somewhere around the Middle East. Not too sure. Battlefield 3 has

been condemned in the Iranian press and some Iranian game players have

launched a petition calling for an apology. Video games are as popular

in Iran as anywhere else in the world, but this was just too close

to home for comfort. The British Foreign Secretary,

William Hague, has insisted that Colonel Gaddafi's son must be

prosecuted and international standards even if his trial takes

place in Libya and not in the International Criminal Court. Saif

Al-Islam was captured on Saturday, while Abdullah Al-Senussi was

captured on Sunday. Both are wanted by The Hague but Libya will seek to

try them at home, we think. To talk about the latest developments in

the country, I am joined by it John Oakes, author of Libya: The History

Of Gaddafi's Pariah State. It is a book that includes the most recent

developments in the country's history. Thank you for being with

us. I found it interesting that you talk about Gaddafi's Bedouin troops

and say that this somehow shape of 40 years that followed? I did. He

was born in a tent somewhere south of Sirte. This is what I call it.

For 10 years of his life, he lived in a Bedouin tent. They were

completely isolated and if you drive around Sirte, you find how

very isolated it is, and without communication from the outside.

lots of leaders in Africa that high North started in very humble

beginnings in small villages. And often -- Nelson Mandela himself did.

That does not mean they end up being what Colonel Gaddafi was?

You have to resume that he is particularly involved in his

revolution from the age of about 14. And if you look at his history, you

see that he left Sirte when he was in primary school and went on to a

very interesting place because the capture of Abdullah Al-Senussi took

place there. He went there way started his revolution at about the

age of 14. What do you think the chances are, as I just mentioned,

of both sides of a Islam and Abdullah Al-Senussi that they will

get a trial and not end up like Colonel Gaddafi? -- of psi leaf al

Islam? Well, his son was caught by a Zintan Brigade, and they were the

rebels at the back of Tripoli, and for a long time they had been anti-

Gaddafi because of his suppression of their system that was very

powerful. They wanted to get into power so they have got his son, and

with whom they can negotiate a place in power. The other capture

of Abdullah Al-Senussi is from another group, and they, too, want

a place in power. So you are suggesting that far from justice

being of a key motive, this could be part of a power play? Yes, and

it seems very likely that is the case. If you look at the people of

Misrata, and you will remember how they fought like crazy to become

free, they, too, one to have a place on the board somewhere.

interesting that you say in your book, I cannot remember where, that

the problem for Libya is that it does not have a reconciliatory

chief or a Mandela or a Desmond Tutu? Yes, and it needs them.

Benghazi has always been a separate entity. I lived there for four

years and being separate is very important to Benghazi. It used to

be the capital of a place that had Greig background. I am so sorry to

interrupt you. We have run out of time. Thank you.

A Hollywood director Joe Wright is best known for films like Pride and

Prejudice and Atonement, but his latest project is a little more

modest in scale and has swapped film stars or puppets. Joe has gone

back to his roots in London to puppet theatre, where you watched

his parents pulling the strings. The expressions don't change, the

acting is perhaps a little bored and. But there is something here

that is spellbinding. -- a little wooden. It is a very magical place

and it is a place where anything is possible. A very optimistic place.

And on the front row of his opening night, a film director, Joe Wright,

who is today... I am not sure what my credit is for this show. Is it

producer? Story boarding. There you go! How long is it since you have

worked on a puppet show? About 25 years. Twenty-five years! You see,

Joe grew up here. Here he is with his parents, John and Lyndie, who

created the Little Angel Puppet Theatre. It is an extraordinarily

magical experience here backstage, with all these creatures who seem

to have lives of their own. They are now all celebrating their 50th

birthday. Stand outside and it has barely changed since it began in

1961. The building had been a derelict hall. Got you! My bird! My

lovely bird! But building the audience for puppet shows was not

easy. You shot it! There have been rocky moments. When we first opened,

there would be three people to a show and very often, they would end

up having supper with us at the end. But they did build an audience,

brought here by the stories and all we can see in those wooden faces.

think it is the audience's ability to project emotions onto an

inanimate object that is uncanny. particularly like this guy. He is

looking at a map. Where am I? What is going on? Happy, sad, uplifting,

uncanny. We can see it all in little box of a chiselled wood.

-- little blocks. I just want to show you some

pictures of the US, where heavy rain has caused a street to

collapse. This is in the San Pedro area of Los Angeles and the Street

slipped into the ocean on Sunday. The road had already been closed