People and Power - 1 ª Season

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This People & Power investigation comes as World Bank officials have called for the resignation of its president, Paul Wolfowitz. He is under fire for allegations of inside favouritism - including approving a salary of £180,000 for his girlfriend Shaha Riza. He has hired Clinton's lawyer to defend him, as he awaits his fate from the board set up to investigate him. Just this week one of his closest advisers, Kevin Kellems, has announced his resignation. Meanwhile, we scrutinise the organisation Wolfowitz heads, and its alleged domination by the US. In 1947, the World Bank gave its first loan - $250 million for France's post-war construction. Since then, it has grown to 185 member governments and provides loans and development assistance to poor countries, with the aim of poverty reduction. While the bank's clients are almost exclusively developing countries, the World Bank is controlled primarily by developed countries. Speaking to aid and democracy experts, as well those receiving the loans, Max Keiser take a takes a colourful look at their reality. The poorer countries certainly rely on these loans, but when it comes to alleviating their poverty, can they really bank on it? Does it really help alleviate poverty? Max Keiser wants to know. In a report for People & Power, he investigates the conditions that come with a World Bank loan. Can it truly be said that the World Bank is increasing poverty?

Twenty-six American CIA operatives stand accused of the kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric from the streets of Milan. The defendants, including an Air Force colonel and two CIA station chiefs, are being tried in absentia at the Milan Palace of Justice for the 2003 abduction of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar. The CIA tactic under scrutiny is called 'extraordinary rendition', and it is the first time the CIA will go to trial for its use. 'Extraordinary rendition' involves the capture of a terrorism suspect in one country and his transfer not to the US, but to a third country for interrogation - without court orders or judicial oversight.The Italian prosecutors claim Nasr was taken to US bases in Italy and Germany before being taken to Cairo, Egypt. Nasr says he was tortured while imprisoned for four years in Cairo. In many cases, including this one, the suspects have said they were tortured, and their claims are supported by the evidence of international human rights organisations. Financial activist, Max Keiser, has been on the trail of the kidnappers in Milan, and he reveals how disregarding the rule of law could prove a costly business.

Max Keiser examines the carry trade, a financial instrument that central bankers and politicians around the world are increasingly blaming for global asset bubbles. Asset bubbles, they say, are more likely to burst the bigger they get. Keiser travels to Iceland to demonstrate how this remarkable trade can enable a nation of less than 300,000 to buy up tens of billions of dollars in British assets.

We'll have the synopsis for you soon.