Erstellt am: 21. 12. 2011 - 15:23 Uhr

Iraq's government is already crumbling

Reality Check: Iraq, Women protest in Egypt, new allegations against Grasser, Amber Med, 40 years MSF.

No sooner had the US troops rolled out of Iraq than the fragile political coalition started to crumble. On Monday, Prime Minister Nouri Al Malaki issued an arrest warrant for the Vice President, Tariq al Hashemi, on charges related to terrorism. The Vice President is the highest ranking Sunni politician, and former Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, says Al Malaki is behaving like Saddam Hussein, who also disposed of his opponents by accusing them of terrorism.

It's an inauspicious start for the "new Iraq", which looks to be heading deeper and deeper into chaos rather then emerging as a bright, new democracy. Regional analyst Rosemary Hollis, painted a bleak picture of the future in Iraq on today's Reality Check.

Women protest in Egypt

Thousands of women took to the streets of Cairo yesterday to protest against the military's treatment of female demonstrators.

One of them was former Egyptian state TV news anchor, Shahira Amin, who resigned from her job after refusing to read scripts given to her by the authorities. She says the protests will continue, regardless of the brutality of the crackdown.

Further allegations against Karl Heinz Grasser

Investigative work by journalists from ORF, News magazine and the Süddeutsche Zeitung reveal new twists in the Buwog scandal, as Kurt Kuch of News tells Joanna Bostock.

Preventative medicine for the uninsured

Carina Spak of Amber Med explains the preventative medicine the organisation makes available for people in Austria without insurance.

40 years Medecins sans Frontieres

Médecins sans Frontières is marking its 40th anniversary with the publication of a book called "Humanitarian Negotiations Revealed" that explains what goes on behind the scenes in the organisation that is devoted to taking medical care to conflict regions.

In a sometimes critical report, it describes how deals have to be done with organisations such as the Taliban, the Tamil Tigers and local war lords in order to get humanitarian aid to civilians.

FM4 Reality Check

Monday to Friday from 12.00 to 14.00, and after the show via Podcast or fm4.orf.at/realitycheck.