we have as i mentioned done our homework with regard to the new start treaty and that it is. in a good situation to ratify it in the slam duck session it has the unanimous support of the country's military many top officials former and present have testified in favor of the treaty now several republican senators say the votes are there and the new start will most likely be ratified by the end of this week it seems the only thing that could be in the way of the ratification are partisan games political bargaining which have nothing to do with the treaty itself and its content speaking of bargaining at some point the senate minority leader mitch mcconnell came out and said republicans won't want any democrat initiatives if they don't extend tax cuts for the rich so you get a sense of the expand the willard bailing culture on capitol hill and the substance of the pretty whether it's good or bad for america has long stopped being the focus of discussions here in washington to the point when it could become

a threat to the u.s. national security a world without buying u.s. russia arms control treaties is a more dangerous world the obama administration is going out of its way to have the deal ratified the president's arguably major foreign policy chief meant is on the line not only does the start cut nuclear arsenals of both countries by a third it's also seen as a symbol of trust between the two nuclear superpowers russia has cooperated with us on critical issues to our national security like iran sanctions transit to supply our troops in afghanistan working on securing loose nuclear materials and their relationships and trusts that are built from the nuestro treaty spill over into a whole host of other national security issues that are vital importance to america these shoe of trust and america's reputation globally was addressed by the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee every senator has an obligation to ask

that question of themselves over the course of these next days are we a credible partner. can other nations rely on us what happens when the present the united states to go sure it's a treaty and he comes back here and the rest of the world sees that truth. not in the substance of the treaty. but in the politics of the day and if the treaty does get bogged down this year chances are the new senate which is going to be more republican and obama hosts who put off the new start indefinitely maybe for months or even years get a check on our t. washington d.c. republicans should move beyond the election cycle mentality and approve the new treaty so says democratic strategist robert wiener it would be stupid for the republicans to continue to block it but then again they want to block everything in the past republicans used to work with democrats now since

a new game which they've been wanting to kill everything break publicans have learned that sound bites can win elections instead of good governing something has to change we have to get past two year old election cycles and think in terms of the good of the country something has to happen to help us to good governance but good governance in the world not just united states includes passage of the start treaty i think perhaps by embarrassing the republicans from trust stopping them from playing politics which is dangerous it's devastating it could cause terrorism to succeed they will come around and pass this treaty well joe rubin deputy director of the national security network think tank says delaying the ratification of the start treaty could seriously damage washington standing. if it doesn't get passed and actually fails there could be serious consequences for american leadership on arms control fallout for the american reputation around the world would be significant if it doesn't pass but it is not turned down but just delayed

that too will also signal that president obama is weak at home that's why advocates for the treaty are saying he needs to get passed now. russia has to buy a least one advance helicopter carrier from france it will be the largest ever sale of naval hardware to the current to the country by a nato member or days ago and it's going to join us live from moscow with more details so you go after long negotiations russia finally looks set to buy this ship . well at this point it really does seem this deal is going to be sealed at least thus according to russian officials moscow looks set to bind the mistral produced by france this is a huge. helicopter carrier ship it's also capable to transport dozens of tanks and other transport vehicles the negotiations on this deal have been going on for nearly two years at first washington voiced its concerns on a nato member state selling that type of equipment to russia now would the restart

of relations the situation seems to have changed previously the french foreign minister who's visited the moscow just recently he said there are no you know obstacles remaining in this deal and it's incompletion moscow wants to buy at least one mistrial and may also get the license to produce more it's now. just one mr all costs around eight hundred million dollars the final price for this deal still hasn't been decided but russian officials say they expect the final details and the documents will be finalized on this deal before the end of this year all right you've heard it's going up. reporting live from the russian ministry of defense thanks for that. still to come this hour here on r t a day to go before . the next group of parents to head to the international space station we take you

behind the scenes of the upcoming. this is a table from the u.s. embassy in colombo to talk about here an affair of june seventh incident of extrajudicial executions the military reported to the press that on that day that killed nine guerrillas in the best situation but instructs you including you know and there are strongly suggest however that the nine were executed by the army and then dressed in military fatigues. explain how you know this kind of phenomenon where bodies are dressed up as guerrillas and presented as killed in action and this and this idea that you need to produce bodies actually encouraged paramilitary collaboration this is a cia document central intelligence agency they knew about these activities they knew they were happening they knew about links to paramilitary groups and yet.

usaid continued to. the. this is our team live from moscow the foreign ministers of russia and north korea have agreed that the crisis on the korean peninsula can only be resolved through diplomatic means closed door talks are being held in moscow at a time of growing tensions in the region following a recent fatal exchange of artillery fire over us south korean island russia's sergei lavrov expressed concern that the south recent live fire military drills have only aggravated the hostility he said the current situation demands both korea show restraint and avoid escalating the crisis but one leading east asia analysts. told r.t. that russia has a pivotal role in helping to stabilize the region because its goal is peace not political mox muscle flexing. russia is the only country that does have

a stake box no specific interests career which actually is a difference between russia and the european union so russia can actually be a trustworthy and reliable mediator and neutral broker the one interest that russia does have a concern in korea is stability no hurt there is a situation emerging good might trigger a major war notably not only involved both careers but also china us have a negative effect on stability in the region and on russia and hands russia's major preoccupation is actually maintaining peace. in other news the one court is to decide whether the founder of the whistle blowing web site wiki leaks will be granted bell julian assange is wanted in sweden on charges of sexual assault which many of his supporters say are false despite a songes arrest in the u.k. his site is still publishing u.s. secret diplomatic cables exposing the cynicism of u.s.

international politics are just more and that has more from london. i'm here in the city of westminster magistrates' court which on tuesday could be the scene of the final extradition hearing for today that sars the founder of wiki leaks he is wanted in court in sweden on charges of sexual misconduct some of which amounts to having sex with two women without using a condom these are charges which are widely believed by asuncion supporters to be trumped up originally when the case came before a prosecutor in sweden she threw it out and then it was then picked up by another prosecutor who decided to take the case into court this is believed to be linked to wiki leaks is release of cables u.s. embassy cables which were in pharisaic to brief us government and to other governments around the world and what's expected to happen to our story is that if he is finally extradited to sweden he will then be almost immediately requested to appear in court in the u.s.

and in fact wiki leaks is noise is saying that the extradition document for him to go to the u.s. has already been prepared and is about to be released to them all it's preparation is it cool now our soldiers which is to say that these charges are trumped up and they also say that it's a case of huge double standard tina's double standards in the u.s. that they lecture other countries on their human rights situations whirls committing acts such as this supporters of today massage and what wiki leaks is doing a tour in a parallel between the recent awarding of a nobel prize to a chinese dissident and waterstones has been doing they say that that's joining us . spotlight on china's human rights record where as they really have a select stand on it they're going to extradite you deny sonship put him on trial for espionage let's hear what some of the organizes of protests around the rest have to say about that wiki leaks has managed to expose war criminals corruption

humanitarian crimes abuses of democracy backroom dealings and instead of those people being prosecuted for what a serious serious crimes against humanity and stated we're trying to persecute the person who's exposing these revelations and i think that's a really sad indictment of the cons to society we live in i think the trying to shoot the messenger there's also a lot of anger being directed at sweden is the country this request to do it has on his extradition it's not just supporters say that sweden is essentially kowtow into the u.s. and its wish to put on trial eventually for espionage what they are saying essentially is that this is making sweden which presents itself as a model of modernity and progressiveness look like a loving stock in the eyes of the world. and coming up later today on our team max kaiser and stacy herbert explore how the wiki leaks revelations are affecting the world of big money. the next space bound fires rocket is now ready for

liftoff on wednesday it will take a crew of three a russian an american and an italian to the international space station are two spitter all of our reports from kazakhstan. hereward baikonur the final preparations underway ahead of the launch of the soyuz t.m.a. twenty rockets which will carry cosmonaut to meet to be called and astronauts apollo and katherine coleman up to the international space station for the rocket has received a blessing from a priest from the russian orthodox church in line with tradition here at baikonur that's not the only tradition they have many many traditions and superstitions if you will to be carried out before the launch one of those traditions as that the astronauts and cosmonauts visit the museum here and by can also they get to look at what those who have gone before them did they brought back from space while at the museum they also sign a board with the picture of the soyuz t.m.a. rocket on it and write a little message of a memory of what they were about to do with this mission now there's been plenty of

former astronauts and cosmonauts say it's a lend their support to the mission crew. liable to what the weather is it doesn't matter what you know it's just a very robust strong system that can withstand just about anything nature can throw at it and we've seen you know it's been slices the sixty's and it was a rare exception or so every time and some of those who have been up there before say it's those little things that can make life hard when you're up in space i think probably the biggest challenge for me you know i think it sounds kind of trivial but it was the lack of variety of the food after you know you know one month it's ok two months it's ok and then you know three months you know exactly how many brownies are in the desert have been you know exactly how many heaters are in the meat. because it's all the same so that's how it's looking here at the moment in baikonur the cosmonauts and astronauts are currently tucked away so they can catch any sniffles all colds or coughs it's very cold here in baikonur of

course if they do get sick they can be pulled from the mission and the whole team of. coleman would be removed from the mission and replaced with the backup crew so they are desperately trying to make sure that that doesn't happen they're all tucked up nice and warm and that's how it looks at the baikonur cosmodrome. bike and. well you can also keep up to date with the launch on our website there's also the latest news blogs and analysis here's just some of what's online right now at our sort of. a swiss woman becomes a mother for the first time at the age of sixty four thanks to russian doctors plus . party talks to french director. about his movie carlos to be screened at cannes the film follows the fate of a venezuelan revolutionary who came to create a worldwide terror organization you can find the full interview at our t.v. dot com.

veteran american diplomat richard holbrooke has died at the age of sixty nine after undergoing emergency heart surgery nicknamed the bulldozer he's best known for pushing the u.s. agenda during the balkans in the balkans i should say during the bosnian war more recently he became barack obama's special envoy to afghanistan and pakistan but artie's military contributor colonel you again you heard shelves says american foreign policy in afghanistan especially in the fight against drugs was itself in health. he wiped out the whole generation of american politicians and generals and diplomats and ambassadors who were taking the active stance will be the focus on where we. stand after richard holbrooke came in made a complete overhaul of u.s.

policy from counter-narcotics to. effectively promoting the u.s. pows is that the u.s. drug store policy in afghanistan leading lose all these things and drug lords that's resulted in in effect. the drug trafficking in afghanistan keep personae fight the trail of the historical u.s. counter-narcotics approach in afghanistan just for the benefit of the leap service preventing the so-called friendly farmers from going to tell about the united states of the drug enforcement administration together with the state department have by default opportunity to reset and jump start the russian american cooperation specifically. on that counternarcotics with the main focus on. because the reason no other alternative and the reason the

personalities in the white house who are opposing richard holbrooke. look now at the world news in brief for you and that's our pm silvio berlusconi has won the first round of a confidence vote in the senate is now set to face a second round in the lower house where his support is what shaykh here in an earlier speech he warned that the country would face a crisis if you were forced from office the referendum in the lower house is expected to be extremely tight with just one or two vote capable of swinging the result it comes as mr berlusconi faces plummeting support amid claims of sexual indecency and failed policy. or any of. president mahmoud ahmadinejad has abruptly dismissed the country's foreign minister manouchehr mottaki from his post government officials stated that there's a missile will not affect a reigning in foreign policy including talks where they did to its nuclear program

the country's top nuclear official of the bar so low he has been nominated as in term replacement the move comes as the wrong struggles under heavy sanctions aimed at curbing its nuclear enrichment activities. at least nine people have been injured in a massive one hundred thirty seven car pileup in southwestern china heavy fog was blamed which resulted in car wrecks thrown across a seven kilometer long stretch of road emergency services said it was total chaos with cars and trucks laying on top of each other rescue workers scribed described the situation as extremely dangerous all the mass smashed cause traffic jams lasting hours. in russia joining the world trade organization would help boost europe's economy as a whole and especially that of its neighbors that's the view of the president of finland taria holland in full interview is coming your way in just about ten minutes time but here's a quick preview. you know because we had worked if they. couldn't remember russia

we would hope of course that yes it would be and i'm sure we would be. under this circumstance yes we. would have to. that interview coming up for you in about nine minutes to do stay with us for that up next let's check in what's coming up in business shortly for you either a green eye what he said looks like the price of gold is surging what's driving the price while investors are looking for protection from a falling dollar as you know and more coming up in a moment. wealthy british style sun. spot on facebook splattered on. the market why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global

economy which might stronger the no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to conjure reports. soon which brightened if you knew about some news from funds to the french in the summer. means friends don't talk don't come. welcome to business precious metals are gaining for the second day as investors look for protection from a falling dollar u.s. federal reserve policymakers and usually meet later on tuesday to discuss interest rates and a second round of quantitative easing the so-called q.e.

two is intended to boost economic growth by increasing the amount of money available to bags but investors fear the injection of billions of extra dollars into the market will be to inflation. and gold is currently trading at just over fourteen hundred dollars an ounce point seven percent sell the session in the yellow metal is gaining thirty percent since the beginning of the year and it's heading towards ten straight agilent so it was trading at twenty nine point seven dollars an ounce up point seven percent. now taking a look at the markets asia has posted modest gains ahead of the u.s. central banks interest for. decision making is up just under a quarter of a percent hong kong was spurred by metal and energy shares up to commodity prices climbed overnight in the united states and europe stock markets are holding to a tight range in morning trading investors remains on the sidelines up to six consecutive winning sessions broke recommendations helped with few stocks including

airlines air france k. lam and. britain's consumer inflation rate rose to three point three percent in november from three point two percent the month before driven by surging food clothing costs. in the us a market sank in the red an afternoon session demise it's losing half a percent weight by energy stocks most of the blue chips are in the red on the r.t.s. except for north dakota and the t.v. . is gaining just a notch on the r.t.s. local is losing more than one percent of them isaac so was ross never ross telecom is down more than half. russia's biggest miner nordisk neko has sold its entire stake in u.s. metals company stillwater. thirty seven million stillwater shares to the public at nineteen dollars fifty cents and the remaining nine million shares to u.b.s. u.b.s. securities the russian mining giant had said it was a selling it was selling its shares to focus on its core operations. and russia's

mobile giant m.t.s. has opened a credit line of three point three billion dollars with his bare bank the company will use the record loan to refinance its current debt it will help the company to save about two hundred fifty million dollars in just one year remaining part will be invested in developing. the world's biggest retailer wal-mart is leaving russia wal-mart has long been trying to buy its way into the market but says it failed to find enough attractive targets the company has closed its moscow office saying there were no reason to remain despite its continued interest in russia. wal-mart is the second big international retailer leaving russia earlier francisco failed to make its business profitable in this country it is still looking for a buyer for two more than moscow and crossed. swords the for the russian retail companies since basically eliminates but then sure but still very large compared to

all the concerns about large buter. exiting the market on the ground in my view because none of the russian retailers the public ones. are all right now at least the prices the mart is offering now let's look at the ruble the russian currency is doing well as all prices continue to rally peter weston from out on says tax and bond coupons paid in rubles do you at the end of the year are also lifting the currency think from now on though it should actually appreciate we've had the depreciation for the last couple of months and that has been if you look at economic fundamentals and commodity prices against what you would have believed it should have done but we've had the capital of those that have undermined the ruble if you want going into the year and we know that this will be an increased demand for rubles on the back of the tax payment both this is another payments that should give some support for the ruble plus that we have all passed close in one thousand

now all of that i think he's speaking in favor of stronger by the end of the year and that's all the business news for now we can always find most always on our website r.t. dot com slash business. the

lib only next to the border but coming up the egypt but also on the border of peace and war. they're responsible not only for themselves. but also for their loved ones . are ready to take any risk. the book. the book i will jump in the street.

in vietnam and she's available in international her tone. for some photos don't even use the term intercontinental one only westlake photo shirts and. oprah some said grant so don't a sweet. girl so i don't kowtow to your ability to. type. in the leaves of a little in the end result and spawn. these

are the headlines at two thirty pm the white house was confident the nuclear concentrate with russia will be ratified before the end of the gear even if the current senate has to prolong its session when the new congress takes over in january the republicans will have a bigger representation and could block the deal. the wiki leaks founder julian assange is seeking bell at a court hearing in london on tuesday his supporters fear if it's refused to be extradited to sweden over rape allegations and could then be handed over to the u.s. which accuses him of espionage. and the biggest naval deal with a nato country is on the horizon for russia as it said to buy at least one advanced french helicopter carrier moscow has been negotiating the deal which the u.s.

has opposed for almost a year. next fast trains trade and energy we're talking about russell's ties with its northern neighbor finland our exclusive interview with president taria how linen is coming right up. her. president hello and thank you very much for being with that today so you've just stepped off a train line between helsinki and st petersburg how do you think this connection will change the alliance between the two you see it it's i think the only impact these people will come closer to it's rather of course the many so good now will. the country which is the most popular among the e.u. countries to give the recess.