the u.s. senate ratification documents they need to look over before the voting can begin i need to look over these to check the terms and conditions are as they were agreed upon the take there as they expect them to be and if they are which they assume they will be then they think that the voting could begin tomorrow that's what the state duma spokesman said today and then as for the opportunity with the federal council they say they want to begin discussions tomorrow maybe even vote on it as well tomorrow if the voting by the lower chamber is done in time certainly get their voting done by the new year and so what they see is russia really pushing through this ratification process you want to do this is fast as possible because all along russian the u.s. says that you have said that the ratification process is a both countries will be synchronized because they want to show that was the both countries are together on this and setting an example together now we can hear from the foreign minister russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov on this ratification process were just because you don't see as the president agreed ratification will be synchronized we have passed all the hearings of the committees of the state duma

nationalisation council meets a foreign ministry has kept lawmakers informed on the senate plans for its ratification resolution this is very important because it's a text to change what wording our legislators will do in the russian ratification public and say i've been trying to stall it and some have opposed it saying that it could compromise the u.s. security and certainly compromise the u.s. missile defense program but they failed because in the end anough republicans thirteen to be precise voted against their party with the democrats to give a bomber that majority that he needed if he needed a majority of two thirds of the end they got that about five or six votes and there's been a long time coming really all they part they passed the original expiration date of the previous treaty this time last year they passed that deadline they were worried that wouldn't get signed in time and then the two presidents did get their signatures down to say that they both. parliaments would have to ratify it that was in april well it's a number of stumbling block spit. finally has been signed by and ratified by the

u.s. senate now is russia's turn and is being welcomed here in russia very much so nonetheless by constantine toss a chair who has the state team is foreign affairs committee and he took part in a number of those regional negotiations and here he's saying how much of a significant step this ratification is blissful the fact that the senate has been working on the treaty is ratification so long and so thoroughly means that their results of the vote are relevant can be questioned by anyone the american registration took place despite all the speculation surrounding the procedure which was based exclusively on the interests of domestic politics it's great that an absolute majority of the senate including a major group of republican senators decided to rise above party interests and act for what's best for the united states and in this case in global interests russia and the us are the world's two biggest nuclear powers holding over ninety percent

of the global nuclear stockpile and this new start treaty is significant because it not only can't say ross knows but it also says an example to other nations to follow suit in trying to achieve overall long term aim of nonproliferation and for more on the details of all this treaty means we can now listen to my colleague onitsha can in washington d.c. . the vote. on this tomorrow on this resolution are seventy one twenty six nays two thirds of the senate president having voted the affirmative the resolution of ratification is agreed to. and with this approval russian the us will start the new year with a treaty that has become a symbol of trust and cooperation between the two nuclear superpowers i am glad that democrats republicans came together to approve my top national security priority for this session of congress the new start treaty. this is the most significant arms control agreement in nearly two decades and it will make us safer

and reduce our nuclear arsenals along with russia. both states have some very significant reductions underway the countries will cut their nuclear arsenals by a third down to some fifteen hundred fifty deployed warheads on each side the deal also limits the number of delivery vehicles and launchers but even with those cuts both russia and the u.s. will still hold more than ninety percent of the world's nuclear weapons so many agree that the value of the new arms reduction treaty is not just in reductions but i think it's also important to say that the significance of the treaty is much larger than the implications for arms control it really does give a lot of momentum and boost to the broader us russia reset and i think puts obama and medvedev on course to cooperate more closely on a whole host of issues and it may well be that this is seen as a turning point in which the russia us rivalry of the past is finally laid to rest for weeks and months the president of the united states all members of his

administration the military all living former secretary of state and of defense were calling for senators not to ruin this reset opportunity for us russia relations and the message did resonate with many senators every senator knows when you're trying to get things done relationships matter and the relationship between the united states and russia has been critical since we fought together in world war two and will be contin and will continue to be so this is an on parallelled opportunity to enhance that relationship and to say by signature and by ratification of this treaty that yes the united states of america wants to work with russia despite the huge support the treaty has received on many levels a number of republican senators in the early sabotage that their actions provoked an avalanche of criticism from the country's top security experts. feared that the

treaty could become a victim of political games on capitol hill the arguments the treaty adversaries brought up on the hearings ranged from there's no earthly way to do all of this within the time that we have to even more on substantial ones like we don't have to have this treaty if we don't have a nuclear treaty with the u.k. anglin we don't have one with france in the final days of debates on start some republican senators trying to rewrite the deal which would have actually killed it they wanted to take out the line in the preamble which makes the connection between offensive and defensive weapons stuart straight jackets the united states missile defense capabilities but all of those from the military who testified before the senate said the connection between offensive and defensive weapons is obvious they also maintained it's not start to step through make the us weaker the treaty itself

explicitly says either side can pull out of it if at some point they deem it threatens their national security for russians this new start is about balance and equality and they will be in it as long as the u.s. respects that balance if the conditions in the ratification resolution don't change the text of the treaty we should be able to approve it as soon as tomorrow in russia the outcome of the vote in the u.s. senate has been well come from many in moscow it's a signal that the u.s. and russia can now open a new page of cooperation russian lawmakers made it clear they had no objections to the treaty and would pass it as soon as the u.s. did advocates of the treaty see the outcome of the vote not so much as obama's victory but a victory for the whole world which on the one hand is going to have considerably if you were weapons of mass destruction and on the other hand tools nuclear superpowers former adversaries actually trusting each other and looking to work hand in hand to provide their security going to check on our team washington d.c.

. let's get more analysis on this from tom cole in a research director with the arms control association in washington good to have you with us so how quick do you think moscow will be able to ratify the document in the federation council. i don't really know but i've heard as soon as this weekend that would be much most welcome all right now there are nuclear states that are not included in the treaty could there be an agreement could this be an agreement to signal to them to follow the path of disarmament like the u.s. and russia well certainly i think the u.s. and russian cooperation on this treaty is a good example to other nations to be more transparent about their nuclear stockpiles and to reduce their nuclear stockpiles so hopefully other nations will follow in this vein certainly this is a good sign for u.s. and russian cooperation. to put more pressure on other countries not to produce nuclear weapons such as north korea and iran and to build greater international

cooperation against the further pay for a shoot up and what do you think could be the obstacles to getting it ratified here on the russian side i don't think there will be any i don't think there should be any i think the treaty was not changed by the senate so the russians should have no problem ratifying the treaty all right how much does this new power to going to help moscow and washington boost cooperation do you think in other areas. very much so again u.s. and russian cooperation is essential to reducing nuclear dangers all across the board the spread of nuclear weapons the iranian nuclear weapons program the possible acquisition of nuclear weapons by terrorists us russian cooperation is key and the new start treaty is key to that cooperation so if both sides ratify the u.s. is ratified now we just need russian ratification the treaty can then go into force and it it's a great boon for us russian cooperation and hopefully will lead to further negotiations on deeper cuts in nuclear arsenals addressing tactical short range

nuclear weapons as well and other things so i think this is just the beginning. of a much more fruitful relationship between both sides do you think this could lead to other countries sort of the nuclear outliers such as north korea to scale back their projects. no i think this leads to greater cooperation by the international community to bring pressure on the outliners like north korea iran i don't think they're going to look at this treaty and say oh you know the u.s. and russia are are playing nice so will play nice too i think with north korea and iran it's really a pressure game by the international community on these states and u.s. and russia cooperating to do that that pressure will be much more effective all right and finally do you think that you could have more cooperation between the u.s. and russia on things like you were a peon missile defense following something like this. i certainly hope so i think

it bodes well both the new start treaty as well as the european agreement to work with the united states on missile defense and russia's agreement to work with nato on this about bands all bode very well to trying to find a way for the u.s. nato and russia to all cooperate on missile defense in a way that missile defenses against short and medium range threats can proceed but they don't get russia worried that the defenses might be used against them and i think there's there's potential it's not clear yet whether that's going to work but there's certainly potential. all right tom cohen a research director of the arms control association in washington good to talk with you thank you british opposition labor m.p. jeremy corbett a longtime anti-nuclear campaigner says the russian us treaty is a signal for other nations to suspend their atomic activities it's such a huge step and it's one that was predicted to end in failure and so the fact that

president obama and president medvedev come to the agreement and got it through both of their problem interest systems is a huge step forward and that's got to be a spin so surely the next thing is for all nations to agree not to renew their nuclear weapon systems because most of preparing some kind of upgrade or some kind of renewal and then move on to a nuclear weapons convention that can include all nations in the world including those that are not signatories to nuclear nonproliferation treaty particularly israel india pakistan north korea. the signing of the start treaty has been labeled by president obama as being the most significant document in decades on friday russian president dmitry medvedev will give his thoughts on this and the year's other key moments it'll be at the annual meeting between president medvedev and the heads of russia's leading t.v. channels will be covering this for you on friday and of course will be available any time on our website. as i click away there and there is plenty to watch here is

what's online right now. christmas is well and truly coming to moscow as fifty cent is from around the world hit the capital for a gift giving spirit come see the seasonal spirit come alive at r.t. dot com. and chapman who is from being a world renowned sexy spy to a leading role in russia's next generation politics all the details on. the. north korea says it's ready to use its nuclear deterrent and what it calls a sacred war against the south the north defense minister a statement was reported by the state media the minister accused soul of deliberately stoking tension by staging successive joint military drills with the u.s. near north korean territory he said the latest exercise on one of the largest in

the south history was an outright preparation for an attack against pyongyang we knew as involved heavy military machinery fighter jets missile launchers and hundreds of troops that was held just thirty kilometers from north korea the series of war games comes in the wake of recent cross border artillery exchange that killed four south korean pullin fordo former british parliament member and author of the book north korea on the brink the struggle for survival believes that no one intends to start a war but the rhetoric is heating up. the danger is if we have new military exercises the sea because the problem is. is the land borders very clear the sea border is been arbitrarily and unilaterally established by the south koreans along the northern limit line which is not recognized even by the united states and the the recent shelling of the of the island. was called squanto poem the south koreans intruding into what the north koreans consider through their waters the dangerous escalation what you hotties size korean maneuvers which in disputed waters which

led to the north korean response of. the artillery shelling of the island we've now seen massive joint u.s. south korean exercises which clearly are leading to the north koreans upping their . upping their readiness for for future for a future attack or military adventures i don't think anyone is intending to start if you want a full scale war at this point but the danger with escalation is it gets out of control. which is something we need to we need to be concerned about for the future what we need to see is some gestures from either side to try and step this down a maybe an offer from the north koreans for example to give up their with their fuel rods from the only real nuclear reactor and try and ship them to the science will be something that might be allowed us to start scaling down the current levels of tension alexander of iran saw from the institute of oriental studies believes

china and america's respective involvements with north and south korea could lead to a larger global conflict. it's a. real big nightmare for many countries and first of all for the six countries to be home at the six party talks we share the common border of discovering financial and china also and of course china can be involved because they have the treated alliance to reach a business career first and they demonstrate that the recently. read in the stool prevent the collapse of from north korea and the troubador supercar we will treat united states and china. it's possible. for world war two and started karim for national unfortunately. taking a look now at some other stories making headlines across the globe there's been a two parcel bomb explosions that embassies in rome one device went off a chill an embassy injuring the person who opened the package

a few hours earlier the swiss diplomats residence was targeted again it was the male handler who was wounded this time seriously it's not known who sent the bomb as police are ruling out though any link to the suspicious device found on the road underground earlier this week. former argentine president you are haven dela has been sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity the aging general was convicted of murdering dissidents during the country's military rule between one hundred seventy six and nine hundred eighty three thousand people who tortured and killed in what's known as argentina's dirty door he was first sentenced to life in one thousand nine hundred five but had been given special privileges which are now revoked. at one time a leprosy struck fear because it meant a slow death but today it's both treatable and curable yet for russians diagnosed with a disease there's another problem to overcome being isolated by society are only hunch over reports on those living with the condition and it's stigma. lost

amid fast families russia's oldest lap a village has no streets only one but houses with its own fire brigade ambulance service and kindergarten it's a home for many people affected by leprosy away from the eyes of the public would little understanding of the disease when the first patients arrived safe to know they were packed into just one house but now there is this a building big enough to house two families given to patients more privacy and dignity by hilary like the vast majority of people in tennessee has been he could believe but says it's not the ethics of the disease which made him stay but people's reaction. sometimes it's like a man in a snake you see a snake and get frightened but someone who knows the snake a snake catcher is not with range but he knows which ones bite and which dying's and how they bite a snakes don't use wind out of the blue the same with letters if you hear this word

you get scared once you know woods what's that is different. most people's knowledge of the disease comes from engine bible stories if you realize that they're most likely. or that after treatment for myself or is a no longer infectious in any case the condition is extremely rare it's that inference which stops many of the residents of testy feel unwelcome in the outside world. most of all snarky old so where will we go there were many cases when people were discharged and they got on ok until the neighbors sort on downs about their disease and. we don't want to leave next door to the so and so's we've got kids who sometimes cure leprosy patients have to move mountains to laser nobody knew. but if i want to know was among the first to receive multidrug set up the full leprosy and the you were ceasar in many ways she was lucky to be treated at

all at a time when diagnosis was hard the telltale patch on her food was missed by most doctors right there but i'm going to look at my hands it's rugs i did this and we were all the time and brian in the cool barbara phone who killing terrorists can show also fallen to has been and i live it off of her and many others the chance of a relatively normal existence you know it's hope centers like these will no longer be needed in the last decade they have been hardly any new cases of leprosy in russia however doctors say the reason need to keep institutions open even if devotional empty. if we don't leave any signs how what where and why you would be very difficult for mankind to start combat in leprosy all over again it's possible that one day due to poor living conditions and things like that the pandemic will return to you for now those still live in interest no longer need the

medical care but a change in attitude in the outside world a society where people care and don't stare acts on that if a child what our staff are full of region where does business news with kareena melican coming your way in a few moments stay with us here on r.t. . for the full story we've got it for. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. would be soon which brighter if you knew about someone from finalist impression these.

stunts on t.v. don't come. from moscow welcome to our business bulletin that were better than alst a substantial investment in russia's automotive industry with prime minister putin in attendance the german company still going to greenland to build winter bans at the gas factory music. album will be around twenty five thousand vehicles annually the government says it will continue to support the industry work but unless it is to stimulate demand attitude. despite sustainable growth the government has plans to for the supply of it to the water industry in the near future a special reserve fund will be created to ensure demand returns. that's why in two thousand and eleven we will continue to stimulate demand with president's budget earmarking over seventeen billion rubles. there's been another twist in the battle

for control of north nicko sall which owns twenty five percent of russia's biggest miner has called for a new extraordinary general meeting to elect a new board element in producer says it has concerns about plans to sell an eight percent stake to. a multi-national commodities brokerage. only. twelve billion dollars to buy back its twenty five percent stake in the mine he also was probably reject it but another major shareholder. has told the wall street journal he believes that decision might change quite generous with and predicts there will be a resolution by spring. look at the markets u.s. stocks up plot in early trading after a report showed that consumers did not increase in spending in the present much as analysts predicted the dow jones as well the last day of trading before the christmas holidays while the nasdaq is in the red alcoa is the top winner on the dow up over two percent while bank of america is losing. stocks in

europe mixed in the last trading session before the holiday discount retailer metro is again one of the year's busiest shopping days to travel as top earners in london as airlines prepare their flights backlog after chaos such as in allied irish had slumped seventeen percent of the irish government which has to nationalize the debt laden back. here in moscow three r.t.s. the demise extended in the black but trade was extremely weak as many investors have already left for the holiday season and as you may just finished lower spared bank the negative trend through strong profitable cast in that year and ts was down for the second day after it announced losses from the suspension of its business in turkmenistan would be one hundred sixty million dollars. it's been a relatively quiet session with russian equities taking the lead from foreign markets john david from asset management explains the russian market itself this is

just trading kind of sideways i think it's down for actually on the day all global markets emerging markets or highly correlated so what happens in russia people spend the morning trying to see what's happening in shin zen in shanghai and they spend the afternoon looking to see what's going on in the futures markets in new york. that's the latest we have for you but you can always find law stories if you love on tall websites.

for the full story we've got. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. but there are killing innocent kids allies of the call of course and that's never and say. i'm a song from the skull scopolamine i think of it every day. the flashbacks trouble to memory. so much so that long time the series trying to tell. i was. i was ashamed that i. i was ashamed that i hadn't been a hero why i got my legs. in

the mine. where i wanted to be out. there i believe what i was doing them once or i think. that i was a good soldier. but now most soldier on the other side and i think i'm just as good .

with washington already. by both sides. north korea. on the south poles. right across the border. no longer with the. big shots to take cover in the kaiser report coming your way next. for

the full story we've got. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. bringing you the latest in science and technology from the realm of. the future are covered. imax kaiser and this is the cause the report i'm here in london where the backers are demanding their year end bonuses and the government is asking the blues mr don't steal any money and the bankers are saying wait a minute if we can steal your money we might leave.