well there have been those long heated debates on pros and cons of this major nuclear cuts treaty while unlike in washington the russian parliament or both chambers of the russian involvement must say yes to the street and while the rest of the world is now guessing whether russia will say yes or no to these document russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov was more than optimistic over the what we hope the new treaty will have the support of the state duma we think all necessary prerequisites for that have been met implementing this treaty will contribute to the security of our country and huge national stability that people who contribute to nuclear nonproliferation and help our relations with the united states and the rest of the world will flock to now we have the first results coming from the state duma the lower chambre of the lower house of the russian parliament which said yes to these treaty to the court document in its first meeting in the first voting which took place today three hundred feet to vote three hundred fifty deputies said

here steve against fifty eight the plan to cut the arsenals up post the treaty itself well it seems like a good start for new start in russia there will be two more sessions at the state duma and also the federation council but we expect they will take place after the new year holidays the us senate approved their education resolution a very controversial document in russia's view which they believe contradicts the preamble of big rayment and these resolutions says particular that a new new trade a new start should not contain the u.s. anti missile programs development and of course russia will be starting the talking document carefully with regard to the u.s. missile defense plans especially close to russia's borders at the moment the u.s. plans to deploy until he sells systems in eastern europe have been the biggest he returned save the relations between moscow and washington and this is. why that

long to hit the reset button because it's a subject that's due final draft resolution adopted by the u.s. senate states that a fully fledged global missile defense system is necessary in this regard i'd like to remind you that the treaty on ambiguously states there is a link between strategic offensive and defensive weapons treaty also says that any party can pull out if an emergency situation occurs and russia definitely believes that the creation of a fully fledged global missile defenses to by the u.s. would be such an emergency situation that the republicans main concerns regarding these treaty word that america's defensive capabilities could be a factor and president obama did everything to ensure this will not be the case he committed to twenty five billion dollars ten year plan to make sure that there are many weapons at work and these of course played a key role that the document was finally ready by of course. they will demetrius just last deputy director of research programs the council on foreign defense

policy here in moscow is with me now to talk more about the start ratification process thanks coming in to see if so then the russian duma said to fully pass this treaty what's the timeframe now the first but it's been done the day i guess you know you think they will continue general when they come back from the new year called this and they will read it well they postponed or at the for cation for the next year i think it's connectors with basically two reasons first the russian side wants to show that they also have serious discussions in the parliament and the very fact of signing this through to does not guarantee it's a priori of its ratification of the they will review it take it seriously as the americans do and secondly it's about parity with the american side several times so why not trust. russia now we're. likely to touch its own further norm binding suggestions into this pact as well as are going to work well basically i think unilateral so. the parliament resolution will follow the lion of the preamble

of the document and they will stipulate to the fact of the linkage between the offensive and defensive weapons but with nuclear weapons and missile defense system basically and second i think the russian parliament will repeat perhaps more strictly in the context of the russian unilateral statements that was published by the russian foreign ministry on the date of signing the treaty in prague. some might pull out of might consider pulling out from the new start treaty if it considers the development of u.s. missile defense system reaches the level that russia will interpret as the threats with with that in mind and with those two non-binding amendments is suggested by the u.s. on their side is this just confusing the waters slightly when is it not watering down the initial good intent of this document that was signed back in april it's all thrashed out now with these little changes coming in is that kind of watered

down the good the good intent of it no i do not the really think so i mean nothing new happened since we signed the treaty on april eighth one of the suitable science in prague at the same time immediately two unilateral statements came from the russian side and from the american side which were contradictory and this didn't watered down the overall positive spirit of the treaty now we do have real. breakthrough the trooper was ready fired by obama but by the thanks to obama by the united states by the end of the year which was miracle by the way. i think now we we we we do have the positive spirit it might disappear there or diminish though not by how differently we view the treaty but by the we failed to find a compromise on missile defense later this year later the next year is going to be by the middle of next year because now russia and nato and basically russia and the united states have a deadline which is. in two thousand and eleven to find compromise on territorial

missile defense and you remember the president and prime minister warned new arms race if we fail of course it doesn't mean that if we fail in june when the next day we'll have arms race but nevertheless it can really ruin the positive spirit so part of a bar was sweetener to get this through was saying that he was going to upgrade the remaining nuclear weapons arsenal that's there which is not insubstantial let's face it what's the wisdom of doing that upgrading what's already there there is a big waste of both tactical and strategic tactical wisdom is to please the republicans and to guarantee that the treaty passes that's why they are bomber pledged two times to increase the spending of. sorties you can for a structure and there is also a strategic wisdom which is that we are not to go in to see a non-nuclear world next next day and the united states basically keeping their nuclear strategic arsenal ole most intact start treaty the new start treaty for the

first time is not really able to do using the missiles it's about keeping themselves while at the same time showing that i feel sure yes we're in the process of control. verification and production but in reality we will keep them and there is wisdom in that there is a proliferation of weapons of mass destruction more and more countries acquire nuclear weapons or wants to acquire nuclear weapons in this kind of atmosphere it would be weird for us to cut substantially price would have cancers like china and it would be disastrous for international stability if china jumps up to the level of russia and the united states also we need to sustain preponderance for all these we need to keep our nuclear weapons into to in order to keep them safely we need to finance them so that's why obama is doing doing that and saying that's good to hear

inside the program to be true says well things have so much coming to sink you. present value says that barack obama deserves his christmas break after his efforts in getting that start treaty ratified by the senate. well done barack obama he managed to push the starr bill through the senate and he did it in very difficult circumstances this treaty will become the coolest own of security in the world in the coming years it's easy to work with a bomb he keeps his promises he's done a great job and he's now on holiday so i wish him a happy christmas and a good rest. but his comments came during his annual meeting with the heads of russia's main t.v. channel summing up the results of twenty ten. watched. this is the third time that me to admit it has conducted such an interview session with the representatives of russia's three main channels he touched upon the subject the subject matter is that concerning the foreign policy and he also focused of course largely on the internal policy but to start off with things that concern the foreign policy he basically

talked about some of the main events of the year and one of those unfortunately was a quite sad event that of course was the tragic death of the polish president in the plane crash in new york. it was also a place where thousands of polish nationals were killed by the soviet secret police and in the one nine hundred forty s. i do have the plane of the polish president to come down in that very location is something that is that earlier on make something that the russian president spoke about as well. who of course it always comes as a shock taking in news of this sort you feel shocked and sorry for the people who were killed and this time to add to the entire polish political elite that happened to it seemed mystical and hard to believe our relations with poland. things were very complicated i think that our relationship is less complex now with the investigation still has to be concluded it can't be politicized we have to listen

to. other foreign issues which need to be dead of spoke about how to have dealt with japan for example he was asked the question whether or not he was worried about their relations or with the country following his visit to the coral islands which japan considers to be their territory and the russian president said that he's not worried about that he's certain relations between moscow and tokyo will remain to be top notch because japan and japanese culture exceedingly popular in russia we have to remember that majority of the questions have dealt of course with the internal issues and one of those is the case of. in fact the verdicts in his case will be right and. just a couple of days the president being a lawyer did speak about the case but from the point of view all the president and a lawyer as well. no government official and this includes the president has the right to state their position on this or any other case until the verdict be it an acquittal or a guilty verdict has been voiced this is perfectly obvious my general position as

a lawyer is that the legal practice works with what is possible and of course material it is said. that the public or anybody else for that matter should not. go it he says that he if if there is any proof if there's any evidence that any other russian businessmen of any caliber has committed a similar crime that i think mr medvedev is ready to see the evidence on his table and to take according measures that of course freedom of speech and democracy were also two major issues was reiterated of touched upon in his interview session he also encouraged the ruling united russia party to be more active instead of just frosting on the straw laurels and he also spoke out to the leaders of the opposition parties encouraging them to be more active. with the wrong renowned politicians outside the state duma some might call them outstanding some might not but they are well known public figures like mr numsa of mystical mr they're all

public figures people might like them or not but they have their own electorate now part of public politics. and of course when it came to the freedom of speech he would have changed the format a little bit he actually posed a question to the three heads of the russian major t.v. channels asking them if they believed that freedom of speech existed in the country because in his opinion television has not been quite active in covering the events which were interesting to the people and that of course wrapped up the almost two hour long interview session conducted by the russian president earlier today. well next hour we've got some of the key points raised during to me to investors meeting with russia's main t.v. bosses and if you like to see the full version of streaming on a website as well. as brand you look through this will not catch that lately which online tonight as well you might princeton these stories. kings of the road on the drive from living the free life on what else russian the polly davidson bike is and

also be correct discovered they have in common i don't likely mix. we'll the story yes they are the silent struggle russia's deaf community talks to r.t. in their own language to explain their difficulties in getting you got their stories well online tonight at our team. in the boom years the united states long championed the cause of capitalism but globalization and outsourcing means it's experiencing some of the dome sides now but one place in america has an unlikely solution pretty straight it reports next from the town which is making money by importing chinese students.

millinocket mean once a booming mill town now. almost a ghost town the peeper male once a symbol of pride and prosperity in the region now a reminder of a time that has come and gone international trade is what basically took the people industry of the united states down it's not just here in the in the town of no one market it's worldwide chinese they're more clever than. you know and we when we do a deal with them we usually we get the sound of it. today millinocket is a small town of five thousand the closest smaller movie theater is an hour's drive away many of the one spot selling businesses in town now stand empty and abandoned been very depressing for a lot of people who have had their hopes up and hopes that they would something would come along that would change everything but it hasn't. dr cannot smith is the

superintendent of millinocket public schools after watching his town fall apart around him he decided it was time to take matters into his own hands. myths idea is to boost the school's population by charging chinese students twenty seven thousand dollars to attend his high school for one year and they have some skills that we don't have that we'd love to instill in some of us to this desire to learn and get ahead by getting a good education it's a bold idea in a town where most few china as the reason they're mill went bankrupt but smith argues that the competition the might have hurt the town's past can also help to reshape its future but we can't possibly compete with that labor market and you know one point four billion people i think the competition is good for us and we have to learn a lot of jobs with economy work right now there are two hundred students that attend this high school even though it was built for eight hundred sixty percent of

the students here qualify for a state run free lunch because their parents' income is at the poverty level school administrators say that bringing in students from china will not only save the school it will save the town and bring it back to the days when the mill was booming. but not everyone in this almost exclusively white town is excited about the idea that their school might eventually have just as many chinese kids. as kids from maine sound. well have an issue where they're going to be like oh my gosh they're not from here make them go away most students in this high school have never traveled abroad what they know about china they say they've seen on t.v. i think the chinese are going to be total shock i think of like high tech and way more advanced than us think ten times more money in like in a better society and then you look at a similarly poor in nothing and those struggling to survive in town are angry that the country they believe took their jobs from them is now the one they're looking

to for help preassure either party millinocket mean. some top world news stories in brief clashes between the taliban and security troops maybe after pakistan have left at least eleven soldiers and twenty four militants dead cymbalta in the us attacks were launched against five checkpoints in the tribal more than region involving around two hundred fifty tell about fighters the military has launched offensives over the past few months but insurgents have continued to attack in taliban and al qaeda strongholds. the u.n. is officially recognizing ivory coast's opposition leader as the country's new president it comes as west africa's central bank cut off access to funds for the incumbent laurent gbagbo he refuses to stand saying the election he lost last month was rigged it's thought he'll be forced to quit if he can't pay civil servants and military stars one hundred seventy three have died in the rest which followed the ballot design to unite the nation which threatens to drag the country back into

civil war. was ill popular president has bowed out after reaching the end of his maximum term but silver isn't ruling out a comeback at some stage living as he does with record popularity ratings which he puts down to reducing poverty and sustained economic growth in the meantime he hands over to his chosen successor. who said foods won a runoff vote in october she becomes brazil's first female leader. twenty past nine at night here in moscow now as the holidays begin its time would almost everyone gets together in some sort of celebration and here in russia christmas is still a couple of weeks off but they could feed moscow is nonetheless opening up its doors in the western tradition this evening in the city that is an italian overcover is there for the festivities. here in the immaculate conception catholic church mosque around five thousand catholic have gathered for a traditional mass as three of them are being held tonight first one in russian

then another one in polish and the final one that's going to take place at midnight more screw time will also be held in russian christmas day mass will be held at this church at three pm last time tomorrow so for those of you english speaking experts wanting to attend enjoying the celebrations the mass will be held in english so you can join the festivities here there is another catholic church in moscow that is kept the french catholic church and they will be having a mass in french as well well the spirit is indeed very festive and a holy day spirit is in the air as it has been heavily snowing in moscow all day and see it looks absolutely gorgeous tonight it's all covered in clean white snow so indeed the christmas spirit is in the in the air for those of you celebrating it's a night in moscow. yes indeed if you are celebrating christmas all our best wishes as well from. our that is the season of goodwill of the masses

a chill in the air in the baltic states tonight burbs all because of the origins of a humble christmas spruce. proudly proclaims to be the first but its neighbor says barking up the wrong tree of his exam the boy corresponds more for you. it's a white christmas in a stone in latvia with fluffy snow paralyzed and mulled wine all the ingredients of the proper christmas spirit but instead of gifts there is that pile of historic arguments on that tree the two neighbors on a did a dispute over who was first to come up with the festive for. let's light up the tree here in riga sasha helps her daughter decorate her fourth christmas tree there and no doubt whose spirits shines the brightest and for the longest time. of course is very pleasing to think that the first ever christmas tree appeared here in latvia and we have historic proof to back this claim everybody here knows that it

was dressed with flowers and berries here in riga in fifteen ten. but head north and that theory's been cut down to size before somebody can demonstrate me document that another was made before i can believe but no i say. first christmas story about. the get you. the best if precut has reached such a pitch that even santa claus is weighing in. if you ask a finnish people will tell you they were the ones to invent the christmas tree so would the norwegians in the germans i think what's important is not who decorated it first centuries ago but that we all do it nowadays seasonal spirit assigned this symbol of contention for the two fires to neighbors shows just how much they have in common christmas comes once a year but historians in the trains have many ongoing haggles they also disagree

about who is really minimal beautiful whose beer tastes better and how many bears this nation is allowed to handle nearby woods some even say that without this legal disagreements live would have been too boring so in a way this latest christmas tree controversy is just another way of making christmas i think mary or somebody's got artsy tallinn estonia and that's exactly the spirit is needed now coming up in a few moments on this channel special report from the part of the usa the still very much part of russia as well alaska business up there with that right after a short break.

in some petersburg only she's available in hotels a story of a little. renaissance boutique hotel patroclus hotel a true story hotel golden. gate. and a sea of this city visit. a welcome to the business news on. that quite a portfolio of russia's small and medium businesses has reached one hundred billion dollars this year russian prime minister vladimir putin says the government will continue to support banks that give loans to the sector. the amount of credit that russian banks gave to small and medium enterprises in twenty ten is one trillion rubles more than the previous year this means that the total amount is now roughly

three point two five trillion rubles and we will continue to stimulate banks to work together with small and medium enterprises and. look at the markets the my sex ended the week after closing in the red on friday down almost half a percent ending a fourteen straight week of gains the r.t.s. fared better finishing in the black up point twenty three percent wrapping up a successful trading week trading volumes were light as investors prepared for the holidays. and gas probably over half a percent even after the gas giants said it would not give any discount for russian gas in the talks that were held this afternoon preferred shares have also tumbled as investors cash in on strong gains from the past few days bucking the trend is no else nicol up point thirty nine percent after tycoon. called an extraordinary general meeting to resolve the minor shareholder dispute. and russian markets

hardly moved this week as investors were buying gifts for christmas and new year rather than stocks maxime orlowski. wraps up their wake. this week was relatively calm so that's mostly because the majority of the market players example large ones from europe and the us on christmas holidays. barely changed with trade volumes very little but. one of the interesting events of this week was the disclosure of charges from the alleged merger between. which long to dump the start of this company. and today is one of the busiest shopping days of the year as people hot last minute holiday gifts for family and friends reports suggest sales are well up last year. has been one of the biggest malls and here. we're having here now. holiday spirit. the snow. here in

the center of moscow so is the. russian shopper rushing into the stores to buy last minute presents for their family and friends for the country's biggest holiday but this time russians plan to celebrate the upcoming holiday on a big scale forty four percent of the population already claim that they will spend most money for the coming new year and christmas. before well we still consequences of the global financial downturn but still in terms of the fine stuff of course it ranges from. one thousand dollars. to visit one of the biggest shopping malls in europe i was told that the seller for this season. tops. and that's all the business news for this hour but you can always find more

stories on our website that's our to dot com slash business stay with us. first. hungry for the full story we've got it first hand the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers on the. culture is that so much different and there's a huge decision to find the mark when the new exit is christians leaving the holy land christians have lived in historic palestine since the advent of christianity alongside muslims.

fifty. five. hello my name is kevin i will be watching a news channel from moscow top stories tonight russia's approval of the nuclear treaty with america wait swallowed michael spend the holidays mulling over conflicting points of the u.s. senate resolution. to send season's greetings across the atlantic and encourages russia's opposition parties to show some competition as he wraps up the year being quizzed by leading t.v. channels. that give each other a christmas roast. who was first to invent the festive decorated tree.

next to off the one corner of the united states where its russian roots are still very much in evidence. once it was a part of russian territory there are still reminders to this day children wearing russian national costumes people having russian names and many orthodox churches are standing here but more than one hundred years ago it became the u.s. territory though some americans still don't know about. still asking for more idea about. like nothing i don't know a thing about the alaska it's called. it was called a box of ice a polar bear garden and war russia but in the language of the indigenous peoples the word alaska means the great land.