russian lawmakers will continue their debate in lean in the new year over the ratification documents produced by the u.s. senator he's committed washington to a missile defense system and modernizing its nuclear arsenal but do not affect the main body of the treaty the deal was signed in april by presidents medvedev and obama and as guy in a cheeky on reports it's being hailed as a major diplomatic victory. vote. on this matter on this resolution or 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 and 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 over the next ten years 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 we are sure 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 after like despite the huge support the treaty has. seemed on many levels a number of republican senators nearly sabotaged it their actions provoked an

avalanche of criticism from the country's top security experts who 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 unsubstantial ones like we don't have to have this treaty if we don't have a nuclear treaty with the u.k. angolan we don't have one with france in the final days of debates on start some republican senators tried to rewrite the deal which would have actually killed it you know they wanted to take out the line in the preamble which makes the connection between offensive and defensive weapons start straitjackets 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 and 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 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 with the militants president obama did a really good job under rather difficult he managed to get a. decent security for the next few days in this tribute and in general i can say that it's easy for me to work with the president on that list because you can really listen to normal and he does know he's not impeded by stereotypes of with and what is probably the most important thing to. keep his promise that he should russian lawmakers made it clear they had no objections to the treaty. 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 fewer weapons of mass destruction and on the other hand two nuclear superpowers former adversaries actually trusting each other and looking to work hand in hand to provide their security going to check on our t. washington d.c. moscow has repeatedly said that it could quit the start treaty if it feels threatened by the u.s. missile defense plan for europe this connection remains key for russia and some experts believe the country's lawmakers are keen to stress this again. unilateral suggestions the parliament resolution will follow the line of the preamble of the document and they will stipulate to the facts of the linkage between the offensive and defensive weapons but with nuclear weapons a missile defense system basically and second i think the russian parliament will repeat but 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 this russia might pull all its own might consider pulling out from the new start treaty if it considers the development of u.s. missile defense system reaches the level to russia will interpret as the threats. north korean soldiers who are portably took part in the shelling of a south korean island last month said pyongyang was provoked by souls war games it's the first time northern troops have spoken publicly about the violence they appeared on a talk show on state television marking kim jong il's nineteen years as the country's top military commander the head of the anniversary of pyongyang warned it would launch what it called a secret nuclear war against seoul while the south president promised retaliation if attacked last month north korea shelled the south island of young young pianka killing four people in response to seoul's drills in the area analysts say the south koreans say south korea and the u.s. are seeking to destroy north korea as an independent state. the united states'

policy for the last sixty years has been to seek the collapse of the north korean state and its absorption into the south. the lead government is more closely aligned with the u.s. foreign policy goals on the korean peninsula. say the governments of presidents rowan presidents kim. in south korea. president lee is often times seen as a puppet of the united states and. the area around his office is called by many south koreans the news united state of south korea south korea certainly seized on any opportunity it can to escalate tensions there is the sinking of the south korean. chain on that which was immediately blamed on north korea over north korean denials and there are many in south korea who do not believe the official inquiry then we have the artillery exchange that happened on november twenty third which has been

blamed on north korea however the exchange was triggered by south korea and marine garrison on an island that lies very close to the north korean coast you consider that you consider president leaves hostility toward north korea. it's his policy of confrontation deescalating war games and it's hard not to conclude that south korea is trying to precipitate a fight to to pick a fight and trying to provoke its northern neighbor. this week the brother of the late polish president who was killed in a plane crash in russia claimed that the body buried in krakow does not belong to lech kaczynski jaroslaw kaczynski has not yet announced whether he will ask for the remains to be examined moscow was startled by the comments as the polish side had been involved in all stages of identification last week warsaw rejected the results of russia's investigation into april's plane crash the report concluded that pilot

error was among the main causes of the accident that killed all ninety six people aboard that jet the polish prime minister has called the findings delivered by russia unacceptable their report hasn't yet been made public maybe asian expert says the russian investigation will star zero one no further international inquiry is needed. i think the key issue for the polish saw it is probably quite a significant amount of criticism of the polish air force and in particular the captain would be a profound his copilot operating in that across on the day of that tragic consequence and i think primarily major pulls. we'll see you soon with a draft report which we passed on to the previous guy i've looked at this issue since the accident and examined the the cockpit voice recording transcripts

and so on and i can't fault any of the conclusions that have been leaked by the russian authorities i don't believe personally that if we bring an international investigating team into the equation that the findings will be any different to what they are which seems to be the pressure groups that in some way shape or form on the pilots and copilots. to make an attempt to land at some airports where there were no conditions at all to land too much focus not enough visibility and a lot of pressure being brought on the pilots conspired to cause that accident. coming up shortly here on r t carving up the desert the israeli government is pushing our drives off the land that has been their home for more than a century find out why. and spy bombshell i'm

a chav and becomes a government backed role model for russian youngsters. but first one of moscow's main airports has ground to a halt after a step electricity cables ruptured go ahead of the official say power is expected to come back on by the end of the day the blackout isn't affecting flight safety as navigation systems all have their own electrical supply but all facilities inside the airport are down making operations impossible for the complex is currently working to switch on its backup diesel generators roads and cars in the capital are covered with ice days worth of the rain froze solid one elderly woman was killed by a falling tree at least five others injured parts of the moscow region have been left without power with almost two hundred thousand people affected city authorities are urging people to stay. at least eight militants have been killed in a counter terror operation in the capital of russia's southern republican dagestan authorities say one of them was the leader of

a local terrorist group police had cornered the militants in a building the site in moscow on advised them to surrender but the group opened fire on officers special forces stormed the building there were no reports of casualties among police or civilians official say the militants had taken part in deadly attacks in the public security services dagestan has been gripped by fear daily violence but the authorities. are wrong will decide next week whether to sever diplomatic relations with the u.k. islamic republics lawmakers voted for tehran to cut all ties after the british ambassador to the country criticized its human rights record this week iran saw the comments as interference in its internal affairs relations between the two countries have deteriorated since tehran's claim that british intelligence was involved in the assassination of a top iranian nuclear scientist last month political commentator kyon mokhtari says the threat to break off diplomatic ties is a warning that iran won't stand for britain's meddling. iran doesn't seem to have

a problem with britain and the us for as long as it's i could i mix in scientists i'm not the sas and it did in broad daylight in tehran seems to still be . typos. and it feels that we think speak out against the domestic affairs of other nations it will whereas the iranian lawmaker is quite clearly disagree but this is to send a strong morning well a strong warning this is to send the warning to to britain that iran is prepared to go as far as that if such language and such actions such as alleged actions by proxy terrorist organizations are not stopped record breaking billion dollar military deals and high tech link ups just some of the results of president dmitri medvedev his visit to india this week russian president also sealed agreements on nuclear power to meet the growing needs of the world's second most populous nation

or he's charan singh was following the leaders trip. financial crisis that shaken the group has let politicians any colonists will why the question who many can do that the previous quarter dominated by the u.s. and europe is being left behind by the new rising giants russia india and china and indeed struck the president medvedev during the annual summit between russia and india. where fortune recently we've done a lot to promote partnership which we know russia and india but yesterday i spent a whole day new delhi and we held talks we prepared and signed a number of documents on cooperation between our countries. yet in india russia is seen as and or friends it is india's number one. offering it cutting edge weaponry such as who to supper beings and money. and now the countries have signed the biggest ever defense contract and he gets history thank you what billions of

dollars in total it's a deal to jointly develop a fifth generation fighter aircraft costing nearly one billion dollars apiece the jets will be able to compete with the americans if we do that costs three times as much at present the u.s. is the only country in such technology which should even this it's like the new aircraft developed by russia and india would have stepped feature and noble for the ripley. forces energy is another sector the two countries ago when they sing together russia has agreed to build more nuclear power stations for india to atomic bombs is already building the country will come online next year and will provide much needed energy for india's growing economy i am particularly big. on. coming collective human time cooperation. and gas sector it reflects the

complimentarity. the strength of the interaction relationship is is that it off. to their new ships that countries have with the west you know we can all fall down it did ways of thinking on and various things whether it's a climate change whether it's on science and technology it's on space with the financial up evil we've been witnessing rising economies are being seen as the dollar store of the new world order and as we enter the mix thicket of the twenty first century both russia and india are embarking on the next phase in the strategic partnership got in saying. remember you can always find more on the stories we're covering on our website r.t. dot com here's a quick look at what's online right now. and away we take a look at efforts to rehabilitate afghanistan's more than

a million heroine. and the russian prime minister vladimir putin took time off from wrestling diplomatic issues wrestle watched the judo blackbelt give a master class out of st petersburg school. china says it's taken concrete action to help struggling european economies combat the financial crisis at an economic forum in beijing the country's vice premier praised the efforts to cut down debt in october china said it wouldn't reduce its holdings of european bonds but a current economist marco politi says beijing support is not a permanent remedy. this extends china's political influence in europe by making a lot of european states dependent on china to buy to buy their debt but it doesn't get away from the fundamental problem in europe europe has a big big sovereign debt crisis and this sees if you like

a patch to try and help the situation until the europeans manage to put together some some proper reforms some proper fundamental structures to help the euro stay together moving forward and to date they've been very much dragging their heels in and patching up greece and ireland rather than coming to the table to put together a fundamental reform of how the euro actually operates senior american military commanders are reported to be pushing to expand their afghan campaign into neighboring pakistan washington already regular already regularly conduct to drone attacks in the country is one the bad says a public backlash is likely if u.s. combat troops begin operating there kathy kelly who campaigns against the u.s. led war says america's military establishment is simply hoping for more money. it seems to me that the united states would have an effect similar to what has

happened in the past here in afghanistan along with the drone attacks the invasion of a sovereign country. a united states joint special operations who is means of attack include death squads and assassinations and night raids would exacerbate the tremendous almost tidal wave of anti-american sentiment amongst the public united states establishment the military industrial complex companies have learned that you can make an enormous profit you can stuff your financial portfolios and run to the bank and that you can do this in another limited way and they've learned that lesson and they would like to continue it but as far as what the united states might have learned from listening to people on the ground who are in touch with those who bear the brunt of the united states warfare i'm talking about the families whose loved ones have been slaughtered i'm talking about families where

people are now widow and orphan the united states doesn't learn from listening to the cries in the pleas of people who beg us to stop the killing. the israeli government is upgrading arab tribes from the desert they've lived in for more than a century the jewish state says the bedouins built their homes without permission but local activists say the crackdown on arab villages aims to replace them with jewish settlements or his policy or has more from the negev desert. in the middle of nowhere the remains of a keep village. for the third time in two weeks israeli police came with a few doses and in a little more than an hour demolished sixty houses. from a club no this is my land i have a paper i have a document this is my land i ask this government how do i live and how can i afford to buy the same land elsewhere in israel and i can't what they want me to sell my land i won't agree. and as long as he and hundreds of others won't the police will

continue to raid seven times they've come so far backed up by a government whose official policy states this is their land. but i think the unofficial policy underneath it is that the land should go to the jews not. the big ones on a medic arabs who've lived in the negev desert for more than one hundred years they claim they used to pay taxes during the autumn and period in british mandate but off to israel took over in one thousand nine hundred eighty they've been hard placed to prove their ownership of the land they don't have any legal documents proving that this land is there's been evergreens of buying and selling between themselves but according to the law of the state of israel ownership of land can only be proven by registering the land in a public office israel says it's built alternative cities fill them with all the facilities they could hope for but they keep coming back to the desert official printing one time and going there not abiding by the law they live inside

graveyards with horses and donkeys she was the animals mess all over the graves and make it difficult for us to move them cobble all we have to because they need permission to build on the lent and they don't have it at all because. i think that . the government would like to push them into the townships where they could become simple workers so they would like to give the land to the mayor to the army and to settlements who. who who will. change the demographic status of the negative and just look around here at this vast uninhabited is it is home to only seven percent of israel's population several years ago the government launched an ambitious program to the value of six hundred million dollars to try and attract new jewish immigrants and israelis to live here it aims in the next three years to have more than a quarter of a million of them living in the desert but is because the desert is it seemingly

not big enough for jew and arab jew mel torme has lost his way house and seven houses but he has not lost his resume. we are men of peace we don't use the gun the man who came to destroy our houses with other bad phases of this land we did not fight back when they came but the fights will continue because tomorrow when the sun comes up. again and in a few weeks these raids will return the understudy cluelessly r t in the negev desert israel. turning now to some other stories making headlines across the globe violence following ivory coast just heated presidential election has for some fourteen thousand people to flee its neighboring liberia at least one hundred seventy people have been killed in clashes so far most of those fleeing are supporters of the opposition leader asana a lot when the u.n. has recognized as the winner the incumbent leader old incumbent leader a lot babo his refusing to step down.

a series of earthquakes has rocked it was over the city of christchurch cutting power and damaging at least twenty buildings glass and masonry fell from damage structures structures but there were no reports of injuries police have cordoned off the central business area and officials are inspecting the buildings scientists say the latest shocks are after effects of a massive quake that hit the city back in september. former venezuelan president carlos andreas per as has died of a heart attack at the age of eighty eight he was hospitalized and laura. person nationalize the oil industry and survived to coup attempts but was finally forced out of office when he was the first latin american leader ever convicted of corruption and illicit enrichment. an indian rocket carrying a communications satellite has exploded only minutes after its launch officials say an error caused it to adopt a steeper angle than intended and broke up its india's second space launch failure

this year a similar rocket developed a fault in april. russia's flame haired former agent ana chapman is making a new foray into political life this time as the leader of the ruling united russia is united russia party's youth movement at a recent meeting chapman made a speech calling on party members to transform the future for the next generation chapman shot to fame during a spy scandal between russia and the u.s. in the summer when the f.b.i. uncovered the russian espionage ring she was one of a number of agents deported from the u.s. in a cold war style swap. in a couple of minutes we hear president medvedev speak about the ups and downs of two thousand and ten as he sits down with russia's major news channels but first i'll be back with a recap of our top stories stay with us. it's

wealthy british. tirelessly. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines. in some

pieces books available in green to till you're a grand total emerald. of the club school it's. in the big old. cream the planet's. kempinski twenty two. now so it's. two thirty pm in the russian capital we're bringing you today's top stories and a look back at the week's news here on our t.v. arms reduction deal between russia and the u.s. goes ahead and both nations the lower house of russia's parliament voted to give initial approval to the agreement friday after it was approved ratification by the u.s. senate a few days earlier. tensions high in the korean peninsula as pyongyang presents

a secret nuclear war of seoul carries out more war games speaking on state television the north's troops have accused the south of provoking them into what happened to young dong island last month. warsaw questions russia's findings on a plane crash that killed a former polish president and ninety five other people the late leader's brother claims the body buried doesn't belong to light but experts say moscow conducted a thorough investigation. up next from wiki leaks to wildfires the russian president gave his frank views on the events that shaped two thousand and ten sitting down with the country's leading t.v. channels dmitry medvedev looked at the highs and lows of the passing year all the highlights coming your way. as. mr president but a question on the new star to you i like one phrase in it or henry a short story.