agreement and initial go ahead artie's washington correspondent dan mitchell can follow the developments. in the vote. on this american on this resolution are seventy one days twenty six days two thirds of the senate president having voted in the affirmative the resolution of ratification is agreed to. and with this approval russian the u.s. 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 u.s. 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 u.s. 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 who 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 parallel 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 six. already experts who feared that the treaty could become a victim of political games on capitol hill the arguments the trade 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. and one 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 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 that would make the u.s. 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 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 president obama did a really good job under rather difficult conditions if you managed to get this important treatments approved in the senate liquid and security for the next few years will be based on this treaty and in general i can say that it's easy for me to work with president obama less because you can really listen to him and he is he's not impeded by stereotypes of wood and what is probably the most important thing for the politician but will he keeps his promise the 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. you were weapons of mass destruction and on the other hand tools nuclear superpowers former adversaries actually trusting each other and looking to work in hand to provide their security get a check on r.t.e. washington d.c.

. left wing british m.p. jeremy corbyn says that the new start treaty clears the path for a new system of international nuclear arms control it's such a huge step and it was one that was predicted to end in failure and so the fact that president obama and president medvedev come to the agreement and go to through both of their parliamentary systems is a huge step forward and that's got to be a spur so surely the next thing is for all nations to agree not to renew their nuclear weapon systems was most to 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 that was left wing british m.p. jeremy corben this week you saw another major security crisis on the korean peninsula north korea warned it is ready to start a nuclear war if the south continues with military provocations seoul has been

conducting a live fire military exercises next to the border with the north and in disputed waters north korean t.v. has shown soldiers who reportedly took part in the shelling of a south korean island last month they say was in response to south korea's aggressive war games for people including two marines were killed in the attack it is believed to be the worst escalation of tension on the peninsula since the war sixty years ago an expert on korea glen ford says no one is provoking a war deliberately but the situation can easily spiral out of control. the danger is if we have new military exercises at sea because the problem 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

palm the south koreans intruding into what the north koreans considered to be their waters the danger is escalation what you hadid sized 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 adventurism i don't think anyone's intending to start if you want a full scale war at this point but the danger with escalation is it gets out of control and so we see something we need that we need to be concerned about for the future what we need to see is some gestures from either side to try and step down a maybe an offer from the north koreans for example to give up their their fuel rods from the young nuclear reactor and try and ship them to the science will be

something that might be allow us to start scaling down the current levels of tension that was going forward an expert on korea. now find out why on the diplomatic fallout scene why iran breaking off all ties with the u.k. . power has been restored at moscow's. airport after a twelve hour break over one hundred flights were canceled and others diverted to nearby airports after freezing rain downed electricity cables authorities have been ordered to do everything in their power to ease the situation on the ice covered streets of the russian capital and airports are firth tells us how the day unfolded . the. cables. to.

the weather is. coming in. there were no means no place for people to sit there is no transparent nothing has been done for the people. none of the. planes. taking off. running. by the. people in the. story. the bad weather. fifty one.

number of incidents. with another piece called the tree three thing nothing and. everyone. eight suspected militants have been killed in a counter terror operation in the capital of russians southern republican authorities say one of them was the leader of a local terrorist group weapons and a six handmade bombs ready to be planted were found at the scene. outside the building where the violence broke out this morning. where just a couple of meters away from the building where a group of militants. has been blocked today in the center of. the counterterrorist operation has started early in the morning when the militants wolfie is to surrender and opened fire on the residents of the houses nearby and were evacuated and the phone area has been blocked by the police then the special task force told

the fled where the militants were hiding a stars we know by now several militants have been killed and they get to be identified and as the russian enter terrorists kmita says this group could be behind the killings of the police officers in the region and launch a new series of terror attacks there is also information that the head of my high school at ten only was among the militants and then he was eliminated this is yet to be confirmed by the officials the biggest on has been a very troublesome region this year with many terror attacks launched by the militants trains derailed and the whole situation in the reason is very troublesome coming up shortly on our t.v. carving of the desert. really government is accused of pushing the arab tribes off the land that's been there for over a century and find out why in just a couple of hours. this week the brother of the late polish president

claimed to the body buried in krakow does not belong to lech kaczynski jaroslav kaczynski also the former prime minister says he's not yet decided whether to have the remains exuberant poland has rejected moscow's report into the april plane crash that killed like a jet ski and ninety five others the investigation said pilot error was to blame it's still not clear whether warsaw is contesting this current polish prime minister donald tusk said the findings into the accident in southwest russia are unacceptable over one hundred fifty pages have reportedly been sent to moscow detailing where poland believes the investigation was flawed aviation expert chris yates says the russian investigation seemed to thorough and no further international inquiries needed. i think the key issue for the polar side is probably quite a significant amount of criticism of the polish air force and in particular the captain of the aircraft and his copilot operating that aircraft on the day of that

tragic accident and i think that's primarily a major cause for concern and what we'll see you soon with the draft report which we passed on to publish the i've looked at this issue since the accident and examined 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 was brought to bear in some way shape or form on the pilots who copilot today to make an attempt to land at an

airport where there were no conditions at all to land too much fog not enough visibility. a lot of pressure being brought on the pilots conspired to cause that accident aviation expert chris yates talking to us there the signing of a record breaking a billion dollar defense contract was among the highlights of dmitri medvedev visit to india this week the russian president also promised to build nuclear war power stations to meet the growing needs of the world's second most populous nation archies kind saying has more on the leaders trip. financial crisis that shaken the group has let politicians and economists worldwide question to school many can do that the previous order 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 to

support. fortune recently we've done a lot to promote partnership between russia and india but yesterday i spent a whole day in 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 supple beings and money. and now the countries have signed the biggest ever defense contract and he gets history thank you of billions of dollars in total it's a deal to join to develop a fifth generation fighter aircraft costing nearly one million dollars apiece the jets will be able to compete with the american if you do that cost three times as much at present the u.s. is the would need such technology which should even if it's like the new aircraft developed by russia and india would have steps each year and

a noble for the rippling. forces energy is another sector the two countries account when they sing together russia has agreed to build more nuclear power stations for india but the atomic dance 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 who did and in coming to lecture him in time cooperation. and gas sector it reflects the complimentarity. the strength of the interaction relationship is is that it often does an alternative to. the relationships that countries have with the west you know we can all fall down a bit of ways of thinking on on various things whether it's on climate change

whether it's on science and technology it's on space with the financial up he will be been witnessing the rising economies are being seen as the corner store of the new world order and as we enter the mix ticket of the twenty first century both russia and india are embarking on the next phase in their strategic partnership got in saying r.t. . and you can catch the story online tonight at r.t. dot com you can also find these stories as well. as stating the reality he took a look at afghanistan's efforts to rehabilitate the country's more than one million heroin addict. and a first to fall out in eastern europe as a stony and lafayette over decorated the christmas tree first find out both sides of the dog.

iran is considering a server in ties with the u.k. angered by british criticism of its human rights record tehran says the comments were interference in its domestic affairs there is a lawmaker republican lawmakers have already approved a bill to cut diplomatic relations the parliament is due to finalize their decision next week relations between the two countries have it deteriorated since tehran's claim that british intelligence was involved in the assassination of a top iranian nuclear scientist last month but the london based journalist yvonne ridley says when it comes to basic freedoms ukase own record is far from perfect. the politicians in iran quite angry and outraged at this very undiplomatic. blog which is being produced from the british embassy in tehran and you know you wonder what's coming next when you take the high moral ground and criticize one

country's human rights you should be pretty blameless yourself and unfortunately britain's own human rights record leaves a lot to be desired if you go on to throw stones at someone else's house you should make sure that your own is in order first iran has its many supporters and it has its money to truck to us and. they everybody lines up to their particular side china says it's willing and able to help struggling european economies at an economic forum in beijing the country's vice premier praised of that use efforts to cut down debt but suggested that more can be done one proposal for china is to buy bonds from at risk euro zone countries economist marco peter pollie says this move will not be enough. 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 is if you like a patch to try and help the situation until the europeans managed 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 fundamental reform of how the euro actually operates some more news making headlines around the world this hour the violence following i host a disputed presidential election has forced some fourteen thousand people to flee to neighboring liberia at least one hundred seventy people have been killed in

clashes so far most of those who are fleeing are supporters of opposition leader alasania tahrir who the u.n. has recognized as the winner of last month's vote but incumbent leader laurent gbagbo is refusing to quit. eight tourists have died and more than twenty others were injured when their bus collided with a truck in southern egypt the bus was traveling from the southern city of us one to the ancient temple site of abu simbel it hit a truck carrying sand which had broken down and was part of the side of the road. a series of aftershocks has rocked the new zealand city of christchurch months after a powerful earthquake struck the region at least twenty buildings were damaged and power lines cut the tremor blew out windows and shook brick work but there are no reports of injuries police have cordoned off the central business area and special units are inspecting the buildings scientists warn the tremors could continue for

quite some time. the ship at the center of a deadly raid by israeli forces earlier this year has received a hero's welcome return to its home port in istanbul in may the mavi marmara was boarded by troops as it is attempted to break the blockade of gaza to get aid to palestinians nine people were killed on the ship which was part of a larger convoy pickel medical ations between turkey and israel were damaged over the incident and both continued to call on the other side to apologize. and still ahead for you in this weekly news wrap a spy in the u.s. a role model at home. and chapman gave news on russia's political stage adding some glamour to the news wing of the ruling united russia party but. the israeli government is operating arab tribes from the desert that they've lived in for over a century the jewish state says the bedouins build their homes without permission

but local activists say the aim of the crackdown on arab villages is to replace them with jewish settlements artie's policy or reports from the desert. in the middle of nowhere the remains of all our kids village. for the third time in two weeks israeli police came with a few visitors and in little more than an hour demolished sixty houses. from a flood 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. 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 is that the land should go to the jews not.

the big ones on a medic arabs who have lived in the negev desert for more than one hundred years they claim they used to pay taxes do not mean period in british mandate but after israel took over in one thousand nine hundred eight 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 they have agreements 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. they're not abiding by the law they live inside graveyards with horses donkeys sheep the animals mess all over the graves and make it difficult for us to move them but we have to because they need permission to build on the land and they don't have it. i think that. the government would like to push them into the town troops were they

could become simple workers they would like to give the land to the mayor to the army and to settlements who. who will change the demographic status of the negative just look around here this vast uninhabited desert 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 hoss and seven houses but he hasn't lost his resolve i don't miss. we are men of peace we don't use the gun the man who came to destroy our houses and the bad faces of this land

we did not fight back when they came but the fights will continue because tomorrow when the sun comes up we'll build again and in a few weeks these raids will return. in the negev desert israel flame haired. chapman has embarked on a political career in russia after her brief debut as an undercover agent in the us shall now head the ruling 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 and a chapman shot to fame during a spy scandal between russia and the u.s. in the summer when the f.b.i. uncovered a russian espionage ring she was one of the number of agents deported from the u.s. in a cold war style swap. the sport headlines are in about fifteen minutes with andrew and it's turning into a bumper month for russia's top ice hockey team with news of yet another win for

them before that i'll bring you the headlines from our review of the week after this quick break. thanks for being with our team. of the. closeup team has been to the region where industries are rapidly developing.

now wattie goes to the homeland of those with strength of mind and body. to the land developed by cossacks in ancient times and which became the premier destination for nineteenth century political exiles. this is the armscye russia consult on r.t. . broadcasting live from our studios in central moscow this is our orders two thirty in the morning i will take a look at our top stories of the week. washington gives the new strategic arms limitation treaty the green light to moscow in turn signals its initial approval of which could see nuclear arsenals slashed by a third it is the largest arms reduction and controlled in decades and has been

hailed as a major diplomatic victory by both russia and the u.s. . threats and accusations fly between north and south korea souls ongoing war games close to the border provoked into threats of a nuclear war soldiers from the north said on t.v. the shelling of a south korean island last month was in response to ongoing provocation. furrow aviation experts report into the april plane crash that killed the polish president and others. but poland refuses to accept the findings and has reportedly sent a confidential document to russia containing scores of recommendation. right now electricity is back on the moscow's airport after major delays and cancellations it's far from over for thousands of passengers freezing rain down the electrical power lines across the region leaving more than four hundred thousand people cut off.