russia's lawmakers followed suit and gave the new start agreement an initial go ahead artie's washington correspondent diana chance you can follow the developments . in the vote. on this american on this sort of resolution are seventy one days twenty six days two thirds the senate president having voted in the affirmative the resolution of ratification is agreed to. and we disapprove of russia and 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 the 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 nearly sabotaged it 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 trade if we don't have a nuclear treaty with the u.k. angle and 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 militants president obama did a really good job under rather difficult conditions and he managed to get this important treatments approved in the senate record 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 the cool 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 or make 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 corbin says the new start treaty clears the path for a new system of international nuclear arms control 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 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 because most are 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 a nuclear nonproliferation treaty particularly israel india pakistan north korea that was left wing british m.p. jeremy corbett this week 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 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 it was in response to south korea's aggressive war games four 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 glyn 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 i actually was

called squanto palm the south koreans intruding into what the north koreans consider through their waters the dangerous escalation what you hobbes 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 so we see something we need to we need to be concerned about for the future but we need to see is some gestures from either side to try and step on 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 scientists will be something that might be might allow us to start scaling down the current levels of tension that was going forward an expert on korean relations. coming up in the program fueling anger. find out how the u.s. congress criticized a key american air base in. what it all has to do with the revolution in the country. power has been restored in moscow's airport after a twelve hour break over one hundred flights were canceled and others diverted to nearby airports after freezing rain down to 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 firth tells us how the day unfolded.

there were no me no place for people to sit there is no transparent nothing has been done for the people. in the. story. to one.

another. three. nothing and. everyone. reporting for us their. suspected militants have been killed in a counter terror operation in the capital of russia southern republican. authorities say one of them was the leader of a local terrorist group. weapons and six handmade bombs ready to be planted were found at the scene. outside the building where the violence broke out this morning . we're just a couple of meters away from the building where a group of militants has been walk today in the center of. the counterterrorist operation has started early in the morning when the militants will feel is to surrender and opened fire on the residents of the houses nearby and were evacuated

and the full area has been blocked by the police then the special task force told the fled where the militants were hiding as far as we know by now several militants have been killed and yet to be identified and as the russian and to terrorist kmita says this group could be behind the killings of the police officers in the region and launching a serious terror attacks there is also information that the head of the high school a terror only was among the militants and that 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 team carving up the desert. really she used to pushing the arab tribes off the land that's been their home for over a century. in just a couple of minutes. this week is the brother of the late polish president claimed

the body buried in krakow does not belong to lech kaczynski. also the former prime minister says he's not yet decided whether to have the remains exuma poland has rejected moscow's report in the april plane crash that killed the president and ninety five others the investigation said pilot error was to blame it's still not clear whether it is contesting this current polish prime minister donald tusk has said the findings into the accident in the southwest russia are unacceptable over one hundred fifty pages have reportedly been sent to moscow detailing the where poland believes the investigation is flawed aviation expert chris gates says the russian investigation seemed thorough and no further international inquiry is needed. i think the key is to you 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 the major cause for concern. what we'll see you soon with the draft report that's been passed on to publish government 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 and

copilots of the aircraft 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 if you're an expert chris yates talking to us there the signing of a record breaking billion dollar defense contract was among the highlights of dmitri medvedev visit to india this week the russian president also promised to build a nuclear power stations to meet the growing needs of the world's second most populous nation artie's consing has more on the leaders trip. it's a financial crisis that shaken the group let politicians any columnists worldwide question who many can do that the order dominated by the u.s. and europe is being left behind by the new rising giants russia india and china and the deal struck the president medvedev during the annual summit between russia here

. or ching recently we've done a lot to promote partnership between 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 a more friendly it is india's number one of supply offering a cutting edge weaponry such as supple beings and money. and now the countries have signed the biggest ever defense contract and he gets his street 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 american if you do that cost three times as much at present the u.s. is the only such technology which should even miss its film since like the new

aircraft developed by russia and india will have steps each year and overall for the rippling. forces energy is another sector the two countries account when they stick together russia has agreed to build more nuclear power stations for india but the atomic dance is already pretty sult the country will come online next year and would provide much needed energy for india's growing economy i am particularly glad that we are. coming to legume in time cooperation. and gas sector it reflects the complimentarity. the strength of the interaction relationship is is that it often does. to the relationships that countries have with the west you know we can all fall down to dave ways of thinking on under various things whether it's on climate

change whether it's on science and technology it's on space with the financial been witnessing the rising economies are being seen as the corner store of a new world order and as we enter the next big hit of the twenty first century both russia and india are embarking on the next phase in the strategic partnership saying r.t. . and of course you can find more on that story online at r.t. dot com here's a taste of what's there right now you might call it a hairy situation with nothing to sniff at russia brushes off the competition. and as weeks makers say the country has the best. pieces. to get blown away by the chilling beauty of.

the u.s. congress has slammed the pentagon over shady jet fuel deals for an american military air base in the central asian republic of kyrgyzstan fuel worth about two billion dollars was purchased for civilian use allegedly to avoid higher tariffs but it was actually for the manassas airbase a key supply for the u.s. campaign in afghanistan peter of the eurasia democracy initiative says the deal helped spark unrest that ousted the kirghiz president in april. what the congressional subcommittee on national security and foreign affairs. dealt with in the report was allegations of corrupt dealings between the subsidiaries of the pentagon which were supplying fuel for you stand to prosecute the war effort in afghanistan and members of the family of the deposed former president of kyrgyzstan

key if the same report stated that these subsidiaries namely the mena corps and red star back in two thousand and nine to reach out to the former president's son maksim but has subsequently followed his father in exile and is now in hiding in the u.k. to try to engage in bed or negotiations with the pentagon regarding the future of the base following kyrgyzstan's announcement that it would shut down the base so what we saw in that case was another proof of the fact that the president's family and so on were calling all the shots in the country for the most running the place what what eventually happened was the direct result of this relationship we saw what april two thousand and ten when president was ousted was the direct result of the popular anger that was stirred by the complete lack of accountability lack of transparency in the deals that the pentagon was cutting with. their government.

for some more news for you making headlines around the world supporters of ivory coast opposition leader. are calling for a general strike across the country with the backing of the international community he claims to have won the recent presidential election but incumbent leader laurent gbagbo is refusing to leave office at least one hundred seventy people have been killed and fourteen thousand have had to flee the violence following the disputed poll. eight american tourists have died and more than twenty others were injured when their bus collided with a truck in southern egypt they were traveling from the southern city of. temple side of. the bus hit a truck carrying sand which had broken down on the side of the road. the ship at the center of a deadly raid by israeli forces earlier this year has received. on the turn to its

home port in istanbul in may the mavi marmara was boarded by troops as it 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 diplomatic relations between turkey and israel were damaged over the incident and both continue to call on the other side to apologize. a series of aftershocks has rocked the new zealand city of christ church months after a powerful earthquake was has struck the region at least twenty buildings were damaged and power lines 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 warned the tremors could continue for some time. the israeli government is uprooting arab tribes from the desert they've lived in for over a century the jewish state says the bedouins built their homes without permission but local activists say the aim of the crackdown on arab villages is to replace

them with jewish settlements. 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 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 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 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 theirs 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 townships were they could become simple workers they would like to give the land 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 in seven houses but he hasn't lost his resolve i don't move. we are men of peace we don't use the guns 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 fight will continue because tomorrow when the

sun comes up we'll build again and in a few weeks the israelis will return. in the negev desert israel flame haired fan for tal anna 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 a number of agents deported from the u.s. in a cold war style swap. the sports headlines are in 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 i'm trying thomas thanks for being.

a little bit later.

was struggling. it's. the game is. to be. elite.

teams. well. you know the latest in science and technology from around the russia. we've got the huge earth covered. and welcome back you are watching our team now it's time to take a look at the top stories in. washington gives the new strategic arms limitation treaty the green light go in turn signals its initial approval of the pact which could see a nuclear arsenals slashed by about a third it is the largest arms reduction and control deal 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 seoul is 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. thorough aviation experts back moscow's report into the people plane crash that killed the polish president and ninety five others but poland refuses to accept the findings or has reportedly sent a confidential document to russia containing scores of recommendation. and happening right now electricity is back on at moscow's don't want your device airport but 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 pounds.