michel go ahead artie's washington correspondent dan mitchell can follow the developments. in the vote. on this man on this resolution or 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 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. 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 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 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 he managed to get this important treatments approved in the senate liquid now 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 on that list because you can really listen to him and he he's not impeded by stereotypes of woodland what is probably the most important thing for the call will he 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. you were weapons of mass destruction and on the other hand two nuclear superpowers former adversaries actually trusting each other and looking to work in hand to provide their security than a check on our team washington d.c.

. moscow has repeatedly said it could pull out of the start treaty if it feels threatened by u.s. missile defense systems in europe connecting the two remains a key for russia and political analysis dimitry says the country's lawmakers will reinforce that the parliament's 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 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 or on the date of signing the treaty in prague. russia might pull out or might consider pulling out from the new start treaty if it considers if the development of u.s. missile defense system reaches the level that russia will interpret as a threats now is political analyst dimitri simes life. 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 that 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 is stopped 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 consequent upon the south koreans intruding into what the north koreans considered to be their waters the dangerous 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 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 allow us to start scaling down the current levels of tension that was going forward an expert on korean issues. on the way a black ops denied. details of allegations against american military officials in afghanistan who are reportedly preparing to take the world over the border. 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 tells us how the downfall.

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

thing. i. read of the. number of incidents. with another piece called the three three thing nothing and. everyone. reporting for us there now suspected militants have been killed in a counter terror operation in the capital of russia's southern republican. authorities say one of them was the leader of a local terrorist group weapons and made bombs ready to be planted were found at the scene. outside the building where the violence broke out. where 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 move. in one the militants will see used 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 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 launching a series of terror attacks there is also information that the head of the high school let 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 weeds and this year with many terror attacks launched by the militants trains derailed and the whole situation in the reason is very troublesome . coming up on our team breaking the silence. millions of people would waste their concerns because there are only means of communication is still

not officially recognized by the wind just a couple. this week 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 examined poland has rejected moscow's report into 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 warsaw is contesting this occurred polish prime minister donald tusk said the findings into the accident that happened near the russian city of smolensk are unacceptable over one hundred fifty pages have reportedly been sent to moscow detailing where poland believes the investigation was flawed aviation expert chris gates says the russian investigation seemed thorough and no further international inquiry is 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 primarily major pulls you can see. what we see you see 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 be 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. 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 now the signing of a record breaking billion dollar defense contract was among the highlights of dmitri medvedev the visit to india this week the russian president also promised to build 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. in financial crisis that shaken the group politicians any colonists will why 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 the deed struck the president medvedev during the annual summit between russia. or ching 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 of supply offering a cutting edge weaponry such as hooters supper beans and supersonic. and now the countries have signed the biggest ever defense contract and he gets history thank you billions of dollars in total it's a deal to join to 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 is used even in this film since unlike the new aircraft developed by russia and india will have steps each year and noble form will ripley. 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 plants 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 got checked it reflects the complimentarity. the strength of the interaction and relationship is is that it off.

to. the relationships that countries have with the west you know we can all fall down a day 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 people been witnessing 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 the strategic partnership got in saying. you can find more on that story online dot com here's a taste of what's there right now little bit of a hairy situation if you will. as russia brushes off the competition. as makers say the country has the best. pieces and. get blown away by the chilling of the problems with the.

senior u.s. military commanders reportedly want to expand their afghan campaign into neighboring pakistan but officials deny allegations that secret cross border operations are already happening washington does however use unmanned drones to strike at suspected militants across the border kathy kelly who campaigns against the u.s. led war says america's military establishment is just trying to make 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 there was a means of attack and the death squads and assassinations and night raids would

exacerbate the tremendous almost title 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 work there i'm talking about the families first loved ones who 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. that was anti-war campaigner kathy kelly some more news making

headlines around the world at this hour. supporters of ivory coast's 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 us want to the ancient temple site of. the bus hit a truck carrying sand which had broken down at the side of the road. the ship at the center of a deadly raid by israeli forces earlier this year has received a hero's welcome on return to its home port. 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 struck the region at least twenty buildings were damaged and power lines cut the tremor blew out windows and shook a 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. for deaf people in russia communication gets no further than their own community and although there are an estimated ten million hearing impaired people in russia sign language is still not officially recognized pushkov

a reports on their silence struggle. holy shit. alex he called hear the song. from the family. yet he sings it with his hands touching. that part of it that i am a and he tells me he speaks the most beautiful language in the world. and so despite living in the world of silence aleksey and his fellow performers put on a show full of life and music our. audience appreciates this theatre of the deaf act is an exception in the world mostly hostile to those speaking with their hands.

even though language doesn't officially exist all previous attempts to possible giving official recognition to the russian side language have failed the problem dates back more than seventy years when sign language was banned from soviet schools in one nine hundred fifty stalin made the situation even worse by calling it not even as solid a language unlike what some might think it's not a primitive way of conveying basic information it's a fully fledged language capable of expressing just about anything more. gracious. you know. the head of the old russian federation of the deaf believes there are more than ten million hard of hearing people in the country but no interpreters no t.v. channels almost nothing to ease their interaction with the world that. he's one of

four children the only deaf one in the family. this is the first beauty shop for the hard of hearing and has stuff interpreter. they may not hear but they're not cute and they love talking. to us.

was true those who call in other people it may be just that the music of their hearts and so is allowed but still not proud enough to be officially recognized. as. the. obama r t. r t's debate show cross talks coming up later in the program but before that i'll be back with an update of your headlines after this short break.

the closer 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

a premier destination for nineteenth century political exiles. this is the armscye russia plan sounds on oxy. culture is that so much i'm afraid we're going to make it a lot of people a variant of bugger us consumption western lifestyles are being adopted global what would be advent of the global recession all those who were once rich. would be soo much brighter if you knew all about songs from phones to the pressure inside. these phones stunts on t.v. don't come.

more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. giant corporations are rooted a clue. in broadcasting live from our studios in central moscow this is. seven thirty on monday morning. a look at the top story this week. the u.s. senate approves a key nuclear arms reduction deal with russia. aviation experts are back in the findings of a russian investigation into the plane crash that killed ninety six people

including the president of poland and many of the country's senior politicians earlier rejected the findings saying. there. right now power has been restored moscow's a big airport after a day of flight cancellations and delays caused by severe weather. coming up in about half an hour my colleague maria joshie will be coming in but next peter lavelle asks his guests with the advent of the global recession will have to live more frugally even in an age of mass consumerism. for the for. the biggest issues get. to face with the news makers.