this week's top stories on all of the questioning the catastrophe the final official reported moscow made last the polish state plane crash in russia blames the pilot error but there's anger and political reaction in warsaw. two of the world's energy giants and joint forces russia have to swap billions of dollars worth of shares as they plan to jointly explore the vast on discovered riches of the russian arctic continental shelf. plus the new start nuclear arms reduction treaty between moscow and washington the final approval as russia's parliament passes me breman and the second of three readings.

here watching r t three in the morning here in moscow welcome to the program the final report on last april's plane crash in western russia which killed the polish president lech kaczynski and most of the country's political elite sparked more controversy this week with a moscow headquartered interstate aviation committee blamed the tragedy of the actions of the polish crew bad weather and pressure on the pilots a ladder from some v.i.p. passengers but warsaw says the report is incomplete and he said now we reports. for the first time the last seconds are heard before polish president lech kaczynski plane crashed during.

the crew ignored warnings from the aircraft's automated system to pull up and advice from air traffic controllers to land at an alternate airport plus were inexperienced flying in bad weather the interstate aviation committee highlighted what they found to be the main causes behind the tragedy in their final report less than a failure to make a timely decision to land at the reserve airport based on multiple becoming day sions about poor weather conditions at smolensk airport descending lower than the safe minimum height necessary to make a second landing attempt failure to react properly to automatic amounts those are the reasons which led to the tragic crash of the aircraft into the land and the death of those on board. the findings also claim passenger pressure on the crew to

land as soon as possible played a vital role in the incident here is evidence the crew was afraid of disappointing someone if they didn't land. it's not clear whether the navigator was referring to the polish president or the commander in chief of the air force who was in the cockpit and later alcohol found in his blind poland was not satisfied with the draft report compiled by the i.a.c. which found pilot error was to blame and insists various factors at play caused the accident but aviation experts have confidence in the findings my experience with the russian investigators has been very good they're very high quality organization that i believe that it was the investigation was generally carried out in accordance with the international civil aviation organization annex thirteen which is the international standard for accident investigation the committee concluded that no single person can be blamed for the accident but now that the. final

investigation report has been delivered a criminal investigation can be launched and perhaps more light shed on the crash that killed the polish president his wife and most of the country's political elite and he's now a r.t. moscow. prime minister donald tusk has acknowledged that part of the blame lies with the polish side however warsaw is currently setting out a formal response to the findings. of our reports appearing on the tragic plane crash are divided in poland. to bring closure to a very painful chapter in recent russian polish history the final report has opened a pandora's box of doubt denial and political mindgames from rational disbelief back if they were approaching the investigation is incomplete diplomacy and politics should not hamper the investigation of facts for us for the most important investigation into the report the parts that are missing but will not change what

is already there this tragic catastrophe was not and does not have to be a blow torch to good polish russian relations. to emotional outrage shippers of today we see the consequences in the shape of the report blaming polish pilots and poland in general for this catastrophe and making it a one sided matter without any evidence we're dealing with speculation without any basis. but is this grief talking or shrewd political experience some believe mr kaczynski the twin brother of the deceased president and himself a failed presidential candidate could be attempting to use this tragedy to us political advantage. in poland is hard for many reasons. and first of all. we are approaching parliamentary elections i am afraid that. all these people one of the most important. major

forces well some of owning up political leverage in their sights others say the cause of the disaster is clear cut. very complicated. simple people. interested so sometimes it's easy for. conclusions. of poland and russia have insisted on keeping this debate from influencing the recent fall in time is but with the story far from over it looks like some in poland are keen to keep things for. polish newspapers of their front pages with strong action minded words war against the report for us is the asian committee we will find out the truth and so on but these headlines that are how catchy are just

words what actions the polish government will choose to undertake and how they will affect relations between russia and poland remains to be written. catherine as r.t. warsaw poland. aviation security expert chris yates told our official report presents a complete picture of what happened. there is nothing more to be said quite frankly i think they. the committee that did this investigation has done next century job and they've they've they found what they found which is that the primary blame should be on the toilet paper of truth. you know there is one important line in the transcript of the conversations between pilots and ground during the. final approach of the aircraft into the

airport. that is that there is a condition for landing this airport and quite frankly with that sort of information being given to the pilots the pilot should then have made the judgment to follow traffic instruction and transferred to another airport nearby where better visibility better conditions for the landing might well have persisted. now a huge multi-billion dollar deal between b.p. after will see both adroitly develop potentially massive oil and gas deposits along russia's arctic continental shelf petrochemical dry and take stakes in each other in a share swap as part of the partnership described by b.p. as a story. and how it could change the future of energy production. it's a deal that both parties are calling a ground breaking strategic alliance russia's biggest oil company decided to share

a deal with the p it's the first major partnership between a national and international oil company when it's done. like this and to be its jones for a nine and a half percent share in the russian oil major. chairman deputy prime minister told r.t. it's the beginning of a new direction for the company. which is working on a new strategy transforming the company into an international energy holder. b.p. is of course part of the strategy to green deal of experience including the gulf oil spill cleanup operation b.p. has learned from this experience and our joint venture will be carried out with the greatest level of measures aimed at protecting the environment we've been working with b.p. for many years they're competent and have strong experience of. the aim is that

b.p. will team up to develop three areas on the russian arctic shelf that's potentially a lot of oil and gas down there which rosneft owns the license to exploit it's a huge area around one hundred twenty five thousand square kilometers easy to extract resources. in hospital environment five sophisticated technology and billions of dollars of investment but aside from the chassis. and you see. because they got the life experience. has been working with us now for twelve years now and we've been working on the arctic for since two thousand and five working with they know our capabilities our exploration capabilities and i think to be honest we learned a lot about what happened in the gulf of mexico shaken the company of the core we're going to renewed focus on safety and risk management technology for the environmental care of what we do the russian government's behind the deal very

prime minister says all ready for the child. russian federation. have a significant influence on the oil and gas industry. estimates. on ten trillion cubic meters. approaching ten years of billions of dollars of investment. we are fully aware. of the optics the highly contentious area with many parties wanting a slice of the potentially lucrative pie but experts agree this deal trigger. the exploration area that they're talking about is in the south car sea it's off the north coast of russia as far as i'm aware it's not territory that is disputed by anybody so i don't see this is being contentious in that sense it's being

branded around the world as a break we deal in the billions of dollars of investment now and opening a potential door to similar benches in the future arguably this deal improves the u.k. energy security and it also puts be paid by not following the massive losses from the gulf of mexico oil spill it's also a huge vote of confidence for the russian oil exploration industry. and still ahead for you this hour cuban if you are the lowest quintile the movie is once again the subject of strife between cuba and the u.s. as the vatican says it wants its land back. and a happy ending when i see saga as three hundred people are told to safety after being stranded all through russia's far east coast for us. now the breakthrough treaty between moscow and washington to cut nuclear arms is just one

step away from reality russian lawmakers are set to approve the start agreement by the twenty fifth january after it passed the second of three parliamentary readings of the duma the treaty was signed by president medvedev and obama in april last year it would see the two country's nuclear arsenal slashed by a third within seven years of the new start was passed by the u.s. senate just before new year after being strongly opposed by republicans congressmen added several changes forcing russia to counter-balance those amendments in order to keep the treaty intact while the head of the state duma's foreign affairs committee told r.t. washington is responsible for the long drawn out ratification process you also expressed fears that the u.s. may one day pull out of the deal. they amended the senate resolution just very dramatically and they left no other option but. our decisions on the defeat of january we are going to. be treated

as it is and. to have two more statements by this. included in the written. document that the story might be the reste destroyed all of the american side to receive the strategic not regional but strategic. defense system small not the current president not the current government but probably the next president the next government which has a completely different strategy on this issue and in case it happens yes we can may be damaged and yes there may be a rise of conditions for russia to to to pull out of this treaty but again we are not there yet and we still have time to make better agreements and to avoid any misunderstandings and that will be our invasion. this week portugal's prime

minister repeatedly insisted that his country can deal with its own financial problems and does not need a bailout shows a socrates to continue with a strict staring measures such as pension cuts and tax increases well portugal managed to relieve some concerns as it raced over a billion euros in a bond auction but this might not be enough for it to escape the fate of bankrupt greece and are and experts fear portugal's demise could trigger spain's collapse and economy which could be simply much too big to bail out but for the national advice or market paul he says any survival package would not solve the fundamental flaws in the concept of the euro zone. this is not in any kind a way a final solution for the european debt crisis it is just buying time for these countries so that hopefully they will be able to control of their fiscal situation and the markets will start to believe in them again that they're able to service

their debt moving forward in reality what's happening is burdening this country with these countries a lot more debt to service and the jury is still out on whether they can actually turn their fiscal position around over the next few years you can't save all the banks and save all the countries because at some point someone's got to all which is the other option which we've been pursuing so far is that we just carry on printing money and everybody carry on printing money and we end up with hyperinflation and most currencies then become worthless so at some stage someone's got to fail but what we're doing is patching up patching up patrick up hoping that the issue's going to go away pushing the can further down the road now the europeans have to start thinking about complete reform of the european structure. the controversial u.s. military facility at guantanamo bay has entered its tenth year as a detention center but with nearly two hundred prisoners locked up in harsh

conditions there's little side that president obama plans to shut its doors anytime soon america's presence there follows a century old deal that cuba claims is not only invalid but threatens its sovereignty artie's john half is reports. it's a place forever immortalized by images of torture known by its abbreviation get america's notorious detention facility in guantanamo bay cuba has been the source of world condemnation abuse lack of legal recourse and indefinite detention is the norm it's also been the start ject of decades of strain with cuban authorities who argue the forty five square mile military. base violates cuban sovereignty and amounts to a military occupation the agreement under which the us has to be on cuban soil to kuantan a moment let's hear it piece. from earlier earliest years of the twentieth century

the plot amendment was imposed following the us occupation of cuba after the spanish-american war in one thousand nine hundred three it was extracted from the den tube and government under under threat under duress and in clear contravention of international laws like the vienna convention the us government threatened to continue its occupation of cuba unless cuban authorities agreed to lease the land for america's military base indefinitely or for as long as it paid the cubans yearly runs after the cuban revolution swept the island nation one nine hundred sixty it's revolutionary leader fidel castro cashed only one check and he insists it was an accident no checks have been cashed stands in protest no such he would never be signed today knows a treaty signed today would never be internationally recognized today the united states. will hunt down. and punish those responsible after nine

eleven the bush administration swiftly turned its military base into a detention facility declassified documents show the u.s. government used cuban soil to evade national and international law to interrogate terror suspects a strategy journalist pepe escobar argues is convenient you can ship to cuba and never bring them to the u.s. mainland and they are going to live there for ever in a state of legal limbo most of the remaining one hundred seventy three prisoners at guantanamo bay have been detained there since the facility opened nine years ago awaiting trial. president obama recently signed away his right to bring detainees to u.s. soil making it unlikely that any of them will see a trial or freedom any time soon some argue the u.s. violates cuba's sovereignty for this reason because this is the only latin american country for the past over this past fifty years has said you know then you straight

to the eye of the american government or as they would say the american empire a country cubans believe should give rights to its detainees and give back the land that's right fully there is this our t. washington d.c. . in addition to what you see on screen here there are always more stories for you on our web site at r.t. dot com and here are some of what's online right now the economic crisis in the u.s. has brought many businesses to their knees and left millions unemployed to find out how government workers in washington have vanished to flourish during the recession . and all the welcome to cardboard mortality this new role playing community has its own tyrant and invites guests to grow their own identity using cardboard or find out more on our website at www dot com. an invitation to tour the nuclear investment facilities in iran has been turned down

by russia along with the e.u. china and other members of the un's nuclear watchdog well envoys from the arab league syria algeria venezuela egypt oman cuba inspected two sites iran's allies turkey and brazil also did not take part while the u.s. was not invited russian foreign minister sergei lavrov said it such visits should not replace a visual inspection inspections that is or six party talks the west suspects iran is building a nuclear bomb iran insists on working on peaceful atomic energy ahead of crucial six party talks in its program iran is accused of trying to create a rift by inviting some to tourist facilities while clearly snubbing others but experts believe that any such attempts are doomed to failure. from ever there has been a start in negotiations or talks or whatever and it never worked out certainly there may be some people who thought that they could create a fish or or

a rift but for now they never managed to really break up. plus one formula. the behavior of russia and china just shows once again that it doesn't work i think it's half expected such a reaction however the iranians wanted to show two things to their own domestic public that this we are ready to negotiate you have to see it with a second step the iranians did it again to which their own public namely the blast about their own newly achieved technological progress which is not true but again it sends a message to do also of course inside iran who are highly critical of any engagement with the international community that both things iran can be solved comfort them and it wants to negotiate are important. well there is an end in sight for the last ice bound ship. that has been stuck off the coast of russia's far east for two

weeks now more than three hundred people were trapped aboard the vessel now being escorted to safety through the furrows in seas by two ice breakers two smaller ships also stock of already been towed to safer waters the three vessels got trapped in ice in the sea of a before the new year and extreme weather conditions and technical failures have been hampering the operation. we. could face the death penalty in the us if he's eventually extradited there well that's the fear of his lawyers according to legal papers released on tuesday a song she is currently on bail in england sweden seeks him for a trial on sex charges which were previously dropped but which he says are politically driven one of his lawyer says it would be easier for washington to have a son extradited to the u.s. if he were to sweden some american politicians want him prosecuted over the release of classified government documents one european politician told r.t.

the case is becoming over politicized. i'm sure there's lots of political maneuvering so the powers that be are very difficult position the americans want to get their hands on the. authorities now think. people can see what european arrest warrants are. know what they're going to do are fairly confident that they're going to come up with some time on the cynical fix that will be a model to go back to australia or possibly to go back militarily to sweden of some kind of deal is done about what charges will be laid against him but i'm sure this whole plot media publicity about the european arrest because this is just this there are other legal instruments coming through which remove freedoms in other areas of life down in the name of integrating europe's legal systems. well that now let's take a closer look at some other top stories from around the world gunfights across the tunisian capital as security forces try to restore order in the country police

clashed with gunmen and near the main opposition party's headquarters and the interior ministry the new wave of violence comes as political leaders hold talks to form a unity government after weeks of chaos ended in the president flew to saudi arabia where dozens have been arrested in recent days including members of the former president's guard under suspicion of using public vehicles to drive by shootings. more than a six hundred people are confirmed dead following severe flooding and mudslides across southeastern brazil. a law in here concentrate on sunday allowed hell rescue helicopters to deliver food and water to isolated areas the military is also involved in frantic rescue operations with fears of wherever that the death toll will rise president dilma rousseff has declared three days of national mourning for the victims of the worst natural disaster to strike brazil in four decades.

preliminary results suggest that southern sudan has overwhelmingly approved to separate from the north in a week long referenda of that ended saturday official results won't be analysis until next month but most movie the referendum will split africa's largest country into earlier ninety seven percent of the southern sudanese the aspirate voted for the split the independence referendum was promised to the south as part of a peace referendum with a door in two thousand and five and that's following twenty years of civil war in which two million died. the shooting rampage in tucson arizona that killed six and critically wounded a call this woman has reignited the debate over u.s. gun control laws laura harford is the reporter called. president has been on the streets of new york to find the views of emotive issue once again making headlines .

do guns kill people or do people kill people this week let's talk about that i think it's ok you know god's not concealed weapons what's the difference. walking around in public with a gun is probably not a good thing but i don't have anything it's hunting so how do we prevent people who have guns for hunting from taking them out in public. you have laws against say people can't walk around nude in public what about the argument that you should be able to have a gun for protection you can use other objects for protection i think more guns you have the more there you are able to use them actually in these seats to have it the more you were you would use it i can't believe how free you are to have guns here in america but what about the argument that if guns are outlawed then only criminals have guns. yeah i guess it made my old go underground but i

still think they should be a lot more legislation on he can and can have guns is that possible in a violent society though. it was like politics you know people don't agree were policies books and all these things that need to be done and laws that need to be. do you think politics or guns are more violent and deadly i think politics or more you think you know it's part of humanity's constant struggle to figure out how to. before the bad thing happens prevent it it comes down to education whatever the topic as i think yes whether you think guns or people kill people i think we can all agree on the bottom line that violence is rarely the answer. well those were the week's top stories i'll be back of the headlines in just a few moments.

more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada.