this week's top stories on our t.v. questioning the catastrophe the final official report of moscow one last april's polish state plane crash in russia blames pilot error but their anger and political reaction in the war saw. two of the world's energy giants join forces russia's ross nafta and b.p. swap billions of dollars worth of shares as they plan to jointly explore the vast undiscovered riches of the russian arctic continental shelf. plus the new start nuclear arms reduction treaty between moscow and washington nears a final approval as russia's parliament passes the agreement of the second of three

readings. you're watching our team for 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 while the moscow headquartered interstate aviation committee blamed the tragedy of the actions of the polish crew bad weather and pressure on the pilots allowed for some v.i.p. passengers but warsaw says the report is incomplete as artie's and he said no reports. for the first time the last seconds are heard before polish president lech kaczynski plane crashed.

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. 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 amongst 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 blood 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 and actually team

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. the 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 currently setting out a formal response to the findings as are. reports opinions of the tragic plane crash are divided in poland. to bring closure to a very painful chapter your recent russian polish history the final report has opened a pandora's box of doubt denial and political mind games from rational disbelief. the investigation is incomplete diplomacy and politics should not hamper the

investigation for the most important part of. the report the parts that are missing but will not change what is already a strategic test a free was not and does not have to be a blow to good polish russian relations. to emotional outrage. today we see the consequences in the shape of the report blaming pilots in poland in general for this catastrophe and making it a one sided matter without any evidence we're dealing with speculation without any basis. which is this grief talking washington political experience some believe mr bachynski the twin brother of the deceased president and himself a failed presidential candidate could be attempting to use this tragedy as political advantage. in poland is hard for many reasons. first of all. elections.

could be one of the most important goals of. contention between 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. they don't interest you can. sometimes it's easy for to get over the. conclusions. in my opinion. of poland and russia have insisted on keeping this debate from influencing the recent fall in ties with the story far from over it looks like some in poland are keen to keep things for. polish newspapers and build their front pages with strong

action minded words war against the report tossed curses the aviation 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 poland remains to be written. catherine as r.t.e. warsaw poland david from flight global magazine says paul of maybe eager to distance itself from the blame but he can't find fault with the official report. but i think that the polish government is i think desperate to put at least some of the blame in somebody else's direction but incidentally i completely go along with the russian verdict on the on the air traffic controllers powers incidentally the air traffic controller did not clear this aircraft to land he had with withheld clearance for the aircraft to land and he wouldn't have had permission to stop an

international flight like this one anyway if it had been a russian air force aircraft the controller could have told it to divert an international flight especially of this status the controller would simply go along and do everything that he could to help the captain achieve a safe approach but it's a very very emotive happening for for the polish people however i can tell you this if they try to carry out their own report in order to allocate a little more of the blame in the russian direction i think apart from some minor technicalities they will totally fail to do that. a huge multi-billion dollar deal between b.p. and russ now after all see both jointly develop potentially massive oil and gas deposits along russia's arctic continental shelf or the two parts of chemical giants take states of each other in

a share swap as part of the partnership described by b.p. as historic looks at the agreement and how it could change the future of energy production. it's a deal that both parties are calling for in strategic. russia's biggest oil company rosneft decided to share to be its the first major equity linked partnership between a national and international oil company when it's done. like this tend to be exchange for a nine and a half percent share in the russian oil major. deputy prime minister. told r.t. it's the beginning of a new direction for the company. which is working on a new strategy aimed in transforming the company into an international energy holder our deal with b.p. is of course part of the strategy they've gained a great deal of experience including the gulf of mexico 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 are competent and have strong experience of russian companies the aim is that b.p. will team up to develop three areas on the russian shelf that's potentially a lot of oil and gas down the which ross nafta owns the license to exploit it's a huge area around one hundred twenty five thousand square kilometers and it will be easy to extract the resources the arctic the highly inhospitable environments and requires sophisticated technology and billions of dollars of investment but aside from the cash b.p. c.e.o. bob dudley says they've 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 with ross staff working with our capabilities our expression capabilities and

i think to be honest we learned a lot about what happened in the gulf of mexico shaken the company to the core we're going to focus on safety and respond as technology for the environmental care what we do the russian government's behind the deal and prime minister putin says all parties are ready for the child but. i would like to let you know that the government of the russian federation supports this joint operation this is a project that could become global and have a significant influence on the world's oil and gas industry. arctic reserves are estimated to be five billion. and ten trillion cubic meters of. such a project may require tens of billions of dollars of investment in technology and we are fully aware of the research which is the optics the highly contentious area with many parties wanting a slice of the potentially lucrative pie but experts agree this deal will trigger a months down beneath the exploration area that they're talking about is in south

korea's 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 as being contentious in that sense it's being branded around the world as a breakthrough deal opening up to billions of dollars of investment now and opening a potential door to similar ventures in the future arguably this deal improves the u.k. energy security and it also puts b.p. on earth earth financial footing 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 cuba fury in its war is going on a little baby is once again the subject of strife between cuba and the u.s. as a valid says it wants a slot. and

a happy ending to what i see saga as three hundred people are total safety after being stranded off russia's far east coast for over two weeks. 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 in the duma the treaty was signed by president medvedev and obama in april last year well that would see the two countries a nuclear arsenal. by a third within seven years the new start was passed by the u.s. senate just before the new year after being strongly opposed by republicans congressmen added several changes force him to counterbalance those amendments to keep the treaty intact of 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 the us me one day pull out of the deal. they amended the senate resolution just very dramatically and they left no other option but to amend our decisions on the twenty fifth of january we are going to rectify the treaty as it is and. to add two more statements by this be. included in the written. the story might be nice if you destroy all their right to see the strategic not regional but strategic argument defense system small not the current president not the current government but globally 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 the right 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 wouldn't wish. this week portugal's prime minister repeatedly insisted that his country can deal with its own financial problems and does not need a bailout she has a socrates vowed to continue with strict staring measures such as pension cuts and tax increases portugal managed to relieve some concerns as it race over a billion euros in a bond auction but this might not be enough for it to escape the fate of bankrupt greece and ireland and experts fear that portugal's the mice could trigger spain's collapse an economy which could be simply much too big to bail out but the national advice or mark opiates or paul he says any survival package would not solve the fundamental flaw in the concept of the result. this is not in any kind a way

a final solution for the european debt crisis it is just by. time for these countries so that hopefully they will be able to get in 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 fire or 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. but what we're doing is patching up patching up patching up hoping that the issue's going to go away pushing the can further down the road 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 now with nearly two hundred prisoners locked up in harsh conditions there is little sign of that president obama plans to shut it stores anytime soon america's presence there follows a century old deal that cuba claims this not only invalid but threatens its sovereignty artie's gian health as 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 subject of decades of strife with cuban authorities who argue the forty five square mile military base violate cuban sovereignty and

amounts to a military occupation the greenland under which. u.s. has to be on cuban soil to kuantan a moment let's hear a piece. from earlier earliest years of the twentieth century the plot amendment was imposed following the u.s. occupation of cuba after the spanish american war in one thousand nine hundred three 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 early 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 tents in protest no such she would never be signed today no such treaty signed today

would never be internationally recognized 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 convenience 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 a trial that afternoon 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. argued the u.s. that 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 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 their land that's right fully there is. our t. washington d.c. the music of metal band rage against the machine was played for days on end at high volume as a weapon of torture during interrogations that guantanamo bay and that's the spy the balance message fighting the very system which keeps those prisoners captive as guitarist tom morello explains. i learned that the united states government was using rage against machines music to torture people guantanamo bay we sued the state department to get this stuff and we were unsuccessful in that suit and

pursued over the course of a couple of years and i think it's a thing of the crime my only hope is that hopefully at some point not too distant future when the war criminals of the bush administration are brought to trial or one day wearing their yellow jumpsuits and black hoods it will be the music of rage against the machine that is popular sells twenty four hours a day. you can watch the full interview with rage against the machine guitarist tom morello in ten minutes time here on r.t. . now 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 more than three hundred people were trapped aboard the vessel now being escorted to safety through the frozen seas by two ice breakers two smaller ships also stop have already been towed to safer waters the three vessels got trapped in ice in the sea of all before the new year extreme weather conditions and technical failure is have been hampering the

operation. now weaker weeks founder julian assange could face a death penalty in the u.s. if he's eventually extradited there now that's the fear of his lawyers according to legal papers released on tuesday assad is currently on bail in england sweden seeks him for trial on sex charges which were previously dropped but which he says are poor because one of his lawyer says it would be easier for washington to have a sausage extradited to the u.s. if he was sent to sweden some american politicians want him prosecuted over the release of classified government documents one european politician told r.t. that the case is becoming over politicized i'm sure there's lots of political maneuvering inside the powers that be a very difficult position the americans want to get their hands on a song which authorities now think. people can see what european arrest warrants are. quite know what they're going to do are fairly confident that they're going to

come up with come sometime in a cynical fix that will allow him to go back to australia or possibly to go back militarily to some kind of deal is done about what charges will be laid against him but i'm sure this whole problem 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 all done in the name of integrating europe's legal systems. well let's now take a closer look at some other top stories from around the world gun fights across the tunisian capital as security forces try to restore order in the country police clashed with gunmen near the main opposition party's headquarters and the interior ministry where this new wave of violence calms us political leaders hold talks to form a unity government after weeks of chaos ended in the president to saudi arabia dozens

have been arrested in recent days including members of the former president's guard under suspicion of using public vehicles for drive by shootings. more than six hundred people are confirmed dead following severe flooding and mudslides across southeastern brazil since wednesday well alone and near constant rain on sunday allowed rescue helicopters to deliver food and water to isolated areas the military is also involved in a frantic rescue operations with fears a wherever 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 a sufferer from the north in a weeklong referendum that ended saturday official results won't be else until next month but most believe the referendum will split africa's largest country into

earlier ninety seven percent of the southern sudanese they asked for in europe voted for the split well the independence referendum was promised to the south as part of a peace referendum with it more 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 a six and critically wounded a caucus woman has reignited the debate over u.s. gun control laws ortiz laurie harshness the report. recall the resident has been on the streets of new york to find the emotive issue once again of 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 guns 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 against 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 the more guns you have the more they're you able to use them actually and. to have it the more you allude you would use it i can't believe how free you want 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 with policies books and all. they need to be done with laws that need to be. do you

think politics or guns are more violent and deadly i think politics some of. 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 with whatever the topic is i beg yes but do you think guns or people kill people i think we can all agree on the bottom line that violence is rarely the answer. and those are the risks top stories i'll be back with the headlines in just a few moments.

around. this is st still keeps its secrets but now it's time to reveal. the soviet files house on the embankment our team. will. bring you the latest in science and technology from the realms. we've gone through a few jerks covered. that's .