on our team a world cup show stopper like you've never seen rush's promise now that it's officially hosting the planet's biggest one. i have all the latest from st petersburg where the president sepp blatter has put pen to paper on the document confirming russia is the host of the twenty eighteen world cup finals. but in our look at the week's main news stories poland plans a reconstruction of the events that led to last paypal's presidential plane crash insisting the official report leaves unanswered questions. pledging support to war torn afghanistan and vowing to tackle the flow of drugs the russian president meets his afghan counterpart in moscow during the first visit in tech a. supporters

rally for a russian born woman who's lived in norway since childhood but who faces deportation after their asylum request is rejected. this is r.t. thanks for watching if this is our news a view of the week. first russia is promising to stage a tournament like no other when it hosts the world cup in twenty eight the assurance came as the fee for president officially handed over the world's biggest sporting event to the country's successful bid team artie's pedro oliver is in st petersburg where the ceremony took place. it's all official now they signed today a specially a three headed contract between the russian football union and the russian government well essentially that means is if they say that they will guarantee that the world cup will be held in russia in twenty eighteen the russian government say

that they will provide the russian football union with all of the required help that they need to be able to put it on and their football union say that they will put it on no this comes after we heard just a couple of months ago that they would be given the chance to host the tournament in twenty eighty as you say the first time she's ever hosted it the first time it will ever be hosted in eastern europe now before the signing ceremony said blatter the fever president met with prime minister vladimir putin and that it may putin during that meeting talk to journalists and said they'll be able to put on the fantastic told him and. we would like to use the experience we've already gained in preparing for the store to winter olympics in twenty fourteen we've been working closely together with the international olympic committee on this and we build up a very constructive business relationship with them i would like to ask you to point to specialists from fee for to come and work here together with us to be present from the very first day of our common interest prize you can take part in

the entire process of preparing for the twenty cup blasts of the fifa president talks in off an awful lot about the world game is football and he's really trying to make it part of his legacy to take the world cup finals as far flung corners of the world as he possibly can here the first time will be in eastern europe and after that the world cup goes to the middle east for the first time with guitar taking the honor there now mr blatter was talking about the russian said he was speaking with prime minister vladimir putin as well as the the heads of the russian football union and he seems to be fully confident that russia can put on a show. i'm very pleased that the russian government is playing a direct rule in oregon. i can assure you that we will work together very closely on this joint venture who will provide support but the lion's share of responsibility rests on russia i'm certain that the world cup will be held at the highest possible level and will turn into a truly magnificent event initially when he is seven years it sounds like quite

a long time but then you look at the work that needs to be done the russian delegation when they put across their bid to for the first two to host this tournament they really focus quite a lot on the potential that could come from having the tournament here in russia now a lot of the stadiums haven't actually been built there will be used in the in the tournament in seven years time a massive undertaking there of course but he does have some great footballing stadiums already luzhniki in moscow hosted the champions league final a couple years back did a great job there they'll be getting a major facelift but they'll be stadiums built by new stadiums built in cities around the country but it's not just the stadiums who are looking at is a world cup being held in the biggest country in the world and fans have to be able to get around to make sure that they can travel efficiently and safely and quickly to the different areas where the tournament is being held so the bait had in place a massive proposal to build

a high speed train link between the cities where the games will be held also airports will be refitted out motorways relate we were expecting a massive influx of people from all over the world coming here and they're going to have to make sure that they can have in place a transport system that they can get around and hotels so that they have a good time when they come here and at the football is what everybody is talking about come two thousand. artie's peter all over there you know the top stories from the week now poland is planning to carry out a reconstruction of the plane crash that killed president kaczynski and his delegation in russia last april it's conducting its own investigation in response to the russian led probe which blames the tragedy on pilot error also refuses to fully accept those findings as catarina zone over explains for r.t. . polish prime minister donald tusk attempting to calm an increasingly angry parliament this week. the polish government wants the truth to be complete and we

realize this would be inconvenient for many there's a complex number of causes for the crash it's convenient for some to blame the pilots that were under pressure for others it will be convenient to blame the russians but it won't be the whole truth the organization that seeks the truth mustn't be influenced by forces in poland that want it to be convenient for them. but opposition leaders don't seem to be heeding the call intent and avoiding full responsibility for april's plane crash there flooding the polish media with conspiracy theories and enraged accusations. that in light of what we know today about the crew of the plane there wasn't necessarily a new pressure they were radically misled. and this was a cause of the accident in relations to cause the fault is on the russian side. but is this grief talking or shrewd political ambition with a parliamentary election not far off it suggested that claiming the interstate aviation committee's report was biased and incomplete is

a surefire way to win voters but even those who accept the findings have issues with the way that they were presented poland has been very critical of the report commissioned for instance for not publishing including in its report in the stands a transcript of conversations off air controllers with the plane the commission has now post that transcript on its website as if post-fact recognizing the address sooner for the polish people it's a painful subject especially as it brings back some uncomfortable memories about the flights of high level officials. in august two thousand and eight a presidential air crew with threatened with the sack after refusing to land citing bad weather conditions there's also a question of insufficient training raised after a crash also in two thousand and eight which killed a number of polish military personnel that's why some feel that accepting full responsibility for this millions tragedy would be almost like admitting it could

have been prevented and you up for good or for me it is hard for post to handle a difficult truth and this is a difficult truth we have calls things in these rules which help us to shoot some responsibility away from us and the situation the pressures clear the drive to keep politics from interfering with improving relations between moscow and warsaw while amounting domestic agenda makes that a tough task regardless of who is to blame the sheer magnitude of this crash and the human tragedy of it are undeniable that's why officials both in russia and poland have called for the memories of those who lost lives and smile and to be respected for the polish opposition however the promise of potential political leverage could turn out to be a lot more tempting kashrut as are the r.t. moscow. and as poland proposed for an independent investigation into the crush aviation security expert christianity has told us for the digging won't change the

facts. the evidence is the evidence it is hard evidence it is factual and you know we simply can't change that with yet another investigation into the events you know we're talking about a very clear instructions here from air traffic controllers to the pilots that there were no conditions for the landing the weather conditions were such that the airports was below operating the pilots on board the aircraft should have taken note of that but quite clearly some form of pressure was brought to bear so the psychological pressure or suchlike caused the pilots to take what amounts to a rush decision to attempt to make a landing that airfield on that. so inside there from the british aviation analyst chris speaking to us coming up playing the transatlantic blame game a u.s. court said today for the trial of the alleged russian arms dealer big to boot but

his lawyer is cry foul saying the government breaking the law got more of that coming up also. wiki leaks files show russian opposition groups regularly seek us out and political help but instead they get into a cold shoulder day for details on that too just a few months. israel has ruled out that the military raid on a garza raid flotilla last may was legal nine turkish activists died when israeli commandos raided the ship sparking strong international condemnation the panel looking into it was made up of four israelis and two foreign observers turkey's prime minister's already criticised the inquiry saying it's got no value or credibility to sari bashing from the legal center which protects the freedom of movement of palestinians she told me the main concern is that would have thought fails to criticize the blockade which is start in life in gaza. no commission of inquiry in the world can justify deliberately restricting the passage of people and goods in order to paralyze the economy and prevent normal life from taking place in

gaza and i'm sorry to say that's exactly what the israeli policy did we think that the lesson from the flotilla incident should be that israel has a right to prevent weapons from entering gaza but it doesn't have a right to do what it's still doing which is to prevent purely civilian goods from coming in and out in order to punish the population you have to remember israel controls gaza's borders and that control creates obligations when you control a civilian population you're responsible for their rights and the law of occupation says that even under circumstances of security risks you have to allow people to lead normal lives so students need to be able to travel from gaza to the west bank in order to study families need to be able to travel back and forth in order to be to be reunited with each other and merchants in gaza have a right to sell their goods outside of gaza israel can certainly inspect the goods and make sure there's no security threat but that's all it can do and i'm sorry to say that that's not the case right now and the commission made a disturbing finding when it said that those civilian restrictions could be legal

under international law that's what we disagree with. russia's pledging to help afghanistan recover from years of war once nato forces who draw from the region in twenty four to the promise came during the afghan leaders visit to moscow which was the first in a generation president's rivetted karzai also vowed to tackle the problem of afghan drugs most of which flow in the russia and it's now a form of the talks. on the first official visit of an afghan leader to moscow in two decades russia promises to lend a hand after western forces leave the war torn country. russia would like to see afghanistan as an independent and prosperous state with an effective government that's able to provide the development of afghanistan for decades to come. u.s. led coalition forces have been in the country since two thousand and one and are planning to withdraw combat forces in three years leaving afghanistan on its own russia has been watching u.s.

operations very closely from a far while providing necessary transit routes for supplies and plan to continue support once the pullout is complete both the ability of russia and the the need for russian afghanistan to engage with. not only in the manner of russia helping afghanistan rebuild itself and re re develop its institutional capacity but also by the off trade investment by interaction between all businesses which is very strong but you countries signed a trade in business cooperation deal over the past few years russian afghan trade turnover has increased more than four fold and is now half a billion u.s. dollars president got as i mentioned the countries developing economic relationship with the united states but that the relationship with russia is developing at a larger scale again we should come back to

a history more than one hundred forty enterprises were built by the soviet union driven karzai agreed to prioritize the fight against narcotics since russia bears the brunt of afghanistan's fast drugs production industry russia hoped that international forces could crush extremism in afghanistan and russian officials hope that maybe they could add. able to stop the influx of drugs common interest but now a sea of americans and their european allies let's. say it clearly has failed in fighting extremism in afghanistan so now of course russian officials have to deal with the problem of talking directly to the leaders or again it starts with the two main threats coming out of afghanistan drugs and terrorism no one feels that hit closer to home more than russia was pledging to help develop support for the war torn country without ever having a russian soldier stepped foot on afghan soil and he's now

a r t moscow. president karzai gave out to an exclusive interview during his visit to russia just to let you know we're bringing you his thoughts on carbons mounting problems our role in helping to solve them in just fifteen minutes time here on r.t. if you cannot call that full interview already. a u.s. judge this week told alleged arms dealer vick to believe that he will go on trial in september the russian businessman labeled in the west as the merchant of death is charged with conspiring to kill americans and supporting terrorism is lawyers say the u.s. has no legal right to put him in court artie's unnecessary reports. i want to for everyone people. only question. how we are in the other eleven. that's hollywood's take on forty four year old russian cargo dealing businessman victor boot but in real life is he really the merchant of death or the lord of war or simply a victim of propaganda u.s.

prosecutors are not thinking twice about which label to pick the so-called merchant of death is now a federal inmate the american media months ahead of trial also have their mind made up this is the lord of war. the merchant of death right and you've got him in your hands right he's in custody it's a great feeling with presumption of innocence out the window all these nicknames exist for one man. has not committed any criminal activity and has not been found guilty neither in the us nor in any other country in america however he faces four charges. one conspiring to kill united states nationals two conspiring to kill united states officers and employees three conspiring to use an acquire anti-aircraft missiles and for conspiring to provide material support to the for the united states has been eager to lay hands on for almost a decade there is no osama bin ladin no al qaida no problems in afghanistan no

problems in iraq there is only victor boot the evil man upon the request of u.s. officials victor boot was arrested in thailand in two thousand and eight after two years of fighting for freedom in a thai court and found not guilty twice who was snatched up by american officials and taken to the u.s. with sirens and an airplane in the middle of the night building all the hype of a hollywood blockbuster but curiously boots case technically remains in thailand you know what basically according to boots thai and russian lawyers his case to this moment remains in. court there was no official decision of an extradition meanwhile dubbed an international arms trafficker by america picture boot is in solitary confinement in a manhattan prison his wife who was held at the airport for almost three hours upon her arrival to the big apple got the first glimpse of viktor at friday's technical hearing i don't think he's in the best state i'm worried about his health both

physical and mental the family believes the case against it was fabricated because what happened to him kidnapping yeah. i can accept the possibility that victor boot might have some information that might be of interest to someone but why is it that other countries don't just think to themselves that there is someone who has some interesting information and why don't those governments just drag those people onto their territory defense team set to file motions questioning how and why the man was brought to the u.s. as well as whether or not recordings used against picture were obtained in accordance with the thai law picture but stands confident that he is the victim of a propaganda war launched in america and maintains his innocence the defense team now has forty five days to present for motions to judge him awfulness of the extradition of a tribute to the united states is one of the key elements among them a trial date for now has been set for september twelfth if found guilty by the u.s.

federal court victor boot could face up to a life sentence behind bars just as you sure can or your. real long running story this what if you want to remind yourself. you can solve it on our web site. america's left scratching its head is there expensive. should continue as we've been reporting this week while india may not be contributing to its contribution. to. versus the rate of interest he was on our side and i also poor thing of the ukrainian zoo as a bit north more than it could chew after swallowing a female positive mobile phone the creature here became depressed lost its appetite fused to return and called. up to go home if you want to find crocodiles get no.

hundreds of norwegians have been showing their anger against what they see as the unfair treatment of asylum seekers and illegal immigrants that's been highlighted by the threat to deport a russian born author who's lived there since she was a child or was even awarded for being a model citizen as artist laura emmett reports next from oslo maria lee's case has the country facing up to issues its been reluctant to touch before. the clock is ticking for many as her supporters gather in central oslo for what may be the last time to protest her deportation from the country she's learnt to call home as things stand i merely could be sent to russia within days leaving behind her friends the land she grew up in but this is no longer just about maria with her book illegal norwegian and her activism she's managed to draw attention to the plight of all people struggling to stay in norway those without papers have no access to work education or health care and can't even get married before money i

mean leave very few talked about it but they are now irish of their own have the possibility to have to have the same rights now i think. this movement in support of her specific case. can develop into a movement supporting all the people in her situation it's a cause that unites different groups from organizations that campaigned specifically for illegal immigrants and asylum seekers to renowned human rights groups like amnesty everyone here has a story to tell and this family and their friends are no exception we are here today with a mother and two children who has a little say in their way but their father he was know that sept is. when he. came to see it. so we are here to protest that their split in family has to get through a one more immigrant they're demanding better rights and they see emily as their

poster girl born medina salam of a north a settler her family fled when she was twelve they were denied asylum in norway but stayed anyway over the years emily learned to speak fluent norwegian demosthenes degree and a job offer but the government insists she's illegal and must go her lawyer says that could happen within days it doesn't leave very up. mistake at the moment dog there is still. the immigration authorities might rethink the case but whatever happens to emily her mark has been made these people are mobilized in value to protect all those without papers in norway which could be as many as twenty thousand out of a total population of only five million mary amalie has succeeded in highlighting the plight of asylum seekers in norway they were previously seen as a group with little to offer and no resources to protect themselves but amélie has a huge number of friends and the ninety thousand members of her facebook page

a testament to the level of support she enjoys obl though the influence they enjoy looks limited with her deportation almost a certainty. oh it's late. and more top stories of the week the e.u. boycotted the inauguration of incumbent leader alexander lukashenko he was sworn in for his forced term this week the president arrived at the ceremony in the capital minutes kind of sun twenty seven member states refused to send representatives in response to claims that the december elections rigged the result spark violent reaction which saw opposition leaders activists and journalists attacked by police the e.u. reacted by proposing sanctions will include the ban on visas of a freeze on bank accounts belonging to senior officials in the government this isn't the first time the belarusian regions faced restrictions so much but say this round will be more intense. and a regime which is seeking to suppress human rights free expression by civil society

political opposition and what we need to do is to be seen to the european union and the international community for change that we were right and that whether it's today tomorrow or sunday in the near future there will be consequences on this program russian regime. to be. part of the eastern partnership with its very green country is in dialogue with the european union but yes there are these further steps that we could make in the future and we are putting personally all the notice we will not look the other way. let me bring you up to date on some top world news stories making headlines right now tonight in ireland first of all the green party leaders quit the coalition government there and called for the march general election to be brought forward john gormley says his party's patience run out after weeks of political turmoil in the country but promised to support next week's finance bill from the opposition benches the latest resignation comes

a day after prime minister brian cowen stepped down as leader of his party admitted pressure over the country's economic crisis. at least ten people have been killed in a series of bombings across the iraqi capital baghdad more than thirty others wounded by car bombs appear to be part of a coordinated attack the target police and shia pilgrims in a busy road in the city officials say the attacks were designed to show that iraq's unable to provide security head of an arab league summit in march last week more than one hundred fifty people were killed in a wave of explosions across. to new zealand police there were arrested two allies and of ousted president ben ali amid renewed protests against the interim government demonstrators are demanding that the prime minister resigns immediately mohamed ghannouchi is already valve to quit after fresh elections are held the transitional government promised to hold a vote within six months but still hasn't set a date of political chaos follows a month long uprising with oppose the country's leader seventy eight people were killed during the armrest. revelations from wiki leaks this week criticizing

opposition groups in russia for their incompetence the my whistleblower published diplomatic cables in which the us ambassador to moscow brands the anti kremlin movements is unsustainable and immature befalls also show that the opposition look beyond russia often seeking washington's help secret cables suggest american embassy staff in moscow tired of frequent pleas for cash for medical assistance job lot lynda's from the paris based institute of democracy and cooperation he says anti-government pleas will fall on their fears in obama's america. the opposition does not have a great deal of support in the country in russia and that's why they spend their time going cap in hand to foreign supporters in this case the americans second to no one in denouncing the americans propensity for financing both political groups and non-governmental organizations which in fact pursue a political agenda so i salute lee think that that is wrong and i think that that

has happened a lot over the last twenty years throughout the. warsaw pact countries but these particular documents show frustration on the part of these groups with the new obama foreign policy the reset because these groups are going to the americans and saying that they don't feel that the denunciation is active enough so they are the ones asking for more and the americans in these documents at least are being slightly reserved and slightly reactive and saying that in fact they're already doing as much as they can. shorty's promissory squids of interview with the afghan president karzai explores also ahead this out of touch is here fifty minutes with more about our top story for you from visiting some petersburg to do the a twenty eight hundred will cup final paperwork. thanks for being with our team this sunday night the twenty third of january.

all. what's the strangest attempt of a military takeover of. the u.s. president trying to overthrow the foreign country's government but his strategic games must. undergo

a recognized its defeat. skiffs cuba to cope with its victory all don't talk to. me i leave you think you are you go but the rajab either live here the cuban missile crisis games and reality t.v. . wealthy british style sun it's time to cut back on. the. markets why not. find out what's really. happening to the global economy in the kinds of reports on r.t. . download the official location on the phone or i pod touch from the i choose our story. one jaunty life on the go. video on demand on t.v.'s in mind broadcasts an hour.