culture in the city so it's called small. elegant i've been told from the strokes or less to tell because of her job. as an israeli report clears any wrongdoing in the raid on the gaza aid flotilla turkey slams the findings and says the military action was illegal. and i'll be bringing you more on this controversial announcement that has many in the international community shaking their heads in just a few moments. and violence spreads across the u.s. with more shooting sprees record of in different states while many are calling for tougher gun control last summer it used to abandon what they call american culture . and moscow and washington are just one step away from finding out of their nuclear arms cuts treaty will come to life as russian anders' the final stage of deliberation.

watching r.t. coming to live from moscow i'm marina josh welcome to the program and israeli inquiry into last year's deadly raid on a gaza bound aid flotilla has ruled the actions of the country's naval commanders legal nine turkish activists were killed when armed forces stormed a vessel's stamboul has rejected the finding saying they've got no value or credibility or you know across life a correspondent. for more on this now paula how did the israeli report explain their would galatea of the rate. well essentially this radio report says that the soldiers acted in self defense it examined one hundred and thirty three cases and found that in one hundred twenty seven the soldiers were illegally justified in the way they acted it says in the six other cases it simply does not have sufficient

information now the primary point that these weighty took a commission is relying on is that the way the soldiers the commanding unit acted did not break international law because it was quite clear they stage that those guards are valid for to let intended to break these way the blockade on gaza now the israeli defense minister ehud barak has praised the findings of this report he says it proves that israel is a law abiding country but many activists and one of them being an israeli member of parliament who belongs to an arab party had one. she was part of the fratellis she has come out in heavy criticism saying that it ignores the killings of nine to christian activists eight of them were turkish citizens and one was a turkish american citizen and we expect more international criticism as the day progresses we also know though that the first turn the incident of course which happened on the thirty first of may has already received international condemnation well yes and in fact in its own power of inquiry turkey found the rate of

a particular illegal which is a sharper contrast in as we can see conclusion to that of israel how can they be so different. well the turkish national inquiry submissive to its findings to united nations that in september last june of course now it is up to the un secretary general to examine both the israeli and the turkish reports and release its own conclusions we have no indication as of yet when that will be but the turkish commission did come out publicly for the first time yesterday sunday when the israeli report was issued saying and i'm quoting from a statement that it was surprised it was appalled and it was dismayed it said that the stench of the typical commission exonerated israeli defense forces the turkish prime minister has also said that this report has no credibility and no value now the findings austin they are examined by the u.n. secretary general and will continue to being a forefront of the international community we've already heard israeli human rights groups condemning the report a number of them saying that that that that that the report is essentially wrong in

saying that israel's blockade on gaza is justified because of military concerns let's have a listen and. 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. well paula eight months are and i mean in light of what we've just heard has there been any change for gazans at all well as you say it's eight months since israel imposed its got caved on gaza since then there has been an easing of border controls now most consumer goods are allowed to enter gaza but there is still little exports allowed and very little freedom of movement one of the major criticisms that is being leveled against the stoical commission is the question as to why they don't want you to one of these when the government argued that it was so important to keep this gaza blockade i mean almost immediately after the botched gaza bound for tylo

raid it started easing the fertility activists saying that the big the question and the begs the arguments that there's this this blockade is needed in the first place the israeli activists themselves of also criticized the view the makeup of the typical commission of the criticism is also being leveled by political activists they say that the selection of the committee and also the limited authority it had this was not a public commission of inquiry from the outside it set up a committee that could only reach conclusions that were effectively conclusions that they wanted to reach in the first place work every israeli findings affect the middle east peace deal. i don't think so i mean it's highly unlikely that these findings will will do the nail in the coffin that is false the timing the israeli peace process there really hasn't been a lot of positive signs on the peace process and peace process road in recent months in any case the palestinian president mahmoud abbas has questioned the

impossibility of this report of course he is not the only one and israel still has to apologize for the deaths of those nine turkish passengers on board that vessel we expect that in the coming months to take the the commission will publish the second part of its report and that's that that part of the report a look at the decision making that led up to the whole commando raid they will at that time again be a lot of criticisms and so this kind of criticism really just just adds to the feeling of pessimism in the country in terms of whether any real progress can be made in the israeli palestinian peace efforts are opposed to your thanks so much indeed for bringing us the latest on this case. now the man accused of shooting u.s. congresswoman gabrielle giffords in the had will be in court for a preliminary hearing later today jared lee loughner went on a shooting spree at a public event on the eighth of january in arizona six people were killed and thirteen others wounded as highbrow file cases just one of

a string of incidents involving gun violence in the country on sunday two people were shot dead and two policemen injured after a man began shooting at them outside of the park in a store in the state of washington that same day a gunman went into a police station in detroit and shot four officers the violence has many americans calling for tougher gun control laws as artie's moralist reports some see the weapon as part of your culture and say taking it away goes against their history. get your left hand as high as you can get ready. for the trigger. fire the right to bear arms the target of debate in the united states then use it. just because you have an individual right does not mean that the state or local government can't constrain i think you can carry a gun in chicago. and in my world everybody on the bus could have a gun like making liberal shoot guns i just don't think we should be allowed to

bring them home. to travel more than six hundred miles south. follow the same well worn tracks taken here during the civil war and you're transported to kennesaw georgia. a world of the order. where second amendment rights are thanks are sized all the time every day except for one except whenever you are going to be a it's a way of life in the south a gun is just part of the household just like a hammer isn't a tool box and in the town of kennesaw. it's the law of a first one thousand nine hundred two they passed that law requiring all heads of household to own a gun you heard them right everyone here must own a gun and it was a rebuttal to most wrong grove illinois play call it more ago we call it moron grove who passed a law banning firearms and i think with the law itself that got people in kennesaw take off it was performing coverage it received in what today we would call the

mainstream press the battle with the mainstream doesn't end there issues in which the point kennesaw or through a lot of the south would have the actors act the opposite viewpoint appear to reach much further back than the gun law my name is dennis myers the name my story wildman show up here past meets present. the taboo original claim you know. except for the top because rick is not or people offended when they feel i don't know whenever i ask them why would you be offended if you're playing pranks. on. the confederate flag has a home not far from the american one and is praised it means that we had four years of destruction in this area here where we're trying to repair the invaders it's a historical thing and i have very much respect him over forty thing to the racism

of. this civil war that we have some. one from the air from or between the states wasn't civil no civil war a civil war it was a war then one country we had to come to confront it stays america the united states of america and it's not over either or anything eighty nine before but. well you know deal you know modern with a. lot of people here i think the civil war is still a current topic not a historical topic in canada saw the us civil war is never far away and fact there are three has storage battlefields like this one within a ten mile radius of the town. and in their modern day battle for gun owners' rights it also seems to be connected to this southern history i think southerners view the last gasp of the citizenry against a and oppressive government as it is to revolt because. we lost the war so we get blamed for everything foreign invaders go

to boil down to nazi germany under hitler certainly the soviet union under stalin first thing they do is take the guns away from everybody so that they can't revolt could go and do what the government has planned but i won't come soon and i think where some of the emotion come from it's not just that you know you can can shoot a rabbit with it during hunting season. as for the gun law itself not everyone here abides by it i'm not personally going to have a gun oh of own plenty it goes but i don't quite have any right now but they do have opinions about it i think to go along came a few keeps criminals out i think that people you know would rather go somewhere else when the news of the law enforcement says that may be true or violent crime rate is extremely low property crime is still less than half the national average and for the small southern town this may be their victory over the north that one hundred fifty years after a civil war changed everything in the south as

a result of that war there. lifestyle was one they stuck by their guns lauren mr r t kennesaw georgia. and here's to israel here's a glance rather the story that still have for you the south asian experience and russia leaves manny divided on the possible threats and advantages of teaching religion at school we explain why later in the program. at a pivotal nuclear arms reduction path between moscow and washington is a file step away from being ratified by the russian parliament it's once again being debated before heading for its third of file hearing on tuesday russian lawmakers a man of the start treaty and a second reading last week in response to changes and reservations raised in washington among the amendments is a requirement for america to remove tactical nuclear weapons from europe the house will also call for other nuclear powers to join the process of nuclear reduction

the treaty signed between presidents would be out of and obama last year has already been ratified by the u.s. senate and now needs a file say from the russian parliament russia's deputy foreign minister sergei lavrov koff says the deal is crucial for relations between the two countries. it's a huge boost for. joint efforts to establish a more stable and constructive fundaments in our relationship with the us it took a while before the u.s. senate threat to fly the resolute from our parliamentarians. use the period to sara lee study the american red faced resolution they drew their conclusions three o four especially important things that are. outlined in these documents by the state you do in my. knees. or for belief in the

separate inseparable link between the strategic offensive. weapons strategic defense or weapons secondly we definitely thing that these so-called. strategic offensive weapons of growing importance they have a girl mean impact on the overall strategic stability thirdly we thing that. in this very situation we would be. only possible for russia to stay within the parameters of the treaty we've nothing happens on the part of the u.s. that infringes national security interests of russia to an extent that. you know continues implementation of the treaty becomes questionable. and so more on the start treaty and the latest on the issues over iran's nuclear

program watch the full interview with russia's deputy foreign minister sergei later this hour i'll take a look at some other stories from around the world in antony's one hundred demonstrators staged candlelit protest inspired a nighttime curfew amid a new wave of unrest crowds are calling for the country's interim prime minister to step down. as already vowed to quit after fresh elections are held within six months the political chaos follows a month long uprising that opposed the country's leader in the people sunday police arrest of two allies of ousted president. around fifty thousand people joined a rally in the belgian capital demanding a government for the country following seven months of political stalemate and out official administration has been in place since elections in june last year produced no outright winner politicians have been unable to reach an agreement over how the government should be made up belgium is divided between two regions with

french speakers this. south speakers in the north. have a number of those killed in last week's having floods and landslides in brazil has risen to at least eight hundred more than four hundred others remain missing avalanches of modern water whipped through mainly poor areas tossing cars into buildings and burying families alive rescuers continue digging through wrecked towns the death toll rises with estimates that could reach thousands of the disaster now brings as the second worst in brazil's history. a canadian driver with a dashboard camera captured a dramatic video of a truck smashing through central reservation and into oncoming traffic at the christian was driving near milton when a truck carrying thirty tons of soil crashed into his past narrowly missing in a sudden blizzard have caused hazardous driving conditions local media say the

driver was charged with careless driving. while still have three of us out here in our media manipulation and out some say keeping up with the news of the over my trades the way you do things. and some russian schools have undertaken an experiment of introducing new religious classes to their students' schedule but with four official religions in the country debates raging asked whether this experiment will succeed in teaching children about tolerance and mutual understanding or split society argues it's not a boy who reports. it looks like any other class with quizzes home or being sat on an extensive syllabus yet it is the only one in this chechen school where pupils on the other graded they're studying the basics of islam the predominant religion here. islam teaches respect kindness peace and

tolerance. peace and tolerance round the top of that agenda when russia's minister of education began testing religious subjects as part of the secondary curriculum last year the experiment allows students to study one of the major religions or concentrate on secular ethics yet while trying to provide room for all it's also putting pupils of different religious backgrounds in different classrooms. but i think it was wrong to divide students so that some focus on christianity while others studies slam only when one country and will have to know some basics about each other as a dividing children is not a good idea at all the organizers of the experiment said just that schools should be able to provide classes and any religion no matter how small the group being taught the shortage of financing often means that only one or two classes are

offered. here in the town of costs in mind central russia the children are well read about orthodox christianity but few are able to name all the religions practiced in russia. i don't mind other allegiance but i like orthodox christianity because it's the religion of other home and. now about three hundred thousand students just two percent of the total school population are taking part in the project and while most of the schools involved would prefer to keep spiritual subjects on the timetable experts say the initiative needs a thorough revision before it's rolled out further first of all this is clear discrimination against jews kids who are not religious so what are they going to do . they're going to be separate from the class or what and it's also a tremendous pressure to accept one or the other for religion not because the blue

of this religion but all of the go there too because everybody has to belong to some religious community which is again. democratic. the line between teaching religion and not indoctrination is fine and a subject which for many families should stay at home this educational experiment hasn't yet been declared either success or failure or some theory that instead of promoting really just tolerance and cultural understanding it may actually foster ethnic bias and social segregation it's a work of art see. at a range of new media outlets and being accused of trying to influence its audience politically critics say romanian sponsors are controlling the can the content of t.v. news and publications to promote reunification where the country but others are simply applauding more the versity in the press or dislikes here cesky investigates. the

most press seems to have has undergone something of a make over in the past year with new t.v. programs airing different opinions so is the media becoming stronger and freer and this country after years of domination by only a few outlets it may seem so on the surface but some like internet journalists vitale and dear ski say the idea of a new dawn is only an illusion. when my website gained popularity some people from romania contract me and offered financial help this is in exchange for my website as he pulled the idea of reunification which we gave up and romania or something three quarters of relations rejects. before nine hundred forty five moldova belong to romania after the war it became part of the soviet union before independence on the collapse of the u.s.s.r. since then however some politicians in bucharest have been wanting it back and he says now they can use the media as a platform as most of the new press is sponsored by bucharest one of the most

recent additions to moldova's media market is the quality paper i divert all the truth which is also one of the leading national dailies in romania. the very first edition of this romanian newspaper had some really sharp articles it speculated whether moldova was a toy between brussels and moscow and it also questioned the first decision to grant russia the right to host the twenty eighteenth football world cup. it is the first full color paper in moldova and it is published in the romanian language rather than moldova in its deputy editor in chief says this is not an obstacle to popularity here. on this will go to seventy five percent of moldova speak romanian and this is a fact proven by the academy of sciences designed balanced approach to news is something new to this country opposition politicians believe such strong media in. fluids from bucharest could threaten moldova's sovereignty but the campaign that is

. being run by the local press. as i told you supported the government when there. is constructed that way to make the integration possible camera floating through the so-called european integration those promoting womanize ation of moldova have not been shy of using rather underhand methods according to one political expert in the middle. of an table of prices which broadcast russian stations insert remaining programmes into the russian channels and time programmes which propagandize be caressed wish to see about moldova sleeze russian stations to deliver ideas moscow would never agree with. opinion polls suggest that number of moldovans wanting to reunite with romania has tripled over the last twelve months from just five to fifteen percent whether that's down to the media is difficult to say for sure but those who promote

reunification certainly see this sector as a key target to increase their influence alexy russia skeeters r.t. reporting from kisha now moldova. representative here in r t and business news is next with syria. hello and welcome to your business update one seat too many russian air companies are forced to dismantle chess to avoid have to texas russia council some tutors on foreign made airplanes depending on the number of seats they have having done the math and number of carriers have resorted to throwing out as many as two dozen chairs to call a fight those seven no a plane has just lost three rows their c.e.o. says this will save them a significant amount. on a monthly basis will save substantially over a million u.s. dollars. in our cost base obviously that would increases the number of increases.

and i think we continue to hope that this is so you for your short term measure not by. the high profit tomorrow. in the market that we can reduce all those twenty one seats and go back to one hundred eighty cedar grove. let's have a look at the markets asian stocks are mixed the nikkei is moderately high and the demand just getting by with all streets makes leads last week tokyo enjoys the support of the euro's rise against again given the philip to the euro related stocks china's home saying is almost half a percent lower as concerns persist over beijing's further tightening measures last week state run chinese media reports a first rate hike this year could be as soon as early february. the russian stock markets closed last week on a positive note to my six point over one thousand seven hundred and eighty points that softer the metal in world shares climbed on the science that the e.u.

economy may be picking up. and after in a vengeful week investors are anticipating another action packed seven days from their wash and stock market that's according to the director of equities sales that at creech investment bank michael's time. this week we're likely to see a lot of interest in the russian market especially since we did see a consolidation towards the back end of last week investors are going to pay a lot of attention to ongoing earnings releases in the united states we've had a history of us corporate beating consensus and six out of the last six quarters of the optimistic that we'll see this continue this week investors to be viewing close attention to the third quarter for us results from gas probably you know addition we expect a trading updates from a number of companies in the retail segment including dixie and ross into. the internet giant facebook has raised one billion dollars from u.s.

investors with an infusion from goldman sachs and russia's digital sky knowledge is in december the latest round of funding brings the company one and a half billion dollars now the less facebook has limit at the offering to non-u.s. investors to one billion dollars investments value the social network at fifty billion dollars that's more than the value of yahoo and e-bay but below google and amazon facebook has not so fast classified how it plans to spend the investment money. that's your business update for that sol but you can always get more store a small website r.t. dot com slash business.

close up team has been to the homes to return to the land developed by cossacks in ancient times. now wattie goes to the center of russian defense production. with christianity and shamanism existed side by side for centuries. people in remote villages a cut off from the basics we take for granted completely in the public russia close up on r.t. . world.