as for judges. to make amends free is free. to types free. download free broadcast quality video for your media projects free media. approval to banning americans from. washington. russian officials. u.s. debates a tightening at gun control that's president obama from the soul to weapons ban in the wake of a deadly school shooting. six months. during the sun set to deliver his christmas message outlining his plans for next year.

we have liftoff a new group last saw from the. mccain. take their place on the international space station. on. twenty four seven this is art. now russia's state a duma has given its preliminary approval to a ban on americans adopting russian children it's part of a draft law seen as a response to the so-called magnitsky act this storm russians under sanctions by washington but the bill has seen both support and criticism from lawmakers causing

a rift in the russian political elite euro artie's or you go pissing off is that the state duma for us now live. hugo or can we expect this ban to come into force then. well nothing is decided for despite the heated debate the deputies of the state do more have. approved the amendment which bans americans from adopting russian children but the draft itself hasn't yet been approved the final and third reading is still ahead and if it even if it does end up being approved by the state duma then it will be passed over to the federation council the upper house of parliament and then if a green light is given it will be passed over to the president for his final signature but it's really not clear at the moment if this draft in its current films will indeed become an acting the law because this issue really has split russia's political elite we have heard from several ministers including the foreign minister who spoke against introducing it the speaker of the federation council has

also called on russian lawmakers not to rush with it prime minister dmitry medvedev hasn't openly supported it but he did talk about the need to focus on improving the living conditions for. children without parents here in russia and when it comes to the executive power the president's spokesman has also said that due to the evident and the russian rhetoric coming from some members of the international community the emotions of the deputies and some of them are showing quite a hard line approach these emotions are understood in the kremlin but at the same time the spokesman said that the qur'an wins approach to this will be more reserved so nothing's decided yet he said and definitely more debate lies ahead of course all of this comes as a response to the magnitsky act which angered

a lot of russians what do you think is going to be the situation from now and then what's actually going to happen. well just to remind you sort of the money means he was a washington lawyer who worked for foreign investment funds he claimed to have revealed a huge money laundering scheme allegedly involving russian officials he himself was suspected of large scale tax evasion but died in prison before a court could make a decision on his skis magnitsky seen by many in the west or especially in the united states as a victim of various human rights violations and just recently american lawmakers passed the so-called magnitsky act which. gives away for sanctioning russian officials suspected of being connected to violations of human rights but since it's not clear on what grounds this blacklist is going to be put together and we know that some of its ports are going to be classified by many officials here in moscow

this act is seen as a derogatory and the russian law and russian lawmakers have been working on what they say will be proportionate. and decided sanctioning american officials suspected here in russia of being connected to the violations of the rights of russian citizens many deputies have been pushing to introduce also the banned for all americans to adopt russian children since adoption really has been a huge stumbling block in the relations between moscow and washington due to the so many cases of abuse and sometimes even deaths of russian children after they were adopted by americans and brought to the united states for instance the story of twenty one month old. who died after his adoptive father left him in a locked car on a hot day or another case one american adoptive mother put her child on a plane back to russia carrying only some underwear and a note all of this has been causing outrage here in russia not only the case of

themselves but the lack of a proper reaction from american authorities to. event them from reoccurring including heavy jail sentences that's why some of the deputies have been pushing to include the whole topic of adoption into this so called proportionate reply as the name it like i said nothing is decided yet and we will see definitely more debate in the next few days. we will indeed. live from the russian state you may thank you . now us vice president joe biden is to oversee new policies aimed at tackling gun violence in the wake of the newtown the mass shooting at present of arm of his support for reinstating the assault weapons ban and a tightening of regulations fears the potential move could see enthusiastic load up on firearms and ammunition. has details. when you consider the tragic

events that unfolded at an elementary school last week in the us it is not surprising that finally u.s. president barack obama is taking a position that would reinstate a ban on assault weapons in america now the last federal assault weapons ban which expired in two thousand and four prohibited the manufacturing of eighteen specific models of semiautomatic weapons along with the manufacturing of high capacity ammunition magazines that could carry more than ten rounds now according to white house spokesman jay carney obama would also support legislation that closes a so-called gun show loophole that has allowed some weapons to be sold without criminal background checks of the buyers since obama has been president for mass shootings have taken place but until now critics say that obama has skirted the issue of federal gun control last week's massacre at that elementary school in newtown connecticut claimed the lives of twenty innocent children ages between six

and seven and also six staff members were killed in the gun control advocates say it's a shame so many lives have been lost before u.s. leaders finally got the ball rolling on legislation in real largest firearms maker in the u.s. also announced on tuesday that it's being put up for sale by its owner freedom group international is the maker of the bushmaster rifle the weapons thought to have been used in friday's connecticut massacre shares in publicly traded gun makers have been dropping for a third straight day there's also been reports of a large spike in gun sales in recent days because many believe that the federal government will in fact enforce stricter gun control. now in the u.s. now a split over the potential banned weapons enthusiastic doubts you regulations will help christopher chambers says u.s. media outlets are turning a blind guy to the gun business due to their links to arms producers and right wing

lobbyists they have a message they have a narrative that narrative has to percolate through their delivery system which unfortunately are their anchors and reporters assert up the delivery system for the pundits for the host driven shows where you have the right wing. mentality come in and it's rehashed and then shot back out you know in these various media outlets where they're pundits feed into this is their message machine at work the talking points coming from the n.r.a. the politicians that are in matched in the n.r.a. and in conservative causes i mean that's that's that's not speculation on my part that's politics and media one o one for the last fifteen years. despite having been holed up in the ecuadorian embassy in london for six months due to the sun which has not been idle he hasn't let up on his that wiki leaks work and has even published a book on thursday the whistleblower will announce his plans for twenty thirty as he prepares to deliver

a christmas address saira for three ports. it's been six months to the day since julian a son's thought refuge behind the doors of the ecuadorian embassy it was a bid to avoid extradition to sweden where he's wanted for sexual assault allegations that he continues to refuse to travel to sweden because if it will be extradited to the u.s. america investigating the wiki leaks website for publishing documents including dossier on the wars in iraq and afghanistan that despite having twenty four hour round the clock detection it's been a busy six months to julian assange and we've had him publish a book we seem concerns over his health who seem to live in a sound addressing world leaders as well as giving a number of personal exclusive interviews say and of course we've had the ongoing protests and vigils in support of both julian assange and the wiki leaks website

and in the next couple of days today the sun is expected to give a christmas address normally the territory of mourning but in this case julian assange would be summing up his own going predicament and outlining his plans for the year ahead now what is set to come remains relatively unknown you see in the dramas unfolding over the last six months so you can be pretty sure it will be predictable it's a little green was a lot of talk at the moment that we could see in twenty thirty chilean a sound running for the australian senate and forming his own wiki leaks political party although it will be the next that sort of course he is going to be there every step of the way taking you through this ongoing story. transport to grinds to a halt and services shut their doors in greece a twenty four hour nationwide strike season people think the purity despite a neutron chill may not catch that story ahead feed. and russia so you could last off to obits from that like oh of course which i mean kazakhstan with

a crew of three on board well the details on that and more after the break. is he. in the. world of. science technology innovation all the latest developments from around russia we've got the huge earth covered.

ok about more world news for you now here in r.t. . greece has ground to a halt with public sector workers walking out of the jobs in a twenty four hour nationwide strike aimed at putting pressure on the government over tough cuts recent good news such as the latest challenge of a baby that cash on a decision by ratings agency standard and poor's to raise the country's credit rating has done little to dissipate public anger or crisis

a strategist comes out of there a says that neither piece of news is of a tangible benefit to the struggling population. the fact that the ratings agencies gave us higher rating to be green bombs and yet there's a strong indicator what's happened to that right now the international community b i and that's the e.c.b. and you see have two wars austerity which makes investors happy but of course makes the people angry and so you can see this strike going on and people a lot of people get very upset in greece while the best community is relatively happy because you know there is more greater safeguards that their money is going to be returned to them in the form of bonds so i think that you going to continue to see this is exactly where you'll go up and the people are happier but the investor community is less happy and then you're going to have a swerves to the right where you have more austerity making people more angry and more riots and more protests and more strikes and yet investors feeling more secure

. in the bonds of a buying greeks even money this crisis is far from over the europeans have yet to solve the basic problem that the european. countries are insolvent based simply do not have the money to pay back all the money that they have borrowed and because of that fact which is incontrovertibly we are going to come to a day of reckoning of some point the issue becomes when is that going to happen and how far will the european and europe perhaps be able to keep the can down the road . in egypt opponents of president must seize a draft constitution and threaten to continue hunger strikes until he steps down demonstrators are gearing up for more protests on the justice ministry probes under geishas of widespread the voting irregularities during the first round of the referendum on the document well political analyst among the shall be these the ongoing dispute over the constitution is deeply dividing egyptian society. there is a very strong division within egypt today between egyptians who are more of

a group of egyptians that are more of two words islam a system the predominant islam equipages hardline system in egypt and another group that it has also a lot of supporters in egypt that want to have a democratic or more of a secular kind of egypt well president morsi is saying that he's presenting a democracy that he wants to lead the country and he wants to be that evolution toward a more democratic system but his actions so far have not proven to be compliant with this it's leading to more tension you had a lot of violence in the past many in the streets clashes in the streets as a large number of people were killed were wanted and the country's economy is marking up so it's getting smaller and smaller the whole system is collapsing the government the public administration the infrastructure of the country is really suffering from shortages of the violence is spreading to other parts of the country

and i think that this shows that that mr morsi and his administration do not have the potential to to provide the stability that is needed and on the other hand they do not answer the aspiration of for the groups of people who would talk to the three in the past and who are able to overthrow the believe yours origi and so he's acting in a way that is very similar to the previous regime in fact. and independent panel has concluded its investigation into september's deadly attack on the u.s. consulate. it concluded that no tests on the short movie were not behind the bar it sounds like suggested instead it claims that systematic failures at the state department were behind the security breach its findings are being backed by secretary of state hillary clinton for more head to r.t. dot com. also online russia's president vladimir putin sends actor gerard

a russian passport off the frenchman claims he's to renounce his citizenship in search of a better financial future. let's take a look at some other stories making news at this hour in pakistan three more polio vaccination workers have been killed in separate gun attacks since the death toll to eight since monday's don't show a un medical campaign there are contradicting reports on who was behind the assaults the taliban has previously threatened workers describing them as u.s. agents of the violence that united nations all start immunization and off the streets. french judges have decided to press ahead with him paying charges against former i.m.f. chief dominique strauss kahn the sixty three world allegedly took part in sex parties

denies knowing some of the women present were prostitutes strasse car says the authorities are trying to criminalize lust it's not the first such scandal the ex finance chief has been brought in last week he reached a settlement through an unknown some hotel maid with greed to drop her previous accusations of sexual assault. as well and present chavez has a response infection caught during a recent cancer surgery travers underwent an operation in cuba before the treatment he spoke for the first time of his successor appointing at current prime minister mick doohan as his replacement for anything happened to him it comes only a few months after he was reelected head of state in a tight vote despite the problems with his health and education ceremonies and the tenth of january. now supporters of a two time defending russian

a football champions and it's in petersburg say they only want white and non-gay players in their team the team's largest fan club has written to the manager it's stressing that their demands are all about respecting longstanding traditions and not racism richard vanpool fleet experience. i don't want any african players black players or latin american players and to be honest i'm going that's an absolute joke i mean something forget about and should probably the best player was born in venezuela which is latin america danny is probably the best russian in borders come into play in the russian premier league over the last ten years or so and france is a better manifesto was correct. it was to be submitted. i mean they also say that they want to give preference to homegrown players russian based players often every team in the world would want to do that because it would be much cheaper but the fact is. russia don't use enough the players i mean even brazil even top mentions like argentina but you have to import players it's common

knowledge and mention my real madrid they don't have players from just romantic story madrid import this is way before the. problem is. who. look up to these players and trying to. come baines going now the latest are all but bound crew there's a blasted off from the back of the cosmodrome in the cars extern while the

spacecraft are flight engineer is a man and this is tom marshburn along with canadian astronaut chris hadfield it will take them two days to reach orbit enjoying their mates ready aboard the s.s. docking in sheffield friday and the u.s.s. team will have a busy five months in space they'll carry out more than one hundred scientific experiments welcome several cargo space ships to space walks are also planned tom barton reports now on the preparations to this latest mission.

backing as it is exciting chris hadfield's wife say she'll still feel connected to what is up there again through music but like a lot easier here if you'd like to be playing so much music because that part of it life and work life you know they were sure that no play lots of surveys that yes there's a spec corner woman i assess for a trustee guitar. but being away from home at the most special time christmas. when i'm out in space i start to feel homesick i'll probably do what i do want and that is to. to open up my guitar and to

play songs that are important to me we shouldn't feel too sorry for chris thomas as well as enjoying music they'll be able to look down on her as we celebrate so it's seasons greetings from our sweet sounding spaceman merry christmas. happy. baikonur. but next join us for a trip to the russian city of sochi as it prepares to host the twenty fourteen winter olympics.

the rider that takes your breath away through eating across the sky as it was a mohnish could you know the biggest salt lake in europe and more than two hundred species of birds but also it is them are on the verge of extinction on these islands in the south of russia they find shelter before migrating to other parts of the world power weakens as well as other species of the monish who do low feed and face these words are waiting for their parents to bring them food to the best cash for them is in a small area of the lake where the water is relatively fresh as fish cannot survive in the salt of the month and the lakes getting salt every year the monish with the lows and all to fishel reservoir which was field in the nine hundred fifty s. in the areas hot climate the water evaporates quickly and the local saw as natural sultanas takes over. the drying out of the lake. of the world's biggest populations of small strings.

there are four hundred animals here protected. it's a place of peace and calm in recent decades dozens of canals have been dug around here to cultivate the locals taps broad grassy plains may be useful for humans but it does badly hit many species as the animals here. so i guess antelopes just some forty years ago there were more than two million. living in asia nowhere else in the world but now people brought the species to the brink of extinction. this region has been reaching life for thousands of years but now we know relatively short space of time it's vibrant diversity of creatures is second on all fronts by man and nature itself.

since childhood for the americas always stood out from his peers he hates losing and has never missed a single training session he came first in everything swimming ballroom dancing or chess at the age of sixteen started to lift weights four years later he took on the bronze medal in weightlifting from the london paralympics. coming in third place at the olympic games was his first serious defeat. in your bones when the bronze medal for me was poor consolation because when you know that you really could do better that you could show a much better result of course that upsets you but i'm only twenty you those were my first paralympic games so the result was a good start and i must keep up this level and move forward to go.

live or die i was born with a spinal injury when his mother was leaving the hospital they told her she had to do some special massages and he would be able to walk to help her son the dish to become a coach and adopted physical education every day they did special exercises hoping for a miracle however the boy could never stand on his feet to walk. more which is it was very difficult i had stupid thoughts in my head when you were at the hospital with him i even thought of jumping out the window with my son ivan wished he was mentally handicapped so he would not understand that he could not walk but my husband told me i think about what you're saying do you think you'll feel any better do you think you will feel any better. prison so we accepted the sad truth and began to fight. grandfather saw it on t.v. . a vehicle powered by the arts and by it was a really special vehicle for.