the stories that shaped the visceral week of the death of another russian toddler in an adoptive u.s. family leads to allegations he could have been killed her and russia. fresh rallies clashes and hunger strikes in the west bank the death of a palestinian in an israeli jail it further fuels week long protests against the plight of palestinian prisoners. and italians choose their parliament and one of the most over difficult votes in the country's history which could see a comeback by showmen berlusconi or a breakthrough by a former comedian. good evening i'm lucy catherine over and you're watching our t.v.

it's our weekly show the compilation of the week's top stories well it's been revealed this week that another russian child died after being adopted by an american family it's the twentieth such deaths in some mid one nine hundred ninety s. the news that three year old maxim koosman was found bruised and dead in the home of a texan couple had caused quite an outrage here in russia the boy's adoptive mother claims it was an accident but there are suspicions that maxim could have been abused and murdered or dishonest as your churkin takes up the story twenty russian children in the last seventeen years died in their adoptive american families most recently here in texas mark simkin meehan known to locals as max shadow. was just the kid had some scratches. that's all i know three year old mark and his younger brother keel lived in this house with their adoptive parents in a rather secluded neighborhood it was from here that on the afternoon of january twenty first the boy was taken away by an ambulance never to come back his legs had

an internal organs were allegedly severely bruised. it could mean could this is confirmed as a result of the investigation that maxime's death was a result of certain violent actions but specific circumstances of his death have yet to be announced i can't get into that because it would be speculative. for the results to come back russian officials had no knowledge of the incident until almost a month after the boy's death it wasn't a little bit later that we started getting some suspicions of what was going on and that all developed from talking to the parents the people that live there it just took a little more time moscow says this is far from the first time it has been left in the dark about an adopted child stuff. even unfortunately it's usually months after russian child has died in the u.s. that the american side informs us about it and one case it was five years after a boy died. a probe is now being conducted in texas and russia has an ongoing

investigation of its own. if as a result of the investigation it is determined that maksim was killed by his mother for example underscoring if this is the conclusion of the investigation naturally those responsible for the death of the russian boy will have to suffer the most severe punishment meanwhile at the u.s. state department we obviously take very seriously the welfare of children particularly children who've been adopted from other countries according to moscow little cooperation was shown until it was demanded. well but. with almost two dozen deaths caused by abuse and even manslaughter russia in a move often criticized recently imposed a ban on american adoption of its kids on. i've always believed that russia should stop these adoptions and i hope that they maintain this ban and don't yield to pressure autopsy an investigation results are expected to take weeks if not months

to be announced no arrests have yet been made the dead boy's younger brother's destiny is yet to be determined for now he continues living in the adoptive family where his brother died while the investigation is slow paced and the alleged information on the little boy's life and death extremely scarce one of the questions that demand an answer is why should it take a rigid push from abroad for the us to pay attention to yet another tragic destiny of a hopeless child to whom it promised a better life on its soil with the r.t.e. act or county texas. well niels who came in from the pound legacy a group that monitors children placed with new family says the case highlights shortcomings in the u.s. adoptive system. the united states has a very complex adoption system where the state department has federal responsibilities which it's. properly executed because adoption itself is performed

at the state level in america the federal government has no control over who actually happens. you need to have a proper system in place that checks. adoptive parents much better before the adoption which has. been monitoring all that is not really in place there rescreening but it's not properly done post at the moment ring is impossible . especially in america it is impossible because a right to privacy. for the treatment of russian orphans by their adoptive u.s. families and the subsequent russian adoption ban against the u.s. have sparked fierce debate if you're over to our to dot com you can find more stories giving all sides of the perspective there as well as the chopper two need to leave your own comments. tensions are escalating in the west bank where the death of a palestinian in an israeli jail has triggered

a fresh wave of violence thousands of palestinian prisoners are already refusing food in a show of solidarity with the dead man a wall dozens of protesting palestinian youths have been tear gassed by israeli soldiers now the israeli side says the prisoner had died of an attack of the palestinians and says that he was tortured during interrogation his death had furthered angered the palestinians who have already been rallying for a week against the conditions in israeli prisons and in support of the long term the hunger strikers the protests repeatedly ended in fierce clashes a with israeli soldiers who use tear gas and rubber bullets just parse the crowds. well the president wasn't the only one causing divisions this week or clashes had erupted when jewish settlers attacked palestinian demonstrators in the north of the west bank shooting two and us policy or reports there could be no end to this confrontation as long as israel continues to build a land considered to be palestinian it's rugged and remarkable landscape

largely empty but full of meaning this is one of the west bank's most sensitive pieces of real estate for fourteen years plans to build here have existed but were kept on hold but all of that changed last november less than twenty four hours after the u.n. general assembly recognize palestine is a nonmember observer state tel aviv fast track to construction plans here prompting the palestinian government to call it a slap in the face of the entire world. this plan to build here is not legal according to international law which states that when one country occupies another change facts on the ground israel is doing exactly this while also getting people out of their lands soley for the benefit of the settlers. known as the one this controversial patch of earth exists between east jerusalem where palestinians aspire to establish the capital of a future palestinian state and the huge israeli settlement of mali on. it is the last remaining corridor between the large palestinian cities in the west bank and

if plans go ahead and the israelis extend the syria it would cut into a big chunk of the west bank effectively driving a wedge into the middle of any potential palestinian state critics have warned that filling the space with jewish homes amounts to a doomsday scenario effectively striking a fatal heart attack to the two state solution but for now the plan is to build a garbage dump in this valley with the waste that comes from jerusalem and then in about twenty to thirty years when it's full to build a park on top of us here you can see that palestinians fear it's part of a long term strategy to extend iran and build new israeli settlements it's not surprising this is not the first time that such a plan is submitted it is a bird of ongoing policy that has been going for years now in at the end to grab palestinian lands but first the israelis need to get rid of the people who live here among them around three arab jerusalem neighborhoods and one hundred fifty

bedouins for whom this has been home for nearly half a century tel aviv complains the bed when camps were set up illegally without permits and stand in the way of urban planning but critics say this is just an excuse for a land grab it makes me furious this dump site is going to harm the environment and it's going to harm the health of the people and they make it harder and harder to find a solution for the situation demolition orders have already been issued threatening to destroy the last remnants of bedwyn life in these hills and while israeli officials say the construction anyone if it happens at all is many years away it cuts to the heart of the israeli palestinian conflict which fundamentally is about the land. the fate of the people who live on a point to see on t.v. in the west bank while paulo is closely following the developments in the west bank updating us on the latest of the year her twitter feed if you head over to at paula slater underscore r t you can get the latest.

it's. holding its breath on sunday as austerity had italians choose their next parliament from a former comedian to disgraced ex prime minister silvio berlusconi and there's certainly no lack of choice on the ballot but our teams are going to lose reports the outs the outcome may well throw the debt with e.u. into even more uncertainty. this italian parliamentary election offers plentiful options for the country's voters at first glance but dig deeper and you'll realise

the choice isn't all it seems with the talons are confused and there is still a part of them who has no style geo for the good old times of mr berlusconi. you know they thought they could all become millionaires and this was the big news and it wasn't the streets of rome aligned with posters from various political parties and candidates all smiles and bright colors offering the best future possible for italian voters. i. feel like i. was a candidate like. i was. thirteen i. was i didn't know. the program low is not the leader but the face of a movement whose plan is simple to do away with the politics that italy has been

used to for the past couple of decades and bring about a new type of rule the number saved on my part i don't feel protected by the state i want to state that is visible there is no state in this country just a group or sea of laws that has replaced democracy there isn't anything left to hold the crowd's dissolution but it's always politics is done you know alison she started small by successfully challenging politicians in his small hometown in the south like many talents he does not trust the current political system if it was possible to feel i believe that yes there will be what was ok i gave it to you live off the wall. but it is time for a change at least one hundred thousand people showed up to support close movement in the center of rome the biggest political gathering in half a century people say popular because it speaks clearly and they say it's one of the main thing to say so they have to go or home. all we have

they are finished and these right because the the political class has lost in the in the influence on the land to part of the population especially young people. the . we have a police force will be on the road to cope with and the situation is a desperate one the longest recession in twenty years more than one third of the country's youth are without a job corruption the teats organized crime and manages to siphon off as much as sixty billion euros a year by some estimates and declaring wealth divide between various italian regions basically it was huge a parliament will have a mouthful to chew to avoid choking on the problems which have accumulated over the years perhaps doing away with the old men in suits no matter how respectable they may appear in favor of a foul mouth but seemingly honest comedian may be just the thing to put an end to

italy's political drama in rome. close a special welcome for scandal plagued silvio berlusconi at the polling station where three topless activists you see them right there on a screen protested his candidacy for details for you on our website r.t. dot com. egypt's president struggles to appease protesters with promises while his law enforcement tactics cause more anger where reportedly alarming allegations of abuse and torture are used by local police while the government hands out weapons to the lowest ranking officers plus. a seat is both a shotgun a box of. up to four children they are caught bringing weapons into u.k.

schools with authorities desperate to end an epidemic of violence more on that story after a short break. welcome to the big picture.

the emission. couldn't take three hours for charges free. free. free. free. free. free. loans.

well there is further chore more oil in egypt where the government is struggling to contain street violence president mohamed morsi has brought forward parliamentary elections to april twenty second as the opposition leaders calling for a boycott of the vote protests have been going on for weeks now with the opposition accusing of the president of hijacking the revolution and backtracking on reform promises and r.t.l. true reports the unrest has often been accompanied by claims of widespread police abuse and torture. in his home town of town into the bill i'll give the points out where local use has remained a street after his son mohammed a twenty eight year old activist allegedly tortured to death by security forces two

weeks ago after protesting on tyreese square. on the first time i went to see mohammad in hospital i didn't recognise him seriously his race was covered with his skull fractured when i asked the doctors they told me this is mohamed odeh the other one will be although muhammad's injuries points to torture his mother sammy says the official forensic report maintains he died after a car crash if you had to be a but that's what vehicle breaks teeth is there a car that stamps on a person with a shoe shattering the glasses and pushing them into his eyes what car only injures a person's head but not their legs yeah. right now egypt is witnessing unprecedented levels of police violence against protesters rights groups reporting with at least ten x. a judicial killings by security forces since president mohamed morsi to power the west divide it often occurs in places like this infamous security directorate

behind me which can be viewed from mohammed's own balcony however the most worrying trend activists say is the targeting of children in an impoverished district of alexandria explains how her thirteen year old son up to rahman was detained for over two weeks for being a bystander at a demonstration. the police used violence against children my son has caused some of those are all over his body as a hound's young children because kids can try on away from them. if anyone cries to contact their family or friends they would beat us despite the scenes like these the interior minister denies security forces use violence against protesters and refer. the torture is systemic in the police force instead the government says it will. police officers sparking fees. back during egypt's revolution a key demand was police reform people here say there is no evidence of facts and

is crowds of thousands continue to push for change though many fear the worst is yet to come true for the cairo. well having fighting heavy fighting has continued throughout the week in the north of mali thirteen soldiers from chad were killed on saturday which is the highest casualty count for the joint french and african force since the start of the military campaign now against as the most rebels and meanwhile the u.s. has deployed one hundred troops to neighboring new share in order to assist now despite the ongoing guerrilla war and fears of escalating violence french generals say their stay still plan to wrap up their involvement in a handover to local forces next month the operation has earned the french president a peace prize from the u.n. cultural agency unesco they're going to the organization decided that francois hollande has made a quote a valuable contribution just stability and mali but peace activists can stone

believes it's nothing but a throwback to colonialism. the form of the all colonial powers are once again flexing their muscles and they're starting to reach back into into yugoslavia into iraq or. afghanistan into libya and now into west africa if the main product mali for example were mushrooms there would be no french troops there are in niger but the main export is eurabia and that's very important to the french we have a twenty first century race recolonise began it's tragic that there is a further problem that the west has introduced in a successful overthrow of the look of the go doctor. government it introduced. all kind of tied terrorists into africa where there weren't them where they didn't exist in any significance before so that it was created a can of worms the main point though is that the western powers. in europe the neo

colonial powers and the united states nato these countries have no right to act as the police of the world well time for up to a world of dating we begin with of ghana stand where at least one person was killed and six wounded in a series of explosions across the eastern part of the country a car bomb went off near the national directorate of security buildings followed by two suicide blasts targeting police headquarters and a security checkpoint in the low bar province the taliban has already claimed responsibility for these attacks a would be suicide bomber was also killed in the country's capital as he tried to enter an area housing internal security offices. pope benedict has delivered a final breath a blessing before his resignation to thousands of people gathered at st peter's square at the vatican city he now said he would step down earlier this month

becoming the first pontiff to do so in nearly six hundred years citing health reasons you know critics of the catholic church have claimed that the move could be a result of the brewing sex and corruption scandals. amounts of pile up in a nascar rally in the u.s. is up to thirty three spectators injured at least two critically critically so they were hit by debris that was launched into the stands the accident happened at the last lap of the florida race course as the drivers towards the checkered flag of the partridge forum are teased sports team has more. well always happened on the final turn the leader went over watch to block of his rivals and then the cars began to pile up look you call losses plowed into the rest his car went airborne they flew into the stands rack and this is out of two so far but we'll have more on that in the sports show tomorrow.

lives knuckle dusters even firearms of course are the tools of the trade for many an average criminal but these items are also increasingly being found in the backpacks of more and more pupils across britain with violence at schools seeing a sharp rise or two sarah firth report on how the problems being dealt with. you probably end up in a dead end job or in prison you'll be lucky to be alive when you're sixteen. you know our parent is gone our courage is not far no for teaching them to say anything about a stark insight into the reality facing some of britain's schoolchildren despite having one of the best education systems in the world the latest research estimates that up to full peoples a day a court with weapons in persists cools guns knives and knuckle dusters just some of the items confiscated by police are men who are always searching the school and. gone to the school. discourse. and i see this person was shot down about the fire

schools are supposed to be a safe secure environment where the focus is on education the thing is have revealed that hundreds of weapons are being seized in schools every year with a number of violent incidents on the rise the reality for many schools across the bay is that your classmate can quickly become your enemy and the school playground can be a dangerous place it becomes normal to you and you you get sucked into this last thing to violence the best approach. is it's just not waking up in the morning and going for run yeah after a while it becomes normal to you stephen is now working with the charity x l p set up in nine hundred ninety six after school stabbing founded patrick weekend has been helping young people tackle gun culture and violence a member a kid coming up to me when

a bullet proof vest underneath his school uniform he said i'll be dead by thursday according to patrick it's early intervention which is key prison is forty thousand pounds a year a young person's secure unit is one hundred sixty five thousand pounds a year a murder can be a million pounds a year to investigate. so actually you know if we keep kids in education keep that sense of a safe place an environment where they can grow and flourish the problem of violence in schools is nothing new was it it's not something you're likely to read about in a school prospectus and it's particularly a keats in the country's deprived in a city called schools on the whole do not want the public to know that they have a problem with children bringing weapons into the premises so they do not readily give the information so i guess the problem is significant well they teach it can now say people as if they suspect that carrying a weapon many politicians to still failing. and take notice and until

more it's done to address the problem and the children who attend these schools will continue to learn these lessons. of a coming military crises in the middle east have become america's burden after a short break we take a look at how washington strengthens foreign times using its education system. all those north korean scamps are added again another nuclear test in north korea has made all the headlines trust me nuclear missiles are something worth being concerned over but haven't we heard this song and dance before all the way back in two thousand to the north korean scoring to the b.b.c. ruled that they have a secret weapons program and turned their young be on nuclear reactor back on since

then every once while a missile flies and people see the war is coming and silence then another test of some sort shock horror and then silence again with great just uses this is a bargaining tool to get what they want or how wacky the north korean state may seem they understand that launching one or two missiles against united states means they probably won't even hit the. target and in return their entire country would turn into ash instantly this situation really isn't cause for concern until something big changes like the us not being in a position to support south korea japan or some other dramatic event that changes the game like china giving up their support for the north korean side but for now the cycle just keep going on and on and about two years the same headlines will be back with the same fear will be back a lather rinse repeat but that's just my opinion.

it's technology innovation all the list of elements from around russia we've got this huge area covered. good to have you with you i'm lucy catherine of syrian rebels have received a new batch of heavy weaponry from outside sponsors across the jordanian border to fight president assad that's according to arab and rebel officials now this comes as fledgling efforts to promote peace talks in the syrian conflict appear to have stalled they may not position and group syria's national coalition and else that it is pulling out of upcoming international talks aimed at helping to end the bloodshed the group will get for scheduled meetings in russia and the u.s.

over what it sees as a lack of international condemnation of the asada government is also boycotting the gathering of the friends of syria alliance which consists of the rebels foreign backers syrian pro-reform activist amr well cough says the western powers could be losing their influence over the opposition that the rebels aren't really interested in negotiations. and they do not want to have any dialogue with the syrian government because all their strategy beast in a sense on the syrian government falling and them coming as a substitute they do not have a lot of also to see on the ground the also duties for their beliefs rather than the political elite that are called the national council to see the national commission so all they are interested in is for the government to fall very normal that the western society the list and countries have invested a lot in them both in money and time and so on been organizing them and they think

that they could probably make a stand here with regards to what the c e c this is a bit funny because now if the choose to get out of this sort of the international the friends of syria meeting then the western communities really would have no leverage what so live in the syrian crisis. meanwhile the u.k. is. support for the syrian rebels london has failed to pursue the persuade its partners to lift the arms embargo but could provide what it calls technical assistance instead this comes against the backdrop of revelations earlier this week of how britain has been selling weapons to sri lanka and is looking to boost sales to libya now both countries are listed as of concern regarding their human rights record by the foreign office but antiwar campaigner jim brann says it's the u.k. arm sales strategy that's increasingly causing concern. this whole idea that by by human rights criteria in arms exports simply doesn't make sense and generally

should be discounted the arms trade is a very hard. profitable geo politically important business and that's the business which. is in general need to sri lanka in particular there's a combination of factors both of these clearly one but also the geo political implications if you don't like a regime you don't generally so long to them and if you want to bolster them you do and that really has nothing if you look at the record that has nothing to do with human rights position. so you find for example law it's months and months sales to the middle east to countries like for example saudi arabia that has no pretense of elections like the lone human rights bill and that these parts of the course that's not an exception to the rule. let's take a look at what we have on our website iran has announced it has found thousands of tons worth of uranium reserves and it says that it will use them to expand its

nuclear infrastructure and to build more power in the at reactors at r.t. dot com you can find out what the u.s. and europe hope to do about that. also on line for you the governor of nevada home to las vegas has signed a new law that he says will put the u.s. state at the forefront of gambling legislation and r.t. dot com you can see just what he has up his sleeve. america's newly appointed state department chief john kerry has embarked on his first foreign trip in the job but i nation tour will see carry out why and policy positions on the syrian crisis as well as the iranian nuclear energy program now

artie's merino portnoy it takes a look at washington's new top diplomat. america's new secretary of state john kerry is on his first official overseas trip visiting nine countries in western europe and the middle east over the course of ten days hillary clinton's replacement will reportedly consult with allies on topics including iran the up peoples in the arab spring countries and syria's civil war secretary kerry is also scheduled to meet with members of syria's opposition according to the state department the top u.s. diplomat thinks of this trip as a listening tour meanwhile in his first speaking engagement as u.s. secretary of state mr kerry ran into some geography problems when referring to democratic reforms in the non existant country of cures ixtapa they fight corruption in nigeria they support the rule of law and they support democratic institutions and george kyrgyzstan is the country kerry should have said but

unfortunately his speech was written with the mistake reporting from new york. r.t. . our own to with education the doors of america's top universities are always open to people looking to become the world's next leaders are going to take a look at how the u.s. uses education system to help to the political balance of tomorrow in its favor. the u.s. is investing in potential for invaders by educating them in america convinced that back in their home countries when the time comes most of them will side with u.s. interests empower future generations of political leaders who've had a positive american experience and they are more likely to be global partners libya's mahmoud jibril could be one example having studied in the u.s. he went on to become the head of libya's transition government he's now the leader of one of the country's biggest political parties there's little doubt which

country he would favor when it comes to dividing lucrative oil deals in the future u.s. foreign service officers had their eye on him even before the revolution broke out a leaked diplomatic cable from november two thousand and nine written by the u.s. ambassador to libya gene credits described mr general as quote a serious interlocutor who quote unquote gets the u.s. perspective and of course mr gibril is not the only one who gets the u.s. perspective ninety two percent of the people who go on u.s. government exchanges go on to work in civil society positions in the parliament or in an n g o sariah took a two year course in public diplomacy in two thousand and six at the university of south in california in this particular program this was every single lecture has a state department member. so you know that you're not really learning. how to implement. the u.s.

trade and development agency an offshoot of the state department's usa id claims that what they call aid is actually investment for every one dollar they invest they get eight dollars back in u.s. exports it's absolutely an investment and there's a return on investment. it is very hard to quantify that return completely but i can tell you that you could quantify it in troops but you don't have to send somewhere so i never pursued a career with the training she were. it was seeing other countries i mean i may not be fond of the government in iran but i support hundred sixty and i was sitting in this class. lectures and people saying how do we think the market seek to undermine the government. two thousand and seven when i was in the program they had already started the push towards africa diplomacy is good business as has been made clear

by the state department time and time again getting foreign leaders and their advice serious to think in english and to subsequently favor the united states in their policies is much cheaper than bombing their countries so the state department will certainly be more forceful in their efforts at exercising soft power in washington i'm going to check on. the minutes our team has exclusive interview with america's former chief of the national intelligence council on his how as a war help stave off a military showdown with iran a few years back stay with us. wealthy british style. time to. go. to.

market why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cons are a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to cause a report on our cheap. the news secret laboratory tim curry was able to build a new its most sophisticated robot which all unfortunately doesn't give a darn about anything tim's mission to teach me the creation why it should care about humans and world events this is why you should care watch only on t.v. dot com. new year's celebrations on the move without the traditional t.v. or festive food surprising meetings and new adventures stories of love found and love lost all russians teach foreigners to celebrate them biggest holiday of the

year from moscow st petersburg by train over the news media there may be miracles. that. fall.

with me today is thomas finger a former chairman of the national intelligence council and a man who many say played a big part in preventing us from taking military action against iran by boldly claiming it had halted its nuclear weapons program well if we could just start by talking about what happened back in two thousand and seven he waives saw a national intelligence estimate on iran's nuclear program at the time you'll government was posturing for war he was claiming that iran was trying to develop a nuclear weapon but your report effectively blew that out of the water was it difficult to get the truth and the reality within the government was almost universally this is really good work. the focus was on the quality of the intelligence collection efforts

that have been successful and the quality of the clarity of the analytic process and judgments there were people outside of the government that did not like the conclusion of the implicit conclusion diplomacy had worked if diplomacy had worked it might work again. and that. the tactic they adopted was not to attack the substance. which they couldn't do because they hadn't seen it classified except for the little summary and. because it became clear very quickly that the trade craft in a sling was good you couldn't say it was a sloppy is the iraq. as to miss so it became an ad homonym these evil incompetent. individuals who oppose the president dash this off with all to

repurpose so given what you've said is this guy full featured whistle blow if i could call you that for someone to come forward with an opinion that's different there was no political blowback. that me not from within the government from outside of the government but. that the. no members of congress read newspapers are affected by what their constituents read in the newspapers. one needs only to watch the. criticism of susan rice at the possibility of she would be announced of chuck hagel. that. is this ludicrously unfair of course it is of course is. but that's

also part of the reality of living in a political environment so six years on do you think iran is still after a nuclear weapon in your opinion now the judgment that we made was that. it was a political decision to halt the weaponization portions of its program it continued to fizzle material fiza material was the pacing element is that that the. at the time required to go from physical material. we did it was shorter than a dime to fissile material. on but they'd halted it. for. terminology we used was because of international scrutiny and pressure but that sense it was a political decision it wasn't a matter of a technical problem. or a change in the geo political situation they still.