two stories that shape the week the death of another russian toddler run it up to us family leads to allegations he could have been killed stoking anger in russia. fresh rallies and hunger strikes in the west bank death of a palestinian in an israeli jail for fueling week long protest against the plight of palestinian prisoners. italians jews their parliament and one of the most unpredictable votes in the country's history that could see the return of silvio berlusconi or a breakthrough by a former comedian. it's six am in moscow i'm not trying to bring you today's top stories and a look back at the week's news here on r.t.e. we begin in the u.s.

where police are investigating the death of another russian child who'd been adopted by an american family twenty of such deaths since the mid ninety's the news that three year old maxime cruz means a bruised body was found near his texas home causing outrage in russia the boy's adoptive mother claims it was an accident but there are suspicions maxime could have been abused even killed or he's honest i see it you're going to reports. twenty russian children in the last seventeen years died in their adoptive american families most recently here in texas mark seemed was me and known to locals as max shadow just what i heard on the news. just that kid had some scratches. that's all i know three year old marquis him 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 if this is

confirmed as a result of the investigation that next seems 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 result to the russian officials had no knowledge of the incident until almost a month after the boy's death it was 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 they 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. that is unfortunately is usually months after a russian child has died in the u.s. that the american side informs us about it in 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 underscored 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 so. until it was demanded. or we're going to. come up with almost two dozen deaths caused by abuse and even manslaughter russia in a move often criticised recently imposed a ban on american adoption of its kids 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 and investigation results are expected to take weeks if not months to be announced no arrests have yet been made the dead boy's younger brothers 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 and if they see churkin are r.t. after county texas mules who are getting from pound pup legacy a group monitoring children plays with new families as the case highlights shortcomings in the u.s. adoption system. the united states has a very complex adoption system where the state department has federal responsibilities which comes properly executed because adoption itself is performed at the state level in america the federal government has no control over who will actually happens you know the options you need to have a proper system in place that checks. adoptive parents much better before

the. child's posts in monitoring all that is not really in place there rescreening but it's not properly done post adoption monitoring is impossible . especially in america it is impossible because a right to privacy. treatment of russian orphans by their adoptive u.s. families and the subsequent russian adoption ban against the u.s. both sparked fierce debate online and argue dot com you'll find more stories from all sides and you can leave your own comments. tensions rising in the west bank where the death of a palestinian and israeli jail triggered a fresh wave of violence thousands of palestinian prisoners refusing food and shows of solidarity palestinian youngsters also gathered in the streets in protest israeli officials say the prisoner died of a heart attack and palestinians insist he was tortured during interrogation his

death for their anger and palestinians who already had been rallying for a week against conditions in israeli prisons and in support of hunger strikers protests repeatedly ended in fierce clashes with soldiers who used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds. prisoner issue though not the only one causing divisions this week more clashes erupting when jewish settlers attacked palestinian demonstrators in the north of the west bank shooting to fall asleep it's there may be no end to this confrontation as long as israel continues building on the land considered palestinian. it's rugged unremarkable 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 it can and 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 ma'ale adumim it is the last remaining corridor between the large palestinian cities in the west bank and if plans go ahead in 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 a one and build new israeli settlements it's not surprising this is not the first time that such a plan is submitted it is a ongoing policy that has been growing 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 a hundred and fifty bedouins for whom this has been home for nearly half a century tel aviv complains the bed when camps were set up eagerly 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 and the fate of the people who live on our show policy or r.t. in the west bank. followed closely following developments in the west bank updating us on the latest fire her twitter feed had to at paula's sleeper underscore r t for the latest.

holding its breath as austerity hit italians choose their next parliament from former comedian to the disgraced ex prime minister silvio berlusconi certainly no lack of choice on the ballot as. reports the outcome may well throw the debt ridden and even more uncertainty. 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. since i. was. thirteen. i. was given. the program lo 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 more state in this country just a bureaucracy of laws that has replaced democracy there isn't anything left among the crowds disillusioned with italy's politics is done the analysis has 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 is possible if you like you that you think there will be it was ok i begin to feel. like you have a view of 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 they have to go or home. oh. yes they're finished this right because the the political class has lost in the in influence on the part of the population especially young people. we have a political class absolutely unable to cope with the situation 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 that feeds 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 italy's huge or 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 it in a. political analyst. doubts that any of the candidates on the ballot will be able to handle italy's financial woes. well the problem of your is not the problem of public debts this is a financial assault that has been concerted by private entities to milk money from the eurozone that said of course berlusconi is not really the best choice to to drive around these difficult obstacle and to the moment he wasn't really so much better despite being well connected with my knowledge of the world oh yes' is a wonderful work. but very little continent and this is a bit worrying because as soon as he gets in it gets in parliament and it's not just italian politics is going to make politics in the world and frankly for the

moment i don't feel he is really well equipped i hope he will make up because anyhow he will come up with a sizable number of problems to this budget really to study very hard and very foster come up with something credible. stay with us lots more to come here on r.t. . i had almost good as costs done. and i see it as a personal assault on a much the fire of the four children a day bringing weapons to u.k. schools with authorities desperate to end it academic an epidemic of violence more on that still to come. but first the u.s. newly minted secretary of state john kerry is embarked on his first foreign tour as the country's top diplomat on the list checking the boxes with key allies in europe plus a delving into the turbulent middle east artie's were an important has more. 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 serious 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 quote 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 burble they support democratic institutions in georgia kyrgyzstan is the country kerry should have said but unfortunately his speech was written with a mistake reporting from new york. r.t.

kerry's first steps will be in major european capitals including london paris and berlin u.s. foreign policy expert john reasonings kerry's mission there will go beyond courtesy calls on traditional nato allies. it's always been very important for the americans to keep the nato alliance together but they always want to keep it together on their own terms it's always been the case for instance the senior commanding officer in nato is from the american armed forces what the americans constantly want to do is to shift the burden of all military intervention on to the european powers but to keep political control over the process and i think that the we've seen a number of times recently especially since the american focus is now beginning to shift towards the pacific to deal with the rising threat of china we are going to the europeans now call him a greater share in respect of policing the arab world and north africa what we're seeing here is an attempt to convince the nato allies that they should pay more but

have no more influence afghan president hamid karzai has ordered us special forces out of the country is ward act province within two weeks the decision may do the allegations of murder and even torture civilians as move comes as nato is readying to hand responsibility for security to local forces by twenty fourteen patricia de janeiro adjunct professor of politics at n.y.u. says even though it looks like afghanistan is willing to go it alone the path is unlikely to be smooth. the wardak province is you know the family is strong the place isn't volatile and i think they're kind of tired as well as most afghans having u.s. forces going in and out of people's houses that are and comment karzai president karzai needs to take care has and the seas definitely president karzai is trying to make a statement and our fact they haven't come to an agreement yet you know there is there's still a little i'm sure power play going on between the u.s. and the president as to who's going to stay who's going to be in charge you know

what kind of numbers they want and how they're going to work but absolutely you know afghan leader is going to have to show that he has a little bit more support throughout the nation and then just his region and within the south there syrian rebels got a new batch of heavy weaponry from outside sponsors across the jordanian border to fight president assad is soaring to arab and rebel officials and coming as renewed efforts to promote peace talks in the syrian conflict appear to have stalled the main opposition group syria's national coalition and it's pulling out of the upcoming international talks aimed at helping end the bloodshed group will skip scheduled meetings in russia and the u.s. over what it calls a lack of international condemnation of the assad regime also boycotting the gathering the friends of syria movement syrian pro reform activist says western groups would be loued could be losing influence over the opposition and the rebels aren't interested in negotiations. they do not want to have any dialogue with the

syrian government because only a strategy based in a sense on the syrian government falling and them coming in as a substitute they do not have a lot of on the ground the also the east for their beliefs rather than the political elite called the national council which received the national commission so all they are interested in is for the government to feel they know that the western society the list of countries have invested a lot in them both in money and time and so on in organizing them and they think that they could probably make a stand here at it with regards to what they see east policy and this is a bit funny because now if he choose to get out of these sort of the international friends of syria meeting then the list of committees really would have no leverage what so live in the syrian crisis. with there being no end in sight for the stalemate in syria women have taken up arms over to our website to find out why for

the first time ever there are one hundred fifty kurdish women set up a female only battalion in the heart of the conflict. also autarky dot com china's economic boom taking its toll on the nation's health the government admitting millions of people could get life threatening diseases due to pollution from fact factories nearby. germany's vowed to renew stalled talks on turkey joining the e.u. as chancellor angela merkel heads there on an official visit increasingly frustrated over a lack of progress in negotiations with the prime minister calling the delay unforgivable oxon writer though a political analyst says the current economic situation in the e.u. could leave turkish citizens without any desire to join the block. we have to see that the european union is no democratic pro-choice it's a political approach a sort of ideological approach because when you ask the people in germany if they wanted to head the euro for example fifteen years ago

a huge majority of the people who were against getting that europe asked the people if they want to send troops to the turkish syrian border they say no the european union is a construct with eight democratic base it's an ideological base and so maybe hopefully we can hope for for the church people that they will have the right to take part at the referendum of zero to a turkish deal membership because i can imagine that for a turkish citizen to see how the european the the whole of the european union did elopes now in the states is doesn't seem very attractive to become a member of that club reading writing and arithmetic what students are supposed to be studying at school but across the u.k. main kids end up learning what's considered to be the trade of an average criminal lives even firearms increasingly found in backpack so more and more people with violence at schools are seeing a sharp rise r.t. sorry for if reports on how the problems being handled. teaches that certain things

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 carrot is not for no for teaching them to say anything about a stark insight into the reality facing some of christian school children despite having one of the best education systems in the world the latest research estimates that up to four peoples a day a court with weapons in british schools guns knives a knuckle dusters just some of the items confiscated by police are. searching the school and. gun to the. gun. and i see this first gun about to fire or 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 is the best approach. is it's just waking up in the morning and going for run yeah after a while it becomes normal to you stephen is now working with us charity x l p thirty nine hundred ninety six after a school stabbing found apache gregan has been helping young people tackle gun culture and violence to 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 in 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 intervene early 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 one that 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 or 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 all they teach is can now say people as if they suspect that carrying a weapon many politicians the still failing. and take notice and until more it's done to address the problem the children who attend these schools will continue to learn these lessons. turn out of some other stories making global headlines this hour at least six

people killed in a militant attack in northeastern nigeria this according to the country's military no suspects have been arrested the region frequently targeted by islamic extremists with local residents putting the blame for the attack on a radical sect. ten soldiers in chad have been killed in arm clashes with rebels in northern mali second incident resulting in shaadi and casualties since friday when thirteen troops died in battle in the same region allied troops from france and african nations have been fighting outside to link islamist rebels since january despite ongoing clashes france claims the operations entered its final stage with paris announcing its readiness to withdraw military presence from the country. will castro reelected by cuba's national assembly for another five year term castro announces libya's final term due to his age and said he's ready to start transferring power to

a younger generation in two thousand and six raul castro took over a presidency from his elder brother fidel the country's leader for more than thirty years. the biggest event of the year for the cinema the graphic world kicked off in los angeles the eighty fifth annual academy awards expected to be less predictable than the galleries usually but critics believe the best picture could go to spy story argo steven spielberg and daniel day lewis could both join the exclusive list of three time oscar winners this year and the actress nomination could be the youngest only this winner with an eighty six year old actress up against a nine year old. after the break technology update looks at some of the gadgets used behind the scenes in preparations for the big twenty fourteen winter olympic games in russia as a resort city of sochi stay with us. well

into the future to the finish as world class athletes descend on sochi brand new a list big venues are kept safe by high tech sensors behind the scenes congestion battling infrastructure digs deep and deals hard to get thousands where they need to be it's a building boom fueled by clean energy while research is pretty new life into gold medal dreams the race is on going to be our day here on. leave the contrary.