to have your say on spotlight or have someone in mind you think i should to be next started just drop me a line at al gore enough. and let's keep the show interact will be back with more free time comments on what's going on in and outside russia until then stay on our team and take it it as .

afghanistan hit by deadly blasts on parliamentary election day as authorities struggle to secure the country while many voters stay away i made threats for.

one of russia's most wanted terrorist suspects arrested and released in warsaw awaiting a court's decision on his extradition. and find out what danger lies at the bottom of the baltic sea is art he reveals the world war two relics that still cause problems. plus here at the sochi economic forum it's all about making money from innovation who but it's tell us about the markets all told the pope these votes in russia in twenty minutes. midday in moscow i match president good to have you with us here on r t these are our top stories parliamentary elections in afghanistan have been marred by militant

attacks and threats of more violence from the taliban several people are reported dead in separate attacks across the country while there are also been rocket attacks in kabul and jalalabad artie's paullus leader has a way to us from the afghan capital. since the polling stations opened in the early hours of this morning a grim picture here in afghanistan in terms of security it was a massive explosion here in the capital city of kabul hours before those first stations opened no reports of injuries we're also hearing no reports of injuries regarding the rocket attacks in the south in the city of kandahar and there has also been a direct hit on a polling station in the east in jalalabad we are now hearing him in any reports of a rocket attack in the north we're hearing that one person there has been killed but as of yet we've been unable to confirm this so certainly a grim picture in several problems around the country and this is just a few hours after the potence station is opened tens of thousands of afghan police and security forces are in the streets manning those polling stations they are back to not want myself the foreign forces of us morning we drove several polling

stations here in kabul you can notice this heavy security presence there are certainly a lot more roadblocks than they were for example yesterday but this is here in the city when you move further into the rule areas and we're talking here of some four thousand rural villages where polling stations are trying to run smoothly today so they're the threats by the taliban and insurgency groups will play a bigger role among the first people to cast his ballot today was president karzai he urged afghans to come out and have they say we're also hearing from the independent electoral commission they say that the paper ration for this election have been more efficient than they were last year during the presidential election that was marred by reports and allegations of massive fraud and the two main concerns of these elections are that fraud and security already twenty four people have to be revealed in election related violence in the run up to these elections i looked at the phenomenon of security and what impact it would have on afghans in the following report the symbol of the afghan election more than a quarter of

a million afghan police to protect those brave enough to defy the teller but we ourselves have received e-mails from the taliban saying that they planned attacks countrywide on the on the day of the vote and that they are targeting both voters and election workers it's nothing new even in the last election. the taliban did not kill anybody for that but but do you or do you want to beat him you were around it up you were insulted those parliamentary elections were held five years ago and they brought to power former warlords and their followers but if mitt had been excited to take part now he's just grateful to be alive. i went with my family to an election station when we got there there were people with guns they wanted us to vote for their person they said if you don't vote for us we will hurt you they could see who we voted for and when they realized it was for someone else very

badly. and here is one of those voting stations as you can see armed gunmen at the entrance who are these people they're going to leave the security area because why just how dangerous chemical. or something sometimes it will be. are you going to be very same you know. because i don't trust anybody and seven in ten afghans agree they'll be staying away when he could go back to the edge this nk which still exists on the. finger will not go in ninety two hours will not go away so people don't think that the little guys at least twenty four people including four candidates have already been killed in one of election related violence politicians campaigners and candidates have also been kidnapped a thousand of the nearly seven thousand voting stations will not open their doors if you cannot make secure the area off for one day

a lot of question will arise one hundred fifty thousand forward to today and the six who doesn't have gone or. these former fighters are among the few who feel safe enough to brave the streets on election day. i have to accept the violence and voting for my future. so the fight now is for real political change. but it seems that most afghans are so disillusioned in their politicians they feel the battles are not worth the risk of stepping foot outside their home on saturday so what people will be looking at today is whether or not the government together with its international backers is in fact able to start off the threats coming from organizations such as the taliban most afghans do believe in the electoral process i mean these are the four few elections that have been held in this country since the fall of the taliban back in two thousand and one they do believe that these elections are a way to keep checks on the almost seemingly limitless power of president karzai

administration and also the reports of corruption that come out of that administration but there is a lot of apathy there is also a lot of pessimism in terms of what has been achieved since the last parliamentary elections five years ago there are two hundred forty nine seats that people are voting for there are more than three thousand candidates standing there are a number of seats that have been specifically reserved for women twenty five seats there are three hundred women standing so that is also one of the focuses of the scene and a chance to empower women here in afghanistan but security remain a number one concern more than one thousand out of six thousand eight hundred polling stations have been forced to keep their doors closed because of security concerns. stay with us here on r t still ahead we hit the campaign trail for the u.s. midterm elections. like an all time high in comedy in more than two years at these big names there but if they want to make. it to ban gay marriage to bring god back and. find out what values of u.s.

voters put at the top of the list in times of crisis it's coming your way in a few moments. first though one of russia's most wanted terrorist suspects who was detained in poland on friday at an international arrest warrant has been released in the next few days the court will determine whether i should be extradited to russia following moscow's demand to hand him over artie's alexei or chef he is following developments in warsaw. walked out of this very building warsaw as district court late on friday night after the court decided that it cannot keep in detention any longer the court justified this decision saying that. has a political refugee status in the u.k. and this status applies to the whole of the european union and that's why as a kind of had to be released it is really hard to say now whether this decision was somehow influenced by his lawyers any kind of bail but what we've heard from the officials in the court is that if i had to be released because of his political

refugee status now i would like to remind to our viewers that one of russia's top wanted terror suspects was detained in warsaw early on friday morning after he came here to attend the third old world congress of the chechen people and as long as archive has an international arrest warrant issued on him he is wanted by the interpol he was detained in a war still for questioning in the local prosecutor's office now they have been lots of comments coming from the officials in poland concerning the fate of the concerning concerning whether he would be extradited to russia including comments from the country's prime minister don't. going to the prosecutor general tells me they have no choice but to start extradition procedures but these procedures do not mean an instant extradition and the russian side shouldn't necessarily hope for a decision that will satisfy the media is now speculating here in poland where the can leave the country as we heard from the representative of the district court in

war so that is free to leave the country we know that he is now attending the congress of the chechen people obviously the mission which he came here for and we still expecting any news whatsoever on the whether he will be extradited or not and whether he can leave the country or not it's been a tough battle for moscow to persuade other countries that must be extradited since as i was. into the political asylum in the u.k. and at the same time he was placed on the most wanted list in russia he is accused of atrocities in the north caucasus region including many different horrible things terror attacks in the caucasus region including a terror attack in moscow in the theater siege the nord-ost theater siege which took place in moscow believes that as a cry of has his involvement in that attack as well he is good friends with buddies because of ski another person who is wanted in russia for money laundering and fraud and ever since the these two were placed on most wanted list by most school

russia has been trying to persuade the u.k. for these two to be extradited but so far these attempts have been futile and both remain in political asylum an asylum in the u.k. indeed this situation when he was detained in poland is the closest so far most got to getting back to russian holding trial over him but this story is yet unclear and whether he will be extradited to moscow is still unclear. sergei stroke on a political analyst from the commerce newspaper tells us why he thinks poland will not extradite after russia. i think that despite current approach mint and russian polish relations and despite russia strong pledge pledges to extradite him i don't think that we expect him to come back to russia i personally would be very surprised if he's extradited for simple reason that still this is a very politically charged issue and the as you understand poorly should the ruling

elite they also have the only limitation is they have all on domestic agenda and they can go to friday so i see at this as a sort of get in mouth game you see this all in all i think you would not gold rush they were a subgroup conflicting reports some said that he was not informed that he might be arrested but i think the reason is that he simply understood that port authorities had no guts just to arrest him and to send him to russia and in fact it was proved yes to do and polish prime minister said that russia should not go to fly in its expectations definitely i think this is is a moment of truth for our relations moment just to see how much you are this relations while asking polish side just to send like i have to moscow we make it ourselves clear that he's not going to go into now much he's not going to face kind of reports of course of what he's facing this those are very serious accusations

but definitely he would be intitled to the best lawyers and the case would be fully transparent and it would come under close scrutiny of international community of international human rights activists so i don't understand why such a big fuss or what that's why he can go to russia can be extradited. turning to the u.s. political scene the preparations are underway for midterm elections against a backdrop of more grim news for the economy good news this week for the country's economy but on the campaign trail for some parties it's not finance but family values that should be the top priority artie's christine has been following the conservative values voter summit. they say they came to take america back it isn't our values our shared timeless values that have changed has it it's our leaders that have changed in campaign like speeches they criticized among other things president obama the white house tries to argue that

their stimulus has helped. that's a bit like saying that squirting water from a garden hose helps put the forest fire up one day after staggering numbers were released from the u.s. census bureau showing a more than fourteen percent increase of those living below the poverty line powerful organizations and big name politicians came out to spread this message you cannot divorce the social issues from the fiscal and financial issues so just what are these pressing social issues like anything else everything's great help if you are you know very. first one organization says marriage in america is under attack but marriage is a fundamental right there is not a fundamental right to marry whoever you want our government our policies have always regulated who you marry or who you may not you know the national organization of marriage wants to keep it that way in other words no gay marriage and speaking of gays tradition family and property works to keep them out of the

military when you fight for freedom shouldn't you also want to have freedom. obviously we have we have to fight for freedom and freedom does not mean license to do whatever you want and these issues so important to the masses here a new lobbying group has been formed its aim is that. elected officials to get them to put social issues back at the top of their agenda these are elected officials they were sent to washington to represent the people in their districts in their states many of these people the bottom line is they can't pay their mortgage they don't have a job shouldn't that be the number one focus the thing is is that the issue of the middle class that's the main issue at stake here the middle class has a number of priorities it's the main class that is the emphasis for social issues well you heard it here first the middle class cares most about social issues a month there is one issue even more important to the participants here god hala

emanates from an almighty god and then god him stirs upon the individual power and then the individual in turn confirms up portion of that power on the government reserving all the remainder of the power to themselves for the last two years the most out of the conservative movement have come from the tea party key which stands for enough already but here at the voters values that i met her mouth a turning point that things are changing that despite an all time high in poverty in more than fifteen years at these big name conservative leaders say what america needs is to ban gay marriage to bring god back into. the boarding in washington christine right now are. if you were to go fishing in the baltic sea you might be surprised by what you rio and thousands of world war two mines and mortar shells remain on the seabed and are still considered a risk artie's oxide only how to over reports on the efforts to make the area safe

. cold word but determined to do are does a man on a mission and that mission is to monitor the state of all german munitions. he was murdered at the visibilities load just a couple of meters their missiles every web somewhere in boxes and tightly packed together the boat could be from world war two it's wrecked some shells actually laying on the seabed near but. one and a half kilometers of shore seventeen meters underwater and turned suddenly sile still on board this german ship is just one of the many reminders a world war two in the baltics the russian emergencies ministry list some was ninety underwater hotspots in this area alone but only a few have been checked several in a little bit with you know both of these missiles are very dangerous there are none that have rusted away and become homeless on the contrary some that we take out here in very good working condition. they some can ship is on the russian

emergencies ministry to do list but with money tight and bureaucracy lawn and complicated it's not something that can be done quickly and while they wait local fishermen feel the weapons will still get their chance to fulfill their deadly role boats have been known to return to port with altered paedos in their nets captain valeri or motion knows only too well the dangers he says the deeper you ned goes the bigger the trouble it can bring out. once a fisherman from our village had thirty six missiles in his net he was fishing near its head on cape and broke the multiple t's they put all the missiles right on the deck what else could you do though relatively small in size the baltics is the most densely mined area with around one hundred fifty some of the new missions to bury there the clock is ticking a lot and now it's time and seawater are against the residents of policies the whole area could be helped by a sudden explosion unless the urgent matters are taken advantage of control are. to

islam or the other international stories now that are making headlines across the globe united nations has launched an appeal for an additional one point five billion dollars to help pakistan recover from july's floods the worst ever to hit the country the money's needed to help millions of people affected and prevent the crisis from worsening floodwaters are still moving across the country even more people homeless. drill boring a rescue a hole has finally reached the thirty three trapped chilean miners stuck underground since early august the government says that if all goes to plan then the miners could be free as early as november they were trapped when the main access tunnel to the san jose copper and gold mine collapsed tributes were paid to the men in the capital of santiago chile and marks the two hundredth anniversary of its independence from spain. thousands of people in india and kashmir have defied an indefinite curfew and marched in the funeral procession of a protester who was shot by police the entire valley has been under around the

clock curfew for six days india sent troops to kashmir on friday after arisan angry separatist protests in the region anti india sentiments are high in the indian administered kashmir where nearly one hundred protesters have died since. the deadly tropical storm karo is heading toward central mexico breathe with it threat of more rain and floods two people were killed when the first major hurricane of the atlantic season struck the mexican coast nine people have been killed and more than eighty thousand people had their homes damaged in severe flooding in southern mexico over the last month. yulia bokova joins us next with all the latest business news stay with us here on r.t. . hungry for the full story we've gone to. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers on. time

to have a look at the world of business a very warm welcome innovation partnership technology these are the key themes of the sort change or national investment forum which is into its second day the forum has attracted over six thousand business representatives from russia and other countries and we continue to bring you the top speak us and issues from sochi which is also hosting the twenty fourteen winter olympics.

and now i'm joined live by business archies nicholas bull who is at the forum hello nic thanks for joining us so. you are talking software. well as a result you're the former is about innovation how to stimulate it to make products from it and then how to make money from it there in the case of marcus off the bat would be a great deal of money to discuss these issues with me is the president of mark felt in russian nikolai previously like rejoining is the russian government sprit must be following the developments but it's not me it's with. it it's the center it's cold but for instance is that the right way to go about we believe you should be able for all you know people approaching russia because you have this intellect. but i'm told in russia it's a very good the root of the key issue a lot of bright people but right know russia is not using it and not and i think that such projects can stimulate such development but i believe that it should

be all the school could be a lot of different approaches to stimulate to innovation sim russia and one of them by the way is just to improving productivity here in russia using innovations in each part of their business in each industry you know the truth productivity russia will be involved in the scope of what extent we have discussing death right now we have a number of projects to support you know with you for start ups in russia we're using our work we're giving giving all the software to the young companies in russia and they are helping them to look for development to do to become a real player something to market and we have some other initiatives including our research and development center and we believe that's called who could be a good place for us to develop what's the most important element of that you get tax breaks rules to do with all the companies was going to leave that the biggest advantage is this concentration of their. company in the center and in this case of

course microsoft being good leader in eighty eight in sweden trying to grow we can russia should be such centers which were full force for the russian market we believe that in russia the market has a very good potential for growth according to analysts during this three years it will be approximately seventy percent growth of russian market starting to be slowly in these first years and growing more and of course we as a microsoft want to use it and we want to grow more fully with the market we want to grow it off market so our strategy is to increase our share of the total market the forum here can seem a little bit like a talking show but you'll actually signing contracts exactly we're using for a number of years such as for various. actively beneath the surface right now we have first of all signing contracts with the reach of yesterday we got a number of signatures and just right now after all free to be able to sign the contract with the cost of our reach and so it's. it's a serious contract and of course the opportunity to meet all four people has of the

reach of the government that's all there has to be can surprise is i think is that really it's very so you can never get this concentration sample in some events or even in most of the biggest because even in moscow it will take you a number of days to be told these customers and try to sign deals with be clients here we've got close appraisal of people that can do it effectively now looking at microsoft as a pool strong in the first year was all this and you were going to pick through the first quarter sort of pull your results into in general we believe that we we're strong right when we have for we said municipal window someone very successful launch people like you to continue to buy but we just launched a new office twenty town and then there are a number of other four products so it seems to me that those investments which we were making in crisis time to this you know facial entry you know our products that we would be operating on but saying that of course we don't give any guidance on

country but you think the sherpas might be hiking their shareholders would be confident in their strategy of microsoft to invest in that we should deliver a good product and that's exactly what what was happening during the last months of the year so the new products are coming from customers like it's gifts i think shareholders including myself they're called today and of course this new idea for the join the club for computing where microsoft is. focusing on becoming a leader i think also he said there are folks ok we have to leave the. b.s. because christine mark so far thank you very much for you. nicholas full thank you very much for this indeed technicals for is bringing us the latest from the international investment forum which is unfolding in sorts. the investment forum has already been a success with a number of business deals being signed russians crossed into our region has signed

contracts with both russian and for going to us just ocean in five point three billion dollars i would take a three metro cash and carry a little seed bank or among those willing to participate in the region's development fultz fog and is currently in talks with russia's comm they could god's plans to take a final decision on kolb rating with the automotive engineering group by the end of this year. the representative of one top company which flew into sort she is the head of commercial jets buying he thinks there will be enough to munch to sell one thousand jets on the russian market over the next two decades but if you look at the ever russia a big country a lot of space to cover you look at your plate traffic it grows about what i have time g.d.p. is that you can grow as you'll see more traffic more traffic will drive more airplanes i think the other thing that will drive the is the fact that there are a lot of their place in the fleet and they have to be replaced that's how we come up with a number that.