the. leisurely area communicate with the wild. test yourself and become free and. see what nature can give you the.

violence and. all signs that the political process is fading.

updates. one of russia's most wanted men the terror suspect. awaits a court decision on his extradition from poland. and the deadly secrets down below our team looks at the efforts to rid the baltic sea of world war two munitions which still pose a danger. broadcasting live from russia's capital moscow this is r t certainly glad to have you with us polls have closed in afghanistan's parliamentary elections after a day marred by reports of voting irregularities and a deadly militant attacks across the country and with the u.s. pledging to pull its troops out of afghanistan by next summer many for the

elections show the country is far from stable and still plagued by corruption policy is in the afghan capital for us. by and large this was certainly not a successful day for afghan democracy there was an extremely ill voter turnout with some polling stations reporting that less than a quarter the number of people turned out today compared to the number of people casting their ballot last year during the presidential elections the first results will come in next week wednesday with the final tape tally been tabled at the end of october but these certainly won't be elections associated with violence more than a thousand polling stations where i'm able to open the doors particularly in far flung rule communities where the taliban has strong control we've also heard some of the electoral complaints commission and it's is that what the course of the day it received numerous reports on irregularities some of the complaints were by people saying that they saw election officials accepting bribes some of the reports

were about the fate of those two cards and also reports are these so-called indelible ink which was supposed to last more than four days and that was supposed to indicate that a person had voted and prevent them from voting a second time but we've heard many stories of people being able to wash off the sink in just a matter of minutes the afghan parliament is meant to be installed early next year but it is reports of a vote rigging in the coming weeks materializing in fact become larger and if many of the two hundred and forty nine candidates who take up seats in the parliament turn out to be the preferred candidates of president hamid karzai people here will feel even listen to music asked him about the political process one of the main reasons for such a low turnout today was violence but the other reason was a lack of enthusiasm and support for an administration that many people feel is corrupt by and large people also feel that this is an administration that by western governments that has not listened to the will of the people the karzai

administration will be for that deal it gets revised by these reports of irregularities and violence it certainly seems as if they haven't been able to stem the violence throughout the course of the day. this will soon is being touted by many on this as a missed opportunity by kamikaze and his sponsors to actually win support from the afghan people and also to win support for a political process here in afghanistan and all his troops mean to leave this country by july of next year they said they will only do so if there is a security system in place that can ensure political stability and security would suit me based on what we saw today this does not seem to be the case and afghanistan can only avoid becoming a failed state if it learns from its past mistakes that's the view of dr abdullah abdullah an afghan opposition leader who was homemade karzai main challenger in the two thousand and nine presidential election. as i had predicted before the presidential elections last year but that if if the same situation frontin you the

situation turned only to tell you date this is exactly what we are witness to in terms of governance issues of corruption rule of law and justice and security and as a whole so this is the these sort of sliding down all the the downward trend or lead to an absolute failure i list a list we look into the mistakes of the past we draw lessons from the mistakes of the past and we give the people of afghanistan back their sense of direction so this is stage the afghan leadership their administrations led by mr karzai it in itself is a misled leadership and then lost sense of direction to the failures of the national government cannot decide to do with more troops from outside more resources from outside more energy and more support from outside this is the situation that afghans are to start with and the international community is also

stuck with. and sticking with this story if afghanistan does fail to become a stable nation it will have serious consequences for other countries in the region that's according to matthew hoh head of the afghan study group i think it's in. every other nation's interest to see a negotiated settlement in afghanistan it's been a proxy war or. a real war in one way or another for the last thirty thirty five years in afghanistan and it has improved nobody's economy as a proof nobody's way of life. i think for nations like the central asian states or russia for china to have issues with their own ethnic minorities or muslim minorities i think it's important for what's happening in afghanistan not the spread across boundaries you are with still to come this hour calls for a change in priorities in u.s. politics. despite an all time high poverty of more than fifty years

these big name seven of the leaders say what america needs is to ban gay marriage to bring god can. we hit the campaign trail for the u.s. midterm elections and to discover what values some think are the most important in these are the economic times. also in the program find out what dangers worked in the depths of the baltic sea that's coming up in just a few minutes. a polish court is due to decide whether to extradite one of russia's most wanted terror suspects is a kind of was detained in warsaw and friday and later released russia is demanding his extradition in connection with atrocities in the north caucuses are. in the polish capital now. it's like i have left this building was district court late on friday night feeling almost like a free man it is hard to say whether he is a free man now as the court as you said is still to decide whether extradite to

russia or anywhere else or not we heard comments from the officials working in this court that according to the country's largest lation that's a kind of has a political refugee status in the u.k. this applies to the whole of the european union and that's why he had to be set free immediately i'd like to remind two of us that he was detained early on friday morning in the polish capital warsaw on charges that he is on the international wanted list by the interpol and that's why the polish authorities had to detain one of russia's most wanted terrorist suspects now many experts in poland have already been very surprised at the decision by this court saying that usually the fact that a person is on an international wanted least is more important than a rescue political refugee status and that's why it is still unclear what fate lies ahead of all in all. eleven criminal acts russia believes

moscow believes that he led militant group in the northern caucasus which was involved in a lot of different crimes from brutal killings to kidnappings in the northern caucasus region also mosco believes that as a kind of was somehow involved in a terrorist attack in most infamous theater siege the north in in moscow which was one of the most painful pages in modern russian history. is definitely one of the most wanted man in russia he was granted political asylum in the u.k. in two thousand and three and ever since most school has been asking london to extradite but so far all the times have been futile this detention in warsaw which happened on friday morning. is the closest mosco got so far to actually get things that drive back to russia for a trial but a so far it is as i've said unclear whether he will be extradited to all the

comments we've heard from the local politicians and authorities say that this decision will not be politicized that poland will act in full accordance with its own law and international legislation and we of course are waiting to hear any developments on the story and the future fate of one of the most wanted man in russia set against a political analyst from the congress and newspaper told us why he thinks poland won't extradite it's a kind of to russia. i think that despite current approach mint and russian poles 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 as you understand poorly shouldn't the ruling elite they also have the only mitigations they have all on domestic agenda and they

can go to friday that so i said this as a sort of get in my old game he sees all the north i think you would not go to russia they were 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 polish authorities had no guts just to arrest him and percent 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. a moment of truth for our relations moment just to see how mature this relations are of course what he's facing just those are very serious accusations but definitely he would be intitled to 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. and there is

much more on many of the stories we're covering on our web site r t v dot com here's a quick look at what else is for you right there right now. set for space the crew of the next mission to the i s s has been confirmed find out who's going and what they'll be doing in orbit after the launch in october. and writing a retro style the russian and ukrainian presidents get behind the wheels of soviet made cars in an international rally. the u.s. is preparing for midterm elections against a background of grim news this week above about the country's and poverty rate but on the campaign trail some parties say it's not finance but family values that should be the priority 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. 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 the stimulus has helped . that's a bit like saying that squirting water from a garden hose helps put up a forest fire 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 hope your.

first one organization says marriage in america is under attack marriage is a fundamental right but 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 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 these issues so important to the masses here a new lobbying group has been formed its aim is that republican 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 district and 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 evan names from an almighty god and then god. confers upon the individual power and then the individual in turn each 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 tea which stands for tax enough already well here in the voters' values on the graph 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 our team. coming up later on r t a special report we travel to one of russia's natural wonders of the astrakhan a nature reserve that's home to more than three hundred species of birds as well as rare fish and plant life. discover its beauty. communicate with the wild. west yourself and become. give you. the injuries work is underway at the bottom of the baltic sea to remove world war two munitions it is expected to take

at least two years to dispose of thousands of mines and mortar shells piled up on a sunken german ship there are. reports. of. cold weather but determined they do want is a man on a mission and that mission is to monitor the state of all german munitions. meeting with militia got visibilities low just a couple of meters their missiles every web somewhere in boxes and tightly packed together the vote could be from world war two it's racks some shells actually laying on the seabed but. one and a half kilometers of shore seventeen meters underwater and ten suddenly sile steel on board this german ship is just one of the many reminders a world war two in the baltics the russian emergences ministry lissome was ninety underwater hotspots in this area alone but only if you have been checked several in europe which you know personally these missiles are very dangerous there are none that have rusted away and become homeless on the contrary some that we take counter

in very good working condition. they some can see it is on the russian emergences minister to do list but with money tight and bureaucracy alone 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 to return. poort would alter paedos and then captain valeri or motion knows only too well the dangers he says the d.p. and that goes the bigger the trouble it can bring out. but once a fisherman from our village at thirty six missiles in his net he was fishing near it's head on keep him brought the multiple t's they put all the missiles right on the deck what else could you do still relatively small in size the baltics is the most densely mined area with around one hundred fifty some of the unisons to bear it down the clock is ticking louder now as time and seawater are against the

residents sees the whole area could be helped by a sudden explosion unless that doesn't matter as i take it exactly what's wrong artsy. let's have a quick look at some other international news for you now thousands have gathered to protest against the pope benedict's visit to the u.k. they slammed the church over the sex abuse chill of sexual abuse excuse me of children by priests and other issues the pontiff met with five victims of clerical abuse and expressed his deep sorrow he said the scandal had heaped shame and humiliation upon the catholic church it's being seen as the strongest apology yet. b.p. is waiting for just one more pressure test before its ruptured well in the gulf of mexico can finally be declared sealed for good cement has been poured into the well head after a relief drill reached it on friday the oil leak has been plugged by a temporary cap since mid july the explosion at the deepwater horizon rig in april

killed eleven workers leading to the worst offshore oil spill in u.s. history. tens of thousands have been protesting in berlin against the government's plans to keep the nation's nuclear power stations running for another twelve years the seventeen plants were to be shut down by twenty twenty one but german chancellor angela merkel wants to extend their lifespan polls suggested the majority of germans are against the move and in favor of the use of renewable energy. torrential rains have caused rivers across slovenia in central europe to burst their banks flooding in some areas has forced residents to flee their homes several roads are closed to traffic in the capital. more heavy rain is expected overnight. and coming up in about ten minutes time join martin andrews as he shows us how to enjoy the far east in the russian capital with this weekend's entertainment guide.

caustically you see the explosion. started by for example. sergio remarks about. the subject of secrecy in. this week's moscow. but before we join a. team we return to a story we've been following closely here at r.t. the nuclear arms reduction treaty between russia and the u.s. in washington it is still unclear whether there will be enough republican support for the ratification of the agreement former u.s. senator gary hart is among those who call for president obama's opponent to put political grudges aside for the safety of the world. caught up with gary hart.

it's time for the senate to. the title of the letter signed by some top former. senators including gary hart thank you so much for joining. a few days ago i heard

ambassador richard byrd say and that is. it had to be enough republican president submitting this treaty the strategic arms reduction treaty for ratification it would have already been ratified i mean no doubt it's been a bumpy ride for the for the trade in the senate but in your opinion how much of that was about the actual treaty and how much about republicans trying to make a point to the democrats well over the course of my active lifetime involved in arms control issues the pattern has been the republican presidents get much quicker ratification easier ratification of arms control treaties for example president reagan then democratic presidents and one would have hoped after the end of the cold war fifteen or more years ago that partisan approach to arms control would not still prevail but i'm afraid it still does and the questions about the treaty or all coming or virtually all coming from the republican party so i think

those of us who signed the letter in the opinion piece or hoping former secretary of state george shultz and senator hagel are hoping that we can encourage bipartisan support for this treaty and hopefully at least some republican senators will support it mr hart american officials have more than once told the senate that the treaty in no way limits the ability of the united states to deploy missile defenses and you know when it wants and where it was the senate foreign relations committee include at that point in their resolution but the russians seem to understand this type between offensive and defensive weapons in the treaty as legally binding are we lost in translation or is it just me well i hope not the treaties can never be ironclad in the sense of.

absolutely eliminating ambiguity the language is language and people from with starting with different language base have different meaning for words but the order of diplomacy in the school would almost diplomacy is to overcome those language differences and to have a common understanding of exactly what crucial terms mean and i think of the time with the ratification is completed here in the united states hopefully successfully there will be a clear understanding on our part and on the part of the russian government as to what those terms mean and that's the best we can hope for mr hardee let me explain this a couple of days ago i went i went up to rose go to motive there the key u.s. negotiator on start after the press conference and i asked her about this whole debate to on the connection between offensive and safe weapons there in the train she said yes but the treaty acknowledges that time as a fact and not as an obligation so it is supposed to make sense in legal speak but

i honestly don't understand because russians do seem to see it as says legally binding as something legally binding which americans don't see it such what do you make of it the skill of bill's teams is such that they would have. had a negotiating record that clarified this issue so you think they do have an understanding is that outsiders say they have to or or they have to agree to disagree that is to say you interpret it this way will interpret it that way but that's a very. tricky way to approach these things because it just leads to ambiguity slater i have to believe not having participated that there is a common understanding on this apart from that any real concerns about the treaty among senators. touch upon well clearly the republicans.

i have. concerns some of them genuine i think others less genuine. there is still i think for many of us not the kind of. understanding. by americans of russia and russia its government and where it's headed that we would like. but and i think from the russian side there is still confusion as to why. we have not developed stronger ties in the last fifteen or twenty years i'm not clear clear on that myself i think we should of but. as time goes on hopefully the questions that are being raised again primarily on the republican side will be satisfied at the end of the day there will be a vote on the treaty people will have to vote for it or against it and those who vote against it are going to have to justify why they voted against it and why it makes.