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and discover it's easy. to. communicate with the wyoming. test yourself and become free to. see what nature can give you the. first. sweden's parliamentary elections strained the country's democratic tradition with

candidates from a far right party claiming they've been attacked and deny freedom of speech. and other stories that have shaped the week russia awaits a decision on the extradition of one of its most wanted terror suspects from where he was detained on friday but later released. and russia and norway reach an agreement that borders in the energy rich parents putting an end to a forty year dispute over the water that. we are running down the top stories of today and this week here on r.t. welcome to the program sweden is holding general elections with the ruling coalition expected to win most seats in the parliament but a controversial far right party is so far winning most of the headlines the sweden democrats party demands

a shop immigration cuts saying it will ease the pressure on the country's welfare system and with a real chance of them winning seats some of the candidates have been attacked and others denied their right to free speech. investigates from the city of mt. it's one of europe's oldest democracies but the lead up to the election in sweden has been anything but democratic candidates from the right wing sweetened democrats have been harassed and allegedly by young people from going. there have been several cases which passed with a notice but now it's starting to become known we're a big party is getting more attention it's horrible that it should happen during an election campaign it's a threat to swedish democracy. this weekend democrats are controversial they believe the government's immigration policy in recent years has been a failure allowing large numbers of migrants to live in enclaves where they don't

learn swedish creating tension between diverse ethnic groups and draining the welfare system the s.d. would severely limit immigration and encourage migrants who won't assimilate to go home that's led to them being branded nazis by left wing groups this is one meeting that was allowed to go ahead but in the days leading up to the election the sweden democrats were forbidden from campaigning like this with the police saying they couldn't guarantee their safety s. d. candidate nina cain says that's tantamount to the state guaranteeing free speech with one hand but taking it away with the other and she knows all about threats to her personal safety last week she came home to find just swastika daubed on her front door so of course. i'm not scare it. makes me angry because it's one of the things that.

we in this party. they didn't. used to be you can say what you want to. reckon she's. a fellow s.t. candidate in a scene reminiscent of a film was tortured by youths in his house held down while the swastika was carved on his forehead he told the police he told them speaking arabic in a town like malmo where thirty percent of the population was born abroad this week democrats have attracted significant support among the swedish born population the latest polls put their popularity nationwide at seven point six percent enough to win twenty six parliamentary seats out of three hundred forty nine henning's a political candidate in the nearby town of. doesn't agree with the message this week democrats are pushing out but thinks it's important they should be allowed to

speak we do have. pretty good it's. people. in public of course we can tolerate that here in this country. so even if other political parties have said they won't work with the sweden democrats even if they do get elected to parliament so it's not just threats to their safety that the s.t. candidates have to worry about they're already discussing what to do. how to keep us out anyway and what about. its people. there. so. this weekend's election is likely to result in the sweet democrats winning. is likely to be

a divisive. politics. the other parties have to decide. how they're prepared to deal with this group they've tried so hard to ignore and ordinary people will have to decide whether they free. play a role. have already. there is much more ahead for you this hour and here is what's to come. in just a few. being cut off from the outside world for one hundred. future space expeditions. for you right here. a polish court to decide whether to extradite one of russia's most wanted terrorist

suspects. was detained in warsaw on friday on an international arrest warrant but later released. reports for us from the polish capital. two days before. the polish media was speculating over whether one of russia's most wanted terrorist suspects who was also. would be detained just after he landed in warsaw. by the polish. to. the world. which is taking place and. it was impossible to ignore he would be making a public splash so therefore the polls had to act because they do have to their european partners to the systems legal systems they belong to and i think that's what. the. immunity provided by his

political refugee status made his own way to the prosecutor's office where he was detained. he said poland was not his enemy and that he wanted to find out for himself why he is wanted something few in moscow believed. we heard was heading to poland to turn himself into the prosecutor's office why he could go to the prosecutor's office in britain or any other country if he wanted to but he did it in poland so my theory is that it might be aimed at soaring the improving relations between moscow and warsaw. poland has to consider whether to be extradited to russia and no matter how hard warsaw try to de politicize this issue . 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. experts knew from the very start the decision would

not be free of mind games as you understand. they also have their own limitations they have all but mystic agenda and they can go too far and and definitely i think this is. a moment of truth for our relations. has been one of russia's most wanted since two thousand and two it is now that he walks in an elegant suit but just a decade ago he was the leader of a chechen militant group and he is believed to have been involved in a string of atrocities in north caucasus from brutal killings to good things moscow says it has proved it was one of the masterminds of the more school theater siege in two thousand and two which led to more than one hundred deaths however in two thousand and three he received political asylum in britain and all attempts by russia to extradite him for trial have been futile the polish courts as we all know

considering the sex tradition request as they legally must will review that. also review the basis of the decisions taken in the u.k. which granted him asylum and asylum proved. after the polish prosecutor general's office filed a request to keep him behind bars for at least forty days or so as district court ruled that political refugee status meant more than the fact he is internationally wanted and he was immediately released on friday night walked out the doors of warsaw as district court feeling like a free man the question is is whether he will be able to go home or will be extradited to any other country a polish court says it may take several more days to deliver a decision on the fate of one of russia's most wanted criminals and. reporting from warsaw in poland turning our attention to afghanistan where at least fourteen people were killed in a string of attacks on saturday when the country voted in parliamentary elections

ballot counting is under way amid fraud allegations and reports of irregularities as correspondent paula reports for us in kabul. overnight the afghan capital was quiet and they have been no new incidents of violence reported although as you say at the close of election day saturday at least fourteen people were confirmed dead the televen carried out more than thirty bombing attacks in a statement an e-mail that said it had targeted and hit some one hundred and fifty polling stations around the country we're hearing from afghan officials that little more than a third of the voting population turned out to bridges to the vote and we're also hearing from the free and fair election foundation of afghanistan that they recorded some two hundred and twenty four incidents of serious intimidation they seem to have been problems particularly in the eastern provinces of afghanistan where there were virtually no female electoral staff and as

a result women particularly in conservative communities were unable to come forward and crossed their ballot in addition to the more than one thousand voting stations that were unable to open because of intimidation and threats from the taliban the foundation has also recorded a further one thousand five hundred and eighty four voting stations that opened their doors late because of problems in the whole mechanisms of organizing the selection we're also hearing and we've reported extensively on this on the and he fooled problems that we face primarily by the so-called indelible ink that could be washed off in many cases in just a matter of minutes and also cases of fake voter id cards in one example there was a car that was found with one thousand six hundred fake voter cards so these have been some of the problems that are coming forward and will continue to come forward in the coming days preliminary results are expected on the eighth of october although it will take several weeks for the final results to be tabled now the

afghan government particularly president hamid karzai and his international backers have been at pains to point out the success of this election but it depends according to what yardstick you measure success. yes and the yardstick they've been using is as many people here say extremely low they say is that you regularity is our inevitable they say that the violence of the su was less than of was last year during the presidential elections and they say that this election of the two hundred and forty nine parliamentary members will not be as corrupt or as difficult as it was last year having said that though there are many observers many analysts and a lot of afghans themselves who say that these elections cannot be called democratic in the west and sense of democracy the fact that so few people turned out to vote does not give legitimacy to the parliament which is due to take its seats early next year. well the democratic process is failing in afghanistan that's the view of the. afghan opposition leader who was hamid karzai as

a main challenger in the two thousand and nine presidential election he says his country must learn from past mistakes to avoid an inevitable collapse. as i had predicted before the presidential elections last year but that if the same situation frontin you this situation can only do to 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 a the sort of sliding down the the downward trend to 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 the administration led by mr katter say 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 sources 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 it it's nearly quarter past the hour here in moscow you are with r.t. and bear in mind you can find more on the stories we're covering on our website. and here's a quick look at what else are waiting for you right now and you can find out what dangers lurk in the depths of the baltic sea and the efforts being made to make the waters safe. the remains of an eighteenth century russian emperor who was ousted from power in childhood and spent his life in solitary confinement.

this week russia and norway signed an arctic border agreement resolving a decades long territorial dispute the treaty created a maritime boundary in the energy rich barents sea and divided a disputed area roughly half the size of germany the deal is expected to boost offshore exploration in a region rich with reserves of oil and natural gas. rushing in the weeds and leaders aglow in from satisfaction what president dmitri medvedev and prime minister yen stoltenberg have achieved is a huge relief for their nations. it took us forty years to arrive at this agreement it's a long time but this event must certainly turn a new page in our bilateral relations the area which stretches over one hundred seventy five thousand kilometers in the bering sea has been a bone of contention between the neighboring countries since the nine hundred

seventy s. but this wasn't simply a territorial he'd containing vost oil and gas reserves prophet has also been at the center of this peat but with an unclear border no one could even start the serious exploration circle in this issue moscow knows les have done with been impossible for decades and that some say because they need to boost their coffers and reserves but actually both in russia and in always going to. need new fields and new big. to develop in this dispute it is a. place that is promising to demonstrate in good will incorporate and with a nato member russia still like openly opposed to the alliances military presence in the region. or. the arctic's natural resources have nothing to do with nato it's a zone for economic cooperation and military presence will create additional issues here the signing comes in it's rising tension between the five arctic states which

also include canada denmark and the united states over who owns water in this lucrative region moscow knows they have showed how to return to feuds can be resolved very important from the point of view of. the russian strategy which i would call to ease tensions there on the russian borders the treaties yet to be ratified by russian and the region parliaments something the two leaders predict. will be done by new year some experts estimate the waters of the bering sea tied as much as a quarter of the planet's seabed all and get resources but for years to police corpse and sea bass treasure has remained there then buried now with russia in no way finally sinking their long running feud the two maritime powers are finally ready to make some headway what's been causing troubles for decades will soon start bringing in profits record ocean r t in the bering sea becoming to live from the

russian capital this is r.t. and coming your way in next hour gangster wars in the heart of moscow we bring you the story of an attempt on the life of russia's notorious mafia kingpin and look at the possible motives for the violence. the treaty between russia and the u.s. that would see both countries cut their nuclear arsenals is going to the american senate for approval however there are fears that republican politicians are opposing the treaty known as start just to deny the obama administration a political victory. the start treaty got the green light from the senate foreign affairs committee and is heading for the senate floor this treaty will make america more secure it will assist us in moving towards the goal of less nuclear threat and for that reason we're probably actually took today it's been a bumpy ride this five months of hearings and the resolution that the senators passed reflects that they put all their concerns in one package among them the time

between offensive and defensive weapons senators clarified the treaty in no way is an obstacle for the u.s. plans to deploy defense systems american officials say at the same way it commits us to continue to develop the ability to be able to protect our people and to have a robust missile defense system but russians do take the time mentioned in the treaty quite seriously they see the new start as an agreement based on equality and balance and if that balance is shifted or disturbed they say they can pull out. but both russian and american leaders are very eager to have this treaty in place they say it's an example for others to follow and the door into future cooperation in security something that the hands of to france of both countries reaffirmed this wednesday when they mad in washington d.c. but some in washington say there are hurdles related to the ratification are not so much about the details of the treaty but about republicans trying to make

a point to the democrats one of the problems is good old fashioned red meat paul politics the republicans don't you just can't resist this opportunity to say well you know the democrats are weak on national security and that's one of the real barriers that the obama administration faces here i have no doubt whatsoever if we had a republican administration this this treaty would be already radical the paradox is that the number of republicans who had passed the fight for the. treaty outnumbers democrats on top of that the u.s. military officials are unanimous in their support of the deal something that many experts are pointing out here senators ten express their concerns but they can't really change the trading they can either ratified or not and judging by what senators were saying this thursday they surely will the question is when i'm going to check out on our t.v. reporting from washington d.c. . and former u.s.

senator gary hart says some republican opposition to the treaty may just be because of a lack of understanding you can catch the whole interview with him next hour right here on r.t. . will clearly the republicans. have. concerns some of them genuine i think others last year when. 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 have but. as time goes on hopefully the questions are being raised again primarily on the republican side will be satisfied at the end of

the day there will be a boat on the treaty people will have to vote for it or against it. those who vote against it are going to have to justify why they voted against it and why it makes us more secure not to have a treaty then if we had the treaty and it's a very hard burden to carry. six men taking part in an experiment simulating a trip to mars have set a new record they've spent over one hundred days can find in a sealed spacecraft like capsule the longest time so far for the projects of this kind and they've still got over four hundred days left to go in this ultimate test of human in durance reports. ordinary life but in an extraordinary setting this is the crew of the mars five hundred experiment going about their daily business they've been locked in their

mock up space module through over a hundred days now psychologists are watching for signs of stress or tension or would be they're willing to make the experiments in psychology are quite exciting the way they communicate with the control center and in particular the techs they write for radio communications and emails are important sources for psychologists who see their mental state and the way they're interacting. the six men entered the voluntary isolation back in june simulating the estimated five hundred twenty day voyage to mars mock mars landing and the trip back. the modules here in the institute of biomedical research in moscow are designed to mimic the conditions of such a journey minus the zero gravity and the physical distance as well as that the idea that they're traveling to mars and back is strongly cultivated but with the real world and not deep space just outside the door. how realistic appropriation is this

for a future mars mission. because. of course this is not perpetration for a mission to mars that is out of the question there is no group and program a search however some aspects such as conference place in limited communication are practiced here the results of such study mean later proven porton darley for space missions but for areas like polar exploration or of people have to spend a lot of time a little groups in isolated spaces. as well as going without outside contact the crew is also being denied female company others to likes of mariners or polar explorers have to spend long periods with only males psychologists here taking the opportunity to see what effects it may have. is your duty has its share in this of course perhaps the absence of women contributes to more irritability or even aggression it is totally up to our psychologists to smooth over any problems. much

research work is being done on board which keeps the crew focused and motivated progress maps are updated daily and there's an artificial time delay of up to twenty minutes for all outside communications to account for the distance from earth for another four hundred eighteen days the staff here will monitor the crew through these cameras twenty four hours a day every day if problems do occur to be most likely after about nine months but in this unique experiment it's so far so good. most of the. nuclear nonproliferation poverty will be among the issues being tackled by the un general assembly in new york this week r.t. asked people in the city what results they expect from the session. the u.n. general assembly is opening up. here in new york city and the agenda that meant to

be attended by the world's most prominent leaders is the world's most important meeting or just another annoyance for new york city this week let's talk about that to do with the same thing year after year i was excited back in the seventy's when when carter was making his big push for everything and. then went back the same sort of thing and now everyone who comes in thinks that they can fix it from my experience the computer say communique. never the same face to face. different situation. if you give a civil i probably won't accomplish anything at all and it probably is just another chance to tell everybody hey we're here look we're doing and do nothing. and in the meantime they take up a parking space there's traffic or everybody congestion kind of stuff. by looking forward to it i tell you what do you think is important for them to talk about this year.