it.

all. a longstanding territorial dispute has sparks flying between moscow and tokyo. japan has recalled its ambassador to russia amid a diplomatic dispute following president medvedev his visit to the far eastern russian territory of the korea law and. the democratic process is supposed to be

a check on corporate power and instead what we're seeing is perforations hijacking that system in order to funnel money so the u.s. votes in midterm elections with opinion polls putting republicans in the strong position but many fear massive corporate funding has put democracy endanger. and triumph on science and human endeavor the international space station marks a decade as a mad mission as critics do not results from to multi billion dollar project. you're watching r t coming to you live from the russian capital welcome to the program well first off scandalous that's the way russia viewing the recall of the japanese ambassador from moscow over an escalating territorial dispute now tokyo is

protesting against president medvedev his visit to the southern kuril islands which are internationally recognized as russian territory but also claimed by japan peter all over is following the diplomatic route. well the latest that we have is from foreign minister said again after all he says that the russia will not recall. from japan in response to ambassador being sent home grieving the cold hope earlier on today a very strongly worded statement from the foreign minister certainly pulling no punches yes it was japan's ambassador receives directions about his actions directly from tokyo so this is their internal affair but generally the ongoing staring of emotions on japan's part over president medvedev visit to the korean island is causing concern with us i stated repeatedly to such actions and protests from tokyo are unacceptable and we reaffirm this position mr lavrov also said that president medvedev may visit more of the korean islands in the future as four

islands have based in me just off the northwest coast of japan they came under control of moscow after nine hundred forty five and japan currently believes that they should be returned to them at the moment this all comes on the on the eve just about next week we see the apec summit taking place in japan and yokohama now we're hearing from the kremlin that president medvedev will still be attending the apec summit and the japanese side is saying that bilateral talks between president medvedev and the japanese prime minister will go ahead as planned and we can hear now from the japanese foreign minister about the recalling of his ambassador. it is extremely regrettable the president made very to visited the crew islands even though japan had earlier notified russia that there could be a negative impact on bilateral relations we decided not in buses or kono should return home temporarily so he can brief us on the background of the visit. well this diplomatic dispute is caused many politicians here in russia to term it is scandalous and it's something that will be ongoing for

a little while yet but the islands have been pretty much disputed since they were first discovered by explorers in the seventeenth century the dispute that we're seeing at the moment stems from one nine hundred forty five and the end of the second world war when moscow took over control of them and they became part of the soviet union now part of the russian federation japan says that these islands should be returned to them as they belong to japan before the second world war now one of the main reasons that these islands are so hotly disputed is because they have vast wealth of minerals oil and gas reserves so key economic places and that's why both sides want them so badly. americans are voting in midterm elections to decide the future of the house of representatives and one third of the senate while opinion polls predict barack obama's democrats could lose control of the house back to republicans but with vast amounts of campaign cash going into these elections some voters are more concerned about the corporate backing behind candidates.

reports. a typical attack ad from this election season. was. trying to. exempt the opponent to approve the ad is herself an expert in months throwing washington post and the organization that back surgery is funded by viewing nurse. this election cycle as being notorious in the amount of dirt candidates were pouring onto each other their bankrupting america and leaving our children the bill this is a special election year in the us for the first time corporations are allowed to funnel as much money as they want into political campaigns and they're definitely not missing out on the chance to buy influence on capitol hill what they're hoping to do is bend laws and regulations or prevent new laws and regulations from being approved that will cut in their bottom lines at the problem is that a lot of these rules and regulations exist for a purpose they're supposed to protect the public interest the election system in the u.s.

is such that it's virtually impossible to run for office without strong financial backing but the bigger the backing the more candidates vote to their benefactor it's increased enormously you know quality in influence policy makers policy made can increase their legal process influencing their regulatory process because we. are behind all of these contributions not oregon citizens of the united states but basically the most power for a breach of people to watch the. influence in action take a republican leader in the house of representatives john boehner wall street invested millions of dollars in his campaign he's also a darling among large health insurers or firms and drug manufacturers beaner is campaigning in a gas all kinds of government regulations as well as a tax increase for the rich and other candidate wanting for reelection republican

congressman spencer baucus who's a ranking member of the house committee on financial services he has reportedly taken over four million dollars from wall street and pledged to find a guest tougher rules for the financial market the list of corporate favorites on capitol hill is long and not only republicans are on it the democratic process is supposed to be a check on corporate power and instead what we're seeing is corporations hijacking that system in order to funnel more money to themselves many argue the new supreme court decision which made it possible for corporations to invest unlimited amounts of money in politics and be able to be credited as anonymous donors has basically legalized corruption one definition out of core option privatization of public party fear mongering is arguably the main tool corporations used to gain public support for the candidates they choose some channels like fox news are

especially good at getting their message across and it's clear that pushes people to the streets i would like my boat to come and should be more democratic. next monday and some fear their interest may be left down because of someone's special interest on the outside this democracy is new voice people coming to the polling stay friends putting a cost before the name of a candidate they like but in these elections we think florence of corporations on me just it seems all really has a vote in american mail is money guy. it's shutdown on t. washington d.c. . for more let's now talk to dave levinthal from the center for responsive politics that tracks the campaign spending now dave with an estimated four billion dollars spent on these elections he recently said that would be enough to buy every american a big mac and fries well surely that would be a better way of winning votes and support don't you think well

a lot of americans would love to see four billion dollars spent on a lot of other things than elections but the fact of the matter is that this election cycle for a midterm election cycle a non presidential election cycle will be the most expensive by more than a billion dollars when all is said and done and this is coming in the form of not only candidate spending and spending by the political parties in the united states but also by outside groups organizations that have a special interest on the left or special interests on the right pouring in some cases tens and tens of millions of dollars alone into the various races across the country well if can it be that a private investor completely dictates a politician's agenda will basically making america's democracy a slave to all these groups funding b. campaign. there is a concern among many people that politicians who receive a considerable amount of money from a particular industry or a particular union or special interest group are going to be beholden to that

entity when they get into congress so in other words they get a whole lot of money from people who want them to do something in particular and then they go to congress and then all of those special interest groups come back to them and say hey remember when i gave you that big check or remember when i supported you with millions of dollars of television advertisements well they're going to come with their hand out at that point well in that case how wrong is the system in general considering a third party doesn't stand a chance because they either don't have access to private funding or simply don't want any. well there are two schools of thought here and there are people certainly who believe on one side or the other but one school of thought is that this money is not necessarily a bad thing that americans have the freedom of speech americans should be able to say whatever they want to say and that money and spending it on various forms of speech whether that be giving money to a politician whether spending money on television advertisements is perfectly fine

but the other side says when you have so much money going into the political system in these forms and fashions that it's going to have a sort of corrupting factor to it that politicians are ultimately going to listen more to corporations or to trade unions then they're going to listen to the average person in california or new york or texas or florida how about looking ahead to the finish line the republicans victory is widely predicted do you think they could win simply because they have more support from wall street republicans if they do win and certainly most people believe that they are going to pick up a number of seats in the house and at least a number of seats in the senate it's going to be because of a variety of factors wall street has played a major role in the success of republicans going forward in large part because we have found that republicans have shifted their donations just in less than two years time from giving primarily to democrats to now giving primarily to

republicans so across the nation that that equals the equivalent of millions upon millions of dollars that instead of benefiting the democrats are now benefiting the republicans all right well thank you very much for that that was dave levinthal from the center for responsive politics. well still ahead for you in the program over a barrel a former oil tycoon convicted of stealing billions could see his sentence extended in a case that's fueling debate find out more as our team brings you the latest from the courtroom and beyond also. much when we started training for the station itself did not exist there were no menus there were no exercise machines. well today marks ten years since the first crew aboard the international space station find out if the station has justified at stratospheric costs and what the future holds for the gateway to the final frontier. now russia has started delivering

a free guns and ammunition to be to arm the afghan police are the first aircraft has already landed in kabul sixteen more shipments are expected to take place as part of a bilateral agreement reached in august military analysts say russia will engage further in calgary threats emanating from afghanistan. all neighboring countries and to russia as a regional superpower i think that. russia should the real engage is needed the only leverage. of russian troops russia praise much of the drug problem it was very remarkable new speech came recently of all the successful joint operation we all expect out of this cooperation real continue in the future because russian people are more form of their everyday life

. drugs re preserve the future all all over. former oil tycoon. who was jailed for embezzlement and tax evasion in two thousand and three is back in court new charges brought against him could see his term extended until twenty seventeen now he's been giving his concluding speech at a court hearing sarah firth is following the case. lou strong words today for mikhail tried to close it as he gave the final speech to the most they call it ahead of the verdict this child like had a close get along with his school of business partner plots on lead the standing trial accused of fools and investment now he we had him say today call on the judge to have coverage saying that the fate of all russians rests on the verdict that will be delivered a little bit he doesn't want to die in prison and that if it required it he

wouldn't hesitate and we've heard strong critics of this case saying that both the previous charges and these new charges that have been full force a punishment for the opposition that kind of close davis going to the government and now with one year to his release we've seen these new charges quotes but there are others that have said that she had a close case has ruled this country of billions of dollars and that now he may be trying to evade his responsibility for that said he had the prosecutor in this case valerie elected saying that cut across these the fed is completely built on a lonely and that he's trying to create a political elements and play out to the political element in this trial with a new charges against kind of close down his business partner left with. no food and embezzlement now that they stand the keys of stealing over two hundred eighteen billion tons of oil from the former oil company you close now that's

twenty seven billion dollars worth of oil if they found him guilty they could face time behind bars they can live up to twenty seventeen so the verdict will these new charges is expected to be delivered on the fifteenth of december. well more top news stories on our web site r t v dot com including the five year old woman who was savage and. bull attack in her own backyard in russia's south dies after several days in a coma. and to being targeted as a criminal before even committing a crime find out about preemptive prosecution in the united states at r.t. dot com. well turning to some world news in brief for you now at least forty two people have been killed and dozens wounded after a series of explosions across the iraqi capital baghdad it all happened while hundreds of people gathered to burry the victims of sunday's catholic church siege

fifty eight people were killed when iraqi troops stormed the building after a car the militants had taken the congregation hostage during mass now the gunmen were reportedly demanding the release of all imprisoned al qaeda members in iraq and egypt. a parcel bomb has exploded at the swiss embassy in athens police say the device was thrown into the courtyard of the building but there are no reports of injuries or deaths it comes amid heart and security in the greek capital after a mail bomb exploded at a delivery company on monday suspicious packages were also found at the bulgarian on embassies greek authorities have already charged two men with terror attacks. britain and france have signed a military treaties which include setting up a joint force sharing equipment and testing nuclear warheads the u.k. prime minister and french president are discussing their plans in london officials

say the deal will save millions and boost the fighting power of both countries a nuclear testing center will be set up in france and technology is expected to be developed in britain. in germany and unexpected sinkhole that appeared in the middle of a street has forced dozens of people to flee their homes the hole which is about twenty meters deep and forty meters wide swallowed an entire car officials say it's still an. clear why the sinkhole appeared but it is thought the underground rock had broken up creating a cavity beneath the surface. now one of the most ambitious projects in history the international space station is marking a decade of manned operations now the has been an epic milestone for space exploration as it served as the longest home away from home and been visited by some two hundred people are things in god have takes us back to the station's early days. they set off for one of the most important expeditions

in the history of space exploration on the van but a second two thousand expedition one was to dock with the international space station and become its first permanent crew that didn't know what to expect to come over to them when we started training for the isis the station itself did not exist there were no manuals there were no exercise machines. the docking was a success but now they have to activate the station assembled separately in russia and the u.s. the first time that i said components fitted together was in space a financial it's beautiful the first two weeks on there were extremely stressful if we failed we'd have had to return to earth and abandon the station but it would never have been constructed as planned if they could get aboard a lot of the equipment did not work as planned in contact with us we had to try and fix it on the spot. but there was no way to live the two russian cosmonauts had already completed long missions on the mir the old irrational with all station. on

the it was old analog technology switches and stuff the isis was clean and shiny but it was very hard living there all the space was taken out by equipment that would have to be installed we could barely squeeze past each other and slept on the floor but we knew it was our job and also how often do you get to go into space. and be as after expedition one the station expanded rapid. new modules were added that i said to receive two hundred visitors i asked the current crew what has changed since expedition one. these days the station is so huge like an apartment block we don't get to see each other for long periods of time. it's ok but it's getting a bit worn down now i wish they would renovate some of the support has been achieved in a decade but overall usefulness of the service is still being debated this station has cost the taxpayer one hundred billion dollars and that's just absurd it's too

much but it's there all the expedition one members have now retired from space travel but still believe what they did was worthwhile. we laid the foundation for the international space station and for the future of space research work and with the lifespan already extended to twenty twenty one the fruits of expedition one are still being borne whatever its limitations and budget over and though i assess as important at the tar work no longer seemed like everything was possible in space and there were no longer the cold war budgets to fund that all the still proves that space research can be right at the edge of human endeavor either of nav moscow well up next all the business news or the oh yeah. that's right time see what's going on in the world of business the world bank has

lowered its outlook for russia's growth but it says domestic consumers are driving the local economy helping to offset a global slowdown. we expect a four point two growth rate this year and a slight improvement for next year at around four point five as domestic demand and credit recovers. so the second message is that the news growth in russia in particular is driven mainly now by domestic demand which is good news because it's locally driven right so you're less vulnerable perhaps there on any pretention deceleration in outside markets. and armed police have raided a bank owned by russian tycoon alex hunter he was a national reserve corp is one of the key assets of the london evening standard and independent newspapers all correspondent he was at the scene. in the afternoon a group of. policemen walked into the building of the national reserve bank

searching for some documents there's been no clarification from the authorities as to what these documents were and what this search was all about the only comment we managed to receive from a spokesperson of the interior ministry in moscow was that this search was conducted in accordance with a criminal investigation which was launched earlier but he did not clarify any details about what this investigation was about and what this search was for the national reserve bank belong still very well known russian businessman alexander libya it was the owner of several than vest and companies in russia as well as owning several media including the british newspapers the evening standard and independent so far there's been nothing illegitimate about his business and this is the first time that such search is being conducted in one of liberty of scum bodies . and a quick look at the markets stocks are climbing and investors await the results of

me trying to elections traders are also waiting for the federal reserve to wrap up in the same way it is expected to announce plans to stimulate the economy. under check the numbers in europe european stock markets are making gains in london the first c. climbed more than one percent on the decks was up point eight percent at the close . to one percent even by the third quarter profits fell by say six to seven percent the company set aside more money to pay for the gulf of mexico oil spill. from moscow the bourses closed on tuesday most of the. major blue chips finished up bucking the trend was therefore down about one percent as comes on the news of sessions conducted by the police at a buying call from one of their four tennis and it sounds maybe just i was nineteen point five percent of the profession flagship care and that could have helped what could have helped the shasta gain is the company's profit before the air force says

its net profit source one hundred percent according to russian accounting standards . the russian stock exchange r.t.s. has decided to hold on i feel no as soon as next year it will place at least twenty percent of shares worth around six hundred thirty eight million dollars r.t.s. representatives say the i.p.o. has nothing to do with any merger but my six. year old report we are an open joint stock company so everyone may buy shares but i think these processes are not connected at all for my six to buy the shares of r g r there's no connection with this the primary goal of the i.p.o. is to encourage the strategic development of r.g.s. . despite a recent war words between russia and turkmenistan talks about gas supplies all warming up. during his visit to turkmenistan russia's first deputy prime minister viktor zubkov said that russia is interested in all turkmenistan gas

pipeline project he also didn't exclude the possibility that russia could raise the gasoline price from turkmenistan in case the demand in europe grows zuckoff smithing is particularly important now after the tensions between the two contras over the gas trade escalated last week just to remind you and we could go on the freshest top officials eager search and die out of the visibility all for one the throat minister gas pipeline project and he also said that there is a ministry of gold be able to supply gas to the west without crossing the russian territory. in its turn accused russia in interfering in its efforts to build energy ties with europe. last summer's heat wave has left one point four million russians below the poverty line the drop killed up to forty percent of crops in

some areas and pushed prices to their highest for his that hit the pockets of the retired and i was living off alone says the world bank says a thirteen percent of the population is not impoverished but says rising incomes pretty sure that the poor were to spike is temporary. so let's go update you can always find more stores small website r t dot com slash business.

i was cellphones would be useless without this mineral. tiny pieces needed to make . but use of culture and is extracted at a cost to life. millions died. and millions looked forward to be helped and say. the pain and suffering as well never be forgotten. as well as the joy of liberation of. iraq.