brighton if you knew the song from the stupid. stunt on t.v. dot com. sparks fly as tokyo voices claims to russia's far eastern islands japan has recalled its ambassador to russia amid a diplomatic dispute following president medvedev visit to the far eastern russian territory of the korean island. 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 money so the u.s. votes in midterm elections with signs pointing to a republican victory but many americans fear the corporate agenda is eclipsing democracy. and a celebrating human ambition at the international space station marks a decade of bad operations while critics pushed for breakthroughs to justify its billions in costs. of watching r t coming to you live from the russian capital welcome to the program well first off scandalous that's the way russia is viewing the recall of the japanese ambassador from moscow over an escalating territorial dispute tokyo is

protesting against president medvedev a visit to russia's southern kuril islands which japan claims as its own artie's 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 reading the cold hope early on today a very strongly worded statement from the foreign minister certainly pulling no punches yes it was. received directions about his actions directly from tokyo so this is their internal affairs but generally the ongoing staring of emotions on japan's part over president medvedev visit to the caribbean islands is causing concern with us i stated repeatedly to such actions and protests from 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 ambassador kono should return home temporarily so he can brief us on the background of the visit. well this diplomatic dispute caused many politicians here in russia to term it as 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 now opinion polls predict rock obama's democrats could lose control of the house back to republicans but with vast amounts of campaign cash going to be selections some voters are more concerned about the corporate backing behind candidates are things going to chuck e on reports. the typical attack ad from this election season. except

the opponent to approve the ad is herself an expert in months throwing washington post and the organization that back surgery is funded by the un nurse. this election cycle has been a torrijos 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 the 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 will hold to their benefactor it's increased enormously you know equality in influencing policy makers policy made can be increasing the legal process influencing their regulatory process because we. are behind all of these contributions if not all good citizens of the united states but basically the most power for a breach affect 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 insurance oil firms and drug manufacturers beaner is campaigning in a gas all kinds of government regulations as well as a tax increase for the rich another candidate running 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 against 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 use 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 fear that pushes people to

the streets i would like my boat to come should be more democratic. next monday and some fear their interest may be left out because of someone's special interest on the outside is democracy is new voice people coming to a polling stay friends putting a cost before the name of a candidate they like but in these elections with the influence of corporations on me it seems a really has a vote in american mail is money. gannett sat down on t. washington d.c. . well let's get a more on this campaign from a former congressman thomas sound well thomas this campaign once again appears to be more about mudslinging than politics from both republicans and democrats now is this really the best way to win people's hearts and minds well really it's not i mean this is a scorched earth approach to politics in which you try to drag your opponent down

in every conceivable way possible and of course the big picture as your segment just indicated one of the big changes that we now face here with the united states is this flood gate being opened and enormous amounts of money pouring into these races the average race for a house seat the four hundred thirty five house districts that will face elections today four million dollars on average for each that's an extraordinary amount of money and much of that money is coming with out from outside groups who do not have to be accountable do not have to indicate who they are or who's financing them and they're putting up these horrible horrible scorched earth attacks attack ads to try to influence the electorate it's it's a new a new day if you will in american politics and i think a rather sad day all right well don't you think that at a time when america has been rocked to the core by economic crisis there are better ways to spend four billion dollars than pouring them into the election campaign.

well there certainly are and one of the things that can be done obviously is to make the core investments that will get this country actually up and rolling things like education things like roads bridges and infrastructure things like research and development there are a lot of things that need to be done in this country that are not being done unfortunately the script in this election is number one we haven't seen the change in the economic prospects of this country change enough with a nine point six percent unemployment rate nationally and in some of these very competitive districts double digit unemployment rates and of course the deficit has continued to increase as the economy has continued to slide so what you have is people who are taking advantage of that very dire situation and saying it's the politicians in washington who are spending like drunken sailors and causing this economic collapse we need to change fundamentally the decision makers in washington

d.c. the problem that we're going to face is that these candidates who are now being elected who have been running on the basis of this very very high octane rhetoric and all these negative ads are not going to be in a position or feel they're going to be comfortable compromising and engaging in the kind of give and take that you need in order to make a government work so i think that there's going to be an enormous amount of consequence from from these elections and the way that they were conducted in the weeks and months ahead i will as we've seen in the past there are major clash between the democrats and republicans during election period don't you think the two party system has run its course and it's not america moved to a multi-party system. well you know in fact there is a multi party system in the united states in my opinion i mean you have many factions within the democratic party from left to right and you have many factions within the republican party although the faction that really has played an

enormously important role in this election has been the so-called tea party faction is very very extreme and a right wing group of individuals who have come to the fore in those voting in very large numbers now that is part of the republican party but there are other parts as well and those forces have it out when it comes to their primary elections when i ran i was in office for twelve years and when i were in for office it was by virtue of a very very strong group of people on my of the democratic party who came to the polls and cast their votes for me which got me elected i was frankly twenty points behind with two weeks to go in the election and i will was able to prevail because of the large number of people who actually came to the polls and cast their votes on my on my behalf so there really is it's hard for my friends outside of united states to get this but if you really look at the democrat inside the democratic party and

inside the republican party and follow these primary contests to determine who's going to be the nominee of each party you see that there really are distinct parties if you will informal parties but distinct groups within those political parties that make up i would say a multi-party system all right almost well there briefly considering the republicans are expected to win does that mean obama and the democrats are failing to fulfill their promises. no i think that well i think there's a lot of work to do and i think that the returns on the investments that democrats have made have not been quick enough for the american public and of course people are anxious they're nervous they want to see a media trained what they don't want to see is gridlock and i'm afraid that one of the consequences of this election will be gridlock in washington and i think that will translate into a pox on everyone both parties houses if washington can't step up and get some things get some things done once these elections smoke is cleared here in the nation's capital all right thank you very much that was thomas andrews

a former congressman talking to us from washington. and still ahead for you in the program over a barrel a jailed former oil tight convicted of stealing of billions could see his sentence extended in a case that's fueling debate well you can find out more as our team brings you the latest from the courtroom. and also. going to be training for the station itself did not exist with a name and use it there were no exercise machines. today marks ten years since the pioneering crew aboard the international space station find out firsthand how the facility has changed and what the future holds for a bad guy is the gateway to the final frontier. well russia has started delivering free guns and ammunition to arm the afghan police the first aircraft has already landed in kabul and sixteen more shipments are expected to take place as part of a bilateral agreement reached in august now military analysts say russia will

engage further in calculating threats emanating from afghanistan. all neighboring countries as a regional superpower i think. russia should feel engaged. the only limits. of russian troops russia pays much attention to. it was very remarkable new speech came recently of all the successful joint operation we all expect that. we'll continue in the future because russian people. from every day life. drugs. now 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 storm extended until twenty seventeen now he's been giving his concluding speech at a court hearing furthur has been following the case. lou strong words today from mikhail cut a close as he gave the final speech to the most they call it ahead of the verdict this childlike had a close along with his school of business partner plots on lead the day standing trial accused of fools and investment now he said we had him say today call on the judge to have courage saying that the fate of all russians rests on the verdict that will be delivered on little day 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 be a punishment for the opposition that cut across the restraint of the government and

now with one year to his release we've seen these new charges quotes that there are others that have said that i actually 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 so i think if i had the prosecutor in this case valerie elected saying that cut across these the fed is completely built all along i and that he's trying to create a political elements and play out to the political element in this trial with a new charges both against how to close down his business partner left with. no food and embezzlement now that they stand the keys of stealing over two hundred eighteen billion tonnes of oil from the former oil company you close now that's twenty seven billion dollars worth of oil if they're found guilty they could face time behind bars they can live up to twenty seventeen so the verdict for these new

charges is expected to be delivered on the fifteenth of december. all more top news stories on our website r t v dot com including an eighty five year old woman who was savaged in a pit bull. for talking her own backyard in russia's south dies after several days in a coma. and being targeted as a criminal before even committing a crime find out about preemptive prosecution in the united states at our dot com. turning to some world news in brief for you now at least sixty two people have been killed and nearly two hundred wounded after a series of explosions across the iraqi capital baghdad it all happened while hundreds of people gathered to bury the victims of sunday's catholic church siege now fifty eight people were killed when a rocky troops stormed the building after all carbon militants had taken the congregation hostage during mass the gunmen were reportedly demanding the release

of all imprisoned al qaida members and egypt. up morsel 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 heightened security in the greek capital after a mail bomb exploded at the delivery company on monday suspicious packages were also found at the bulgarian embassies and greek authorities have already charged two men with terror acts. britain and france have signed military treaties which include a 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 and nuclear testing center will be set up in france and technology is expected to be developed in britain. now one of the most ambitious projects in history the

international space station is marking a decade of manned operations the i assess has been an epic milestone for space exploration as it served as the longest home away from home and been visited. beisel two hundred people. have takes us back to the station's early days. they set off a 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 they expect the modern equivalent when we started training for the r.s.s. the station itself did not exist there were no manuals there were no exercise machines that in a lot of the docking was a success but now the crew had 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 phenomenal it's beautiful the first two weeks on there were extremely stressful if we failed would have had to return to earth and abandon the station it would never have been constructed as planned with the gift of a lot of the equipment did not work as planned in contact with we had to try and fix it on the spot the equipment was turned down 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 mere it was old analog technology switches and stuff the i assess was clean and shiny but it was very hard living there all the space was taken up 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 the years after expedition one the station expanded rapidly new modules were added that sets receive two hundred visitors i asked the current cree 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 when it's ok but it's getting a bit worn down now i wish they would renovate some of it the spot was. and achieved in a decade the overall usefulness of the earth 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 worth no longer seemed like everything was possible in space

and there were no longer the cold war budgets to fund that all the assessed still proves that space research can be right at the edge of human endeavor either on or i'll see moscow and up next we have already as business news and that's after a short break. hungry for the full story we've gone to. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. in mosco she's available in hotels for cost i'm going to do you know. keep a promise it is congress hotel east west nova tell moscow center no but. rather some s.a.'s lobby on sky insulter the historical hotels of escape capturing the city so it's in the sky called small. midday as

a good i've been told from the strength for this to become a hotel. hello and a very warm welcome to the business program the world bank has lowered its outlook for russia's growth but it says domestic consumer driving 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 it's locally driven right so you're less vulnerable perhaps there on any pretension deceleration in outside markets. armed police have raided a bank owned by russian tycoon and extended neighbors a national reserve corporation is one of the. london evening standard and

independent newspapers or correspondent he was at the scene. india 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 belongs to a with very well known russian businessman alexandre libya the owner of several investment 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. these. times have a look at how the markets are faring u.s. stocks are up as investors await the results of meet term elections traders also waiting for the federal reserve to wrap up a meeting wednesday where it is expected to announce plans to stimulate the economy . time to check the numbers new europe european stock markets. in london the more than one percent on the debts was up point eight percent. one point seven percent. by six to seven percent the companies more money for the gulf of mexico oil spill. and in most of the bourses closed up on tuesday most of the major projects finished up bucking the trend down one percent. comes on the news of sessions conducted by the police at a bank called one of the air force i was at exxon to leverage if i was nineteen point five percent of the russian flagship and carry on what could have helped

chest against the company's profit reports are full it says its net profits so worth one hundred thirty percent according to russian accounting standards. the russian stock exchange r.t.s. has decided to hold on i p o as soon as next year it will place at least twenty percent of shares worth around six hundred thirty million dollars our representatives say the i.p.o. has nothing to do with any merger with my six clark report we are an open joint stock company so everyone may buy shares but i think these processes are not connected at all or my six to buy the shares of our g.s. has no connection with this the primary goal of the i.p.o. is to encourage the strategic development of our chance. despite a recent wars between russian men to stop talks about gas supplies are warming up. during his visit to turkmenistan russia's first deputy prime minister viktor to

call said that russia is interested in all turkmenistan gas pipeline project he also didn't exclude the possibility that russia could raise the gasoline prices 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 we could go on the freshest top officials eager search and doubted the visibility all for one the third minister gas pipeline project and he also said that there is a minister won't 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. you opted for knowledge your next dollar from would.