all.

extradited russian businessman victor borge accuses washington of trying to force his confession he denies all charges including conspiracy to kill americans and supply arms to terrorist groups. security on the line the white house vows to do whatever it takes to seal the arms reduction treaty between russia and us as more republicans push to postpone its ratification. rising tension roma gypsies say they are being outcast claiming european countries are using a fire against as an excuse to target them. and on the visit russia plans to spend twenty billion dollars on its roads next year but the government knows it's still not enough and once more investment in the private sector that i'm much

more interested with someone. coming to live from moscow marina joshua into the. graham alleged arms dealer viktor board says u.s. officials pressured him to confess while he was being extradited from thailand he told this to russian diplomats a man in the new york prison but has denied all the charges he's facing and if convicted could face up to life in prison reports mr bhutto has said that u.s. officials had tried to pressure him for evidence and pressure him to confess to crimes during his extradition from thailand to the united states and according to what's being reported this is a pressure that mr boot did not came into. with the wording to be during the

extradition there was attempted to convince him to make a confession of the crimes he had never committed and promised some kind of privileges in return rejected all these offers what the russian diplomats also have disclosed is that mr boot is being held in solitary confinement at the metropolitan correctional center in lower manhattan mr bush has also left his wife relocated to the u.s. here to new york to be with him his wife of course has been in thailand by his side more than two years proclaiming her husband's innocence now mr bush stood before a federal judge and the judge had read out the charges from mr booth pled not guilty on all of the charges when the u.s. attorney however was addressing the press in new york speaking for about ten to fifteen minutes about the case that they are building against mr victor boot the russian businessman and outlining specifically the charges let's take

a listen to what he had to say now stands charged in this district the southern district of new york with four charges. one conspiring to kill united states nationals two conspiring to kill united states officers and employees three conspiring to use and acquire anti-aircraft missiles and for conspiring to provide material support to the fark what's interesting to note and to underscore is that during this press conference the us attorney and the head of the da continued to paint a picture of victor boot one of the most dangerous men in the world of a man who sides with violence who sides with the war who sides against the united states they were for a time as the so-called merchant of death and then at the end of their press conference they want to remind everyone that victor boot remains innocent until proven guilty in assuring the press that he will receive a fair trial some were questioning how that could take place after he's already

painted in the press and in the international media as a man who promotes violence and promotes war so a lot of wondering whether or not this trial will in fact be fair for mr victor boot wearing of ordinary porting their military defense lawyer major eric montell of us says boots case could open up and doors box for the u.s. . number of cases that the united states is unhappy with and what we're running into is this dangerous precedent where if if we're exercising this type of authority over individuals in other countries what's going to happen in the future to u.s. citizens and whether or not other countries are going to mean extradition of our citizens you know people who they think are criminals for example in the last administration and demanding their extradition to spain or italy or some other country and how can we as a straight face international community have it both ways if the justice department

didn't do their job properly and get this one right you know it certainly could open up a can of worms for us in the future. and here's a glance of what's ahead a race for the best slice of the caspian sea russia's among five states hoping for a fair share of the vast natural resources the waters contain we report on what's at stake. and in the u.s. democrats are struggling to get a key arms deal with moscow ratified in the senate by the end of the year the new strategic arms reduction treaty sealed in april should slash the number of russian and u.s. nukes by a third but the republicans in washington seem determined to stall the deal as artie's guided to count now reports. it's getting pretty tense here the informal republican leader on the new start senator jon kyl said the treaty should not be considered until next year he is saying there are other important things so the senator talk about the economy and that's bad news for the treaty the administration is making a last ditch effort to appeal to the secretary of state hillary clinton defense

secretary robert gates leading security experts in the country they're all saying the failure to pass the new start treaty this year would endanger the u.s. national security they give two reasons for that first americans can no longer track russia's strategic nuclear arsenal the other main reason is that weakening cooperation with the washes that could follow if the new start treaty is not in place joe biden and hillary clinton made it clear that the new start treaty is the centerpiece of obama's reset of relations with russia for anyone to see that we can postpone or we can avoid it is i'm a free vastly underestimating the teen you we rent that is posed to our country so we hope our friends in the senate will bring this up past history and then i can. inform the russians that it's now their you know their turn to do the same which they told us they intend to do

a lot of observers say that for many on capitol hill the fight is not about the content of the trade they were rather about scoring political points the republicans already said their number one priority will be to have obama voted out of office in two thousand and twelve so for many capitol hill observers the whole debate on stark now comes down to this question will some republican senator second feis a landmark historic deal just for the sake of denying obama his arguably the biggest foreign policy achievement. ids gun as you can reporting there and kate hudson from the campaign for nuclear disarmament says the prospect of a world without nuclear weapons is too important to throw away for political reasons we were among the many people around the world who really welcomed president obama's speech in prague where he outlined his vision of a world without nuclear weapons and of course a vision which president medvedev shares and i think it's absolutely reprehensible

if senator in the u.s. congress obstructing the passing of this very important treaty the new start treaty for party political point scoring reasons i think this is far too important on a global scale for them to stand in the way like this many people globally including i should say former cold warriors people like henry kissinger and george schultz many other leaders across the world now believe that it is just too jane shuras to have nuclear weapons and that is the trend that is taking place in the world towards disarmament and away from nuclear weapons and that is the trend which the u.s. senate and the u.s. congress should be going along with and following the leadership of their president and kate hudson from the campaign for nuclear disarmament there. and still have for you this hour cockroaches fleas and rats roma gypsies in bulgaria are pushed out into the streets by now why building was a health hazard and why no one's interested in where they go next. the

energy rich caspian sea is up for grabs at a summit in azerbaijan the host joins russia and the other states bordering the sea will discuss securing the safety of the waters which are abundant in oil and gas are going off of course in the caspian five and its objectives. the caspian sea is often referred to as the united or marking point between europe and asia and it is extremely rich in natural resources away from the nearly twenty billion tons of oil and gas can clean on its bottom which is comparable with a deposit in the persian gulf or sturgeon up ninety percent of the world sturgeon catch is done here but legal speed of the sea still has not been decided and one of the main goals of the caspian nations summit is to resolve this issue and divide the caspian sea between these five states and other major highlights of the summit

is the meeting between the president's office russia and iran which is actually going to be the first meeting off the two leaders since russia supported the lead to set off the un sanctions on iran and also canceled its shipment of the b. hundred missile defense systems to take ground which was strongly criticized by ukrainian authorities even if you agree with those sanctions should not have had any effect on russia's obligations to iran because we signed the contract before the sanctions were imposed on furthermore the sanctions don't apply to defensive weapons used to protect your country and that's why russia should have on its contractual obligations and deliver three hundred systems to iran the meeting between presidents need to be a different. set to take place later on thursday we're expecting to see what's going to come out of that but apart from the issues i just mentioned economic cooperation at the caspian sea is also obviously going to be discussed between all these decisions me fact the lives of millions of people living in the balloting

countries and we're also expecting a final document to be signed between all five states which is aimed at boosting cooperation in their fight against terrorism drugs and arms trafficking in the region. it has been offered porting their all time now take a look at some other stories from around the world an israeli air strike has killed two palestinian militants after hitting a car in gaza three others were seriously wounded in the attack and israel says one of the insurgents was involved in a plan to kidnap its citizens in the sinai the dead are believed to be members of palestinian terrorist group army of islam which often fires missiles into israel the violence comes as a jewish state considers a washington proposal to hold settlement construction a cause of ongoing conflict in the region. the first one tunnel detainee to be tried in a u.s. civilian court faces a minimum of twenty years in jail after being found guilty for plotting to destroy

u.s. property bad guy lonnie from tanzania was cleared of hundreds of other counts including murder charges at the court in new york he was arrested four years ago over his involvement in the nine hundred ninety eight bombings of u.s. embassies in africa which killed over two hundred people. here at least fifty people have been arrested one injured near the american embassy in athens during a rally marking a nine hundred seventy student and i dictate or should uprising more than twenty thousand demonstrators clashed with riot police who responded with tear gas and stun grenades police also reported clashes in the southern city of atrocity people were venting their anger at the u.s. support for the challenge which then ruled greece. a crisis is over the plight of roma gypsies is spreading across you are some e.u. countries blame the roma for of rising crime and tackled by the porting down but the situation in their native countries is even worse with most roma living in

appalling conditions our teasdale bushell reports from bulgaria. seems like we could become common across europe the mood of this town and some of them told to tear down this block of flats because the residents who turned in. to a slum this pile of rubble is all that's left of the housing estate what also it is called a public health hazard infested with rats cockroaches and fleas thousands of roma who back home. some have moved to this wasteland no shelter health care or education for the children. well the e.u. citizens where there's a treat us like this schools won't take my son because he has lice and disease people here ask is this what the e.u.'s become with winter approaching they'll be sleeping in the cold. e.u. politicians bury their heads in the sand but only we can solve their own problems

of. france to sent tens of thousands of roma back to bulgaria sweden italy denmark and germany had similar policies they use justice commissioner says it reminds her of world war two saffir is left to pick up the pieces one of the evicted told me he picks pockets to feed his family those that can go straight back to richer e.u. states member countries report rumor offenses are shooting up this lawlessness is pushing rising numbers into angry and see groups the biggest problem with the just special in bulgaria is that the crime is already a civil war. or else for a train the life of our of the people europe's ten million roma are the elephant in the corner the e.u. community usually freezes them out in all ways but one with education opportunities limited music remains one of the few parts success.

of. a racy gypsy style of pop called child tops the charts but campaigners warn that most roma stand by by france and other states can't integrate because there aren't enough jobs for them and bog area they say ethnic conflicts are set to surge until the e.u. learns to live and work with roma not just enjoy the music in the nightclubs the new bushell arty saffir. and a little later we'll tell you about the possibilities of a smoke free russia find out why this is why some say it's an infringement of their rights. in the meantime the afghan president is reportedly reiterating his unconditional support for nato operations in his country this comes just days after hama karzai slammed u.s. led military operations and called for a draw down the upcoming nato summit in lisbon is expected to see a roadmap for withdrawing international combat troops from afghanistan by the end

of two thousand and fourteen artie's military contributor says it's up to the alliance commander in the country general david petraeus to make the exit a graceful one. political approach is still remains the same job down despite a defect that it hasn't been working nine years and it's unlikely to work in another four years and it operates at the cross purposes with the military strategy reach that actually doesn't make sense because it's bottom up approach successfully tried and tested by the u.s. special forces both in iraq and afghanistan to overcome that contradiction between the political top down approach and. practical military bottom up strategy general petraeus has to regain of it initiative from his political masters and to lead the way of both the governor and general of afghanistan that's

the only way to provide the opening space to save the face for the nato for a long mission in afghanistan and for the graceful exit of the u.s. forces from the region. that was our contributor carl of getting up there it is official russia has the most smokers per capita in the world the statistics just released are yet another reminder to the government that they need to up their game and there and are smoking efforts as artistic surveillance reports they're not taking this battle down. brief but graphic the world health organization and the russian government are hitting the airwaves with a campaign meant to stamp out cigarettes and a nation where a pack of smokes is sometimes cheaper than a bottle of water a new study shows that more people live here than anywhere else in the world more than half of all men do the number is smaller among women

a twenty five percent but it's growing according to the world health organization diseases associated with the addiction kills nearly five hundred thousand russians every year about forty seven percent of small cars who are smokers today they start small given the age of fifteen sixteen and the said thank is that tobacco industry know you know this provides very glamorous and through a good advertising the government is taking action by banning cigarette ads and cigarette promotions in t.v. and film beginning in twenty eleven lawmakers are also pondering the possibility of making it more expensive to puff prime minister putin is asking legislators to lead by example to other human government members smokes one two three see we have better statistics than in the country at lunch at least on this issue. alone you know what i think old freud to quit smoking one day. what are you going to do the fights making opinion you should see your only son records like

with when. i was the same age what are you laughing at you so much to go to quick to have. some call the government's anti smoking efforts and overzealous infringement of their rights. it's room two groups from small control just like ben a new free where is cross live i won't care if there is a band i'll smoke if i want to smoke. more and more measures are on the way including a complete public ban on smoking in bars and restaurants to take place by twenty fifteen so you know what it's like when you go out like your favorite perfume or cologne but by the end of the night you just rolled around an ashtray this was a vision. you'd be able to tell that the air is clear because we're first smoke free bar so you can smell the same way going out as you did coming in marbella is the baby of a. has been cigarette free for for years his aim is to have

a fashionable place where nonsmokers can breathe easy. experience of european countries profit depends on whether one likes it here or not if i can create a couzin relaxed atmosphere and make people here feel joy and i will earn my money . so for some muscovites the smoke free future is now. stacy didn't. take a look. here. recently hundreds of chaos from moscow streets was due to misunderstanding moscow's mayor says his order was taken. plus letters to there are some of the most intimate works by the author of finally to be published. printing a selection of. his wife and a larger collection is to be released in the u.s.

. and all the latest business news heading your way in just a few moments. hungry for the full story we've got it for. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. hello

and welcome to the business bulletin russia is aiming to spend twenty billion dollars on its rights in two thousand and eleven that's almost nine percent more than the previous year but the government recognizes it's still not enough and once additional help from the private sector that pool has little tests. russia manages to combine a number of the worst problems in transport just getting from a to b. can prove made all the worse by the sheer size of the country motorways by far and few between and the roads are often badly paul told moscow is a case in point it has the fourth was to traffic jams of any major city in the world it's a very unorganized starting center is what is the main point is missing in my eyes mr ted jake planning for the city of up to seventy eight of them try to talk to us live it's a base of the traffic is a. inter connecting system which which i was

a huge investment is also needed to build just one kilometer of road in the capital can cost up to three hundred million dollars the sums involved is so much that the government needs private money if it's not to put too big a dent in the budget and wants to improve efficiency private companies have a lot of knowhow they have a lot of experience of similar protests i wondered. i'm here then of cost to be honest on money but it's just the size of the market you attract those contracts we are talking about a contract with run for ten years fifteen years or twenty years the time it takes to make a return on an investment is a major deterrent to investors even when construction companies can be found to join a public private partnership they find it hard to convince the banks to provide backing this is where the world bank can lend a hand generally would be a lot of institutional work in which we will be basically providing support to the

companies in the future if they are once we go further down the road there raby possibilities of financial activity once the roads are built people will still need to find a place to park often a time consuming problem in moscow the government may be able to help by changing legislation so developers can buy land inside the city rather than just renting it this would provide added incentives to incorporate proper traffic management and shopping malls and business districts to be adequately supplied with parking spaces freeing up the roads for people who are trying to get somewhere nick business altie . the russian government has approved its privatization plan for two thousand and eleven to two thousand and thirteen the asset sales are expected to wait as much as three hundred billion dollars the minister of economic development of inability to explains the pappas of the program. the key difference of the plan for

twenty eleven twenty thirteen is of course it's large scale character the aim of such a privatization program is not only to bring additional funds to the state budget even though. our key task is to encourage investment into companies. these. are let's have a quick look at how the markets are performing asian stocks making gains on thursday snapping for days slides the nikkei even hit a new five month high at one point in the session exporters rose on a week on financial stocks that support global investors are recovering from a ten day slump that has wiped over two trillion dollars of the value of the global stocks. and here in moscow the r.t.s. has just opened and it's half a percent higher so far trucking global market gains my sense was stock trading in a few minutes was half a percent higher close on whether to stay with most blue chips in the black. russia is currently less fashionable for investors than brazil that's according to the

dept of spare bank however mark rubenstein from i have seen metropole disagrees he believes there are compelling reasons why some investors picking russia over other emerging markets. it will look at their relative valuation russian equities now a valued at a nine a half p. versus brazilian about fourteen so this is much you know it's a big difference and of course what i counted that has accounted for that discount has been their political risk premium which has been evaporating my view quite rapidly over the past sixteen months so i think we will see more funds coming out of many other emerging markets coming into russia brazil torquey seem like a very obvious candidates because capital controls the tricks the more expensive china is much more expensive than russia and that could take some money out of that the current signs out of russia he said marker bond is a much stronger person with alice expected if you look at the data market data out

of russia for the past several months it consistently has been above the expectations of the market so i will not be surprised to see alice revising their marker forecasts for a shop boards in the near future russia's titanium volley will be created as soon as this year that's according to the head of the world's top ten you make a v. s. and p. o. . speaking exclusively to a t. he describes how the company is creating a free economic zone to make components for the aviation and space industries. project has gained support from the local and federal authorities. in the trade in industry ministry have also supported the government is preparing to create a freakonomics there are some difficulties i think we'll do with them as early as this year because russia's digital sky technologies become an investor in the microblogging service twitter the head of d.s.t.

says the company is looking to invest in a range of projects with a minimum value of a billion dollars twitter being one of them the wall street journal earlier reported twitter was seeking a two hundred million dollars of investment the online service has around one hundred eighty million users and is worth more than three billion dollars. that's all the business now but i'll be back with more few next hour and in the meantime you can always find the stories on our website that's our slash business.