you're watching r t two in the morning here in moscow welcome to the program now a total of twenty six people including a number of russian citizens are being held after a major anti terrorist group in europe belgian police suspect the group of being part of an international terror network which was planning a series of atrocities at christmas across the continent those held are also under investigation for seeking recruits and funding for terrorism and russia's republic of chechnya daniel bushell has been following developments from brussels. police here in brussels say they busted an islamic terrorist cell tied to russia's republic of chechnya which is planning attacks three throughout europe and this evening also it is swooped on fifteen people suspect of recruiting jihad is to fight in iraq and afghanistan it comes just hours after or sorties launched

pre-dawn raid on homes of another eleven suspects who were tied to a cicily are linked network the belgian prosecutor's office said quote there were an international terrorist group using that stream internet site and saw al mujahideen to plan an attack it comes as part of massive coordinated raids across europe in countries like the netherlands denmark germany where thirty one year old russian man of chechen origin was arrested suspected of training jihadists to fight in terrorist campaigns those arrested or belgian dutch moroccan and russian origin this is seen as among the first top level links that police have found between russia's chechen terrorist organizations and the worldwide al qaeda network and also to say those arrested or suspected of gathering recruit some money to finance a chechen terrorist organization called the caucasus emirate in effect to found a separate islamic state based on the surreal law in the south of russia and it

comes in the wake of horrific attacks in russia from those moscow metro bombings that we saw earlier this year two increasingly bloody suicide blasts in russia southern republics of degassed on and chechnya of the one of those attacks russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov said that those church only groups were based and was standing very much in line with al qaida but after that the united states but chechen rebel leader dog or more are on the most wanted list of terrorists but it's really taken this set of events in the past twenty four hours to show that russia's chechen terrorists networks are standing shoulder to shoulder with some of the world's most dangerous terrorists. while welcoming the cooperation between european security services involved in the arrests of british security analyst peter powell it's possible that the story did not get more media attention let's not fool

ourselves somehow great regiments of uniformed soldiers marching over the horizon it is in fact much more of a franchise yes the strong power base in the foothills between afghanistan and pakistan and it's clearly. a strong cobol now operating in yemen but we're now seeing this creeping out under this broad term of al-qaeda but it doesn't necessarily mean it's got the official stamp on it so what would what we've seen in the last few hours is. it's a tremendous increase in european cooperation and the most crucially an increase in not just intelligence gathering but intelligence sharing. i've never quite seen it like this before but to do something really bizarre about this i went on to the people you see website a few moments ago i found it impossible to find this story and it's been overtaken by the events in north and south korea but also by the pope talking about condoms in the royal wedding coming up in the u.k.

strangely enough it's called off the front page of big quickly you know you care you know many people see this is very significant. new figures show a record high number of young us military veterans returning from iraq and afghanistan committing suicide each month art is going to check on investigates what pushes so many american soldiers to take their own lives at home after they've escaped danger at the front line far away each day eighteen american veterans commit suicide in the last two years more u.s. military personnel have taken their own lives than have been killed in either iraq or afghanistan the numbers raise a question where is the battle really happening in the field or at home. he was only home for eight months before. before his demons took him over to my home return his glee mentally return.

and all the character and a year and a half of his life was torture. and told him he was number twenty six. when. these parents share a similar tragedy one of losing their children who had gone to war in iraq strong and healthy man and came back deeply traumatized and haunted by nightmares. thousands of american troops returning home with post-traumatic stress disorder but many refused to seek help from the government in fear it's going to show on their records and they won't be hired anywhere but even those who do seek help are often neglected i want to apply for a job. i applied for unemployment benefits. i went to the veterans administration for treatment a year after i was discharged because i was feeling suicidal and i was discharged i

was refused treatment actually brian little would served in iraq came to this charity event for homeless veterans because he too was homeless he and dozens of other young man and women here. not only do many come back from war traumatized but are often left without a roof over their head according to the u.s. national coalition on homelessness forty percent of homeless man are veterans and the staggering number of those who see no other option but to kill themselves pushed the country's veterans affairs department to start a suicide prevention hotline they claim they've talked to more than ten thousand veterans out of killing themselves iraq and afghan veterans fueled the epidemic and i share your. understand especially so often hear from callers they see no meaning behind the many killings they witnessed any war can be traumatizing for soldiers but the suit

side rate among vets in the u.s. is now the highest seems the vietnam war there was no similar surge after world war two civilians questioning the motive of the war is now reflected among many young american vance whose own down to drive them even closer to the brink looking at the plight of veterans in the u.s. one can't help asking what is the cost of war is it the one point eight trillion dollars the u.s. ponting iraq and afghanistan last here or is it the shattered lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers who come back home to find out their battle for survival has just begun going to check on our take clinton maryland. and still ahead for you this hour. metal monsters like this fishing vessel said here abandon waiting for the sea water to return to the deserts of kazakstan with international rehabilitation after taking a factory erroll sea proves it may once again return i'm one of the friends to join

me in central asia for what could be one of the world's largest landlocked bodies of water. high praise in high places find out just why film star leonardo di caprio got a. prime minister vladimir putin. attention has served on the already tense korean peninsula after northern forces launched an artillery barracks on the island in the south so the forces confirmed dead earlier farge shells and exercises directed west and north earlier seoul blamed the north for what it called an unprovoked shelling of its island and as threatened to retaliate against this neighbor but claim the south had violated its maritime border during the military drills to south korean marines were killed in one of the worst clashes in almost thirteen years russia's foreign ministry said the strikes were unacceptable and called on both sides to show restraint. with us what's

happened condemnation. science must take measures to pacify the situation and prevent similar action in the future unfortunately this is already the third incident of the kind this year so this time it is a colossal danger of the situation descending into military conflict this must be avoided russia has repeatedly warned of the growing tension in the region and is now counting on both sides to arrive at a suitable conclusion. good for a former british army p.n. author who's an expert on the region says not everything should be blamed on the north he says that the south military drills of a disputed area are also provocative the northern limit line which is the disputed border is only recognized by south korea is not even recognized in full by the united states so clearly conducting military exercises in a disputed military military area where there have been incidents this year with

the sinking of the church over the last decade it is clearly not wise to put it mildly i mean i think both sides can take some blame in this matter but certainly the general perception of this all the fault of the north koreans is not what i agree with the u.s. was preparing preemptive attacks against the north's nuclear facilities we've clearly would we're would be provoking something closer to goal for three than world war three nevertheless even that would cause a mensch damage to the global economy and to global security a new world where global history is redefined as promised by wiki leaks during its next revelations meanwhile one of nato allies denmark says the latest documents revealed by the whistleblower claim that danish troops were involved in violence and abuse in iraq and its origins in the reports after being denied further information from nato and the u.s. the country's authorities have turned to the whistleblower itself find out the

truth. danish defense officials seem to be on a quest for the truth the we keep leagues after the whistleblower web site released thousands of iraq war logs showing prisoner abuse in iraq denmark launched its own investigation to find out whether danish soldiers were involved if anything had happened in a wrong way of course we should be open about that but first they turn to nato and to the united states for help with no luck to get the documents from the americans because the americans of a close ally often mark in these documents are american after being refused access to information by nato and their american counterparts demi's defense officials have been forced to turn to wiki leaks ironically we got to see those documents before they did because the very same logs that the ministry of defense are after are in position of a danish newspaper which got them not from weekly leaks but from a whistleblower of their own and yes danish defense officials asked the editors for

help to we're not going to give them to the defense forces because this is the sort of protection thing for the newspaper with the paper keen to protect informants identities the danish military had one last resort we q. makes for a gravel a former military intelligence officer finds the situation absurd he was arrested and jailed for leaking information on weapons of mass destruction in iraq six years ago and now the officials themselves are turning to leaked documents for truth something gribble himself was jailed for so we don't have the benefit on men. viewpoint regarding freedom of speech. so as to suit itself if it's embarrassing. they will do whatever they can to punish a messenger if we retreat top brass don't like what they discovered this time it might just be that once again it's a web site telling the danish people what their soldiers were really doing in iraq

. copenhagen denmark. well let's have a look at some international news in brief thursday is to be a national day of mourning for a stampede that killed three hundred seventy eight people at a water festival nearly eight hundred were also injured in the disaster tragedy struck as thousands tried to cross a narrow bridge with a crowd of panicked for an unknown reason most of the victims were crushed while others drowned falling from the bridge. rescuers are hoping to contact twenty nine men trapped in a new zealand mine are preparing to say a second robot to locate them the first robot was damaged by water on its way underground talks agassiz of the threat of another underground explosion continued to prevent a rescue team from entering the mine at five days since the blast had no contact made officials our knowledge and that hope for the man is surviving isn't wiggling

. well to central asia now where the the once the world's fourth largest lake almost disappeared half a century ago soviet our great cultural mismanagement of the receding waters robbed the region of its economic lifeline but did not surprise people of the hope that one day the sea would return as artie's lindsey france reports there are signs one of the world's worst manmade environmental disasters might be reversed but there are people living at this harbor who have never seen the water which one slapped at its walls the former port city of a raskin kazakstan was once a bustling hub of business and human activity but beginning in the one nine hundred sixty s. rivers feeding massive cotton fields for the soviet union diverted water away from the rivers that fed the erroll sea be a pretty nice game in which she was close to the city my husband and i had it by and we would swim to the islands for picnics on the weekend we swam and lay in the sun nation the sea started moving away the watches became shallow and then just

joined up with my children still unknown in the pictures until the waters were so aggressively diverted the aerial sea was the size of ireland. the disappearing sea took with it fishing jobs commerce and an entire way of life just a few decades ago where i'm standing now as far as the eye could see was bright blue water ships just like this bobbing up and down bringing in the day's catch now when you drive across the former seabed all you see is abandoned villages abandoned ships and camels now people here call it errol coom or errol desert. storm or the soviet planned economy is largely to blame for the dying of the aral sea all decisions are made in moscow which took no account of the ecological balance of that region the consequences of that could be felt as early as in the one nine hundred sixty s. the r.e.c. region the fines the terms pre-crisis crisis and disaster. it was after the

collapse of the soviet union that people were faced with the seriousness of the disaster the sea have split into in two thousand and five experts harnessed what little water still flowed into the lesser erroll sea from the river by building the cocoa. and eighty seven million dollar project funded in part by the world bank the smaller body of water had become the great hope of the future. we had over two hundred people here from russia kazakhstan and his back is stan the work is very hard and many of us lived here on site for two or three years but now we're happy to say the time has come to pack up the structure is working perfectly. welcome to news after years of failed dam projects and wasted water in just a few short years these small downs have turned parts of the cows like does our back into a seascape dotting it would be kids. the hope is that as the project progresses the

dams will be built even higher keeping more water and extending the boundaries and the boundaries of the lobster era will be back to the city. when the sea left my husband did not want to leave this place he used to say our children would grow to see with zero nine even before he died he believed that the sea would come. now as the excess water flows through dissolution it disappears out into the newly and greater peril see no grand scheme for saving that. for the one million people living in kazakstan poorest region measurable improvement will only come when these shores once again fill with folks lindsey france archie kazakstan well that was the latest in our series of reports on one of the world's worst ecological catastrophes and we'll be bringing you more and there are all see throughout the week now

a major summit to save one of the world's most endangered and majestic animals from extinction has been taking place in st petersburg the tiger forum has been convened by prime minister putin bringing together conservationists and government officials from thirteen countries there are a must to double the wild tiger population by twenty twenty two and a lot ski reports russia is leading by example. the used to be one of the most dangerous species on earth that is until humans nearly destroyed their population currently there are just over three thousand tigers left in the wild saving them is a tough task this supportive park in southern russia is home to eleven tigers and contrary to popular belief they breed very well here since this place is not really is what started out as an animal shelter. tigers first appeared here just a few years ago they were taken away by a court order from st photographers who often mistreated the animals but would you

know after we nursed them they gave birth to the first litter the two male cubs and one year later cassandra and cleopatra were born you can see them here they feel very well now. here in the given park the animals are provided with medical treatment fresh food and lots of living space the place is also home to a tiger celebrity marsha was given to put in as a birthday present in two thousand and eight and he later gave her up for adoption according to the world wildlife fund russia has developed a simple yet effective strategy of saving this endangered species besides setting aside protected areas it includes a ban on hunting and anti-poaching activities that allowed us to bring our population in the russian far east from about. as low as fifty animals in the middle of the last century about three hundred by the eighty's now for the last twenty years of more or less stable population in the level of four to

five hundred animals however in many countries these animals are on the brink of extinction the current summit on the issue and seeing peter's group is looking at turning the old it round the world's thirteen tiger range nations are hoping to double the population of the species by twenty twenty two that would be a boon not just for tigers themselves but for the millions around the world who love them. crossing the region all staying with the subject of tigers another topic at this time from hollywood had a rather difficult time making it to the summit superstar leonardo dicaprio torturous journey to st petersburg involved a plane which caught far another which almost ran out of fuel after being rocked by reaching atlantic storms his first flight to russia had to turn back to new york with an engine shut down the flames undeterred and determined the star switched to a small private jet that strong winds over the atlantic met the airplane to use up

too much fuel and had to land in finland after refueling and how simple the whole world hero eventually made it to st petersburg his titanic effort to join the conference won him praise from no less than russian prime minister that if you're going to do any of. us why didn't pick up your mr dicaprio not just came to us but simply burst through the front line excuse me if i may but in our country people usually say that's what we call a real. and i think that the people with such character would be responsible for defending nature in order tiger in this particular case were destined for success. and next our team meets a man whose views on the events surrounding nine eleven it cost him his job and make sure pride was far from the french military college in paris that's what he claims for a book introduction he wrote while streaming fishel version of the tragedy r.t.s. sophie shevardnadze caught up with them.

thank you very much for being with us today you now last year you lost your job because you actually question it and surrounding the official version of they've answer on the nine eleven saying that it was an orchestrated conspiracy by israelis americans who are specks this theory out you know first of all the real reason why i lost my job was because i disagreed we've been new french defense police both pro nato orientation but was very very real reason why i had lost my job but that's true but in my last book i have some doubts about vo fisher version of the nine eleven. i think i'm very confident of the future about the truth i'm

just waiting about. what would happen but you know many experts think for vashon is not right so we have time but we've been over truth and you also advocate this idea of clash of civilizations in the present and world what is what is it based on who is involved in it and where are the battle lines drawn well in the long term view is three is is not only a clash of civilizations it's a competition between different nation different cultures but it's also a clash of civilization between china europe. us and a lot of different civilization what i say is we cannot deny this clash of civilization and specially of a fight but the us tried to dominate to lead the world and try to impose western values on a kind of western globalization there's also a rising tension with the immigrant communities in many european countries yes i

think it's a it's a big problem you know for my country and for many european countries we have a serious problem with especially with mostly me grants because it's very difficult to assimilate them inside the nation for european christian occurred term nation let's talk about america a little bit what do you think is america's exhibitions where its major strategic enemies for example america tried to keep the leadership on the world but no it's not possible because of china china race is something very difficult to accept for the u.s. and they would try to contain try to compete with china especially in the pacific ocean where we laugh probably we laugh tension between the two major players china and the us but in the long term view i'm confident about the relationship

between russia europe on the us i think in the long term you know we have the same interest we will have to deal with two major problems in the future china on islam the islamic world and the reason why i'm confident about the future between between the u.s. and russia now that republicans actually one control and congress how could this affect the future of the start treaty with russia well actually but very is a trend inside the republican party we. which doesn't. good opinion of fresh air but i think very is also a pragmatist britain that isn't tradition in the republican party and then over to russia is a very important player and also no vote for for us question like afghanistan like iran all of the major question.

american have been need russia to find solution so even the republican know about that well last we actually need but it russia to cooperate in the joint european missile defense system what does this mean how do you actually see russia's role in a future european if the affairs in the years to come where the russian position is fair i mean because they just say ok we're we have a balance worth funks to burn nuclear weapons and that we've your. we've your cheated that we've you're on to me side you want to break this. weaves visit balance between the major player and that's not fair i understand direction concern about that. and i think if the u.s. want to choose to be accepted then need to include russia into the systems they

need to associate the russian in the systems of security it's impossible to to deal with russia also we've chilled because if not what will it mean that the. children is targeted against russia thank you very much for this interview i think you're right. wealthy british style. is not on the. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy

with max cons or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into kinds a report on our. download the official click ation tool on the phone on pod touch from the i choose ops to. watch on t.v. life on the go. video on demand on t.v.'s mine old costs and says feeds now in the palm of your. questions on the dot com.

you're watching our team here's a recap of our top stories this hour police across europe grounded twenty six people suspected of plotting a christmas campaign of terror with those detail reported to be linked to international terrorist networks and militants in chechnya. the impact of the u.s. wars in iraq and afghanistan is becoming a global symbol on home soil as of late a recent report shows a record number of young veterans are committing suicide each. north korea attacks on the island in the south through the barrier of artillery far above seoul confirms the school says that earlier fired shells in exercises directed west baltimore russia urges calm from both sides so for an all out war. danish authorities turn to whistle blower.