now europe is on high terror alert after belgian authorities arrested several radical islamists twenty six people were seized for apparently plotting attacks for the christmas period and suspects are being linked to international terrorist organizations and chechen militants bushell is following developments for r.t. . police here in brussels say they busted an islamic terrorist cell tied to russia's republic of chechnya which is planning attacks three three throughout europe so it is swooped on fifteen people suspect of recruiting jihad is to fight in iraq and afghanistan it comes just hours after all sorties launched pre-dawn raid on homes of another eleven suspects who were tied to a cicily are linked in its work the belgian prosecutor's office said quote there were an international terrorist group using a 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 mark in germany where

a thirty one year old russian man of chechen origin was arrested suspected of training jihad this to fight terrorist campaigns those arrested or belgian dutch and russian origin this is seen as among the first top level links that police have found between russia's chechen. rebel organizations and the worldwide al qaeda network also to say those arrested are suspected of gathering recruits and 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 but bloody suicide blasts in russia's southern republic of dagestan and chechnya of the one of those attacks russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov said that those chechen linked 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 works all standing shoulder to shoulder with some of the world's most dangerous terrorists well british security analyst peter powers says the terrorist network has helped strengthen european cooperation and this raid is that much more important than people are giving it credit for let's not fool ourselves al qaeda is 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 kabul 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 you know something really bizarre about this i went on to the b.b.c. website a few moments ago i found it impossible to find this story and it's been overtaken by the events of 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 a big quickly in the u.k. you know many people see this is very significant. russia's lead this says the country's democracy is on the right path but needs improving to avoid stagnation if the main message from president that is the latest video blog which has just been

posted online. has been watching it. in his address russian president dmitry medvedev mainly spoke about the need to modernize russia's political system with the help of gradual but still reforms but also to make sure that a stable political system doesn't mean that it's the nascent. political system or we simply want to make our political system more fan more flexible more dynamic and more open to renewal and development he must enjoy the confidence of our lecturing it is no secret that for some time now signs of stagnation have begun to appear in our political life has to pretty has threatened to turn into stagnation where. the national president also spoke about the freedom of speech in the country the need to improve the quality of particular representation have stronger opposition forces and to simply have a better political competition and more rights for political minorities. if the

opposition has no chance at all of winning a fair fight it degrades and becomes marginal or if the ruling party never loses a single election it is just coasting ultimately it too degrades just like any living organism which remains static for these reasons it's become necessary to raise the degree of political competition with a question president has also said that the ruling party in russia should not add simply as a supplement to the executive power this year a list of bills have been completed that made major amendments to the multi-party political system on a nationwide scale and the key points of those amendments were decreasing the human factor in both counting providing more rights to political minorities and minimizing the risks of elections money relations politicians this is still more i hope that our political system has been improved quite significantly as a result of these adjustments i am absolutely sure that it has become more open and

flexible because of the. ultimately it is also become more fat and the more points i made. and democracy is imperfect and we are absolutely aware of fish but we still at the beginning of the route the most important thing is that we are not standing still we are going forward you will of course this address comes at a very important time for washer is there electro period is approaching parliamentary elections will take place in december two thousand and eleven and this is when all the amendments that have been introduced this year will be taken to the test parties that are there to watch the present for video blog on russian democracy for yourself head for r.t. dot com. well coming up in a few minutes getting a good grounding before blasting off. the next crew of the i assess of being cleared for launch and its next stop the launch pad to get all the details with us

in just a minute. even though the united states had minutes the violence in afghanistan is now at an all time high the pentagon insists progress is being made in the annual campaign rhetoric chiefs report modest gains against the taliban despite a forceful increase in violent clashes since two thousand and seven. has been watching troops in iraq gearing up for the move to afghanistan to boost the american led forces there. i will try what she's trying to do is coming to an end he's part of the american forces who stayed behind to train assist and equipped iraqi security forces sure their own wants to go home that's for sure no one knows whether once they hear the genesis not just movement of troops and equipment since world war two the u.s. army is moving its supplies from iraq to afghanistan certain equipment such as are in rap. mine resistant vehicles are humvees or

those types of equipment a lot of are rolling vehicles rolling stock of course and some generation that equipment yes will be dedicated towards. the mission in afghanistan but critics warn that moving troops won't help much. when people see u.s. forces inside their country it brings antagonism and makes them turn to terrorism and al qaeda so as more american troops come here from iraq it will just make things worse i don't believe the americans will live for another fifty years they have two of the main military bases here and they're now building the americans leaving iraq also sends the wrong message to insurgents the afghans seeing the americans are drawing from iraq and they think themselves ok they're going to withdraw in a year or two we have a hold on things we'll take control in a year or two it doesn't matter i will quote she's already been told he'll be going

from iraq back to afghanistan it'll be his second time there and he's not looking forward to it i would definitely say that afghanistan is a lot more difficult and so the terrain is a lot more heavier in the mountainous region we have to do a lot more walking there and whether the beefed up presence in afghanistan will help troops meet mixtures deadline to pull out or make it more difficult is still unclear policy our baghdad. the international community is demanding south and north korea maintain their cool to prevent a new war breaking out on the peninsula at least two people were killed during an exchange of artillery fire between the neighboring countries on tuesday the north shelled an island just across the border claiming it was in response to seoul firing weapons during military drills near the front to hit two south korean marines were killed in the attack south back with artillery fire of its own details about casualties on the northern side has been revealed. that warns it will strike

again if the south violates the border by so much as a new attempt however r.t. contributor wayne madsen believes the south korean president is using the incident to boost his political power. we've got the korean peninsula though those two countries north and south are still in a state of war there was only an armistice signed. russia and china king talk to the north to get them to back down but we also have to have the united states put pressure on president lee myung bak of south korea because he's been very warlike unlike his predecessors who were trying to open up to the north in a policy of sunshine diplomacy cross border visits special economic zones this particular president south korea is very aggressive very right wing and very unpopular at home and the only thing he has going for him is to boost his image by getting into a military showdown with the north. r.t.

contributor wait that's that well still ahead for you this hour tides of change. after decades of mismanagement of the water isn't one of the world's largest landlocked these went away and took a gigantic fishing industry but now coming that time when the french join me in the air all sea infantry. it's a final test time for the crew her dining up to the next journey to the international space station there at russia's star city training center right now getting the onceover head of their december blast off with artie's tom barton is there for us as well tom what are the final tests that determine if the crew is ready to go into space. well carry the three crew yes they've essentially been given the clearance to go ahead into their flight in december the tests that they've had to undergo always quite

a trial they've had to really just prove that they are absolutely familiar with what they're going to have to do on the flight up there and then on the i assess so on the module for this the soyuz mission they've been going through drills for example a fire drill or something if there was a fire. what procedures they would have to go through they have to be very quick they have to know the craft like the back of their hand and they proved that they they do know that so what does the crew actually need to pass all these preflight exams because it's not the first mission for some of them is it. you know it's not the three crew to meet. his first mission even though he's the commander of the mission he's very experienced in his field though and he's been a backup crusader for also catherine coleman from nasa this is her third time in space and paolo nespoli an italian this is his second time in the three of them have a lot to do up there it's going to be

a very very busy time up there they're going to have to manage some docking when they're up there and do a lot of science experiments so they need to be absolutely familiar with all of the technical things that they're going to have to do to get up there while they're up there there are also those very proud to be part of this mission when it comes to two thousand and eleven next year it'll be fifty years since your it was the first man in space and as we heard a little earlier from paolo nespoli when we talked to him in the press conference he personally is very proud to be part of that ongoing tradition. if you're not enough for me to be here instead of see if you were a lot of these started walk on the seams there then you're going to continue with is this venture in space i'm looking forward to it is all the other astronauts will be on this piece they should be there and be your views of everybody here on earth as it was you were going when he flew fifty years ago. and that was very much

the sentiments of all three crewmembers that they're very proud to carry on their tradition of going to space and as he said representing humanity up there. soon off to space what will be their main mission when they get there. well as a sort of it's everything nothing special i mean they're going to be very very busy up there they're going to be doing a lot of maintenance up their space walks planned on the outside of the the i assess that's going to be removing some components putting some things on there's also going to be two unmanned vehicles docking one from europe from the european space agency and one japanese both bringing supplies there that they're going to have to bring in there's been a few problems in the past with that it's a very tricky procedure they're also going to have to do a lot of experiments they're going to be removing some old ones for example some new ones are going to be installing experiments to try and measure cosmic radiation

so was a big scientific goal up there they're also going to be doing one that looks at the effects of bacteria and fungus on the materials used to build spacecraft and whether that really causes a long term damage to them so that those are some of the scientific experiments they'll be doing up there but also be doing some educational work up there trying to with a video link to connect to kids all around the world really and students all around the world to show them the value of science done in space and it's a very international crew that's going to be working together we heard a little earlier from from katherine coleman the american who's going to be going up there how the crew feels about working in such an international team. we haven't been up there together yet but from the way we've gotten along town here i see that we speak many different languages between us but as a crew we speak one language and it doesn't always involve words and i look forward to you lately start small representation of lots of different countries up on the

international space station. so whether they're from russia america europe the crew up there. yes we just lost the signal from star city obviously the spacecraft means but thank you anyway. now there now let's bring you up to date on some other international stories this hour. all twenty nine workers trapped underground in new zealand coal mine thought died after a second gas explosion police say no one could have survived what was described as an horrific blast me thing gas had been swirling in the pike river colorists since the first blast last friday which prevented rescue attempts as the country's worst mining accident in a century. has been declared a national day of mourning in cambodia after stampede killed more than three hundred seventy people attending the annual we want to first of all tragedy struck

as thousands of people panicked as they try to cross on the bridge causing huge crowds most of the victims were crushed while others drowned on the only ridge and seven hundred others were injured. over the last half century essential ages are all sea shrank to less than half its original size as a soviet geisha unplanned slowly drained what was once one of the world's largest lakes the receding waters devastated the region's prosperous fishing industry bringing unemployment and economic hardship. in the france reports today the sea is returning and with it somehow. it starts with sun up these men fish in one of the worst manmade environmental disaster areas ever known because this is the life they knew before. this desolate desert has

turned back into the sea it once was all through the sea it just wrote and then a true turn can be brought to see back to us when central asia became the center of the soviet union's plan for cotton cultivation had nearly drunk dry the rivers feeding the erroll see what covered sixty eight thousand square kilometers in one nine hundred sixty around the size of southern california shriveled to a tenth of its size by the mid one nine hundred ninety s. nearly disappearing by the year two thousand here where the greater and lesser seas split there's just enough left for modern technology to make a stab at regenerating it in two thousand and five the cocoa round dam was constructed to trap what little water still flows into the lesser sea from the searing river locked safely inside the water is growing to witness the results you must drive hours over rough sea bed. then there it is bright blue the

fishing villages might be ghost towns now but groups of men in numbers of about twenty to thirty camped out at the newly readability to beaches and catch the day's about one hundred kilo's a day until they've earned enough money to survive and they go back home. they live in dugout hats even in the coldest in winter but this new career means food on the table for young are not he was born long after commercial fishing had ceased. i've been fishing for two years my grandfather was a fisherman but he died right now we all work for a month straight living at the shore then have a week off that's when i go home to our ask we don't get a salary we had piece work payment twenty species of fish now wriggle out of the water and into the hands of the grandfathers of this industry still around to pull out the nets once again carp bring him pike catfish one more

fisherman are returning to their homeworld with drug to scare child away tourists foreigner overseas providing us with work and profit again they even say it will come back to our desk in around the silence still stuns the locals no waves no boats yet but a matter of serve my term in the army i came back and the water was no longer here that was nine hundred seventy three zero people said that it wasn't the first time they will see had gone it happened before in the past and that it would be back again that was before the fall of the soviet union before the secrets of the arrows planned disappearance were released. they see the sea will be back and maybe we will live to see the good times and life will be even better we do hope the water has twenty kilometers to go until it's back. it's impossible to restore the entire erroll sea or to make it the way to used to be if that place the northern part remains it will help solve many problems in central asia but while the industrial

might of the past cannot be restored full arose will once again become a importer it may never be what it once was but the arrow scene now boasts two thousand men who now fish for their living for them that's enough when de france r.t. kazakstan. the business news is up next with korea. hello and welcome to the program good to have you with us was told would an exclusive the president of the world bank group robert zoellick told business r t russia is now playing a more active role in global aids i think deputy prime minister could hear and has started a process but also with the foreign ministry and prime minister and president it is very important which is as russia's economy recovers or grows stronger how will we engage now there were some particular areas of interest to economic literacy you

would get some support from russia anti-malaria deal with africa but i would give you a good example working with russia now and some of the central asian countries which obviously been very dependent on remittances from russia but have gone through some very difficult economic times so what i find encouraging is that russia is seen as it wants to move into the aid and development field that wants to do so in concert with others. have a look at the markets most major asian stock markets are trading lower on wednesday in the wake of shell fire between the north and south korea japan snake he was down zero point seven percent in early afternoon the session financials are among the hard hit sectors sumitomo supernatural group down over two percent in seoul the benchmark cost be recovered from being down more than one hundred percent in only trading hong kong managed to gain point seven percent. now russia's r.t.s. index is up for the first day this week advancing point three percent this hour

among the gainers are north nichols burbank. the miles it's still close so here you see team stays closed that's. moscow and beijing i'm likely to agree on the price for russian gas supplies to china before the middle of next year the news came after russian and chinese prime minister's help talks on tuesday in st petersburg where energy relations top the agenda that i've seen a coach that has more. the latest round of energy dialogue between russia and china hasn't brought what many analysts were anticipating a pricing policy both sides find suitable on tuesday prime minister putin sad that negotiations between gazprom and china national betrayal and company are going according to plans. and the energy between our countries developing quite successfully we have finished construction of the pipelines go to you know that scene starting from the first of january two thousand and eleven with supplies of

russian oil will arrive in china the negotiations between gas bromine c.m. p.c. are going on successfully we also thinking to develop nuclear energy corp but the main focus is to future gas trade gasp roman stand to see signed a framework agreement last here for shipment of natural gas to china the deal could see seventy billion cubic meters of russian natural gas sun to china annually this size haven't disclosed the price at which they want to sell and buy but their differ by one hundred dollars for one thousand cubic meters of gas both parties think that they can tackle the pricing to speech by the middle of next year meanwhile a distant transportation system is needed to successfully sent russian gas to china one future route could be the old type pipeline construction is supposed to start in twenty eleven it will start from russia's western siberia and x. breed gas to northwestern china next summer. you supply demand picture in europe

a lot more visible will have a lot more time to. get from will have a lot more time to commerce reality of the new market is going to be even more dick copland retreat for a price of gas prices in the european markets and i think the chinese have. got stronger this autumn gas from once again stressed that china is the flow. of his future growth and its gems the asian pacific region is where a future anarchy cooperation will grow between other global oil and gas players mind in a good business r.t. . they had a versus federal tax service with this instant talks to our correspondent nick poole about evidence of the country's recovery and how it's clamping down on tax evasion. before the crisis the total budget is more than seven trillion rubles was the record of the collection for the year of two thousand and eight and

during the crisis is the collection tax which was went down to twenty percent and we now see that even heaven the price for oil much less than the average for the year two thousand paid before the graces our tax collection for the consolidated budget in the end of the year will be seven if this is the mission seven percent or less than the best year so i think it's. shows that the economy is recovering after the crisis and specially we like also that four percent or higher the tax on profits which is which was you know that's in profits was in tough two thousand and eight thirty two percent of total so that the budget and then to go down went down to twenty percent in all it's twenty four percent which also says that companies feels recovery i'll substantial a problem is tax evasion still in russia first of all it's it's a bend on several things for example such important taxes like property tax is not

counted in the base for property tax still is not must be related. like property tax would buildings we have the months of praise will fall i will answer and this tax is actually during the crisis will show on the temple of growing collection of these taxes and tax evasion something because. the information database is not correct in the tax base is not correct it's could be various from region to region and so to change it we need to do the finalize this is the plan which mr goulden sanin mr economics is working with the grocery store to finish the mass appraisal for buildings and put everything can database and will be ready after two thousand and thirteen to collected better and minimize these. that's all we have for you for this hour but you can always find most stories on our web site. that's.

the official ante up location. from the. video on demand. old girls and feet in the palm of your. question.

there you're watching on t.v. the headlines for you now belgian authorities arrested twenty six people for allegedly plotting terror attacks in the christmas period the suspects are members of a radical islamic network of links to international terrorist organizations from militants . the russian president says he recognizes the country's infections and is vowing to reform the political system in his online blog to betray that knowledge is the signs of a stagnating democracy the promise is to develop a more metal for the future. questioning whether washington will meet its troop withdrawal deadline as it moves a military personnel and equipment from iraq local square the shift to give false hope to afghans.