more you're watching r.t. now europe is on high terror 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 terror organizations and chechen militants daniel bushell is one of the 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 through 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 storage is 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 its 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 and germany where a thirty one year old russian man of chechen origin was arrested suspected of training jihad this to fight in 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 recruit some money to finance a chechen terrorist organization called the caucuses 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 republics of degas don 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 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. counterterrorism analyst dr edwin baca says the group arrested on tuesday's part of a global network that's trying to expand its operations of course they are part of this global jihad of which al qaeda is the main i can they are not only recruiting chechens to go back to fight to church but they also recruiting other people in this case possibly people with the dutch moroccan background so in that sense they're not only part of a local struggle they're part of

a global jihad and. the focus for some of these groups who have roots in europe with nothing to do with chechnya so it's more international and these foreign supporters they want these groups very much to make it as international as possible . russia's only this says the country's democracy is on the right path the needs improving to avoid stagnation it's the main message from president that is the latest video blog which is 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 naysaying. zelig national 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 because to pretty has threatened to turn into stagnation was. russian president also spoke about the freedom of speech in the country they need to improve the quality of popular representation have stronger opposition forces and to simply have a better political competition and more rights for political minorities. if the oversea sion has no chance at all of winning a fair fight it degrades and becomes marginal if the ruling party never loses a single election if it is just coasting ultimately to 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 act 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 nation wide scale in the key points of those amendments for decreasing the human factor in those counting providing more rights to political minorities and minimizing the risks of elections money relations politician this is still my view 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 them. ultimately it has also become more fair and more more points i made. and democracy is imperfect and we are absolutely aware of this but we're still at the beginning of the approach 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 want to watch present of their lives a full video blog on russian democracy for yourself head for r.t. dot com. 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 pads get all the details with us in just a minute. even though the united states admits that violence in afghanistan is now at an all time high but the pentagon insists progress is being made in the nine year old campaign when tree chiefs report while this gains against the taliban this spot a four fold increase in violent clashes since two thousand and seven lottie's a porous there has been watching troops in iraq gearing up for their move to afghanistan to boost the american led forces their. will to purchase time in iraq is coming to an end he's part of the american forces who stayed behind to train

assist and equip iraqi security forces sure their own wants to go home that's for sure no one knows where they want to stay here 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. mine resistant vehicles our humvees are those types of equipment a lot of our role. 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 that. we're not going people see us forces inside their country it brings in paganism and makes them turn to terrorism. so as more american troops come here from iraq it

will just make things worse i don't believe the americans will leave 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 seen the americans withdrawing from iraq and they think themselves ok they're going to withdraw in a year or two we're going to hold on things we'll take control in a year or two it doesn't matter we'll to 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 so the terrain is a lot more heavier the mountainous region we have to do a lot more walking 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 four people were killed in jenin exchange of fire between the neighboring countries on tuesday the north shelden arlen just across the border claiming it was in response to solve firing weapons during military kills near the frontier to south koreans were killed in the attack on the bodies of two civilians have also been found on the island the south hit back with artillery fire of its details about casualties on the move inside have not been real. warns it will strike again in the south violet's he called out i say much as a millimeter. a little wayne madsen believes the south korean president is using incident to boost his political power. we've got the korean peninsula those two countries north and south are still in a state of war there was only an armistice signed until russia and china king talked to the north to get them to back down but we also have to have the united

states put pressure on president lee myung bok 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 of 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. altie contributor wayne madsen that. let's bring you up to date on some other international stories this out. all printed on workers trapped underground in the new zealand comando pulled off a second gas explosion police say no one could have survived which is described as an awful. thing gas had been swirling in the prior record recent the first blast last friday which prevented rescue attempts is the country's worst mining accident

century. cumbered investigators are trying to discover what started the stand paint that claimed more than three hundred seventy nine lives you know countries still tragedy struck when thousands of people panicked as they tried to cross a narrow bridge causing huge crowds. most victims were crushed while others drowned as they have declared a national day of mourning. the u.n. says haiti's a deadly cholera epidemic is spreading faster than originally thought is likely to result in hundreds of thousands of actions health officials are warning people that the disease may spread further into neighboring dominican republic cases. the outbreak has said for trained more than thirteen hundred dollars. a twenty four hour general strike is underway in portugal to spread the public sector pay cuts pension freezes and tax rises unions are hoping to bring the

country to a standstill in days before parliament is still to budget which is expected to be passed the government is trying to reduce its huge for it on the whole we bailed out like greece. but over the last half century essential asians are all sea shrank to less than zero but some original size as a soviet irrigation plant slowly drained what was once one of the world's largest lakes see the waters that devastated the region's prosperous fishing industry being unemployment and economic hardship. seasons in france reports today the sea is returning and with it some. it starts with sun up these men fish in one of the worst manmade environmental disaster areas ever know but all this just sort of wrote a book and then a true turn the brought to see back to us when central asia became the center of

the soviet union's plan for cotton cultivation it nearly drunk dried 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 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 village is like being ghost towns now but groups of men in numbers of about twenty to thirty camped out at the newly rehabilitated beaches and catch they have about one hundred

kilo is a day until they've earned enough money to survive and they go back home. they live in dugout hats even in the coldest of winter but this new career means food on the table for young i'm out 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 and 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 bremer pike catfish. fisherman are returning to their homeland for a new way of providing us with work and profit again they even say it will come back to our disc in or around the silent still stands the locals know waves no

boats yet after i served my term in the army i came back and the water was no longer here that was nine hundred seventy three old people said that it wasn't the first time they will see had gone 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 area last week be able to make it the way to used to be if the police the northern part remains it will help solve many problems in central asia but while the industrial might of the past cannot be restored in full arose it will once again become a port. 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 and that's enough when de france r.t. kazakstan. around the clock and analysis on all our stories r.t.

dot com has taken up now at what's waiting for him on our website eighteen months old. in the reset between russia and the u.s. we look at whether it's really working and get exposed for costs on what could lie ahead. plus the world's most infamous nuclear power plant gets a new safety cap twenty years off polluted europe. was in the deadly dangers that still lurk in chernobyl. its final test time for the crew who are lining up for the next journey to the international space station there at russia star city training center right now getting the once over head of the december blast off botton is there to. the

three crew yes they've ever century 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 their i assess so on the module for this mission they've been going through drills have to be very quick they have to know the craft like the back of their hand and they prove that they they do know that dimitri kondracke it is his first mission even though he's the commander of the mission he's very experienced in his field though and he's he's been a backup crusader for also catherine coleman from nasa this is her first time in space and paolo nespoli an italian second time 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 dockings 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 they're also though 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 it's an honor for me to be here instead of see if you were a lot of these stars that walk on the seams there then you're going and continue with is this venture in space i'm looking forward to this is all the other that's going to be on the space station be there and be your views of everybody here on earth as for you going when he flew fifty years ago and that was very much the sentiment 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. tom

barton. now a summit in russia which aims to save the world's tiger population is heading into its final day and one hollywood topcat demonstrated his dedication to protecting your levels from extinction and established supporter of the tigers plight the heart of the capriano that's endured a rough journey to st petersburg which saw his plane catch fire and another almost ran out of fuel his first flight to russia had to turn back to new york when the engine shut down claims a star then switched to a small private jet but strong winds are planted and airplanes used up too much fuel was forced to land in finland one refueling stop later on the hollywood hero french team made it to st petersburg is a titanic efforts to join the summit one him praise from russian prime minister he look pretty that's pretty much up to believe. mr de caprio not just came to us but simply burst through the front line excuse me if i may but in our country people

usually surely that's what we call a real. and i think that of people with such character would be responsible for defending nature or a tiger in this particular case were destined for success. the business news is next now with korea. it's twenty one past eleven am here in moscow welcome to business and we start with an r.t. exclusive the president of the world bank group robert zoellick told business r.t. ice is now a more active role in global eight. i think the deputy prime minister could ruin his started a process but also with the foreign ministry in prime minister and president it is very important which is as russia's economy recovers or grows stronger how will it 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'll give you

a good example we're 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. so it's a look at the markets most major asian stock markets are trading lower on wednesday in the wake of shell five between north and south korea but only hong kong gaining up just at this point japan's nikkei down point eight percent financials among the hard hit sectors so you're telling me to financial group last two percent in seoul the benchmark cost to recover from being down more some one point nine percent in early trading and russia's r.t.s. index is up for the first day this week about six point three percent among the gain is noisemakers bank and tell them isaacs is also trading higher as would only

be to be losing this out. plus going beijing are unlikely to agree on the price of russian gas supplies to china before the middle of next year the news comes after russian and chinese prime minister held talks on tuesday in st petersburg where energy relations top the agenda that i've been a coach to 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. to do it the energy between our countries developing quite successfully we have finished construction of the pipelines coated 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 b.c. are going on successfully we're also thinking to develop nuclear energy corp but

the main focus is future gas trade gazprom and see n.p.c. 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 they're 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 tipline klein 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. supply demand picture in europe a lot more visible will have a lot more time to forecast 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 i think. get stronger this autumn gazprom once again stressed that china is the flow. of his future growth and it seems 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. . now they had a russia's federal tax service me and talks to our correspondent pool 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 you increase this is a collection tax which was went down to twenty percent and we now see that even

heaven the price for oil much less than everest for the year of two thousand and eight before the graces our tax collection for the consolidated budget in the end of the year will be seven in this estimation seven percent less than it so i think it's. shows that the economy is recovering after the crisis and specially we like also good four percent. higher tax and profits which is interesting on that from profits was in tough two thousand and eight thirty two percent of the total because a little budget and then go down went down to twenty percent in all it's twenty four percent which you also say is that companies feels recovery how substantial a problem is tax evasion still in russia first of all it's it's a bent 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. for like

property tax for buildings we have the most appraisal for i will answer and this tax is actually during the crisis was shown 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 means to put in sand and mr economics is working with the grocery store to finish the mass appraisal for buildings and put everything can database and mr action will be ready after two thousand and thirteen to collected better and minimize these. that's all we have here for this hour the back with more in about fifteen minutes from now but meanwhile log on to our website r.t. dot com. you can read more stars.

in the over the. question is that so much of a given to each musician are you trying to hide from the mark when played the blame game and where to go from here the west led drive to find a final peace settlement among the palestinians and israelis. seventy six hours of intense fighting. six thousand dead at a beach front battlefields several kilometers long. and now there is only one person who cares. you see we are surrounded by garbage everywhere but also there

are. on this beach which of course is the very most appropriate city signification a symbol of everything that's wrong with our goddamn government allowing not only garbage but to a chair we wait for so many days died. a new battle is going on. will the history be protected. return to terra what julian cooper story on our t.v. .

what are you watching r t the headlines for you down. to his arrest twenty six people for allegedly plotting terror attacks with christmas period the suspects are members of a radical islamic network said to happen next to international terrorist organizations and children militants. the russian president says he recognizes the country's imperfections and his parent to reform the political system in his online blog and mutual benefit knowledge is the signs of a stagnating democracy promises to do better than ever and more dynamic more than the future. and afghans are questioning whether washington will meet its troop withdrawal deadline as it moves military personnel and equipment from iraq. the shift will give false hope to afghans only range from ten years old in tackling a growing insurgency.