arrested several radical islamists twenty six people were seized for apparently plotting attacks for the christmas period the suspects are being linked to international terror organizations and chechen militants carry a bushel is following developments for ati. 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 or sorties launched pre-dawn raid on the homes of another eleven suspects who were tied to a cicily are linked in its work to build a prosecutor's office said quote there were an international terrorist group using extremist internet sites 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 thirty one year old russian 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. rebel organizations and the worldwide al qaeda network to say those arrested are suspected of gathering recruits and 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 republic of dagestan and chechnya of the one of those attacks russia's foreign minister sergey 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 much more important than people give 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 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 we what we've seen in

the last few hours is. it's a tremendous increase in european cooperation and it 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 onto 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 bit quickly in the u.k. or you know many people see this is very significant. of russia's leader says the country's democracy is on the right path but needs improving to avoid stagnation it's the main message from president that is latest video blog which has just been posted online. has been watching it. and his address question doesn't need to be

different 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 without him zelig enough a political system or we simply want to make our political system more fair 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. russian president also spoke about the freedom of speech in the country they 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 the question president has also said that the ruling party in russia should not add simply as a supplement to the executive power list here 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 palatial political system or 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 is also become more fat and more more points

i made don't wanna go on it democracy is imperfect and we are absolutely aware face but we are still at the beginning of the road the most important thing is that we are not standing still we are going forward. well of course this address comes at a very important sign for washer is there let truth 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 not to use the turnover covered at all to watch our present full video blog on russian democracy for yourself head for r.t. dot com. coming up in a few minutes and getting a good grounding before blasting off. the next screw up being cleared for launch and its next stop the launch pad get all the details with just a minute. south korea says it has discovered the bodies of two

civilians on one of its border islands shelled by north korea. claims the attack which took place on tuesday was in response to seoul firing weapons during the frontier to south korean marines were also killed by the shining so. far of its own details about casualties in the northern side have not been revealed the international community is demanding the two countries maintain the coup to prevent a new war breaking out on the peninsula pyongyang warns it will strike again if the south bother its the border by so much as a meter well contributor wayne madsen believes the south korean president is using the incident in his own political interests. we've got the korean peninsula still those two countries north and south are still in a state of war out 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. country to wayne madsen that. chiefs have been left red faced with a man purporting to be a senior taliban commander turned out to be nothing more than a pakistani shopkeeper he kept the pretense going for more than two months accepting huge payouts for taking part in high definition nations with afghan leaders when they took command that general petraeus now claims doubts had been raised but that cia analyst ray mcgovern says it's symptomatic of what's become a botched mission. of course as people in our own or unable to identify

correctly what they said was number two number two man and you know there's no hope for us at all what kind of intelligence failure is that it's very very embarrassing you know and it's a an indication of how far we have to go there and how possible that is i mean here's general petraeus saying last month. they're coming to negotiations with us that shows that it's working you know they've got the shopkeeper who undoubtedly was a very clever man but he was not really a double he didn't even look and so all the real months through or mr months through with real mr mills to come forward not coming forward taliban isn't feeling a heck of a lot of pressure and you put tens of thousands of more folks in the taliban knows the country they know the territory they'll disappear into the without incident you know next year it'll be the same way so you know it's just a. kind of

a symptom of how feckless the effort is and how people like betray us really don't know what they're doing all they know is that they're generals and they're going to send people into action because you know if you're hammer everything looks like a nail. well still ahead feel the tide of change. after decades of mismanagement the water is in one of the world's largest landlocked beans went away and took a gigantic fishing industry but now coming back when the french join me me errol see central asia. where that bring you up to date on some other international stories this hour. all twenty nine workers trapped underground in a new zealand coal mine thought to have died after a second gas explosion police say no one could have survived what was described as a graphic last thing guests have been swirling in the pipe recovery since the first

blast last friday which prevented rescue attempt is the country's worst mining accident in a century. come billion vesta gators are trying to discover what started the stand he that claimed more than three hundred seventy lives in the country's under water festival tragedy struck when thousands of people panicked as they tried to cross a narrow bridge causing huge crowds. most of the victims were crushed while others drowned thursday has been declared a national day of mourning. the u.n. says haiti's deadly cholera epidemic is spreading faster than originally thought is likely to result in hundreds of thousands of infections both officials are warning people that the disease may spread further into the neighboring dominican republic but cases have been reported the outbreak has so far claimed more than thirteen hundred dollars. the twenty four hour general strike is underway in portugal protest over public sector pay cuts pension freezes and tax rises and

unions are hoping to bring the country to a standstill two days before parliament votes on austerity budget which is expected to be passed the government is trying to reduce its huge foreign debt and avoid being bailed out like on in greece. georgia's parliament opposition is demanding an investigation to allegations of a racist scandal involving the country's delegation to the recent nato summit in lisbon a portuguese newspaper claims that georgians hired eighty prostitutes to attend a massive party etc and only after french delegation headed by president sarkozy complained about the noise the hotel where the alleged party took place is said to be one of the most luxurious in the country georgian foreign ministry has yet to comment on the scandal. of. the last half century central asia as are all sea shrank to less than half its original size and the

soviet irrigation plant slowly drained what was once one of the world's largest lakes there see the waters devastated the region's prosperous fishing industry bring unemployment and economic hardship but as artie's lindsey france reports today the seas returning and with it some hope. it starts with sun up these men fish in one of the worst manmade environmental disaster areas ever known all through the city it just started out and then a true turn could be brought to see back to us when central asia became the center of the soviet union's plan for cotton cultivation it 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 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 and numbers of about twenty to thirty camped out at the newly readability and 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 armont 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 bring him 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 desk in 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 erroll sea or to make it the way to use to be if at least 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 import 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. well we have around the clock updates and analysis on all our stories altie dot com let's take a look at what's just a click away for you at home website eighteen months song from the reset between russia and the u.s. when it's really working experts. could no longer head. the world's most infamous problem that some say twenty four minutes into europe

rumination report on the deadly dangers that still. it's final test time for the crew who are lining up to the next journey to the international space station their russia star city training center right now getting their once over ahead of that december blast off tom barton is there to. three crew yes they've ever century been given the clearance to go ahead into their flight in december the tests that they have 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 soyuz 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 can draft. 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 crews before also catherine coleman from nasa this is her. time in space and paolo nespoli an italian this is his 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 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 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 and start see if you were a lot of these stars that walk on the seams there then you're going to continue with is this venture in space i'm looking forward to this is all the other astronauts will be on the space station be there and be your views of everybody here on earth as for you to go to 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. great stuff where summit in russia which aims to save the. world tiger population is heading into its final day and one hollywood topcat demonstrated his dedication to protecting the animals from extinction established supporter of the tigers plighted leonardo dicaprio enjoyed a rough journey to st petersburg and saw his plane catch fire and another almost went out of fuel his first flight to russia had to turn back to new york with an

engine shut down flames starvin switch to a small private jet that strong winds over land. used up too much fuel was forced to land in finland one refueling stop later and a hollywood hero benchley made it to sympathize but his titanic effort during a summit won him praise from russian prime minister vladimir putin. mr di caprio not just came to us but simply burst through the front line excuse me if i may but in our country people usually sorry 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 we're destined for success. in our switzerland is trying to attract wealthy russian tourists but only with its high slopes this lake street is used to explain more so what they attract them with well kerry the wealthy russians skiers are being lured by an alpine medical care system

more on that coming up in the program but first how a lot of the program will start with an arctic seclusive the president of the world bank group robert zoellick told business r.t. russia is now playing a more active role and global it that's what he's this is what he said. i think the deputy prime minister could hear and has 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 we engage now there were some particular areas of interest to economic literacy you would get some support from russia anti-malaria being 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. and i look at the markets now most major stock

markets are trading lower on wednesday in the wake of shell five between north and south korea with only hong kong gaining japan's nikkei down point eight percent financials among the hard hit sectors. financial group down over two percent in seoul the benchmark we were covered from being down some two percent in early trading in europe stocks are higher following heavy losses in the previous two sessions among such as on the move u.k. food service company called disprove its shares are up three point four percent after lifting its dividend payout by a third and dropped around six percent after a report that the irish government will take a majority stake in the lender here in russia markets are up for the first date of this week all the blue chips are in the black with most makers burbank after leaving the games m i six is trading high as well but don't even see people losing the sound. of an easy on may so it's taken russia's gas giant gas problem daily reports the potential by is the be back on currently owns three and

a half percent and gas wells largest utilities selling off assets in order to compensate its falling earnings earlier the company's chief said the stake in gazprom was non-strategic with a company aiming to expand in china and brazil. and staying with gas last go and beijing are unlikely to agree on the price of russian gas supplies to china before the middle of next year the news came out to russian and chinese prime ministers help talks on tuesday in st petersburg where energy relations top the agenda that actually 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 plan. as we were at 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 gastro b.c. are going on successfully we're also thinking to develop nuclear energy corp but the main focus is 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 there differ by one hundred dollars for one thousand cubic meters of gas both parties think that they can tackle the pricing dispute by the middle of next year meanwhile the distant transportation system is needed to successfully sent russian gas to china one future route could be the old type blind 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 you see him get stronger this on some gas from once again stress that china is the focus. if it's 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 you know business antti. switzerland is trying to attract wealthy russians not only with its high slopes but also with its medical care system potential patients have been given brochures recounting how lenin and renowned writer alexander

solzhenitsyn. and the nation so it's a law and also aims to print brochures for arabian gulf customers expect revenue from medical tourism in switzerland to climb almost five fold by twenty twenty that's almost four times higher than the sales of chocolate and chains last year. it's all the out the the update we have for this hour but i'll be back with more in about fifteen minutes from.

sweet and clean. and very useful. radioactive and dangerous. and even dead and desolate. they all keep their unique secrets their bottoms unique lakes. on our team wealthy british stock. market. can. find out what's really happening to the global economy.

for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines kaiser reports. fifty . five. it is easy to. do. it even.

though watching ought to be our top stories for you this hour well journal thora to his arrest twenty six people for that will be plotting terror attacks for christmas period the suspects are members of a radical islamic network sets of governments to international terrorist organizations and chechen militants. the russian president says he recognizes the country's infections are starting to reform political system news online log of commitment better the lunches the science and startling to democracy the promise is to develop a fairer and more dynamic modern for the future from. the change in central asia the dried up desert that needs to be one of the world's largest points of water slowly coming back to life in the soviet irrigation and trying to convey decades ago surveying the damage and fishing industry which is not a fight. it will take.