russia is the president's admitted the country's democracy is still imperfect but is improving in his latest video blog address posted online commitment bed of warne's russia's political system shows signs of stagnation and he calls for greater political competition tahlia novack about has been watching in message. 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 without him will it not for british forces do more 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 belittle he has threatened to turn into stagnation with. the national president also spoke about

the freedom of speech in the country the 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. or if the opposition has no chance it will 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 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 russian 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 or decreasing the human factor in those counting oh 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 no more points i made. and democracy is imperfect and we are absolutely aware of this but we are still at the beginning of the route the most important thing is that we are not standing still we are going forward with will of course this address comes at a very important sign for washoe is there let true 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. that will towards president medvedev full of video blog democracy to head to our web site www dot com under the me to be part of connell

from the central executive committee all of the ruling united russia policy says the president that his message was also to encourage greater activity from the opposition. i think he was trying to say actually it should develop with relates to united russia and the opposition parties in russia that have already started a lot of innovations such as primaries. the development of the intraparty discussion so to disobey should leave open public debates and so on and so forth i think the same should be done by. paul ince as well and it will be very important because as we all know the quality of decision is taken by the authorities depends on the quality of criticism they get so they need to have very good feedback. both united russia and other parties should provide this kind of feedback in order for

system to be sustainable so that was to be there from the central executive committee of the ruling united russia party now thousands of students have flooded the streets of central london in another wave of protest against the government's plans to increase tuition fees and cut university demonstrators at times the police found which was more relieved when the crowd descended all white hole students all over the u.k.'s staging protests at universities and attending marches school pupils have also you join didn't the country police warn they'll be forced to make arrests if demonstrations turn violent. denies in some of the protests and sometimes aggressive measures to make a difference. is really achieved anything well also do not necessarily support them . has been made with the poll tax riots which did achieve

a repeal or even the suffragette movement which is violence to win the vote for women now there is a distinct possibility if the wishes of the british people are ignored again then the process will erupt into violence being raised as much as one thousand pounds a year this will settle students were creeping in. forty thousand pounds before they graduate the main reason for this measure being introduced as a response to the banking bailout the need to reduce our deficit but what is being asked of the millions of students have not yet even finished school are going to be asked to pave with their education for a banking crisis they did nothing to create the anger and frustration about this is palpable we europeans are all things suffering from tough measures portugal has ground to a hold as workers stage a twenty four hour general strike a public sector pay council tax rises it comes two days before parliament votes on a tough new party is meanwhile ireland which has been severely hit by the tech crisis has unveiled a four year plan to save fifteen billion a year raise it involves physical therapy measures dump it has other things

including spending and job cuts as well as tax rises found dish in poor arriving to receive its bailout by you and the i.m.f. but some experts say adopting the single currency or the country's big mistake in the first place. the euro was a mistake in the beginning thank goodness we never joined the single currency it is going to crash and burn i think the euro as a currency whether the you can survive is another issue that is the major pressure the moment the german people as well sort of prevailing our economies like greece like carland and indeed portugal as well i think spain will be the it will be the straw that breaks the camel's back i mean it just isn't sustainable i don't show you can try the economies of somewhere like greece with an economic powerhouse like germany for that's the fundamental problem the euro here here in new u.k. view forty eight million pounds

a day to grow. out of church with the man and woman in the street. well on its way here on. the caprio was given a warm infection in st petersburg find out why hollywood star was called a real man by prime minister david. the rights of journalists have won the backing from a major european security watch told the o.s.c. east sent a letter to the u.s. secretary of state condemning the recent detention of an r t news team the organization is calling on hillary clinton for an independent investigation into the case accusing american police of going it see far in their attempts to maintain order they are secret was arrested while covering a peaceful protest outside a military academy in the state georgia dubbed the school of assassins. around thirty two hours in jail before they were released on bail. europe is on

high after belgian authorities arrested a number of radical islam ists at least twenty six people were seized on suspicion of plotting a christmas campaign of terror the suspects are being linked to international terrorist organizations and chechen militants well the new bushell has more for us now from brussels. police here in brussels say they busted an islamic terrorist cell tied to russia's republic of chechnya which is planning attacks 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 network to build a 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 netherlands denmark and 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. rebel organizations and the worldwide al qaeda network and also to say those arrested are 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 cells 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 to show that. russia's church and terrorist networks all standing shoulder to shoulder with some of the world's most dangerous terrorists. dollars get some more analysis on this now from bottom of the shan a senior researcher from the center for terrorism and counterterrorism he joins us live now from the hague many thanks for joining us all to share now these stories of obviously was quite a commotion here in russia with the chechen link with all of you surprised by the seeming lack of coverage in europe to people just don't care i think it's all over in the news at least in dutch newspapers this morning it was all over it was on the

news yesterday evening and in belgium it was a minute as well so i think there is actually plenty of attention to what's going on in the media and why do you think that says then this is now that there is a belief that these arrests have made it clear that all countries russia those countries in europe and the u.s. do you know face a single threat and do you think that that realisation makes this threat easier to tackle i am i'm not sure i think we're actually dealing with point diffuse forms of throat and there at this point in time in europe different forms of threats one coming out of arcadia international terrorism one coming from within who are people who are increasingly radicalizing. and. those urgent aerial plays and so they are not necessarily linked to this international network of al qaeda well recently the u.s. did add doco model for russia's most wanted man into their list of international

terrorists so all of these new arrests do you think that it means that the west doesn't it that chechen terror is upon us all of a global threat even though as you said before you still believe there are different threads to this terrorist international threat we all face. realizing that there are different forms of threat i think church has always been pointed out as one of the places where al-qaeda has been involved has a role in fighting terrorism well russia is also accused europe of harboring people it considers its terrorists in the past and in light of these new arrest do you think europe's. cooperation with russia will change in the future. well it might be a y. thing to do so but on the same time in this at the same time i'm not sure the current arrests in europe in another lands in belgium can be directly related to

the situation in church or international terrorism. there may have been a church and person involved but that doesn't mean that these people who are involved in arrested in the netherlands are directly associated with the struggle going on in church no order to fight going on in church and well as you say they're all still many threads to this international terror threat with which this that it is still a very difficult problem to tackle and deal forces have succeeded this time in busting the operation but will they be so lucky next time just how we see is it networks like these to operate and for the police to infiltrate them all can be done to further prevent such a time exactly it's very difficult to infiltrate them to be aware of what's going on especially as the leadership has become less central and networks have become more diffuse it's very difficult to tackle the problem. i think thus far

intelligence doing it thankful enjoy up and keeping the problem down to earth keeping its. modest level so far in europe we haven't seen much attacks actually in the past years. and this is also due to effect if intelligence. is to shine a senior we said from the center for terrorism and counterterrorism that's this be him. thank you but. now the recent nato summit in lisbon wasn't just about talking politics it seems ultra long day's work at the meeting french president nicolas sarkozy was kept awake by an excessively noisy party at his hotel well it's hand out with a delegation from georgia which isn't even and they say member through social reportedly with no less than a c. process the changes at least that's what a portuguese newspaper is claiming the policy which is also thought to involve some all meaning in delhi reportedly came to an abrupt halt. several other officials

complained to hotel staff it's not clear whether the georgian president mikheil saakashvili himself was there although he was present out the summit georgian lawmakers are now calling for an investigation. of these papers reported an absolutely outrageous front this is another proof post of you think you are deliberately prostituting the hotel it was also looted by local police this is shameful behavior and it needs to be investigated i hope the guilty will be punished because it has to do with the country's reputation. ok to check out more stories and analysis on all that we're covering on our web site twenty four seven r.t. dot com here's a taste of what's online few minutes a record number of u.s. veterans taking their own lives and after they return from the front lines in iraq and afghanistan unemployment and neglect from your forty's the name being among the

reasons for the saw. and going back to their books as astronauts to the last minute revision find out what that's washing up on ahead of their trip to the stars all that and much more assholes who dot com. 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 the animals from extinction and the stablished the portal of the tiger's plight leonardo dicaprio endured a rough journey to st petersburg which saw his plane catch fire and another always run out of fuel well it's his first flight to russia and russia his first flights to russia had to turn back when an engine shut down in flames but the star then switched to a small private jet that strong winds over the atlantic meant that that's airplane use up too much food and was forced to land in finland you wonder if you live in

stop later on the hollywood hero eventually made it to save his titanic effort to join the solve it won him praise from a russian prime minister who says. 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 that's what we call a real. and i think people would do would be responsible for defending nature or tiger in this particular case were destined for success. well the world bank is a major player in the drive to say that its president robert zoellick spoke exclusively to a forum. a century ago you would have had about one hundred thousand tigers now you're down to maybe thirty to thirty four hundred and when you think of those numbers you really realize and this is one of the things that certainly energized me is that within our lifetime the species that most of us grew up thinking was you

know part of our ecosystem could be caught could be extinct and many people are unaware that the wildlife trade is the third largest illegal trade after arms and drugs so we this will only work if you get support of the law enforcement customs communities the bank has experience in dealing with countries on the ground but also in the very nature of economics transporter issues and one of the nice things is in addition to dealing with the environment ministries we have a long history of dealing with the budget and finance ministry so we try to connect the dots on what's an issue that has to be multi-disciplinary. ok let's take a look now at some other news making headlines around the world this hour on the second sheet out of new zealand coal mine has ended hope of finding any of the twenty nine missing workers alive police say no one could have survived what was described. the last rescue attempts at that home could would lead up to the explosion due to a build up of carbon monoxide gases tragedy is the country's worst mining accident

in. south korea says it's discovered the bodies of two civilians he was said to have been killed as a result of the shelling by north korea pyongyang claims tuesday's attack on the disputed western maritime border was in response to seoul firing weapons during military drills to sell three marines were also killed in the shelling seoul hit back with artillery fire of it so details about casualties on the northern side have not been revealed the international community has called for restraint on the . investigators in cambodia playing a swaying suspension bridge to triggering a stampede that killed hundreds of doubt that in celebration of the final evening of the country's under water festival a government ministry reported the death toll could be as high as four hundred fifty six while most of the victims were crushed while others suffocated thursday

has been declared a national day of mourning. to find out where the middle east peace process is heading in ten minutes time before that they discount child with business news sharing is up next. hungry for the full story we've got it for us the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. going to be soon which brightened if you only bounce from phones to christians. these stunts on t.v.

don't come. in indonesia oh geez available in hotels coming down the resort and spa my it would result in the spawn of only so much come down upon the mode of being turned on sentry and naked body result to spar sunday of beach otoh the wisdom result you should do a club med bonnie so if you tell someone you're asked about the resort and spa the ritz carlton hotel ground many as you call the hotel four seasons hotel the sultan hutto. hello welcome to the business news i'm sure ana quiana will go straight to our top story germany's eon may sell its stake in russia's gas giant gas paul thomas on daily reports the potential buyer is v e b bank. currently owns a three point five percent of gas paul world's largest utility is selling off assets in order to compensate for failing earnings earlier the company's chief said

the stake in gas follows non-strategic with the company aiming to expand in china and brazil finance minister alex you could read says v.v. supervisory board hasn't discussed the deal yet. and staying with the gas moscow and beijing are unlikely to agree on the price of russian gas supplies to china before the middle of next year the news came after russian and chinese prime ministers held talks on tuesday in st petersburg where energy relations top the agenda medina cochon of reports. 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. as we were at the energy between our countries developing quite successfully we have finished construction of the pipelines could you know that

scene such a scene from the first of january two thousand and eleven with supplies of russian oil will arrive in china the negotiations between goss bromine c.m. p.c. are going on successfully we also thinking to develop nuclear energy corp but the main focus is future gas trade gazprom and c. and prissy 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 disputes by the middle of next yeah 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. get from will have a lot more time to converse reality of the new market rules there's going to be even more dickov language or prices in gas prices in the european markets and i think the chinese have got stronger this autumn gas from once again stressed the china as the focus of its future growth and it seems the asian pacific region is where a future an or g. cooperation will grow between other global oil and gas players might be in the question of business. and the russian government may be selling a controlling stake in most of the big companies currently planned for privatization at the moment the state is planning to retain fifty percent plus one share and the ten largest companies from the list but if the market situation is

favorable it may decide to reduce its holdings in as many as twenty five percent plus one share chaining just a blocking stake although even that is not enough for the head of russian m.d.m. bank. even when is it to live markets go with it which is akin. to a completely different government that the business sees this company fully because in this case if you should feel this company we would much rather than the state is the shareholder to show for you just go with it let's do that but the one before fair completion is going to be very complete you should know is that. he told. her she's. now let's take a look at the markets questions markets reversed from earlier losses and close in the black at the end of trade on wednesday all blue chips were up on the r.t.s. with no one else nickel the biggest gainer up more than two point six percent for

us hydro and spare bank both close with over two point nine percent on my sex. and u.s. stock futures climb after reports show unemployment fell to the lowest in two years while consumer spending rose boosting optimism in the economic recovery the dow is up by one point two percent and the nasdaq by almost two percent. in europe stocks are higher following heavy losses in the previous two sessions the flexi is trading just over one and a half percent higher on the dax is up over one point seven eight percent among shares on the move u.k. food service company compass group that's up five percent after lifting its dividend payout by a third bank of ireland dropped around six percent after a report the irish government will take a majority stake in the lender. invalid's pretax profits at large and medium russian companies grew by more than fifty percent during the first nine months of the year that's according to a report by the state statistics service wholesale retail and real estate companies

show the strongest performance. and russia is my sex exchange will launch trading of the chinese yuan against the regal next week the head of the exchange believes interest in the market will be fairly limited to start with. i think it's very important that we stop it but i don't think it's going to be overwhelming compared to other current. markets would have liked for example but i think it's a good it's a good thing for the trade between the two countries signed up for those people who do transactions with china and when you're on. and that's all we have for you this hour you can always find more stories on our web site that's archie dot com slash business stay with us.

culture is that so much going to get each visit israel on the mark let's play the blame game and where to go from here the west led drive to find a funny peace settlement among the palestinians and israelis. in some petersburg oh she's available in hotels a story and a little ambassador in a small school to kowtow to triple a sotto a true story toto gold and gold you know tilson to. extol dostoevsky live in a sea of colors even if. this

is the president medvedev of the me said the country's democracy is still in power but they're all signs of improvement and his place is online video blog addresses for more competitiveness and the politics of the system is so signs of stagnation. the terror threat hangs they were the. christmas holidays in europe belgium arrest twenty six radical islamic. specs all being linked to international terrorist organizations on chechen the sentence. students all over the u.k. it's taking to the streets to protest the government's plans to.