knitted the countries democracy is still imperfect but it is improving and his latest video blog address posted online dmitri medvedev warns that russia's political system shows signs of stagnation and he calls for greater political competition is nataly not recover watched his 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 that 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 it begun to appear in our political life because debility has threatened to turn into stagnation. the 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 simply have a better political competition and more rights for political minorities. or if the opposition has no chance at all of winning a fair fight and it degrades and becomes marginal if the ruling party never loses a single election is just coasting up there going swimmingly it will shoot a great scene just like any living organism of the which remains static for these reasons it's become necessary to braise the degree of political point petition with by russian president has also said that the ruling party in russia should not act simply as a supplement to the executive power list here a list own bills have been completed that need major amendments to the multi-party political system on a nation wide scale and growing still those amendments were decreasing the human factor in those counting providing more rights to political minorities and

minimizing risks of elections money relations politician this is still my. 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 fan i mean more points i made. democracy is imperfect and we are absolutely aware of this but we're still at the beginning of the route and maybe the most important thing is that we are not standing still now as we are going for you know has its own will of course this address comes at a very important sign for washes the electorate 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 autism telling of a covert reporting that she wants to present in front of speech you can to the full video blogs about russian democracy on our home page out to dot com and we should

pull a kind of from the central executive committee of the ruling united russia party says president medvedev his message was also there encourage greater activity from the opposition i think he was trying to say that actually the parties should develop with relates to united russia and the opposition parties in the united russia have already started a lot of the innovations such as primaries. the development of the interparty discussions the dissipation the open public debates and so on and so forth i think the same should be done by. bonus as well and that 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 grab so they need to have very good feedback and both united russia and up of three parties should provide this kind of feedback in order for system to be sustainable i was

a retreat from the central executive committee of the ruling united russia party commenting there on the russian president's warning of political stagnation in the country quick reminder again that full speech available online tonight com. thousands of students of flow the streets of central london in another wave of protests against the government's plans to increase tuition fees and cut university budgets demonstrators attacked a police van which was marooned when the crowd descended on whitehall students all over the u.k. staging sit in protests at universities and attending marches school pupils also joined in some parts of the country to police warning they will be forced to make arrests if demonstrations turn violent and big shoes organizing some of those said protestors and sometimes aggressive measures do make a difference. given that is really achieve anything well you know let's start support them. with the poll tax riots which did achieve a repeal or even the suffragette with which violence to women now there is

a distinct possibility the wishes of the british people are ignored again then the process will erupt into violence let's get more about what's going on in britain from brian could tell from the u.k. conservative think tank the both groups thanks for being with us on the line from london slice pretty shady that we just heard the position of one of those protest organizes he says he believes that sometimes it is possible to achieve your objectives using violence to carry with that. not at all i think that everyone has the right to protest and obviously there are some very strong views about the issues that the country has to deal with the moment but the fact is that britain has been living beyond its means for a very very long time and some incredibly difficult decisions had to be to be made now. i think it's absolutely central to the british way of life that people have the rights of protest peacefully. when that's when those protests will over into violence and i think in the case of this process let's remember it's been

a relatively small minority of people involved but i think there is overstepping the mark this is the second wave of massive student protests we are witnessing now against the rise in tuition fees acca rise to do you think this kind of public outcry will change lawmakers minds on the issue though the end of the day is going on heard. i think that we have a coalition government which is. i think very strong very committed to the course of action that it set out and i do not think that it will be swayed of course by these kind of protests of course you know that got the government is going to take on people's feelings and there are very strong feelings here but i think there is one side of the coalition of course turned around and said they weren't going to put the fees up as much as they are anyway but but anyway yeah ok he is it reasonable do you think to be cutting jobs and benefits at home while at the same

time sending swathes of cash in islands direction you know what i look at that's going to be a pretty hard pill for the u.k. electorate to swallow isn't it. i mean the obviously the ira you know the decision to support the irish bailout i think was again a difficult decision for the british government but i think it was taken on pragmatic grounds and those are that ireland is one of the most important economic partners for the u.k. and there would be very very grave consequences for the u.k. economy if the irish economy was to descend into chaos or to collapse completely reacher so i think it's been in britain self interest. while and. it was on balance the right decision but a difficult decision i think what the government's trying to do over all those tasks is. enable britain to live within its means but have a long term strategy for growth which will create the private sector jobs that will

create the prosperity that will over time improve the quality of life for everybody this of course on top of more money being swallowed up by the e.u. in brussels to keep that running the budget seems to be going up year on year what's going on in europe britain somewhat argues been vindicated then it is choice not to join the single currency as it has done so far but it's certainly been pulled down by it doesn't it is there are a new case you think for the under the sever all ties now with brussel go it alone . i think there are there are some people on the. on the extreme part of the debate on europe that would like to see that i don't think that's where the mainstream is at the moment i think the mainstream of this coalition government remember obviously the liberal part of it but of a democrat part of it is more probably european but i think the mainstream of the

the center of the conservative party has a view that we you know we must engage with the european institutions we are a part of the european union no evidence yet we have to act as a check on the worst excesses of the european union and if we don't if we're not there and they're good then those excesses are going to be worse so i think complete disengagement would not be a wise policy i don't think would be supported by the center of the conservative party or indeed the coalition or i will try to tell a chairman of the team to think tank the boger group thank you all who is on our team tonight appreciate it. europeans are also suffering from tougher storage measures of course as well portugal's drawing to a halt as workers to twenty four hour general strike over public sector pay cuts and tax rises it comes two days before parliament votes on a tough new budget a mile island which has been severely hit by the crisis of mention just now was unveiled a four year plan to save fifteen billion euro and impose the toughest austerity

measures dublin's ever faced including spending and job cuts as well as tax rises plans a condition for ireland to receive its bailout. and some experts say budget cuts are relevant until a new approach the single currency is employers. people forget that before these budget cuts we had other budget cuts impossible we are going to the third round of budget cuts and i'll own the while ago people were telling us that they had already done the most that they were. in budget cuts and still markets do not leave the beast so what happens is that you as institutional weaknesses that are witnesses not only of the peripheral economists each other very different from the other but difficulties weaknesses of the whole common koku see so basically the rest of the whole. by pinpointing two budget cuts in one on the other economy if the interest keep raising well what happens is that budget cuts that we

are doing today will be ineffective to morrow and we've seen this movie already so i think that's. a whole new approach isn't it. although i heard it's not leonardo dicaprio responds to a call of the wild fun while the hollywood star was cool a real man by prime minister vladimir putin that's coming up tonight. after decades of mismanagement the water is in one of the world's largest landlocked the went away and tell play it got dancing fishing industry but now coming back and when the brand join me in the air all see in central asia. the rights of journalists have just one backing from a major european security watch dog the oh s. c.e. sent a letter to the u.s. secretary of state condemning the recent attention 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 too far in their attempts to maintain

order crew was arrested were covering a peaceful protest outside of military academy in the state of georgia dubbed the school of assassins the two crew members spend around thirty two hours in jail before they were released on. the recent nato summit in lisbon was not just about talking politics apparently after a long day's work at the meeting french president nicolas cozy was kept awake by an excessively noisy party at his hotel it turned out to be a delegation from georgia which isn't even a nato member throwing a sizzling social reportedly with no less than eighty prostitutes at least that's what a portuguese newspaper is claiming the party which is also thought to involve some armenian delegates reportedly came to an abrupt hold over after sarkozy and several other officials complained to hotel staff i know you're asking well it's not clear whether the georgian president mikheil saakashvili himself was there although he was present at the summit georgian or makers are now calling for an investigation.

which of these papers reported an absolutely outrageous front this is another proof of posts of you think you are delegates were prostitutes in the hotel room it was also noted by local police this is shameful behavior and it needs to be investigated who to duty will be punished because it has to do with the country's reputation. so many checkouts whatsit r.t. dot com tonight the story is going a lot of hits all the staffs and so we bought us yesterday in fact if you hadn't caught it record number of young u.s. veterans taking their own lives out to return from the danger on the front lines in iraq and afghanistan it seems that unemployment and neglect from the authorities are named among the reasons for that really awful the soaring rate check out our story online tonight. they're going back to their books as well the astronauts doing some last minute revision and find out what they're swotting up on the head

of their forthcoming trip to the stars again on our home page r.t. dot com it's there for you tonight. a summit in russia which aims to save the world's tiger populations heading into its final day and one hollywood topcat demonstrated his dedication to protecting the animals from extinction by actually getting there and established supporter of the tigers plight lean out of the caprio enjoyed a rough journey to some petersburg which first of all so he's playing catch fire and then saw another one almost run out of fuel since his first flight to russia had to turn back to new york when an engine shut down in flames use the star then switched to a small private jet but strong winds over the atlantic meant the airplane used up too much fuel it forced it to land in finland one refueling stop later he got there the hollywood hero eventually made it to simply this berkeley's thai telegraph it was a list either it was praise from russian prime minister vladimir putin. 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 are usually shelling out all that's what we call a real. and i think a lot of people with such character would be responsible for defending nature or a tiger in this particular case were destined for success but it was a world bank's a major player in the drive to save the tiger its president robert zoellick spoke exclusively to our team at the forum. century ago you would have had about one hundred thousand tigers and 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 this species that most of this grew up thinking was you know part of our ecosystem could be gone could be extinct 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 the finance ministry so we try to connect the dots it's an issue that has to be multi-disciplinary three top news stories for you it's not a second explosion that new zealand coal mines and in hope of finding any of the twenty nine bodies police say no one could have survived what was described as an horrific loss their rescue attempts have been hampered in the lead up to the explosion because the buildup of the flame and probably no sign of tragedy as the country's worst. century. will mark t. tonight south korea says it's to scupper the baldies of two civilian the sewers said to a big killed as a result of the shelling by north korea pyongyang claims choose as attack on the disputed western maritime border was in response to seoul firing weapons during military drills two south korean marines were also killed in the shelling so hit back without totally fire but some details about the most casualties not revealed.

the international community has called for restraint from both some. investigators in cambodia have blamed a swaying suspension bridge for triggering a stampede that killed hundreds the crowd had gathered in celebration of the final evening of the country's annual water festival a government ministry reported the death toll could be as high as four hundred fifty six most of the victims were crushed others were suffocated has been declared a national day of mourning but. what was once the world's fourth largest lake central asia is out all sea is now little more than a desolate the soviet union's plan at the time to grow cotton in the steps so it sinks to a fraction of its size bringing with it hunger and disease to a once prosperous region but today major efforts to see those waters flow once more bringing hope to thousands linsey from its reports. it starts with sun up these men fish in one of the worst manmade environmental disaster areas ever known

. just wrote. the seed 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 coca around dam was constructed to trap what little water still flows into the lesser sea from the searing river loch safely inside the water is growing to witness the results you must drive hours over rough seas and. 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 rehabilitated beaches and catch days 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 of winter but this new career means food on the table for young ahmad 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 in the sure didn't have a week off that's why i go home to our ask we don't get a salary we get piece work payment twenty species of fish now wriggle out of the water into the hands of the grandfathers of this industry still around to pull out the next one to cart with brean. capital hill with your

fishermen are returning to their homes for a new way of the seas providing us with work a profit again they even say it will come back to our lives in around the silent still stands the locals know waves no boats yet this morning after a 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 it 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. to restore the entire erroll sea want to make it the way it's used to be. remains up which will help solve many problems in central asia but while the industrial might of the past can all be restored in full iraq will once again become an. 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 the france r.t. kazakstan twenty two minutes past the time of the business news this wednesday was sure after this quick break. hungry for the full story we've got it for. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news make us. feel . welcome to business news i'm sure on a qian. eight billion dollars of new deals were done at the fifty russia china

economic forum held in moscow on wednesday up to thirteen contracts were signed in different areas of the economy medina caution of our reports on the deepening trade ties between the two nations. banking temba mining and television these are just some industries where the chinese and russian business have got to get out this year and most of them are agreements between russia's me telling vesta shipping aren't or to china worth three hundred twenty million dollars in u.s. economic sanction chinese state development bank attracting investment into building would persisting plants and many others as part of the developing trade between the two nations russia's my six exchange will launch trading in the chinese through a against the ruble next week i think it's very important that we stop it but i don't think it's going to be overwhelming and compared to other tyrants. markets we have like a little for example but i think it's a good it's

a good thing for the trade between two countries for those people who do transactions with china and being here and the government here once chinese firms to participate in the upcoming privatizing program which will involve the russian state selling off stakes in hundreds of firms the private sector is also kinda aware of the importance of china both as a mom can't and pass the manufacturing base by jean keel of vice president of the industrial equipment division at the queen hugo says the main challenge for many russian companies as the vast territory and the bewildering choice of potential politeness were born here with study on the place to it's a very difficult to find a good company that is suitable to work with however i can say that the chinese changing rapidly the quality of their output is increasing now we are seeing a better managed companies with high text. emerging technologies that were not

present in the country before the war trade volume between the two countries is expected to return to pre-crisis levels by the end of the year russia is diversifying its economic ties and its presence and the asian pacific region the main focus is choice and the scale of this forum shows how much russia's hopes for future prosperity in trade laws with the east by the question a lot say moscow. and the russian government may sell 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 in the ten large companies on the list but finance minister says if the market situation is favorable the government may decide to reduce its holding to twenty five percent plus one share this would leave just a blocking stake although they had a russia's m.d.m. bank thanks even that is not enough. that you come when you use it for live market

companies which is a. company competitive environment that's the big decisions throughout the company for you because in this case efficiency of this company. state is the shareholder to show for you this company that you did but the one before fair competition is a country very completion is the. efficient. and germany's stake in russia's gas giant gazprom daily reports the potential buyer is v.b. bank. currently owns three point five percent of gas probably world's largest utility is selling off assets in order to compensate for falling earnings earlier the company's chief said the stake in gas prom was non-strategic with the company aiming to expand in china and brazil finance minister alexia. board hasn't discussed the deal yet. and let's take

a look at the markets russia's markets reversed from earlier losses and close in the black at the end of trade on wednesday most of the blue chips were off on the r.t.s. with no all cynical the biggest gainer up more than two point six percent. both close with over two point nine percent on the my sex. and wall street has been given a lift after reports show unemployment fell to the lowest in two years while consumer spending rose boosting optimism and the economic recovery the dow is up by one point two percent and the nasdaq by one point eight percent. in europe stocks closed higher following heavy losses in the previous sessions the footsie was up by one point three six percent higher and the dax was up over one point seven eight percent among shares on the move for the u.k. food service company compass group that was up seven point three percent after lifting its dividend payout by a third. dropped around six percent after reports the irish government will take a majority stake in the lender. and balance 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 states the to stick service wholesale retail and real estate companies showed the strongest performance. and that's all we have for you this hour you can always find more stories on our web site at www dot com slash business stay with us.

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live from central moscow this is r t sangster been with us on the half hour it's a post nine moscow time these are all top stories president but better has admitted the country's democracy is still imperfect but there are signs of improvement in his latest online video blog address his call for more competitive most in russian politics as a system shows signs of stagnation. students all over the u.k. are taking to. strains to protest of the government's plans to increase university tuition fees and cut budgets across the channel meantime workers are crying out against crippling austerity measures. and the looks of the temps in central asia to regenerate what was once among the world's largest lakes which is now little more than a dry desert the soviet union's plans to grow cotton steps forward shrink dramatically four hundred to a prosperous region. thanks for being with us tonight our programs continue.