well within the space of a couple of hours. i never thought fire could spread that fast but the wind was very strong it was like a hurricane police told us to leave the new to is dangerous to stay here it was only thanks to them were alive and within god it wasn't a good night because then there would have been much more victims. one elderly man desperately trying to leave his burning house got struck by falling why is the electric shock. friends and neighbors have been rallying round and there were many tales of courage. if i didn't come back on time my neighbor would have been burnt alive because she didn't see the fire approaching from both sides she could have been trapped in the middle at the last moment she ran out in her gown and slippers she's left without her identification and any of her documents the devastation wasn't just restricted to property. i buried my rottweiler he was near the house when it caught fire. and didn't want anyone

approaching him. he was burned a large it was a good dog people are now coming to terms of how everything that has been lost but they are help is coming from many. who have come here to one of the temporary refuge centers where people have been turning up in their hundreds bringing in clothes and offering help to those who lost everything in the fire with so many people left homeless the government has promised immediate help and that new houses will be built by wind in the meantime if it is like. reeling from fire damage left trying to pick up the pieces. i magine six thousand five hundred this is really struggled with this to put them out prime minister speaking about the help you provided a hundred thousand dollars. house we can hear more from him now. not

everything has been done to fight the fires but it's not the right time to place blame so now we need to consolidate to fight the designs. already we've heard it's running into millions and millions of dollars worth of damage and everyone just very anxious to contain the situation. that following the devastation caused by a forest fire as a central russia. come to the country is far east now where another type of environmental threat may be looming thousands of barrels with toxic chemicals from china floating towards russia after being swept into everybody by floods the chinese authorities are desperately trying to intercept the poisonous containers and there aren't paying locals to help retrieve them this cannot explain what could happen if they reach. the river is one of the biggest sources of fresh water in russia's far east and in the city as well water standing now and it's ecology is

still under up with threats because china is just several dozen kilometers away from here and so is this sunflower river which joins the where the place where this emergency happened the chinese authorities do say that they've managed to extract several barrels which have been previously washed into the river as a result of the biggest flood in a decade china has experienced several more thousand barrels are still in the water in the sun. towards the end towards russia china has built eight beers in order to prevent them from getting here but there are several factors suggesting that anything could happen for example out of the seven thousand barrels which of initially got into the water three thousand of them contain toxic substances including acids which make it cause harm to humans and animals and it's not clear how many of these so far extracted barrels actually contain these toxic substances there are also reports that some. liberals may have sunk to the bottom

which makes them up but tension future of threats for the ecology and also obviously makes it much more difficult to extract them to the surface this is not the first time that china as it has experienced such problems back in two thousand and five a huge chemical spill has left millions of chinese without the supplies of fresh water this time the authorities on both sides are monitoring the situation in the emergencies ministry here is already monitoring the quality of the water so far they haven't reported any abnormalities but they do see that the are already planning ways to distribute fresh water to the local population in case of contamination does happen of course we'll be monitoring the situation and we will report on this story as it continues to develop. your shingles here and a little later in the program the close up team visit town of boris going to kalugin region of russia where traditional architecture has become a canvas for contemporary art and it's

a terrible canteens. in history of veterans who fought with the nazis against soviet forces in world war two you have been holding cover ations but the authorities have banned anti fascist groups from holding their own event catarina as are reports now and how the legacy of not says this remembered in the baltic state. now it says in one of the most feared movements the world has it countered yet there are those who glorify it today. we are on. their way to liberation wars in the world one began in one nine hundred fourteen the other in one nine hundred thirty nine soon there will be a third war and it will start here gaining momentum and giving the world true freedom. the estonian waffen s.s. were created by german forces in one nine hundred forty four and sent to battle the anti hitler coalition forces thousands of civilians died at the hands of those soldiers get their glorified as the true heroes of

a stone. rallies like these take place every year with full support from the government people turn up in full regalia wearing nazi symbols and selling german war souvenirs a bitter pill for those who are trying to stop not cism in the baltics from rearing its ugly head. they to hold rallies but few managed to take part as the authorities in a stone you did everything in their power to stop them yes. i'm not going myself because a stunning or thirty's in two thousand and seven put the latvian anti fascist committee on the blacklist we all received explanatory notes. contain a hardly credible statement that the latvian anti fascist committee posted a threat to a state route from civil. blacklists with no explanations sudden inability to speak anything but a stony and our crew witnessed all these tricks they enter fascist organizations

however say nothing will stop them from calling the world's attention to this because the pain is to roll even sixty five years on so if. i do some of these kloofs for a second time and came up to the barbed wire and all of a sudden i imagined that excuse me please. thank. the standoff between welcomed neo nazis and unwelcome anti fascists is almost absurd authorities go as far as to ask the anti nazi activists to turn down their microphones as the sound interferes with the s.s. veterans rally. and as they lay flowers and light candles at the graves of soviet soldiers and estonian labor camp victims they can but wonder how can the rest of the world tolerate such glorification of naziism the entire world mourns the victims of the nazi killing machine here in

a stony however those who participated in the murders are viewed as heroes and are given more glory the many believe they ever deserve the anti fascist movements here in the baltic states however do say that they will put in every effort to prevent this attempt to rewrite history as much for the future generations as for the memories of those who lost their lives in the second world war. ghastliness r t. the wiki leaks website expose a of more than seventy five thousand classified u.s. documents all they have got to start a war has been racially white house while suggesting a cover up in the deaths of hundreds of afghan civilians and also he spoke to judy on a song which the man who started the controversial whistle blowing project four years ago. the taliban is part of the group of the game people and. the united states and other forces need to recognize i mean understand that that is part of

the afghan people if you're shooting taliban you were shooting the afghan people. so stay tuned to see the rest of that interview when we could leaks founder julian assange right here on r.t. . over seventy people have been detained and later released after trying to hold a bond opposition rally in central moscow the demonstration had been prohibited as a motor sport display had already been approved for the site at three am for their square the authorities said protesters had been given the option of four other locations around three hundred reporters were at the event more than the estimated two hundred demonstrators opposition groups have sought to rally at the square on the last day of each month with thirty one days to days raising a symbolic reference to the russian cost as usual thirty first article going to the right to peaceful assembly and they were also at an opposition demonstration in st petersburg although other protests in ten different regions passed without incident . let's now have

a look at some other stories making headlines right now around the world the death toll from the words floods in pakistan for a second date has reached eight hundred the united nations says one million people have been affected by the mall soon raise with some four hundred thousand stranded in remote villages flooded roads and damaged bridges have come but rescue efforts a state of emergency has been declared with torrential rains expected to continue. in germany thousands have gathered to remember twenty one people who died in a stampede at the love parade music festival a week ago chancellor angela merkel broke off base on the holiday to attend a church service in the western city of duisburg well the five hundred were injured during the mass panic crash at one of the of europe's largest musical events the festival will never be held again due to the tragedy. chelsea clinton the only child of former u.s. president bill and secretary of state hillary has married her longtime boyfriend. mark. the couple tied the knot to the ceremony costing around three million dollars

at an exclusive estate in new york shrouded in secrecy and tight security over four hundred were invited to the top society event including chance show host oprah winfrey and film director steven spielberg. local residents were given a free bottle for the convenience of the security operation. unveiling russia and its wealth of culture and dramatic science has the job a lot of close up to you as they travel across the biggest country in the world today they're in the can they give region. so border of lies just eighty kilometers away from moscow famous for its ancient charges the time with a population of nearly ten thousand people is buried in the heart of a forest in central russia and as you can see in the grandchild reports has the

side over a usual fusion of religious offer texture and citywide more to it. where else so close to moscow would you hear church bells ringing so often every fifteen minutes and it's a dozen churches similar tenuously this beautiful chime can be heard in the provincial town of bor of school located just eighty kilometers away from moscow and it's the closest cause of the kaluga region to the capital it takes so while defenders hilltop position thanks to the all protect who started to build the town in the early fourteen saying morris comprises of several unique churches like the christian old believe us church also about the monastery adds to the tiles must see least but more of is not only about traditional all good texture and golden dome scent crosses it's hols those are kind of us for contemporary art to self-taught artist cheney is recording the history of his hometown through his paintings but

his art he says comes that applies. to russian provent. to which nothing it seems could be added it could. be retired construction engineer has turned a whole town into a giant canvas and the demeanor of tunica reckoned his native born collect food culture and splashed images of churches historical figures and still life on its walls in all one hundred new roles. ninety five percent of people in our town don't visit on galleries and museums are talkers and thus they can take in the outdoor exhibition perhaps is not the greatest art of all time but still this is art the tell is near like to chinese goods images until the muralist turned into

a satirical commentator after the artist made a wall sized political cartoon picturing a local governor he became persona non-grata. what they're worth three paintings on this one is left and two others will whitewashed under the pretext of this house being repaired the man has already destroyed ten of my works of the biggest nero decorated a local bakery now that it's been whitewashed some locals have unclaimed the bread tastes wars well side is too holy for up to make up his brush including one thought the third the mayor's office this painting for example depicts historical figures space travel they arise a constantin. while based on your own right opposite the mayor's window is typical soviet setar well done cucumber sets. the mayor didn't appreciate the humor of was fined several times and even faced court charges

a local newspaper criticized him as a moral especially after he painted a controversial image of a religious martyr in a town where every second citizen is a regular churchgoer but surprisingly the biggest local ministry doesn't think the artist touched a raw nerve to go to their words we say i can painting is the bible in colors the same could be said about these paintings there the history of our town and colors it's especially good for the young people who were raised without knowing their roots. monk maxime turned to religion at the time of year is truly can russia images of abandoned churches and wide washed icons are still strong in his memory he's convinced that the artist should not give up and should continue with his dream of painting all of the horror of squid he's in euros to talk more about why the provincial town of bor of scores of favorite of so many tourists and historians i'm now joined by expert in russian history and all that extra professor william

brumfield hello and thank you very much for joining me so dr elders welcome you tell me about the town of bor of held a deep place for you why is that what is so special about this i think part of it is the landscape the river that runs through the town creates a park but it also creates ravines and hills that played an important part in the history of the town and that's preserved today the other thing is that the town is off the main road there's no railroad so that the architectural heritage here of the old pals of. the remarkably well for me for some call this that above might have more history would concede from here for the town of forest do you agree i certainly do in terms of its history its architecture its spiritual heritage it has seventeenth century frescoes. the main cathedral is a late sixteenth century it's a monastery of many dramatic historic events in fact in

a monastery one of the main figures by yachting all models of was incarcerated and old when he died then later of course its role in. the repel and various invasions in our polly on a conveyor of the second world war the so that it's always been very much a part of the history of russians or the first time you visit a bore of it was about twenty years ago wasn't it how has the tone changed since i think it's very changed or remarkably and for the better they haven't destroyed what was left from the past often the problem of prosperity comes to a place let's hope that the town will remain just as well preserved historically for the next generations to thank you very much for that little side there was a william brownfield expert in russian architecture and history from the town of four of sc in the colored girl region. now wiki leaks the whistle blowing web site has had its biggest screwup iyad publishing over seventy five thousand secret

documents on the afghan war some of which suggest that the deaths of hundreds of civilians have been covered up the white house here is claiming the knicks threaten national security or am it met up with the founder of the website that's next he'll announce he. i'm here in london talking to julian assaults the founder of the whistle blowing website wiki leaks which this week released

a huge deal say of documents relating to the afghan war which mr assad's describes as detailing the every day squalor war judy and that's also like you very much for talking to r.t. now you've had a wide range of responses to this publication ranging from praise right down to criticism is that what you were expecting you know we knew this was serious material it covers a six year period of war ninety two thousand reports and almost every incident serious incident of the three i wasn't able to give them with the times and locations number of people killed except for. so we knew that it's a. great importance as a historical document and as a primary resource to be used for the investigations and we also know from those sorts of cases that we've dealt with previously that we always get pushed back

whenever we review abuse by some of what i was ation we always get that organization or its friends pushing back to try and steer the message away from the allegations that have been raised and one of the main criticisms has been leveled at you is that you have published the villages the names and in some cases the g.p.s. coordinates of people afghans who cooperated with the u.s. military and even come under some criticism from human rights organizations for that and a u.s. official has called it a potential hit list for the taliban what's your response to that it was appears to mostly be a media beat up i mean where we're looking at the issue seriously to see whether that is true we did hold back people in thousand reports for for the because they had this sort of classification that suggested maybe they contain that sort of material we approached the white house. yes to ask them for assistance in reviewing material before we published the white house you don't accept that request at this

stage we're looking at this is mostly a media beat up of course we're very concerned to make sure innocents are protected so we're very happy to receive any evidence or which report is possibly revealing information about someone who is who is innocent there's also been a suggestion that the release of this information will make it harder for allied forces to get afghans this is to cooperate with them while what we reveal and that's what we've been doing for the path for us is the truth about how when i was asians actually behave you know if afghans don't like how those organizations actually behave then of course he's they arrived to engage with them or not engage with them it's not so much that there is it i think is the potential danger that they might be in now that such a huge body of information in the public domain once again that is an allegation by the london times and the publication who is in your oppositional relationship to

the guardian paper that we collaborated with the printed fourteen pages on monday elation to this issue the times of london printed your pages in relation to this issue on monday so they are in now in an adversary relationship because they weren't invited to the party that washington says that these documents are out day says is there any truth to that claim well it depends what you're talking about if you're talking about how the war has progressed well of course they're not out there but the war has been going since two thousand and one that's nine years this material covers the last six years with the exception of the last seven months now the exception is in jordan to some degree it means that you need to lose not only tactical. significance of this and talk about troops who are about to. about to do something which means it is of the century no threat to. us military forces but is

deeply important for understanding the progress of the war now that the white house said that while the material only goes up to december a new symbol we released obama's new policy on the war but obama's new policy on the war was in fact a continuation the previous policy except more troops so why should the war change so dramatically just because it's really been one of policy changes being put in place the white house's rhetorical trick was to. say suggest that there was in fact no overlap between obama's policy and this material in fact obama's policy came in to send a first and this material carries through in fact to the end of the you've said that the underreporting of civilian casualties starts at the bottom with this sort of common soldiery and that really no policy change at the top is going to filter down into that what do you think could make a difference it's extremely hard situation the answer is not. for poor western

forces will i say for members of the tube. go in tomorrow. because that would lead to a power vacuum and so on but i mean the answer is probably a staged withdrawal. making agreements between the taliban and the afghan government as that stage is drill continues and i predict there will be a continuation of the civil war and what he wants forces have to establish some kind of equilibrium that we will see an increase towards peace i'm sure stands to gain from the release of all this information while the afghan people i mean that is their country and this is the history of their country and if they are to effectively manage and control their own destiny they need this information to understand what is happening to their country but we can also say you know

it's people united states. and u.k. strayer and others in the coalition who are actually paying for all this war and he was sending its soldiers to be killed in this war and those people also have the rights to understand what is actually happening i tell you probably not but if it is all those military companies. who are making extraordinary profits by providing service services to troops weapons or. clothing and so on but isn't the taliban the afghan insurgency likely to gain from this as well because you have inadvertently maybe exposed the weaknesses of the allied forces we have to be careful but remember this is a civil war. everyone says taliban but in fact the taliban are afghanis this is a civil war that is going on and that the taliban are part of the will of the

afghan people and they're also part of the will perhaps of the i.s.i. the pakistani secret intelligence service and of course perhaps they're part of the will of saudi arabia who is giving some money to this but in terms of the bodies on the ground people actually doing the work the taliban is part of the will of the afghan people and got a nice dates and other forces need to recognize any understand that that is part of the afghan people and if you're shooting taliban you are shooting the afghan people this material doesn't paint the behavior of any military group in you know i fly it has blood on all sides do they not sauced thank you very much.

fish fish fish .

you know again this is all see the headline it's a small dream salo raging forest fires flame at least twenty eight lives and leaves thousands of people homeless a central russia suffers its first piece weighed in over one hundred years. talks account on the water supplies and rushes far east are under threat as chinese authorities struggle to stop signs of chemical waste fouls lost in a flooded river from reaching russian. history and also she's been anti north supertaster is what allows former soldiers who fought with the nazis to gather for a commemoration in the country. that's how the headlines look in a few moments the story of men behind bars seeking to literally a ride their way out of prison our special report on how a prison radio offers for some the only hope for freedom that's right next on our city.

this complicated. gladiatorial a bad. image of all this dignity in these media. it's nothing but exploitation of people who have no choice. of mine a lot of songs off my patient data and go. to see what he wants an opportunity to be an example.