just the ground all around me is still smoldering it's still very very hot a pro apparently the police were telling me that the peach fires that are here of gone ten meters underground are still burning there well for those people that have lost their homes and and vast amount of cases all of their belongings and everything blood in me approaching the prime minister has pledged one hundred thousand dollars to each of those people who tonight who had died who had that happen to them and they're expecting to see that money next week now also there's been a lot of shelters temperature that is needed essential for people who have lost their homes they've also lost many of them a lot of their belongings and this being aid put forward to make sure that people have clothes water the basic needs of life for those that have suffered at this judas tragedy president yet if is also praised the the response of the the new quarter of a million people in russia who have been trying to put these fires out but not only here in russia he's also thanked the international community and russia's neighbors

have also chipped in with with help from try and tackle these places across the country. of course with thankful for all the aid our partners have both food we appreciate this especially taking into account because of course situation we currently in. the smoke which coming off the east of these fires is causing a lot of problems you have to see behind me it's very very thick it makes breathing incredibly difficult and it's very very saw on your eyes but this is the winds around in the moscow region a blowing the smoke further up to the note to the north from where i am about one hundred kilometers south of the city that blowing it north into moscow itself and causing terrible problems with smoke there from on that we can now hear across to natalia nova who's in the center of the city there have been quite used giong flows i went storming through moscow today and everyone hoped that they would bring rain but they only brought more smoke from outside the city now the nights are the worst buy. about midday part of the smoke over mosco dissolves but the more in the

mornings the visibility in the cities a very close to zero but this problem is of course twofold first of all is the fresh air right now air in moscow is very heavy it's and the smoke is so thick that sometimes it actually burns your eyes and ecologists are saying that a level of air pollution in moscow right now is seven the times of its usual figure and also doctors are saying if you take a walk around small school for just a couple of hours it will be equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes some people prefer to wear a mask to protect themselves from this poison a small there's also problems with buying ery conditioners in the city because there's a huge shortage of them and if you can buy one then you will probably be the double or even the triple amount of money for it because some people who sell them is simply trying to make money on other people's misery and doctors are recommending to stay inside stay indoors to spend as little time as possible outside especially

close to those blazes so the other side of this problem is that those who are staying inside and trying to breathe fresh air for air conditioning those are the key in the number of cases of cold moscow it's have been frayed praying for a heavy rain to fall down on the city but we've been promised so far only short rains in some parts of it have seen noun so far however the weather forecast saying that the temperature you must do is going to increase even the further and reach points of over forty degrees so if you are in moscow right now here it feels like you've been put into a novel where soundman has just burned a pizza. to the top in overcover the center of the russian capital another only heard from pedro all of a reported. the wildfires raging across russia are of course making headlines around the world and the handling of the disaster is a prime concern for the country's leaders right now but that pressing issue wasn't on the minds of journalists when they were allowed to quiz to me to inventive they

were more interested in what's said to happen in the presidential elections in twenty twelve. reports. even though sochi is a nice place for spending summer vacations as you can see there is no small here like in the russian capital and luckily there are no forest fires but it seems that for president medvedev it's more of a work trip apart from reading books from i pads planning fishing trips and doing yoga exercises he's keeping himself busy as usual he's holding a series of meetings here visiting a limping venue's and he's made several important political announcements to many admitted of his words came as a surprise when he's shared with journalists his thoughts on the upcoming presidential election in two thousand and twelve although he said he wouldn't like to see a clash between powerful figures with similar aims he said he doesn't know who will run here's the quote it may be may divert if it may be putin it may be somebody else and would commenting on his relations with putin majority of said that on one

hand nothing's changed between them but on the other hand there are serious changes he added that the presidency transformed him and now these relations evolved into the relations of the current president with the former president unquote both meeting with very different what the more putin are expected to work and spend their holidays here in sochi throughout all ghost also the even go fishing together of course if forest fires in central russia should be contained in the coming weeks but in any case we may expect some new developments when it comes to politics in the upcoming election and we will certainly keep you updated. on tuesday's polaski reporting political analyst for the rain overseas agency dimitri babbage says that various comments about the presidential election come as no surprise. most of political experts believe there. gentlemen very different called face serious competition from the pack of politicians that we have now in russia they will have

pretty limited collector it's basically. just repeated what the legislation said about presidential elections so it was a nice way to avoid it given their direct response but it's a slight change from what we have been hearing during the last two years because in the last two years was putin and medvedev were basically mostly talking about themselves with the person that are not important here indeed they are not important what is important is to have a predictable president sound one who would not buy into your nice wards that we hear from the west or from the east and who would be realistic about that i must tell you without almost all russian politicians now are very realistic sometimes they are reduced. israeli arabs have long said they're treated the second class citizens in their own country but now civil rights groups claim the current government of the jewish state's increasingly passing racist laws they say new legislation doesn't just discriminate against palestinians but all minorities

within the country. there just back from touring the states with a protest music found sympathetic ears among jews and arabs they go by the name of dan blood and they're the first arab israeli hip hop group to rap in arabic hebrew and english their lyrics are bold and demand better treatment for arab israelis who they say are treated as second class citizens lieberman is saying. he was i think the out of so for the loud and people elected them so it's not the government. but i mean this is the face of the people like what started first i don't know but this is the situation every series like the elected gangsters and civil rights groups agree they say it's official the current israeli government is the most racist in israel's history. we studied them and so two hundred ninety six

instances of races are not just against arabs there's also a significant rise in racism against other ethnic groups russians ethiopians and eastern jew i believe that israel is a racist country continues its bills disaster for the state of israel already at least twenty one bills that arab citizens insist just skimmin eight against them have been passed the most recent prospective citizens now have to swear allegiance to a jewish and democratic state changing the whole discourse in israel now into one in which this sumption is that palestinians are not loyal they have should have no rights they have to prove their loyalty and so this is very much part of that whole so same kind of move the first victims of this this legislative draw. five will be the palestinian parliament members who are because one of them she's one of fourteen arab parliamentary members out of one hundred twenty she says it's a daily struggle for arabs to be treated equally even the most liberal israeli

parties often struggle to support them in the first priority is to keep their position in the coalition government is that this is the house. in this little against that it's this government has the vision that's just not pieces of the c.e.o.'s that this shit but also has this in these with its own citizens but in its defense the same israeli cabinet approved the largest economic development plan for arabs this industrial park is the brainchild of stepha of airtime a jewish israeli millionaire who's joined hands with sharkey khatib the former mayor of the largest arab city in israel nazareth but at the moment the arabs are not participating in industry in israel they have stayed in the professions we want to bring arabs into the circle of industry and my vision is that five years from now there will be twenty to twenty five production factories here but that vision is being tested because although parliamentarians still need to vote on the proposed amendments to the citizenship law another ball that has already been

passed includes threatening to cut off funding to institutions that support the palestinian version of the one nine hundred forty eight war another ball criminalizes and denying israel's right to be called a jewish state which is why they'll be no shortage of lyrics anytime soon and the music will wrap on policy r t israel. suicide bombers have tried to storm the motos largest base in southern afghanistan over official say the facilities defensive one bridge before the ground assault insurgency five two rockets into the air field injuring two civilians and one soldier u.s. and british forces have cleared several taliban strongholds in the south and. center of the country over the last few days but russian member of parliament. says the u.s. is fight against the taliban and the search for osama bin laden is only a means to justify their presence in the country. has been largely he's

a person who knows a lot which were pretty closely work together with the cia with saudi arabian intelligence he was acquainted with the head of saudi arabian intelligence that cetera he has great knowledge of many contacts pakistan into agency intelligence closely works with the u.s. intelligence he might be so that somebody is interested in his presence in a certain place americans say that they fight against al qaeda in pakistan and afghanistan but the u.n. reports that in afghanistan there are less than three hundred al qaeda members in comparison with the one hundred fifty four thousand armed u.s. personnel and according to our information they are no more than one hundred people perhaps even less you understand what this means when there are one hundred or three hundred terrorists against the one hundred fifty four thousand of the symbol should remain otherwise there is a question and they doing. just reminder for you if you'd like to catch more of that interview you have not called

it so far today you can watch it in full here on r.t. next hour at ten thirty pm moscow time. u.s. troops are withdrawing from iraq as promised but fifty thousand will stay on to help iraqi forces president obama confirmed america will stick to its deadline of the end of this month but that the sacrifice is not over yet james dan slows photos he's a writer on middle east politics and security he said a promise is overshadowed by fresh violence in iraq. they will hand over to a more of a combat support than a combat role in the coming months and mission should technically leave the country entirely by the end of next year what's interesting i think is that obama has always distance himself from iraq war joe biden his vice president has been the emissary to iraq in recent months i think he's using this reminder that he's the president to take u.s. troops out of iraq to continue the same amount of support for his war in afghanistan where last month the u.s. experienced the biggest loss of the war so far it's

a sort of irony that barack obama decides to make this announcement as iraq last month in jordan its worst month of violence for the past two years over five hundred people killed in shootings and bombings across the country so one thing you have of the rock is. of uncertainty and i feel that both in terms of the government's ability to make policy and its ability to secure its own people both significantly compromised. gravely ill children in russia's regions like the chechen republic have been thrown a lifeline after local facilities have been upgraded previously receiving treatment for serious conditions like kidney disease and travelling to moscow something that many families couldn't afford now the new equipment leaves vital medical care is within reach. it's been a year since he adopted a baby girl died but lady sit still mourning she's always looking at the pictures of that girl when she was in hospital the only memory she has now she was more than

a child she was an angel we think about all the time my mom still crying. little certainly hard to forget the channel seven months old marshall was brought to this hospital with acute kidney failure the doctors did their best to save the girl but without the special equipment to purify the plant there was no hope it was a shame to see a child who couldn't help. feeling has been working at the hospital for three years during that time ten children have died from acute kidney disease. this new equipment was installed four months ago to dock to see it will support do suffering from green or failure until the moment they'll be able to find a donor kidney the last patient was treated here for two months before going into more school for transplant and you are i don't think it matters that these machines are not being used right now but what really matters is that they really do accept

patients and help them at least a little bit but you know. the children's hospital in the center of the chechen capital has eleven departments which makes it one of the biggest in the north caucasus people from all over the region come here for medical care but the center for the treatment of kidney problems makes it special children are her kids if they had a kidney problem and in the past their sound for treatment was over to go to moscow that's providing their relatives had enough money but not the russian government determination to decentralize specially here this unit is on their doorstep. they either visit or are seen in grozny. for top world news stories a brief making the rounds right now tonight protesters in poland have saved a temporary cross to the late president from being moved from outside warsaw's presidential palace the wooden cross was placed there after the small arms plane crash that killed the kaczynski of ninety five president the leg. doesn't want the

religious symbol outside the government building has officially eventually though relented saying they didn't want the cross to be part of a political. a wave of violence in pakistan's largest city could archies left forty five people dead almost a hundred injured fighting broke out after a government official and his bodyguard were shot dead inside a mosque in response to torched dozens of shots and vehicles gunfire was also reported in the city becomes a bit a spate of murders targeting political and religious activists as rival parties by full power in the villages. around when flexing its military muscle state t.v. shows you think you might suggest sticking to special drills it comes as the u.s. refuses to a military strike to fool around suspected nuclear weapons. peaceful. at least two lebanese soldiers and an israeli army officer have been shot dead in an exchange of fire along the border is the most serious clashes since the

monthlong lebanon war four years ago israeli shelling followed the border shooting killing a journalist lebanese officials claim the violence was sparked when israeli soldiers crossed the divide to walk into a tree to aid the line of sight into the country. thousands of protesters in indian administered kashmir have ignored police warnings that they would be shot if they continue to defy around the clock few as a result two people have been killed and one wounded in choose these demonstrations against indian rule news of the casualties brought more activists out onto the streets pelting police vehicles and officers and rocks over forty people have died in weeks of unrest there. to address of all the latest stories rather clogged if not by a t.v. online at r.t. dot com it's twenty past nine at night and i was called time as casual as business tonight shallots here.

hello and welcome to the business program here on aussie first this is good news for the ruble is enjoying a strong rally against the dollar the russian currency is now for below the psychological benchmark of the dollar a key driver for the variable the russian market as a whole is the oil price crude is approaching a three month high at almost eighty two dollars a barrel analysts credit the rally on renewed optimism about the strength of the recovery relatively strong corporate results in the us and europe along with the threat of hurricanes in the gulf of mexico. i spoke to dave and spec a c.s.i. rights at plants the leading information provider in the energy sector well steve how much the oil market was being driven by short term fact. what's been going on here in oil is very much driven by one of the points you mentioned in the intro there which is the hurricane season in the u.s. a lot of the traders that i've been talking to particularly some of the banks that are trading oil rather aggressively right now tell me that there are many of their

weather experts are predicting a pretty nasty hurricane season and you know we're really only into the earliest part of that right now so while i know a lot of attention is being paid to the stock markets and and the strength of the dollar i think oil traders are fixated on this hurricane season and i think the momentum here is really being driven principally by that and how psychologically important is breaking this benchmark for investors. well this is a really important number to get past you mention is a three month high but i think the eighty dollars figure is more important because psychologically that represents a major milestone or a major hurdle it's been a look at it really back towards the one hundred level which is really at the back of everybody's mind and i think anybody is talking seriously one hundred right now but it's a big number and you know i think you know it certainly draws attention first of foremost and squarely to opec you know kuwait's oil minister was in moscow this week having some discussions with the russian oil minister and really what came out front and center discussion was that he was concerned about the compliance of

opec's members with their production quotas in this five price environment he mentioned it's down to fifty fifty five percent whereas opec would rather it was around seventy five to eighty five percent now it's important for investors that it's about day but the question that we ask is how long can opec be disciplined in this high price environment traditionally they start a problem more. and as we heard there from dave and spec at the q eighty oil minister is in town and exclusive to the channel will be hearing from a shake up to al sabah about his full cost of the oil price and about an offer of partnership between russia's the bank and the kingdom of kuwait that's on thursday on business. you know the news week prices remain near their twenty two month highs as russia's drought continues to devastate the crops prices soared by a fifth last week alone affecting global exports but the head of the russian grain needy and says prices are unjustified. only four fundamental factors do not support

current grain prices last week we reached two hundred forty dollars per ton but this price is quite groundless according to the latest forecast of the global grain council green reserves will reach one hundred ninety two million tons this year compared to last year's record volume of one hundred ninety seven million tons is that really such a big difference if the decrease is just five million tons but the average price has jumped from one hundred eighty dollars to two hundred forty so it's. time now see how the markets are formed and it was a day of losses in moscow both the bourses finished the session in the red order neurochemical among the main loses down almost to defend that was after a report showed us home sales unexpectedly in june and concerns grew about china maintaining curbs on lending dumping the appeal of commodities which uses. the russian government says it won't purchase new nickel to settle it shareholder dispute billionaire only

a day or past his bidding to buy out rival vladimir for turn in accusing him of bad management of the firm who turned in on monday appointed an ally as president suggesting he's going nowhere a spokesman for president of a div says he won't step in but does want a third party to buy the world's top nickel miner and the crisis. chinese car maker g.d. has completed its purchase of sweden's volvo from ford the deal which was announced earlier this year is estimated to be worth one point eight billion dollars the new owners current design a new range of premium car models to rival those of b.m.w. mercedes benz. unemployment in russia dropped twenty one percent in the first five months of this year compared with the same period in two thousand and nine the countries to stick spiro will start says the jobless drop means the country has no reach pre-crisis levels. and for. finally i phone maker apple is the world's most valuable brand according to

a report by forbes magazine the firm's trademark is worth one a trillion dollars beating a rival microsoft into second place a third of the list of fifty a tech businesses with i.b.m. and google putting out the top five no russian companies got on the list brian of my own just say domestic companies still have a lot. that's the update for now be can always buy most henri's on our website r.t. dot com slash business.

is. one of the key elements of democracy which is

so uncomfortable for me or for. who pays for the. how dependent is this independent media. and who is behind the t.v. story. short. media fiction and reality head on on t. v. fifty. fifty fifty fifty. fifty. they faced it this is not a problem chicken little or none of the. pay for shit let me show you just everybody you sure has a pretty tree speak so they have no idea about the hardships the you face. plate one it is this is it now all of them to listen. for any army to life never

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in some. emerald. school who turned. to gold to. create this. twenty two. dollars. hello this is. for being with a special report just ahead of the top stories before. joining forces with the military. forest fires in central russia. shows no

sign of a. jewish. racism in passing discriminatory laws. throwing a life on the russian government's much needed drive. to help the seriously ill in the caucasus. mr curtis if you would come forward. i would ask the court reporter to swear the witness. mr curtis would you please state your full name for the record i name is clinton eugene curtis and what is your profession i'm a computer programmer mr curtis are there programs that can be used to secretly fix elections yes how do you know that the be the case because in october of two

thousand i wrote a prototype for president congressman tom feeney at the company i work for you know vito florida that did just that it would really going to lection it would flip the vote fifty one forty ninth's whoever you want to go to and whichever ray she wanted to went to ever you wanted to win. on november second two thousand and four george bush was popular easy middle of an unpopular war i was watching the exit polls and looked very clear that john kerry was going to wind. up for duty. was. and then all of a sudden the numbers that were coming in did not match up with what was coming in from the exit polls and it didn't make any sense it just.