you're dealing with a half meter tick layer of pine drawee needles that have accumulated over several years both a state of emergency has been called in seven russian regions we've seen over forty people killed so far in these and these fires across the country more than three hundred injured and two thousand homes approximately of being destroyed by the fire is plenty being done by the government actually the house just behind me i was talking to some locals it actually caught fire on thursday and it's 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 have gone ten meters underground are still burning that well for those people that have lost their homes and vast amount of cases all of their belongings and everything bloody may have put in the prime minister has pledged one hundred thousand dollars to each of those people who tonight who had that who had that happen to them and they are expecting to see that money next week now also there's been

a lot of shelters temper shelters need to be sent up 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 made 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 the spy is out but not only here in russia he's also saying to the international community of russia's neighbors we've also chipped in with with help to 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 is 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 sore. all new eyes but this three wins

a round in the moscow region of blowing the smoke further up to the note to the north from where i am about one hundred kilometers south of the city they're building it north into moscow itself and causing terrible problems with smoke there from all that we can now hear across to tell you know rick of a who's in the center of the city there have been quite a few strong flows a wind storming through moscow today and everyone hoped that they would bring rain but they only brought more smoke smoke from outside the city now the nights are the worst bite about meat day 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 their own 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 area 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 places so the other side of this problem is that those who are staying inside and trying to breathe fresh air for air conditioning is the key in the number of cases of cold moscow it's have been prayed 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 non so far however and. weather forecast saying

that the temperature a musket is going to increase even further and reach a point of over forty degrees so if you are in moscow right now here it feels like you've been put into a novel where someone has just burned a pizza. to life and put the tell you no work over there in the center of the russian capital also heard from people all over from the moscow region before the well as wildfires rage across russia are making headlines around the world in the handling of the disaster is of prime concern for the country's leaders of course but the pressing issue wasn't on the minds of journalists when they were allowed to quiz dmitri medvedev they were more interested in what put in the presidential elections in twenty twelve covering that story today. 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 limbic venue's and he's made several important political announcements and so many admit it gives 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 new who will run here's the quote it may be may divert if it may be putin it may be somebody else commenting on his relations with putin the dative 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 and quote. very different like the more putin are expected to work and spend their holidays here in sochi throughout august also the even go fishing together 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 and the upcoming election and we will certainly keep you updated. we will indeed reporting there political analyst for the news agency dmitri babich told her comments about the presidential election come as no surprise. most of political experts believe there. gentlemen very difficult to 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 a 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're 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're too realistic. israeli arabs have long said they're treated as second class citizens in their own country but now civil rights groups claim that 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. they're 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 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 want to take the arabs and for their loud and people elected them so it's not the government there but i mean this is the face of the people like what started first i don't know but this is the situation and seems 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. studied them and so two hundred ninety six instances of all races are not just against arabs there's also a significant rise in racism against other with russians if you. believe that israel is a greatest country. it's because disaster for the state of israel already at least twenty one bulls that arab citizens against a school or school mate against them have been past the most recent perspective

citizens now have to swear allegiance to a jewish and democratic state changing the whole discourse in israel now into one in which the assumption 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 legislated. dr will be the palestinian parliament members i mean zouave is one of them she's one of the team i would want to be the members out of one hundred twenty six she says it's a daily struggle for arabs to be treated equally even the most liberal israeli parties often struggle to support them the first priority is to keep their position in the coalition government it's like this is the house. we know this will give us this government has the vision that's just not pieces of the c.e.o.'s that this shit but also has this peace 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 steph but their time a jewish israeli millionaire who's joined hands with sharkey the former mayor of the largest arab city in israel nazareth both the moment the arabs are not participating in industry they have stayed in the profession we want to bring arabs into the circle of industry and my vision is that five years from now there will be twenty or twenty five production factories here but that vision is being tested because although parliamentarians don't 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 and now the 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 are steve israel. taliban

suicide bombers have tried to storm may toes largest base in southern afghanistan however officials say the facilities defenses were breached before the ground assault insurgents fired two rockets into the air field injuring two civilians and one soldier u.s. and british forces of cleared several taliban strongholds. the south and center of the country over the last few days but member of parliament to sound off told us the u.s. is fighting against the taliban and the search for osama bin laden is only a means to justify their presence in the country because. he's a person who knows a lot of the work together with the cia with saudi arabian intelligence he was acquainted with the head of saudi arabian intelligence that 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 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 three hundred terrorists against the one hundred fifty four thousand of the symbol should remain otherwise there is a question and they doing that. but if you'd like to hear more from the russian m.p. some in but there are a few can their full interview coming up next hour here on our team at midnight thirty moscow time off of course. to run the says remarks by us that washington will use force to stop iran getting nuclear weapons will only end in defeat the islamic state says america will suffer the same failures as in iraq and afghanistan it comes just a day after president mahmoud ahmadinejad's challenge barack obama to

a televised debate about the world's problems i spoke to on pain from the british american security information council she says the u.s. will only attack if iran fails to halt its nuclear program. i think the whole point of what i. said over the weekend was to tell the iranians that actually the americans mean business. otherwise i think if you look at the timeline we're not talking about any kind of military action any time soon i mean you have to look at how long is it going to take it around to actually get to the threshold of having a deliverable nuclear weapon and we're actually talking anything between three to five years so the talk of the military action i think is really aimed at ratcheting up the pressure on the iranians to come to the negotiating table there's a time when the americans are really tightening the screws with sanctions on iran the american military is and also and this source of resources.

clearly his his strategy has always been to to shift. the pressure from. iraq to to afghanistan over time. doing. real children in russia's regions like the church of the republic of being thrown a lifeline of the local facilities previously receiving treatment for serious conditions like kidney disease meant travelling to moscow that something went from issues could hope for to but no new equipment remains vital medical care is within reach it's been a year since he adopted a baby girl died but lisa is still mourning she's always looking at the pictures of the girl when she was in hospital the only memory she has no 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 such a challenge 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. 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 say it will support due suffering from renal failure until the moment they'll be able to find a donor kidney the last patient was treated here for two months before going to more school for a transplant and there was i don't think it matters that these machines are not being used right now what really matters is that they really do accept patients and help them at least a little bit. 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 born here if they had a kidney problem and in the past they're all down for treatment was told to go to moscow that's providing their relatives had enough money but the russian government determination to decentralize specially care this is doing it is on their doorstep . they either visit r r c in grozny to. retake this world news in brief 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 smaller plane crash that killed lech kaczynski and ninety five others present a leg. and said he didn't want the religious symbol outside a government building but palace officials eventually relented saying the cross

shouldn't become part of a political game. violence has erupted on the israel lebanon border the most serious clash since the four since the month long war four years ago now lebanese snipers shot two israeli officers killing one and critically wounding the other israel responded by launching shells across the border killing two soldiers and a journalist the u.n. to administer the unofficial divide between the two countries have urged both sides to show restraint but a surge in violence to again in iraq a car bomb that has ripped through an outdoor market in the southern mainly shiite city of could killing at least fifteen and wounding sixty and in the capital suspected al-qaeda militants have shot dead five iraqi soldiers at a checkpoint in the west of baghdad and an iraqi soldier and policemen were also killed in separate attacks in the city. thousands of protesters in indian administered kashmir have ignored police warnings that they'd be shot if they

continue to defy or write a new round of round the clock curfew as a result two people have been killed and one wounded in tuesday's demonstrations under indian rule news of the casualties brought more activists out onto the street pelting police vehicles and offices with rocks over forty people have died in weeks of unrest and now. dating on the situation in pakistan the floodwaters there now surging into the country's heartland after devastating the mountainous northwest hundreds have been left homeless in the town of charsadda and they were just playing with police to get food handouts in evident try to control the crowd offices beat some people away with sticks the floods have claimed at least fifteen hundred lives and one hundred thousand people are now at risk of disease you can follow all our stories of course and have your say make your comment as well r.t. dot com also of course don't forget our you tube channel not check that out today or is plenty on there for you talking of plenty to come still ahead max kaiser looks for the scandal behind the week's financial news headlines coming under his

critical eye this time box office manipulation in china might see in a couple of minutes time after the business news was shot. oh 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 the low 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 spoke a senior director at plants a leading information provider in the energy sector wellston 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 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 it 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 from the center of discussion was that he was concerned about the compliance of ok its members with their production quotas in this by price environment the mission is down to 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 eighty but the question that we're asking is how long can opec be disciplined in this high price environment traditionally they start to 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 lushes the bank and the kingdom of kuwait that's on thursday on business. you know the news wheat 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 gray needy and says prices are unjustified. from 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 from the day and it was a day of loss through the last day both the bourses finished the session in the red order neurosurgical among the main loses down almost to defend that was after a report showed us home sales fell unexpectedly in june and concerns grew about

china maintaining curbs on lending dumping the appeal of commodities with use of. the russian government says it won't purchase new nickel to settle it shareholder dispute billionaire only a day or past is 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.b. 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 but

countries to stick spiro will start says the jobless drop means the country has now reached 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 and 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 to learn. that update for now we can always buy more stories on our website r.t. dot com slash business. it's

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going to be so much brighter if you know about something from first impression. from start our teeth dot com. for the full story we've got it first hand the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers on our t.v. .

this is our team from moscow these are our top stories on the front line the emergency services join forces with the military battling the advancing forest fires in central russia and defending people's homes as the searing heat wave shows no sign of abating. jewish homeland israel's government stands

accused of blatant racism and passing discriminatory laws. and doomed to failure to run head south against reports the u.s. is planning to attack we hear from an expert who says it would take several years before america could strike iran. programs continue next financial experts most kaiser and stacy herbert delve into box office manipulation in china and also wonder where nine billion dollars missing in iraq banished to in the kaiser report just ahead tonight.

i am max geyser and this is of course the kaiser report markets finance and scandals and the collapse of the global economy we've been reporting on it now for a number of months as the global deflationary spiral takes its toll stacy herbert what else have you got max there is a story we've been following for quite a while and that is box office a future now you alleged that the reason why they shouldn't happen is that one of the reasons is that producers and studios could manipulate box office results well in my headline from china saying gang shoots down rumors of false box office for aftershock this is the translation from the chinese have been you're seeing there despite the film's critical and commercial success there have been rumors that the record breaking box office numbers have been exaggerated.