the sun. firemen continue to keep the troll as yet more flames break out but for a good read in their efforts don't matter anymore those were developed the good ones my daughter ran up and said a bus is waiting and everyone's being evacuated we already had our bags packed my wife walked around the capital with a religious icon asking for protection but even the bombs have vanished a wall of flames up to three hundred meters wide was more than the firemen could handle all but a few of the one hundred houses were totally destroyed. everything even had built up in thirty years living here the family home their daughter's house their cattle even their dogs all lost to the flames but amidst the scenes of utter destruction a glimpse of hope. for. just

fifteen kilometers away another village lays in the path of the flames its people are worried the same fate awaits them we speak yes but only a certain way you may run a rising the men have to get to. it. we don't know where to expect a fire from that neighbor is informing us about anything but for those whose battle with the fires ended in defeat temporary shelters are being found part of the evacuated were taken here and an old school building they say it is received as often as four times a day although that's still not enough and most basic things are much needed underwear to pillows to warm clothes back in moscow volunteers assemble what help they can they see there's enough supplies the problem is delivering it's huge problems with transportation because we don't have cars of our own but we've flames already appearing on the highway how sweet to the villages finding a car could prove a lot easier than actually getting there to

a fake cross party central russia. well to be treated venoms instructed the russian government to draft a new list of facilities at risk from the fives the president says officials who are doing enough to prevent blazes from spreading will face punishment and telling of a cover for his meeting with government thinkers here in moscow. president came for the summer residence to hold a serious of emergency meetings in kremlin regarding the problem of far fighting he wants to involve get as many structures in this far fighting is as possible course during the meeting they just got to how to help people who lost their homes or their lives in this in these forests as well as how to stop the forest around moscow and in washington all right now and of course how to prevent those fires from spreading onto strategic objects in russia such as a military bases or nuclear plants for example you smothered in the but it would look. i've ordered the ministry of defense to fight the fires but the ministry

can't always even protect itself a large fire is broken out in the most cool region with heavy consequences someone was asleep on the job the fire that was spreading slowly was not contained and the heads of the local military base were nowhere to be found i'm sacking five high ranking officers and ordering the ministry to fire more if anything of this sort takes place again i will take the same steps without any risk. so while talking about how to help people watching the president has also talked about how to punish those who are responsible for some of the life that could have been saved but didn't several. locations at all even filed against those local authorities working on the spots who according to russian president worked in effectively and who could have prevented some fires but didn't and meanwhile here in moscow the situation it looks like it's getting worse this night has brought

a lot more smaug in the city and as you can see behind me right now it is very difficult to even see kremlin because of the city's centuries covered in small. correspondent to tell you enough to cover reporting from moscow so look some of the news today the new strategic arms reduction treaty known as start has been stops at least the u.s. senate pushed a vote to ratify the deal but to september the treaty signed by president dmitri medvedev and barack obama in april would see each country's nuclear arsenals gradually slashed by a third however it won't come into force until ratified on both sides and so funny the sides have done that moscow says it's ready to put the deal into effect but wants to do so at the same time as washington let's talk more about this tonight we're joined from washington by chuck hagel is chairman of the atlantic council think tank even see things being with us why is it taking so long to ratify this new treaty and actually start these massive new. well i think

on both sides the government representatives those who have the responsibility on our side in the united states senate and i spent twelve years in the senate on the foreign relations committee i have an obligation responsibility to get deep into the agreement understanding consequences ramifications and i think that's what's going on here i don't think there's any question that the votes are there in the united states senate to ratify this treaty in our senate out of one hundred senators we need sixty seven votes sixty seven senators i think those votes are there but i think it's smart and it's a wise course of action to take to take a little more time the senate will come back after its august break we'll come right back to a vote in the senate in the foreign relations committee we've had almost twenty hearings in the senate on this issue and it's better to bring a consensus together in both parties and do it that way so i'm confident that we

will achieve the start ratification in september ok you're confident but are you also calling for the when this next hurdle is crossed there won't be any others that. well well there always are questions but i think in a. in a treaty like this that. is very important and i think there is some evidence of how serious both sides take it and it should be taken very seriously that it does take some time to work through all the questions and as you say you have another question pops up it pops up but i what i'm saying is that i believe that in the end and that will be sometime in september when the votes are taken that the united states senate will produce sixty seven votes at least to ratify this treaty and it will be ratified politics aside mr you'll just looking at this whole story standing

back a bit both sides have hinted only that they'll use the deal to get rid of all but weapons and upgrade to modernize existing ones so this agreement does not actually really change all that much of the end of the day does it because the threats of total destruction is just as real at the end of the day as it was before this gets ratified eventually gets through. well that's true but i think we have to analyze this on the basis of what is the objective what. do we want from this treaty how far can this treaty go i think we all recognize that treaties have spheres of influence and there are only certain things that can be accomplished but what this treaty also does aside from the specifics of the treaty and the limitations in getting both sides down further and further and reducing more of their weapons is this and this is very important seems to me if in fact we we the civilized world especially the nuclear powers and as we know russia and united

states possess about ninety percent of all the nuclear weapons in the world if we are to reduce those if we are to influence other nations to try to not to come on line to be a nuclear weapons power or to start reducing their powers then we must lead the way so this is also i think an issue of some optics of some credibility of some leadership because if we don't pass this what credibility does the united states have with the rest of the world or russia to say to any other nuclear country or country that wants to possess these weapons no don't do that so there's an awful lot here that goes beyond just the specifics of the treaty you know is going to ask you about the very question of how does that extra ten percent of the country's new thinking of the indian pakistanis really if they have those weapons how do they fit into the picture the rest of the world in this brave new world doesn't have nuclear weapons they do because they're not part of the nuclear nonproliferation scheme how

does it all look. well as i said each treaty has a specific area of responsibility and it dresses certain things the start treaty addresses as you know and we don't have time to get into all this with civics here but a very narrow window of the nuclear components for both countries just as you say it doesn't address the other nuclear powers but the n.p.t. a comprehensive test ban treaty other trees that have been as existence since the early sixty's do address the composite and so each of the treaties plays a role each of those agreement plays a role in the larger context of trying to limit and eventually reduce and hopefully as president medvedev and president obama and others have said eliminate nuclear weapons but it is one step at a time it stage by stage and a lot of that is built on credibility and trust and that is part of the whole verification process chuck hagel chairman of the u.s.

based think tank the atlantic council pleasure to have you on the program tonight and i thank you. iran is denying president mahmoud ahmadinejad was the target of an assassination attempt earlier reports claimed a grenade was thrown reduce convoy in the west of the country now those claims come at a time of increasing pressure on iran just days ago top u.s. military officials said that washington is ready to launch a military strike against the country if needed but also tighten the sanctions already in place by expanding the black list of groups and companies suspected of having to roost leagues result is going to put most of these latest restrictions however one universal support. well the united states treasury department did i denounce additional sanctions against twenty one iranian entities entities that u.s. officials say and accuse of aiding groups such as has hamas and the taliban now these u.s. sanctions are targeting iranian companies in the banking insurance and investment

mining and engineering sector americans or u.s. companies are now in a bit from doing any business from from those entities that are now being sanctioned by the u.s. treasury department and all of this is coming just a few days after the u.s. joint chiefs of staff michael mullen said that the option to strike iran a plan to strike iran is still on the table and it's an option that's ultimately up to u.s. president barack obama that subject to come up at the united nations when. the russian representative to the united nations held a press conference as russia assumes the presidency of the security council now why the issue of a potential strike did come up with discussing iran and the mounting sanctions that have been placed on iran by the international community ambassador churkin also

noted that all of the u.n. resolutions that include sanctions against iran do not include any text. that allow the use of force to be used against iran under any circumstances let's take a listen when we discuss iranian nuclear issue and even though the sanctions resolution is on this matter as you remember we have very clear language and it is a in the last resolution even clearer in three previous resolutions. fact it has nothing to do with out any possibility even the remotely. use of force against iran brazilian president lula de silva was among the first world leaders to react to u.s. sanctions against iran saying that they will not help but possibly hurt from engaging iran in bringing iran back to the negotiating table specifically what it cost to do with the nuclear fuel swap program that was proposed by turkey and brazil up

program that is gaining support among the international community and it is something that the president of brazil says that the u.s. could be deterring with these and. saying that are being done unilaterally outside of the united nations goes out he's going to pull from new york. the new international military exercises begun in a stone year it commemorates a reconnaissance group the german military intelligence in world war two now most people are used to the exercise and it is an attempt to glorify stoney's collaboration with nazi germany the only unit was a finnish the formation of the stolen volunteers of spies behind red on the minds of the events been held since the fall of teams from around the world taking part let's talk more about this had to brussels now they're i'm joined by the former member of the european parliament in for the for being with us to save another set of raids i said commemorates the people who fought on the nazi side during world

war two is it really appropriate these days do you think to hold military exercises named after a fashion student. well i would have thought absolutely not i mean it's clearly both offensive a bizarre that while there is a new enthusiasm for extreme sports or actually basing it around a nazi collaborating organization. second world war. why are so many countries from the anti hitler coalition taking part in this well on the face of it that seems to be a contradiction doesn't it well absolutely but i mean i don't know how official these teams are i mean i've looked up at the the results of previous events as you might put it and certainly u.s. u.k. finnish latvian teams have been place but as far as i'm aware certainly the british team in no way represents anybody officially in the united kingdom and i'm sure that will be questions asked in the house of commons about this if they are because this isn't the first time this has been mentioned

a study has courted controversy about this very same event that is held in the past and other events like it might say as well celebrating its troops that fought side by side with the nazis why do you think it is felt necessary despite what you said the answer to the first question why do you think they feel it's necessary to still do this. well i mean it's obviously difficult to intervene in terms of what private individuals do what concerns me about this it appears to have some support from if you all the officials were only a stone in government and that's what's much more concerning because that indicates if you want to a political collaboration with the people organizing this event moscow as we know is criticize these exercises for years now is there any implication that dystonia is using the games to at all antagonize russia while being clearly stoniest operator or the some people in the stone i would not be responding to the process i would've thought the generally across the european union the vast majority of people would be horrified about what's going on there always are a small minority of people who actually sympathize with the nazis but they are

extremely small these days and i can't imagine that anywhere would you support this kind of event going forward thanks being with us now from member of the european parliament labor party on the line there from brussels appreciate it. b.p. says it's reached a significant milestone after apparently controlling the oil leak in the gulf of mexico with its latest effort the new operation pick mud to push the oil back down into the reservoir the u.s. government says seventy five percent of the spill has now been cleaned up all broken down by nature around seven hundred million liters of oil gushed into the sea since the re exploded in april causing what's branded as america's worst environmental disaster. parts of pakistan are facing a life threatening food crisis amid the worst floods to hit the country in eighty years rescues a struggling to reach far flung villages that have been left without supplies the disaster is already claimed more than a thousand lives and left nearly a million people homeless forecasters say more heavy rainfall is expected in the

coming days. and will be used relative calm has returned to the lebanese border with israel as the u.n. peacekeepers have increased their patrols of the boundary comes a day after a fierce firefight both country's army. left for dead lebanon claims its troops opened fire after israeli soldiers illegally entered its territory but u.n. peacekeepers have confirmed that israel's transfer a main on their own side of the border is the bloodiest incident between the two since their war in two thousand and six. and is r.t. from moscow that later tonight will be talking to a leading jordanian lawmaker about what effect neighboring countries actions having on the security in jordan that's coming up shortly after the business tonight with charlotte. hello and welcome to the business program here on r.t. the global cost of wheat is recorded its biggest monthly increase the nearly forty

years mostly due to the severe drought here in russia there are concerns the higher prices could push up the cost of food and therefore inflation but according to a leading retailer x. five russian substantial grain reserves should limit the problem but. it is true that due to the low harvest this year and the ongoing drought signs are pointing to an increase in prices by suppliers simply because there will be a shortage of some goods but ok sions with the government support showed that the reserves like the green reserve created in previous years will allow us to get through this tough period and should there be any price increases they will be controlled and not significant. by the impact of the poor harvest might be limited on a national level it may hit some organizations which rely on the excess of production that's the view of jack virgin head of the index futures group he spoke to us earlier from the chicago mercantile exchange. it's really changing the entire

dynamic importers are becoming exports and exporters are becoming importers i think much of this is really going to play out the real the hurt i think is really going to come from the relief agencies those that were looking to help those in pakistan or in africa those that were looking for access grain remember not only is grain now scarce around the world but capital to be able to go out and buy that grain which is now priced a little higher is scarce so they're probably going to be hurting the most out of this entire equation that both russia and the u.s. have substantial grain was not does the act does this act as a prices absolutely i think that you know you've got a combination of two economies that are very well versed in making sure that their supplies are intact over the course of say the winter months and quite frankly i think the russian economy was prepared for this that the russian government was prepared for this i know of course here in the us we've been preparing for it but remember grain this specially wheat is much like

a weed it doesn't take more than just a few days of rain to get things going again of course this crop is pretty much over and i think that we can write it off but we still have a big report coming here in the states in another week and of course south america is going to report over the course of the next few months let's see how it all turns out. in related news the record temperatures have pushed russia's services sector to its lowest growth since february orders for industries like banking and transport fell for the first time for months in july businesses reported that workers have become less productive claiming. and foreign direct investment in russia twenty one billion dollars in the first half of the year according to vladimir putin the prime minister said the indicators were favorable and the businesses were now going ahead with plans they postponed because of the crisis. let's have a look at the markets now russian stocks rebounded late on wednesday to raise previous losses in markets with these. by reports in the us which show the country

added more workers in july the risk will cost in their service down and the main gain is with spare bank putting on forty percent of the my state's b.p.'s new chief executive robert dudley is in moscow for talks with deputy prime minister igor such as discussions include possible asset sales to cover the cost of b.p.'s gulf of mexico oil spill although b.p. is saying its interests in russia are not on the table instead yes that's maybe in south america or central europe dudley is joined by tony hayward the outgoing chief of the group take up a non-executive role in the board of russian joint venture. and in separate from the company it says it has succeeded in the static kill of its leaking well in the gulf of mexico and the oil is no longer leaking into the sea. the construction of the north korean gas pipeline is reach an important milestone the second branch of the pipe finally coming ashore in russia the project will provide gas to millions

of european homes when it's completed which is due in two thousand and twelve. here . in the baltic sea the construction of the noise pipeline project is only progressing now what you see behind my back the first one was a pulled out of the water just a week ago in july the twenty eighth and what happened just a couple of hours ago is that the second finally reached the russian soil. that both pipelines are lying in a specially trained that will be back up to the initial seabed level one of the construction is over but no this train tracks the both pipelines from a different external. when in two thousand and eleven the pipeline will study open ration it will have a capacity over twenty seven billion cubic meters of gas annually and in two thousand and twelve it is planned that both will start their operations with a capacity over fifty five billion cubic meters of gas and the gas will

a reach the pipelines hand near the finish and then it will be delivered to the european customers the end will reach you were up on the north end coast of germany . and i should update.

it every month we give you the future you understand how we'll get there and bring the best in science and technology from across russia and around the world acknowledging update on our keep. your vote for bush. but always adds by one vote for kerry for kerry so the people that are going to be validating this machine can stand there all day long and vote for somebody and it will be right every time but the

guy can walk up here and if he hits the right button. they can flip the. wealthy british. find out what's really happening to the global economy. global financial headlines tune in to.

and his r.t. thanks for being with us let me bring up to date on the top stories today the main one today those relentless fires across russia so far they've claimed at least forty eight lives temperatures are continuing to break records as well as state of emergency declared in seven regions in russia entire villages have been wiped out and thousands of people have been left homeless. russian emergency crews are stepping up their efforts to put out the fires neighboring countries have joined the operation now sending aircraft to help of the most devastated regions president medvedev has fired five high ranking officials for their lack of action in dealing with the crisis. and its revenues today tighten the grip on washington imposes new sanctions severing ties with israel and groups thought to be aiding terrorists president mahmoud ahmadinejad says that he couldn't care less about the new restrictions but warns other countries not to follow suit. israeli palestinian peace talks are expected to resume later this month after

a two year freeze next start. speaks to a leading jordanian lawmaker to find out what effect the conflicts had on his country and what influence its neighbors have on jordan. let me i have to pay for the jordanian government spokesperson also the minister for media affairs and communication dr thank you very much for joining us here on r.t. you're most welcome jordan was criticized last year by reporters without borders for closing down two satellite stations in our region is there a fear that iranian influence could destabilize the kingdom first of all let me. correct the premise of the question where we did not close down any. stations what happened actually was that the correspondent. correspondents of these

stations. were working without proper permits. and. we. asked them to apply and. of course i think. one of them at least did not apply there of course conditions in order to be able to like any other country in the world there are conditions that should apply to anyone who wants to write for or for a. work for of media establishment and i think. there were problems with the permits so the stations themselves were not the issue they should was the people working for the stations as far as living up to the requirements of the permit conditions is there a fear that iranian influence could destabilize the kingdom no actually you know we

don't have fear to this.