as summer temperature is twenty three degrees there are still around eighty big fires burning in the country there are hundreds of them but a really big one we really really significant ones and the worst of them are peat fires there are forty of them still burning and most in the moscow region they're very hard to extinguish and once it's when the fire goes deep on the ground and when you put out put it out in one area it pops up somewhere else and it's really hard to handle until temperatures really drop and the peak gets a little bit damp but even the most optimistic weather forecasts are not saying that temperatures will remain this high for yet another four days at least what more than one hundred sixty thousand people are now going out of their way to put out those fires across wash out the emergency ministry also said that now firefighters are working twenty four seven to do that also where she's getting a helping hand from abroad some countries are sending in people others like

bulgaria others are sending in equipment planes and helicopters like italy did like ukraine did. this help because the territory is huge and the fires are raging. there reporting from the muscular ridge well south of such here is remembering the victims of the two thousand and eight war with georgia hundreds were killed when the blue sea of time the breakaway republic with all to the times two years ago. moscow sent forces to protect the people of the republic many of whom are russian citizens after five days of bloody battles georgian troops were pushed back to the border several countries have since recognized the independence of south with

russia being the first moscow has also been helping rebuild the republic but georgia maintains the country is still part of its territory and is in the capital for. a lot of buildings have been reconstructed of course there's still those buildings with bullet holes in their wounds there are still buildings that are being reconstructed and you can see builders everywhere through this city there are still people waiting to return to their homes and the local government promises them that their houses will be rebuilt over the next year but most of the work has already been done a lot of schools are now functioning again and hospitals local university however still lies in ruins means more investment to be reconstructed this winter however the gas pipeline from russia has finally been built in this winter people here had central heating something they were deprived of office or the group because georgia council just gas supplies to sell for said here so life here is getting back to

normal however the wounds that the world will be stupid thousand and eight has left are still sore meanwhile here in t.n. vote preparations are underway as several events will be taking place here to commemorate the two years that have passed since the georgia's aggression. it's been a restless nights for the uk to gorky has been conducting a complicated operation while patients continue to flow into the hospital room for a very good one which who from this new clinic in the sent to all the south a city in the capital was the only medical facility here two years ago and it leaked there are different than. you and you still doesn't like to come down here into the cellar where he spent several sleepless nights and to find grating on the injured during the georgian aggression in the tissues to show us where food is going to go was just this was our operating room it smelled awful even monium because of the sewerage the nurses had to leave the room every now and then to be

sick we were performing surgery under these pipes virtually no suitable equipment water or food. talk to still had to come down here for two hundred operations here as well as all the mine the procedure is really. a little three winds in here and came out there. you know it was one of these patients during the bombardment he had in the cellar of his home on hearing the bombing outside he fled in fear that he did there it under rubble as he did he was struck by a metal splinter from an exploded shell. my arm hasn't been functioning properly for two years but when i can't sleep on my right side as it hurts it a lot of squarely blames the georgian president for what happened to him and the war. through i never want to see him i don't even want to his name he's a murderer innocent people were killed children the elderly and women who never want

to talk to him after what he's done. he was unconscious when he arrived in hospital but you remember seeing the many injured here on the mesa lying on the bare wet ground on makeshift hospital. the situation here worsened with every passing minute the doctors were treating up to four hundred of the wounded some more can easily and here was a t.v. set broadcasting only georgian t.v. the ongoing bombardment and lack of factual information only added to their despair hope was almost lost many were crying and you would you says this was the greatest moment that everybody was preparing to die on them at one point it felt like nobody was coming to help us everything seemed to be in vain so much work for nothing i think you may have been unaware of russian peacekeepers efforts to protect some city girl is misplaced but his work and that of course i think is what we do that

often waste and we go at it out of the hundreds if not they were staring at deauville in the cellar only to succumb to what follows is an honorable to go figure three days are seen from the mountains of the city. some say there's no victor in war and that seems to be true for the people who were caught up in the conflict on both sides thousands were forced to abandon their homes seeking refuge on safety across the border but as artie's arena reports some georgians have found either. the georgian people how already been through several wars they have been through civil war and the president's as this war is the beginning of the one nine hundred ninety s. and a lot of the people who live here still have fresh memories of that period and of course there is the war of two thousand and eight so the last thing that is on georgian people's minds is yet another bloody conflict and they feel the president's actually has allowed that conflict to happen in fact he was the perpetrator of the bout of the battles that ensued two years ago

a lot of politicians a lot of opposition politicians in the country also say that president bush really is responsible in fact the labor party has just recently called for sanctions to be imposed on the georgian president does not specify what kind of sanctions but they do say that his actions should not be left unpunished by the international community and the sentiments i kin to the ones i just expressed are being felt not just in georgia by but also by georgians over or over the world as a matter of fact the president of the international union of georgians has issued an apology to the south since in people just recently he apologized for the actions of the georgian president as in any conflict and it's not the politicians that suffer it's the people tens of thousands of georgians used to live in south for decades and when the shelling and the bombing of south the city it began they were forced to flee and they flee they fled to georgia but as they found out not all georgians are actually welcome in georgia. when the war ends some wounds heal

faster than others these people were forced to flee their homes leaving everything behind to escape the shelling and explosions in their native towns and villages but though they run away from war they cannot find solace in peace. that. president's head is in the clouds he has no idea how refugees live we're supposed to get new homes by twenty eleven but they're just promises we don't believe anything will be done all of them are georgians from the city or some were forced to flee two years ago during the south a city of war others have been here in tbilisi since the early one nine hundred ninety s. which the first violence erupt between georgia and then breakaway regions for two years there are a few g.'s have lived in a dilapidated building which used to house government offices several months ago they were told they would have to move out if. they have many buildings in and it's

suburbs where we could live and from where we could get to work but they don't want to use them they think refugees must not live in belief. blog is a forty four year old sales assistant she survives on a salary of ninety dollars a month her son has cerebral palsy and gets financial aid of some fifty dollars a month when all good talks about moving she seems on the verge of hysterics. i'm not going to go anywhere even if they first civil evict me i'm not going anywhere i'm going to go on a hunger strike if that's what it takes i'm not going anywhere certainly not to the regions. a recent report by amnesty international says six percent of the current total population in georgia are displaced that's some two hundred forty thousand people and though some have already been moved into new housing the organization says the government is still not doing enough to help further measures need to be taken and look into the future of these people not just the presence of the roof

over their heads but there are more things that they need and we think there is more that we georgian authorities could and should be doing to help them actually to to fully integrate and have a future wherever that might be it seems for now though the refugees feel no hope of their needs being met. you know i lost my house i lost my homeland i lost everything and now i am being kicked out of here being made a refugee for the second time i'm not concerned just with myself i'm speaking for everyone who lives here no running water no heating no basic comforts whatsoever there are a few g.'s here already used to living in these conditions what they cannot get used to is being treated as a subclass citizens by their own government they say they feel like alamos have been herded from place to place without any hope of ever finding any where they can

call home. it is a ghost tbilisi georgia. we're coming to you live from moscow this is r.t. it's good to have your company today and a russia has a law enforcers could soon get their historical name back currently known as the militia in czarist russia they were called police the ideas part of major reforms of the force which has been dogged by accusations of corruption and inefficiency artie's it take a greaves look at what else is in store for russia's cops. they say don't judge a book by its cover but russian president dmitri medvedev has given great importance to a name and its bid to reform the country's law enforcers he's proposed to do away the title militia is still by the bolsheviks in one nine hundred seventeen and

instead go back to the pre-revolutionary name police be sure so the man ever since the bolshevik revolution our law enforcers have been known as the militia this emphasize their party were or proletarian nature i mean they were volunteers in uniform but to day we need professionals honest and will coordinated people who are good at their job this is why i think it's time we gave our law enforcers back their original name in started calling them the police. it's being seen as an attempt to rid the force of its image as a hotbed of corruption and bad practice but it's one that started to come at a cost. i can see tens even hundreds of different expenses to design and the custom tailoring of new uniforms four million workers design and production of new ideas four million workers repainting of hundreds of police cars and other vehicles design of new forms stamps and seals and so on in total that would amount to

spending millions even billions of rubles from the country's budget this rebranding effort is only the latest in a long line of reform measures these have been prompted by a widely publicized instance of police abusing their power the account of district chief dennis yes to cause shooting spree in a moscow supermarket that left two dead was one of the most are tourists owing to its crazy nature but there are other examples and the shadow of endemic corruption and bribery still hangs over russia's laura forces people are scared to turn a malaysian people are scared to get in a car tech with a man in uniform in the street so yes we need to root out corruption that's what should be behind this whole reform what a true professionalism what he to root out and effectiveness so there reforms are all over due and just this week those reforms were intensified with

a total to have all officers face reexamination before being able to return to the force. this and further plans have been given to january two thousand and twelve to be implemented but few like it stand out as much as the renaming of the militia some may interpret this move cynically as a quick fix measure so we were over the public but this latest proposal is backed up by more concrete measures there seems to be a desire to push through these reforms regardless of economic and political costs one thing's for sure come two thousand and twelve russians want to see more than just a name change their country's police force jake aggrieved party moscow. and still have you in the program things are getting heated in the freezing arctic richen and the fall and the region's becoming increasingly attractive as more countries take out their territorial claims. russia's foreign ministry is accusing the united states of noncompliance with

a number of key arms control and nuclear nonproliferation treaties according to the report which has just been published on the ministries website from nine hundred ninety six to two thousand and one the us failed to prevent the loss of fifteen hundred a radioactive materials moscow says washington's failed to comply with the old nuclear start treaty for returning to service several missile silos it was supposed to scrap it's also accused rather of failing to comply with international agreements on missile technologies for helping israel create its own air defense system another allegation is the u.s. supplied military equipment to many countries including those it blacklisted itself so far there's been no official reaction from washington. well red alert has been declared in pakistan as floodwaters sweep from the north of the country analysis of south mass evacuations of villages on the banks of rising rivers have begun officials say fourteen million people have been affected by the worst monsoon rains

in decades but at least sixteen hundred dead at this point rescuers are still trying to reach densely populated regions left without food or drinking water forecasters predict more heavy rain. again in afghanistan ten people have been killed by militants in an ambush in the northeastern region of stan six americans a german and a british woman are among the dead the group was working for an international charity providing medical help police claim it may have been a robbery however the taliban has said that it was behind the attack targeting christian missionaries which is accused of spying for the americans. to action or from the international space station have set out on a spacewalk to fix the cooling system the unit to dramatically failed last week forcing the crew to reduce power at the station it will take around seven hours to remove and replace a pump it's hoped the job will be completed on wednesday after a second walk to connect ammonia lines to the new unit. joining us

a canadian expedition is set to kick off to map the arctic ocean bed a russian explosion ship is already on its way to the polar waters there three nations are gathering evidence in a bid to claim the immense energy resources of the region are c.z. good reports. the race is on the u.s. together with canada and russia of launch competing expeditions to the bottom of the sea near the north pole. the military for country to seek its place here will determine its prosperity in the coming decades more than a third of the world's undiscovered gas and a tenth of its all reserves are estimated to be in the region. where is expensive right now but for countries like the us it is a matter of energy security it will give americans uninterrupted energy supplies regardless of any conflict anywhere in the world but it's not yet clear how the pie

will be divided between the five nations closest to the north pole easiest way to gain economic rights the significant portion of the arctic is proving their link to the country itself by land and this is what these expeditions up trying to do we are hoping to prove our economic rights to the region before the united nations by twenty thirteen this involves showing the exact location and makeup of our continental shelf russia symbolically planted a flag at the north pole in two thousand and seven some have speculated this is a hint of the political grandstanding to follow. yeah i myself do not believe it will come to a conflict or any conflict i would expect the word of united nations to be firing on this. despite tens of millions spent by the north the neighbors so far not a cent has been from the tick it's just for example doesn't have the skills doesn't have the ships to extract oil in the arctic it spends less on this time on football

. but industries predict that new technologies and equipment resistant to extreme weather and isolation are nearly here. i expect the active exploitation of the arctic to begin within ten years but award of warning it's not just about profit but the risks as well and if you see the recent all disaster in the gulf of mexico you can predict the scale of disasters that could happen in the fragile arctic climate discussion of environmental risks made the late offshore drilling in the arctic but that's unlikely to prevent it and one thing is clear a region that has so far existed without major human involvement except for the biggest and most rapid period of change in millions of years either of iraq. and for more stories features and blogs you can always log on to our website that is r t v dot com business politics or entertainment it's all just a click away and here's a taste of what you can find online waiting for you right now paul oakenfold one of

the world's most successful deejays who moscow club scene and chance to us of our future plans and his take on working with madonna. also cigarette packs and russia are getting a make over but not everyone is happy about it get all the details on the heated debate between tobacco companies and anti smoking activists on r.t. dot com. and the business is next with charlotte. hello welcome to the business program on r.t. the worst drought in recorded history has created severe problems or brushes farmers but more than twenty percent of their wheat harvest wiped out to ensure

there are no shortages and fair prices don't start to rise all grain exports aspi temporarily stopped nick paul reports. between august fifteenth to the end of december russia is imposing a temporary ban on grain exports prime minister putin says the measures in this area to help russian farmers and prevent food costs from rising the prospect of shortages on the international commodity markets has pushed the price of wheat to levels not seen for more than two years however the ban on russian exports may have a hidden bonus for domestic producers we have already heard experts have had contracts with. contract price than the current prices of the mystical on the world markets. exports and forced natural condition. not to sell grains to their clients oppositely the mess to come in practically the same price like markets and risk could affect their financial position russia is the

world's largest exporter wheat but the severe weather has wiped more than twenty percent of the crop the green you need is now predicting a yield of under seventy million tonnes domestic consumption amounts to more than seventy five million and it's believed this will inevitably push up the price of food and therefore inflation there is an understanding that there will be some more pressure with respect to prices in the second half of the year the question is how significant this will be and furthermore we're seeing stepped up statements and verbal interventions from. the. and. with respect to. the authorities are going to try and keep prices low. is reaching across the country in the capital under a thick blanket of choking smoke is the impression boyd spirit dissolves

undoubtedly there's been a terrible human cost lives and but once the smoke clears and let's say russia's economy would have been barely seen. business. let's have a look at the markets now in line with global trends the russian markets finished the week in the red that's is the all declined a disappointing jobs report from the u.s. state concern the economic growth slowing russia's biggest lender was among the main losers on friday slipping to. looking back at the trading week and initial rally in crude prices above eighty two dollars a barrel helped the russian markets but a positive sentiment wasn't to last the markets. finalize their growth. so. positive from us do europe we have had a file. of the market was flat on her from china and us during the week the heart

of russian market was on the surely well. through eighty. dollars per barrel it was the extremely positive this was seen as though there are other for the performance. and naturally the higher oil prices the very thing for. south africa and russia share a number of economics the majority of both export huge quantities of raw materials but struggle to produce finished goods during a visit to moscow the south african trade and industry minister told us the two countries have plenty of potential to develop trade and learn from each other. of minerals technologies of various sorts capacities that russia has russian companies russian institutions. beneficiation areas particularly products into higher value added products these are areas where i

think we have an interest in deepening the cooperation on all of the statistics. divestment relations with the bric countries russia is lower down than the others. are real possibilities to push it further forward. i think. we recognizing that there are huge changes taking place in the world economy the new poles of economic power the new forces of dynamism and i located outside of the traditional centers of economic growth. developed western world still very much in the throes of the recession. relations with quite difficult because of those problems so we're looking to develop good relations with with a brick countries are some strategic imperative for us that's why we're undertaking the status of course of us here. and i'm sure up if we can always buy more stories

on our website.

i. think you. feel. it is five thirty pm here you are with thank you for joining us the headlines now. eight hundred wildfires plague russia emergency crews work around the clock to extinguish the flames. struggling to breathe and wearing face masks to protect

themselves from the toxic smoke. on the road to recovery. rebuilding their lives two years after george. bush left hundreds of casualties reducing the republic's capital to ruin. russia's intervention force georgian troops to the border. president calls for a major reforms for the country's law enforcement changes from top of screening to a different title he was. replaced by police. to reflect a new era professionalism. while i'll be back with more stories in about thirty minutes time though up next we take a look at what happens when journalists announce an invasion was on live t.v. . he'd say always insisted on telling the truth and that's what he spent his life

doing before he had to flee his home country georgia on february tenth two thousand and ten the independent journalist asked swiss authorities to grant him political asylum his greatest worries are now for his family back home in georgia. i'm going here all right are you ok any problems. simply tries to help anyone who asks people often bring their problems to him as the editor of a regional georgia newspaper he looks into the cases identifies those guilty and sums up his findings in newspaper reports some of tried to intimidate him and he's been beaten up several times in two thousand and five he suffered a severe concussion i was here lying on the ground and screaming please don't kill me please don't. the georgian television channel you may be shocked the nation on march thirteenth two thousand and ten. journalists had put together a thirty minute story about what appeared to be fresh just delivered.