moscow is finally enjoying some sunshine after overnight rain washed away the dense smorgon noxious fumes that are being tormented in the capital for days officials say some wild fires are now under control but many are still raging and because of the record breaking heat waves are serious and he said no way is in the badly hit region of resign that's about two hundred kilometers southeast of moscow. well we've been trying to show you how much destruction these fires have caused across russia but where we are much of the forests here are still engulfed we're at the makeshift headquarters of the local emergency services who have been working around the clock day and night here for three weeks trying to contain these blazes and they don't look like there's any sign of letting up the situation here is very critical and in fact that's why on tuesday prime minister vladimir putin chose to come to resign region to get his hands dirty and do what he can and give some time to help try to contain the blazes there is a little bit of optimism in the air there is rain in the forecast we did feel

a couple of drops this morning so mergence the workers here are certainly hoping that this might be the beginning of the end obviously all the ministries and authorities are trying to do the best they can to contain the blazes but ordinary people are stepping in and trying to help as well many volunteers have stepped up just ordinary people in ordinary clothes with these blazes of obviously it's quite dangerous those who can't come out and physically help fight the fires are doing the best they can from afar to help those who have lost everything and just sort of reconnaissance mission for me. i'm going to seek out families need. to find them look at what the people who brought us during all of that is going to leave or anything we can we got one small bag of things that we could. not really ready having things that we need now or medicines would to me and not just russians are trying to help people from around the world have been writing sending stuff

sending their condolences about this crisis in fact artist laura emmett in the u.k. went to meet a former fireman who wants to come to russia and step in this is a man whose sense of duty knows no national borders a retired firefighter daniel coleus all the reports of the florist blazes raging in russia and felt compelled to offer his help so he wrote to prime minister putin. i want to offer to volunteer to assist in five fighting operations and you win the russian federation and i'm vailable on request as a personal offer to your country with that in mind daniel prepared and he says he's ready to go to the airport the moment he receives word his help is welcome but of retards from the foyer chavez since i was here are still filled up only because i wanted to help people rush hour in particular because of the problems they've got the moment with the walls hoyos people from all around the world are offering to

join the fight against the force of nature volunteers from fellow reduced spoke area and france are among more than one hundred sixty thousand people now estimated to be battling the blazes daniel started his career in rural fire by saying and says that's prepared him well for tackling the type of blazes sweeping through russia i start my career off in more than two hundred seventy i sorry farmers wish a lot domestic oil a lot of oil is in rural areas including forests military range and in terms of the fires are occurring in russia. in the world. we would spend money here we hear some of times and hope some of today where exactly the same type of fall as the one we would have dealt with in those days we used to do it for a very. in other words dig a trench down below the peak to stop the actual fire spreading on the loose the

ground even though daniel retired two years ago says in his mind he's you're still on the front line no matter where you are in the world for far it's a show you there to help. russia and russia has to do all the prime minister or the president has to do if you simply ask and then allow the people the. paramedics the fire for a solution to come in and do their job daniel clearly is packed and ready to go the only thing stopping him flying to russia is red tape collyer says if russia temporarily suspended the visa regime for emergency workers he and hundreds like him would flood to russia to quash the flames your average party essex. the worst drought in fifty years in russia has forced the government to introduce an export ban on wheat agriculture ministry who says this year's harvest is up to

sixty five million tonnes that's just enough to meet domestic needs your authority say it could be october before russia starts exporting again after the harvest figures come in with russia are the world's third largest wheat exporter last year global prices for the grain went up after the announcement. from the food and agriculture organization of the united nations says the decision made by the russian government is the best solution. i sincerely hope it is still not a case where we will have a grain shortage but there is certainly a very severe situation in terms of supplies and the drought has been extremely severe and the production shortfalls are far more far more dissipated as early as three weeks ago therefore it is understandable that the restrictions off. on exports is a one way to combat domestic food in. especially the price of bread wheat mostly is useful and i think this is what the government at the end decided to do i'm not

sure that they were dead many adoptions perhaps they could have also considered taxing exports or perhaps do a good deal in knowing gradual terms but you know in situations like this as the as the you know governments tend to go for the most secure of the measures which is the total ban there had been a very extraordinary action to the banning of russia and the prices of wheat rolls very sharply if you're glad that they have calmed down a little bit the market is actually taking into consideration amount of inventors that are available in other countries in particular in north america so that even invents results and we believe globally this year's global supply and demand for wheat although a bit tighter than we had anticipated it still is very much manageable and we can even take care of the disastrous emergencies currently under currently in pakistan so the inventors are not i mean russia is drawing down an inventor is it will be

some more here and but in general terms we are in much better situation than for example in two thousand and seven and eighty should be chief you'll recall we had a global food crisis and i think that the russian solution given the situation not just with the grains but also be defiant and all the uncertainties surrounding it really left a government of doubt much other choice and it is understandable. now while russia is suffering a grain shortage because of the intense heat wave in india millions of people are going hungry for a different reason karan singh investigates why stocks of rice and wheat a failing to reach those who need it the most. india is home to work quarter of the world's starving people and one third of its malnourished children here in the village of don are poured in eastern india had nothing to give us four days yes of unlimited hungry child cries all the time there is no food to feed here how can we survive like this to give the child quite a just me to drink water yet the government has recorded mounds of surplus stocks

fifty nine million tons of wheat and rice it does have a huge public distribution system that provides free food to families below the poverty line but corruption and complex bureaucracy means the poorest of the poor often don't make it on the list most of us are actually i'm not much we are poor people desperate for food to eat our children go to sleep hungry names a lot on the government's poverty list and we don't get any food going from the government can we do ultimately we would have no choice but to commit suicide. with people starving the recent images of piles of wheat rotting at a storage facility erupted into a major political issue in the state of punjab it was discovered forty nine thousand tons of food green had perished despite if you're taking precautions there's every likelihood as we have in the household there right now where your porting your cup of tea from

a curtain because likelihood two schools can spin on the table. and if you see a pun but only next year result was the full degree in which we handle. losses. abundance i'm standing in one of the largest food storage depos in the capital new delhi impermanent where houses such as this would fix roofs the grain is safe but when grain a store temporary be like this with just a plastic cover to keep out the rain it can last only one year and with the government keeping seventeen million tons of wheat and rice stored like this because it simply doesn't have enough permanent warehouses you can see this. one of the problem experts see about ten million tonnes enough to feed hundred forty million people for a month has been through at least one monsoon and is at risk of rotting if this green were released instead it could help those most in need but distributing it will cost one billion dollars and the government cannot afford to add to its food

subsidy that doesn't come as good news for martin his family who depend on the handouts. we cannot afford to buy rice for our family whatever food grain the government has is allowing to run its warehouses the ration cards they issue don't reach the actual core whatever race is distributed to the local dealer for us is instead sold by him in the open market. with global wheat prices rising due to the drought in russia if india loses its wheat stocks to poor storage this could fuel the price surge and that would hit the poor in india the hardest got and seeing r t . russia unprecedented tropical heat may have brought a poor harvest but it's also bearing fruit the warm weather has led to a peach as lemons and oranges in the central russian city of far several months earlier than expected stuff in the city's greenhouses say it's the first time but nona trees have actually produced crops in this part of the world locals more used

to potatoes and tomatoes are now picking figs in lemons straight from the tree. and still ahead for you here on r.t. without whom hundreds of refugee using georgia are being forced out of their homes with no place to go. plus civilian deaths in afghanistan have searched by a third since the start of the year it's a disturbing u.n. report as the u.s. military steps up its efforts in the country. in iraq two u.s. backed militia leaders have said al qaeda is trying to bribe members of the group to return to the terrorist organization some officials in iraq say al qaeda is making a big comeback partly due to the power vacuum and political instability of the war torn country the us paid mercenaries are called the sons of iraq and fought on the side of coalition forces but now it seems al qaeda is offering to pay them more

once the americans leave the journalist who broke the story said it could be a big problem if militia groups members defect. the sons of iraq were a group who were credited with helping stop the violent insurgency throughout two thousand and six two thousand and seven that's been hailed ever since by the americans as people who are a cornerstone of the future security for this country however as the americans prepared to leave they handed over responsibility in managing the sons of iraq program to the iraqi government the iraqi government's commitment to become a predominantly sunni sons of iraq groups has not been strong in over recent months we've seen a very sharp spate of attacks against sons of iraq meet is and militia men and we're seeing some very disturbing reports recently about al qaida offering more money to today we've been receiving by the government and indeed some of those

approaches being successful so we were told yesterday we spoke to one. sons of iraq leader who said that one hundred of his members have not turned up for the last two months to pick up salaries he says that can only mean one thing that they are now being paid by the enemy so if you're not going to be good news for washington d.c. and capitol hill that. saddam hussein's former deputy has accused president obama of quote leaving iraq to the wolves saying u.s. troops should stay now given the troop pullout at the end of this month surely it's not the right time for the americans to leave. but there are remarkable words for saddam hussein's chief whip tend to be calling for the americans to be starting he said that there was a massive mistake made to come here to invade in the first place but to leave iraq like this would indeed in his words be feeding the countries of the world pay saying that nothing is stable here there is a security vacuum and there is no stability in the near future at all there is

a vicious political stalemate and the few tenets that this is size he is built on the army perhaps the police for. and a couple of other things like that which could potentially keep the country secure in the future certainly not ready to do so you know so his words were a direct challenge to the white house which is that the job is done and that the institutions are ready to take over including the army and that iraq the foundations of the new iraq have been like if you look around the country there are many people who would dispute that. we are seeing a slow but steady uptick in violence on a daily weekly and monthly basis and we have seen sort of the last five months so the mood on the streets is not good this is a sense of dread as the americans prepare to disappear and i think that they will have to mount a pretty strong case as to why their position that the job is done should be believed. now let's turn our attention to that over afghanistan where the number of

civilian casualties there has risen to almost a third in the first half of two thousand and ten compared with the same period last year the report by the u.n. also shows a fifty five percent increase in child victims among the twelve hundred afghans killed during this period it comes as u.s. led forces are increasing their presence in the country and as aussies marina portnoy explains it's often the civilians who suffer the most. the amount of afghan civilian children that are dying as a result of this war has increased fifty five percent according to the united nations the taliban and other militants are responsible for three quarters of the civilian deaths that have taken place in the past six months but tied to that you want to fishel say that the taliban and other militants have stepped up their game in terms of using i.e. . suicide suicide attacks and take being involved in assassination attempts and that is

a result of more foreign troops coming into their country so why has provoked the other or foreign troops more attacks by the taliban or the militants and that the. it is the afghan civilians according to this report women and children who are actually paying the price of this war it's basically understood according to this u.n. report that once foreign troops move into an area that the taliban and militants will move and and violence will ensue and subsequent deaths will take place so at this point the afghan civilians you know understandably are intimidated are living in. a war torn area for decades and are not so quick to align with the foreign troops in their country that are to blame for the taliban and militants attacking the civilians and the surrounding areas wherever people are as a result of that occupation in the country. reporting that now it's almost twenty

minutes past the hour you're watching artsy live from the russian capital and under an existing military cooperation pact russia now has a defense system in neighboring kazuya the commander of the russian base says the s three hundred has been installed to ensure the defense and help protect the republican ground forces the system is considered one of the world's best despite coming into service over thirty years ago. is your home really your cost all residents of an apartment block in the georgian capital tbilisi you found the answer off the police threw them out onto the street and salties arena found these people feel unwanted in their own country. somewhere around seven hundred people are being forced to leave because it's from a temporary home now we have to remember that these people are refugees which escaped the war in uprising it's beginning of the one nine hundred ninety s. the lift from in different places for the last seventeen years the now they have to

go about it now the reason why they have to do that is because the georgian government has a new program that has been designed specifically for internally displaced persons that is refugees and they're being held for a new accommodations in various parts of georgia now a lot of the people who have lived here of course but seven in the seventeen years time they have already gotten jobs here their kids grew up here they go to schools all of it in spain lisi and now they will have to move somewhere else and rural areas away from their jobs away from their schools to areas with no infrastructure some of those places don't even have schools they're essentially villages with nothing in them so a lot of them are feeling stream the unhappy about it of course they feel like the georgian citizens are not being treated as rightful georgian citizens should be in fact some of them in the grips of despair are saying that they are willing to go back to a positive were even russia and ask for asylum there. because i don't want to stay in tbilisi i don't know where to go to. all my relatives who are

in sochi i'm going to move to russia that i don't want to be a citizen of this country and all of this is during the time when presidents are just really is in the georgia should come together and be united in the face of a common adversary that adversary of course being russia however like i've also mentioned a lot of these people feel like a sensually they are being treated as enemies by their own government and they are extremely unhappy about this to say the least at this moment their future is not so certain. all right to some other news now that's making headlines all around the world. now authorities in pakistan have warned many areas could soon be submerged causing thousands to flee cities and villages towns floodwaters had to the south of the country these people join the already vast number in the country who have been left homeless without food and isolated by floodwaters the u.n. now estimates nearly fourteen million have been affected and the damages are one billion dollars making it the worst natural disaster in pakistan's history.

at least fifteen people have been killed and twenty injured when a bus crashed on a mountainous road in bolivia authorities say the accident happened on a road to the capital of the country la pounds witnesses say the bus lost control while driving down a hill avoiding oncoming traffic but losing control on a bend were smashed against a rock because of the accident is unknown but a mechanical fault is being investigated. i will take another look at the headlines in a few moments but first let's turn over to kareena for the business news. and i welcome to our business program has got to have you with us russia's losses due to the forest fires still ranging across the country could reach fifteen billion dollars earlier my colleague stephanie monday spoke to natalie all of us alpha bank who gave us more on the impact of the cloud dishes on the economy furthermore she

pointed out that the russian government is also losing opportunities in controlling prices using its growing reserves. well these was initial seen as a very powerful instrument which russian government might use how is a recently released c very different figures in terms of size of the these reserves because in july number fishel experts were talking about twenty twenty last million tons in the reserves at the most recent an independent as soon as give us just mind million tons so i would say the gap is an imaging and also not a garment and then to distribute thought it was part of this fund directly to the old russian regions so this will definitely we've gone in possibility to intervene on the local market and to control prices then in whatever if we turn out to inflation what's your forecast for this year inflation this is devil the key indicator which probably will be visible very soon and we have raised all inflation

forecast of the level of some point five percent versus our initial view of seven percent around months ago and just respond the initial responding to their global grain market grain price rally how is the now as we see that the conditions in russia continue to deteriorate definitely we can expect that inflation might even see this seven point five percent level and as far as they can see the market consensus is now shifting to even higher figures. russian banks continue to cut deposit rates for individuals the central bank says the maximum interest rate for deposits in roubles this month is less than nine percent that's close to pre-crisis levels the rate of decreased by around six percentage points in a year however the banks are still attracting more cash from individuals and the central bank says deposits group by around two hundred percent in july. and let's take a quick look at the markets russian markets are sliding here in moscow banks are

under performing on the rise ex with both of you to be as burbank moving losing two and a half percent gazprom is also shedding two percent and shares in europe are also. drag by banks the miners investors are concerned about the sustainability of the economic recovery after the federal reserve posted a pessimistic view of the u.s. economy barclay has b.c. societe generale daughter bank are all shouting between one point two and three point. three point eight percent and u.s. stocks slump at the open on wednesday and a week of manufacturing data from china and a gloomy growth outlook from the federal reserve. go prices are rising on wednesday after a recent news from the us federal reserve it plans to reinvest principal payments on its mortgage holdings into long term treasury securities gold futures for december delivered traded at one dollar twenty and in electronic trading on the comics in new york earlier price is as much as point eight percent of the dollar

climbed against a basket of six currencies gold prices have gained twenty seven percent in the past twelve months a record in the middle of july. two other stories roussel has filed a claim against into ross through the london court of international arbitration the companies are rowing over control of norilsk nickel sol says the outcome of normal june board elections breaks the two thousand and eight agreement between its interests not to take control of no risk and to maintain equal board representation the elections so roussel get three board seats into getting for both to sell and either also have a twenty five percent stake in the company. and severstal has put most of its north american steel making assets up for sale its us branch has also potential a bit is to respond with offers by friday a company offer still operations in warren ohio sparrows point and those of the

former reeling spurs steel corporation as one. french whereas the fifth of the final nord stream participant has paid eight hundred million euros for a nine percent stake in the project the company has bought the share from german shareholders. would to show each of them has decreased their share from twenty to fifty and a half percent controlling stake in knowledge stream the first stage of which will be launched next year is owned by gas prom dot dutch gus we have another nine percent. both food chains wendy's and all b.'s are coming to russia they've signed an agreement with a local company affiliated for food service capital and plan to open one hundred eighty restaurants over the next ten years food service capital is owned by restaurant restaurateurs. and wound up the president of metals from u g m

k the owners plan to invest one hundred million dollars into the project of which forty million will be spent in the first five years and they plan to use shareholder money and later find sources of credit. for. our first run strong in the first quarter of the upcoming year that's another seven or eight restaurants by the middle two thousand and twelve we expect to reach operational profitability in five years. users of google maps will now be able to get information about traffic jams in russia the world's top search engine has launched a test version of the traffic maps in moscow and st petersburg routes of the map are illustrated and illustrated in four colors depending on road congestion such services are already provided by rambler and yandex which is google's main competitor on the russian market last year yandex earned four times more than google in russia. that's all for now on the back with more and less than one hour

ahead. how's that parking. car appliances is so many years

until they come to visit you. do you think the property bought on credit really belongs to you. every month we give you the future we help you understand how we'll get there and what tomorrow brings the best in science and technology from across russia and around the world join us acknowledge you update on our g. six in the evening here in moscow you with your headlines now russia breeds more freely as the small gun seem to be retreating but there are still hundreds of places to extinguish thousands of volunteers helping fight the flames and provide vital supplies to those affected. stops wheat exports to ensure its

domestic needs are met after wildfires and drowned prompting a jump in global grain prices meanwhile india is losing tons of surplus crops to poor story chance people in the country go hungry. big comeback the terrorist group is reportedly on a recruiting spree spurred on by the planned u.s. troop withdrawal from iraq. with the boom in technology it often seems society is making huge leaps forward but some of the imperial age with its fight for resources and influence is coming back. spoke to veteran journalist john pilger who shared his views on the past and present stay with us. today i'm in london speaking to. veterans.