but all for days officials say some wildfires are now under control but many are still raging because of the record breaking heat wave is a nice in no way is in the badly hit region of the sun 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 bill noted my car up with everything they could i'm going to seek out families need. to find them what the people brought today that is valuable aid we've only got one small bag of things that we could use mildred to have enough things we need now medicines would and can meet 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 artie's laura emmett in the u.k. went to meet a formal fireman who wants to come to russia and step in this is

a man who. knows no national borders a retired firefighter daniel coleus 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 firefighting operations and you win the russian federation and i'm valuable and request as a personal offer to your country with that in mind daniel prepares for action he says he's ready to go to the airport the moment he receives word his help is welcome. to retire from the for sure there's. some stores here are still feel that burning desire to help people russia in particular because of the problems they've got the moment with. 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 fighting and says that's prepared him well put tackling the type of blazes sweeping through russia start my career off in more into shouldn't sorry farmer wish a lot to mr cause a lot of noise in rural areas including foreign military rain gauge and in terms of the fires are occurring in russia. in the world. we would spend menu we could have some of times and hope some move to do with exactly the same type of foyer of the one the way that we would have dealt with it in those days was to do it for a break in of words dig a trench down below the pay to stop the actual spreading underneath the ground even though daniel retired two years ago he says in his mind he's still on the front line no matter where you are in the world for far if you show you they're there to

help show you glory of. the ship and russia has to do all the prime minister or the president has to do if you simply are and then allow the people that care the paramedics the firefighters who is to 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 caller 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 r.t. essex the worst drought in fifty years in russia has forced the government to introduce an export ban on wheat the ministry says this year's harvest is up to sixty five million tonnes that's just enough to meet domestic needs the authorities say it could be october before russia starts exporting again after the harvest figures

come in with russia the world's third largest weak exporter last year global prices for the grain and 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 that it is still not a case where we will have a grain shortage but there is certainly a very severe situation in terms of supply and the drought has been extremely severe and the production shortfalls are far more far more than i anticipated as early as three weeks ago therefore it is on the stand that will restrictions of on exports is a one way to compact domestic food inflation 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 there were that many of the options 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

year is 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 rose very sharply if you're glad that they have calmed down a little bit the market is actually taking into consideration of invent trees that are available in other countries in particular in north america so they even invent result and we believe that 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 is currently in pakistan so the inventors are not the i mean russia is drawing down on 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 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 the government of doubt much other choice and it is understandable. 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 artie's charan singh investigates why stocks of rice and wheat are 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 dollars 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 this child quite a just me to drink water yet the government has recalled amounts 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 the names are not on the government's poverty list and we didn't get any food going from the government will 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 is every likelihood as we have in the household there right now where your porting your cup of tea from a curtain because likelihood. can spin on the table. and if you see a pun but only next year a reserve is the 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 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. the scale of the problem experts say 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 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 the issue don't reach the actual poor 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 they need india the hardest car and seeing r t. still ahead for you here on our left out on the street. sort of refuge in georgia are being forced out of their homes with no place to go. but civilian deaths in afghanistan have surged by a third since the start of the year it's a disturbing u.n. report and this all happens as the u.s. military steps up its efforts in the country. in iraq two u.s. backed militia leaders have said that al qaeda is trying to bribe members of their

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 over the water one country u.s. paid mercenaries are called the sons of iraq and fought on the side of the coalition forces but now it seems al qaeda is offering to pay them or once the americans leave the journalist who broke the story says it could be a big problem if militia 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 been hired ever since by the americans people who are a cornerstone of the future security for this country however as the americans prepare to leave their heritage over responsibility in managing the sons of iraq program to the iraqi government iraqi government's commitment to the potomac

predominantly sunni sons of iraq groups has not been strong in over recent months in a very sharp spate of attacks against sons of iraq leaders and militiamen and we're seeing some very disturbing reports recently about al qaida offering more money. than they would be 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. i have not turned up for the last two months to pick up salaries he says that can only mean one thing 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 from

saddam hussein's chief whip tend to be calling for the americans to be staying 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 a saying that nothing is stable here there is a security vacuum there is no stability in the near future at all there is a vicious political stalemate and the few tenets that this is science he is built on the army perhaps the police force in a couple of other things like that which could potentially take the country secure in the future certainly not ready to do so now 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 a new iraq have been laid if you look around the country there are many people who would dispute that we are seeing a slow steady uptick in violence on

a daily weekly and monthly basis and we have seen so for the last five months so the mood on the streets is not good there's 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 you spoke to veteran journalist john pilger who thinks america is tricking the world by saying it's pulling out of the war in iraq. this announcement by obama. to be the end of the combat mission next year is nonsense and that's another example of the of the media simply taking a face for something they're told by authorities in fact there's going to be something like ninety four bases left and sixty thousand troops and so called that is an increase in the number of mercenaries they call them contractors so far from

getting out there was a great expression by a great irish investigative journalist called claude coburn never believe anything until it's officially denied we should apply to all statements like that. and you can watch the full version of the interview words coming up next hour right here on r.t. . well the number of civilian casualties in afghanistan rose by 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 our team is more important i 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 officials say that the taliban and other militants have stepped up their game in terms of using i.e. . suicide suicide attacks and being involved in this us nation attempts and that is a result of more foreign troops coming into their country so one has provoked the other and our 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 had the taliban and militants will move in and out 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 civilians and the surrounding areas wherever people are as a result of that occupation in the country it's nearly twenty minutes past the hour here in the russian capital you're with. is your home really your colossal residence over an apartment block in the georgian capital tbilisi found the answer off the police and threw them out onto the street as well to use a ridiculous grow from these people now fuel and want to do in their own country. somewhere around seven hundred people are being forced to leave victims from a temporary home now we have to remember that these people are refugees which escaped the war in uprising in beginning of the one nine hundred ninety s.

the lift from in different places for the last seventeen years the now they have to move out 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 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 strongly 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 cause here or even russia and ask for asylum there. i demand that they take me to

cause i don't want to stay in tbilisi i know once again i'm alone all my relatives are in so she 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 georges has 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. well let's check out some of the headlines now making news all around the world and break up measuring six on the richter scale has struck the peaceful south pacific island all but no two they fear a tsunami in the fear of locals and tourists running for higher ground no injuries have been reported although there was minus damage the latest quake comes only days

after a more powerful one of magnitude seven which damage to buildings and toppled power lines in the capital. say one thousand ton service boche has been towed back out to sea off the huge waves washed it onto a show on australia's gold coast extreme weather overnight broke the fifty metre long vessel free of its moorings officials say no one was on board at the time. and kareena is here with a business news after a short break hungry for the full story we've gone to. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. every month we give you the future we help you understand how to get there and to bring the best in science and technology from across russia and around the world. join us

for technology update on our g. and welcome to our business program russia's losses due to the forest and peat fires still raging across the country could reach fifteen billion dollars and my colleague stephanie monday spoke to the. who gave us more on the impact of the ecological conditions on the economy furthermore she pointed out that the russian government is also losing opportunities in controlling prices using its grain reserves. well these was initial seen as a very powerful instrument which russian government might use how as a recently released see a very different figures symptoms of size of the these reserves because indra why in number of official experts with talking about turn to turn to plosser reserves

the most recent an independent as soon as give us just mind million tonnes so i would say the gap isn't in mazy and also nerves of government intent to distribute thought it was spot of this fund directly to little russian regions so this will definitely we. built it 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 definitely the kinda key to 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 the global grain market grain price rally however the now as we see that the conditions in russia continue to deteriorate definitely we can expect that inflation might even see these so in point five percent level and as far as they can see the market consensus is now shifting to even higher figures.

that take a quick look at the markets now rushing markets going into the trading day in the red of wednesday banks or the worst performers on both of forces me to be and where about fell two and a half percent energy majors also trade in the red with gas bubbles in the two point four percent on allies x. and look who are setting what a half percent at the close. so ever style has put most of its north american steel making assets up for sale its us branch has asked potential bidders to respond with offers by friday the company office still operations in warren ohio sparrows point those are the four wheeling its blue steel corporation one package. french t.f. so as the final note 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. and went to show each of them has to crease their share from twenty to fifty and a half percent stage of the pipeline will be launched next year the controlling

stake in north stream is owned by gas from dutch gas when he has another nine percent. or so has filed a claim against the london court of international arbitration the companies are fighting for control of noise of interests and looking to buy each other stake a political has more. and then he will general meeting of norilsk nickel at the end of june has provided a new source of conflict. it's all into ross with a twenty five percent stake in normal game for seats on the board but which also has twenty five percent gain only three seats. claims the voting process was flawed just suggesting the risk management which controls about eight percent of its shares through subsidiaries voted with interest russo says that the new rules board is controlled by an unhealthy alliance of interest and nor nickel and is demanding an extraordinary shareholders' meeting and new elections i think russo wasn't quite

prepared for the previous a.g.m. and now i believe the company did homework. this time around their year into q two with interest because they are more prepared and they will just get more of their rector's the. work more of their minority shareholders and i believe significant share of minorities group support are you sure so this time recent weeks have seen result proposed buying out the interest stake only to be met with interest and no risk management proposed buying out for some analysts say a board to. no the only chance for a stall to restore its position in. interest has freed up six point thirty five percent of new rules she is from pledge d.v.d. bank a move that is seen as preparation for a buy back if that happens result could be left out of the game in the running of new rules there are in general in number of scenarios i mean but then surely they

can sell this take what i understand they're not willing to do it right now another option that or sell would be willing to do is to match the company's most almost mean kill but this is not in the interest of interop. sell. so right now i see it as a bit over the deadlock so i think the most constructive way right now east for the shareholders just to sit down and talk to each other the warring shareholders of new rules have previously put aside their differences at the height of the global financial crisis with an agreement not to try and take control of neural and with parity on the board now that the parity has been broken and with both sides saying they won't sell observers say a new round of negotiations is the only way forward for business r.t. that will keep you up that for now but you can always buy most always at our website that's r.t.

dot com slash business. culture is that so much i'm afraid we're going to make it to a lot of people a variant of her current realities of convenience lines the world will be watching closely the u.s. senate as it debates a new climate change bill. would

be so much brighter if you knew about the song from feinstein pression some. stunts on t.v. dot com. it's now past the hour in moscow you with r.t. your headlines now and russia breathes more freely as the small gun wildfires seem to be retreating but there are still hundreds of blazes to put out and thousands of volunteers are helping fight the flames on provide vital supplies to those affected

. russia stops wheat exports to ensure. domestic needs are met after wildfires and drowned it prompted a jump in the global grain prices meanwhile india is losing tons of surplus crops to poor storage as people in the country go hungry. and al qaeda has a big comeback the terrorist group is reportedly on a recruiting spree spurred on by the planned u.s. troop withdrawal from iraq. my colleague alex hibbert will be here in about half an hour's time but for the meanwhile the global debate continues on the issue of climate change with the both sides of the argument expressing heated opinions and what better forum for that than crosstalk with people that's next thanks for watching. for the full story we've got it from. the biggest.