you know review of the week on r.t. russia is winning a slow victory against the devastating wildfires which have burnt down villages in the country's central regions in the capital and prompted small. japan has been remembering over eighty thousand victims of a nuclear bomb blast killed and nagasaki sixty five years ago. no chance of ever going free in the us female inmates who killed their abusive. road site as politicians put this first. costs discrimination at work on looks of efforts to bridge age old social divisions in india. you're watching on t.v. with our weekly news if you are developing stories for thought is in russia say

they've turned the corner in their battle against hundreds of wildfires that have been raging across the country here is a blaze all steadily shrinking off the weeks of endeavor against the ferocious flames triggered by the record heat wave in the country's central regions the blazes have killed more than fifty people and destroyed entire villages leaving thousands displaced the moscow region has been one of the worst hit with choking smoke from the shroud in the capital although the city has been clear for the past few days the smell of burning still lurks in the air you have to know which over the long term. consequences of the disaster. from choking on toxic fumes to breathing normally once again this summer's wildfires different from those in previous years the disaster was not only widespread but highly visible especially in the capital a blanket of smoke covered most for several weeks so too did it envelop the

country's economy to its sure the situation is very severe as about a quarter of all grain fields in the country have dried up as a result of the drought unfortunately many films are now on the verge of bankruptcy the government has already agreed to provide financial help to agricultural producers who are faced with hard times the government responded by banning wheat exporter until beyond of the year it sent world grain prices to their highest for two years the danger is that given we've been through two thousand and seven two thousand and eight and we saw when prices precede rises in other prices of commodities the danger is that financial markets start to anticipate price growth in other commodities and that's actually what causes a more general food price spike the short term the facts of the wildfires have been quickly reflected in the price tags of some essential foods and while customers can already feel how much thinner their wallets have become this summer the long term

effects of the catastrophe us due to big cost it. over fifty people died in the fires while the death rate in other smoke shrouded regions has doubled at its height in moscow alone some seven hundred people were dying each day the long term effect on the health of august want to be known for years when you have forest fires not only do you have the smog but you've also got carbon monoxide and you've got small particles which are ingested and alarms and cause problems breathing the country's ecological lungs are badly damaged to eight hundred. thousand hectares of forests caught fire in an area the size of cypress morton yes they can be planted but it will take time for them to grow it will take several decades to make up for this loss we've lost along the moscow region i mean the woods contributing to air purification and oxygen production but which is a considerable blow against the environment of the metropolis. what took decades to

grow has been obliterated in one long hot summer now russians are wondering whether the unusually high temperatures are just a freak of nature or if the herald a time when most won't be just known for its freezing winters but for its scorching summers as well you can sit in the church of r r t. while the unprecedented wildfires have led to an unprecedented response to try to bring them under control all of russia's emergency services together with the military and volunteers have been working to tackle breaches devastating force he's a nice in a way joined one of the teams operating in moscow. this is how it all starts with a small flame that can quickly and golf the entire forest making this a very fierce battle for emergencies workers and volunteers.

one of the biggest operations in fighting these fires happened from the air port an airport in the resign region one of the worst hit by these fires and the emergency services has invited our team to come along for a ride on this ill seventy six. the . water line they began. the day. with if you want to drop over the past week. services like mine are the same down below our first. line. ready and they're also fighting the fire you. are. right it. is.

as you can see helicopters are also working to put out these flames it was quite a ride we took the my guys that this is one of the world's kate major and that's in fact why prime minister vladimir putin chose to come here to fly on one of those planes we just flew on and see the process himself of course it's not only authorities and volunteers trying to contain these flames ordinary people citizens are doing what they can to help gathering whatever items they can food water clothes to help those who have lost everything and were terribly hoping that this crisis will soon come to an end and he said now way art. there's one region on the way here on r.t. chasing liberty where in california the women convicted for defending themselves are willing victim to political ambitions also. never believe anything until it's officially denied. could america's promise to pull out of iraq just an

attempt to see the public that's coming up. this week the japanese city of mecca sarky has been commemorating the victims of the atomic bomb dropped by the u.s. sixty five years ago. representatives from more than thirty countries gathered with survivors to highlight their message to the world but humans and nuclear arsenals should not coexist the attack on like a sarky was the second against civilians just three days after the first target was devastated as a result of the bombings two hundred thousand people died either directly in the blasts or later due to radiation poisoning. thomas reports. sixty five years ago sumi taro taniguchi was enjoying a simple morning bicycle ride when in a tragic instant his life was changed forever. i was thrown to the

ground and i didn't eat piecing sound i thought i had been killed but i encouraged myself not to die that it was important to go on living. at first noticed his bicycle had been twisted and bent out of shape but as he started to move he began to realize the severity of his own condition she got up there. on my left arm and shoulder my skin was dripping off. my body. eleven year old yoshi kawi was at home with his twin brother just two kilometers from the blast center on that fateful morning. at eleven o two i saw the lights and drove to the floor to cover my hand eyes and ears there was a wave in our entire house crashed over us. go and his brothers crawled from the rubble and went into the city to look for their father who worked at the mitsubishi munitions plant close to the heart of the explosion on their way they found countless charred bodies and a terrifying scene you have. while crossing the river we were drawn to

a woman who was walking with what looked like a wide belt or cloth trailing behind her but when we took a closer look it was her intestines coming out of her stomach there was nothing we could do. this is the hyper center of the bomb which means sixty five years ago it exploded five hundred meters above this exact spot and the people who suffered that horrific event well their stories are truly amazing but what they didn't know back then just as disturbing is the long term effects of that radiation the effect is continuing. cutting her. that means sixty five years. so that it true that. radiation is affecting human bodies for sixty five years so we tara taniguchi has had continuous surgeries throughout his life to remove tumors on his back caused by the radiation now he declares that the war did not end

in one thousand nine hundred five but rather the effects continue to this day and even though. he wasn't as severely injured initially as an adult he has endured liver disease and two types of cancer attributed to the bomb as well as the psychological damage of the event. the atomic bomb was extremely cruel america should never have dropped the bombs and human beings the tests in new mexico should have been the end of nuclear weapons once the power of these weapons was known. but having experienced the wrath of the world's most devastating weapon these two survivors have one shared message sit ins. people use the word deterrent but i do not believe that human beings came to exist with nuclear. a reason why the a bomb survivors of hiroshima and nagasaki are pushing for peace and complete global nuclear disarmament thomas r. t. nagasaki japan. memorial services were held on thursday at russia's naval bases to

mark a decade since the course of nuclear submarine tragedy three commanders and victims' families took part in one ceremony very recently the barents sea or disaster. nuclear submarine sank to enable the exercise official investigation concluded that an onboard explosion at the country's biggest base so maybe disaster international rescue efforts failed to say any of the one hundred eighteen crew members most of whom were in the thirty. the u.s. says it's planning to conclude combat operations in iraq by the end of august and withdraw by the end of the year but iraq's top commander has claimed local forces were ready to take responsibility for the country's security at least another decade u.s. officials say a surge in violence increase due to a power vacuum and political instability apparently more than sixty thousand

soldiers are stationed in the country to advise the ruf the troops that are in journalist john pilger says america is fooling the world by claiming it's pulling out. this announcement by a bomb. combat mission next to yours norm. and that's another example of of the media simply taking at face value something that told by authorities in fact there's going to be something like nine. and sixty thousand troops. call that is an increase in the number of mercenaries they call them contractors so far from getting out there is 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 but

another u.s. led campaign appears to be almost as dangerous for civilians it is for the military and the reports by the un shows an increase of almost a third in civilian casualties in afghanistan in the first half of two thousand and ten compared to the same period last year the death toll among children has soared by more than the u.s. military commander in the country general petraeus says this shows the need to be double efforts in the fight against the taliban her critics say it's another reason to begin withdrawing troops. women prisoners in the us who've been convicted of killing their abusive husbands are seeing their chances of liberty snatched away forever many of those who are granted parole have the decision overturned by state governors christine for cell speaks to rights campaigners who claim that even first time offenders and women who feared for their own lives are being denied a chance of freedom. meet norma khun pm when i first came here my son

wasn't even a year old and i think that he. kind of sees me and the other women that he's met here at the visiting room he kind of sees like women that have. gone through a lot and ended up standing on our feet now forty years old she's been behind bars since one thousand nine hundred ninety two people convicted of killing her abusive boyfriend during a violent attack one of many in their relationship this is somebody who doesn't belong behind bars somebody who made a terrible mistake and readily admits that she made a terrible mistake by picking up a gun in the first place in two thousand and nine she was found to be suitable for parole by the california parole board that decision was overturned by california governor arnold schwarzenegger's a reality shared by many women here at the california institution for women in los angeles most have long histories of abuse from the person for whom they are convicted of killing

a down the road the university of southern california law school has taken up the cause of many of these women in a program called the post conviction justice project professor michael brennan is one of the founders our clients for the most part have committed a single serious crime in their life and that's a crime that they're serving their sentence for they are represented by law students like andy martin i'm representing mary saw garcia who was at the age of thirteen trafficked into the united states and sold to a man who for six years physically emotionally and sexually abused her garcia was forced at gunpoint to help that man drag and bury the body of the man he had shot then convicted of aiding and abetting so far she has served seventeen years in march she too was deemed suitable for parole the parole process is really the beginning of a long legal battle for the convicted it's not the end of the. story it turns out

it's not even the end of this chapter parole for both garcia and could be and was just reversed by california governor arnold schwarzenegger of the four thousand cases that go before the board each year just about seventeen percent are found suitable for parole and of those governor schwarzenegger has overturned more than sixty percent previous governor reversed ninety percent so why why this obsession with incarceration because most governors in california certainly at some point in their career feel that they may have. possibility of running for president they're concerned about granting parole to inmates who might go out and commit a serious crime but many of these women's records show they would not be a danger to society that they were young and scared for their lives or for the lives of their children or. i

don't quite remember we. were there on the way to be on the one. end of the line for many is here. in prison for life despite their sentence you can't turn parole boy if sentences into. what we call. life without possibility of parole simply because. the rights groups or others think if you've been convicted of murder you should never be paroled a broken system chance is given then taken away and still hope the system will change for campian that she'll be reunited with her son it will work out in the end if if you really truly love somebody like the way that i love him i want him to be the best like even if i have to stay here forever i just want him to

be. the best in los angeles christine for south r.t. . but if you missed any of our stories you can find them at r.t. dot com as what's online a tale of survival read about a new born baby girl who was abandoned as a roadside by harrods fifty degree heat. and why chelsea football player not so happy now it appears that one of the world's richest people is tough on bonuses for his team tells. russia said on friday who launch iran's first nuclear power plant next week but nuclear agency which is building the facility in bashir announced that engineers will start loading the reactive fuel on august twenty first several today's ceremony will be held on the strict controls of the u.n. nuclear watchdog the plant should then be fully operational in several weeks time

russia will supply the fuel and take away the fuel waste as well as help when the station iran's currently under un sanctions and pressuring it to abandon its rating which program the spokesman of the russian corporation charge of the bashir project says western fears the plant could help tehran develop a nuclear weapon a groundless. you cannot do anything. use nuclear power plant in your hypothetical meet with a. nuclear bomb plant is just the right that you could use it. is true that there are some. people that double double purpose is richer than spencer man but this sentiments he can. also bring in responsibility because back on the supply route nuclear feel sure nuclear power plants all the life time of them go figure spent fuel back the process of the

russian area. attempts to break down the cost system in india coming up against long held prejudices in many areas of life cost discrimination is illegal in the country as charan singh reports traditional mindsets often prevail even when eating is concerned. it's a problem that's been simmering but now suddenly davey sees it's fast reaching boiling point she's a newly appointed cook in this primary school and johnny board here to prepare the government funded midday meal but despite sony's best intentions some of the students turn their noses up at many creations because she's a doll it or untouchable in traditional hindu society only upper caste cooks a lot of community minos and even now in some upper caste children don't want to trued me by me their parents consider the food polluted by my time each what can i do i'm here to make lunch in the school i treat the children here just like my own

kids one hundred twenty million children across india receive a meet every working day in the largest school lunch program in the world but when the education ministry decided to send it cooks to get its schools where the majority of pupils are upper caste hindus many found that hard to swallow. the media a meal can entice poor parents to send their children to school because look forward to it but there are some parents who don't want their children to eat food made by low cost people and have removed their children from here and also threaten us as well. meet the same family a member of the upper caste raj board community they refused to allow their ten year old son but him on and to continue studying in a school which they felt didn't respect their customs and pulled him out immediately. after caste we believe strongly in the cost system we cannot eat

food made touched by somebody from a lower caste that's why we moved our child from this government school picked him into part activist said this kind of reaction demonstrates the difficulty in eradicating the caste system discrimination on the basis. of caste is illegal in india but the practice is still entrenched in areas where the kind of work you do who you can eat with is largely divided along class lines. much larger past people are treated like dirt at the upper castes or just about they tell us stay on one side wash the utensils that anything to humiliate us they want just remain low and never rise up. the government says legal action will be taken against villagers who are poor cooks in schools the earlier this is done the better after all this attempt to get children of all costs to eat together irrespective of who's made the

food is a small but important step in the country's journey to bridge social divisions got and seeing r.t. . pakistan now says about twenty million people have been affected by severe flooding across the country and the pendants they sort of variations were canceled due to the country's worst ever disaster rescue teams are struggling to reach victims in villages there's a shortage of food and drinking water. also at least one case of cholera was confirmed by the un natural disaster has so far left an estimated sixteen hundred people dead. u.s. president barack obama has urged to visit florida to help revive the state's economy in the wake of the gulf of mexico oil spill also added that beaches there are open for business his words were backed by action as he arrived on holiday with his family in the sunshine state obama says the oil is no longer flowing into the

gulf but the work will continue to seal of the king well for good. at least five suspected drug gang members have been arrested over the killings of two policemen which happened in the mexican border city of juarez last week the body of one of the officers was hacked to death on those detained. it was announced suspected of involvement in a car bomb attack that killed three people the suspects are believed to work for one of the major drug cartels in the country. islamophobia was quick to rise after nine eleven attacks in the u.s. recently it's emerged again the following controversial plans to build a mosque near ground zero with president obama backing the decision online show host also known as the resident new yorkers whether this is a real threat to american values.

islamophobia is it the new anti-communism this week let's talk about that i suppose there are some parallels to sort of hatred of foreigners hatred of others. it's a it's a big complex because communism was sort of a government system and islam is more religion but i think you can kind of make some parallels but i think people get scared of the whole culture i think just because so much is on the news and it's scary and it's just it's just bombarded every single day it's like i almost actually i quit listening to the news if the media that's your job they have to be. the stories that are going to draw people to watching it and what do you think what you're scared of. percentage of. the rest because i'm sure they're very good people so we all know this but still a lot of people are very fearful of the religion in general why do you think that it is because the impact you know the way your approach religious background or you

. know if there is some christians that are going around bombing people how would you feel about it well i wouldn't mind kate just the same you know and i wouldn't feel if i got a group. under. when i could understand why they were doing that why do people do that so many people they blame the whole group when a small amount do it i don't know maybe that's the nature i don't. get a little bit scared of one thing and then you you know scared of the rest if you use horses so it doesn't help when you're a couple of bad seeds that obviously expose the worst so do you think that was the same case in the fifty's with anti-communism you know it's funny because now if you look back where we are in today it really is even more scary than you know that when you probably are in the moment because looking back you wonder how could these

people actually be taking the city think will do the same and twenty years from now not everyone to look but back and say why are we scared no matter how you feel personally the bottom line is that with all the anti islam events as of late it's safe to say that at least the first star islamophobia is very real. and coming up on our t.v. a big brother is watching british activists wells' most watched country doesn't need any more c.c.t.v. especially when flying out on one of the. next. few minutes we're discussing the chinese economic phenomenon that i'll be back with a recap of our top stories stay with us.