all. discovery. communicate with you want to. test yourself and become free. see what nature can give you on. the week's main stories and today's news from our team smog falls again on the

russian capital as firefighters push on with their battle against the country's rampant wildfires. on the sixty fifth anniversary of america's atomic attack on with japanese city of nagasaki the a bomb to reflect a legacy is still felt by its victims. and justice campaigners claim women convicted of killing their violent partners in california are having their paroles hopes dashed by the political ambitions of state governors. more welcome to the weekly here in r t this sunday on many sonali with a look back at the week's top stories and the very latest from russia and around the world well the area affected by wildfires in russia has reduced by two thirds in a week but the relentless flames have devoured entire villages and towns in their path

leaving more than three thousand. people without homes the record heat wave in central areas triggered voices across more than twenty regions and there's still a high level of alert in moscow's neighboring resign and lived in the region's wildfires there have cause noxious mark to return to the capital after a few days of clear skies but in the grouch over looks at the consequences of the disaster. this summer's wildfires stiefel from those in previous years the disaster was not only widespread but highly visible especially in the capital a blanket of smoke covered for several weeks so too did it envelop the country's economy. 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 forms 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 have been through two thousand and seven two thousand and eight and we saw 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 effects of the wildfires have been quickly reflected in the price tags of some essential food 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 the cost it. over fifty people died in the fires while the death rate in other smoke shrouded regions has doubled at its height in mosco alone some seven hundred people were dying each day the long term

effect on the health of ah this 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 in just a dent alarms and cause problems breathing the country's ecological lungs are badly damaged to eight hundred thousand hectares a forest fire in an area the size of cypress it will 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 the lungs of the moscow region i mean the woods contributing to air purification and oxygen production 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

summer as is while you sit in the church of r t. well the manpower drafted to defeat russell's wildfires is immense with more than one hundred sixty thousand firefighters army personnel and volunteers this week i had the chance to join one of the emergency teams operating in the skies above one of the worst affected regions. this is how it all starts with a small flame that can quickly and gulf 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 two to come along for a ride on this ill seventy six. the

. longer they began and that's something today. only if you want to drive over the past we. have our service like miners at the sametime down below our first. line. ready and they're also fighting the funny. part. as you can see helicopters are also working to put out these flames it was quite a ride we took the mike i said this is one of the world's kate major and so 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 gather and 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. now of course those of us that eyewitness are just a tiny part of the amends efforts taking place to tackle. these wildfires and of course also help those affected by the devastation across russia these past few weeks. so we'll look at whether the you ask can really stick to its deadline to get out of a walk analysts say the problem is more to appease people at home rather than a fair assessment of whether iraq's ready to go it alone. this week saw the sixty fifth anniversary of america's atomic bombings of the japanese city of nagasaki. over thirty countries attended

a ceremony on monday to remember the eighty thousand victims of the attack which happened in the closing days of world war two in one thousand nine hundred forty five the explosion happened three days after the u.s. devastated another japanese city here same with the world's first nuclear bomb strike but as our two son thomas reports the effects of the tragedy are still being felt today. 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 if using sound i thought i had been killed but i encourage 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 has he started to move he began to realize the severity of his own condition she got up there. and my left arm and shoulder in my skin was dripping off and i had severe burns and i wanted. eleven

year old yoshi kawi was at home with his twin brother just two kilometers from the blast center on that fateful morning. that's eleven o two i saw the lights and give to the floor to cover my hand eyes and ears there was a wave in our entire house crashed over us yoshiko 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 had. while crossing the river we were drawn to a woman who was walking with what looked like a wide belt cloth trailing behind her was when we took a closer louis it was her intestines coming out of her stomach and 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 and just as disturbing is the long term effects of that radiation the effect is continuing. cutting horror. that is sixty five. so that are true that. radiation is affecting human bodies for sixty five yes. he 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 you know she 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

a drop of the bombs and human beings on 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. people use the wood deterrent but i do not believe that human beings can co-exist with nuclear. a reason why the a bomb survivors of hiroshima and nagasaki are pushing for peace and complete global nuclear disarmament thomas nagasaki japan. well thursday marked a decade since the course nuclear submarine tragedy in which one hundred eighteen people were killed when morial services were held throughout russia families of the crew members and fleet commanders through reaves into the barents sea of the site of the disaster just happened during the civil war exercises the official investigation concluded that a torpedo exploded inside one of the boats launchers leading to

a chain reaction of detonations it remains the worst naval tragedy in russell's post soviet history. now on the way why air travel might not leave you feeling as free as a bird find out why liberty to say passengers airplane privacy is at risk with plans for in-flight c.c.t.v. . the united states says it's sticking to its targets and all combat operations in iraq by the end of august and to withdraw almost all troops by the end of next year but right now there are more than sixty thousand u.s. troops in iraq but that number is expected to drop to fifty thousand in the next few weeks over iraq's top military officials warn that the presence of american troops might be needed for up to a decade more until the country's security forces are ready to fully take over veteran investigative journalist john pilger told r.t. that america will not pull out of iraq that easily. this announcement by obama.

would be the end of the combat mission next two years norm. and that's another example of the media simply taking a face for something that told by authorities in fact there's going to be something like ninety four bases left and sixty thousand troops and the surge so-called that is an increase in the number of most of them raise 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 in the thing until it's officially denied. we should apply the rule statements like. well the new commander of the coalition forces in afghanistan has admitted that the twenty eleven target date to start withdrawing troops is not binding us general

david petraeus says troops will be pulled out only if as he put it conditions permit the security situation continues to deteriorate despite the heavy military presence for u.s. troops to live was the deadliest month since the campaign began almost nine years ago what's more are you have reports of civilian casualties rose by twenty five percent in the first half of two thousand and ten compared to the same period last year the number of children who were killed soared by more than half the united states says it will deploy another thirty thousand soldiers by the end of the year now in a few minutes why india has banned class structure is proving hard to stalk parents both children from schools where food is prepared by people seem to be from a lower border. liberty campaigners say plans to put security cameras inside aircraft will make passengers feel spied on not secure the e.u.

wants them installed to prevent terrorist attacks but it's angering those who say it's an aerial assault on people's privacy or and has the details. all for a week in the sun but if the european union project goes ahead these people could have their conversations and movements monitored while left flying the plan has a lawman civil liberties campaigners who fear further growth in the surveillance state but at passengers a divided yelling as bad as can be quite private personally when i don't know this i mean is a line and you keep pushing and pushing it with like the regulations and i think it's so prevalent already. with this expected you watch t.v. and you watch t.v. or you'll be surveilled online to be surveilled and hear there's a more in me but nothing to hide so we don't worry me personally. the e.u. project is aimed at tackling terrorism by analyzing the way passengers behave in a bid to isolate potential bombers or hijackers when they're already on board at

the moment surveillance on planes is mainly limited to a c.c.t.v. camera near the cockpit persons are the most watched people in the world with more c.c.t.v. cameras per capita than any other nation there are cameras almost always in train stations and in at ports and it's here at the university of reading that the new in-flight surveillance system is being developed it won't just include cameras they'll also be microphones and special systems for monitoring unusual behavior behavior the system will eventually be able to pick up include sweating moving around the cabin in an erratic way and repeated visits to the toilet dr james ferryman insists it will distinguish between potential terrorists a nervous fly is now one way to do that is to look very carefully at the types of cues that we detect so for example someone may be acting nervously anxiously sweating in a solution because it doesn't say anything it could be just look in

a nervous flyer but it could be a terrorist but we only know that when we combine this information with other sources of information that come to places. a lot to think of it as not big brother watching you but big brother looking after you not everyone sees it that way campaigners say previous is one of the litmus tests for democracy and mass surveillance erodes it enormously treats it as one of those. completely complex maintenance or democratic one which is that of all news and it seems to me you keep continuing surveillance of mass surveillance video communications whatever the many ways that seem to just be creeping forward completely goes against that and we who are a democracy apart from the civil rights issues many question the efficacy of an on board system if a terrorist isn't course at the airports they say by the time the planes thirty

thousand feet up is it is already too late nor and it r.t. london. moscow's announced that it will launch iran's first nuclear power plant next week the russian nuclear agency that's building the bashir facility will start loading the reactor with fuel on august twenty first as likely to go fully online a few weeks later but under strict monitoring by the u.n. nuclear watchdog russia will help run the station supply fuel and remove the waste for reprocessing the u.s. recently impose strict sanctions against iran to make it abandon its uranium enrichment program but russia says western fears that the plant can help tehran make a nuclear bomb are groundless. you cannot and you know use nuclear power plant in your head but they tell me to take. you to bob plant is just to the right that you could use it. is true that there are.

people that double double barrel is spent to amend the well they send them in so you can. bring your responsibility because back in the supply of that nuclear fuel should you be appalled once all the lifetime down of those big dispensed you are back to the process of the russian area. american women jailed for murdering their abusive partners face life behind bars their parole kept at bay for what seemed to be political ends rather than ensuring justice campaigners argue the prisoners killed only through fear for their own lives but as christine for sour explained state governors are keeping them under lock and key to secure future votes. made normal. 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 you know still 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 maris or 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 governors horton egger has overturned more than sixty percent previous governors 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. ok those are the number we. are on the way for him 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 of sentences into. what we call l.-wop sentences life without possibility of parole simply because. the rights groups or others think that if you've been convicted of murder you should never be paroled a broken system chance is given then taken away here 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 zero r.t. . well if you miss us on air check out our t.

dot com our stories are updated twenty four hours a day here are some other things that might catch your eye millionaire belt tightening at stamford bridge to find out why it all mom abra moriches giving his chelsea players the blues by keeping bonuses on the parents. and follow the oscar winning director of titanic and avatar as he comes to russia to take the plunge in the world's deepest freshwater lake details are online at our team dot com. now attempts to bring equality to india by eliminating the centuries old hindu past system are proving tough to enforce discrimination through the hereditary social class structure has been bound for more than fifty years but as current thing

explains deep rooted sentiments still hold fast. 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. community minos. now and some upper class children got twenty trued made by me their parents consider the food polluted by my time church what can i do i'm here to make lunch in the school and treat the children here just like my own kids one hundred twenty million children across india receive a midday meal every working day in the largest school lunch program in the world

but when the education ministry decided to send the it cooks to get schools where the majority of pupils are upper caste hindus many found it too hard to swallow. the media a meal can entice poor parents to send their children to school the kids look forward to it but there are some parents who don't want their children to eat food made by low caste people have removed their children from here and also threaten us as well. meet the same family a member of the upper caste raj group community they refused to allow their ten year old son but him on and to continue studying in 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 cost that's why we moved our child from this government school and picked him into prime activists say 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 rural areas where the kind of work you do and who you can meet with is largely divided along lines. and a much loved we know caste people are treated like dirt the upper castes or just about they tell us stay on one side wash the utensils that anything to humiliate us they want to surround may now 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 castes 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 unseeing r.t. but. let's take a look now at some other stories dominating world news today and u.n. secretary general ban ki moon call for international aid to be stepped up during

his visit to flood ravaged pakistan is the country's worst natural disaster with an estimated sixteen hundred dead survivors face starvation and illness as emergency crews struggled to reach the worst affected areas at least one case of cholera has been confirmed the catastrophe has left around twenty million people homeless. throughout have to my. asked across china on sunday on the day of national mourning for the twelve hundred victims of last weekend's landslides more than five hundred are still missing after the massive avalanches of mobs and rocks all public entertainment was suspended rescuers are working to help those still trapped under the debris and try to prevent further flooding. and offer of truck has plowed into spectators at a night rally in southern california killing eight people twelve others were injured with some airlifted to hospital the driver had to.