key test lead to deaths human rights groups claim international pharmaceutical giants are endangering the lives of patients in india by using them as guinea pigs

often without consent. setting the pace for the first man in space it's fifty years since saw the space program saw the pair of dogs become the first living things to survive an orbital flight. also its russia's first seaport and one of the country's diamond centers artie's close a team this is the multifaceted northern city of the congo is. no return to the glory days for walsh's economy. growth for cobol in the business in twenty minutes. this is r g going to live from moscow with marina joshie human rights groups are raising the alarm over india turning into

a global hotspot for drugs trials they claim international pharmaceutical companies are experimenting on patients in some cases without consent we also say many of those who signed up don't understand the risks and side gloomy statistics showing drug trial deaths in the country have been increasing over the last few years for the six for the first six months of this year in the nearly five hundred deaths were down to drug trials war than the combined total for two thousand and seven and two thousand and eight current seeing reports. any india government run hospitals provide low cost treatment to the poor but there are increasing claims that being made guinea pigs in drug trials for western pharma companies without their knowledge here at the. hospital in indoor the north has been taking pills for the last six months on the advice of his doctor he suspects he's being experimented

upon. to get to me i had a pain in my abdomen they did all sorts of tests and gave me all sorts of pills to have in the morning afternoon and night but i haven't got any. account that they can test any medication they like. allegations have surfaced in the media that the hospital conducts illegal drug trials on patients police are investigating the complaint the hospital official say any trials are being conducted in accordance with government guidelines india is fast becoming a global hot spot for testing new drugs with two million people estimated to be taking part in clinical trials without their consent cothurnus drug trials are increasing here because they cost just one sixth of what they do in the west the regulatory system here is comparatively corrupt inform the companies can easily register patients and begin trials in developed countries it would take six months to register for patients whereas in india in the same time they could conduct

trials on two thousand people. giving informed consent to be part of an experiment is the golden rule of all clinical trials but many patients here sign on the dotted line without understanding the nature and the consequences of what's being administered there. are three americans or treaty indians as guinea pigs the patients being used for trials are really through pool they don't even know details of the drug that it is a drug trial this is unethical to root. without proper consent without. taking part in a drugs trial it is both an ethical and a legal. patient sometimes sign up out of desperation to them experimental health is better than none at all but has agreed to let her child be treated with a new drug which she's been told will bring his fever down. the cheek ministry

happy with it. there are regulations in place to monitor drug trials including setting up takes committees and hospitals to ensure patient safety but these are often used by doctors to simply rubber stamp trials so. the ethics committee has the important responsibility of monitoring drug trials but it's a very out hook system that is misused for instance a medical institute in faraway mumbai gives permission for a drug trial in cities like indoor. poor how can you use permission from an ethical committee of another institute in another city to justify drug trials in an institute here with over one thousand three hundred drug trials currently being conducted in india this industry's already said to be worth one billion dollars it's clear that the laws against an ethical trials are not working and the government will have to come up with other ways to stop the country's poor from being enticed into medical experiments that could potentially have serious side

effects but unseeing r.t. india so i have for you this hour a trip to the diamond fields in the russian north. this site right here is one hundred meters deep and it produces about half a million carats worth of diamonds each year now this is just the beginning because they want to go deeper into the earth where the soil is richer and with a lot more of that precious stone many women called their best friend find out how the city of our handles come to russia's first shipyard turned into a diamond hotspot closeups. before that stopping terrorist and stemming the flow of drugs that's what was agreed upon and summit of central asian countries present to be mitigated host of the meeting in the russian city of sochi with the leaders of afghanistan to stand in pakistan former white house drug policy spokesman robert wiener things that us has failed in afghanistan mainly because wiping out drugs is not part of their

mission the us military regrettably has determined that a policy should be had of not. interdicting and not eradicating the drugs in afghanistan because it would destabilize afghanistan what a mistake of a policy and it's a policy mistake both by the military by general petraeus by ambassador holbrooke because it's the drugs that that fund al qaeda which is the reason that the united states went into afghanistan in the first place drugs are seventy percent as much as seventy percent of al qaeda is in the taliban's funding according to senior democratic senator charles schumer and if that's the case what are we doing making happy farmers in afghanistan or is our job to secure afghanistan stop the drug trafficking create alternative economies and then stop the killing that goes around

the world both by the terrorists and by the drugs themselves that have killed millions throughout asia and europe. america's only option in afghanistan is to withdraw all us troops as the crafts off a soviet afghan war veteran the full interviews coming up in just over twenty minutes time here's a preview. you should. you cannot depict the country as a den of terrorism or its people as terrorists by default this is not true there is a faction of people within the rebel movement that use terror methods some of these people do indeed have links to al qaeda in no way does this mean that any afghan or any armed afghan is a terrorist the us is facing a philosophical problem they spent nine years there by december two thousand and ten the length of their military presence will match that of the soviet contingent now over this period they have failed to understand the afghans outlook on life they do not understand afghanistan barack obama is now facing the gorbachev dilemma

of whether to withdraw u.s. forces if he pulls them out it will be bad if he doesn't it will go from bad to worse i'm deeply convinced that barack obama should do the same thing as me which i did with afghanistan there is no other way. police are still searching for the main suspect in tuesday's terror attack in russia's north caucasus they are hunting for the person who left a car packed with explosives outside a busy cafe in the city of pittsburgh thirty people were injured in the blast investigators also believe in a militant with links to al qaida may have mastermind of the bombing meanwhile authorities have stepped up security across moscow fearing more attacks police received two alerts on wednesday a bombs planted in a business center and they are an apartment block in the capital people were evacuated from the buildings but no explosives were found. they say every dog has

his day but for two dogs in the soviet union it was a day that launched them literally to international fame it's fifty years since belka and sound to orbit and returned safely a day later becoming the first living things to survive such a flight that paved the way for the first man in space eight months later i just looks back. but it. just. became the first ever human in our space first thing to return i don't know if the first space. before manned space yielded to man's best friend at least fifty seven dogs were sent into orbit by the soviet union arguably one of the most famous travelers were too much or whitey and little arrow fifty years ago after months of strenuous training they and

a bunch of mice rats flies plants and a rabbit boarded sputnik five all. the most important criteria was the dog's size there was only that much space aboard the spacecraft also dogs are much better at tolerating cold temperatures but it wasn't every dog that was acceptable their character their physical condition all that was taken into account. he worked with the soviet space program for decades he remembers bill as they really were under different names. the dogs got maimed assistance on the girl's name these two dogs and mark they liked the sound of those names but then our boss found out and he was not impressed he criticised us for giving these dogs foreign and politically incorrect names so we changed them and that's how they became famous. still his fame continued on the ground she had six pups one of which was presented by the then soviet leader nikita khrushchev to j.f.k.'s daughter caroline an

international room and believed to be two of her fluffy and another kennedy dog called charlie they in turn had puppies which the u.s. president jokingly referred to as pop nicks man's best friend became not only a link between two front of the cold war dogs are also the guarantee scientists needed to safely send a man follow. in their pop prints. nobody knew you see whether a living organism you could survive in space how a body would react to those conditions which is why bill constrain were the first giant leap for mankind you could see that belka was more agitated and that the dogs were at times uncomfortable but they made it safely home and scientists knew that it was man's turn to reach for the stars. during stamps calendars became the subject of tales and news reports fifty years after their flight their

trip fascinates young and old alike and the museum where they are displayed is proud to tell their story again and again gas units are about r t moscow. and we've got plenty more in space at our website r.t. dot com so log on for an out of this world by a russian cosmonaut plus. the first steps to the stars find out water to prepare for space wide and help take man to the moon. moving hell of a body man to what human appears in france as part of a series of tributes to twentieth century figures. now the white house is adamant the u.s. economy is recovering but the unemployment rate still near ten percent a major problems in the real estate sector some say the administration is spinning this

story that's according to gerald celente from the trends research center. what they're trying to do is to convince the public that if they'd only build their confidence and they would go out and spend more and that as businesses had more confidence they would hire more he is a constant in. why did they create they dumped in nearly eleven trillion dollars that was led. and guaranteed to stimulate the economy the job numbers are terrible weighed way below what they had forecast let's look at the two losing wars america is fighting what's the word they use we are making progress progress is the white house favorite word every time they are losing it's the same old story it when it's the war more men more money more time and whether it's the

economy more time more money it all recovering from an illness if you're not getting a healthy you you're only on drugs that are that are hiding the symptoms as the disease keeps your rotting away your body and that's all this stimulus has been it's been a money drug and financial analyst max kaiser is also far from positive about america's economy later today questions whether the u.s. is still a superpower and tells us what he thinks lies ahead for the country here's a quick look. there is debt on america's balance sheet that they're counting as an asset as their net worth america if the economy the discrepancy comes when you say america is the world's superpower in the world's wealthiest countries because they include on the balance sheet the debt but that debt is no longer serviceable and once you write that debt off which is bernanke is only choice at this point then you go from being in the forest for all to being in the fifth sixth

or seventh world forget being in the second or third world america is going down to the bottom of the heap but if that happens to empires. now let's take a look at some other stories from around the world in the last u.s. combat troops have left iraq nearly two weeks ahead of schedule the planned withdrawal deadline had been set at august twenty thirty first over fifty thousand troops are to remain in the country through two thousand and eleven to advise iraqi forces and protect u.s. interests. in pakistan many of those in need of vital supplies following the devastating flood say aid isn't reaching down international donors have pledged millions of dollars more to help the country following criticism from relieve groups said the response to the disaster has been too slow floodwaters are still at their peak levels in some places hampering aid work pakistani officials say sixty

thousand troops have been tasked with helping the effort. out we continue exploring russia's varied regions in our closeups yuri's and it's an in-depth and personal view on the everyday life of local people and the history of the country. and today we are in the northwest of russia in their hunger region once the country's only seaforth recognizes the capital of northern russia has everything from ship building to diamonds we sent test our cilia to explore all the appealing sides of this region. we're now with the north of russia and the on how girls ration a region which has a coastline on three arctic seas now because of its location it was extremely important in the seventeenth century as russia's first and only seaport as well as its first sea route to the west now this region became extremely wealthy because of

that city trade and monasteries were very much involved in the business in trading salt and wood and it was also here that the first arctic expeditions were outfitted as seen off who ever once it was found at sea trade was made from here to st petersburg at a loss its importance now today of honda's may no longer hold the titles it once did but it is still home to the glorious history as well as thriving traits in shipbuilding and lumber as well as a budding diamond industry take a look thanks to its waterways on handles is known as the gateway to the arctic but this wasn't always the case in the one nine hundred twenty s. it was called the national hard currency shops as its rich timber and paper pulp industries yielded the lion's share of the treasury's hard currency earnings it's a controversial part of its past these industries flourished thanks to tens of thousands of prison inmates forced to work it did north during stalin's time but on hunger else did make

a more positive and lasting mark in history when peter the great founder of russia's first shipyard here and it became the motherland of the country's fleet our crew visited a ship repair plant in the region which has also recently started making vessels the facility was set up in the one nine hundred fifty s. especially for repairing and retooling soviet ships and submarines in the ninety's away over the suv it government radically cut the number of defense contracts and the plant's output foam they had no choice but to diversify and went into diamond cutting. where you are a dime including was one of the alternatives you have the idea of cutting rough diamonds in the direct the city of the diamond field looked attractive. that diamond field is the lemont to solve mine named after the local scientists and pull with me. back in the seventeenth century he said that there were diamonds in the region but the gems weren't found until much later this period open did nine

hundred eighty two and the first diamond was extracted just five years ago not an easy task in a water rich region the field is located smack in the middle of the marshland amid rivers and springs engineers had to build an eight kilometer long canal to divert the water flow. i don't know of any other diamond fields where the extraction conditions are so complicated. their work is like looking for needles in a haystack in every truckload of rocks only two or three diamonds can be found but they're no ordinary diamonds. deposits produced transparent barely colored gemstones here we find them intensely colored diamonds green yellow even pink and blue. this side right here is one hundred metres deep and it produces about half a million carats worth of diamonds each year now this is just the beginning because they want to go deeper into the earth where the soil is richer and where the

a lot more of that precious stone many women called their best friend. but before anyone get even see a single sparkle a long process has to be gone through and what you get are real gems jewelers as well as women from all over the world called it. today is still an important industrial and commercial region here in russia and if you do see foreigners in the city more often than not they're here on business there are a number of foreign companies based in and to tell us more about doing business with the region we're joined by gary d'arcy thank you very much for joining us now could you briefly tell us what how do you evaluate the economy of. our companies in the light coating. sector for the oil and gas market are companies excited about the future developments and they are congos creatures and we greatly look forward to working with our russian partners what do you see her as a competitive advantage are going goals is strategically placed for the arctic

circle the ports of the know you're around supplies easily accessible and it's quick to get the oil and gas fields the infrastructure and the manpower to be very good for our specific markets currently we are starting to employ and we found the skill sets to be very good ok thank you very much now i'll come a long way from being just a seaport and it will continue to reshape itself as more industries develop in this region. just are silly reporting their brains is up to date and in just a few moments daniel will be here with the business days hungry for the full story we've got it for. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers.

welcome to business many think the good times are but for the economy as the downturn looks to be ending but the new report says russia won't returns a pretty crosses growth rates the author of that report alexander morals of chief economist of h.s.b.c. bank c.e.o.'s told us why. first of all there already is science that this happened in industrial production data shows it was clearly yes that is publication of the investment picks investment data are also going to invent direction but for a more fundamental factors that would not allow the russian economy to grow as fast as before i want to elicit showed that in the past of a key drivers russian economic growth was

a very but one interest and strong rise in the commodity prices. is number one and secondly it was the us dollar inflow of pepitone into the russian economy through the russian companies borrowing also for foreign investors investment russian assets equities bones etc now looking forward we have all prospects of a slow global economic growth we should not rely on capital inflows it will be happening of course about so not the will extend ahead of the past as far as commodity prices is concerned also volatile is not as benign as before probably if you see some oil prices rise a for all prices will not be as high as before very for so the fundamental factors which are used to drive hike in i'm a girl from the possible model will get many more than the grow should come from the mastic sources the mastic sources are rising to get it set up but here we also have problems because compared to experts dr us actually drove fast recover after the crisis of domestic demand drivers are not as strong for it will be

realistic to expect growth will be exhilarated will still be growth victims will be growing doubts will growth will be according to our wisdom is between two and four percent for the next few years it's only in the long looked on one so russia hopefully successfully addresses structural problems institutional problems and to improve its competitiveness invents we should see growth for exhiliration two of four percent. let's take a check on the stock markets europe is continuing yesterday's slide towards number two cement make up whole theme is down almost four percent on the swiss exchange of the second quarter net fell twelve percent this is us and emerging markets business is growing but europe is dragging. over some half a percent higher energy stocks gazprom and blue collar driving those gains as the price of light sweet slipped over seventy five dollars

a barrel. now russia's worst drought in fifty years could force the country to become a grain imports last year russia was the third largest exporter in the world but it may now have to boil up to five million tonnes by the end of twenty eleven it seems the current harvest will be even worse than expected so i think government figures the analysis groups says the grain crop will be down at least a third of last year and will not exceed sixty two million tonnes this is at the low end of official forecast well below russia's domestic consumption of seventy five million tonnes. big economies of the us germany france and the u.k. are a greater risk of a credit rating downgrade than they were previously but still comfortably in the aaa bracket that's according to a new report by the world's biggest ratings agency moody's the company stresses that all the countries occurring on sustainable deficits and that time is running out to impose a solution the agency also points to the world has changed since the crisis in

europe earlier this year countries could no longer assume there will be credit worthy without having to provide proof spain's rating is on another review for a possible downgrade of the first being warned back in june. that's the latest and foremost there is a website that. lito

some team has been to the kaluga missions when the car industry is rapidly developing. now all argee goes to the area where the first russian fleet was born. where the indigenous people in the first arctic sees navigators and where russia's glorious history is still visible. welcome to the free. russia close up on our cheek. extracting black gold and dangerous. worldwide demand pushes the limits to catastrophe. is the price too moderate. is it possible to prevent such disasters. and can the aftermath be dealt with quickly am

defectively. oil spills and thrills on r.t. . on the phone.