to see it says this mug shot is exploded it is just a simple nine hundred day siege that cost hundreds of thousands of civilian lives was. for those people the tram became a symbolic time machine. during the journey they remembered the nine hundred days the committee broke them but made that friendship stronger.

new details emerge after russian pilots say that everyone on board a rebel passenger jet by landing at a short airstrip in the remote would lead. the pilots increasingly being called heroes for their conduct find out why just a minute. job to pose for comfort a u.s.

soldier faces condemnation for planting grenades in the cars of the rockies for a while. and britain a special envoy to afghanistan steps down amid speculation he was driven out because of his continued criticism of the military campaign. what i am in moscow i match reza good to have you with us here on r t our top story prosecutors are investigating the crash landing of a crippled russian airliner in the northwest of the country all eighty one people aboard had had a miraculous escape when the plane overshot an abandoned airstrip on tuesday and slammed into trees artie's tom barton has the details. mirek elice that's what experts and passengers a calling the crash landing of this plane in the russian taiga without anyone

injured the most evil person will any ever in a street and ended up in the woods the majesty crews arrived to find to worry everything was announced very fast this time the sleeping was not for the professionalism of the crew we would not be standing here. the tupolev one five four was flying at ten thousand meters on its way to moscow from russia's far east when there was a massive electrical failure the plane lost all automatic navigation and communication its fuel supply and wing flaps were crippled meaning i had to land quickly and at higher than normal speeds even the lights in the cabin and cockpit went out by sight alone the pilots found an abandoned their strip in the depths of the forest a managed to land on the third attempt but the look never brought of course it's not being used for what it was intended because it's a helicopter airdrome on the ground was too hard and without any runway markings but you have to be a monster to land the plane like this what is most important is the insurance and

ability and professionalism of the whole crew if the whole crew listens to their pilot and he really acts with responsibility for the whole plane this is the main thing this means it's a professional career the proof is that no one was injured on board the plane the runway was too small for the plane and it overshot plowing through two hundred meters of trees before stopping but despite the danger all eighty one people on board were evacuated to safety. investigators now pondering what cool such a massive electrical failure providing that to police for fifty four is not quite the brand new aircraft and i'm sure that that craft was manufactured probably at least twenty years ago by you with more. i believe there is a chance that they we planned it was just war. in which owns the plane says it wasn't aware of any issues with. investigation committees working out the site to find out what really happened before the flight the plane was functioning normally

it is going to go on plans technical maintenance and preflight checks after seventy two passengers every two people a married couple fused to continue their journey by plane they went by train there was no real panic when the plane landed there was slight nervousness because it will emerge c sly's and everyone was anxious to leave the plane as soon as possible but the stewards did everything well and the evacuation was done in the normal manner you put it to the pilots to help investigators to examine the scene before following the passengers back to the capital in a few days but whatever the technical courses it already calls for them to receive medals for bravery and skill with the passengers now back in moscow everyone's awaiting the return of the two pilots and when they do come back it will be to a hero's welcome tom boston oxy moscow. a former u.s. sergeant who served in iraq secretly planted grenades in the cars of iraqis at checkpoints for a prank he filmed himself and the reaction of the drivers as

a joke and posted it all on you tube but as artie's policy reports most iraqis see nothing funny about life in a conflict zone but manning a checkpoint all day must get boring which is perhaps why sergeant dunson and his partner but they pass the time and playing jokes on unsuspecting tribe as in the future posting done so describes how they planted a grenade in an iraqi man's calm a few seconds of confusion all is explained and the perplexed but very would leave the driver is sent on his way. but we have to you know because there are our it was just one of those things where you know it happened. on a guy like that on but for most iraqis this is not fun and life here is very far from being a joke. i think it's only for them to laugh for us it's not funny but very scary. you know we're used to part of them so experiences research is happening every day

but if someone did this to me i would be so scared. as would most people in a country where a checkpoint often the difference between life and death it's not uncommon to have your car taped at least a dozen times a day if you're found that you need to wear what you will see to see a great many you'll be arrested on the up and hard to terrorism. and some american military personnel are not seeing the funny side of sergeant dunces antics i would not tolerate that in my organization. i don't think that's conducive to gaining. you know into the partnership with with the federal police or certainly in trusting their confidence in us or the people for that matter and trusting the. trusting in the federal police talk to fight him out but that army has never been pranked himself but claims to have witnessed american soldiers displaying even more

alarming behavior. and i personally know of many cases where soldiers would take offense and for example hey it's an iraqi citizen just for fun there were cases where people died from this. we had about one hundred fifty thousand american soldiers here and although some were professional there were many who were not. but i want to a local t.v. stations you know picked up on the idea. that it takes well known local celebrities to iraqi. points and plays pranks on them in much the same way as dunson and. i would use an. says it's a way to lighten the situation. and. we're not making fun of the iraqi forces who are very brave and fight and we want to resent them and we can defend weak on them we also want to resent gave them this is something people can love about even if. there's mixed reaction to the iraqi show but still iraqis making fun of iraqis is

very different according to most people to americans. and with people still being killed in iraq if we date it was a constant reminder that terrorism is no laughing matter. back to. staying with iraq at least six people have been killed thirty five wounded in separate attacks in baghdad on wednesday a civilian and three policemen were killed when twin car bombs exploded in the south of the city two people were killed in a simultaneous double blast near a bus station in eastern baghdad on tuesday a gunman wearing an iraqi army uniform shot dead two u.s. soldiers. coming up later a battle on the sea. we tried to move just still being refined by. law enforcement tries to stop poachers that are pushing the sturgeon towards extinction and the hunt for black gold. but first the u.s.

is keen to promote relations with russia to benefit the rest of the world hillary clinton made the comments during a speech to the council on foreign relations in washington the secretary of state says it's vital that past differences are finally set aside. with russia when we took office it was amid cooling to cold relations and a return to cold war suspicion now this may have invigorated spy novelist's and armchair strategists but anyone serious about solving global problems such as nuclear proliferation knew that without russia and the united states working together little would be achieved so we refocused the relationship. we offered a relationship based on not only mutual respect but also mutual responsibility and in the course of the last eighteen months we have a historic new arms reduction treaty which the senate will take up next week. cooperation with china in the u.n.

security council on tough new sanctions against both iran and north korea a transit agreement to support our efforts in afghanistan a new bilateral presidential commission and civil society exchange that are forging closer people to people ties and of course as we were reminded this past summer the spy novel is still have plenty to write about so it's kind of a win win. russia and the u.s. have been resetting their relations for well over a year but there is still a rift between the two countries on some issues political analyst clifford could china says even when presidents make friends it's only the tip of the reset ice burg. but while presidents obama and medvedev. get along very well and i think they're genuinely friends. it's a very different a long hard process to make the bureaucracies trust each other so you get direction from the top and then still nothing happens once you go further and further down there's really no constituency in the united states that strongly supports us

russian relations we need business to business relationship to grow substantially before the new relationship will have a really solid foundation. and you can catch the full interview with clifford cup shot in just over ten minutes here on r.t. . more than four hundred homes have gone up in flames in a village in southern siberia as wildfires continue their trail of destruction across russia locals have been taken to safety authorities say seventy firefighters are battling to keep the flames from reaching another nearby village blazes across the country this summer have claimed more than sixty lives russia's president medvedev has blamed the negligence of local authorities and that if it happens again those responsible will lose their jobs. to do which. is the current rules and level of we're going to lose the management's good enough current little xiv responsibility to the region but it doesn't allow for that

responsibility to be withdrawn he does to fight. if it happens that we should lead to the instant fiery movement of the government but in these woods. you can find more information on this and all the others we see other stories we carry on our website r t v dot com along with videos blogs and more here's a taste of what's online right now. anti immigrant sentiment still sweeping parts of the u.s. despite recent polls suggesting the in full of migrants house fallen by more than half in the past few years. and the birth of the north korean leader is shrouded in mystery but evidence suggests kim jong il may actually have been born in a small village in russia's far east for all this and a whole lot more but over to. the u.k. special envoy to afghanistan has been an outspoken critic of the military policy there has stepped down from his position but the move his fueled speculation that certain group or coles was forced out because of his views on the conflict or it is

following the story for us in london. he had clashed with u.s. and nato officials his line has always been that there is no military solution to the problems that we're seeing in afghanistan and the only way forward is to open some sort of dialogue a close knit relationship with the taliban and that the military solution just isn't viable he also. in june two thousand and ten he took an extended leave of absence from his post and already a couple of months ago it seems unlikely that he would return possibly a slightly less clear cut issue is whether he jumped or was pushed he was quite influential with david miliband who was the former foreign secretary before this new government came in four months ago but the moment the new government was appointed the new foreign secretary william hague put his position under review the

question certainly is did his skepticism about u.s. foreign policy in the region mean that he had to go and his job was to coordinate strategy with the u.s. and with other countries that had troops that have troops in the region which is obviously a diplomatic position and diplomacy doesn't seem to be something that he either had much of or didn't didn't want to use it in this case and there's certainly a suggestion that he got into so many disputes with so many different people that they rendered his position really untenable now the interesting thing is that the foreign office in the u.k. says that the position of special representative is no longer necessary and that bearing in mind that the u.k. will no longer now have a full time special representative dealing with afghan afghanistan and pakistan that's a region that the new government itself has identified as a key foreign policy priority so that is an interesting point. turning now to some other stories making headlines across the globe the investigation into the gulf of

mexico oil spill says the oil company was to blame along with a number of its subcontractors who report that took around five months to compile pointing to a chain of failures involving the various parties and the biggest environmental disaster to hit the u.s. and b.p. says it accepts all recommendations in the report and will implement them worldwide rig explosion in april left eleven workers are dead and led to a massive oil leak. in the u.s. a small church in florida says it will burn the koran despite international condemnation of the move the dove world outreach center plans to mark saturday's anniversary of the september eleventh attacks by burning copies of the islamic holy book it's meant to be a warning to all radical muslims but a top muslim cleric and prominent members of the obama administration have said it could do permanent damage to ties. hundreds of people took to the streets of los angeles to protest the police shooting of a guatemalan immigrant protestors hurled rocks and eggs at a local police station officers responded by firing rubber bullets more than twenty

demonstrate was arrested earlier about three hundred people blocked a nearby intersection as part of their protests. poachers hunting for black caviar pushing the sturgeon population towards extinction in russia's southern caspian sea while authorities have been battling to stop them it's only lead to the illegal fishermen taking guns along with their rods as our. reports. weekly rate and poaches interval get built. it can be a in each one of these journalists is worth fifteen thousand dollars which she won't sturgeon is finally legal but the bottom had simply driven the prices up making a little more lucrative poaches the place full to learn of every fifty joules of kind of consumer. kennel gets in the live shows the equipment he sees in just the los human. it's more of a chest. there are hundreds of foremen cruising speed which with. satellite

navigation and weapons we try to shoot them oh just to stop them they fire back and we can't get a hold of. the caspian sea produces the vast majority of the world's black caviar but the population of sturgeon and it was go by forty times in just two decades the local university is now simply trying to save the genetic songful before it's too late because when you see it without scientists and fish breeders the sturgeon would have become extinct to reading and would be seen only an aquarium this is a catastrophe. the government subsidizes breeding farms such as this one to try and avoid kolko extinction successful breeding is difficult to even care it takes stage and still day in their life and the start treaty for d.c. but at least i'm despite their offspring i'm not destined for the dinner table. yeah they release about one million fish everything go yeah but then as soon as

they start free most of them are legally fished again meaning that the population is not likely to recover for decades despite installing millions of dollars of new books but the managers say only better regulation can change the situation. but the problem isn't the people here on the ground the problem is corruption at a higher level a whole system has been constructed to make sure that those who break the law do not pay. meanwhile the colonel gets them beat goes on another rate he knows that the generals catch approaches awaits him and also that even if the rest of the day others will replace them to morrow he going to. be. an hour just hours away from our extensive live coverage of the global policy forum in the russian city of jaroslav all its attracted a vast political crowd from some thirty countries as as well. several heads of state the press attache for the russian president natalya to mco says everyone is looking forward to some wide ranging and productive dialogue. this

forum is taking place only for the second time but it has already attracted a lot of interest from our foreign partners and i want to political circles aside from the russian president italy's prime minister silvio berlusconi and south korea's president lee myung bak it will take place in the forum a large number of prominent flora's and russian political analysts will dissipate and work in different fields i'm sure will join also interesting conclusions during the forum president medvedev will meet his foreign colleagues and make an address but will also separately meet with russian and foreign political experts to discuss the problems and achievements during the year playing into those debates. when the new season. when it's something really crucial what you want to get down to. special coverage. just the latest.

special guest discussions on the you know modern state. security and stability of the present day world. question. and coming up russia and the u.s. have been steaming ahead in resetting relations but there is still plenty of work to do the two countries are hoping to see eye to eye on issues like globalization geopolitics and nuclear nonproliferation r.t. sat down with political analyst clifford cup chat to get his take on how well this new starts been going.

clifford cup generous search to erect a at the eurasia group and form a city official at the u.s. state department is here with us today thank you very much for joining us mr cupples surely opinion is divided it's on the so-called recess in the u.s. russia relations how would you assess it cheap mount so far is it really a fresh start i think it's a fresh start and i think so far it's worked the best examples or the new start treaty. better russian cooperation with the u.s. . iran on iran policy which is probably the obama administration's top priority we see w t o moving forward but slowly so there are modest achievements but it's a whole lot better than it was a year ago two years ago how different do you think president obama's foreign

policy is to that of george w. bush i think it's very different this president seeks to inform. our eyes and cooperate in countries he seeks to consult with them. president bush had in my view is that habit of telling us our allies and our strengths and you want to work live like russia lecturing lecturing at a time after the fact after a decision was taken so i think this president seeks to build consensus i fear that president bush took unilateral action in my view too often what's the biggest obstacle in the way of improving russian american relations are several off circles the first is that while president obama and mitt got to. get along very well and i think they're genuinely friends of the visiting it's a very different and a long hard process to make the bureaucracies trust each other so you get direction from the top and then still nothing happens once you go further and further down

and areas like arms control in areas like b.t.o. if the inspections don't work. if the trade agreements don't get written progress really doesn't go forward as want to call the second optical is that there's really no constituency in the united states yet that strongly supports us regulations we need business to business relationships to grow substantially before the new relationship will have a really solid foundation how can this big tackle to not have to find a workable solution tackled by the two sides frankly. american capital american investors. who support president medvedev actually six as in california as in silicon valley still don't trust the russian market so in my view steps like the international financial stance center the b.t.o. accession regulatory reform are very important i mean look there's a. phrase on wall street that capital is

a coward capitalist scared american capitalist over scared of russia until russia take steps to calm american capital you're not going to get the movement forward towards increasing trade flows towards building that core constituency and will the west ever become for civil with russia's ambitions to increase its influence in global economic and political a fast i think is going to be a fairly slow process there's still a trust gap. a trust a gap between russia and the west in russia and the us even now with president obama but russia is still not very popular on capitol hill in the u.s. congress there are broad segments of the american political system which still don't trust russia so that i think it will take years of russia maybe a decade being a reliable energy supplier to europe no more ukraine disruptions it will take. some years of russia working together on iran on the major nonproliferation problems i

think it is it an issue that can be overcome the that i think trust can be built but we're not there yet to be sure but iran's nuclear program is now by far the whole to stop it on the international news agenda iran's first nuclear power plant and will share went live in august do you think u.s. suspicions about iran's possible development for atomic weapons are justified in my view u.s. suspicions are justified there is a consensus in the u.s. european union and the international atomic energy agency that iran has been taking steps and probably currently is taking steps to develop a nuclear weapon. about but. what is frustrating is that the iranians you can clarify. what they're doing to the international agency and my own trip to iran and i asked many times and the answer you get is that there is a fatwa a religious law against it often declares

a knowledge of nuclear weapons in iran and that in my view is just nonsense because that is what they're doing so so u.s. concerns are justified this is a very important issue which one i think the russian government now completely understands and it's one we all have to deal with is iran really suffering iran's economy outright fresh package of sanctions was introduced well not yet but i think very important that this latest array of sanctions u.n. sanctions u.s. sanctions any use. run press and add that in there severity iranian banks have a great deal of trouble now doing good globally. both in europe and increasingly in asia japanese banks are pulling out of on. the arena in. oil industry which provides eighty percent of export revenues and fifty percent of ron's budget rather is on a downward trajectory how they can get away for two or three years four years five years but after that we're going to be very short of money so is there any economy

in very bad shape right now no is the reigning economy headed for very tough times yes how can the iranian nuclear issue be resolved the iranian issue can be resolved if both sides find newfound flexibility both sides need to find flexibility on the u.s. side to me it's very important the u.s. stop calling for your reign it is very important to me that the u.s. stop calling on the iranians to suspend enrichment of uranium iran will enrich or they will have a nuclear program where the u.s. needs to do is try to limit that program need to obtain rights to inspect that program and the u.s. needs iran to it's to explain exactly what it's doing on weaponization the iranians you do agree to a limit on the program they need to be to inspection and they need to explain what they're doing now that.