the key reason for all this of course is the record breaking heat we had in central russia along the volga river which caused forest fires in quite a significant scale those fires could have been prevented to a certain extent but only to an extent through timely fire alerts under such climatic conditions the key goal is to extinguish fires within one hour from them starting for at least on the same day. because if the fire is not contained in six hours squall winds occur that make the situation critical the fire becomes either a running crown fire or a high acreage ground fire with winds of up to twenty to twenty five meters per second even thirty meters per second in some regions forest fires turn into fire storms and no fire service in the world has been able to deal with things like that so far the situation now on the contrary to the second part of your question about fires is far better now than at the same time last year and the previous years perhaps this is due to the fact all of these are mobilized and alert in the wake of

the great events of late july and august speaking of lessons we can learn from all this we sure are reviewing many postulates and dogmas we used to have before we are considering changes upon the president's orders to russia's forest legislation how exactly did that forest legislation prevent the authorities from fighting fires. well to begin with this function has been delegated to the level of municipalities federal entities and forest department along with fire safety and fire control in forests federal entities were supposed to handle all that work tenders and choose businesses and organizations to protect forests from fires but unfortunately that work was not done well enough in some regions authorities gave contracts to businesses that had neither the equipment nor the staff nor the experience to prevent forest fires around there so what. can you say that your ministry didn't everything it could to fight the forest fires or easter something here. displeased

with national yes. i think we on our part used as much effort and equipment as possible i can say thank god that through all those years against all odds we kept developing new equipment new aircraft and firefighting systems that helped us a great deal in putting out the forest fires it is perhaps the first time that the entire system of the federal firefighting service has been fully engaged in combat in forest fires our zone of responsibility was in residential areas we usually work in towns and villages but this time we had to quickly learn previously unfamiliar ways to talk of high acreage fires especially crown fires i've previously i'm familiar. that's what i began with it's not our function it's the function of the federal forestry agency but when the first fires broke out wasn't present informed that wasn't he told that perhaps your ministry should be involved in fighting the fires. when the situation became critical the president signed a decree that declared a state of emergency that means all federal forces and the ministry of emergency

first of all are engaged this is why it took us just two days to establish a task force of nearly one hundred sixty thousand people and almost twenty six thousand units of equipment we also created a large aerial task force with up to fifty aircraft operating simultaneously after all on the third or the fourth day we had begun putting out more fires than there were new ones up to four hundred or five hundred new fires would break out every day and in addition to fighting new fires we have to keep fighting the existing ones so i think the fact that we managed to save some four thousand six hundred residential areas with a total population of more than half a million is a great achievement for our firefighters volunteers local residents and the military who are also someone to help all the people who stood up against the elements in this emergency of course we analyze all our work we exchange experience and advice with our western colleagues i would like everyone to realize that such disasters are not nation specific catastrophe is no no borders customs nationalities or religion. this is perhaps the most important lesson we should

learn from this situation or should we should learn to consolidate our efforts to join forces to give a helping hand to each other and to do our job efficiently but lobsang the power with so few right more and more disasters touch not only one country or region but sometimes whole continents is there any close warning system how often do you want your foreign counterparts interact with each other more lead to. last for far as here in russia we didn't ask for any help but we didn't reject it when it was offered we are grateful to our foreign colleagues who came from one thousand countries to provide help and support it is essential and i point out that once again that a disaster knows no borders or nationalities are top priority safety and human lives this is the key to us and we got from the situation is not a. very nice server most disasters in russia tend to occur in summer what are the emergency services have to be ready for and winters are warm. in winter we prepare

for the spring we have lots of work in winter as well as the country is very big and a huge part of russia is in quake prone areas we have several thousand ice river crossings in winter there are places where thousands of trucks cross rivers carrying loads of supplies for the north and remote areas of siberia however the key job we do is to handle serious accidents in the energy sector in heating and generally in sustainment systems is critical situations occur speaking of a work in general there's much effort underway now to help kyrgyzstan and we're also providing help to afghanistan and to our helicopters and the miners now work in serbia our helicopters are there to help fight forest fires in fact of the last decade we have worked in greece serbia montenegro macedonia italy portugal and many other countries in serbia for example we are demining the grounds for the future south stream gas pipeline it's a big job we're clearing the fields of shells bombs and mines from world war two and the one thousand nine hundred ninety eight zero bombardments of serbia whether it's in the. the truth if we look at it in more global terms there is an impression

that natural disasters have become more frequent in russia and elsewhere around the world wildfires are followed by floods and floods are followed by a tsunami what she was prepared for this is just going to get worse and worse. as you may know the number of natural disasters has indeed increased over the past twenty years and this increases significant it's not just my outside impression indeed this is research carried out by analysts the number of natural disasters is not just up by turkey or fifty percent it's several times more than that everybody knows that here i'd like to warn you against two things first there's always a great desire to use the situation for political purposes this should be avoided the environmental serious politicized so much in russia that it's impossible to see when it's true or when the truth is exploited for political purposes so where citrus do you think that global warming really exists is really in agreement you know the climate has changed we can see that just think snow has become common in

places where we've never seen it before we see that the permafrost zone keeps melting further we can see the plants that used to bloom once a year are now blossoming two or even three times soon it's going to be more than six months that we've been working on the northern sea route previously the coast ice used to recede for a period from seventy to ninety days today the northern sea route is free from ice for one hundred two hundred fifty days and ships can sail freely in clearwater is this also tells us something firstly i think that the country's leadership and our president have made the correct and well wait a decision to carry out a serious detailed analysis and secondly our president called for the creation of a global response system to man made an emergency disasters after the gulf of mexico oil disaster and after critical situations in pakistan and in russia french president nicolas sarkozy made similar proposals and that's something we've been talking about for over ten years that there is a need for a european emergency response system that would use europe's most advanced.

technologies boston has done the i mean pretty good and what you would be doing a noun phrase ample last year or so a number of man made disasters is it all because of the infrastructure built in soviet days that is worn out to our way to expect more manmade disasters. of course we're working on that too i wouldn't so ambiguously claim that we inherited all the equipment from soviet days and that it's all obsolete and is about to start falling apart piece by piece naturally things become old and need to be modernized but we're doing a lot if we're speaking about manmade accidents our country has adopted a major program for the development of power engineering it provides for the creation of new energy generating capacity and renovating the old ones created in the former u.s.s.r. this is a big and serious project which we're implementing is a large atomic energy program is underway it's designed to replace soviet nuclear power units the period between two thousand and two and two thousand and three was quite difficult and dangerous a doc time equipment that was already beyond repair was reaching the end of its

service life and we have to closely watch all these processes but we're moving forward the countries developing and getting modernized russian legislation is being upgraded a new state of the art technologies are being introduced and safety technologies should develop either simultaneously with the new technologies or even slightly ahead of them to maintain safety and transport and in industries safety matters should be a priority there's all the rest comes after that but when we noted as you've mentioned it all spill in the gulf of mexico it grew up the global headlines rochelle so extracts huge amounts of oil not only on the surface but also on the sea shelf do we have a system in place at the moment to deal with such accidents. you know we've been closely watching developments in the gulf of mexico naturally our oil extracting companies have also been watching of course they can learn from such an experience and try to apply it here as for our oil workers i would say that these questions are not the last for them. because they actively learn from foreign experience no

wonder that they win contests and biddings for oil extraction no wonder they win contests and biddings for oil extraction the construction of refineries and other facilities necessary for the production of oil and gas that's why i think that this experience is certainly tragic on the one hand but absolutely unique on the other hand i hope that such accidents will never be repeated and if they are then we can be ready for them because it is kind of waiting to opinion polls you've been the most popular minister for the past few years why do you think that. i don't think it's right when an emergency minister is the most popular minister in the country to me is that i believe that artists writers culture and foreign ministers should be the most popular figures whereas in emergencies minister should largely stay unemployed thank you for this interview.

nineteen thirty eight england and france tried to reason with hitler's germany demand such a land and gets its way they are something in trade and a safety net for themselves nineteen thirty nine the whole of europe isn't in war efforts to establish a system of collective security nine hundred thirty eight failed and it's still on the agenda. the lessons to be learned from the munich agreement on our. wealthy british style. markets why not. come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mixed culture for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report on our t.v. .

if. russia would be soo much brighter than if you knew about sun move from phones to impression it's. nice for instance on t.v. dot com.

afghanistan's opium harvest falls by about how but the value soars drugs are going up in the hands of prisoners and even police officers you would report says the decline in supplies due to a disease affecting the country's poppy fields. pakistan hits back at nato and shuts down a major supply route and what's being seen as retaliation for the deaths of soldiers by u.s. helicopters on cross border raids the alliance denies the claims and has started that investigation. and lots of talk but no one listening smaller nations addressing the close of the un general assembly met by media indifference at an empty auditorium the majority of journalists left along with those sort of the most important speakers if you like criticism of the media's role in helping developing countries. all those stories and much more coming your way in less than fifteen

minutes but first let's go to sports just work hard to joins us i understand it's been a busy night first sports catch your breath and then tell us the latest high that yes it has a busy night in european football is the dying minutes of by as much as hearing russia plus control the sea in cycling and just hours to go before the start of the ryder cup all that's coming up now. hello and thank you for joining me for the sports news and here are the headlines european battles taste got a flying the flag for russia in thursday night's you're right the lead times. while shock results another drug scandal rocked cycling a three time to go to france champion alberto contador test positive. due to federer and chest display of only because of a between the leg shot sets in the semifinal with the later dementia in tokyo. but

we start with football and twenty four year a plea group stage match is complete this week of european action on thursday when petersburg and moscow both in the final minutes of their respective home ties here in russia russian premier league is in this hour looking for their second win and are taking them out consistent petersburg school with just stoppage time to go for two to the home side and a goal packed first off tamasha open fizz in it after just a minute and you know made it to nil twelve minutes later they cost liberal plus pull the gold back for the visitors late in the half they had to christian the soon to be sent off the last of which made it three one just before the interval and the serbian added a fourth goal twelve minutes after the restart of the visitors have grabbed back a late penalty ali mosque otay scott face part of praga hume kerry now with both sides aiming to keep their one hundred percent records and the army men out two goals up to see saving them odds are this. moving to the champions league andrew

being managed to hold barcelona to a one one draw on a wednesday night and almost nothing and last minute winner both goals came in a spot christian above i gave revealing the lead up to thirty minutes after dani alves found the tiny collection but yet levelled after an hour out an interest in their stuff then later obafemi martins he's head of toss his post so one one it finished leaving the russian side thirty group d. behind boss and surprising to see copenhagen going to know the person i called. elsewhere samuel eto hattrick saw into the land from third of raymond four nil and that victory puts the. finding champions on top of group a just behind them on goal difference on tottenham you claimed one time when the dutch side twenty eight roman pavlyuchenko scored two second half penalties for spurs you can drop off and about sent off after that it. also missed

a penalty belt struck home the fourth goal. for two the first two but it was a war. you know you couldn't give them so you got to. go into the floor in the second one you know care of pete of like you don't know of what we've got to play in penalty deferred the ball traveled a long way be over it was a soft penalty but you see him given so. there is nothing wrong with the vendor or its goal lever and that was a great goal and pair of bell at the end when the barometer main fantastic finish. the rangers and bounced united share the leading group c. rain just recorded a one male win against best us four while united to all three points the balance here to see a late break away goal from mexican having a hand on days united had executed their game plan according to manager sir alex ferguson. but i think that her concern recently has been the who is in

goals who have been very clear was defending today we had to ensure that we defended probably because it has been a concern and therefore we did so in the possession of the ball. voices but for positions on the french side who are eighteenth out of twenty in their domestically the top of the table they had a morale boosting three one victory at hap well tell of a shocker a second in that to no wind over benfica. meanwhile legendary footballer diego maradona has been in moscow to promote a child's concert charity and while he was here he also took the chance to say he wants his old job back as argentina coach he led argentina to the quarter finals of the world cup was then released as coach by the argentina football association after he refused to remove some of his backroom staff he was in the russian capital on wednesday to promote the rice a gold watch over institute where he was using his football skills to good effect

and took the opportunity to tell reporters why he wanted to coach is national side once more. you know i want to go back because i want revenge that's for sure but i'm very thankful to the players because we've reached a very good fifth place at the world cup we failed when germany crossed our way but no matter what we've done a great job at the world cup hopefully the great work will continue and even if i don't get to continue with the side i will remain the number one fan of the argentina national team. staying in moscow sports minister vitaly might call says more than six hundred fifty sports venues have received government financing since the start of the federal program four years ago the scheme is aimed at developing physical education and sport in the country along with nurturing homegrown talent though the minister adds these new stars will be too young to take part in the twenty fourteen winter olympics idea and their program will have a separate program preparing our national team for the sochi olympics it will be

financed separately and will be transparent but don't expect any miracles like canada did at their own game as we can only make use of those athletes that we have now at the moment there are two possible national team lineups for the olympics but in two years' time we'll see who's doing better and focus our efforts on them. you know ice hockey the merry go round continues at the top of the kontinental hockey league with dinamo moscow climbing to the summit after a come from behind win at home to atlanta the capital club mantra third period fight back chalk up their fifth straight win breathing down their neck is scarse and petersburg had better spartak moscow. also in the shoot following their finally beating of the chairs processed out and talk radio two one. moving on and cycling has been rocked by another drug scandal after three time tour de france champion alberto contador has tested positive for a banned stimulant and been suspended from the sport contango has admitted

a tiny amount of clenbuterol was found in his system after one of the stages of this year's tour de france where the spaniard went on to win the yellow jersey for a third time the stimulant use the flow of oxygen in the blood stream has now been suspended by the sport's governing body the u.c.i. was a contador says he's been the victim of food contamination with his two year ban it's something new to all this confirmed. he got it but i'm sorry but i have serious doubts about the system when i first found out about this and all this month i felt sad and powerless in the face of the injustice of which i am a victim i've always defended the controls tooth and nail always because i knew it was good for cycling and good for me. all the happy and i go family and country laura has pedalled his way to one precedented success at the road slighting world championships that are underway in australia the swiss once again left everyone else for dust in his fancy time trial sealing a record fourth title who's also the reigning olympic champion in the event was

just over a minute faster than britain's david millar while german tony martin clocked ten seconds for the back to complete the podium in melbourne however it wasn't the race but the shocking news about contador that dominated everybody's thoughts the cyclists backing their fellow rider. moments i think there's a lot of a lot of questions that need to be on said. i one hundred percent. fully benefits of the doubt because i mean you have to understand these things can be quite complicated and it's a shame that it is out there when it could be something completely innocent let's wait and see the gulf now and well number one tiger woods has been paired with steve stricker after america and europe's team captains announce their lineups for the thirty eight ryder cup and it's for the first time since nine hundred ninety nine that woods is not in the opening match he instructor will go against england in poulter and ross fisher in the third of four matches while phil mickelson and

dustin johnson lead off america's title defense at the celtic manor resort they will face europe's best player lee westwood and its latest major chandran martin kaymer northern irish rory mcilroy and graeme mcdowell will play stewart cink and not to show harrington and luke donald are up against us rookies about what's and and jeff overton in the final group. tennis now and elaine adventure has another chance to go up against french open champion francesca schiavone as the russian booked a place in the pan specific open semifinals following a straight set win over compactor it varies on her over meanwhile schiavone was made to work much harder to secure her spot in the last four italian needed more than three hours to overcome inform k. i cannot be the stoner tight three setter i have though a spectacular between the legs shot didn't help although in this point she still claimed seven five or six seven five when so except for schiavone has dementia the

last time the two met was in paris to match her retired in just the same thank you very much in time to capture a maiden prime time title. and in the meantime top seed caroline wozniacki provided a shoulder to cry on for her friend. paul was forced to withdraw at five love down in the first set due to an injury to her left foot all day involves netsky inches closer to ousting serina williams from the top spot in the world rankings. but staying away next is victoria as a rank of from deloris after she at last american qualifier coco vander vega six two six one and if as netsky holds on to win in tokyo and reaches the last eight in beijing next week will be the new world where you are. in the men's game world number one rafael nadal was at his overwhelming best in his first map since completing a career grand slam with the u.s. open title a fortnight ago the spaniard steamrollered belgian qualifier ruben elements in the

second round of the thailand open the darwin it six one six four to pick up victory number sixty so far this season. and that's all the sport for this bill isn't an. hungry for the full story we've got it first hand the biggest issues get the human voice face to face with the news makers on our t.v. .

in some petersburg she's available in hotels a story and. to kowtow to troops on the soto her true school toto. into. the sea of this. business.

the poppy crop disease cuts afghanistan's opium harvest by the volume soaring party explores how the drugs are ending up in the hands of critters and even police officers. nato pakistan hits back at nato and shuts down a major supply route and what's being seen as retaliation for the killing of its soldiers by u.s. helicopters on cross border raids. and lots of talk but no one listening smaller nations addressing the close of the un general assembly are met by media indifference at an empty auditorium.

eleven pm in moscow good to be with you here on r t our top story a un panel says the price of afghan opium has shot up three fold this year as a consequence of a poppy eating virus that slashed the size of the harvest by half but demand for the drugs remained as strong as ever a survey on. so suggests the area of opium fields remains the same in fewer than ever are being destroyed the heroin producing harvest is the main source of income for taliban militants they retain a stronghold in the drug rich southern provinces of afghanistan despite a massive nato effort and the drug issue is affecting the fight against crime and corruption because as artie's policy reports many afghan police are among the addicts. he needs to put people behind bars for doing drugs now he's been put there himself as a full mommy commander denies the charges he insists he never swayed from the right side of the rule book at the we saw it.