all took her suzon the menu of bread that emerged better than the german chancellor merkel remembered which the issue of the international community was not the famous pole but he was there invited president obama to me. know when didn't sign the u.s. war in afghanistan has now become washington's longest ever military campaign of lord supposing vietnam. lost from the polls the beginning

of cooperation between the us on the soviet union at the height of the cold war the apollo soyuz the space mission happened thirty five years ago. russians up for the worst drought in more than a decade and many farmers say despite government help they still face bankruptcy that and more in our business program and twenty minutes. of our warm welcome see this is the line from moscow i'm on this have good cooperation between russia and germany is on the high say president medvedev and chancellor angela merkel well song to the at the petersburg for today will we can now across. his ear get that invoke for us following events so daniel angela merkel

and to meet them a very of a pretty busy day did they say wants but it she this year is russia germany summit . where you really get the sense that the two have a strong relationship on a personal level when i was at that meeting a few weeks ago in germany. they stayed up chatting to the early hours of the morning this time angela merkel agreed to talk to dmitry medvedev influence russian before he invited her to a top local restaurant midriff revealed that they ate oct suppose there but promised it was not paul the octopus who correctly predicted germany's demise in the world cup they've signed several big deals here industrial giant siemens has pledged to join the silicon valley being built on the outskirts of more sco they will also upgrade and build new trains of course the road network key to russia's regions where of course some roads are actually nonexistent thirdly siemens will

also invest in wind turbines as russia tries to harness the world's push towards ecological technologies the two leaders said these good relations also extended to security and defense with food obviously a unifying force. receiving money and let me draw your attention to the fact that germany is number one on the list of russia's partners we have a long time relations which have not been spoiled even by difficult chapters in our history. when it comes to russia and germany's relations with other countries it's not like in school where you have just one friend we can have many friends germany and russia had their own problems in areas that are completely different to the transatlantic problems they believed to discuss issues and the room for dialogue doesn't exist to the same degree with president obama but the u.s. relationship is still very important germany has a very good relationship with the u.s. and obama possibly better than that of russia but president medvedev also values

their relationship with president obama i know that. well we have two options either the three of us going to need some how america is we'd rather treat our friend barack obama to some kind of european could say as i. think the burger will taste best for me than for the two of you. were forced to refer to the kidnap and murder of human rights activist natalya estemirova in chechnya which has caused international outrage he said they are making progress in the investigation. but you're also you're going to go at it at first of all i would like to say that the investigation into this case is in full swing second such cases are immediately resolved only when the perpetrator is caught redhanded. the killer estimate has

been identified. he has been put on a wanted list and finally the investigation will continue to hunt those who ordered this serious crime. central to what concerns at the moment is iran he upped the pressure saying tehran is continuing to move towards the construction of an atomic bomb which it is already very close to doing an even valid to work through the un security council the united nations told body in order to make iran stop. iran not. iran is an active and proven trade partner but it doesn't mean that we are indifferent towards the way the islamic republic is developing its nuclear facilities we are also concerned with some military components of its atomic program iran should find courage to begin fully cooperating with the international community to iran should do this even if it doesn't like some issues it's currently facing. ok well that was our

correspondent daniel bushell that we were just speaking to you there in your gut that emberg on the results of that russell german for all to discuss the me seeing between the rust and germany's a little bit more now i'm now joined by few of the young not that it's are in chief of the russia in global affairs website many of the company in speaking to us today so do you think that we can really say. russian and german relations are on the high at the moment they set and seem very friendly and medvedev over there in at the gym bag yes absolutely. friendly but it's more important to me almost every every month. they have a lot to discuss so i would say the most important think about russian joe relations is that we don't need to break troops because every meeting used to be assessed according to breakthrough. so in russian german relationship it's so

intense and so close that we don't need breakthroughs we do we need just discuss business see reacting some action rather than just words but the president charles did talk about russia germany and u.s. relations in a very friendly in a very relaxed way we saw the laughing the taking the topic of bug it seemed to come up quite a lot and they also talked about rival theories the european security do you think that we can see some sort of coordinated plan really moving forward on that front. i don't think we can expect a coordinated plan coordinated by russia and germany because germany is very very cautious which to i can understand because they need german activities you know there to look to this will be perceived quite quiet. she usually by by german neighbors in europe but in fact what is going on

european union. it is in this serious confusion future development and the model of integration is not. clear yet which are mortal saw germany is forced to take elite and it's not because germany wants but bad situation is this pushing germany to be the shit position and its very nature of that russia and germany are trying to discuss the whole range of issues not all the core there but also security and another security issue that came up particular questions afterwards was of course the if you have to ran i do think that russia and germany have a similar approach to that house it looks like russian position is the almost similar to digital similar to the european one and almost similar to the american one so present it if many times recently. russia is very much concerned about their own importance and we see that russia not only endorsed sanctions in the security

council but also is ready to continue to discuss peacefully russia again is not is not in favor of saying she. is a mean but it looks like we do for decided to sort of seek to try to prevent iran from getting nuclear. also there was. a questions raised about the shared history between russia and germany to do seem to be working together on. putting forward the joint the country shares would do you think a mouse it's a very good idea although i don't see any serious contradictions in our history interpretation between russia and germany russian german the ricoh souly in the second half of the twentieth century is an enormous. thing which happened and it's really unprecedented saw it's very good did their discussing. schoolbooks in

history but. frankly speaking there's much more need to do that with companies like paul do you agree and very briefly a lot of media's attention has been focused on the statement that president made that of names on the killing of an italian estimator the russian human rights activist what do you make of what he said. he didn't say anything new because there is a. position in the investigation believes that the killing was due to disclose the question is hard to hold to catch the suspect a murderer i think it's more a reaction to the question of the german journalist than been the real issue between russia and germany and what is the like hating european industry anglo america president obama and president medvedev getting together in time cede and and using a burger together and and putting the walls to rights. obama merkel and innovative

all three of them are very flexible person and it's important to discuss current wall to being it works ok all right many. thoughts together many thanks for coming in i think you. ok with l.t. good to have you with us coming up in just a few seconds on the program who has dollars and libyan it charted a ship bound for gaza arrives at an egyptian port off to israel to get away from the cage to territory. afghanistan is seeing escalating violence with the june being the bloodiest month for foreign troops since the start of the war so most of jonah keri highlighted the thought that the military campaign supposed to vietnam was the longest in u.s. history during a meeting of the foreign relations committee and this congress assesses the grim statistics popular war showing few signs of ending lower nesta report.

it's the comparison that cannot be avoided by press pundits and now politicians last month afghanistan surpassed the. place that both ambassador holbrooke and i are all too familiar with. as the longest military campaign in american history committee chairman senator john kerry brought up the failed u.s. war of decades ago at a crucial time in america's current one. conflict a moment when questions about strategy and progress abound at a hearing on governance and the u.s. civilian strategy in the region the man in charge of it all a vietnam veteran himself tries to make the lesson of that history the fundamental difference between those two wars since you mentioned it was the chairman and this war our national security interests are at stake with the safety of the u.s. at stake as richard holbrooke claims you might think congress would have crossed their t.'s and dotted their i's by now and fighting their longest battle as they're

supposed to be united states constitution requires that before the united states goes to war that there be an act of congress but just as in the vietnam war we've never followed their. with respect to the war in afghanistan we centrally drifted into a war in a long term commitment a long term commitment that appears to be wearing on lawmakers who want to know this wouldn't be helpful for the president to at least lay out a flexible time for when the u.s. is getting out beyond the july two thousand and eleven date to start withdrawal u.s. president obama set it's given no assurance that this should be an open ended occupation holbrooke emphasizes the u.s. is committed to no calendar very leery of setting a date certain made here for the salute withdrawal but still the end game is unclear civilian and military operations in afghanistan are

proceeding without a clear definition of success the ambassador is banking on the success of reintegrating the taliban starting next week but little about afghanistan appears to be in u.s. favor it's not where you choose to fight to defend the american homeland it's the most remote logistical place in ited states has ever fought ancestry just who can put an end to this fight and the absence of withdrawal dates if military and political missions fail the congress has the ability to stop the war by not funding it as u.s. lawmakers and officials talk strategy and tout successes in afghanistan this comes amid escalating violence in the region deal with the bloodiest month in the nine year conflict with one hundred international troops killed forty five have been killed so far in july with twelve of those deaths coming in the last day or so for r t m or lester washington d.c. . first five years ago the u.s.

took a giant leap for mankind the. joint space mission. they have at most only the beginning of an era of space cooperation between the two countries but also a warming in cold. were nations company out of a reflects on an historic all of us henri. it was a turning point the launch the keenly fought call the war space race into new heights two rockets blasting off half a world away from each other would bring the soviet union and the united states into the same orbit when so use nineteen and the apollo craft docked i should a whole new chapter in space exploration the first ever joint project between two better rivals it was a giant leap for the men on board two. he was the second pilot in a say you screwed. apollo it was one of the most significant moments in history of russia and the us before everything was secret all the details of our space

programs every detail was a pool of project we could finally pass the barrier. you believe he still remembers all the details of that flight from the technical to the happy banter between them and the american astronauts. who were showing the guys different cities and places in russia and when we were flying over the us brand was showing us florida i remember he said this is where all the pensioners go to live thirty five years on most of these men once again get the chance to meet and share memories of their historic link up with my brother. alex one of the series commander is in the united states for the big day or. the launch was during the height of the cold war so this project wasn't of just technical and scientific importance but was also a great step towards cooperation between russia and the u.s. there were no losers. there are plans for alex and his apollo counterpart thomas

stafford to meet president obama but not until the friends have had a chance to catch up with each other it was over and meaningful some ball to the people of the world when we opened the hatch. ceiling and showed to the world well in the way you look the space race said in a way the joint space project had a huge impact on both sides of the atlantic a time when rocket launches captured millions of imaginations worldwide media conceived was a teenager when you watched the suze reach into the sky and it vividly remembers every emotion it stirred yet the didn't i remember the day perfectly i was in the fourth grade and it was a huge celebration not just for the school but the entire city we got handed balloons flags and went to meet the cosmonauts we were quite little so of course we couldn't understand all the implications of this flight but we felt the excitement and then later on we were always say it again to watch the actual launch i remember

my dad he worked in the launch but he told me that this was the most important event of the century. thirty five years on and they say usable a project still fires people's feelings some are even banking on it both crews were clipped with special watches designed by omega now the company's released a limited edition anniversary timepiece an appetite for nostalgia doesn't end there the scenes apollo got became so popular that alongside the original memorabilia a special brand of cigarettes was created just to mark the occasion back in the day these were credibly popular and were almost impossible to find on the thirty fifth anniversary of the docking they are once again missing in the city's store's katherine as are the artsy moscow. lipin the ship carrying aid for gaza held to the depiction port of the on welfare we named to help for the voyage was trying

to bait the be a blockade of the palestinian on clay but was warned against the action by the israeli navy. a publicity stunt a provocation or as organizers claim and if it merely to get much needed supplies into gaza in place were all the ingredients for an international showdown a libyan ship sitting still for gaza its organizers vowing to break the israeli blockade and the memory of nine turkish citizens killed in a similar tim still fresh in everyone's mind but in the end the captain gave in to israel's order and without much fuss docked the ship in egypt for the israelis it's a victory they say the fact that the united states and european union convinced the ship to change its course legitimizes their position but activists disagree they say the libyan effort puts the story of gaza back in the headlines her must accuse israel of piracy and insists its refusal to allow aid ships to reach gaza is in breach of international law. the congress who traveled in still travel must

continue because we are now free salute battle to break the blockade imposed in this battle is related to the land of palestine and jerusalem and to the bucket of jerusalem as well but the jury's still out on whether the restrictions israel has in place are legal or not you can apply. a maritime blockade if there is a quote freaked. and according to various judges of the supreme court officer it is a conflict that we have with the hamas and you can apply to any sure which is either occupied or under the control of the other party last month is one announced it was easing its blockade on gaza but underground tunnels are still how most goods find their way inside among the goods smuggled in each month are hundreds of motorcycles many of them used by youngsters disparate for any kind of work which way i look at young people can get a job fuel is also very expensive because of the blockade which is why most people

don't use taxis or even their own cars like a young people to use these bikes to pick up all kinds of goods and deliver them to people's homes israel suffered unprecedented diplomatic fallout after nine turkish citizens were killed on board an age ship in may but the country still insists its position is legitimate but you too posting which has been viewed by nearly half a million people illustrates what most israelis believe world leaders often act as puppets for the arab world legitimization of terror. strike them but. somebody has to have a spark we don't upload these songs in order to laugh at those who have been killed and we're not all against the humanitarian aid going to gaza the state of israel agrees. but we are against the provocation we are against mercenaries coming here but organizers of the libyan ship insist their attempt was not a provocation either way the middle east breathed a sigh of relief that events ended so calmly. r.t.

ashdod. ok let's take a look at some other stories making headlines across the world this hour and the u.s. military has handed over control of its last remaining prison in iraq the country's all forty one male take charge of bells and of detainees it. in baghdad's airport however the american military will continue to hold key members of saddam hussein. former regime up until the u.s. withdraws its troops in december twenty eighth and. they keep pressure test is to be launched by b.p. in another attempt to stop the oil leak in the gulf of mexico the process will involve closing the cap so the pressure can build up testing at the well strength and integrity if successful it will be the first time that the flow has been stalled since that explosion destroyed the deepwater horizon rig nearly three months ago. under a new nuclear scientists who claims he was

a kitten out by the cia and kept in the u.s. from one year has arrived home in a round into round he told reporters he'd been suggested to the home that mental and physical torture washington says he traveled to america of his own new free will allegation came out a video should be all over me and he emerged where he claimed he was tortured by u.s. interrogators for information on iran's nuclear program. ok that's the way the news is this hour here on r.t. but don't go away although it is business news on the way now with heavy. day so what impact has this drought that we're seeing in russia at the moment having on the countries that are actually good news many farmers say they face bankruptcy and they expected grain you it has been reduced from ninety five to seventy five million dollars details coming to you in just a moment but first other stories the russian government will spend five and a half billion dollars on the skolkovo innovation center which is intended to become russia's version of silicon valley during the meeting with chancellor merkel

a look at the border president medvedev said he hoped the modernization process would be quick and was counting on support from german partners the countries have already agreed that german engineering giant siemens were joining. and creating new research center there it would have said he has encouraged by the strengthening of trade relations to spite the difficult economic conditions. so you know in january to may two thousand and ten to return i did between russia and germany grew by almost fifty percent of the economies are recovering the main traits it does it was recovering according to our data german investments russia's economy accounted for around twenty billion dollars that makes this very happy. and russian corporate news one of the country's largest metals companies and they'll make m.k. says it expects to post a profit of over two billion dollars for the second quarter of this year the company said the results will be impacted by the recent slight softening of steel

prices and l m k predicts that sales of the third quarter will be level but the second quarter of zero prices will show further declines. and yet ross another major russian metals company has announced a twenty six increase in steel production in the second quarter in comparison to the first quarter the rise in profit is more modest at around seven percent. and the precious metals sector russia's largest gold produce supporters goal says net income growth by two percent to seven million dollars in the first half of two thousand and ten the company said the headline figure was given a significant by the seat of dividends from its extract subsidiary. what do you say raises russian banking sector outlook to stable from negative by the end of the year the credit rating agency says the bank will set aside up to sixty five percent of their profits to cover bad loans in two thousand and ten that's much less than the previous year however expected growth in the number of over forcing

the banks to create additional reserves to cover them in march russia's finance minister looks equally and also advised banks not to slash provisions for bad loans to past. and looking at the markets now european markets are mixed on thursday london is losing a third of a percent while dax is trading flat barclay's and rio tinto are among the top losers on the policy down two point four and one point eight. percent respectively tyler is getting almost and. russian equity markets and moderately off the r.t.s. is over one percent higher that point nine percent all the blue chips are trading in the. banking stocks leaving as well bank up almost two percent. over that. russia is suffering its worst drought in more of a decade a state of emergency has been declared in sixteen regions the government has offered assistance to the agricultural sector but even with the extra help if allah

say they face bankruptcy. courts. and now the day with temperatures forty's not a cloud inside formers are starting the harvest to early to minimize further damage to the crops the expected green yard has been reduced from ninety five to seventy five million tonnes according to the group culture ministry but it's not only the poor outlook for the harvest that's pushing prices higher so we are seeing domestic prices rise the first reason is the drought and the growing concern of market participants about the harvest the second reason is a significant shift in the global market spawning futures prices over last month gain ten fifteen percent this is pushed russia's export prices up as well of the president being from one hundred sixty five to one hundred eighty three dollars per tonne that's an eighteen dollar hike in just a few weeks months but. the government is stepping up measures to help farmers as they suffer in the unusually dry weather its promise to extend loan subsidies help

with their insurance premiums and continue to provide help with transport costs. the president gave the correct instruction to extend credit farmers are unable to return money now and it would lead to massive bankruptcies in the sector the whole picture we will see later but the measure that is essential now is tackling railway tariffs so that we will be able to transfer grain from. siberian regions where the weather conditions have been better. despite these being the wars drought for a decade and fifteen major culture regions reporting severe damage to crops russia will still be self-reliant in green these here but the longer the whole dry weather because since the great to the risks faced by individual farmers without government help now many believe they will not be able to continue and russia's known as surplus green production could become a deficit you need me to do a business r.t. that's the latest from the business same here but you can always find all stars on

our website. with.