Forest fire in Russia kills 20

At least 20 people have died due to a wildfire in southern Russia that destroyed an entire people, government spokesmen said. Continue reading the printed article

Among the dead were three firefighters.

The fire has spread rapidly in recent days over 90,000 hectares (20,000 acres), after high temperatures and drought affected Russia for weeks. The fields and forests have dried up and many crops have been lost.

July was the hottest month in Russia according to the records of the last 130 years. On Thursday, the temperature in Moscow reached 37.8 degrees Celsius, setting a new record.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Friday visited the ruins of the village of Verkhnyaya Verey, where 341 houses were consumed by flames and two residents died. The town was one of three that were destroyed around the city of Nizhny Novgorod, fifth largest Russian city, located 475 km (300 miles) to the east of Moscow.

"Before the winter every house will be rebuilt," Putin told a group of anxious survivors, mostly women. "I promise that the town will be rebuilt."

A crying woman thanked him for his words and the promise of compensation of 200,000 rubles ($ 6,500) to each of the residents. Putin gave a kiss on the cheek.

Putin on Friday urged local government officials to increase their emergency work to stop fires.

"The situation in these areas has deteriorated," Putin said on television Thursday. "We need to take urgent steps."

He also said government representatives who were unable to stop the fires in their localities, should resign. The authorities "thoroughly investigate every official," said Putin.

Fires in Voronezh, Nizhny Novgorod and other regions of Russia have destroyed more than 1,000 houses and left 2,000 homeless, according to the country's Emergencies Ministry.

18 dead and thousands homeless in Russia by forest fires

MOSCOW - Eighteen people were killed and thousands have lost their homes in the wildfires that have ravaged several districts in the west-central Russia, concerned over several weeks by an unprecedented heat wave, officials said Friday.

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev ordered Friday to mobilize the army to fight the flames, his spokesman said Natalia Timakova, quoted by Russian news agencies.

"The president has ordered the Defense Ministry to mobilize all necessary forces and capabilities to help extinguish the flames," she said.

The body of a fireman, whose death had been announced before, and the bodies of six people were found Friday in the town of Mojovoie, near Moscow, which was destroyed by fire yesterday, said a ministry official Situations Emergency quoted by Russian news agencies.

Fifteen houses were destroyed in that population, also said Yulia Jukov spokesman research committee of the local prosecutor, quoted by the Interfax news agency.

Five people, including a firefighter, died on Thursday in the Voronezh region (center), where 21 people were hospitalized, the ministry of emergency situations.

For his part, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin traveled to the village of Verjniaia Vereia in Nizhny Novgorod region (center), whose 340 houses were burned in just 20 minutes. Two people died. Putin met with the victims and promised that the town will be rebuilt before the winter arrives later this year. Putin also promised compensation of 200,000 rubles ($ 6,614) to each of the inhabitants, according to news agency ITAR-TASS.

In the same region, east of Moscow "two people died, 1,479 were evacuated and 550 houses burned," said local prosecutors in a statement.

Three hospitals and several holiday camps were evacuated on emergency Voronezh, a city where the flames were visible from residential buildings, according to Russian television images. "I was in my house, I was choking, the houses were burning, you could not see anything," said Valentina Britova, a retired television channel Rossia. Another resident, Elena Vituchkina, told how the evacuation was "the bus was surrounded by flames, like a movie."

In the Moscow region and Ryazan (200 kilometers southeast of the capital) Forest fires also broke out. In Ryazan, three people died in fires, Oleg Kovalev said the governor was quoted by the Interfax agency. The authorities declared a state of emergency Riazan after it burned 110 buildings in the last 24 hours.

"We had a house, a barn, everything was burned Where will we go? Where are we going to get money to buy a home?" He questioned a young resident of Riazam, according to the Rossia television images.

The situation worsened since Thursday because of the wind, which has increased the speed of propagation of the flames.

The western part of Russia suffers from a month ago an unprecedented heat wave, with temperatures approaching 40 degrees celsius.

- Written By Geetha -

A woman and a girl killed in an attack on a candidate for election in Kandahar

Kabul, July 30 - A woman and a child were killed in southern Afghan city of Kandahar victims of a bomb allegedly directed against a candidate in the upcoming parliamentary elections in Afghanistan, according to various sources.

The bomb was placed on a motorcycle outside the house of an electoral candidate and exploded when he left his home, said in a statement ISAF International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

The candidate in question, Hamidzai Lali, was unhurt, but the explosion killed a woman and a girl and wounded another small, informed both the ISAF and the Afghan Ministry of Interior.

The deputy director of the Police in the province of Kandahar, Sardar Mohammed Sherzad, said the agency but that the AIP Afghan bomb killed a girl and injured two civilians.

No group has claimed responsibility so far of what happened, but the Taliban have frequently resorted to such attacks and continue fighting to overthrow the Afghan government and achieve the expulsion of foreign troops in the country.

Afghanistan is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections next fall.

- Written By John son -

Two mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip in the Negev impact

MADRID - Two mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip have struck Friday in Israeli territory in the Negev, causing no injury or materials, reports the Israeli press. Continue reading in freight

This incident occurred at noon, hours after a Palestinian rocket Katyusha reach a residential area in the Israeli town of Ashkelon, which experienced some damage in an apartment building and several cars were parked.

"No doubt this is the most serious since the operation 'Cast Lead' launched by the Israeli army against the Gaza Strip in late 2008, said the mayor of Ashkelon, Benny Vaknin, the Israeli public radio reference to the incident in Ashkelon. The city is located just eight miles from the Gaza Strip and has 125,000 inhabitants.

Although after the operation 'Cast Lead' has remained releases, most of them have been directed at smaller towns near the border. Last week, four Qassam rockets and two mortar shells hit Israel, but caused no damage of any kind and that hit open areas in the western Negev.

Israel usually responds to such incidents with attacks on tunnels and Hamas outposts.

The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that "Israel is very serious about the launch from Ashkelon," a statement from his office.

No armed group has claimed responsibility for the attack. The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which controls the Gaza Strip, has said he is trying to stop rocket fire from Israel, but several smaller groups continue with these attacks.

A military stated that it believes that Hamas is responsible for launching the rocket. "Hamas still wants to maintain the status quo in Gaza," he said. "I do not want to deal with conflict", he said, quoted by Israeli daily 'Yedioth'.

- Written By Rekhilesh -