BALA API DI RUSIA...?

Medvedev sacks officials over fires

The fires have claimed the lives of at least 48 people as the country's worst heatwave continues [AFP] Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, has sacked several officers over failures to stop wildfires that have killed at least 48 people, as a new blaze raged close to a secret nuclear research facility. With the week-long crisis showing no sign of abating amid Russia's worst heatwave in decades, the emergencies ministry said hundreds of new fires had started over the past day and more bodies were found. In an announcement on Wednesday, Medvedev criticised the head of the Russian Navy Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky and his deputy Alexander Tatarinov over "incomplete professional responsibility" in tackling a fire last week. Medvedev cut short his traditional summer break in the southern resort of Sochi and returned to Moscow to chair an emergency meeting of the national security council on the fire disaster. Sumber: AlJazeera.Net, 5/8/2010