Acrid smog caused by smoke from wildfires around Moscow has returned to some parts of the Russian capital even though firefighters have scored successes in containing the blazes. Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry says its teams have cut the area covered by fires around Moscow by more than a quarter over the past 24 hours, but 14 forest and peat bog fires are still burning east and southeast of the city. Early Tuesday, large sections of the capital were again cloaked by smog that filled the city for a week earlier this month, the Associated Press reported. The ministry said the amount of land on fire nationwide has been halved since Monday. The unprecedented heat wave has sparked thousands of wildfires, most of them in western Russia. Officials said the heat and smog has doubled the rate of deaths recorded in Moscow.
