>> you're the first one on the scene. suicides, homicides, the roof is crushing into somebody's chest. >> what is the number one cause of death for police officers? >> suicide. >> breaking his silence. >> we have to know what happened and to react in the appropriate way. >> russian president vladimir putin makes is first public comments on his country's worst-ever plane disaster as new evidence comes to light. caged hostages. opponents of the syrian regime uses members of bashar al-assad's alawite sect as human

shields, to protect against barrel bombs. hb to thhappy birthday to te station. the international space station celebrates 15 years living and working in orbit. and say what? new report says the pentagon wasted $43 million on the world's most expensive gas station in afghanistan and u.s. officials can't explain why. good evening, i'm antonio mora. we begin tonight with the mystery of this weekend's plane crash in egypt. crash investigators say the russian jet liner broke up in flight but they don't know why. i.s.i.l. claimed responsibility for the crash, which killed 224 people. but its affiliate on the sinai

peninsula has provided no evidence. russian and egyptian officials strongly deny the allegation. tonight reports say american infrared slight images detected a heat flash over the area where the crash took place but no indication of a missile. the russian airline has blamed what it called external factors for the crash but transportation officials in both egypt and russia say that conclusion is premature. the answers may be found inside the flight's voice and data recorders were which were found intact. peter sharp reports from st. petersburg, russia. >> in the early hours of the morning, the plane with remains of the passengers touched down. all 225 on board died. almost all were russian hold holiday makers. the morgue is now tasked with identifying the loved ones. at the crash site in egypt

aviation experts have been searching for clues to the cause of the disaster. an armed group linked to i.s.i.l. claimed it shot down the airbus a-321 in response to russian air strikes in syria, claims quickly dean announced by the russian and egyptian governments. now the russian airline believes the plane was brought down by an external impact ruling out technical faults or pilot error. >> there are no such faults like engine failure or system failure.there are no combinations that could lead to a plane breaking up in the air. the only possible explanation for a breakup of an impact in the air could be an impact, mechanical or physical impact. >> reporter: the kremlin said nothing could be ruled out in connection to the crash and there was this from president

putin. >> translator: i would again like to express my condolences to the family and relatives of the victims. certainly we are with you in heart and soul. i want to thank st. petersburg for its response which the whole country sees and its word of sympathy and empathy. >> outside st. petersburg, an expanding memorial to the dead. sharm el sheikh is a popular vacation spot for russians. >> it's sad, people children who are on the flight. it's heartbreaking, i have a child myself and i fly very often. >> russian federal investigators have opened a criminal case into the incident. on the weekend russian police reportedly raided the airline's moscow offices seizing documents and hard drives. russia has a poor aviation safety record with many incidents blamed on aging aircraft but the plane was in

good shape. it is hoped that the data recorders will reveal more information. it is clear something catastrophic happened to the russian flight at high altitude. it is going to take a lot of time to get an answer as to exactly what went wrong. perhaps another couple of months. peter sharp, al jazeera, st. petersburg. while we don't know why the russian passenger jet crashed, it is no doubt, the area has become a haven for unrest. al jazeera'al jazeera's patricis more. >> the debris of russia's deadliest civilian air disaster. since the egyptian revolution, government has battled rebel groups in sinai.

after democratically elected president mohammed morsi was ousted in a military coupe. i.s.i.l. affiliated sinai province has claimed responsibility for attacks on politicians and official figures. it claimed responsibilities for an attack on a russian naval vessel. and expected of gunning down a conservative candidate outside his home in alariche. and back to back assaults that prompted the government to extend a year long state of emergency in northern sinai. home to two of egypt's biggest money spinners the suez canal and the popular resort town of slarm esharm el sheikh, cluck ae

bedoin population. but some argue the government's aggressive response including mass home demolitions and forced evictions to shut down smuggle tunnels will back fire. patricia sabga, al jazeera. >> we are joined by harleen gambier. always good to see you. let's start with the security situation on the sinai peninsula. since the sinai province group forformally allied itself with i.s.i.l. it has increased its attacks. >> both the number of attacks and capability in those attacks. we've seen more car bombs from the group and more phased campaigns in degrading and weakening the egyptian security

forces. >> so how strong is this i.s.i.l. affiliate? estimates steam vary although some of the estimates coming out of the affiliate as you have mentioned because some of their operations have been successful against group seems to indicate it is getting a lot of foreign fighters to join. >> well, sinai is one of the most capable affiliates outside syria. the group has been able to actually take power of a large city for 12 hours this summer. they have likely received aid and support from i.s.i.s. group in syria. >> there are including americans but fairly small in number. egypt is limited by the camp david accords to only have the personnel for security but more troops to fight terrorism. all that said, is enough being

done? >> not really, and i think problem here is egypt's version of counterterrorism options seem to make the problem worse. they are rather heavy handed which allows the groups to recruit and expand displp the question is whether the sinai province group had the ability to shoot down a plane at cruising altitude. the general consensus is that it doesn't have anything comparable to what was used in ukraine to shoot down the malaysia air flight. >> some ground to air capability but really this would be much out of the previous capability we've seen from the group. it is obviously too early for any kind of conclusive result but the evidence does point to mechanical failure. >> it does have some surface to air capability. apparently it shot down an egyptian helicopter of course at a much lower altitude.

i've heard claims that some could shoot down at 15,000 feet. that has to have concern. if that group could shoot down a plane from a tourist group from sharm el sheikh. >> or from the multiobserver base in the sinai where american troops and other international forces are based. so it certainly a concern. >> right and the possibility is that a bomb could have also brought down the plane. it has quon afte gone after tou. if it could be a bomb, we don't know that, but could it be an indirect attack on the government because tourism has represented ore 10% of the economy. >> the fact that it's very explicitly being against russia

for its actions in syria and i think what we are seeing right now is i.s.i.s. is really gearing up across the region and across iraq and syria as an enemy to iraq and syria. >> thank you for joining us. >> thank you. tonight, russian defense ministry says its jets have taken out an underground bunker and antiaircraft weapons. since taking control of the area in may, i.s.i.l. has destroyed a temp, arch and other historic sites in palmyra. reconstructed cast l that datess back to the 13th century. placing people in cages around duma a message to president bashar al-assad that

they plan to use these people as human shields. duma has repeatedly been bombed by the assad government. they could also then kill innocent supporters of the regime. al jazeera's zeina khodr has more from beirut. >> reporter: this is how the rebels plan to fight back against syrian military air raids. they decided to put their prisoners in cages and scatter them in residential areas as a way to pressure the government to stop bombin bombing dhumea. . the prisoners are family members of alawite officers. >> these are family members of alawite sect, high ranking regime officers in cages in towns in eastern d guda so they

can taste our misery, so they can be targeted by russian air strikes as our children and our women are. >> friday's attacks was one of the worst yet. the medical charity doctors without borders says that 75 were killed and 550 were wounded in what it described as a extremely hard bombing. residents were targeted, in august more than 100 people were killed in duma. the opposition's largest stronghold under siege. and a few days ago a makeshift clinic was also hit. >> translator: two bombs hit the makeshift clinic. it was the direct hit and the patients and staff were killed. we used to treat about 5,000 patients omonth. >> the fighting has intensified

in and effort to find a political solution. the u.n. envoy stefan de mastura visited, at the same time, there are efforts by some members of the u.n. security council to enforce a resolution to stop bombs by syrian government forces. britain'britain's ambassador to. said it kills and terrorizes, and causes the flood of refugees from syria. but russia paid clear it will oppose any sort of resolution. zeina khodr, al jazeera, beirut. >> brokering a path to peace after four and a half years of civil war. astefan de mastura said rebel

groups and government should be at the negotiating table. asked the u.n. to reopen dialogue among the various groups fighting in the civil war. >> we have been discussing the aspects of the vienna talks because one side nor the opposition was present. i think it's very important that everyone syrians should be involved, that's my duty and i'm doing it. >> reporter: word leaders want to clear a path to a new syrian constitution and u.n. supervised elections. while the u.n. pushes for the end to violence, a rift comes between iran and saudi arabia. right now tehran says it's about ready to walk away. since saudi arabia is presenting

a negative role. both accuse the other of interfering with the peace process. iran is taking one step closer to implementing the agreement. some conservatives in iran's parliament says centrifuges are being dismantled too quickly. they have asked president hassan rouhani. >> possibly located the shipwreck of el faro. >> and i'm rob reynolds, the international space station has been in commission for 15 years.

what's the future for this giant laboratory in space? space? >> tough that the country gave up on me. >> look at the trauma... every day is torture. >> this is our home. >> nobody should have to live like this. >> we made a promise to these heroes... this is one promise americans need to keep.

>> a big milestone for the international space station today, it has been continue usuallcontinuouslyin operation .

rob reynolds has more. >> to keep the international space station in working order in the harsh environment of outer space. mission commander scott kelly recently completed seven months on the space station, a record for an american astronaut. >> as things age, over time we'll have more maintenance requirements. good news is we have a lot of spairs ospares on board. plans for changing those things and keeping this space station flying a long time into the future. >> as a floating space laboratory the i smpless has sen thousands of experiments in

micro-gravity. the iss is a joint project of the u.s., russia, japan and the european union. funding for the effort while stable is not growing and political friction between the u.s. and russia over ukraine briefly caused russia to suggest u.s. astronauts would not be allowed to fly on its rockets. currently, the only way to get tto the iss. russia says it will continue to participate for now. but some space scientists suggest money spent on the iss might be better dedicated to a voyage to mars. >> the future of the iss is pretty certain over the next decade but once you get beyond 2024 then it becomes very uncertain. at some point one would have to transition resources to really focus on going beyond low earth orbit to orbiting mars with humans or whatever the next step is here.

>> perhaps the biggest accomplishment the space station has made is to provide a wealth of knowledge about how the human body holds up during long stints in space. knowledge that will be essential for a some tri successful trip s and beyond. rob reynolds, al jazeera, pasadena, california. >> lee roy have good to see you again. i know you spent six months on the space station more than a decade ago. did you think then that it would keep expanding and turn 15 and still be going strong? >> oh absolutely. the space station was slated for final completion of assembly in 2011 which we met. and so it's no surprise to me that it's continuing to go. and it's very important to keep it going because in order to get to mars we need to solve the biggest technical problems which are biomedical. so we need the station to prove the countermeasures, develop and test the countermeasures that we

are going to use to keep the astronauts healthy on such a mission. >> it is the blueprint for are space exploration, without it travel to mars is not possible? >> we could send a crew the mars but a lot of the biomedical questions would notte not be kn. there are issues we only discovers when we started flying iss. that vision impairment problem, we had not seen that before in the shuttle program. what's going to happen to people as we travel farther and deeper into space for longer periods of time. >> looking at the 15 years what do you see as its greatest success? >> the greatest success beyond question beyond the technical parts the fact that we have built this international framework where we have brought former cold war or world warren

miss together, and by far the most vast program ever anticipated. it has gone far smoother than we ever anticipatory. the premier microgravity space laboratory and couldn't be more successful. >> let's talk about that. what are its greatest scientific achievements? i know that technology developed from filtration devices to ultrasounds and robotic arms. all that has been adapted for use on earth. but how many things have been. >> -- did to enable us to send crews to lower earth orbit and one day to particulars. we have made strives in developing countermeasures. and what's interesting is a lot of that research is translatable back to earth. we learned that vaccines can be

developed much more quickly, mutate much more quickly and become virulent. and we can develop vaccines more quickly. we've done that on station experiments, one example we are doing. >> do you think we're getting a good return on the investment? because the money the u.s. has poured into the station is believed to be surpassing the $100 billion mark. are taxpayers getting their money's worth? >> absolutely. you can't blame it on the technology drivers or technologies that occurred, which is the pharmaceuticals that we have talked about. we are exploring, this is just in our nature and for the united states to invest that money you could argue that it might be better spent here on earth but i would counter-argue that we are already spending on social programs. the amount we are spending on

the space program is a drop in the bucket. we are spending one half of 1% on space explorks. >> which can be very inspiring to people, which is something people always bring up deservedly so. quick final question, lee roe what are the station's biggest challenges moving forward? >> as we mentioned earlier in the program, the u.s. congress and the white house and it is vitally important i think for us to take the next steps in space to keep the is is the going. we have to develop these questions, test pit to develop our hardware that we're going to send to mars to make sure it's going to work before we sent it there. >> lee rios chow, good to hear from you on this great facility in space. coming up. a deadly storm is bearing down

on yemen tonight after killing three people off the coast. and a record number of refugees arrived in europe last month, more than all of 2015. 2015.

>> welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm antonio mora. coming up in this half hour of international news how does the pentagon funded station in afghanistan end up costing $43 million? but first a look at the stories making headlines across the u.s. in our american minute. >> president obama passed a new bipartisan budget today, funding defense budgets for two years and extending the debt limit to march of 2017. allowing the u.s. to borrow money until then. volkswagen's emissions scandal could be bigger than thought. also installed cheating software

on 2013 six cylinders, porsche cayenne and audi. the company denies that. transcanada says it wants more time the work through a state review process in nebraska where the pipeline will end. plunging oil prices have made the pipeline less economically viable. a new round of air strikes in yemen by the saudi led coalition has apparently claimed the lives of 20 houthi fighters. al jazeera's paul tairgd is no s the story. >> considered to be the heart of elm fighters loyal to abd rabbu

mansour hadi have kept the coalition for months. resistant fighters to force he loibl to ali abdullah saleh. street by street battles in ta'izz. thousands of yemenis killed since the civil war began eight years ago. capital is still under the control of houthi rebels. liberating ta'izz would allow government forces to advance on the capital. united nations security council has appealed to the government, leaders are willing to talk if rebels backed by the houthis will stop. paul tradergian, al jazeera. >> more than a thousand families had to move inland and into the

mountains for safety. it is being called one of the most powerful storms yemen has seen in decades and gains strength over the arabian sea. kevin corriveau joins us and this area almost never sees cyclones. >> that's right. statistics since 1891, there has been only three land-falling storms in yemen and oman. it's extremely rare for them to see a storm like this. right now category 1 equivalent to the hurricane if it is in the atlantic. it is still a very strong storm for this part of the world. these areas do not handle it they are not prepared and have never seen these storms in their history. they are pretty much limited what they can do for elevations as well as support. over the last 24 hours the well

defined eye that we did see is starting to break apart. pick up dry air and that is pretty much capping any more growth of the storm. what we are going to be seeing is some very, very heavy rains associated with the storm over the next 24 to 36 hours. this is what we're looking at. right now we're about three to four hours from this storm making landfall but what we are going to be seeing is between 10 and 14 inches of rain across the area. a very dry, aired area. the area down towards the port is controlled by al qaeda. they don't expect any relief getting in there any time soon. >> that's been really catastrophic. kevin thank you. searchers feel certain they have found the wreck of el faro.

sonar shows the ship uprighted on the floor of the ocean. 28 american and 5 polish crew members. their families are suing the ship's owners. >> there were numerous opportunities for ship to turn around and pull the ship back. they neglected to do that. the ship was also unsea worthy and that was known to the company as well. >> the ship they say is going to stay where it is. more violence today between israelis and palestinians. israeli troops shot and killed a palestinian man they say tried to stab a soldier in the west bank in israel. separately israeli ares are

forcing charges that they attacked journalists. stefanie dekker reports from jerusalem. >> it's tense just outside of the west bank. one of the photographers filming what's happening. >> at that moment the commander came, he threatened to spray us with pepper spray. then we moved back and he began spraying us. i said to the commander what are you doing to the journalists, you are attacking us. >> the police issued this statement no response to our request for comment. during violent confrontations and while the foorses are handling aan attack scene, forces risked their lives when they fail to move back to a

secure safety. montres says he is credited by the press office. >> any journalist who feels he is treated different is given explanation at the end. >> israeli security forces smashing ocamera belonging to the reporter from the afp service. the company commander was dismissed. back in munter's office he's afraid because he will keep work in the field. i'm afraid he will be here been when he fientsdz out that i targeted the campaign, i don't know how the journal is expected

to be are happening in this case. >> calls on all member states to do their utmost to prevent violence, to ensure come by attitude and to bring the perpetrator to justice. stefanie dekker, al jazeera, west jerusalem. large protest block a main border crossing. officials used life bullets to carry out the protestors. 20 people were injured. officials say the vast majority of them were police. one officer was almost burned to debt. they attacked the tv station, throwing petrol bombs, intoib ss

shresta reports for al jazeera. >> this area is now under curfew. situation became tense this morning after the police wrote a no man's land between nepal and indian. for a month now i've been blocking the supplies both cool and gas have been in short supply. local authorities here to the us the home ministry gave direct orders to remove protesters this morning. at least one person has died and many more have been injured. people in this area have been protesting for the past 83 days and they are having a complete closure of the area. they have been protesting

against the newest constitution which they say doesn't represent them, they are looking for representation in the new government. representatives of local parties here and from what they understand they have been going on on a positive note. situation has been quite fluid around here. just behind us is the building of neebl telized they have put block ates around the area and create fires. we have understood that the pirnl who has died is from india. worsening of security situation. the staple urge to find a

political solution. it seems that the will get wor worse. intoinsubina shrestha, al jazee, yemen. according to a report by john sabco, the executive director for afghanistan reconstruction, the project should have cost less than $500,000. the report says one of the most troubling aspects but was unable to give a reason as to why the project cost $42.5 million more than it should have. the statement was to show the ability of natural gas. tomorrow night, waste in afghanistan how taxpayer money

is being spent. a record high of 218,000 people arriving the whole o arr. >> refugees will receive temporary asylum for three years. there is no set plan for what might happen. the journey from syria is often they died prying to reach the island. mohammed jams will have more. >> still the aid workers keep looking. on plebz, the sea might be commoner but nerves are on the rental. when the refugees make it to shore the sense of relief is

eclipsed only by growing outrage. >> i cannot imagine. i'm ashamed that i'm from europe, from holland, from this european union, union? it's not the union. for me it's not union at all. >> mary k is one of many here committed to helping. >> i saw babies dying, i saw elderly people almost dying. i cannot imagine that you can live with yourself when you -- when this is your responsibilities. >> the refugees while extremely grateful for help, know life won't get much easier any time soon. but for many, choosing to stay in their home land play have been an even riskier option. >> translator: if the choice is between dying in the sea said ahmed or dying in iraq, i take sea. he tells me his wife and four

children had no choice. in iraq it is the children who are sacrificed. he says. ministers don't die, presidents don't die, it's the children and the families who die. here the kids are a priority. trying to make their fear recede if only just for a few minutes. over 200,000 refugees arrived in europe by sea in october alone. that's roughly the same amount as arrived in all of 2014. aid workers here believe that huge increase in numbers is because refugees are trying to make this journey before their window of opportunity closes for good. many worry the winter will soon keep them from crossing, while many others fear that europe will prevent them from crossing. still more needs to be done.

>> we issued a call to the european union to frontex to both sides of the strait, get more ships out there and save more people because this is going to get out of control. >> on the beach emotions continue to ebb and flow. there's generosity all around but hardly any of it is state-sponsored. it is volunteers driving these efforts. as frustrated as they are resolute. they look for any way to help. mohammed jamjoom, are al jazeera, greece. >> recep tayyip erdogan is back on top. in snap elections his akp party gained control of parliament. erdogan is calling on the international community to respect his victory despite criticism that he suppressed opposition. >> a triumph for democracy or

fear mongering. the views on the street remain divided. turkey has spent the past five months without oproper government. added to the political instability and the increase in bomb attacks and the slowing down of the economy not to mention a polarized society. >> translator: this result is not good for turkey's future because this akp speart will not protect democracy. >> translator: the people have decided god willing this will be good for us. >> reporter: sunday's vote was framed by many media outlets as yet another referendum on recep tayyip erdogan. people fail to understand turkey's politics. >> president erdogan is a strong political figure. he has provided leadership for this country for the past 13 years but most of his opponents have failed to read his leadership in a proper way.

especially when you look at international media reporting and political commentary, they always try oreduce the entire turkish politics to just one man. >> erdogan and the akp party had hoped to change the political system to a presidential one. despite sunday's election victory and the election mandate it appears that those plans are on hold. >> what is planned is to revitalize the economy, deal with regional issues such as the war in syria, security issues in iraq, the pkk terrorism, we have to deal with those matters immediately. >> just a few hours after jubilant celebration, i celebrae business as usual. jamal al shael, al jazeera,

ankara. >> tokyo and seoul confront japan's use of sex slaves from south korea during are world war ii. and with the fog in europe. >> and chipotle has locked its doors in the pacific northwest after customers come down with e coli. >> tough that the country gave up on me. >> look at the trauma... every day is torture. >> this is our home. >> nobody should have to live like this. >> we made a promise to these heroes... this is one promise americans need to keep.

>> air travel across western europe was severely disrupted by a second consecutive day of dense fog. london was hit hardest, heathrow airport causing problems from the weather-ing conscious british. the vatican arrested two people as part of an investigation into leaked documents. they are a current member of the clergy and a woman who served on a financial reform commission set up by pope francis. officials say the woman was released after questioning. the vatican is calling the leaks a grave betrayal of the pope's trust. two books are set to be released this week, alleging corruption and mismanagement in the

vatican. several issued related to world war ii. comfort women who are forced to work in japan's military bro brothels. harry fawcett reports from seoul. >> the handshake and smiles hardly brimehardly brimmed with. soutsouth korea's park geun-hyed prime minister abe, first j.p.'s prime minister to address the past, the enslavement of thousands of south korean women, and compensate the dwindling number of elderly survivors of comfort women. perhaps the bare minimum. >> in order to build a forward-looking relationship we

should not leave obstacles for the future generations over the comfort women issue. >> south korean officials have been pressing for sincere conversation from abe, his policy of loosening restrictions on present day ministry were earlier restrictions, that impasse has been broken. for tokyo and seoul to move beyond their differences. the u.s. defense secretary ash carter welcomed the move talk about the trilateral relationship with its two essential regional allies. but there's still plenty of repair work needed. president park pointedly didn't offer j.p.'s prime minister lunch before taking off. he took them to a japanese

restaurants. now to our global view segment with a look at how news outlets across the world are reacting to various events. >> the australian writes, continue fronting islamic state is a strategic priority. decisions to send forces to syria is a wise one. it says nothing is more important than destroying i.s.i.l. britain's the guardian writes the result of the landslide turkish election will result in landslide into authoritarianism. there will be nothing to stop them. and japan's shinbun writes the dialogue between japan, south korea and china must continue. the paper writes that the summit talks which will now be hemmed every year are key to the stability of east asia.

>> the okovango delta is one of africa's most treasured, world heritage sites. al jazeera'al jazeera's fadima r reports. >> the biodiverse marsh land in the world. gained international status as a world heritage site last year. the whole listing of the delta has been a wonderful opportunity to preserve and protect the delta and the communities that live in it. it gives us a huge opportunity to boost our tourism. it gives us a huge opportunity to showcase the delta. >> but to showcase the mining.

>> there is a lot of interest to do mining in the delta. as a result of that you'll find there are a lot of companies explore for minerals. >> the government says existing prospecting licenses will not be renewed. >> as long as i'm in the government that's not an option. secondly it means that that jewel in our country will always remain a jewel. and it will always be something that is sustainable for the communities that live in and around it. >> reporter: still communities here find it difficult to make a living with subsistence hunting banned they rely on the tourist trade and mining. >> nature has conflicts. there are a lot of communities life stock farmers want to push into the delta. and the wildlife tourism, there

is a lot of cows in here, all these are thrust toll delta. >> ironically a massive attraction for tourists could be harm to the dale. botswana's elephant population is twice the size it should be, creating a management lake. environmental experts say the effects of climate change are also being seen, with water levels lower than normal creating yet another challenge in a delicate balancing act. famida miller, al jazeera, okovongo delta, botswana. >> government released 72 children whose files found to be in order. 14 are heading to the u.s. congo halted all the operations in 2014 because of corruption in the system. there are still about a thousand children waiting to leave the country and join their adoptive

families. that's it for the news hour on al jazeera america, the news continues, thanks.

>> good evening, i'm antonio mora, this is al jazeera america. new questions about what caused a crash of a russian airliner in egypt on assert. the navy has found the wreckage. giving formal federal conflicts a chance of finding work after