captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for sunday july 20... secretary of state kerry says there is an enormous amount of evidence the downed malaysian airliner with 298 people on board was brought down by a russian-made missile. a sharp escalation of fighting in gaza. 13 israeli soldiers and dozens of palestinians are killed. and in our signature segment, new incentive programs that get you to do what you want to do, but can't. >> so, for instance, if you're pro gun control and you don't succeed, we send your money to the nra and vice versa. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by:

corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support is provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios in lincoln center in new york, this is pbs newshour weekend. >> sreenivasan: good evening. thanks for joining us. a pro-russian separatist leader said today that critical evidence has been recovered from the malaysia airlines boeing 777 that evidently was shot down thursday near the ukrainian- russian border. 298 people died.

>> i can tell you that as of today, we have found some technical details of this plane, which we suppose can be those the so-called "black boxes." >> sreenivasan: secretary of state john kerry said today the united states has what he called an "enormous amount of evidence" that pro-russian separatists shot down the plane with a russian-made surface-to-air missile. >> we have intercepted voices that have been documented by our people through intelligence as being separatists who are talking to each other about the shoot down. and we now, we have a video now of a transporter removing an sa 11 system back into russia and it shows a missing missile or so. so there's enormous amount of evidence. >> sreenivasan: for more, we are joined now via skype from ukraine by sabrina tavernise of the new york times. is a also, the evidence that secretary kerry is pointing, is this the same as what the ukrainian intelligence officials

have been talking about? >> it appears to be the same evidence we have been hearing from the ukrainians there has been a lot of, you know, youtube clips, there have been photographs, there have been a number of things that the americans and ukrainians point to assort of evidence that this -- of who actually shot this thing down. >> so there are also lots of people interested in the black box, who has it now, the black box flight recorders, where does it go? >> so, yes, there has been a lot of discussion about the black box. i mean, honestly, the scene of the crash is, at this point, kind of an incredible place, it is very chaotic, it has sort of different groups of volunteers and kind of motley local citizens and essentially they have no -- they don't have enough manpower or expertise or

people to sort of do it, so it has been very slow and quite incompetent and the fact that they haven't found the black boxes or i suppose now they are sort of saying they have found them, it is all very chaotic and unclear, but it isn't particularly surprising given the absolute feeble recovery effort. >> so the dutch prime minister was making statements saying he is shocked and he is disgusted by how the bodies have been treated, you went to one of the areas where a lot of these bodies are stored now in refrigerated rail cars, where are those bodies going to go and who is going to look at them -- look after them? >> they are in these train cars, in a very gritty city called. the torres a coal mining town, what the kiev government says is the rebels have actually blocked their exit so the rebels aren't letting the train they are on

leave and what the rebels say is that they want to release the bodies to international representatives who will claim them. they are telling, telling a all of the journalists to call the international representatives of donetsk so they can claim the bodies, it is very unclear to what extent, you know, both sides are being disingenuous in this. >> what sort of access to the international observers have today? >> these are actual observers spent quite a bit of time at the crash site today, they were taking pictures, you know, walking the perimeter, kind of, they had a large security detail, there were also four representatives from kiev ukrainian government representatives taking photographs and walking around in the site of the wreckage .. so there was quite a bit presence at the crash site that didn't appear to be hindered. >> sabrina tavernise of "the new york times", thanks so much. >> thank you. >>

>> sreenivasan: turning now to the conflict in the middle east. secretary of state kerry today also offered a robust defense of israel's military operations to end rocket fire from gaza and to destroy hidden tunnels there. kerry called on hamas to negotiate. >> we defend israel's right to do what it is doing in order to get at those tunnels. israel has accepted an unilateral ceasefire. it's accepted the egyptian plan, which we also support. and it is important for hamas to now step up and be reasonable and understand that you accept a ceasefire, you save lives and that's the way you can proceed to have a discussion about the all of the underlying issues which president obama has clearly indicated a willingness to do. >> sreenivasan: this, as israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu voiced regret about civilian casualties in gaza but said the israeli military will press on. >> i support taking whatever action is necessary to stop this insane situation. just imagine. i mean imagine what israel is going through.

imagine that 75% of the us population is under rocket fire and they have to be in bomb shelters within 60-90 seconds. so i'm just talking about new york, new york, washington, chicago, detroit, san francisco, miami, you name it. that's impossible.ç the neighborhood of, in east side of the city. the deadliest day of the conflict so far, more than 60 pal sinnians, 13 israeli soldiers were killed in that battle, but there could be more and more urban warfare there. >> and there is the most serious

setback that israel has faced in this most recent conflict, 13 soldiers at once. >> that was the entire casualty amount from the 2008, 2009 operation, i think this is the deadliest day for israel in quite a while. >> so are soldiers being evacuated? are there more soldiers on the borders? >> there are dozens of soldiers to have been taken to israeli hospitals and being treated included a very senior commander of the brigade that was, that the 13 belonged to, i don't know whether soldiers are retreating or how they are regrouping, there was a brief and sort of not fully exercised halt in hostilities this afternoon to let humanitarian help get into the neighborhoods and ambulances and other things, but i believe the fighting has resumed. >> yesterday new efforts of ban key moon of the united nations was supposed to come to the area and to now we hear he is in qatar. >> any conversations about

cease-fire. >> nothing concrete or significant, but president mahmoud abbas of the palestinian authority is also in qatar today and may be meeting today with the political chief of hamas, which is a significant step, a significant meeting and could yield something, there is increasing calls from the americans and the israelis to let president abbas kind of fix this and be, and get a grip on gaza, which is an interesting turn around from israel's position when abbas and hamas signed a reconciliation packet in april and basically israel has been calling on president abbas to cancel that packet ever since, but now maybe they are going to give him some berth to help resolve this conflict. >> joining us via skype, thanks so much. thank you. >> >> sreenivasan: as you just heard, there's been a sharp escalation of fighting in gaza with those 13 israeli soldiers and approximately 100

palestinians killed in clashes early today. since the conflict began, more than 400 palestinians have been killed. the white house said today secretary kerry is heading to egypt to try to broker a ceasefire. president obama called prime minister netanyahu to express "serious concern" about the growing number of casualties. today, a top un relief agency official said at least one thousand homes in gaza have been destroyed or damaged beyond repair and medical supplies are running low. he also said there's been a surge in the number of palestinians seeking refuge in un shelters. >> we've had a tripling in the number displaced in the schools that we run here in gaza over the course of the last couple of days. just received figures, we're now at 70,000 displaced moved into 55 or 57 of our schools. >> sreenivasan: for more about the situation on the ground there, we are joined now by phone noah browning of reuters. he is in gaza city. just a, you are just a short distance away be this neighborhood we have been hearing all day. tell us about what happened there. >> well, i would say that this

is by far the bloodiest day of the current 13 day conflict between israel and palestinian militants, and it is one of the bloodiest days in the modern history of the israeli-palestinian conflict, in the early hours of this morning in this border town east of gaza city called heavy israeli shelling was raining down in the early hours causing severe damage and approaching the scene early hours of this morning, there was a really pitiful site of thousands of people pouring out, pouring inland westward, whole families, barefoot children, very worried people, and the general mood in the gaza strip and a very stressed out, anxious state of mind. >> what about the hospitals in the area? how are they coping with the injured? >> the hospitals here are overwhelmed. colleagues visiting the area said there were just ghastly scenes of dead and wounded coming in, headless children, burned women, people had to be treated on the floor of the

hospital for lack of space. and unfortunately the shelling continued most of the day in this affected area so the paramedics could not reach the scene, actually was palestinian paramedic and journalist were killed in the morning trying to approach the area. >> what about the border with egypt? we are hearing that egypt turned back a group of doctors who were trying to come in today. what about the people from gaza trying to flee in that direction? >> it is very difficult situation for local people, trying to escape this violence, as you know, gaza is one of the most densely populated areas on the face of the earth, face as blockade on all of its borders, the militant east with israel and the west of the mediterranean and the south egypt, egypt does not allow a free flow of goods and people through its border crossing with gaza since last year, in the military takeover who had been sympathetic to hamas, so you tend to think that the new leadership of egypt is not terribly concerned with the

humanitarian or political situation going on in gaza right now. >> all right. nolan browning of reuters, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> >> >> sreenivasan: back in this country, those wildfires in north central washington state, which were ignited by lightning last monday, are now burning in an area spanning approximately 250,000 acres. after many days of gusty winds and high temperatures, cooler weather spread briefly over the area today, encouraging news for the more than 2,000 firefighters battling the huge blaze. we don't often bring you sports but rory mcilroy, who grew up in northern ireland, has won the british open, defeating american ricky fowler and sergio garcia of spain by two strokes. the reason we mention this is because mcilroy wasn't the only winner. ten years ago, his father and three friends bet against 500- to-one odds that mcilroy, then a teenager would win the open before he turned 26. today, their 400-pound bet paid off to the tune of 200,000 pounds, or approximately $341,00.

mcilroy is 25. and james garner, who rose to fame in the 1950s hit series, maverick, and later starred in the rockford files, has died. he was 86. where are the tapes and where are they? >> this is some kind of joke. you have a snappy line you want to lay on me. >> caps? >> nice. i had them done last summer. >> fine, fine, how would you like to be carry them around in your wallet? >> you must be rockford. >> >> sreenivasan: and now to our signature segment, our original in-depth reports from around nation and around the world. whether you're saving for retirement or trying to lose weight, even if you have the best of intentions, it is often difficult to do what you need to do. but what if you could be "nudged" into making better choices? new companies are using

behavioral economics, to devise new incentive programs that help us follow through. newshour special correspondent karla murthy reports. >> reporter: like many americans, barbara nordin, a freelance editor and writer in charlottesville, virginia, often procrastinates. >> i knew that professionally i needed a website. and i had the domain name, i, you know, made lists of what i put on it for eons... >> reporter: but in 2012, she learned about an online program that would push her to get the project done or else she would lose $50 dollars. it's an example of behavioral economics at work, according to dean karlan, a yale university economist. >> it's about realizing that you're going to respond to incentives. if you don't like the way you're going to respond, you can change those incentives. you can change the price of things by being a bit self-aware and thinking ahead. >> reporter: understanding how people respond to incentives is central to behavioral economics, a field which looks at the

psychology behind economic decisions. this new science is being used to help people-- nudge them-- on everything from making better healthcare decisions to maximizing energy efficiency. but one of its biggest uses is in improving people's financial choices. an area in which many americans don't excel. the personal savings rate is less than half of what it was a generation ago. and an estimated 56 million americans have virtually no retirement savings. >> financial education has actually had not great results in terms of getting people to change behavior. >> reporter: josh wright is the executive director of ideas42, a nonprofit that works with companies, foundations, and governments to apply lessons from behavioral economics. he points to a study that showed how committing to save more, not even today, but in the future, dramatically increased retirement savings. >> one of the interesting things about people's financial lives is they usually know what they

want do or they have an intention to save more or spend less-- get greater control over their finances. and a lot of it has to do with following through on those desires and intentions. and there's a lot that behavioral science can do along with technology to help us help people help themselves, really, to do what they want do. >> reporter: and new businesses have taken some of these insights to heart. washington d.c.-based hellowallet provides financial computer software, including budgeting and retirement tools for employees of big companies across the country. >> so we serve manufacturers and we serve who are putting ketchup in the heinz bottles, as well as we serve investment bankers. and quite the range in between. >> reporter: steve wendel is a behavioral researcher and principal scientist at hellowallet. he got his phd in political science studying voter behavior and he's written a book about using behavioral economics to create products that appeal to consumers. what is a scientist doing at a personal finance software company?

>> i help identify, "what are the behavioral obstacles that people face?" come up with ideas on how to help them identify those obstacles. and then i test them. test and see, "does this actually help? does this actually put more money in the bank account over time? so bottom line, are we helping people? >> reporter: one test wendel devised looked at the effect of competition on financial behavior by creating peer comparisons. >> we said, "okay. we'll have one version where all you get is your current score, one version where you get nothing, and another version where you get this peer comparison." so you see not only your score, but you see how other people like you are doing. >> reporter: it turns out that people who were shown the peer comparison saved hundreds more in a one month test. so, does knowing that score or what your neighbor's score is help everyone? >> no. no, there really-- there is no silver bullet in the behavioral world. thing we always remember is that

people are different. our experiences are different. and so our goal with hellowallet is to adapt to the individual, meet them where they are. >> reporter: but it's not all about providing positive incentives or carrots - when it comes to helping people make better decisions. stickk.com is an internet company co-founded by economist dean karlan in 2007. and provides a stick or negative incentive to influence behavior. it's one of a handful of companies, including beeminder and healthywage that provide an online platform to turn goals into what are known as commitment contracts. with stickk, users put money on the line for any goal, from trying to lose weight to saving more money each week. and can designate a referee to oversee their progress. >> basically what the research showed is, hey, money talks. and when you've got your money on the line and you put your money where your mouth is you're much more likely to achieve your goal. >> reporter: jordan goldberg co- founded stickk with karlan and another professor when he was an mba student at yale. he says the financial stick

makes long-term goals easier to reach. >> so we are literally raising the price of your vice (your poor behavior) raising the price of failure so that you'll make the right decision today. >> reporter: if you fail to meet your goal, you lose the money. it goes to someone you've designated, an anonymous charity, or you can choose an anti-charity... a cause that you don't believe in. >> so for instance if you're pro-gun control and you don't succeed we send your money to the nra and vice versa. >> reporter: barbara nordin chose an anti-charity when she used stickk to motivate her to build her own website. her choice: a political pac she doesn't support. >> stickk.com has helped me over and over again just thinking, i do not want so and so to get my $50 dollars. >> reporter: nordin has become an avid stickk user, creating goals for everything from keeping up with chores to writing more each day. >> reporter: why couldn't you do

that on your own, what was stopping you from doing that, and how did stickk really make you do it? >> it was always so easy to just put it off a little longer, whatever the excuse was. stickk.com raises that kind of accountability to a formal, money-on-the-line kind of level. of course, you don't have to put money on the line. but my feeling is like, what's the real point if there's not a real stick involved. >> reporter: stickk co-founder dean karlan and a fellow economist know just what she's talking about. they once agreed to each pay the other half a year's salary if they regained weight they had previously lost. so half the income, that's like thousands of dollars? >> yeah, we wanted to make it so that it was painful. it had to be. otherwise... otherwise if you fail, there's no risk that you fail, and you just kinda of strike it up to, kind of, the cost of an expensive dinner or an... or even a vacation. but it had to be enough bite that we knew that we would do that we knew that we would do it and that it would be painful. but it couldn't be so much money that we couldn't physically write the check. >> reporter: his friend did eventually regain the weight,

and paid karlan $15,000 dollars. >> and it surprised a lot of people, but he, you know-- i-i made him pay. and he paid. >> reporter: so is that kind of the key to the way stickk works? i mean, that it has to be painful enough for each individual person? >> that is exactly the idea. the key to... the key to stickk really is one of being self- aware. what is the right amount that is enough that you'll be honest with yourself if you fail-- be able to pay it if you fail, but enough so that it'll actually motivate you to change? >> reporter: while karlan is no longer involved with stickk, he still regularly incorporates insights from behavioral economics into his everyday life. >> when we order dessert, "i just want one bite. you eat the rest. but i want one bite, no more. if i ask for a second bite, i owe you $100." >> reporter: devising ways to motivate change, whether to drop more pounds or to save more money. >> to learn more about what some financial companies are doing to help you save money, visit newshour.pbs.org.

>> yesterday i spoke with nell any of the usa today about the decriminallation of marijuana in washington, d.c. this past week. here is an excerpt of the conversation. what is the word in washington, d.c. >> it basically decriminalizes possession of up to an ounce of marijuana. >> if you are caught with that on your person, instead of being subject to criminal percents, what you would get is a 25-dollar ticket. >> it also changes a couple of other things if police smell marijuana while they are on the beat, they can no longer search a person for it. if they also find up to an ounce of marijuana on a person, they can no longer automatically search them. >> so federal land is exempt. >> yes, only nonfederal lan. >> is this a sign of changing

attitude in this nation about the issue? >> this is the nation's capital. >> yes. i think people overwhelmingly on social media are responding in a way that they suggest that maybe it is time to consider decriminallation in a lot of places. >> so just across the river in brooklyn the da here is sort of decriminalized it as well. >> yes, the "brooklyn da" pointed out that the people who tend to be affected by low level drug offenses are young minority men, and he declared he was no longer going to prosecute such cases, because he felt when people are con convicted of these crimes it affects the rest of their lives in terms of finding housing, in terms of getting scholarships. >> besides what you hear on social media, there are other people, there are other legislators in different states around the country that are pushing back that don't agree with this. >> right. i would say that the strongest argument against is that there are studies that have shown that when one uses marijuana it

produces changes in the brain that makes one want to seek out stronger drugs. >> >> news before we leave you tonight, hamas claims to have captured an israeli soldier during fighting in gaza. under secretary of state rick says he made a mistake when he posted a tweet with the hashtag united to ga at that, he later dedeleted it. >> another violent weekend in chicago. >> one of those killed was an 11-year-old girl attending a slumber party. >> and web casting the first ever moon walk 45 years ago today. the web cast begins at 10:39 eastern, the moment neil armstrong opened the hatch on his spacecraft and began his historic giant leap for mankind. >> join us on air and online on the newshour, judy woodruff sits down with the latest medal of honor recipient. >> thanks for watching.

>> pbs newshour weekend is made >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. additional support is provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org ♪ senza fine

next on "great performances"... andrea bocelli reunites with david foster in enchanting portofino to perform love songs on the italian riviera. ♪ tristeza ♪ por favor vai embora there's something for everyone as the great tenor delivers popular songs from around the globe. ♪ champagne ♪ na na na na... so get close to the one you love, and if you'd like to, sing along. ♪ na na na na ♪ na na na... join us for a romantic evening in italy with andrea bocelli -- "love in portofino."