really sick for a politician writing the laws and regulations to tax bankers on the head. there is just too much rat is a society. that. coming up on r t we continue to follow breaking news of the downed malaysia airlines jet in eastern ukraine we have extensive coverage of the crash site and how the world is reacting to the news that it was shot out of the sky. and the violence in gaza escalates israeli defense forces have launched a ground invasion as the death toll rises the latest on the middle eastern crisis coming up. it's friday july eighteenth eight pm in washington d.c.

i'm lynn neary david and you're watching r.t. america. we begin tonight with the malaysia airlines passenger plane that was shot down over eastern ukraine both the ukrainian government and anti kiev separatists fighting in the region deny any responsibility for downing the plane and earlier tally of two ninety five people dead was raised to include three infants and an official list of passengers released by malaysia airlines so now the death toll sits at two ninety eight as far as the passengers on the plane one hundred eighty nine people were from the netherlands forty four were from malaysia twenty seven from australia twelve from indonesia and the rest were citizens of the u.k. germany belgium the philippines canada new zealand and hong kong there is at least one american on board a man by the name of quinn lucas shands men a dual u.s. dutch citizen the investigation into the crash is just beginning a thirty member delegation most of which are from the organization for security and

cooperation in europe arrived at the scene today artie's francisco has more but just a caution some of the video may be disturbing. in twelve kilometers around here there is still pieces of the bodies there are also this is all for grass and a lot of details of their lives of these almost three hundred people know the local government of the don't ask is saying that they agree to make a ceasefire for some days that they can do an investigation and here they can come they said they always see and also be international civil aviation organization the situation in this moment is that in or around some kilometers we have heard from grad rockets this means that the combat is still going on and i was r.t. correspondent francisco. are you take

a look at this this is the newspaper that the netherlands woke up to this morning in the wake of the deadly crash since this was printed the death toll has actually gone up we now know that one hundred eighty nine of the passengers were at work dutch that's more than half of the total number of people who are are board the flight today the families of those passengers have been left to grieve as they try and come to terms with what happened artie's poly waco is in amsterdam with more. even though it looks like business as usual back to normal at amsterdam airport there is a very so my mood in the now malaysian airlines have said that they are providing financial support and psychological assistance to the victims' families they've said that they are willing to fly any victims' relatives over to ukraine to be closer to the scene of the crash and to the investigation now the european boasts of the airline has defended m.h. seventeen's flight path over eastern ukraine saying that the flight to the flight

path was declared safe and that other international airlines were using it until this tragic tragic incident but other details a slowly emerging we know that dutch politician a dutch member of parliament was on board the flight with his family as well as a number of australians and delicates headed towards an international eight summit in melbourne but of course the majority of the victims' families. they are based in the airport where the ill fated flight took off from being kept well away from the press you can imagine how difficult a time it is for them now but we know that they are waiting for news about what happened to their loved ones and more importantly why. boyko as the details of the down malaysian airliner emerge we're getting new reaction from

the obama administration here and washington today we heard from the white house the state department and the pentagon on the incident i was joined earlier by our correspondent lindsey france and i first asked her what president obama had to say regarding the downed malaysian airliner. well america the president said the most important thing at this point is to get this investigation started it's been more than twenty four hours since that plane was brought down by what he believes to be a surface to air missile investigators and specialists need unimpeded access to that crash site and so he urged that it's very important not to get ahead of the facts that everyone should be focusing on getting this investigation started so the loved ones of these people can find out why what happened to their loved ones took place let's listen to what he had to say about this this was a global tragedy. an asian airliner was destroyed european skies filled with

citizens from many countries so there has to be a credible international investigation into what happened. the un security council has endorsed this investigation and we will hold all its members including russia through their words. in order to facilitate that investigation russia the russian separatists and ukraine it must adhere to an immediate cease fire and given the the nature of the area where this plane went down he. is all important especially so that these investigators can at least access the crash site look at the debris figure out exactly why it came down what exactly was used in light of all the speculation currently going on that's the most important thing and you also had the chance to sit in on the state department press briefing what came out of that. well as the president pointed out this is a global situation nearly three hundred people from numerous countries lost their

lives in what appears to be an attack so the state department has said this is going to be an international investigation that ukraine is going to take the lead it's issued invitations and of course the u.s. is going to be involved in this as well here's what the state department had to say the government of ukraine as many of you may have seen has issued invitations to assist with an investigation to. be boeing malaysia the netherlands and the european civil aviation conference we have offered assistance to the ukrainian government including personnel and resources from the n.t.s.b. and the f.b.i. which the ukrainians have accepted the n t s b will be sending at least one investigator to the to the ukraine the timing of this is still being determined in our response will of course be guided by events as they unfold and our understanding is that this when the f.b.i. is preparing to deploy at least one f.b.i. individual person no member to ukraine it's also not clear on the timing of that of

course it remains a fluid situation also what she pointed out there in that press briefing with oust was that ukraine had issued invitations specifically for organizations that have a lot of history with investigating air crashes and so that was one of the reasons the f.b.i. and the n.t.s.b. were specifically asked for so these as she pointed out that the situation is very fluid the numbers of members of these teams could change when they're deployed could change of course we'll be keeping a very close eye on this as the teams that will head up this investigation. head over to ukraine and get started and lindsay has there been any discussion so far from the u.s. about a motive here. well this is something you know there's a lot of speculation in the press right now it's a it's a hot topic there's a lot of emotion. one thing everyone wants to know is motive who would benefit from

from an attack of this nature bringing down a passenger aircraft like this and it's something that the pentagon stepped forward today and addressed we don't know what the motive was here what is your theory what is your working theory i don't think we have a working through this point just i mean this just happened yesterday there's a teams of investigators now trying to get to the so you can pore through this and i mean it's we just have to let them do their job so again we've heard from three government officials at the highest level saying that right now is the time to put the correct teams together get correct access to this crash get the correct facts so that when a report is made that it it's that it sticks that it's a credible report of of how this plane went down so of course we're keeping a very close eye on the facts we'll be following it all throughout the weekend as this situation could change all right lots of questions indeed still need to be answered artie's lindsey france from the white house thanks for that reporting. and

russian president vladimir putin has his own take on the incident for more on that reaction let's go to cali. the kremlin spokesman dmitri told the british newspaper the guardian that it's stupid to presume that russia is culpable and the president vladimir putin has said that ukraine has to bear responsibility for this tragedy it happened over ukrainian territory and if there was pace any soon ukraine then this would never happen and now this is what the president had to say earlier. we have to do everything in our capability to make sure an objective picture of what happened is made public and known to people in our country as well as the people of ukraine and the whole world what happened is completely unacceptable and no one has the right to walk away without making ject a conclusion of what happened for you but i want to point out that this tragedy wouldn't have happened if there was peace on the ukrainian land at least if the

fighting hadn't had resumed in the south east without any doubt the state on whose territory this happened must stand responsible for this horrible tragedy the kremlin has said that it won't make any further statements until more details are known about what exactly happened now is our correspondent edward cowley following me and that and the european union was also very quick to respond and express shock and urgent immediate and thorough investigation our chief peter oliver isn't berlin with more. you heard from german chancellor angela merkel she was given a press conference in which she said there needs to be a full investigation into exactly what caused this disaster she said that germany was willing to to send a team to ukraine to help with that investigation to get to the bottom of exactly what happened and she said that those that are responsible must be brought to justice but also expressed extreme grief and condolences for the

families of the those that have been killed for germans were among those that have been on board this plane and she expressed particular condolences to the people of the netherlands who of course were worst affected by this disaster but she's not the only. european leader that's been speaking about this david cameron the british prime minister of course nine were all not flights as well he also said that he'd spoken to the prime minister. expressed his condolences and saying that europe britain all grieve together with with the people of the netherlands as europe deals with what is a real tragedy not just for europe but for people around the world when we see the nations that all those people came from that have been killed that was our correspondent peter oliver the first meeting of a special ukrainian government commission set up to investigate the incident was

held today according to the foreign ministry of consular service meanwhile the united nations security council conducted its own emergency meeting to further discuss what happened and who may have been involved artie's is in new york with more. it was a tough session russian envoy to the u.n. to tell you did urge council members from prejudging the outcome of an international investigation into the plane crash by using broad statements and insinuations that hold russia accountable because that's precisely what most western countries or the security council did and bester churkin said there are many unanswered questions such as why did the ukrainian aviation dispatcher send a plane or allow a plane to enter an insecure or dangerous territory investor churkin says the ukrainian government has not been showing military were straight as western countries have insisted he said in contrary. aggressive attacks and indiscriminate shelling of areas in eastern ukraine has led to more violence and clashes and this

is why moscow insists that responsibility for the tragic plane crash lies with keith. we've repeatedly warned of the dangers of solving ukraine's political crisis through the use of force we've been calling for respectful dialogue between the conflicting sides. in the room and there were student backers speaking mainly of the united states push them to escalate the crisis and now when are you seeing the catastrophic consequences of this of course of action is going to trying to shift responsibility to russia and the u.n. security council has expressed its condolences to the families of the plane crash victims and has also called for a full sorrow an independent international investigation. that was our correspondent in reno. were ports that most airlines flight seventeen was down by a missile has raised questions over whether the plane should have been flying over

the war torn region of eastern ukraine are. takes a look at how these flying routes are ultimately determined in the midst of the crash of malaysian airlines flight seventeen from amsterdam to kuala lumpur one question that inevitably comes to mind in the wake of this tragedy is why airlines are allowed to fly over dangerous areas like the border of ukraine in reality the practice of flying over volatile zones all over the world is not uncommon and it all comes down to money recent associated press article raise the question of why this air route was still being used for reporters discovered that despite warnings of the dangers airlines around the world continued to use this popular flight path rather than reroute which would have required more fuel and which would have alternately taken more time making ticket prices more expensive for customers earlier today i spoke with captain ross amer who is an aviation expert with aero consulting experts captain amer says that airlines take distance curvature of the

earth and wind into account when planning a route pilots themselves some more or less have a final say in which route they choose to fly over pilots with some airlines with fewer financial resources are pretty much stuck to the route that they are assigned that's because the airline has to pay for flight plans and for permission to fly over each country which can be quite expensive up until yesterday the federal aviation administration and similar international agencies issued warnings about the route over crimea but not the area where this plane was downed which was about two hundred miles away now that area is being included in those warnings with that being said there are many other volatile areas all over the world that airplanes are still allowed to fly over but are only. warned against the include ron iraq syria afghanistan yemen next in the semi peninsula north korea and almost all of

africa many flights have been recruited from their own iraq routes as a result of isis fighting with government forces but commercial flights over the other areas still happen on a daily basis so the next question you might ask is is there a safe height for airlines to fly at to avoid being shot down the simple answer is no for conflict areas that many times airlines will set a minimum altitude for airlines to fly for ukraine it was thirty two thousand feet to do malaysian airlines flight was flying at thirty three thousand feet and was weighed down by fuel save for the rest of the journey making that plane fly over only one thousand feet above the lowest recommended altitude for flying over this conflict zone but again flying higher doesn't necessarily make you safer obviously as a result of this most recent plane crash most if not all airlines have changed their flight paths to avoid ukraine but before this incident the area was declared safe

by international aviation authorities clearly that was just not the case so in the wake of this tragedy and out of an abundance of caution airlines will likely begin to reconsider their routes to ensure that they are traveling in safe skies reporting in washington as. our coverage of the malaysian jet crash continues online get updates on our t.v. dot com you can also follow us on twitter and facebook facebook for the latest on the breaking story and keep an eye on the ticker at the bottom of your screen for any new developments. and still ahead here on our t.v. israeli defense forces launch a ground invasion of the gaza strip this is after days of military airstrikes resulting in multiple civilian casualties a look at the conflict after the break. he sends our forces that. lead.

him to the finish line of the marathon. cut. my mum i'm playing. i marinate in the finance no more on the tick tock to serious developments i mean i've started a family taking on the demand to credit not going to get any benefit in life there are. dramas that trust be ignoring the. stories others say use the notes. say since changing lights in the. old picture posts in the. summer months to clean.

it up to. fifty. but. the report. did you know the price is the only industry specifically mentioned in the constitution and. that's because a free and open press is critical to our democracy. in fact the single biggest threat facing our nation today is the corporate takeover of our government and our craft several weeks in a hydrogen flying handful of transnational corporations that will profit by destroying what our founding fathers once built up i'm sorry that on this show we reveal the big picture of what's actually going on in the world we go beyond identify and track rational debate real discussion critical issues facing america i feel ready to join the movement and walk

a little bit of. washington . to the left of not using the media. for perceived or an issue that actually attacked you and doesn't do too much for ad revenue on my own ted our culture giant teeth on a seventy six year old american farmer based in india fallout do you think this is

going to create for the cia do you think this is what's triggering a great. this is the right idea the world is on the largest debtor nation in the. great thing is that is nothing at all that one might be real. and working toward the american dream the next they were just trying to survive it's time for americans and lawmakers in washington to wake up and start talking about the real crisis. and now let's turn to the growing conflict between israel and gaza prime minister benjamin netanyahu said today that he had ordered the israeli military to prepare for the possibility of widening significantly the ground operation in the gaza strip was just began last night meanwhile president obama spoke about the ground invasion from the white house here's what he had to say i also made clear that the

united states and our friends and allies are deeply concerned about the risks of further escalation and the loss of more innocent life. and that's why we've indicated although we support military efforts by the israelis to make sure that rockets are not being fired into their territory. we also have said that our understanding is the current military ground operations are designed to deal with the tunnels and we are hopeful that israel will continue to. approach this process in a way that minimizes civilian casualties and that all of us are working hard to return to the cease fire that was reached in november of two thousand and twelve. and now for the very latest out of gaza let's go to our teams harry fear. well the streets of gaza remain empty throughout this morning after the sun rose people here

fear that this ground incursions will continue in the coming days people here do fear that the night the israeli ground invasion could step up its. operations into a new level which could be much more costly for the population of gaza including the civilian population but we decided to go to a sheet the hospital we spoke to a hamas spokesperson and questioned him on this recent past that. was your reaction to the israeli ground invasion of the gaza strip with different people defending in order for all of these to. go bit by that which i get the feeling into this to go on. because finally a lot of people might want to go to the to the groups who have the capacity to actually deal with an israeli ground invasion we are ready to. go out of.

the world go. by or people do want to thank you very much for the time thank you ok thanks so that was. the position that israel's ground invasion. is going to civilian casualties in large numbers to use that does have the capacity to the palestinian population here from an israeli ground invasion that. i was our correspondent harry fear. and before we go don't forget to tune in at nine pm for larry king now in tonight's guest is health care and evader dr patrick soon shun here's the doctor showing off one of his groundbreaking gadgets this is very difficult for people to see blind people to touch is no broo. so the opportunity to earn just one dollar rapidly ten dollars that drop of twenty dollars and a job it will still tear away and all it instantaneously is

a remarkable opportunity. able to blind to see what this will do no though it will be able to browse the physical world so instead of being limited just to the web where you have to go browse the web now also the entire world is a browser simple so buddy that what i mean we've created a thing called the recognize. the book tells me whatever. i. read. so the ability then for us to to recognize. anything in the physical world. so to nine pm tonight we are on our team america does it for now for more on the stories we covered go to you tube dot com slash r.t.

america check out our web site r t dot com slash usa you can also follow me on twitter at a mirror david for now have a good weekend thanks for watching. i suspect. the report. did you know the price is the only industry specifically mentioned in the constitution and. that's because a free and open press is critical to our democracy back almost. in fact the single biggest threat facing our nation today is the corporate takeover of our government and our press similar we've been hijacked why a handful of friends bash no corporations that will profit by destroying what our founding fathers but once told to us by job market and on this show we reveal the big picture of what's actually going on in the world to go beyond identifying. rational debate in a real discussion critical issues facing america to find her job ready to join the

movement then welcome to the big picture. chances are for some that. it. seems to never finish line of the boston marathon. life and certainly none of. this museum in washington well as submissive. is being suggested in the latest numbers of the media candidates ocracy of organizations actually attack you and doesn't do too much for ad revenue in my new testament culture giant teeth on

a seventy six year old american farmer based in india fallout do you think this is going to create for the cia do you think this is what's triggering a great. america is the largest economy in the wrong it's also the largest debtor nation in the history of the world breaking news that is mostly an alternative to the status quo would make the real truth of the points for the core of the american dream the next they were just trying to survive it's time for americans and lawmakers are more sure to wake up and start talking about the real causes. traumas the chance to be ignored true. stories others too few still know some. foods change the world writes never.