tv Headline News RT July 23, 2014 4:00pm-4:30pm EDT
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coming up on our t.v.'s a somber day in the netherlands as the nation receives some of the remains from the malaysia jet crash takes you to the emotional ceremony attended by family members of the victims just ahead. and investigators remain in eastern ukraine where flight seventeen went down despite more fighting in the region we'll have an update from the crash site coming up. and the violence in the gaza strip rages on as the death toll climbs with israel's ground invasion talks are underway for a potential cease fire more on the battle ground in gaza later in the show.
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it's wednesday july twenty third four pm in washington d.c. i'm manila chan you are watching r.t. america. somber homecoming in the netherlands for forty victims of the downed malaysian airlines flight m.h. seventeen they landed this morning at eindhoven airport just outside of amsterdam around one thousand family members and the dutch royal family were on hand to receive those lost as bells tolled marking wednesday as an official day of mourning artie's peter all over has more. transport planes arrived here it eindhoven air force base one from the dutch air force one from the australian air force they're operating in unison and what they're calling a air bridge mission where they're to make sure that enough to put meant and investigators get into ukraine and to make sure that all of the bodies of those who died on malaysian airlines flight seventy four here to the netherlands what we did
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see though is just before the the coffin started to be unloaded the bugler played the last post on the bugle followed by a minute's silence that as you would imagine was impeccably observateur now it's understood from talking to airport officials here that around one thousand relatives of those who died that flights are in attendance also in attendance dignitaries from from the australian government the australian ambassador to the netherlands is here also king william alexander of the netherlands and queen and queen and also as well the dutch prime minister mark once these those bodies are unloaded they're going into funeral cars and being driven to a military base near to the city of. now that military base is the headquarters of the dutch medical training for the army now that's of seventy they can handle such a large amount of bodies and can they can try and go about initiating the
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identification process we understand that will be a very long process it will be done with the help of the netherlands forensic institute the n f i one of the regarded as one of the finest forensic laboratory anywhere in the world they'll be helping with the id process which could take quite a long time but it's been a very solemn day here in the netherlands a day of national mourning flags across the country at half mast we did see a very solemn service take place here. that was our teens peter oliver in the netherlands and as the world mourns for their downs and the malaysia airlines crash the investigation continues into. what brought the plane down investigators in the u.k. are studying flight recorders that the anti can't separate is handed over tuesday they say the black boxes are damaged but have not been tampered with meanwhile fighting in the region rages on despite a truce around the crash site kiev says two ukrainian fighter jets were shot down
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today by separatists using a shoulder fired missiles as the hostilities in sue international investigators remain at work piecing together what happened that fateful day r.t. correspondent rohan coast arrives at the crash site and brings us more on this report according to the monitors from the organization for security collaboration in europe there are still body fragments scattered here in the twenty a kilometer radius of the crash site not all of them have been recovered the always see had been here on the ground starting from the second day after the crash i believe general aviation experts have also arrived here five days after the crash and that's when the investigation commenced all the sides involved in this investigation including the monitors expressed satisfaction with the level of access that they you got here with a level of security and next next bird's expressed gratitude in that regard as well meanwhile malaysian prime minister said he is not about blame anybody for the crash
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of this malaysian airlines flight seventeen until concrete evidence is there so he's waiting for the investigation to commence investigation had started but it's a long way from finished and meanwhile the black boxes that were recovered from this area are now in possession of for u.k. authorities and perhaps they will be able to shed some light as to what happened to and seventeen. that was artie's roman coast rep and in spite of initial assumptions u.s. intelligence officials released a report stating they could find no evidence of direct russian involvement in the downing a flight. that
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was shot down just a week ago. satellite sensors and other intelligence gathering to determine that the missile originated in a separatist held territory officials reiterated that they believe the plane was likely shot down by separatists using an as a eleven surface to air missile they also made clear that they have no evidence at this point at the missile used to shoot down the passenger jet came from russia that being said the u.s. still believes russia was responsible for creating the conditions that led to the demise of the airliner now earlier today i attended a state department briefing where i asked for more information on this evidence they walked through an intelligence assessment case and they talked about some
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additional pieces of declassified information that i can walk through today that bolsters our case that we know what happened here they also showed imagery of training facilities they should imageries at this site including a trajectory based on classified information that they were able to provide to show the trajectory of the essay eleven i also asked about the evidence offered to the u.s. by the ukrainian government take a look at that exchange some of the evidence u.s. is relying on earth or social media postings and videos made in public by the ukrainian government and there's all been authenticate again that's why i said the audio data which is part of social media has been created by the intelligence community analysts social media is obviously only one part of the of the puzzle here it's something we look at but obviously we back everything up to the extent that we can when we can with their intelligence as well this new information was released just before learning about to ukrainian fighter jets that were shot down by rebel fighters today i asked the spokeswoman whether there was concern that a break in ceasefire could in the investigation and here's what she had to say
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obviously we would be concerned about the separatists not upholding a cease fire the ukrainians have repeatedly shown their willingness and ability to do so she also address recent questions by the. russian government regarding an as you fighter jet that was flying within three miles of the malaysian airliner they've argued that an su twenty five fighter might have shot down the aircraft with an air to air missile they have judged at that engagement would be implausible for the following reasons the su twenty five is a ground attack aircraft the only missiles it carries are short range me or short range infrared guided missiles ground photography from the crash site is consistent with the expected damage from a surface to air missile but it is does not correspond in fact is inconsistent with what we would expect to see for an air to air missile as russia claims still a lot of questions a lot of concerns a surrounding this conflict and what the international investigation will yield reporting in washington on the era david r.t. . and stay with r.t.
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for more coverage of the malaysian jet crash and investigation get updates on our t.v. dot com you can also follow us on twitter and facebook for the latest and keep an eye on that ticker at the bottom of your screen for the newest developments and a british national and freelancer for r t is feared to have been taken hostage in an ambush near the donetsk airport in eastern ukraine graham phillips along with three other reporters from russia's and a t.v. were urged not to enter the region due to safety concerns artie's arena has more from moscow. we haven't heard anything from graham phillips since eleven pm on tuesday however there is strong suspicion coming from one of the journalists from a fellow journalist at the anna news channel that both journalists have been apprehended by ukraine's security services.
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people including. we have information then being held captive by ukrainian security service that's according to. denies detaining the journalists or that they ever did however in may graham was all detained by security services of ukraine for allegedly links he was questioned for about thirty six hours and released on tuesday evening he has informed me that he was playing to go to the area of donetsk airport now we have warned him that it's extremely dangerous that was the scene of some of the most intense fighting over the past several days nevertheless graham said that he's going to go he sent a text message overnight saying that he has arrived there shortly and that was the last that anybody has ever heard from him at our team however we did speak to one person one journalist who has remained. who was with them when they were heading to
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. move forward. to the airport there are some two hundred fifty meters away we turned back because we emerged from the trees. like a few of course we felt we could be easy targets so we decided to go back. and warn it could be dangerous. the reporters. cross that. i think they could shoot him where you. are. apparently the reporter he talked very quietly we were around was he said he was surrounded by ukrainian army and they've got ground. yes supposed to get your motive there mostly has been noted that old journalist released immediately the country's foreign minister in the statement saying that this is a. bit of this is the work of the international journalists who are
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providing the kind of information that officials here on the zire report at the same time r.t. has also contacted zucchinis foreign office who are saying that they are keeping a close eye on the situation there standing by ready to provide consular assistance when needed that was artie's arena. and for the second day in a row there are no u.s. commercial flights into israel the f.a.a. has banned flights to israel's international airport in tel aviv after a rocket attack nearby sixteen days into the conflict nearly seven hundred palestinian lives lost and about thirty israelis u.s. secretary of state john kerry is in tel aviv today attempting to broker peace talks between palestinian president mahmoud abbas and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu meanwhile artie's harry fear has more from gaza on the dangers that emergency workers are facing while trying to help those injured.
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with israel's navy to the west tanks and ground troops to the north east and south and it's modern air force all the while of ahead there is no shortage of extreme risks for gaza's paramedics not the first responders the palestinian red crescent ambulances haven't reached some affected areas leaving civilians distraught but entering such areas can be deadly for paramedics ambulances have come under fire in this recent escalation one medic has already died and it's happened before a paramedic died in the two thousand and twelve war more than a dozen others died in the two thousand and eight two thousand and nine conflict while in the last five minutes of being here at the hospital in middle middle we have seen three israeli on mind aerial vehicles fly over and we've seen just as many dead bodies right here. in order to paramedics do their job israel cooling unit natural cease fire in an area that seen heavy strikes
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schools and even says fire engines and diggers rushed to help many injured through the public policy. of missiles struck the surgery department which is home to casualty in trauma patients causing many deaths and injuries. you know no first responders are internationally legally protected workers fearing that's not enough they've been joined by foreign activists volunteering as human shields but even with that protection foreign volunteers children in the civilian evacuation and even the death of one teenager apparently as a result of multiple i.d.f. gunshots exhausted and overwhelmed with people needing that didn't attention as paramedics have a seemingly impossible job to do all the while trying to avoid being part of the body count themselves. harry fear. the israel palestine
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conflict has been a divisive issue for decades and the news coverage of the situation is no exception now one commentator appearing on m s n b c claims the network is taking sides artie's honest going to has more. as violence and deaths continue in the gaza israeli conflict one us based journalist author and political analyst is holding news media feed to the fire bringing attention to a largely pro israeli coverage of the lead us to wave of violence that started in the conflict torn region on july eighth and the sunday see contributor rula jebreal who the network now says is actually a former contributor since her contract ended last month with dual palestinian and italian citizenship appeared on the cable news channel earlier this week to speak out against what she dove disgustingly biased media coverage of the events of reveling in the israeli palestinian conflict we are ridiculous we are discussing leave bias when it comes to this issue look at how many air time nothing yahoo and
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his folks have on the air on a daily basis andrew mitchell and others i never see one public opinion being interviewed on very good journalist said that for every thirty seconds of the palestinian side of the story there is half an hour of air time for israel's officials she cited numbers that in twenty twelve on c.n.n. alone forty five israeli officials were interviewed compared to only eleven palestinians during the most recent wave of violence ongoing in the conflict jabril said seventeen israeli politicians were given air time verses only one palestinian relative real also referenced the recent temporary removal from gaza of n.b.c. journalist i'm on my d.m. after he brought more attention to the palestinian position the network's steps for its major outrage in social media after get real public criticism of media over gaza on monday she turned to twitter saying her upcoming t.v. appearances had been canceled and questioned whether there is a connection between her statements and the cancellation this wednesday the network released
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a statement saying her appearance was bumped for another exclusive interview the night before tuesday just real reappeared on him as n.b.c. to explain why american viewers deserve better i think we are creating a disservice to our public opinion in the american audience let me just explain why not only because we're giving more air time to the israelis but actually we are. not covering the content in which the context in which the conflict is taking place the biased coverage according to roger real is not only preventing real facts from reaching the american people but also hurting the country because they are new york . and it was a grueling laborious job but tom kean and lee hamilton did it they led the nine eleven commission and put out the nearly thousand page nine eleven report ten years ago and commemoration of the report released kean and hamilton warn that the country to remain vigilant in spite of public weariness on the matter they released a statement that warns of unfinished business from terrorists among other things
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are to use meghan lopez has more from capitol hill. the house committee on homeland security held a hearing today on capitol hill to discuss the continuing threats facing the american public after nine eleven this hearing is almost ten years to the day after the nine eleven commission released its report with recommendations for protecting the american public to a former members of that committee testify today former new jersey governor thomas kean and former deputy attorney general jamie gorelick call for major reforms to the department of homeland security there are ninety two committees with jurisdiction over the department of homeland security that is dysfunctional and you merging reporting to ninety different people you get nothing done. gets nothing done it's partly because of this congress is going to reform itself both the congress members and the witnesses pointed to this overabundance of oversight as a major threat to america's ability to identify and thwart potential terrorist
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threats using a chart to display the dysfunction throughout the hearing however al qaeda and the ongoing war in afghanistan as well as isis threats in iraq were only briefly mentioned instead congress members highlighted a slew of other issues they believe are the number one security threat the threat of lone wolf border security why should congress rely on the end is a metadata collection program but the site. be working with the authorization and use of military force border security has been dominating media headlines and political debate over the past month in the wake of thousands of children illegally crossing into the u.s. from the mexico border a big part of this homeland security hearing turned into political theater with republican congress members demanding tighter controls on the borders and increased surveillance using drones congressman broun when so far as to call for the national
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guard to get involved what the witnesses today were quick to. point out that the nineteen coconspirators who plotted the nine eleven terror attacks did not cross into the u.s. illegally instead they outstayed their visas another interesting topic that was brought to the forefront of conversation today was the edward snowden n.s.a. revelations both witnesses said that congress and the obama administration need to do a better job of informing the american public about exactly what is going on the snowden revelations. i think have made people more worried about what the government is doing about what the our enemies are doing the resources of our intelligence community or want to bore very best weapons it's incumbent upon the leadership of this country to explain to the american people what the threat is and what we need to do about it in generally american people are surprised. i know a lot because of logan nine eleven and since i was approached by maybe some of you
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was approached but i don't know how deeply we were doing we should even even with this committee. it's not enough in my opinion to share it with the gang of eight. i think not everything how we do everything but the idea what we're trying to do and why we're trying to do it. lewdly we share that with the american people living there again people will support each cybersecurity also dominated the conversation along with the need for america's cyber security infrastructure to better prepare itself for outside attacks in the end congress members and witnesses were eager to point out that while the us is much safer than it was in two thousand and one the threats are still great and diversifying by the day reporting in washington megalo pounds r.t. . and today the air force is launching the delta for rocket into orbit carrying satellites which will act like an outer space neighborhood watch their program
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allows the u.s. to monitor any potential security threats by other nations orbital activities in conjunction with this launch general william shelton the commander of the air force a space command said yesterday that the u.s. must move on from using the russian made r d one eighty rocket engine due to the rising tensions between the two nations the r d one eighty powers the atlas five rocket which is heavily used by the defense department nasa and the national reconnaissance office the air force as to mates that losing access to the rocket engine would cost the u.s. government anywhere between one point eight billion and five billion dollars and joining us today is marco castor is the director of space studies with the teal group thanks for joining us from our bureau today so let's get started let's dive right in give us a quick history of the u.s. relationship and the use of the russian made our d one eighty rocket engine well
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the our do you want to be history with regard to the u.s. air force goes back to the early one nine hundred ninety s. . dissolution of the soviet union one of the reasons that the united states wanted to perhaps or buying this engine in other other technology was to keep the. from falling into the hands of third world countries for example at the time russia was needing some hard currency and they would have been tempted to perhaps sell technology such as this to countries that perhaps were unfriendly to united states so we looked at ways we could develop a neutrally beneficial relationship in this area with russia and one of the obvious places with us was in terms of engine technology because traditionally the russians just build more powerful liquid fueled engines interesting so well what are the reasons that you think maybe that the that air force general bill shelton believes that the u.s. needs to cut this dependency well i think over the past ten to fifteen years the
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relationship has changed in several ways initially it was uncertain because we really didn't have much of a relationship with the russians then it became very stable the relationship was mutually beneficial we received numerous argue one eighty engines the atlas five vehicle has performed wonderfully the engine has performed wonderfully and the relationship was very stable but in recent months because of what's happened in ukraine the crimea and the sanctions that the u.s. has imposed on the russian response. has caused the russian government specifically minister by the name of dmitri were goes in to threaten to cut off the supply of these engines and initially it looked as if it was going to be a real threat recently it looks like the russians are less certain about cutting off the engines and so even though it is there's still uncertainty about that it is
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created created this sense in the united states that we really can no longer trust the russians to supply this engine do you think general shelton are calling for for our disconnect on on these rockets do you think it's kind of political based or it is it an economic woe there are there are elements of of three right now it's really be. more of a national security issue it's become one of making sure that we have an independent industrial base one that is able to produce. an engine similar to the r d one eighty cost effectively if possible but no longer is cost the primary motivator here one of the reasons we wanted to continue buying the r d one eighty is because it's relatively cheap i believe each one costs anywhere between ten to twelve million dollars we just haven't been able to produce an engine that power for that that lower cost so at this point it's no longer about politics it's no longer about cost it's really about maintaining our independence how long do if if
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if this technology is out there how long do you think before the u.s. can start building its own or something similar why can't we just make our own it's important to make sure to understand that we do have very good liquid fuel engines and since they're not as powerful as the already one eighty and so for example the delta for vehicle that would launch all the time now this frequency is the atlas five it has the are a sixty eight which is produced by rocket done not just powerful but used to use more of them which makes it more expensive so to develop something similar to the already one eighty it would probably take at least three to four to as many as eight years from what i'm seeing and the cost could be upwards of two to three billion dollars if the government the u.s. government decides to subsidize this development not a problem if it were to leave lockheed to do it on its own it probably wouldn't happen really ok so a lot heat is a vital component to it lockheed is the is the company that produces the atlas five rocket and one of the reasons it hasn't wanted to pursue the development of its own
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engine with the help of subcontractors of course because it's costly and they don't want to invest that much money when they have a perfectly good option in the already one eighty as long as the relationship with the russians is stable that has changed ok so now real briefly we have about a minute left what are some maybe all. turning to that we could probably look into are there any welters in terms of the engine yes well you could you could build something similar to the already were made here in the united states the company us companies that are involved with what the russians do have the blueprints and have the rights to develop a r d one eighty copy we haven't done it because there hasn't been a need so that's one option the other option is to simply start from scratch look at the american companies that are out there like a t.k. like aerojet rock a dime to see if they could develop something brand new that's more costly but it can be done that that's good news and that was marco cassar us as
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