captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for saturday july 19: the latest from eastern ukraine on the downing of malaysia airlines flight 17. you'll hear from a reporter who visited the scene of the wreckage today. israeli troops intensify their search for tunnels in gaza used to conceal rockets. as the palestinian death count rises. and in our signature segment, eight months after the strongest typhoon on record hit the philippines, the recovery is showing few signs of progress. >> throughout the entire typhoon zone, there are more than one million people are still living in inadequate housing. >> sreenivasan: next on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible 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. ukraine today accused russia and pro-russian separatists of destroying evidence that could offer clues about the downing of that malaysia airlines plane carrying 298 people. the plane went down thursday in an area of eastern ukraine where the separatists have been battling ukrainian government

forces. for more about all of this, we are joined now via skype from ukraine by paul sonne. he is the moscow correspondent for the "wall street journal." earlier today, he visited the disaster scene and posted these pictures on twitter. is the site secure and who is in control of it? >> the rebels are in control of the site. it is in a territory about an hour and a half east of -- northeast of the city of dnesk in possession of the separatists and they are sort of on site, they are -- standing with guns in the middle of roads that go through the fields most particularly has fallen. from what i could ascertain there was no perimeter around the actual site. >> sreenivasan: did you see any indications of an investigation taking place? is there evidence being gathered, anything about the black boxes?

>> we do not know where the black boxes are, there's been a lot of rumors about that, initially told they had been recovered. today said that they had not recovered them. in terms of the investigation, i didn't see any suggestion that any sort of investigation was going on today. only thing that happened today that was new that they did start retrieving some of the bodies. >> sreenivasan: ukrainian in till generals officials say they have pictures of the anti-aircraft missile launchers on trucks moving back in to russia and that is just ten hours after the planes went down. they say that is the direct link that russia was supplying these missiles in the first place, has russia responded to any of this? >> reporter: russia has said that they want a full impartial investigation in to what happened. though vladimir putin blamed

ukraine for the accident but hasn't blamed ukraine for shooting down the plane. what he said, ukraine created the situation where something like this could happen by invading eastern part of their own country to put down the separatist rebellion, by deciding to use force and deploy their troops, created a situation where in this could happen. so that is basically the russian's line at this point. in terms of the pictures of the ukraine security services have, i think the line not just russia that they want international objective investigation in to that. people posting photos. >> sreenivasan: what does the ukrainian government say is evidence that russia or the pro russian separatists have destroyed? >> reporter: you know, i didn't specify as far as i know exactly what evidence.

they just said that they seemed to know that the evidence has been destroyed. when i was there i do see any signs ever looting of evidence, obviously i was not there for the whole time, i didn't see the whole perimeter, hard to tell. but certainly the evidence that has been damaged regardless because the fact it has been left without a secure perimeter for so long in the heat, it does seem like some of the evidence has been moved when i was there, there were a lot of personal effects in two different piles. so it does seem like stuff has been moved already at the scene. certainly they are moving stuff in order to take out the bodies and investigation doesn't seem to be already occurring simultaneously to that, in terms of already this site being jeopardize for investigation and evidence being spoiled regardless of whether it actually physically has been taken, that probably already is the case. >> sreenivasan: paul sonne joining us via skype from ukraine, thanks so much.

>> thanks for having me. >> sreenivasan: turning now to the other major international story dominating the headlines: the invasion of gaza-- an offensive, israel says, that is designed to locate tunnels and designed to stop rockets being fired from gaza into israel. palestinian authorities say more than 330 palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed during the past two weeks. israel says militants have fired more than 1,600 rockets into israel during that time. for more, we are joined now via skype from jerusalem by jodi rudoren. she is the "new york times" bureau chief there. what is latest on the ground off phone sieve that is happening there over the past couple of days? >> latest thing that happened was this morning palestinian militants gain invaded isreal through a tunnel and they engaged with soldiers on the ground there that were on patrol and killed two israeli soldiers and one et of the militants was killed in a gunfight. this is second time in three days that have come in to israel

that was that ground operation was begun. israeli military and political leaders have warned of this threat said that they are determined to destroy all the tunnel, is that are in gaza that lead continuous decreal to avoid future invasions. they talk about gaza got through they could kidnap israeli civilians from their location or go on -- >> sreenivasan: the ground offensive and air offensive created refugee situation that there is some 47,000 refugees heading to u.n. shelters in the area? >> it's gone up even more today to over 50,000. as my call league anne bernard reported it's much higher than that, so many people there are not going to shelters just fleeing their homes and going to relatives' houses or friends. there is any number of people who are displaced. >> sreenivasan: any output on the diplomatic front, any

efforts towards a cease fire. >> israelis say it is the proposal they're ready for it. but it's unclear where things stand. john kerry was again rumored to be coming to cairo and was not shown up. i believe bon ki moon is supposed to come today i don't know whether that's actually happening or what he's doing here. their's no -- we don't nobody exactly what is going on. >> sreenivasan: what is this doing to u.s. leverage in the region? >> i think the u.s. has lost a lot of the leverage in the region, lot of credibility. starting really with what happened with syria when president obama said he was going to attack then, ended up with negotiated solution. lot of people thought that was a sign of a real change of the resolve of washington to observe it's own red line. just throughout the arab world and it has changed america's

role. the other thing of course is the united states has a lot of other things on its plate now we've got this huge crisis in ukraine that is stirring attention, and iran negotiation. i think people here are not relying on the u.s. as they have before. >> sreenivasan: jodi red run of the "new york times." thanks very much. >> thank you. >> sreenivasan: there was a series of bombings in baghdad today. authorities say at least 27 people were killed, including four policemen, after bombs were detonated in shiite neighborhoods in the capital. the attacks were the biggest since sunni extremists overran significant portions of northern and western iraq weeks ago. militants in egypt today attacked a government checkpoint in the western part of the country, and 15 soldiers reportedly were killed. the attack is believed to be retaliation for the government's crackdown against supporters of the deposed president, mohamed morsi. the attack took place around sunset when muslims break their fast during ramadan. and a u.s. drone strike today in pakistan, near the border with afghanistan, reportedly killed

15 militants. it was the fourth drone strike in the area since the beginning of a pakistani government offensive more than a month ago. back in this country, the environmental protection agency has taken steps to block the development of a huge gold-and- copper mine in alaska. the e.p.a. said the mine would have caused what it called" irreversible damage to one of the world's last intact salmon ecosystems." the state of alaska and the mining operators are suing the e.p.a. they say the agency has exceeded its authority. and a street altercation involving new york city police is drawing more attention today. cell phone video obtained by the "new york daily news" shows a police officer apparently using a chokehold to bring down a man they believed was selling untaxed cigarettes. eric garner, a 43-year-old asthmatic, died at a hospital an hour later of a heart attack on thursday. the father of six can be heard on the tape saying repeatedly that he could not breathe while an officer pressed his face into the sidewalk. two of the officers involved

were put on desk duty. new york city police department policy forbids the use of chokeholds. and a new study found that banning the use of handheld cell phones by drivers does not necessarily reduce the number of traffic accidents. a professor from the university of colorado boulder who examined data for six months preceding and following california's law that forces drivers not to handle their phones while driving thinks the conversations on the phones might be just as distracting as whether drivers are holding their phones or not. >> sreenivasan: and now to our signature segment, our original in-depth reports from around the world. this week, a typhoon has been battering parts of china and the philippines. dozens have been killed. of course, that doesn't begin to compare with the loss of life caused by another typhoon that ravaged the philippines late last year.

super typhoon haiyan killed 6,300 people. as happens so often, offers of help poured into the disaster area in the days and weeks after the storm hit, but not all the money that was pledged then was delivered. and now, eight months later, all there is not well. newshour special correspondent mark litke reports. >> reporter: philippine tv was on the air live as the storm hit. it was the strongest typhoon ever to make landfall. and the worst was still to come-- a storm surge, a wall of water 20 feet high smashing or washing away much of what was in its path. the city of tacloban, population 200,000, took a direct hit. this video was shot by the city's mayor, trapped in his own house as the storm raged. when the water receded, utter

devastation-- the dead tangled in the wreckage, the living forced to fend for themselves for days. many women would give birth in deplorable conditions. on the floor of what was the tacloban airport, emily ortega gave birth to her first child, bea joy. and this is bea joy today. the smile on her mother's face says it all. >> ( translated ): i am so happy that she has grown. i'm happy that we survived and we're all here together. >> reporter: but the smiles fade when the talk turns to the trauma inflicted by the typhoon. do you still want to live here in tacloban? >> ( translated ): we want to live far away from the sea. when it's raining and the waves get higher, i'm afraid all over again. >> reporter: in the language of international relief efforts, "the humanitarian situation has stabilized across the affected regions."

but eight months later, this is what "stabilized" looks like: tens of thousands of families still living in refugee tents or makeshift shacks. the philippine government has reportedly built fewer than 200 of the 200,000 permanent homes it promised. and now, growing concerns about unsanitary conditions, the threat of communicable diseases. and who will pay for the massive rebuilding that lies ahead? the international community pledged about $800 million in post-disaster aid, but just $463 million has been delivered. and help from the central philippine government has also been slow to arrive. >> categorically, i am not pleased with the response. >> reporter: tacloban mayor alfred romualdez says the pace of recovery has picked up recently. in central tacloban today, businesses are reopening, streets are filled with traffic again, but many are still

furious with the philippine government's response. >> why do we still have families living in tents, and children now catching pneumonia because of the heat and all that? and it's really heartbreaking. >> reporter: the man chosen as the typhoon recovery czar, panfilo lacson, insists the recovery is now on track, and he tries to emphasize the positive. >> the fact that we don't have an epidemic, we don't have famine, and there's no breakdown of law and order. i think government has responded well enough. >> reporter: lacson admits the recovery has not gone as quickly as he hoped, partly, he says, because relief efforts have to be closely monitored to try to eliminate corruption. >> they cannot get away with it because i'll be there watching. that's part of my mandate. >> reporter: but as of now, the government still hasn't released its promised master plan for reconstruction, so many filipinos have had to rely on their own initiative to do what

the government hasn't done so far, something filipinos are very used to. there are a couple of commonly used expressions that you'll hear in the philippines, especially in difficult times. "bahala-na"-- there's nothing to be done about it; we'll just have faith that things will get better. then there's "diskarte na lang"-- if it's broken, we'll just figure out some way to patch it together and get it working again. it helps explain the efforts of dante and delor linggo. they set up an outdoor soup kitchen for the hundreds of local children who lost homes-- siblings, parents-- all the more remarkable given that dante and delor lost 32 relatives and three of their four children. their two youngest boys were crushed under a crossbeam when their house collapsed. >> when we find them, they are holding hands together. >> reporter: they couldn't find

their daughter's body for another two days. so, this is how they deal with their grief, by helping others. >> we do this because it is for the memory of our children. >> reporter: ordinary filipinos finding their own way to deal with a crisis. people who could began building their own shelters almost immediately, and it continues today. and many have ignored a government decree to not rebuild close to the water again. nowhere is that more obvious than in the district of anibong, completely wiped out by the typhoon but patched back together within two months. today, it's a crowded warren of makeshift shacks, much worse than living conditions here before the storm and now sharing space with three enormous freighters still stranded on shore. for the people of anibong, the freighters are hulking symbols of the slow and uneven recovery

that they blame in large part on the government. did the government promise they would help give you a new house? >> promises, promises. >> reporter: promise, but no sign of it yet? >> yes. >> reporter: in fact, throughout the entire typhoon zone, the u.n. estimates more than one million people still living in inadequate housing, still vulnerable to the next big storm. and while people here are well aware of the danger, they say they're more immediate concern is jobs, which are in short supply for individuals and entire industries. like so many here, emily ortega and her husband haven't found work; they're still dependent on humanitarian aid. and two of this region's biggest industries were decimated by the typhoon. more than 30 million coconut trees were wiped out, affecting the livelihood of one million families who farm coconuts. it will take more than seven

years for any new trees to bear fruit. and fishermen aren't faring much better. lusanto castillo has fished these waters all his life. today, he barely catches enough to feed his family. this is all you caught today? >> only this. >> reporter: only this. lusanto says the force of the storm, the debris, the pollutants left in the water, have seriously damaged the fishing grounds. while government and humanitarian aid groups moved quickly to replace thousands of destroyed boats, fishermen say they now need bigg boats to go farther out to sea. >> ( translated ): before the typhoon, there was a variety of fish here. some could be as big as five kilos. now, we can only catch this. i guess the fish went to another place. >> coconut is in bad shape. fishing is in bad shape. >> reporter: philippine red cross chairman richard gordon has been one of the most vocal critics of the government,

saying it still hasn't done enough to rebuild or revitalize the economy in the disaster zone from the ground up. >> so, you really have to come in and let the typhoon that caused so much damage solve the problem, in terms of reconstruction skills and enterprise, so you can really wake up the economy. >> reporter: gordon also says the philippine government is not yet prepared for the next big storm, so the red cross is now stacking supplies in new warehouses around the region and sponsoring community education drills on how to respond to typhoon warnings. and with the philippine school year just beginning, this is the state of many schools in the region. more than 18,000 classrooms need to be rebuilt or repaired, so most classes are being held in temporary huts or tents. some of these children walk for

miles just to take part in school activities organized by the aid group save the children. here, 11-year-old sheila mae can enjoy the company of other children and draw pictures of what nearly everyone here lost their homes. >> it's really important that children have a safe place where they can play and learn and recover from the impact of the typhoon. >> reporter: save the children's kate nolan says the philippines still needs a great deal of help from the international community, but, as often happens months after a major disaster, money is starting to dry up as donor fatigue sets in. save the children has only raised two-thirds of the donations it says it needs for its operations here. >> people have been really generous, but unless we can continue to mobilize that longer-term support to help people to recover, typhoon haiyan could leave a devastating legacy for thousands of children and their families.

>> reporter: for emily ortega, the young mother whose child was born in the rubble of a town destroyed in the wake of the strongest typhoon ever recorded, every day with her child, her family, is a gift she never expected. but like so many other survivors, she fears her family will never again feel completely safe and secure. to learn more of life on the ground where the typhoon struck ride our producer's notebook online. join us on air and online tomorrow. how positive and negative incentives may improve your ability to reach financial goals. >> for instance, if your pro gun control you don't succeed we send the money to the nra or

vice versa. >> this is pbs "newshour weekend" saturday. >> sreenivasan: and now to our occasional feature, "viewers like you"-- your take about some of our recent work. much of what we heard was about last weekend's signature story describing how many people don't think to share their online account information with loved ones, and the consequences of that after they die. sally garza wrote us on facebook: hannah b.p. added this:

this is what we heard from karen lawrence coleman: patricia biggs had these words of advice: but jeffrey edick had his own solution:

>> sreenivasan: some late news, secretary of state john kerry called russian foreign minister today to say the united states is, quote, very concerned of evidence r evidence tampering from malasia airline flight 17 which went down in eastern ukraine. all 298 people on board died. a jury in pensacola, florida, awarded 23.6 billion dollars in punitive damages to the widow of a long time smoker who died of lung cancer. she had sued rj reynolds six years ago, the company's general counsel called the ruling, quote, far beyond the realm of reasonableness and fairness and said the company will appeal. i'm hari sreenivasan. see you tomorrow. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

>> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. er

>> the graduation recital at curtis is a pretty important event. unique in that students really give this one recital, so it is the capstone or culmination of their time here at curtis. >> the greats of tomorrow, today, on stage at curtis. ♪ >> it is the partita number two in d minor. it's one of a series of six works out wrote -- he wrote a lot of things in groups of six.