Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20170523 : comparemela.com

Transcripts For KQED PBS NewsHour 20170523

Trumps visit with the pope at the vatican. I think that pope francis is going to meet President Trump, knowing he has the possibility to influence someone who can change history. Sreenivasan all that and more, on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by bnsf railway. And with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Sreenivasan britain is raising its Terror Threat level to critical, as Prime Minister theresa may warns that another attack may be imminent. She ordered the military to deploy troops tonight, after the bombing in manchester that killed 22 people. Special correspondent Natalie Powell begins our coverage. explosion oh, my god, whats going on . What just happened, whats going on . Reporter the scene in manchester last night, moments after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a crowded concert. It happened at the manchester arena, an indoor venue that seats 21,000 people. The bomb went off in the space connecting the arena and adjacent victoria train station. The attack set off a stampede, just as american pop star Ariana Grande had finished performing. We were walking out of the so i was like, we need to run, so we started running. We ran straight out the doors, all the way down to the hotel, and all i could hear was screaming, people crying. Everyone was just running everywhere, it was completely madness. People were screaming around us and pushing down the stairs to go outside, and people were falling down, girls were crying. And we saw these women being treated by paramedics. They had like, open wounds on their legs, no shoes. It was just chaos. Reporter this afternoon, Greater Manchester chief constable ian hopkins publicly identified the attacker as a briton of libyan descent. I can confirm that the man suspected of carrying out last nights atrocity is 22yearold salman abedi. Reporter hopkins also confirmed police raided two sites in manchester and arrested a man in connection with the attack. Our priority, along with the Police Counter terrorist network and our security partners, is to continue to establish whether he was acting alone or working as part of a wider network. Reporter the Islamic State group claimed responsibility today, in a statement that said one of the soldiers of the caliphate was able to place an explosive device within a gathering of the crusaders. U. S. Intelligence officials voiced doubts about the claim. In london, Prime Minister theresa may condemned the attack, the deadliest in britain since 2005. All acts of terrorism are cowardly attacks on innocent people, but this attack stands out for its appalling, sickening cowardice. Deliberately targeting innocent, defenseless children and young people, who should have been enjoying one of the most memorable nights of their lives. Reporter may also announced that campaigning for the upcoming june 8 election has been suspended. Her opponent and leader of the labour party, jeremy corbyn, also denounced the attacks. Its the most appalling act this is an appalling act of violence against people and must be totally and unreservedly and completely condemned. Reporter thousands of people turned out today for a vigil in manchester. And, at Buckingham Palace in london, Queen Elizabeth ii held a minute of silence. Condolences also came pouring in from abroad. President trump interrupted his visit to bethlehem today to address the attack. We stand in absolute solidarity with the people of the united kingdom. So many young, beautiful, innocent People Living and enjoying their lives, murdered by evil losers in life. Reporter newlyelected french president Emmanuel Macron went to the British Embassy in paris to express his gvernments sympathy and solidarity. translated what happened yesterday in manchester showed once again that terrorists have a target the free world, youth; and that we all have a deep common destiny in this regard. Reporter russian president Vladimir Putin sent his own message of condolences and said we strongly condemn this cynical, inhuman crime. We are certain its perpetrators will not escape the punishment they deserve. The u. S. Department of Homeland Security says there is no credible threat to u. S. Music venues. But, it warns, there may be increased security around Public Places and events in the days ahead. An increased Police Presence is certainly something weve seen here on the streets of manchester, but its also likely to continue, ha ri, not just here in manchester but across the u. K. , of course, with the u. K. Government now increasing the Terror Threat level to critical at its highest level. Sreenivasan natalie, weve just heard a few of the details of a couple of the victims that have come out. There have been so many victims that have been killed and injured. As more news of this is made public, whats happening to the people on the streets there . Reporter thats right, we now know, of course, that 22 people died in this attack. 59 people were injured. Among those fatalities, of course, weve, as youve said, had the names of a number of them being released, and we are expecting more in the coming hours and days. A 20yearold man was among them. The first person to be released, though, the name was an 18yearold girl georgina callander. She was a student locally. The 8yearold girl, the youngest so far to be pronounced dead, saffie rose roussos, she was attending the concert with her mother and sister. They were both taken to separate hospitals because of their injuries and it was only later they discovered of her death, of course. An 8yearold girl which really goes to show the tragedy here, but, as we were expecting frther, names and certainly ages of these, we know that a number of them were children that p perished in this attack, are likely to come out in the coming days. Sreenivasan also the role of social media, Arianna Grande has an enormous social media, probably ways people found out about this attack abu there are also opportunities for people to help through it. Reporter it was an Immediate Response from Manchester Police putting out on twitter an incident occurred. After that, interestingly, immediately people were tweeting open manchester, telling people stuck in the area, a lot of people couldnt get home and there was sheer panic telling them to come into their own homes and they would take care of them. It was similar to what we saw in paris during the bataclan and the other things that took place, trending, getting people off the streets and into homes where they would be safe. Weve also seen a Huge Movement to try to find many of the missing people using social media, using twitter and, of course, weve seen a Solidarity Movement here as well with the peace for manchester. Sreenivasan Natalie Powell joining us from manchester, thank you so much. Well return to the Manchester Attacks, after the news summary. In the days other news, the man who was running the c. I. A. Last several news organizations report that here, mr. Trump has also been represented by him over the many years. Many the man who was running the c. I. A. Last summer said he warned russia not to interfere in the u. S. President ial election. John brennan testified before the House Intelligence Committee. He said he became very worried about contacts between the russians and people involved with the Trump Campaign. Well have a full report, later in the program. The head of the Defense Intelligence agency warned, it is inevitable north korea will develop a Nuclear Missile that can reach the u. S. Mainland unless something is done to prevent it. Lieutenant general Vincent Stewart spoke at a Senate Hearing. But meanwhile, at a u. N. Conference in geneva, the u. S. Traded barbs with the north, also known as the democratic peoples republic of korea. The d. P. R. K. s selfdefensive measures to protect its dignity and vital rights, and genuine peace from the United States escalating Nuclear Threat are the legitimate rights of a sovereign state, and they are not against any new international law. The United States, as i have said many times before, is not the threat to the d. P. R. K. The biggest threat to the d. P. R. K. , to the regime, is the regime itself, and it needs to come into compliance with its international obligations, and it needs to do it now. Sreenivasan also today, south koreas military said it fired warning shots at a possible drone aircraft that flew from the north and may have crossed the border. The president of the philippines, rodrigo duterte, declared martial law today in the countrys south. It affects the island of mindanao, where muslim extremists linked to the Islamic State group have attacked marawi, a city of some 200,000. The fighting today killed at least two soldiers, a Police Officer and several militants and continued into the night. Two u. S. Astronauts aboard the International Space station were forced to make an unplanned spacewalk today for urgent repairs. Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer jack fischer replaced a broken datarelay box that operates the stations radiators, robotic equipment and solar panels. Whitson now ties the record for the most spacewalks of any american ten. She also holds the u. S. Record for the most accumulated time in space. The u. S. Government is accusing Fiat Chrysler of cheating on diesel emissions tests, just as volkswagen did. The Justice Department filed suit today, saying the auto maker used special software on more than 100,000 vehicles to get around the tests. The Company Denies wrongdoing. On wall street, stocks managed to climb for the fourth straight session. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 43 points to close near 20,938. The nasdaq rose five points, and the s p 500 added four. British actor sir roger moore, who played james bond in seven films, has died after a fight with cancer. He began as bond in 1973, but long after he moved on, his celebrity status aided him in his stint as unicef goodwill ambassador. Bond certainly gives you a financial security, a notoriety. I get media and press attention because they are curious to know why an exjames bond is working for children. Which gets them in they want to talk about bond, but i can always get the subject back onto the children. Sreenivasan the actor also had a hit tv series, the saint, in the 1960s. He was knighted in 2003. Roger moore was 89 years old. Still to come on the newshour what the Manchester Attack means for the global fight against terrorism. More from the former c. I. A. Directors testimony in the russia investigation. Deep cuts to social programs in President Trumps proposed budget, and much more. Sreenivasan as manchester mourns and British Military steps in to help with security, we turn now to what the attack says about the capabilities of terrorist groups. For that im joined by michael leiter. He was the director of the National Counterterrorism center from 2007 to 2011, during both the george w. Bush and Obama Administrations. And, alexander meleagrou hitchens, Research Director of the program on extremism at the George Washington university. Michael leiter, i want to start with you. The British Intelligence agencies seemed a little concern the name of the bomber was leaked by u. S. Officials hours before british authorities made that public. Is that significant . I think it is, hari. As an investigator, you really dont want to release information until you have a purpose in doing so, and as the british were clearly investigating other elements of this attack, or at least trying to determine whether there were additional people involved or potential followon attacks, it makes good sense those investigators might want to keep that name behind the green curtain until they found use in disclosing it. Its unfortunate that information was disclosed, but, unfortunately, in this era of 24hour news, keeping these investigates classified is obviously a challenge on both sides of the atlantic. Sreenivasan alexander meleagrouhitchens, youve studied jihadist groups in the military and elsewhere. Are you surprised by this . Unfortunately not. This has been coming for a some time. The surprised is the scale of it. The westminster attack, only four or five People Killed there, recently. We considered this to be expected in the u. K. , not on mainly europe, the access to criminal networks was not quite as easy as if mainly europe, but unfortunately the scale i think the surprise it happened, not at all because unfortunately we have been making arrests in the u. K. For a long time, stopping plots like this repeatedly, cant stop them all. Sreenivasan just two months ago, there was a stabbing attack or the aftermath we witnessed on tv. Is there a pattern here . It seemed to have escalated from that to this. I think there is clearly a pattern for i. S. I. S. Throughout western europe, and that pattern is quite different from what we saw in the late 2000s from al quaida. And i would really identify three significant changes for i. S. I. S. That are manifesting themselves in all of western europe and the u. K. First theres a pace and scale of radicalization that we really have not seen before, largely through the effective use of the internet. Secondly, the operational approach of i. S. I. S. Is so very different. Rather than largescale attacks, they are actively pursuing and pushing people to stay where they are and attack in their homes. And third the volume is overwhelming for security services, whether its the mi5 in the u. K. Or the f. B. I. Here in the United States, the volume of threats they have to face is making their jobs very difficult, and they simply cant stay on an individual target indefinitely, and that makes them make very difficult choices and, unfortunately, sometimes those choices end up not being the right ones. Sreenivasan alexander meleagrouhitchens, if you had to do a Word Association game with manchester and the u. S. , most would say football club. How did it get to be a hot bed for terrorist recruitment . The area it appears the attacker abedi came from is southern manchester, near a real hub of radicalization in the u. K. , sort of a deprived area, a lot of gang activity. Weve seen a morphing of a gang culture into a jihadist culture, at least a fusing of those two cultures. Essentially weve seen about 16 british individuals involved in some form of terrorist activity from pretty much a threemile radius. So whether or not this is relevant into the current investigation into investigation into ais not clear but i wouldnt be surprised if he was influenced by the wider network. Sreenivasan michael leiter, today the Prime Minister elevated the threat level to critical. That means it had been severe for some time. One of the attacks in paris were outside a football stadium. Are these sort of attacks almost indefensible . To some extent very regrettably, they are. Counterterrorism officials can detect and disrupt some plots and often defenses can be used to at least minimum mize what sort of casualties we have but as we saw in this attack and turkey at the airport, in brussels, the terrorists know where we have security measures, whether thats airport screening or metal detectors entering the stadium, and its not all that difficult to adjust your tactics so you can still find large collections of individuals just outside the security perimeters. You can push the security perimeters out some, but ultimately, we live in open democratic societies that are not constantly policed. So in that sense, there will always be these soft targets, and security can only move us so far. A lot of this is going to come down to not just intelligence and defense but engagement in these communities where we do have potential hot spots for radicalization. Sreenivasan alexander, i want to ask you about the engagement in communities. How does it happen a british citizen grows up there and what lures him into this ideology . One of the cliches but is largely true toward the answer of that question is every path to radicalization is unique. Everyone has unique experiences that leads them to this action but there are overarching issues. Hes the Second Generation british, and that is the most important target for rail caddizers and recruiters because these guys, generally, theyre growing up in print, have a different culture than their parents, dont relate to their parents and dont relate to

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