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NEWS STREAM

16 Dead In Attack That Hits UN School In Gaza; Iranians Protest Israel; The Netherlands Debates Sending Armed Security To Secure MH17 Crash Site; Google Reportedly Set To Buy Gaming Site Twitch For $1 billion; Heatwave Affecting East Asia; Are Airlines Pushing Safety Boundaries Too Far?

Aired July 25, 2014 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JIM CLANCY, HOST: I'm Jim Clancy at CNN Center, welcome everyone to News Stream where news and technology meet.

Calls for a truce intensifying after that deadly attack on a school in Gaza.

A revered holy site in Iraq reduced to rubble by ISIS.

And reports indicate Google could buy the video game streaming site Twitch for $1 billion.

Civilians caught in the crossfire as the Israel-Hamas conflict claims yet more lives. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shuttling through the

Middle East region pushing for a truce as the death toll on both sides climbs higher. But there's so far little sign of any end to the cycle of

violence.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calling for an immediate end to the bloodshed after a school being used as a UN shelter in northern Gaza was

hit on Thursday leaving 16 dead and 200 wounded. It's yet unclear who was responsible for it.

The horrific scenes of crying children who were hit by the blast, though, hammered home the point that an end to the conflict cannot come

soon enough.

Dan Rivers was at the hospital where many of the victims were treated. And we have to warn you, some of these images are hard to watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They had come here seeking refuge, but today the war came to this school. The playground,

peppered with shells, the results were devastating.

A few minutes later, we watched the first casualties arrive at the local hospital child after bloodied child.

This boy reeling in shock as doctors lost the battle to save a member of his family.

For more than 30 minutes, the ambulance crews flooded this tiny hospital with more and more victims.

They are running out of room in this triage center as ambulance after ambulance has arrived with dozens of injured people, including many

children.

One of the youngest, this six month old baby boy, Ahmed, has shrapnel in his back. There's no time for anesthetic as doctors pluck out the

fragments of metal and make room for the next patient.

Nearby, the baby's father is hysterical. The father of six tells me his family was waiting in the school playground to be evacuated by the Red

Cross when suddenly the shells rained down. He says his children were blown away like pieces of paper.

Everywhere we looked, faces contorted in pain, terrible news broken. For many, it was too much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You want to tell me that Netanyahu (inaudible) or says irresponsible things to kill the children, those women, the

children are what? They are mere what?

RIVERS: The mayhem of this day will never be forgotten by these people. For many, the injuries will be lifechanging.

Agony, too, for those yet to live theirs. By the end, the injured children were simply being treated on the floor, so great were they in

number.

And most with the same injuries -- shards of metal lacerating their tiny bodies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Multiple shrapnels.

RIVERS: Multiple shrapnels. How many children have been brought in?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Too much.

RIVERS: The price of this war is etched on each and every face here, staring blankly back in shock, the innocent victims of this relentless

conflict.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: All of Gaza this day is a front line. And let's take you there now. Karl Penhaul is standing by.

Karl, what is the situation this day as you see it?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jim, we have had F-16 fighter jets flying pretty low over Gaza this morning making a lot of

racket. We've been seeing them put out flares as well. That is presumably a tactic to try and deflect any threat that Hamas may have surface to air

missiles to deflect the heat signature so they wouldn't be hit.

Across on the border, particularly on the eastern flanks, we've heard a lot of shelling, a lot of artillery fire at some points as well. We saw

the barrel flashes, apparently tanks in some kind of battle across on the eastern side of Gaza as well.

We have also seen renewed rocket fire going out from Hamas positions along the Gaza strip, a sign that the Israeli military so far cannot

declare job done in its grand offensive. It hasn't yet managed to shut down all those militant tunnels nor destroy all those rocket launchers.

Of course, what we're also keeping a very close eye on is the controversy about who set off this explosion at that United Nations school.

It was a shelter for the displaced. We though yesterday when we heard news of this that this could be one of those defining moments that would knock

heads together and finally let the warring sides know that this could not go on when civilians were in harm's way. That hasn't been the case, the

sides have continued fighting.

This morning, the United Nations says it wants a full report into what went on. The Israeli military has told us that, yes, there was fighting

with Hamas and the Israeli military in that part of northeastern Gaza yesterday and that the Israeli military did fire at Hamas militants in the

area of the school. They're not, though, going as far as admitting responsibility for that explosion. And that is under investigation.

The United Nations insisting that it is not blaming either side just yet, but is insisting that over the last few days and weeks that both of

these warring factions have violated by the neutrality of civilians and of UN installations, Jim.

CLANCY: You know, Karl, as we look at the situation not for the first time we find some of these UN shelters caught up in the conflict. The same

was true some years back when there was another war in Gaza. It repeats itself again and again. What is different about this conflict this time?

We see Hamas is really refusing to accept a cease-fire, making some very clear demands for the minimums that it wants to see before it will accede

to that.

PENHAUL: Yeah. I was back here when there was another ground invasion by the Israelis in a confrontation with Hamas back in 2008, 2009.

This is a very different war that the militant factions are fighting this time. They are clearly much more prepared. Their tactics are clearly much

more refined.

Why? Because they're taking the fight to the Israeli military. They're continuing to burrow via their tunnels into Israeli territory to

take the fight to the Israelis on home turf. They have refined their rocket tactics. At some points, some of those rocket launchers are clearly

buried. They're going down. They're coming up. They're firing, making it very difficult for the Israelis to blast, to blow up.

And on the ground here within the Gaza Strip they're using Russian made hornet (ph) missile to take out tanks, to take out armored personnel

carriers. They're popping up behind the Israeli lines taking the fight to them, launching ambushes, hitting, running. They're very much launching an

urban guerrilla war against the Israelis trying to drag them in, trying to bog them down.

In guerrilla warfare terms, despite the fact that they're listed as an international terrorist organization, Hamas is putting up a very good

guerrilla fight. And already with a death toll of more than 30 Israeli soldiers dead, that is three times more than Hamas managed to kill during

the 2008, 2009 conflict. So something is clearly changed, a different fight altogether, Jim.

CLANCY: All right. Some perspective from Karl Penhaul this day live down there in Gaza where the fight continues. A cease-fire, may be sought,

but it is nowhere on the horizon. Thank you.

Well, ahead on News Stream more police and forensic experts going to that crash sight of a Malaysia Airlines flight 17 in eastern Ukraine. The

Dutch prime minister says he wants to make sure every single crash victim is returned home to their families.

Here one minute, gone the next: ISIS militants destroying a revered shrine believed to be the burial place of the prophet Jonah.

And anger against Israel. Muslims marching in Iran and cities around the world to protest the offensive in Gaza.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: French President Francois Hollande has nothing -- says nothing is being ruled out now in the crash of that Air Algeria plane, all

116 passengers and crew members were killed when it went down in a remote area of Mali early on Thursday.

It disappeared from radar some 50 minutes after taking off from the Ouagadougou airport, Burkina Faso's capital. It was en route to Algiers.

French security forces have located the wreckage and say they have secured the crash site itself. President Hollande says the aircrafts

flight data recorder has been recovered.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCOIS HOLLANDE, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): An investigation is underway into the cause of this tragedy. One black box

has already been found. It has been brought to Gau (ph) and it will be examined as soon as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: It is believed that it is at least 50 of the 110 passengers were French citizens.

Now the latest on the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight 17. The bodies of many of the 298 victims still have not been recovered. And there

is still tension and confusion at the crash site itself. Officials say the pro-Russian rebels who control the area are still blocking access to some

of the wreckage. This, as Australia announced today it is moving more police to Europe to join a planned international force that will provide

security in those fields surrounding where the plane went down.

The Netherlands has also said it will send at least a small contingent to that crash zone in eastern Ukraine. CNN's Saima Mohsin is live with us

at The Hague. Saima, what is happening there. What are people saying at The Hague?

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, there's been a special session of parliament here at The Hague. Prime Minister

Mark Rutte, the ministers of security and justice and foreign affairs all here in a debate all morning actually talking about what to do next.

The Democrat Party, the opposition, has called on the prime minister to change Holland's attitude towards Russia. There were some very

interesting questions being put (inaudible), the answers to which the prime minister said he will give later about whether or not to send armed police

or armed officials and military to the crash site in the Ukraine.

This is what Prime Minister Rutte had to say to us here at CNN last night.

Well, sorry, we thought we had a clip for you to listen to of Prime Minister Mark Rutte basically saying that they are preparing for military

police to go to the crash site to effectively give safety and security to the crash investigators. But what we understand now, the very latest

information is that 40 military police will be taking off from Eindhoven military base where I've been over the last couple of days to Ukraine.

They are hoping to get safe passage themselves to the crash site to provide safe passage to investigators.

The big question, Jim -- and that's what's being discussed all day here today at The Hague -- is whether or not they should be armed.

Now there's been questions including are you going to send snipers, extraordinary questions for a country like Holland who are (inaudible) for

Prime Minister Mark Rutte to have to respond to.

This is a country that works for the consensus coalition government. They want everyone on board. They're also calling on the international

community to support them. They are yet to decide whether to send armed forces to Ukraine. And of course the Ukraine, a sovereign country, there

are rules of engagement to be discussed, but so far 40 military police to board a plane from Eindhoven military base heading to Ukraine simply to

provide safety to investigators -- Jim.

CLANCY: Saima Mohsin reporting there from The Hague. The latest as it is debated what to do next amid outrage and a lot of pain and suffering

over the loss of so many lives in this.

Saima, thank you. Continue to keep us posted as to what happens there on the political front.

All right, well, the Dutch prime minister told CNN the Netherlands is sending a highly trained team to the crash site, as Saima was just

explaining. They hoped, he said, to step up the investigation.

In recent days, reporters on the ground are telling us the scene has been nearly deserted.

Let's get more from someone who is there, Phil Black.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the biggest international presence seen at MH17's crash site, the Organization for

Security and Cooperation in Europe traveling with investigators and diplomats from Malaysia and Australia. For the first time, the observer

mission looked beyond the grassy fields and pushed into a dense forest. They found small scattered pieces and this. So far it's the largest single

piece of MH17's fuselage to be discovered. Its impact was cushioned by the forest. Some of the windows are still intact.

According to the European monitors, the investigators from Australia and Malaysia are surprised by two things. Firstly, the sheer size of the

debris field and the fact that one week since the disaster there is still no exclusion zone surrounding it.

And at this site, the observers and experts closely study the front end of the cockpit. This is where emergency workers caused significant

damage a few days ago cutting into the wreckage with a high powered saw. And it's also where the metal debris is marked by numerous puncture marks,

possible signs of shrapnel damage from a mid-air explosion.

Apart from this small group moving in convoy across the crash zone, and its sometimes unfriendly militant escort, there is no one examining or

securing evidence. This, the site of a major recent air disaster is quiet. It looks abandoned. And there is no ongoing operation to find victims'

bodies among surrounding fields and farmland. That's a concern, because the monitors have found yet more evidence the original search effort was

less than thorough.

MICHAEL BOCIURKIW, SPOKESMAN, OSCE UKRAINE MISSION: Human remains for the second day in a row. We did spot some human remains.

BLACK: Again today as well.

BOCIURKIW: Yes, we did.

BLACK: One week on, international experts are on the ground in small but growing numbers. But the wreckage of MH17 is still not being treated

with the care it deserves.

Phil Black, CNN, near Harbove, eastern Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Now it's important to keep it in perspective here, because this isn't just a crash site for flight 17, this is in the heart of an

embattled region of eastern Ukraine. It is an area still under the control of the pro-Russian rebels. Some just label it for what they see it is, a

war zone. It's a place that's increasingly dangerous for journalists who face the threat of detention by separatists loyal to Moscow.

A Ukrainian freelance journalist working for CNN is now among those who have been detained. Anton Skiba was seized by gunmen outside a hotel

in Donetsk on Tuesday. The U.S. State Department is calling it a kidnapping.

For the last two days, CNN has been working behind the scenes to try to secure his release, but he remains in custody at this moment.

Ahead on News Stream, a sacred site reduced to rubble in an instant. Why this shrine was so important to Jews, to Muslims and Christians.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: The world watched in horror in Iraq as a historic holy site became a pile of dust.

That's Jonah's tomb. It's in Mosul in northern Iraq and it is now as we said nothing more than a pile of dust and bits.

Iraqi officials tell CNN ISIS militants planted explosives around the tomb and then detonated it remotely on Thursday.

The tomb was thought to be the burial site of the Prophet Jonah. It was inside a Sunni Mosque. ISIS has seized several cities in Iraq. And

it's vowing to destroy any shrine that it says is un-Islamic. Last month, militants destroyed seven Shia places of worship that were west of the city

of Mosul.

Iranians taking to the streets today protesting Israel's military offensive in Gaza. Today is International Quds Day, or Jerusalem Day.

It's observed each year on the last Friday of Ramadan.

Iran's president Hassan Rouhani urged a massive turnout to express solidarity with the Palestinians. And he's getting one. There have been

protests in some 700 Iranian towns. Iran strongly supportive of Hamas.

Let's get more now from CNN's Reza Sayah. He's in the Iranian capital Tehran. Reza, what can you tell us about the relationship between Iran and

Hamas?

We apologize. We've lost Reza on our line here. The situation is one where Iranians have long supported the Palestinian cause, but in many ways

it is seen -- Iran that is -- is seen as a country that has tried to play the Palestinian card.

Well, still to come right here on News Stream, we'll have more on the investigation into yet another aviation disaster, this time the one in the

skies over Mali.

Plus, the Malaysian jetliner shot down over Ukraine joining that longer list of passenger jets meeting a similar fate. We take a look at

one of the deadliest incidents just after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: You're watching News Stream on CNN. I'm Jim Clancy. And here are your headlines.

The UN secretary-general is calling for an urgent truce in the Israeli-Hamas conflict after a strike on a UN school in Gaza killed 16

people and wounded more than 200 others, many of them very young children. It is not yet clear who was responsible.

Two planes carrying more coffins from the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight 17 are expected to arrive in the Netherlands soon. More

than 200 body bags were transferred from the crash site in eastern Ukraine, but there remain several passengers still unaccounted for.

Authorities say ISIS militants destroyed another holy site in Iraq. That was the tomb of Jonah in Mosul. It's believed to be the burial place

of the prophet who was swallowed by a whale in both Islamic and Judeo- Christian traditions. ISIS has destroyed a number of Sunni and Shia holy places in the last month.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon says he is appalled by what has happened in Gaza at a UN shelter. But the UN says it's not yet ready to assign blame who is

exactly responsible for Thursday's horrific violence.

Ian Lee was at the hospital in Beit Hanoun as the casualties poured in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A conveyer belt of the injured and the dead. A father carries his daughter in, another, his child

out. Not much this father can do but comfort his little girl. She begs for him to stay close.

Evacuating their homes to a U.N.-run school should have meant they were safe. Instead, for this girl, she lies bleeding, shrapnel in the

shoulder. This boy scans the faces overhead, trying to make sense of what happened. An X-ray reveals shrapnel lodged in his leg.

The youngest I saw, killed. A baby barely a year old, the mortician wraps her almost as if he is gently putting her to bed.

At the U.N. school in Beit Hannon, scarred concrete reveals the point of detonation, pock marked walls show the spread of shrapnel. Hamas blames

Israel. Israel says it could have been a Hamas rocket. The U.N. says it twice asked the Israeli military for permission to evacuate the civilians.

CHRIS GUNNESS, UNRWA SPOKESPERSON: We had spent much of the day trying to organize a cause so that civilians could be evacuated. Civilians

including the staff, and that never came.

LEE: And this is the result. Over a dozen people dead and hundreds injured.

(on camera): A lot of the chaos is surrounded with not knowing. People don't know the status of their relatives. If they're injured or killed,

move by, we've got someone bringing in someone here.

This woman begs for any information about her son in law.

For others, they know exactly where their loved ones are -- the morgue.

Ian Lee, CNN, Gaza.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: All right, meantime, as we were telling you Iranians used All Quds Day to take to the streets. They were encouraged by authorities to

participate in mass rallies and they did just that. Let's try once again to go to Reza Sayah. He's in the Iranian capital Tehran.

Reza, what was the scene?

REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A very large turnout today for this rally, Jim. It's always tough to put a number of these

events. I would say at least tens of thousands of people showed up, maybe more. The Iranian government puts this event on every year, but this was

one of the largest turnouts we've seen in weeks and years. And I think -- I don't think there is any question it had a lot to do with the fact that

this year Quds Day coincided with a brutal war in Gaza where you had more than 750 people, many of them civilians and children and more than 30

Israeli soldiers killed.

Quds day started here in Iran in 1979 to show solidarity and support for the Palestinians in opposition to the Israeli leadership and their

occupation of Palestinian land. So once again today we saw a lot of anti- American chants, anti-Israeli chants. We saw Israeli and American flags go up in flames.

When you see these images and you hear these chants, they're certainly ominous, but when you talk to these individuals at the protests they'll

tell you that we don't have anything against the Jewish people. We don't want to attack Israel. We don't want war. And their solution is something

that was proposed by Iran's supreme leader earlier this week, and that solution is a proposal for a referendum in Israeli territories, Palestinian

territories. And their position is through pure demographics that favors the Arabs people will vote for one state and that state is going to be

called Palestine. And Israel, in essence, will no longer exist.

That's obviously a very unlikely scenario. But that's what Iranians called for on this Quds Day rally, a very large rally earlier today, Jim,

in downtown Tehran.

CLANCY: All right, Reza Sayah, we apologize. Our audio is not what it should be, but we thank you. Some great perspective there on the view

from Iran right now as the conflict in Gaza continues to play out without a ceasefire.

Reza Sayah, thanks.

Well, the latest now on the crash of that Air Algerie plane in Mali. It killed all 116 people who were aboard. The plane was owned by a private

Spanish company and it went down in stormy weather. But France's president says he's not ruling anything out as a cause.

Al Goodman joins us now from Madrid. A little bit more. This is a very international investigation, many different interests involved, Al.

AL GOODMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jim. 16 different nationalities among the people who were onboard. The largest

contingent 51 French. Their bodies have been recovered by French troops, which have secured the site, have recovered one black box. That's in the

hands of authorities right now.

But as to the cause, earlier this day the French transport minister in France said that he could rule out that a missile had taken down this

plane. But later, his boss, the French president Francois Hollande said that they are not ready to close any door to any line of the investigation.

Some analysts think he's being extremely cautious there. But that's what's coming out of Paris.

Now coming out of Burkina Faso's capital the prime minister there Luc-Adolphe Tiao says on his website that there is no link between the

mediation that Algeria -- remember the plane is going from Burkina Faso to Algeria, no link between the mediation the Burkina Faso and Algeria are

trying to carry out in Mali to try to put a stop to the conflict there between the government troops who are backed by the French against the

Islamist insurgents. He said there's no link in this crash to that. And he calls for continuing efforts to try to bring the conflict to a

resolution.

But what we don't know other than clearly the weather had some role, according to officials, and that the pilot radioed back and said he wanted

to change course because of adverse weather. We don't know exactly what has happened. But clearly the French troops are in control of the site,

which is quite a difference than what has happened, for instance, with the Malaysian Airlines flight over the Ukraine last week -- Jim.

CLANCY: Sure. Very different, different cases there. Al Goodman, thank you very much for continuing to monitor the situation with that

deadly crash.

Well, the Air Algerie crash came just one day after another passenger plane went down in Taiwan. And there's the investigation of course into

the downing of the Malaysia airliner as well that Al was just talking about.

Well, CNN aviation analyst Miles O'Brien joins us from Washington now. And Miles, let me begin here and ask you -- I want to focus not on MH17,

but on these other two crashes. It would appear that in both instances weather may have been involved. Where do investigators begin when they're

trying to look? How can the determine that it was the weather that might have brought a plane down?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, of course, Jim the first thing you do is you take a look at the weather conditions during the time

of the incident. Then you start looking at the tapes. What was air traffic control hearing and saying? What was the crew requesting? Did

they see big thunderstorms ahead of them? Were they trying to deviate as we've heard some of the reports right now that this crew was trying to do.

We're talking about a part of the world where there are giant thunderstorms that stretch hundreds and hundreds of kilometers. And you

don't want to fly in them, because they are the most powerful thunderstorms on Earth. And so systematically they will go through that. They will

look at the black boxes. They will take a look at the cockpit voice recorder. Was the crew discussing a storm ahead and the options they might

have had? How did the flight itself, how did the aircraft break up? All these things will go into it.

And among other things, was the weather radar system on board working?

CLANCY: Well, let's turn our focus now to Asia and that air crash in Taiwan. Stunning. I mean, it was the worst crash that they've seen in

more than a decade. And as you look at it also weather said to be a factor. The pilots, actually, were making a second landing attempt.

O'BRIEN: Yes, they were. And this is coming on the heels of a typhoon. The weather there was marginal at best -- low ceilings, low

visibility, very high wind, gusty and thunderstorms in the area. These are all things that would tell a prudent pilot maybe it's not the time to try

that approach.

Don't like to second guess and prejudge what happened there, but this was -- these were not ideal circumstances for a landing. Obviously they

had to do the missed approach and go around. A lot of things can happen in those go around. They can become disoriented. A thunderstorm creates

microbursts, could have literally knocked the airplane out of the sky. There's a whole series of events that could have occurred in that

situation, again, bad weather being the number one suspect.

CLANCY: You know, passengers ask are we putting too much confidence - - the airliners are more advanced than ever. They can weather some very, you know, heavy storms. But at the same time, are we asking too much of

technology and not exercising enough caution?

And this is just I think a view from a -- a question from a passenger's perspective.

O'BRIEN: In a word, Jim, yes. This is what's happening in aviation. As it becomes more increasingly automated, as it expands rapidly, as new

crews come in, fewer of them with that rigorous military training, which fed the airlines for so many years, there becomes a situation where we have

crews that have difficulty making seasoned decisions as you might have had in previous iterations.

So what I think what we're seeing here is the aviation industry reaching into its margin for error, if you will, the margin for safety.

And we have to ask ourselves honestly if it's growing too fast, too quickly, and if pilots are really getting the kind of training in decision

making which is so important.

And that takes us to MH17. The crew ultimately made a decision to fly over a war zone. That's part of the training process. And that's what we

need to be looking at for the airlines worldwide.

CLANCY: You know, some people would shoot right back and they would say, well, look I mean it's the airlines themselves that made the decision.

They wanted -- you know, keep their schedule at all costs. They want to continue the revenue stream, yes, but they want to show that they're

reliable and that they can deliver.

Whose call is it when it comes to the decision I'm going to fly in this weather, or I'm going to divert on that course?

O'BRIEN: Ultimately the captain, the crew should and will always have veto authority about flying into any bad weather. That's in theory.

But there is tremendous pressure no these crews to get that plane in the air and on the ground on time. That is the fact of the matter. The

airline industry is a brutally competitive business, difficult to make a buck, and the fact is that that pressure, that commercial pressure to be on

time and to not burn too much fuel will always be against safety, the two just go in opposite directions.

And so when you have pressure to meet the bottom line you're always going to have pressure to reduce the margins of safety and that's what

we're seeing.

CLANCY: Miles O'Brien, great to have you with us. Some great analysis there and some great insights into -- it's been a tough week.

Even people here in our newsroom talking about it. Three air crashes and shaking their heads, because we are not used to this. And yet we're

confronting it now. Some very good insights into that. Miles O'Brien.

Well, MH17 not the first passenger jet to be caught in the crossfire in a war. Iran Air 655 was shot down by a U.S. naval ship during the Iran-

Iraq War. Let's get some more on that from CNN's George Howell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The images we're seeing now, 298 victims of a passenger plane shot out of the sky, it's happened

before. July 3rd, 1988, what was supposed to be a short roughly 30-minute flight from Iran to Dubai ended in tragedy. Two hundred ninety innocent

passengers became victims to on going tensions in the region. Iran air flight 655 mistakenly shot down by the American Navy ship, the USS

Vincennes.

KARIM PAKRAVAN, NATIONAL IranIAN AMERICAN COUNCIL: Well, certainly, it was a shock because the Russians had just shot down Korean passenger plane

a few months before and the U.S. had never done that. So, it was shock and disbelief, certainly.

HOWELL: And just as we're seeing today, the incident back then sparked international outrage, finger-pointing and controversy, all of it directed

at the United States.

MARK GREEN: It seems likely there was an inadvertent tragic mistake. Given the circumstances, why shouldn't the United States pay reparations to

the families who have these lost ones?

ALEXANDER HAIG, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Mark, were you out there banging for reparations when our hostages were held against their will for

so many months.

HOWELL: Officials claimed the U.S. Navy ship acted in self-defense, in international waters, firing two surface-to-air missiles at what was

thought to be an enemy war plane.

GORGE H.W. BUSH, THEN-U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I'm not going to dignify with a response to the charge that we deliberately destroyed Iran Air 655.

HOWELL: Even the then-vice president and presidential candidate, George H.W. Bush, stood rigged saying, quote, "I will never apologize for

the United States. I don't care what the facts are. I'm not an apologize- for-America kind of guy."

Despite the enormous loss of civilian life, military leaders defended the action.

ADM. WILLIAM CROWE, FORMER CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: Captain Rogers acted reasonably and did what his nation expected of him, in a

defense of his ship and crew.

HOWELL: The tragedy happened at a time of heightened tensions, during the Iran-Iraq war. The USS Vincennes was then assigned to the Persian Gulf

to help support friendly shipping.

Iran condemned the attack, claiming the U.S. acted negligently in firing missiles, marking yet another negative milestone between the two

countries.

PAKRAVAN: For Iranian leaders, especially for Khomeini, it was an indication the U.S. might really openly come into war with Iran, on the

side of Iraq, and that's essentially led him to the conclusion he had to end the war.

HOWELL: Years later, the United States did agree to pay more than $60 million to the victims' families for the downing of Iran Air Flight 655,

though never fully admitting responsibility, or apologizing for what happened.

George Howell, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CLANCY: Up next right here on News Stream, Google is reportedly shelling out a billion dollars for something called Twitch. Hey, what it

that Twitch? We'll explain coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: Welcome back to News Stream where news and technology meet.

And speaking of that, reports indicate now Google is going to be buying Twitch, the video game streaming site. The deal had been rumored

for quite awhile. Now Venture Beat says Google has signed the deal to buy Twitch for, get this, $1 billion.

So, what is Twitch? I'm twitching to tell you.

Essentially it's where you watch other people play video games.

Now you can watch anything from pro-gaming competitions to someone playing their Playstation 4 at their house. Twitch says it has more than

45 million registered users.

And it's not just about watching. Twitch plays Pokeman, allowed people to play the old Gameboy game together. Players could issue commands

by typing them into the comment section of the video.

With tens of thousands of people giving commands at the same time, it got a little bit chaotic. But together they managed to finish the original

Pokeman game in just a little more than two weeks.

All right, for more on this deal, what it all means, let's bring in Nick Thompson. He's a regular contributor with us here on CNN. He's the

editor over at New Yorker.com. And he joins us from where else but New York City.

Nick, great to have you with us.

You know, I got to confess I'm not a big gamer and I really didn't know what Twitch was and my biggest question is why would I bother watching

somebody else play video games? Why is that worth a billion dollars?

NICK THOMPSON, NEW YORKER.COM: Well, the reason it's worth a billion dollars is that lots of people do it for lots of time. Twitch reports said

its average user spends something like 106 minutes a day, which is an utterly crazy figure. People who use this are obsessed .

So why would you do it? Well, I guess it's the same reason that soccer players watch professional soccer. You want to watch people who do

the thing you do doing it better. You want to watch the pros. You want to watch people who are best at it. You think about it all the time. You want

to engage with it. And that's also another reason why it's valuable to Google.

CLANCY: Well, it's Google and it has billions of dollars to invest. We know that. But what it's trying to do with this strategy? Where is it

trying to reach out and grow?

THOMPSON: Well, what it's doing is it's -- YouTube has not gone extremely well in livestreaming. YouTube has extremely well in uploaded

videos that people watch. So this is a way for YouTube to branch out.

It's also just a way for Google to make more money off of advertising. Remember, Google is essentially an advertising company. And you've got a

young people who are the folks advertisers want to watch who are very obsessive about a service and are watching it all the time. You could not

have a better market for advertising.

So, Google is going to buy the thing. It's going to integrate it with YouTube. It's presumably going to improve the search function. It's

possibly going to integrate it with Google+. It's going to integrate it with all of Google's services. Take this horde of players bring them into

the Google ecosystem and then start making money off of them. So it seems to make sense for Google.

CLANCY: 45 million users registered. Is that really a big number?

THOMPSON: Well, that is a big number, but it's not -- that's not the number that matters the most, the number is the engagement and the time

spent and also the growth trajectory. I mean, this is a company that, you know, just two years ago was very small. So Google is betting on the

trajectory and betting that that number will just increase and increase and that the amount of hours logged on the service will continue to be massive

and to grow.

CLANCY: Nicholas, what do you see in this deal that's telling us about where Google is going, what is popular, where is it -- where are we

going on the internet?

THOMPSON: Well, one thing that's happening on the Internet is that gameplay is becoming, you know, massively more interesting, right. As

computer processing powers improve, as hardware improves, as storage improves, games just get better, the possibilities for collaboration get

better. So it's one of the main forms of entertainment we have. And it's improving all the time in really interesting ways.

So the opportunities for collaboration, like that wonderful Pokemon experiment you just showed us and talked about, expand dramatically. And

Twitch is going to be at the center of that. It's going to be the center of the sort of collaborative ecosystem in which people build, play, watch,

participate, expand in games. And this is going to grow in ways we can't anticipate now.

And what Google is doing is saying, all right, there's one big player out there. We've bought it. We're going to expand. And we're going to

make a lot of money off of it.

CLANCY: Nicholas Thompson over there from the New Yorker.com. Thank you very much for joining us. Have a great day, a great Friday there in

New York.

THOMPSON: Thank you very much.

CLANCY: All right.

You're watching News Stream. And coming up straight ahead, could this be the world's greatest selfie ever? We're going to take a look at how the

British Queen is ruling over social media right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CLANCY: And the clock is inching up, just coming up to 9:00 in the evening for all of you there in Hong Kong an in Asia. And as you well know

it, you've been soaked by the rain. Well now brace for the heat.

Mari Ramos joins us from the international weather center.

It doesn't let up.

MARI RAMOS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: You know what, what happens this time of year is when it's -- and it happens to us here in Atlanta,

too, Jim, you've seen it -- where when it rains you really do feel that cool down, but when the rain goes away, the clouds part, you really begin

to feel the heat. It is, after all, summertime.

I like this picture. This is from Tokyo from -- I think it's called -- it's from Disneyland. And it's called a Disney sea festival, I believe.

And, anyway, pouring water on people, making them feel a little better, because temperatures in Tokyo went up to 35 degrees Celsius, pretty serious

stuff when you get temperatures that hot in such a big city in an area where a lot of people do not have air conditioning. Over 3,000 people were

sent to hospitals across Tokyo because of the heat.

Now it's 26 degrees, so even at night we're not cooling down sufficiently to let those buildings cool down as well. So I think this is

a big stress for people. So be extra careful.

Look at Fukuoka right now at 30 degrees, Tokyo at 26. And remember, you just said, it's almost, what, 9:00 at night across those areas. So 28

in Beijing, 30 in Shanghai this late. And it's 31 in Hong Kong after all of that rain you're still dealing with some pretty warm temperatures.

And I want to show you the forecast over the next few days. For the weekend, Tokyo again getting closer to that 35 degree mark on Saturday and

also on Sunday. And remember that these temperatures are in the shade. And even on Monday we'll still be closer to the average at 29 as you can

see here with a little bit more cloud cover.

Osaka also looking at temperatures well above the average and Beijing. Your average this time of year is closer to 30. You'll be about 37 on

Sunday. And on Monday even still looking at some very warm temperatures so no respite from the heat. Be extra careful. Drink lots of water. Take

care of those kids, elderly, anyone with any kind of health issues could really suffer when you get temperatures this warm.

We have some moisture across the northern parts of the Korean Peninsula back over toward parts of eastern China. Just a thin line of

rain. And we had some very heavy thunderstorms in Hong Kong over the last 24 hours, but those advisories have now ended.

I know you guys are wondering about the tropical problems that we could see as we head through the next few days. Right now, the joint

typhoon warning center is saying that this area of low pressure east of the Philippines looks like it has a low potential to develop into a tropical

cyclone. Either way as it moves across this area, expect some more heavy rain into that region. So not a lot of changes as we head through the next

few days, Jim, especially across east Asia.

Europe, though, very hot, very strong storms right now over London. So watch out for that. Back to you.

CLANCY: All right. Mari, thanks much. I guess a lot of people would be hoping for well a little bit of rain to cool things off.

Well, watch this, Mari, because we've now learned a winner has emerged at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Well, on social media that is. It

all started with a selfie, which doesn't seem special at all until you look closely at who is behind these hockey players -- Britain's Queen Elizabeth

grinning from ear to ear.

Now this image was retweeted 12,000 times inspiring other athletes to try to take their own selfies with The Queen in the background. Nothing,

though, has quite yet trumped this image so far.

That is News Stream, but the news continues here on CNN. Don't go anywhere, Maggie Lake and World Business Today is straight ahead.

END