Munitions and also using as a base to gather intelligence. now we re also told by by rider there that the pentagon is still assessing the number of militant casualties that actually resulted from that air strike is unclear. how many people actually died there, however, uk uk based human rights monitoring group says that there were at least eight killed as a result of that u s airstrike. but look, there were a lot of questions here about why that couldn t have been that that, um that iranian drone strike could not have been prevented right? because the point was made that these drones don t move very quickly. and that perhaps the base could have taken some measures to try to take it down before it crashed into that facility that was housing, us personnel and the question and the answer that we got from the pentagon press secretary there was that they re essentially assessing what happened here is his understanding that the radar was all operating pretty correctly. and so the question no
Draw the two countries into a conflict. the pentagon saying that there was no con ffrontation there was no communication while this confrontation. that makes us wonder if the lines of communication are opening operating properly. the u.s. is working to recover this. what is the concern that officials have if russia gets there first? it s unclear whether the u.s. will be able to recover this. we re told that there are no naval assets in the black sea at this moment that are working to recover it. the white house has said that they have taken steps to protect their equities. they would not go any further than that. but implying, essentially, they re taking steps to prevent the drone from falling into russian hands. the pentagon press secretary was asked about this yesterday, whether the russians have been themselves trying to get ahold of the drone which again fell into the black sea. they would not go there. what we re told is that they are
Him this week. we and having to be escorted away from him this week. we ask and having to be escorted away from him this week. we ask the and having to be escorted away from him this week. we ask the ohio - him this week. we ask the ohio national guard him this week. we ask the ohio national guard for him this week. we ask the 0hio| national guard for comments. listening national guard for comments. listening to national guard for comments. listening to brigadier national guard for comments. listening to brigadier general. listening to brigadier general patrick writer, the pentagon press secretary. at this point, we are going to say goodbye to our viewers on pbs in american around the world. for uk viewers, we will stay listening to this pentagon press briefing. a free and independent press. again, i a free and independent press. again, i would a free and independent press. again, i would refer to the ohio national guard i would refer to the ohio national guard about t
China s refusal to take a phone call from the pentagon after that balloon was shot down. just moments ago, the pentagon press secretary confirmed that four previous spy balloons were monitoring sensitive locations. we know that they were looking to surveil strategic sites to include some of our strategic bases in the continental united states. and joining us now from myrtle beach, south carolina, where the balloon was shot down is nbc s vaughn hillyard. vaughn, a large piece of that balloon was recovered very near where you are. it s now being analyzed, as i understand it, by an fbi lab in quantico, virginia. what more do we know? reporter: right, chris, the search area that the navy divers are currently working around is about one square mile. the navy divers are using unmanned drones, reconnaissance sonar underneath the water to try to track where this debris is. they are then bringing that debris to where we are here.
The australian tennis star nick kyrgios is due in court in canberra later, charged with an alleged assault of a former partner in 2021. and covid, vaccines, and those conspiracy theories we speak to the microsoft founder and philanthropist, bill gates. live from our studio in singapore. this is bbc news. it s newsday. hello, and welcome to the programme. we start with breaking news from the us where the defence department says it s confident a balloon spotted over montana is a surveillance platform from china. a short while ago, the pentagon press secretary brigadier general pat ryder put a statement on the us department of defence website confirming the high altitude surveillance balloon is being tracked.