[♪ music ] >> hello and welcome toe al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these are the stories we're following for you. relatives of the missing waiting for word following the accident in south korea. who is responsible for a rash of highway shootings in the midwest. and the death toll of the washington state mudslide goes up.

>> in south korea rescue efforts continuing off the coast where the ferry capsized. the ship toppled with lots of students on board on its way to a resort island. helicopters rushing to the scene plucking people from the water. passengers saying they heard a loud bang and then the ships started to sink. confirming four people dead and hundreds still missing. al jazeera's harry fawcett has the latest. >> reporter: terror for the passengers as the ferry lunchedd further on its side. survivors were plucked from the rolling ship and from the water. as they come ashort the government response sister said 368 people were saved and 107 missing. >> reporter: i held a hand rail to try to get to the helicopter. water came up to my neck.

>> then for the parents who waved their children off on a school trip and they were at one stage being told that they were all being rescued. a terrible revision. officials miscalculated. 300 passages were missing. >> reporter: the announcement told us we should stay still but the ship was still sinking. there are a lot of students who didn't get out of the ship. >> reporter: as night fell fear was giving way to despair. >> do you think they are alive now? they're dead. they're all dead. we should recover them. the authorities just keep saying that search operations are under way. [ yelling ] >> reporter: we're gathered at this port, not just the emergency services but the relatives who are keeping an gisanguished vigil waiting for y news coming back from the site.

this father saying another parent received a text message from a child alive still inside the ship. we and the rest of the parents here can only hope that the coming hours will bring certainty about the fate of their loved one. investigators will be looking for answers to what caused a modern ferry in a regular route in calm waters to simply roll over and sink. >> there are major new developments concerning the crisis in ukraine. n.a.t.o. secretary bolstering forces in the state. they are there because pro russian demonstrators took control of government buildings in donesk. they are making plans for n.a.t.o. just in case. >> we will have more planes in the air more ships on the water

and more readiness on the land. for example, for aircraft over the region. allied ships will deploy to the baltic sea. the eastern mid terrainen, and elsewhere as required. >> meanwhile pro russian forces are said to be gaining ground in donesk. al jazeera is there. >> reporter: it's still not clear where they came from, but six carriers rolled in flying russian flags. they were greeted by some of the locals. ukrainian troops had to take to their side. >> the ukrainian did switch to

the people's side. you can count how many there a are. >> elsewhere protesters condition to occupy the regional government head quartered in donesk. they took over the building ten days ago and declared a people's republic 37 the people hearsay they're being incorrectly portrayed. locals want more autonomy from kiev and maintaining their demand of the referendum, and they say they will boycott collections if demands are not met. >> they have not mate demands of the authorities. this man said they are not going to open fire first. if they make the first move, it will be bad for them. ukraine's prime minister accused russia of being behind the you think rest.

>> the russian sabotage groups are creating acts of terror on ukraine. >> reporter: some troops have defected to the pro-iran side. >> two more victims have been found in oso, washington, from that deadly mudslide. the death toll standing at 39. the medical examiner trying to identify several other bodies. seven are still missing. they're working through mud that can be 75 feet deep. the sniper that held the area hostage for three weeks. the place this time is kansas city, missouri. one person was killed and another seriously injured while driving. there have been more than 20 shootings there. we're in kansas city, and are drivers there on edge?

>> reporter: del, it has been a nerve-wracking couple of weeks here. one of the most harrowing aspects of these attacks is the seemingly random selection of the targets which have kansas city drivers constantly looking over their shoulders. for the last week and a half kansas city police have been posted along highways where a rash of serial shootings have drivers on edge. >> there were two shots fired in the vehicle. >> reporter: someone open fired on chris' car on his way home. out of concern for his safety he asked us to only use his first name. >> he was going 70 mph when a window was shot in my face. >> reporter: he had embedding in his right leg. >> that's where it is it is. >> reporter: ten minutes after chris was shot just miles away tom mcfarlane was targeted. >> i know there was a vehicle over the right back shoulder.

that's where the bullet came from. >> reporter: since early march the police say there have been more than 20 highway shootings and so far investigators believe 12 of them are linked. what they won't say is if they have any information about a potential suspect, weapon or shooter's vehicle. >> it's so inconsistent with the information that we have. we don't want to suggest that we're looking for a specific thing. >> reporter: seven of the shootings took place around this inter change locally known as the grand view triangle. nearly all of the drivers targeted were shot at in the early evening hours. according to the kansas city police reports a number of vehicles appeared to come under fire from another vehicle, when highways split or using off-ramps. michael has spent 24 years with the fbi. he said there are key differences between this case and the washington, d.c. sniper shootings from 2002 where ten people were killed and residents in the nation's capitol were paralyzed with fear. >> it doesn't appear to be a sniper lying in wait.

there is a recklessness involved there. it's a little different than what we have seen, but somebody i think is trying to attract attention and get us talking to about what is happening. >> reporter: kansas city fbi and atf agent agents are now assistg with the information. a $10,000 award has been offered with information leading to an arrest. kansas drivers remain an alert while officers keep a close eye on commuters. >> when the highway is splitting or i'm leaving the highway my attention is peaked. >> reporter: it's important to know that there have been several injuries, the police have not connected fatalities. there have been no shootings reported in the grand view triage since police stepped up their presence along those highways in that area.

>> have they linked the shootings together? >> reporter: kansas city police are not saying how they've linked these cases together. law enforcement experts say it most likely has to do with the shell casings they've recovered from these vehicles and linking them based on that evidence. again, the police are being very careful about releasing how they have linked these 12 cases that they have so far. >> ash har quaraishi for us. thank you very much. police saying victor bernard is facing 59 counts of sexual abuse those accusations coming from two women who say they were attacked when they were mine mi. he picked them as positions of around. he called them "maidens." they've issued a nationwide warrant.

robert ray is in new orleans with one couple's success story. part of our series, homeless in america. >> reporter: new orleans is a city that understands what it means to be homeless. >> it's pretty hard, depressing. >> reporter: hurricane katrina's floodwaters submerged about 80% of the city leaving thousands without shelter. you can see these tents where homeless people live under a major bridge here in new orleans. now chronic homelessness has been a challenge in the city. after hurricane katrina the numbers went up and the issue more prevalent. >> we didn't have anything more than a cardboard box. and we slept underneath a tree. >> reporter: new orleans is the only home that they've ever known. married for 14 years the couple has fought through cancer and sub senssubstance abuse and surn

a makeshift camp afte after kat. >> sometimes we had to walk through spots where we smelt nothing buri but urine. >> reporter: today they're living in this home for six years with the support of a non-profit unity coalition of new orleans, who says they can eliminate the problem here by 2015. >> over the last four years under the leadership of unity primarily, we've been able to house 2500 chronically homeless people. that's a lot of people. that's why our numbers have gone down. >> reporter: a chronically homeless individual is someone who has experienced homelessness for a year or longer, or who has had four episodes of homelessness over the last three years and has a disability. >> the solution around the country is support of houses.

not just shelters and hope that it all goes away. >> reporter: because of new orleans, the number across the country has declined by 25% since 2007. that according to the department of housing and urban development. >> the programs work. they do work. but you have to have the resolve to do it. >> reporter: wayne and julie are leading by example. helping to guide those still sleeping under bridges, street corners, people with mental and physical disabilities. >> to have no more homeless, that's our hope. >> reporter: al jazeera, new orleans. >> meanwhile about 1 million people in britain now get their food from food banks. with easter approaching the religious community is weighing in accusing the government of turning a deaf ear to the poor. >> reporter: holly appears to be a business woman and said she has never wanted hands outside by anyone, certainly the

government. but she had to shut her shop down for a month when her had daughter game ill and had to go to the hospital. when they got home they had no food in the fridge and not a penny to buy anything. now they have to go to the food bank after raiding her daughter's money jar for a few coins to buy some milk. >> we're not what people expect. we're not drug addicts. we're not alcoholics. we're not in this situation because we've lived this amazing life. we've got it because it is the way it is. >> reporter: holly lives on england's south coast. it's posh here with a capital "p." here as elsewhere, the food bank has never been busier. of course the government can point to a whole slew of statistics that say life in britain is genuinely getting better. some of the fastest growth rates

iin the industrialized world wih wages up, inflation down. it is clear there is an entire layer of society, 1 million people deep, who simply can't afford the basics. they now have 30,000 volunteers at some 400 food banks around the country has come up with startling figures on food bank use. in 2010 over 61,000 were asking for emergency rations. the following year that doubles and the year after that nearly tripled, and last year it almost tripled again to virtually 1 million people. >> for many of these families they can be just an unexpected bill being away from a crisis. as bills continue to rise so too things are going to get more difficult for many of these families as we go through 2014. >> now 40 senior anglican bishops have used the easter

week to write to the government to express their anger. >> when i think of jesus and the sorts of things that jesus did and stood for and encouraged his followers to do, he talked about the good samaritan, someone who does what they can for real people as well as just coming up with great ideas of things that other people ought to do. >> a couple of days ago prime minister david cameron felt that he was doing jesus' work, while many in the church feel they lack when helping the poor. >> the numbers are getting better, except for one state where poverty is playing a role.

>> unfortunately, the whereabouts of the 100 or so girls kidnapped remain unknown. ththey have mounted a manhunt fr the assailants. there are eyewitness accounts 10 or 15 of the girls abducted they did escape. they were driven away from their school into the bush. they ran into the bush, and were able to give information to the authorities about what happened describing their assailants as masked men. no group has claimed responsibility of the attack, but it looks like the work of boka haram, the group behind bombings in the area, the group that believes western education

is wrong. we've seen attacks but we've never seen on this scale of mass abduction. >> the war of literacy focuses on countries of how well we read and write, that includes the u.s. we go to mississippi, the state with the biggest problem. >> reporter: sometimes the best thing to do for children's literacy is a kind of first aid. before she can teach the toddlers to read, she has to take on the crippling hardships they bring with them. >> i had a father tell me, he say, i actually don't know how to be a father. he said because i don't come with a manual. so what i see is we nope help.

>> reporter: a report by the n.e.e. casey ranked mississippi last in literacy along with new mexico. a few places have it worse than moorhead. across the u.s. literacy has been on the rise, but the gap between rich and poor keeps getting wider, and that hits especially wide in the mississippi delta, the poorest part of the nation's poorest state. >> they say if you can take the delta out of mississippi the numbers would go way up from what you're saying, and that is true. >> reporter: for some strong parenting overcomes poverty. librarian is putting her daughter through college and enrolled her son into a reading program at three months. >> learning to read and becoming educated at an early age is crucial because it gets our people out of their cycle of poverty. >> reporter: for others there

are some state programs. april runs mississippi building blocks a state agency aimed at preschoolers in daycare centers. >> children at that age are a sponge and they soak up everything that you give them. >> reporter: the program has lifted reading rates but operates in just a few dozen of the state's 17 hyundai care centers on a budget of $3 million. 1% of the state's budget for prisons. for the rest of the state parents can hope for someone like celia ward. >> you play your bills, and there is nothing left. what do you do? >> reporter: but the strain is showing. al jazeera, moorhead, mississippi. >> coming up on al jazeera

america. this is the home of the cougars, washington state university, but the second most popular wild animal on campus might be the bears. grizzly bears and obesity research. that story is just ahead. well it's official...

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>> welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these are your headlines this hour. thousands of folks in helicopters are searching for passengers of a ferry in south korea. south korea's government confirming four passengers are dead and hundreds are still missing. n.a.t.o. beefing up its forces to protect allies in the baltic states as tanks with russian flags roll through the streets of ukraine. and the death toll stand at 39, the medical examiner still trying to identify three other bodies in oso. washington. it seems that we can learn a

lot from bears. how they sleep, eat, and why we get fat. just like us bears like to eat a lot right before they go to bed. >> reporter: the size, the claws, the voice. all make it very clear these are no lab rats. >> they're definitely grizzly bears. we try not to forget that. >> reporter: that difference is one of the things that makes these 500-pound to 750-pound bears so valuable as research animals. their genetics and physiology is so much similar to ours than rodent physiology and geneticsen dr. lynn nelson has worked with these grizzlies for 12 years. some born and raised here have been trained since birth to play along you, offering their legs as they some up honey water.

>> we can take their blood pressure on this leg from the same position. >> reporter: they don't seem bothered by it. >> no, not at all. >> reporter: now nelson is teaming up with kevin corbett, a researcher can a pharmaceutical company. >> reporter: they're paying $850,000 to study l una and the other bears hoping for breakthroughs in obesity drugs. it is a rare and challenging partnership between business and academia with potential profits from studies done at a public university. >> they have brain power and ideas. we have the drug know how and the resources. we need to get these entities to come together. >> reporter: they're not testing new drugs on these animals but measuring fat deposits, heart rate, blood pressure and physiological data to figure out how grizzlies gain and lose all those weight in ways that would

kill or sicken us as bears prepare for hibernation and sleep all winter and wake up in the spring. >> every year these bears get massively obese. they put on all fat and they do it in such a way that does not make them sick. one morning they wake up and decide they're not hungry any more. how do they do that? >> the hibernation is extreme metabolism that we don't do. >> reporter: this is a four-year study about obesity, but they're hoping if all goes well to have products on store shelves from results of this study by the early 2020's. >> nature has dealt with all human health problems. we have to find the right things. >> reporter: beyond the obesity study, researchers find bears as partners for treatment in heart disease, kidney disease,

diabetes and more. al jazeera, washington. >> meteorologist: well good afternoon to you all. it's a cold day across the northeast, and that's cold is going to the southeast all compliments from this front that pushed offshore through the over night hours. in maine we saw up to three inches of snow. there will be a great deal of sunshine but don't be deceived it will be chilly out there. now across portions of the midwest we have a system making it's way further to the east, and that is going to bring quite a bit of snow as we head into tonight. temperatures between today and yesterday, 30 to 40 degrees below where they were this time yesterday. albany, 41, 48 degrees in new york city. the snow will continue to push from the east. portions of wisconsin, back towards minneapolis where

visibility is diminished to .2 of a mile on i-35. >> thank you for watching al jazeera america. i'm del walters. fault lines is next. >> nogales, arizona. a bus has arrived filled with people being deported from the united states. >> right now we're headed to san juan bosco, a shelter here in nogales where the mexican immigration authorities have picked the people who were just deported, they take them there so they have a place to stay on their first night back in mexico.