means a slower speed. i'm don lemon. thank you so much for joining us. make sure you stay tuned to cnn for any update on the search for flight 370. tune in 4:00 a.m. tomorrow early >> we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. coming up this monday at the beginning of a new week, the search intensifies. australia's prime minister says there's no time limit in the hunt for malaysiana airlines flight 370. >> challenges are considerable, but let's not underestimate the good will. everyone wants to get to the bottom of this mystery. >> rising tensions. north and south korea trade artillery fire over a disputed sea border. no breakthrough. u.s. and russian diplomats hold

hours of discussions can you remain deadlocked on the ukraine. the u.n. says climate change is already impacting people around the globe, and the worst may be still to come. australia's prime minister says the magnitude of the search is increasing, not decreasing. >> that's right. we're talking about tony abbott. he says as many as 20 planes and ships are looking for flight 370, and more aircraft will be added tuesday. joining the search will be a special u.s. pinger locater. this is designed to find flight recorders beneath the ocean surface. right now that locater is expected to set sail for an australian ship about three hours from now. >> over the weekend, some objects were retrieved from the southern indian ocean, but none

has within positively linked to the passenger jet. and chinese relatives of some of the airliner's occupants have gone to kuala lumpur demanding answers. >> our atika is live in perth, australia, and jim clancy is live in kuala lumpur. atika, you spoke with the australian prime minister today. i'm just curious, why did he feel the need to hold a press conference, even though nothing new has been found? >> reporter: nothing new has been found, but this is an extraordinary search operation. never seen anything like it. australia is coordinating not just the search but also the investigation, so it has a pivotal role here. i asked him, we're nearly four

weeks in and still no sign of the plane. he said that australia is working on the best information it can get, and that will continue to ramp up efforts to look for the plane. take a look at what he had to say. >> challenges are considerable, but let's not underestimate the good will. everyone wants to get to the bottom of this mystery. everyone is united in their common grief, in their common anxiety to resolve this. i don't think we've got a whole lot of competing national pride at stake here. i think we've got at stake here a whole of people who just want to solve the problem. >> reporter: you can see what a multinational effort it is just by the different planes and ships involved. a korean c-130 and malaysian c-130 are expected to land in two or three hours from now. they've got at least ten planes up in the air today.

australi australian, new zealand, china, just some of the participating countries. and also a number of ships, many from china. this is the biggest day of operations we've seen so far. ten planes up in the air, ten ships patrolling the seas. what they're looking for are those objects sighted by the satellites and planes. the ships are hoping to basically find one of these objects, haul it on board, check it out, see whether or not it comes from the plane. so far, however, we haven't had any confirmation yet. >> prime minister abbott said this weekend, considering how many different nations are involved, and you've got ships and planes, any debris that is found needs to be collected and gathered in perth. the plan is to maintain this places a the hq of operations and if debris is found, rebuild

the plane piece by piece. >> reporter: that's what investigators do. in this case, free mantle, the port here in perth, will become the base of operations where ships are coming in, bringing what they can find. they're going to try to piece the plane back together. the most pivotal part of that search will be finding the flight data recorder, but at this point, they haven't found a single part of the plane. so they don't even know where to work. >> rosemary? >> let's go next to our jim collapse clancy. jim, we heard from the australian prime minister. how are his comments going down with the relative there is in kuala lumpur? >> reporter: relatives want to hear that message, no doubt about that, rosemary. they pleaded with the acting transport minister here yesterday in kuala lumpur. they held a buddhist prayer

service today for an hour or more. then the families came out with more demands. they want this plane found. they want their relatives returned safely if that's at all possible. while that seems to be asking for almost a miracle, the officials here in kuala lumpur are trying not to completely dash that dream. but frankly many of them believe it is a dream. it's not going to be reality. so many days after this plane disappeared off the radar here. there are charges too coming from the chinese family of wrong doing by the malaysians saying there were criminal acts. the criminal act of not beginning the search in the indian ocean a week earlier. but all of the countries in the region really share some of the responsibility for what was a slow response time. when it was asked they give up their radar records to locate where this plane went, they were

very slow in doing so. the chinese reacted slowly when the plane didn't appear on its own flight radar as it was scheduled to do. but all of the pressure is really falling on the malaysians here. they're feeling that pressure coming not only from the families of the chinese passengers, but from malaysian families, as well. although the malaysian families are not as outspoken, not nearly as bitter towards their government. >> jim, you mentioned how slow it was in the initial stages but as we look at the investigation there in kuala lumpur, it's moving so very slowly, as well. is there any new information coming out? >> reporter: when there are no facts, it's impossible to assess them. and in this case, there are no facts to tell us what happened in the cockpit. yes, there are other radar records. yes, there is some evidence that the plane left the air space here before it got to vietnam

very, very quickly, within 90 minutes after takeoff. but it doesn't answer the myriad of questions right now. we see that once again they're going back over the passenger list, perhaps a crew list. there's talk of getting stop of the secret services of the world, like the mi-6, the cia involved, just to be more thorough. but that passenger manifest has been cleared multiple times now. people are not finding an obvious link to terrorism. they've been through the records of the pilots, through that flight simulator that the captain had. no solid indications of foul play anywhere. that only makes this mystery deeper and the job ahead for the investigators that much tougher. rosemary? >> nothing concrete to go on at all. jim clancy reporting there from kuala lumpur. >> we are going to have a lot more on flight 370 later in the program, specifically on that

pinger locater from the states. but at this moment, we turn to a developing story off the korean peninsula, where north and south korea have traded fire across a disputed sea border. andrew salmon joins us now from seoul with more on this. first, what can you tell us about this trading of fire and the situation in the waters there? >> reporter: yeah, okay. apparently what happened this morning, north korea announced it will be holding test firing drills, firing artillery into the sea, close to this disputed maritime border, which is the tensest part of the korean peninsula. it's been the scene of fatal ea incidents several times. the north koreans did fire, but some of their shells landed in south korean waters. the south koreans who maintain

artillery close to the coast, responded with their own fire, but didn't fire directly at north korea. they were firing into the sea as a retaliatory strike. but as far as we're aware, no damage or casualty. but this does race tensions in the region at the most dangerous time of the year. spring is the time when the south koreans and the americans conduct joint military drills, a very sensitive issue for the north koreans, who have been firing a barrage of missiles, talking about a new nuclear test. so appeared to be responding to these annual u.s.-south korean drills. >> i know it's always difficult to know what's happening in north korea. but what do you make of this unfolding? north korea did announce to hold these drills, which in itself is unusual. but is it north korea flexing some muscle here?

>> reporter: i think you have to look at two things. the north korean leadership have a domestic audience to play to and an international audience. they want to unify their people and show there's an outside threat, which they can respond to. to the international community, they have to show their relevance, they're a decrepit nation, they have no real political or diplomatic power. the only relevance they have is as a military force. when the time comes, when washington and seoul conduct these military exercises, they tend to respond in kind. >> so they're flexing what they have when they don't have much. andrew salmon from seoul, thank you very much. we want to look at some other news now. >> france's ruling socialist party is facing major losses after sunday's second round of municipal elections. the french president could shake up his cabinet as a result of this.

polls show the left has lost control of dozens of towns with the far right national front taking at least 11 towns. >> the turkish prime minister is declaring victory in sunday's nationwide municipal elections. results are not yet final. the prime minister was not a candidate in the elections but the voting is widely seen as a referendum on his government. an outbreak of ebola has broken out in south africa. an estimated 70 people have died. senegal is closing its border to prevent the disease from spreading. we're going to take a short break. just ahead, a high level diplomatic push to ease tensions in ukraine. >> after the break, we'll show you what happened when the top diplomats from russia and the

u.s. met in paris. the u.n. warns the world is not prepared for climate change. beautiful day in baltimore where most people probably know that geico could save them money on car insurance, right? you see the thing is geico, well, could help them save on boat insurance too. hey! okay...i'm ready to come in now. hello? i'm trying my best. seriously, i'm...i'm serious. request to come ashore. geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance.

russia foreign minister serge lavrov met with u.s. secretary of state john kerry to find ways to ease tensions in ukraine. both sides shared ideas but came away from the four-hour meeting in paris without any concrete agreement. kerry said it was an effort to diffuse tensions, but added that russia's massing of troops near its border with ukraine was hurting negotiations. listen. >> any real progress in ukraine must include a pullback of the very large russian force that is currently massing along

ukraine's boarders. and tonight, i raised with the foreign minister our strong concern about these forces. we believe that these forces are creating a climate of fear and intimidation. >> translator: we expressed different views about the causes of this crisis. but nevertheless, we agreed that we need to search for points of common ground to find a diplomatic settlement of the situation in the interest of the ukrainian people. >> as we mentioned, ukraine said tens of thousands of russian troops are massed on its border with russia. as karl penhaul reports, many average ukrainians are praying for peace, but bracing for war. >> reporter: faith that they can avoid a war with the russians. but just in case, a little prayer. this church sits on ukraine's eastern border. its priest, once an officer in the soviet army, can't believe

his old comrades will invade. but if they do, he's telling his flock to stand and fight. >> translator: i will preach to defend our homeland of any invader. this is the land of our grandfathers. if they need me, i'm ready to join them to protect our homeland. >> reporter: he's brought his 3-year-old grandson alexi for communion. sop igor is an army reservist. if conflict comes, he'll be on the front line. >> translator: every mother worries when her son is mobilized. we understand our young men have to protect the homeland. it's painful that our sops must go to war in the 21st century. so we're praying for peace. >> reporter: but faith does not only lie in divine hands. in a nearby potato field, ukraine troops man a mobile radar station. the command is not authorized to

speak on camera, but tells me they've been tracking a huge buildup of russian troops just over the border. he says they've also spotted tanks, attack helicopters and even missile batteries. at a border checkpoint, ukrainian guards shrug off the threat of war, but a fallback plan seems to be in place. the russian border is just a few hundred yards away and we've come across this, a series of recently dug defensive positions, including this trench. but right now there's no sign of any ukrainian troops. the farmland is classic tank terrain. the villages say their best chance would be deep in the swamps, where their grandfathers, known as partisans, were guerrillas during world war ii. we've just been stopped by the border guard. they told us that is a closed military area and we have no

authorizatio to be there, so they're escorting us out. if things do turn bad, the father and other villagers believe they have two tactical advantages over the russians. >> translator: we know the forest and swamps like the back of our hand. it will be be hard to fight us. god is on our side. >> reporter: even so, the mood here is somber. mothers afraid they may lose their sons. ukrainians they may have to battle old neighbors. karl penhaul, cnn, on the ukrainian-russian border. >> and we turn now to a pair of court decisions against some former world leaders. in the past hour, a court in israel convicted former prime

minister olmert of bribery. and in pakistan, the court indicted former president musharraf for treason. the charges go back to when he was trying to extend his term as president in 2007. if convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison or face the death penalty. >> very serious charges there. the u.n. says make no mistake, global warming poses an increasingly clear threat. >> but it says there is a chance right now to reduce that danger. the details just ahead.

welcome back to cnn newsroom. the world's opportunity to diminish the impact from climate change is slipping away. that's according to a new report

from a u.n. panel. it's urging governments to reduce pollution causing carbon dioxide emissions before it's too late. 2013 was a year of extremes. australia baked in 40 degree temperatures, the hottest year on record down under. in europe, it was the rain setting records. overflowing river banks and causing billions of dollars in damages. and then there was the devastating typhoon that tore through the fiphilippines claimg 6,000 lives. climate change is now felt the world over, according to a new report released by the u.n. panel on climate change. the report also looks ahead, predicting big problems, a primary concern, agriculture,

access to drinking water and the effects of extreme water. temperature increases of just four degrees celsius, combined with more hungry people, would pose a great risk to food security. major crops like wheat, rice and maize, and the tropical temperature regions in which they grow are at risk. what is try is likely to get dryer. and what is wet, wetter. drought conditions leading to shortages in drinking water. the coastal and low-lying parts of the globe, storm surges, a rise in sea level and flooding pose tremendous risks. damage to coral reefs, melting glaciers and possible extinction of species unable to adapt are also very real possibilities if action is not taken. but the report is also tasked with finding solutions. >> it looks at ways we can combine adaptation,

transformation of society in an effort that can really help us build a world that's not only better prepared to deal with climate change but is fundamentally a better world. >> and in a few minutes we'll talk with the lead author of the u.n. panel report on climate change. he'll tell us about the risks and what can be done. >> although the weather has been cooperative today in the search for the missing flight 370. storms may impact the region come tuesday. we have the latest on that. tuesday will be key, because by then, this u.s. pinger locater should be out on the waters. what kind of conditions will it face? >> this time of year, typically two days a week you get major storms in this region that have the potential impact to slow the search down, perhaps cancel the search. the next storm system going to reduce visibility. so going to be easier to see on the water.

i want to take you through tomorrow afternoon, pause it for around 2:00 in the afternoon local time. about 80% of the search area, thunderstorms in the region. we fast forward from tuesday on into wednesday. a little bit improvement. some pockets of clearing and another band of active weather pushes in, that being wednesday afternoon. so the next few days, potentially two major storms that can role through this region and cause problems for the searchers across this portion of the world. we know based on the drift pattern and the currents in this region, if there is debris, it will end up on the west coast of australia. notice the rainfall going to be extensive on the eastern side of the search zone. that's about three inches of rainfall over the next two days across the region. so a lot of rain and reduced visibility. you take a look, this is what

happened. when the mission was aborted thursday afternoon, and prior to that, low visibility was a major issue out there. no matter how much technology you have, the visual perspective, the visibility will be reduced also. >> thank you very much. if searchers do find the flight recorders of the missing malaysian airliner, will they be in good enough shape for the investigators to examine? we'll bring that story to you straight ahead. >> big question. plus, turkey's prime minister was not on the ballot in sunday's municipal elections, but he's still claiming victory. we'll show you why. the day we rescued riley was a truly amazing day. he was a matted mess in a small cage. so that was our first task, was getting him to wellness. without angie's list, i don't know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. from contractors and doctors to dog sitters and landscapers,

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welcome back. you are watching cnn newsroom. and i'm rosemary church. >> thanks for being with us. here are some of the stories we're following. north and south korea have exchanged artillery fire. north korea conducted live fire exercises off its western coast on monday. some of the shells landed in waters claimed by south korea. the south fired back into the water. u.s. secretary of state john kerry and russian foreign minister lavrov met in paris on sunday. both sides offered proposals to

deescalate the situation in ukraine. a newly released u.n. report says climate change is now being felt the world over and warns there could be major consequences, including less fresh water available, diminishing land, and possible species extinction. the report urges governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to reduce the risks before it's too late. as the search for malaysian airlines flight 370 ramps up, a cnn team is in a vessel that will be following the ocean shield. that's an australia shield with a blax box detecter that will deploy to the indian ocean search zone. cnn's walt ripley joins us now live. so we know that the pinger

locater is critical. and of course capable of picking up these black boxes, but not until the search area can be reduced significantly in size and that hasn't happened yet. so why is the ship being deployed at this time. is there something we don't know perhaps? >> reporter: they're deploying it because the clock is ticking. we have maybe a week, maybe a week and a half of battery life left in those two vital recording of pieces of equipment, which are the pieces of equipment that will provide some of the answers, we hope, to what happened on board flight 370. and they're presumably, according to all the data, they're sitting somewhere in the indian ocean. and with the search area now the size of poland and equipment that can only detect a ping within a mile radius, that's a big challenge. so we need to narrow down the search area to detect it. we have new information that we just received about the ocean shield, which is on the other

side of my shoulder here. the ship keeps moving in the current here. but that's garden island behind me. sterling naval base there. the ocean shield is the red ship behind me. it will be departing at 6:00 local time. so it will be just a few hours from now. it's going to sail a few miles that way where they'll be testing out the equipment on board to make sure it works okay. that will happen in the evening hours here. if those tests go as planned, if things are going smoothly, the ship will begin deploying overnight towards the indian ocean. the ship can sail 24-7, it will take about three days to get to the search area, where they'll be on stand by for when we locate a debris field. until we do that, even though we have high tech equipment, lit serve mostly as just one of the other search ships looking for debris that's floating on the surface of the indian ocean.

>> so it will set off in about 2 1/2 hours or so. and it had been delayed for some hours. talk to us about what needed to be done in that time, why it wasn't ready to set off. >> reporter: so the ship arrived from sidney over the weekend, over the past couple of days. they've been outfittng it for this equipment that came in from the united states navy. the pinger locater, which will basically serve as a giant underwater microphone listening for the pings from the data recorders. and also what's called the blue pin, an underwater drone that will scan the ocean floor for debris. both pieces of equipment need an a-frame, welded together properly. the sea conditions are lovely, we have about 100 feet deep, that's the depth of the water here. but in the search area, it's 14,000 feet deep, sometimes

waves can be several stories high. so they need to make sure everything is held together correctly here. because you don't want it falling apart in the high seas. >> will ripley standing by there, ready to shadow the ocean shield, which has the black box locaters on board. we have to reduce that search zone before it can each get started. many thanks to you, will. >> if and when those so-called black boxes are recovered, the investigation will shift to washington, d.c. and some of the top aviation experts in the world. athena jones has that part of the story. >> this is one of the more advanced labs in the world. for that reason, that's why we tend to help other countries. >> reporter: here at the national transportation safety board laboratory, what it takes to get information from the black boxes is demonstrated. this is what the pinging of one of the data recorders sounds

like once it's made contact with water. even after a prolonged period in saltwater, data is still retrievable. >> we've had a good success rate with recovery. all of the recorders go through different stresses, but overall, we've had a very good success rate. >> have you ever not gotten data in a recovery in water? >> i can't think of one. >> reporter: recorders found in saltwater are first bathed in fresh water, then taken apart to reveal the memory card. even a damaged card can be useful. >> the data does jump from chip to chip. so each if you have one corrupt chip because it has cracked or gotten some sort of corrosion on it, we still should be able to build the information back. >> reporter: information from the flight data recorder's memory card is downloaded on a computer system where a team makes sense of the data.

to us, it looks like zeros and ones. >> we get information from the manufacturer of the aircraft that has a data map, and that map translates all the zeros and ones into actual parameters. >> reporter: for the cockpit voice recorder, a team of six to eight people transcribes the devices, which picks up voices, to a door opening or a seat shifting. the work is difficult but key to understanding what went wrong in airline disasters. >> we want to make sure it never happens again. >> reporter: the director of this lab said it's incredibly rare to come across a black box too damaged to be able to access the data. and it's not water, but a high intensity, high duration fire that's most likely to make that informationer retrievable. athena jones, cnn, washington. >> cnn will continue to cover every twist and turn about this mystery. should you be away from the television, go to our website,

we have complete coverage there. the status of the investigation, of course, we pose some of the big questions you can find that at any time at cnn.com/international. in other news, two spanish journalists who were held in syria are back home. they arrived in madrid on sunday after being kidnapped near the turkish border in september. they had made several trips to the war torn country often together. and both had been abducted before, one in syria. turkey's prime minister celebrating after an impressive showing in local elections for his ruling party. and he has a warning for his opponents. apparently they will pay for trying to drag him down with corruption allegations. here's a bit of his victory speech. >> translator: in this new period, turkey needles a new opposition, but will embrace its people just like the ruling party. turkey doesn't need an opposition that encourages

polarization, but an opposition that will speak the same language as 77 million. >> many saw these elections as a referendum. ivan watson has more. >> reporter: the results are in. and in the words of the prime minister, he just delivered an ottoman slap to his opponents. candidates from his ruling party won by a comfortable margin, improving on an electoral winning streak he has enjoyed since 2002. this was the first time turks have gone to the tolls since protests erupted in istanbul last summer and since police launched a corruption shun that implicated top officials in his cabinet. >> translator: this election

determines the future of turkey. we must stand strong. we must stand straight. we must stand big. for that reason, the party must always win. >> reporter: voters cast ballots on sunday for the mayors of turkish cities and up tos. but it felt like far more was at stake here. >> look how closely the vote count is being scrutinized in this polling station. there are far more election observers than you would expect in what's supposed to be local election. the mood in these polling stations is rather tense. >> reporter: some election observers, ordinary voters, worried about cheating. have you ever watched a vote count before? >> no, first time. this is first. first one. >> reporter: why this time? >> because our freedom is in danger, i guess.

and i'm really afraid. >> reporter: in the last week and a half, the government has shut down twitter and youtube, and some fear the prime minister's crackdown could now go further. >> that's the question all of us will focus on. he's been saying throughout the campaign this was a referndum for himself, for his party. but what turkey needs after the elections is reconciliation rather than the kind of crackdown that some people feared. >> reporter: the most popular politician in turkey says he wants to be a leader for the entire turkish population. the question some are now asking, how will this prime minister now treat the millions of turks who voted against him? ivan watson, cnn, istanbul. >> all right. we're going to take a quick break right now. just ahead, record heat,

catastrophic storms, a new u.n. report says the impact from climate change is already here. the lead author of that report will join us here on cnn ahead. he'll tell us most importantly what can be done to reduce the dangers. plus, facebook wants to bring the internet to the world's most remote areas. how it plans to do it, after the break.

the death toll from this month's landslide of the u.s. state of washington has risen by 3 to 21. another four bodies have been found, but not yet recovered. it was more than a week ago when a wall of mud smashed into a town in northern washington. 30 people are still reported missing. the united nations says time's running out to reduce the effects of climate change. a u.n. panel says changes in the climate are already affecting

every part of the planet. it says if action is not taken, diminished water supplies, increased storm surges, rising sea levels and flooding will pose serious risks. >> neil ager is the lead author of the report by the u.n. panel on climate change and i spoke to him. neil, thank you for talking with us. of course, we have all witnessed extreme weather conditions across the globe. your report predicts some massive problems ahead. what are the biggest threats due to climate change do you think? >> this report says first of all that climate change is already here. we're actually already seeing climate change, the impacts and we can detect them all around the world and see that in the natural world, on water, on ice, on plants and animals. so we have really good evidence that this is now starting to bite. but going forward, the risks and

how we will experience climate change is through extreme weather. that's one of the biggest impacts on society, through drought and heat waves and those things. >> how much is attributable to human activity and how much is simply the natural progression of change in the climate for our planet? >> this report is very clear. it's unequivocal that the climate change that we're experiencing and having impacts in the natural world is the predominant cause is by humans. going forward, now that we have established that, the risks are likely to be greater going forward.

>> so the big question, what action do we as human beings need to take right now as you're pressing the panic button clearly, what do we need to do? what are the solutions here? >> this report, again, is really focused on solutions. we're very realistic and the report draws in evidence from all around the world that faced with these risks, the great thing about humans and that distingishes us from the other species is the ability to anticipate and do something about it. so we are facing a changing climate. so we're already beginning to do things about it. water management and flood management and public health and i think there is so much experience that can be learned from and so many opportunities to take. but we really do need to take these opportunities, because whatever happens we're tfacing

changing climate. >> it looks like asia is at greatest risk right now. is there a part of the world, a particular nation that is an example to the rest of us perhaps to show us how this can be done, how we can solve this? >> in our report, we highlight that the impacts of climate change are universal. they're being felt in every part of the world. of course, there's some fantastic best practices. various parts of the private sector, the insurance industry knows these risks. we know that we can really do fantastic coastal defenses, coastal planning. make sure that we don't exacerbate these risks by the decisions we're taking. i think both the private and public sectors around the world are beginning to wake up to this. >> neil, many thanks for your warnings to all of us. we appreciate it. >> for those in the united

states, today is the deadline to sign up for health insurance under the affordable care law also known as obamacare. those that don't enroll may face a penalty. 24% of those who have enrolled are between the age of 18 and 34. that's well short of the 40% target. >> another break now. but just ahead, facebook is planning on taking to the skies. >> take a look at this. it's one example of how it proposes to bring the internet to those who don't have it.

welcome back, everyone. for those of you who are joining us from around the world, there's something here in the united states called march madness. right now it's the men's final four, all set to go in this college basketball tournament. university of kentucky, with two

seconds left to play, look at that. beating the university of michigan 75-72. they will face wisconsin in the final four this weekend. university of connecticut edged out michigan state, 60-54. the last few moments of the game there, they are set to play university of florida. both kentucky and connecticut beat higher ranked opponents. my ucla bruins didn't make it. so i pushed myself to get that report through. but fascinating. >> well done. good to see. facebook is unveiling the technology it hopes to use to bring the internet everywhere to everyone. >> yeah, take a look at these images they've released. the company has brought in experts from far and wide to help reach its goal. facebook plans to beam signals down from high above. >> imagine it, for the first time in history, humanity firing

on all cylinders. >> reporter: facebook is taking to the skies in an effort to bring the internet to the world. turning its attention to unmann unmanned aircraft or drones. the ceo mark zuckerberg explained it last august. >> here we use facebook to share news and catch up with our friends. but there, they're going to use it to decide what kind of government they want, get access to health care for the first time ever. connect with family hundreds of miles away that they haven't seen in decades. >> reporter: internet.org is facebook's effort to bring together the world's biggest tech companies and find a way to reach people with no access to the internet. but first, facebook has to figure out how to use this technology to reach those people, many of whom live in underdeveloped places in asia and africa. the company has hired experts from nasa and the developer of

the longest flying solar powered drones to help. satellites are constantly on the move, so you have to figure out a way to capture the information from which one of them while they're passing over a specific place. >> how to make all those satellites interconnect with each other, to have an internet back lone flying through the air as the satellites are moving by you. so that works really well in low density environments. but the challenge with that is that the further you get away, the weaker the signal gets. >> reporter: solar powered unmanned aircraft can offer a solution. >> so we're looking at a new type of plane architecture that flies at roughly 20,000 meters. it has a points where it's above commercial airlines, even above the weather and can stay in the air for months at a time. these planes are solar powers and they sit there and they just

circle around and they have the ability to just broadcast internet down, but significantly closer than a satellite does. >> reporter: facebook says its motives are altruistic, internet for all. but others point out that it opens up a world of new potential facebook customers. >> and we have this just in. russian prime minister has arrived in crimea. he's the highest level official from moscow to visit the region since its annexation. the city of hong kong to heavy rains. the city averages more than two meters per year. but nothing could prepare the city for sunday's storm. >> just mentioning that 6 1/2

feet of water coming down, take the city of seattle, well known for rainfall, that is triple what seattle gets. so gives you a perspective that they are used to heavy rains, but look at the scenes. this is the festival walk shopping district six miles north of the city center in hong kong. you can see water pouring in. golf ball sized hair reported in the region and reports that it punched holes through the roof. subway stations also flooded. i just checked in with the hong kong observatory, saying 8700 lightning strikes on sunday afternoon. the monthly average, about 3 inches, so nearly doubling the monthly average in hong kong just on saturday and sunday

alone. we know heavy rainfal is going to be an issue, at least scattered showers for hong kong itself. the next couple of days a very soggy setup. temperatures there in the fahrenheit scale would be in the mid 70s. guys? >> thanks a lot. >> and thanks for joining us on cnn newsroom. >> for viewers in the united states, stay up. "early" starts next for you all. >> for the rest of you, it will be "world business today." do stay with us. save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.d everybody knows that. well, did you know pinocchio was a bad motivational speaker? i look around this room and i see nothing but untapped potential. you have potential.

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breaking news this morning. the search intensifying for missing malaysian airlines flight 370. right now, ships and aircraft looking for signs of the wreckage. time is ticking to find the vanished jetliner's flight data recorder. the batteries and the so-called black box will only be active another six days, meaning that unless it's found soon, we may never know what happened on board that flight. we'll bring you live, team coverage this morning of the search, the latest on the investigation into why the plane may have crashed and how frustrated the families are dealing with this mounting questions and seemingly no answers. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm john berman. great to see you. it is monday, march 31