ideology, have financing, have capability. they certainly have expensive video equipment. this is what worries people. they're not going away. these affiliates continue to recruit and continue to plot and plan. >> bob, how much of a threat do you believe these two groups, al shabaab and al qaeda in the a b arainian peninsula pose to the u.s.? >> i think the ones based in somalia, or yemen, themselves, are not -- what they're looking for are looking for lone wolves, for instance, in the united states. there's a big somali community, for instance, in the midwest. the fbi office in chicago is intensely fo lly focused on thae if there are recruits. remember, the weapons they're able to develop are made from hardware stores. a little practice. they pose a real danger. aspirational now, but the fbi is worried about crossing this line. it could occur at any time.

>> same question, peter, to you. how much of a threat do these groups represent to the u.s.? >> the yemin-american of the group is writing in propaganda to show up from terrorism cases. "inspire" magazine, the magazine of al qaeda in yemen, continues to be produced and shows up in terrorism cases. you don't absolutely need somebody from the united states training with these groups. these groups are through the internet who may have direct connection in terms of training in yell. or somalia. that happens, too. >> peter bergen, thanks very much. bob barrett, thanks to you. barbara starr, excellent reporting as usual. barbara has broken two major stories for us in the past few days on the new video tapes. crossfire won't be seen tonight so we can bring you more coverage of our developing

international stories. just ahead, a pro-russian militia group is having no part of it. why they're adamantly refusing to put down their weapons. investigators are working to find out who are what caused a ferry to crash killing 29 people. how the captain has now been charged. is he responsible? we're going live to south korea, trying to get some answers. what's your function? ♪ ♪ hooking up the country helping business run ♪ ♪ trains! they haul everything, safely and on time. ♪ tracks! they connect the factories built along the lines. and that means jobs, lots of people, making lots and lots of things. let's get your business rolling now, everybody sing. ♪ norfolk southern what's your function? ♪ ♪ helping this big country move ahead as one ♪ ♪ norfolk southern how's that function? ♪ frequent heartburn? the choice is yours. chalky. not chalky. temporary.

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ukraine now, where a defi t defiant-p defiant-pro-russian militia group. despite an international deal between russia, ukraine and the west that is meant to be the first major step toward easing the crisis. cnn's arwa damon is in ukraine for us at the scene of the occupation. >> reporter: wolf, in the approximately 200 miles of eastern crew yukraine, no one i budgeting. geneva's diplomatic dance is a long way from the reality of donsekt where the self-proclaimed people's republic remains firmly in place at the main administrative building. no matter what initial agreement may have been reached in geneva about the need to evacuate public space clearly here, it's not really made any sort of

difference. the problem is that those who are occupying buildings like this one do not view themselves as being illegal. they say that it's the government in kiev that needs to be the one to step down. they're pressing ahead with all of their plans including efforts to hold a referendum and they firmly believe that no matter what happens, they can always turn to russia for support. a press conference inside,one of the leaders of the revolt against kiev sarcastically thanks europe for waking up the russian bear. another says the kiev government took power through a coup and must give up the public buildings it controls. up the road, press secretary for the council continues to find her workplace occupied by masked men. they work in the background as she talks. it is strange, she admits says

at least they aren't being violent or threatening. these are unsettling times despite the normalcy in the rest of the city. catarina, a young mother, doesn't know how she'll explain it all to her son. >> translator: if he asks me about what happened, we, ourselves, don't understand. who is in power? the people who are right or wrong, she says? the spring sunshine vz brought people in the parks but everywhere there is a mood of wariness. no one seems to hold the reins here. understandably, people are incredibly fearful. ever since ukraine's creation as an undependent state. it's never been through anything like this. it's never been this close possibly to a civil war, wolf? the secretary of state john kerry is warning that russia needs to keep up its side of the

deal and deescalate the situation quickly or could be, in his words, further costs. joining us, white house correspondent, michelle kosinski. michelle, what is the latest over there? >> reporter: hi, wolf. today we heard the administration back off a bit from what sounded at least something like a deadline from secretary of state kerry yesterday saying if russia didn't live up to the agreement it just signed and disarm militants, give back government buildings across eastern ukraine that it seized through the weekend, there would be tougher u.s. sanctions. today, national security adviser susan rice didn't want to put a time frame on it saying the u.s. watching and waiting in coming d days. she said getting russia to sign that agreement was in progress in and of itself. when asked, though, okay, one full day now after the signing of that agreement, have we seen any visible sign at all that russia is making a move toward deescalation? here's what she said. >> we'll continue to watch very

carefully how they proceed. what they say, what they do and how, indeed, the monitors are allowed to operate when they deploy which we believe will begin over the weekend. >> reporter: in other words, apparently, no, no visible progress. then you have those militants on the ground saying they have no allegiance to the kiev government that they see as legitimate, they don't have to give up anything. there is a question out there, how much influence and control does russia even have over those militants on the ground? can russia be held responsible for their actions or is it possible that at least some element of this has spun beyond russian control? today rice said the u.s. does believe that russia maintains significant influence over them, continues to urge russia to use it. wolf? >> michelle kosinski with the latest from the white house. thank you. still ahead, more on the runt for flight 370. is there a specific backup plan?

a new glimpse of the harrowing attempt to escape from a sinking ferry. stand by for new video and the latest on the disaster that's still unfolding right now. to find out, by the way, how you can help the victims, go to cnn.com/impactyourworld.

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nearly 300 passengers are still missing. many of them teenagers. we're now getting a dramatic new look at what it was like to escape the ship as it was sinking. we have new developments. also, some new cell phone video. what are you learning? >> reporter: we've just gotten off the phone with the coast guard in south korea. diver are at the ship, where the ship has dogone down. they laid down a guide line, physical ropes that allow them to begin going through by one. they laid those down on the third and fourth floor of the vessel beginning what is now going to be the fourth day here of trying to retrieve people from this ship. as the search for survivors grows more harrowing, new video onboard the sinking ship emerged. this cell phone video shot by a

fright. ed passenger shows the final moments before the ferry went down. watch as passengers try to escape clinging to railings. passageways flood. captain says he issued the order for passenger to stay aboard the sinking ship. >> translator: don't move. if you move, it is more dangerous. >> reporter: because, he said, the current was strong, water too cold and there was no rescue boat. the captain was among the first to be rescued. now, he's being charged with five criminal counts including negligence leading to the sinking and abandoning of the ship as well as sinking result in death. he also admitted he was not at the helm went the accident occurred telling reporters prior to the accident, he told the crew where to sail the ship and then went to his bedroom to tend to something. unsure, families of the missing

still wait in agony. they have to hurry to rescue survivors, cries this father of a missing passenger. overnight the korean coast guard released transcripts of the ferry's final moments that seem to show a confused crew unable to help passengers. please put on a life vest and get ready as people may have to abandon ships, coast guard orders a crew by radio. it's hard for people to move, someone on the ferry responds. local media report only one of the 46 lifeboats on board were ever used. survivors say only those who disobey the kacaptain's origina order survived. survival has its price. the vice principal of the students managed to make it off the ferry but was so overcome with grief, he apparently hanged himself from a tree outside the school. still, nearby, families waited helplessly watching live video of efforts to rescue passengers. some eventually asked to identify their children who didn't survive.

my my baby, my baby, this woman cries. it seems like she gets up to me when i call. why don't you come? >> reporter: these families are still standing at the dock. they're still looking out at sea, wolf. there have not been any survivors found over the last two days. wolf? >> kyung lah reporting for us from south korea. what a sad story that is. thank you. now back to flight 370 and the mystery. a short while ago, marked exactly six weeks since the plane was supposed to land in china. instead, it simply vanished. tom foreman is here in "the situation room." what is the backup plan if nothing turns up in the current search areas? >> we keep hearing of this plan b, wolf. we've had listen awful lot of plans since this thing began. look at this. these are all the search areas in just the past month. many of them overlap. they represent hundreds of

thousands of square miles of ocean. and this isn't counting those up around the malacca strait, those in the south china sea, into europe, all the areas we talked about early on in the process. right now they're focused on this area right here. this is where the underwater search is going involving the bluefin, which has really uncovered several dozen square miles underwater so far. this is where the surface search is going on with planes and ships out there looking for any debring on the surface. but again, each of the areas we've seen at each step hs been the most promising thing out there. and not one of them has paid off. and now this is the new plan, if that all fails. they will go back along that arc described by the satellite data. they will use the pings as sort of a nexus around which to work here. and then you can open up an area of around 11,000 square miles and start scouring this area to see if that might produce any results. they're calling it plan b, but

they may as well call it plan x, y, or z. we've seen a lot of plans. six weeks in, not one thing found yet firmly linked to that plane. >> well, six weeks exactly right now. thanks very much, tom foreman. just ahead, pope francis leads the vatican's good friday service. we're taking a closer look at the long and sometimes challenging history between the white house and the vatican. >> he is resplendent. we see the monstrosity of man. honestly, i'm pouring everything i have into this place.

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♪ christians are celebrating good friday today, including pope francis who led a good friday service at st. peter's basilica in the vatican. this easter sunday, i'll explore the long and sometimes challenging history between the white house and the vatican in a new cnn special, "popes and presidents." here is a prfr. preview. >> they are two of the most

powerful offices on the planet. one elected by leaders of the sistine chapel. the spiritual head of 1.2 billion catholics, seated on the throne of peter. >> barack obama, 47 years old will become the 44th president of the united states. >> the other put in power by an electorate of millions of citizens in a grueling nationwide election. >> congratulations, mr. president. >> all for the right to sit in the oval office at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. >> tonight is your answer. >> the pope and the president. for more than 200 years, the politician behind the desk in the oval office and the bishop seated on the throne of peter have marked history together, through war and peace, at times working hand in hand to rewrite their own story. >> you can imagine when the declaration of independence was signed, when america was founded, the papacy must have been very worried. >> he said i'm going to be president of the united states. i'm not going to be a catholic president of the united states. >> they were casting about for

any way back from the dream. >> those shared convictions that communism could be overturned, the time in the 1980s, that was a radical notion. >> because of the relative weight and power of these two significant institution, the vatican and the united states of america are going to want to find some areas where they can move forward together. >> the white house and the vatican opening a new chapter with president barack obama and pope francis. >> have i been really impressed so far with the way he's communicated what i think is the essence of the christian faith. >> no one thought except for barack obama he was going to be president. >> you can see popes and presidents this sunday, easter sunday, 2:00 p.m. eastern right here on cnn. i hope you tune in or dvr it if you can't. remember, you can always follow us on twitter. go ahead and tweet me @wolfblitzer.

tweet the show @cnnsitroom. please join us monday on "the situation room." watch us live, or once again, you can always dvr the show so you won't miss a moment. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. next, breaking news on missing malaysia airlines flight 370. a new flight path and a sudden climb in altitude. we now know the plane had four emergency locator transmitters set to signal in a crash. none were triggered. were they intentionally disabled? and more breaking news. the captain of the ferry that sank off the coast of south korea under arrest tonight. why wasn't he at the helm hen the ship went down? we're live live at the scene where more than 300 children are still missing. could they still be alive? let's go "outfront."