says, for his inner hero and that's really a beautiful idea. >> he's at a special education college acting as president of the disney club. and that's where he met his girlfriend. >> of course, every disney movie, most of them end with a kiss. >> we're proud of you, owen. that's if for "the lead." i'll turn you over to wolf blitzer. he's in "the situation room." have a great weekend. jake, thanks very much. bluefin-21 making its final deep sea stance of the targeted search area. authorities are reviewing the plan of action. as russian forces start new military drills, can president obama threatening new sanctions get russia to back off?

>> violent storms are threatening the country's midsection and much of the south. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." there are no details on the hunt for flight 370 50 days after it disappeared. the u.s. navy's underwater drone is scanning the last 5% of it is targeted area. it it can't find a trace of the airliner, authorities plan to expand the search zone and may bring in different technology. and angry flight 370 families making a rare show of civil disobedience in tightly controlled beijing. they've marched through the city and staged a sit-in at the embassy. our correspondents are standing by around the world. bringing you the kind of coverage only cnn can deliver on the search for flight 370. the worsening ukraine crisis.

and a threat of violent storms and tornadoes across much of the country's heartland. let's begin with cnn's miguel marquez. he's got the latest in perth, australia. miguel? >> hello there, wolf. clearly things are in transition both the hms echo and the "hms tireless" that had been participated in this search is now headed to port or is now in port. the "ocean shield" is continuing to search for that plane but says it's now searching areas adjacent to that most hoped for area to find flight 370. >> reporter: a new show of anger by flight 370 families camped out in beijing chanting "tell the truth" and "stop lying."

several thousand miles away, a source of their frustration, the bluefin-21, the most promising, returns two weeks later with nothing to show for it so far. if no leads turn up once the whole area is covered, coordinators now confirm that the underwater drone will scour stretches of the nearby ocean. the bluefin has been combing deep waters, about six miles around the second ping that was detected, a possible signal from the jet's black boxes. no official word yet on what technology will be used next but we learned that the british navy's world submarine is out of the mix. it's no longer needed to hunt for pings now that the black box batteries are believed to be dead. australian and malaysian authorities are holding urgent talks about the next phase of the operation. >> this is totally unprecedented. what do we have going for us? what is the evidence?

the evidence simply lie with the pings. the handshakes that we have analyzed. that's all we have. >> reporter: the malaysian prime minister in an exclusive interview claimed that investigators have not had much to go on. he's promising to release a preliminary report on flight 370 investigation next week exactly seven weeks after the plane vanished. many of the relatives of those that were on board are very skeptical. >> actions speak louder than words. the briefings have been a joke. >> now, what is not clear, wolf, is whether or not they have any more math to go to, basically, the way that they picked up the pings and how they map where they are searching right now, where will they go next? will they just continue to search around the edges, go to the area of the first ping or reset the entire operation for a

much broader search. wolf? >> miguel marquez, from perth with the latest. let's get now to the fallout with cnnthe malaysia and the pr minister spoke about said putting the best foot forward and many say why didn't you put this into the national arena sooner? i think on the family's question, wolf, there's still quite a lot of people who don't quite understand how this relationship has deteriorated so

badly, so quickly. and those are those who simply say the families will never be satisfied and those who say actually what the families are asking for is legitimate and malaysia needs to step up to the plate. >> the preliminary report that was provided to the international u.n. body, that that report would be made public. are you getting any indication when it will be made public, what day? >> reporter: no, i haven't. and i've asked several times and obviously i've asked before then. and it will be impossible. note the word. impossible for the malaysians not to release that report next week. even if the committee looking at it decides the entire report needs to be redacted except for one word, preliminary and report

underneath it. they are going to have to release something next week. and then, wolf, it becomes an issue of how the prime minister intends to enforce this transparency on perhaps other areas of government that don't see it in quite the same way. so the cargo manifest, the new passenger list, the maps, any other documents that they may have that would be of use to understanding. you cannot have a pm saying that he's following a policy of transparency and then documents saying we can't let you have this. >> we'll stand by for that next week. richard, don't go away. i want to bring in our aviation analyst peter goelz and tom fuentes and ken christensen.

so they are 50 days in now. peter, they haven't even found an iota of the wreckage. 95% done and 5% left to go. presumably they won't find anything. where do they go from here? >> well, they've got to keep searching. it's terribly disappointing. i don't think it was unforeseen but it's terribly disappointing. they should have set expectations lower. but they've got to keep searching and keep searching for one of the pings and search around those. they made a big deal about those. let's check them out. >> the aerial search, ken, is that over for all practical purposes, they haven't seen anything significant, anything at all, is it over for all practical purposes? >> i would say at this point, wolf, the aerial search is over. any debris that would be from that wreckage would be thousands of miles away at this point. >> tom fuentes, if you were in charge of this investigation, what would you do now? >> well, i think they are going

to have to do what they've talked about, the regroping of how they are going to expand the search, what kind of equipment they are going to use for it. i find it interesting that the prime minister, when he mentions all that they have to go on, is the inmarsat satellite data, which is british-controlled data and machines operated off an australian ship, he omitted any mention of malaysian's defense radar or their aviation radar and i think that that's a critical part of it, especially as richard mentions when they announce that they've released this preliminary report to the international civil aviation organization but not to the families, not to the public and they are waiting a week creating a greater mystery, creating greater expectations for what i'm sure the report is going to have next to nothing useful in it. >> let's ask richard quest to react to it. you spent quality time with the prime minister yesterday. what do you say about what tom

just said? >> reporter: i think -- i've seen and i've spoken to people about the radar data. the radar data is so basic and if you look at the picture, it's basically blips with a gap in the middle of it after it follows -- after it crosses across malaysia and into the straits of malaca. so the extent of this, tom is right. it does take the plane into the straits of malacca and then onwards. but there after, and this will be the difficult part, wolf, if they do have to discount inmarsat material, then you really do go back and the pm said this, you go back to 222, the last known data from the military radar and if you're back at that level, well then i think we are really turning the

lights off and going home because you've got no idea where the plane goes after that. >> peter, here's a blunt question. they were some confident early on, several moments when they got those pings, the four pings from what they thought were the black boxes. it all looked pretty good that they had honed down a huge area to a relatively tiny little area but found nothing. is it possible that they are looking at the wrong place to begin with right now? >> boy, that's hard to believe. i mean, they did a most complex mathematical analysis from the pings, from the handshakes, they believe they had the spot. they believed they had the spot. it's going to be tough. they are going to keep searching there but, boy, i think they were a little enthusiastic when they first announced the pings were heard. >> let me quickly go back to richard quest in kuala lumpur. in the interview you did with the prime minister, he acknowledged that there were shortcomings, that mistakes were made. did he seem to you confident

that this is going to be resolved any time soon? >>. >> no. absolutely not. i think that anybody -- i mean, peter will know this from his own investigations over the years. tom will know this. anyone of us who have touched this and looked at these sorts of incidents will be well aware that the investigators are in this for the long haul. they hope for the best. they believe in maybe the worst and they know that this is the hard dredgry and anyone is otherwise a fool. >> quick question for you, tom

fuentes. he dropped the cell phone into some water, similar properties in the indian ocean and, guess what, videos, photos, once the phone was retrieved, they could go into that cell phone and get a lot of that information. so presumably a lot of those people on that plane, 239 people that had cell phones, if they ever retrieved some of those phones, they would be able to collect useful information. don't you agree? >> i would i a agree. i saw that piece conducted in my home town of chicago and i thought it was amazing that they were able to pull that mother board or the ship out of the immersed cell phone and what will happen if they don't find this plane for two years like the air france plane, how much more damage will salt do to the phones that are hopefully

retrieved if they are on the bodies. >> ken, does it shock you that 50 days into this investigation they have not found even a tiny little piece of that plane? >> at first it surprised me that there was no wreckage but that probably says that they were looking in the wrong area and the currents there in that part of the world in the indian ocean are just so unpredictable, the debris field can disperse pretty rapidly. for a wide body airplane hitting the water, you would think that there would be more wreckage than what they found. i'm confident that the pings that are coming from the underwater locator beacon, they have not expanded the area and they will probably find some wreckage. >> let's see if they do. hold on. we're going to continue our analysis. but up next, distressed beacons stayed silent when night 370 went down. here's the question. why? and russian troops holding military exercises on the border

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there's another type of locator signal that is supposed to be activated in most crashes. this time, though, it stayed silent. brian todd has been looking into this part of the story for us. what are you finding out? >> wolf, there are four of these devices called emergency locator

transmitters on board the missing many. they are supposed to send locators out on impact. not one burst was sent from flight 370. could the possible reasons why these didn't work lead us closer to finding out what happened? it's one of the most baffling questions in an already con founding mystery. why didn't any emergency beacons send a distressed signal? they are called elts. and a senior aviation source tells cnn there were four of them on the plane. >> emergency locator transmitter is a small radio transmitter that sends a signal detected by satellites in the event of an airplane crash. >> reporter: signals sent to satellites relay to satellites on the ground. the signal coming from the black boxes containing the flight recorders. these beacons are designed to be activated if they sense extreme

deceleration or by impact. those circumstances could have played out with flight 370 but experts say there are other possible scenarios with the missing plane where the elts would not have worked. >> if it crashes with too much velocity so the plane is dissin rated. also, like the hudson miracle, if it went down softly. >> reporter: also, there's a time lag after impact. it takes 50 seconds for the first signal to be transmitted. >> even after it hits the water, it has to stay afloat for more than 50 seconds or they won't do either. >> reporter: triggered by contact with salt water might be useless because elts don't work under water. >> once these things become submerged, the radio signal is

no longer able to reach the satellite. >> could the emergency locator transmitters attached to the fuselage probably would have been inaccessible to anyone on board. it could have been tampered with, wolf. >> this whole issue with four signals that were supposed to come from the transmitters and none of them worked, it's really become a source of a major concern for the families of those on board. >> it sure has. recently the families submitted a list of 26 questions to malaysian officials about a whole range of things regarding the investigation. 12 of those questions delved into that issue. >> brian, thanks very much. let's discuss what we heard from brian. once again joining us, cnn aviation analyst, peter goelz

and chris van alt. those families, peters, they see this, the fact that these transmitters didn't work, all four of them didn't work for whatever reason has potential evidence that the plane may have actually landed on land someplace and their loved ones are still alive. >> that's exactly right. they think against all reasonableness of, you know, that these are the facts. maybe, just maybe the plane landed. and if that's the case, any kind of explanation says the antenna might have broken off or might have dropped too quickly. we've got to find the wreckage. >> let me bring in chris van alt into this. you helped develop the

technology that was successful in finding air france h447, the remus. >> well, it's always best to get the best equipment on the scene as quickly as you can. but i would defer to the people who were on site. they know what is going on there. certainly the systems that we have in there, their proven capabilities during the flight 447 search would substantiate that they would be a great asset in this location. >> explain why the remus is so successful in the air france disaster. >> well, many of the people have talked about this like trying to find a needle in a haystack and i think a better analogy would be trying to find a dime in a football field at night. and all you had to look for with for this dime is a small pen-hike. you find yourself crawling

around in the dark at night and learn very quickly the biggest problem you have is navigation. you want to make sure that you covered every aspect of the ground and you know that you are there. we owe that to the victims of this tragedy. so it's the navigation that you worry about. making sure that you have 100% coverage. our vehicles are very good at doing that and they can do it very quickly. >> peter, is it time to bring more submersibles too this search? >> there's no question. it's time to bring in submersibles that are towed, that have contact with the surface, that can do a broader range of search. because we're now getting into we're going to have to search a lot of that ocean bottom. >> much more significant area. chris van alt, what about the whole notion of wear and tear on those individuals involved in the search? it's now been 50 days. are you worried about fatigue? are you worried that it's simply getting too much and they should

simply take a break and rest up? >> no. i think most missions of this nature take about 37 days. so i think the time that they've been out there is reasonable. they will come in when they have to. they do well. you know, i spent 30 years developing technologies in the deep sea and spend the first ten years of those 30 developing deeply towed systems and i learned the capabilities of the towed systems and those limitations led me to write a proposal to develop remus 6000 because we could do much better with it. i think we need to use the technology that is best. you don't want to use old technology to solve new problems. >> chris, peter goelz, thanks to you as well. we'll have much more coming up. also coming up, we're getting breaking news of an american man now detained in north korea. we have more information coming into "the situation room." and president obama says sanctions against russia are

ready to go. but what will it take for him to pull the trigger? stay with us. you're in "the situation

and the breaking news coming into "the situation room" right now, new information about an american, an american being detained in north korea. let's get right to our chief national security correspondent jim sciutto. what are you learning? >> wolf, this appears to be a very strange case, extremely unusual. the 24-year-old american was with a tour group to north korea and as members of that group describe it, he appeared to go to the north koreans willingly, including tearing up his visa as he did his behavior described as strange. the u.s. first learned of this case days ago, though not from the north korean government. the information has been limited to that the u.s. is aware of the reports and is in touch with sweden which handles u.s. problems in korea. >> it's a very bizarre situation since presumably the u.s. has known about this for days, we're only learning about it right now. >> that's true.

typically in these cases they don't want to inflame the situation. they want to keep it private for as long as possible and also to find out what the circumstances are of how he went over to the north koreans and it's very strange. >> we don't know if he volume lun tearivolume lun tearily wen across or if he was physically abducted or detained or anything like that? >> well, right now it appears that he doesn't appear to have been taken or abducted. it was a decision to go, based on what witnesses -- how witnesses described it. >> witnesses from the tour group he was on? >> exactly. there's always a caution involved when you're dealing with north korea and of course the state media confirming these reports putting out a story about this not coincidentally as president obama is visiting south korea to get the maximum propaganda effect. >> north koreans like to get attention from time to time. >> absolutely. >> presumably we'll have more

information about this story coming up. we also have new information coming into "the situation room" about the widening crisis in ukraine. what can you tell us about that? >> this relates particularly to the u.s. and the response. the next round of economic sanctions which officials had said could come as soon as today. now not happening until at least next week. the goal, as i'm told, is getting the europeans and the u.s. unified and president obama wants unity here, not unilateral u.s. sanctions. this delay unlikely to impress the ukrainians. kiev officials critical of the scope being considered so far. they want stronger penalties for russia and morrow bust aid for ukraine and military action on the ground. in ukraine today, a country bracing itself for war. the ukrainian military training volunteers to defend the east if russia were to invade. and dropping leaflets, warning

kids to stay at home and to keep their children safe. schools there are already erily empty. they accused russia of risking world war iii. >> translator: military aggression by russia on ukraine's territory will lead to conflict in europe. russia already wants to start world war iii. >> reporter: but the situation on the ground deteriorating rapidly, president obama spoke urgently to build a new round of sanctions against russia. the additional penalties would target key putin allies and institutions, such as banks that they do business with. even as officials drafted the final language, the president seceded that it's unlikely to deter russian aggression.

>> i think it's important for us not to anticipate that the targeted sanctions that we're applying now necessarily solve the problem. what we've been trying to do is to continually raise the costs for russia of their actions while still leading the possibility of them moving in a different direction. >> reporter: for their part, russian leaders continue to accuse the u.s. of orchestrating the crisis. >> there can be no one-sided demands here and we're being presented them. first of all, i mean the united states of america. which has an outstanding ability to turn everything on its head. >> in another troubling development, a team of european observers has been taken hostage by pro-russian militants in the eastern city of slovyansk. u.s. officials citing a spate of kidnappings and are calling for the release and that russia has

the power to control the militant groups but of course they are saying that russia is not using that power. >> i'm going to speak to the ambassador daniel baer in the next hour. but let's continue the conversation. jim sciutto is joining us and julia ioffe, former moscow correspondent and former ambassador to the ukraine now with the brookings institute. ambassador, what do you expect, world war iii? the ukrainians are itching for world war iii. >> the russians have increasingly put ukraine in a very difficult dilemma which is by the stealth taking of these 10, 11 buildings in ukraine and there's a lot of evidence to point that there are russian military personnel among these groups and ukraine, the acting government, has a choice. either it goes in and uses force to try to retake those buildings and run the risk of creating a

pretext for a broader military intervention or the ukraines sit back and do nothing and watch this continue and my guess is that they are beginning to get concerned that they can't just sit back. >> what do you make about this talk of world war iii from the ukrainian leaders? >> we've seen a lot of ultimatums. i've lost count at this point how many times they've given an ultimatums for the militants to clear out, always giving 48 hours and never following through with their threats because they saw what happened to their neighbor georgia in 2008. when you fire at russia, within days there will be tanks outside of your capital city. that's what they are afraid of. >> many were expecting more u.s. sanctions as early as today but all of a sudden we're told, not so fast. not happening. what's the problem?

>> i've been hearing it from u.s. officials as well. the sanctions are teed up and they are asking for more robust sanctions. they are not happy with what is being discussed. perhaps an institution or two. and it appears the issue here is getting the european/american unity. there's difficulty here because these countries in europe are going to bear more of the -- >> specifically, what countries in europe in is it germany? some of the other countries that are more reluctant because of the pain that they will suffer, for example, if the energy sector in russia is sanctioned? >> i think there's a spectrum of views. obviously the germans because of their political standing. the germans are the key country and if they come around and want to pursue harsher sanctions on russia, that probably brings most of the european nation

around. i think there is nervousness in europe about what happens to the energy supplies, particularly natural gas that comes from ukraine to europe. if they cut the supply off, do they begin getting europe thinking in the longer term, europe needs to find a supply elsewhere. >> economic recovery, if you will, the export of that energy, natural gas. go ahe had, julia. >> john mccain call it is a gas station. >> but it's also -- then there's a question for russia. if russia wants to retaliate against europe and cut off gas exports, they can't drink and breathe their own gas. and they don't have any kind of backup contracts, say, with china to fill in that demand. so, now he, it would backfire against russia as well. that he is kind of the problem. when it was -- when russia was a soviet union, there was really nothing we could do because they

were not integrated in the world economy. now they've become integrated and the u.s. and west can apply pressure to them but it's pressure that we apply on ourselves as well. >> daily beast was reporting that putin has halted all talks with the white house on a whole range of issues. the u.s. and russia work together on a lot of issues, like syrian's chemical weapons. general psaki tweeted this. the u.s. has not suspended interactions between u.s.-russian leadership counterparts and has not been informed by russian government that it has. >> this came from medvedev and i've heard, for instance, other things that the u.s. and russia are working on, for instance, irani iranian nuclear negotiations and they are still cooperating so where their interests align, they will still cooperate. >> at the same time, when they

have been talking, what has been the result of that? every time there was a phone call between obama and putin, you read the kremlin readout of the call t. was about one thing, you read the white house's readout and it's a whole different thing. >> when the russians want to resume the conversation, they will pick up the phone and get that going. it's a little bit of posturing designed to talk about further financial sanctions on russia which even though relatively modest are having an impact. >> you've heard of other -- even countries that haven't imposed sanctions yet that their bankers and other dealers are pulling back because they are worried the situation is going to get worse. >> if you're a western ceo, you're probably not going to your board of directors saying i want to make an investment in russia. >> and what is interesting,

yesterday vladimir putin said that the internet was a cia project and continues to be cure rated by the cia and specifically pointed to a russian search engine that started with some investments in the west. he said they were influenced by the west and western controlled. their stocks plummeted. they lost $1 billion. they are listed on nasdaq. they lost $1 billion of their valuation. >> julia ioffe, thank you. jim will be back with us later. up next, horrifying new details about the search for survivors aboard that ferry in south korea. what mistake caused so many lives. we're going live to south korea. and a tornado watch already in effect for parts of the southeast. could a massive outbreak of severe weather be on the way? we're tracking the forecast. that's just ahead.

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built for business. and the breaking news, no letup in the heartbreak of the south korean ferry disaster. another devastating blow to families. divers are discovering cabins crowded, crowded with the bodies of teenagers. in one room meant to hold 30 people, they have found the bodies of 48 girls, all wearing life vests. let's go live to cnn's kyung lah who is in jindo, south korea. you're getting breaking information on the death toll? >> reporter: we just spoke to the korean coast guard and they tell us that they have found two additional bodies, wolf. the death toll now rising to 187 people. 115 people are still missing.

the search off of this coast here, about 12 miles into the sea, is taking on an expedited pace today because the weather is expected to turn later today. divers want to get to as many rooms of the vessel as they can. one area that they are looking for is a room where they believe 50 girls may have been huddled together. you mention the 48. there is another room where there may be an additional 50 girls all huddled together. they are also expanding the search area. they are asking nearby towns and fishermen to keep an eye out for anything that may have drifted, whether it be any furniture on the ship as well as people. so this is widening. they are looking at the weather turning. so this is taking on a rapid pace today, wolf. >> and divers, as you know, found the bodies of these 48 girls that were all wearing their life vests. apparently just following instructions. what are the folks, the investigators saying about that?

>> reporter: well, it certainly gives us a picture into how confused this entire evacuation was. you may remember the only order that they got initially from the crew itself was to stay in place. well, once they were there, it appears that no one knew what to do. so teachers and some of the crew members were handing out some of these life vests and those life vests, wolf, did not appear to help them escape because they were trapped in those rooms. >> what a heartbreaking story. kyung lah reporting from south korea, thank you. just ahead, hail, high winds and tornadoes. a twister touching down in north carolina. violent storms threatening much of america's midsection. right now we're going live to the cnn's severe weather center. and international observers are now detained in an area of ukraine controlled by pro-russian separatists. i'll talk to a top security official about this latest, very chilling development. ♪ [ banker ] sydney needed some financial guidance so she could take her dream to the next level.

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breaking news. tornado watches are in effect for parts of the southern united states including virginia, north carolina. our meteorologist jennifer gray is at the cnn severe weather center for us. what can you tell us, jennifer? >> wolf, it's been a really active day and we're going to see these thunderstorms continue to march to the east over the next couple hours. should be dying out 7:30, 8:00. you'll start to see them weakening. right now, anywhere raleigh and east, you need to be on the lookout for those showers and storms. in fact, we'll zoom in just a little bit. i'll get todd to advance my

graphics for me. we've seen a couple producing tornadoes. actually in green county, we had video of that earlier. we also have tornado warnings in effect in north carolina. those are going to be pushing to the north and east. if you're in one of those bright pink boxes, you need to get into your lower interior room of your home and stay in your safe spot until the warning expires. we have seen golf-ball-sized hail with a lo of these storms, wolf. these are going to continue to be severe over the next hour or two. also in virginia, richmond area, we've seen very strong thunderstorms. these haven't been severe as of yet, but we have seen some very strong ones there. of course, we've seen storm reports. all across the east. we've seen three tornado reports so far this evening. we've seen quite a few hail reports as well as wind reports. wolf? >> lots of bad weather and more coming over the week and into early next week. we'll check back with you, jennifer. thank you very much. coming up, what's the best hope of finding flight 370? the bluefin-21 is about to

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happening now, significant changes in the hunt for flight 370. we're now learning what's next for the bluefin-21 as it finishes scanning the current search area. we're also waiting for word on the air search. is it time for that to end? plus, exploding violence and fiery allegations. ukraine's prime minister accusing russia of wanting to start world war iii. cnn is live on the ground in ukraine. and we're learning that terrorist hideouts are under attack in a widening crackdown on one of al qaeda's most dangerous groups. stand by. we're getting new information. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room."

this is cnn breaking news. >> breaking news in the hunt for flight 37 o. we have brand new information about what happens next as the bluefin-2 1 finishes its scan of the most promising area of the indian ocean. the operation right now at a critical turning point after seven futile weeks, deep frustration about everything that's gone wrong. our correspondents and analysts are following every new development around the world and right here in "the situation room." let's begin once again with justice correspondent pamela brown for the very latest. >> wolf, just moments ago we learned from a u.s. navy source that officials plan on expanding the subsea search and moving it slightly to north of the six-mile radius if no wreckage is found. this is important because it means the search will move closer to a point of another ping officials viewed as a promising area because of the ping's signal strength and it's a sign they're not giving up in the midst of mounting anger from

passengers' family members. 50 days spent searching for flight 37 o and still nothing. fueling frustration among passengers' family members. outside the malaysian embassy in beijing, families of the chinese passengers angry demanding answers, chanting no more delays, no more lies. . >> what do you concretely want from the malaysian government right now? >> the truth. the thing they're hiding. >> reporter: with the bluefin coming up empty, crews are now expanding the search to areas adjacent to the six-mile radius surrounding the sec ping. >> it's really a hot mess right now. we were given very strong indications and strong language that the plane would turn up where these pings had been detected. that is is a powerful piece of evidence that the pings do not correlate to the wreckage. the wreckage was not where it was promised. >> reporter: still no word of whether other submersibles like the bluefin will be deployed. >> it would be wonderful to have a fleet of them to be able to cover a larger area in the same amount of time, but as you pointed out, there are very few of them out there.

there are other tools out there, rovs, auvs, and, of course, submersibles that have their depth limits that can be used in this particular circumstance in the right order and in the right fashion and only if we have tangible evidence of where to search. >> reporter: now we're learning resources are pulling out of search. the royal navy today says the hms tireless, the only submarine in the search, is done. saying there is no longer any prospect of detecting black box pings. and now one of the surface ships, the hms echo returning to port to refuel, leaving it out of the loop for now. and as for that underwater search, we expect crews to shift to the north from where they're searching right now very soon. possibly this weekend. wolf? >> all right. pamela, stand by. i want to two to the base of the operations for the search. cnn's miguel marquez joining us once again. liveaustralia. what are you learning there, miguel? >> reporter: look, we know

they're 95% through with the initial search area where the second ping was picked up and they're now searching adjacent areas, presumably searching areas north of that second ping area that would take them in the direction of ping one. this has been the issue for them all along, exactly where was that ping located? they were able to get one sort of trajectory of it but weren't able to hone in on it specifically so now they're going to their next best guess which is go to the area, go toward the area of ping one. wolf? >> and after that, do they have any plans beyond the next week or two? are they looking long term? or is it all day by day? >> reporter: well, as they move toward this, presumably they will come up with another plan if they need to launch it in order to do a wider search. keep in mind, it is a 700 kilometer x 80 kilometer, that's a 21,600 mile square mile area that is of interest. they've only searched about 150 square miles of that. so they've searched a sliver of

the area of where this plane may be, but they're searching the most likely sliver out there, wolf? >> miguel, thank you. let's go to kuala lumpur right now. there's a backlash against the malaysian prime minister after his exclusive interview with cnn's richard quest. richard is joining us from the malaysian capital right now. family members are not very happy with what they heard, are they, richard? >> reporter: no, they're not, wolf. they still believe -- the family criticisms come down to twofold. they believe they've not been given the information that they are asking for and that is sort of, if you like, at the most reasonable side of the objections. then some of the objections become more outlandish because they still -- there are those members of the families that believe either the plane has been hijacked and is landed somewhere like diego, garcia or kandahar or the like and believe

they're not only not given information but details are being hidden. so you have a spectrum of objections by the families into this, but i do have to say, it's not all the families that believe this. many of them have taken the approach that they do recognize the reality of what has happened, have chosen to take what they would see as a dignified silence and are now waiting to get on with the compensation claims and to get on with their lives. >> and what's been the reaction to what he acknowledged, the prime minister, in that exclusive interview with you, richard, when he said that malaysian military radar did pick up this plane, they thought it was the plane flying over malaysian airspace. they didn't think it was a hostile. they didn't think it was 100% sure it was this malaysian airliner, but they didn't scramble jets because they didn't think it was a hostile environment. what's been the reaction to that? >> reporter: this is clearly the smoking gun, if you like, and so

far, nobody's really running with it except, i must tell you, the political opposition. i've already had several reaches out to me from the opposition, from various spokesmen who are sort of delicately pointing out, you know, maybe this is something we should look at further and, yes, despite the relatively, the single party democracy nature of malaysia, there is an opposition and this opposition party led, of course, by anwar ibrahim does not miss the opportunity to boot the boot into the government. so there is a political debate that does take place in this country, and i've no doubt, wolf, none whatsoever, that what the failure of the military to deal with it on the night is going to become a political issue in domestic malaysia. >> on the eve of the president, president obama's visit there as well. richard quest doing outstanding work for us. thank you. let's bring in our panel of

experts. cnn aviation analyst, peter goelz. cnn afteruation analyst, michael kay. aviation consultant, ken christianson. geoffrey thomas, editor in chief of airlineratings.com joining us from pauaustralia. peter goelz, they're going to move this underwater search a little further north based on what, the second ping as opposed to the strongest ping? is that what they're going to do? >> that's exactly right. i think they're obligated to do that. the australians made a big deal about the pings. they've said this is the right spot, the investigators have said this is the right spot. they've got to search the area around each of the pings. >> so far, ken, the first ping, loudest ping, strongest ping has produced nothing. the assumption was if you get the ping from one of these so-called black boxes, there's going to be a lot of other wreckage nearby. if that's there, presumably other wreckage from the plane would be there but they searched

this first area, found nothing. do you suspect they're going to find something in a weaker pinged area, if you will? >> i suspect they're going to find something within that area. that was a 17-mile area then they're reducing it. >> from the four pings. >> from the four pings. that's correct. so the area they're searching now is just around one smaller area. so i believe when they finish that, the larger search, i belief that they will find some debris. >> let me ask michael kay if he agrees. what to you think, michael? >> wolf, i think we're in day 49, to put that into context, air france 447 took over 700 days, and the way that this whole investigation has progressed has been completely unprecedented. if we go back to the beginning, we didn't have anything apart from a 2,500 mile radius from the south china sea. we had inmarsat analysis that gave us a northern and southern. then we actually by luck came across these pings. the pings as you rightly point out go on signal strength.

they're not geolocating. we know the pings are affected by salinity, pressure, thermal waves and the temperature within the ocean. so they're not accurate. i think we've got a long way to two. air chief marshal houston had a big decision to make when we decided to take the ping locator out which was looking specifically for the black boxes, essentially going for the needle, not the haystack and putting the bluefin in. as soon as he made that decision, that's when we all should have regauged for the long haul. that's what we need to do for the moment. 49 days is relatively early in this investigation. >> geoffrey, you're there in perth, australia. what are you hearing about the air search? >> yes, wolf. look, we are hearing that the australia and one or two other countries are leading a push to convince the malaysians to give up on the air search. angus houston alluded to this well over a week ago and said the air search would be scaled back. the civilian part has already

been scaled back over a week ago, but the military side, there's a big push to say, look, we've looked and we've looked and we've looked. we find nothing. and it's becomining feing futile best search area is where the ping are, let's possibly put more assets on the bottom of the ocean and that's where we need to focus. >> who's reluctant to stop the air search, geoffrey? >> well, i think malaysians are reluctant to stop it because, i mean, this is a very highly politically charged situation. we have the issues with the relatives which, you know, one can understand. it's very traumatic for them. so they're sort of trying to walk a very fine line here between reality and compassion, if you like. sensitivity, if you like. so, there's a lot of lobbing going on, but we're expecting something to be announced very shortly to say the military, the air search, the military air

search, will come to an end. >> ken christianson, a smart idea to stop the air search? >> again, i think at this point it is because there are expensive assets and it's really not going to cover anything. if there is any debris field, it's so far from the point of impact on the wreckage that it wouldn't really provide the location of the larger wreckage that could be under the water. the only thing we would determine if you did find a piece of wreckage is it would confirm that it is the malaysia airplane that went in the water because to date we still don't have a piece of wreckage that confirms that. >> or even have a tiny piece. you agree. end the air search? >> absolutely. these guys have done yoman's service for a long time. let's not put anyone on risk. focus our attentions on the ocean bed. >> michael kay, is it time to bring in a whole bunch of -- a lot more equipment to search that ocean floor? >> no, i don't think -- maybe not necessarily new equipment, but, you know, you're talking

about the air search there, wolf. i think it's going to be from what's been a proactive air search, so flooding the area with maritime assets and all of the equipment and eyes out that comes with that, to more of a reactive search. what i mean by that is is if we get a little bit of evidence from a satellite picture or trawler or someone who sees something, you'll launch assets upon that information rather than scouring it and being passive. i think there's a natural reset we need to do, anyway, in terms of the human factors piece, the air crews, the fatigue. they've been going at a temper that is not sustainable. also the aircraft as well, wolf, have to two through deep servicing. the hours they've flown over the last 49 days will be phenomenal. they'll need to be reset. as has been alluded to. safety in term of air chief marshal houston's will be the next primary objective to finding the airplane. paramount. >> michael kay, thanks very much. geoffrey thomas, thanks to you, ken christianson, peter goelz.

more on this story coming up later. breaking news on the fate of a young american man who's in custody in north korea. u.s. officials are closely monitoring the situation. let's bring in foreign affairs reporter elise labott. she has the latest information. what are you learning? >> wolf, he was with a tour group when detained and told he was existing some pretty strange behavior as he went willingly into the hands of the north koreans. the 24-year-old american was picked up by north korea for his, quote, rash behavior. north korean state media didn't release a picture but identified him as miller matthew todd. they sea he tore up his visa and promised to seek asylum as he passed through customs. u.s. officials told cnn they learned about his detention days ago but are not confirming it publicly. >> we are of course aware of the reports that a u.s. citizen was detained in north korea. >> reporter: the news of the detention seems timed to president obama's visit to south korea, part of a campaign by north korea's reckless young

leader kim jong-un to steal the spotlight. >> world attention is there, especially an american youngster seeking political asylum, and that is very useful self-esteem booster. >> reporter: tonight, new satellite images also show increased activity at north korea's main nuclear site, suggesting to some officials kim is on the verge of another nuclear test. >> in light of what we expect to be further provocative actions from the north koreans, whether in the form of long-range missile tests or nuclear tests, or both, that it's important for us to look at additional ways to apply pressure. >> reporter: even as kim ratchets up the saber rattling, pyongyang featured the softer side of its leader this week featuring rare baby photos of kim and images of him being sworn by female soldiers in tears as hi visie visits their military unit. wolf, the north koreans are

still holding the christian missionary who is serving 15 years in a labor camp for allegedly trying to topple the government. now with the news of detention with another american, this could further complicate u.s. efforts to deal with north korea's nuclear threats. >> certainly could. our thanks very much for that, elise reporting for us from the state department. still ahead, ukraine fighters training now for battle. a new warning that an all-out war with russia could happen. and now international observers, the monitors are being held against their will. we'll tell you how president obama is responding to all of this. he's traveling overseas right now. his foreign policy missteps, at least that's what his critics are calling them. could they be haunting him along the way? ♪

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"crossfire" won't be seen tonight so we can bring you new developments on several breaking stories we're following in with the the situation room" from around the world. indeed right now there's breaking news on the crisis in ukraine. a pentagon spokesman confirming to cnn that russian aircraft have entered ukrainian airspace several times over the last 24 hours. united states is urging russia to deescalate the situation. it's getting moor violent, more dangerous on the ground as well. cr e ukraine's prime minister accusing moscow of wanting, quote, world war iii. president obama says targeted sanctions against russia now are ready to go. his words, ready to go. let's go to senior international correspondent nick paton walsh on the ground for us in eastern

ukraine in donetsk. that's a flashpoint. what's the latest there? >> reporter: wolf, the concern is now ukrainian officials announced what they refer to as the second phase of their anti-terror operation. that will involve encircling the flashpoint of the unrest in the town of slovyansk. could that result in casualties, further conflict? we heard of explosions today an an airfield near there. of course, as you mentioned these violations of ukrainian airspace by russian aircraft given there are 40,000 troops across the border. extremely high levels of volatility here and really let's look at what things have picked up simply today. tensions flaring in ukraine as the region teeters on the brink of war. bloody, fiery clashes e ruptsing as the ukrainian military moves to reclaim cities taken by pro-russian militants killing five of them, they say, and destroying three checkpoints around the eastern town of

slovyansk thursday. kiev said they blockaded the town from friday in phase two of their operation. nearby, ukrainian helicopter exploded unclear if from a sniper's bullet, grenade or by accident. pro-russian militants claim they shot it. at the same time, russia blamed ukraine's army for the escalation. some 160 tanks, some 250 armored personnel carriers, he says, and other heavy military hardware, aviation awaiting award with their own people. this is a bloody crime. and those who push the army to do that will pay, i'm sure, and will face justice. russia's response was swift, conducting new military drills for its 40,000 troops positioned along the eastern ukrainian border. moving tanks into place and testing jet fighters to overcome enemy missile defense. a war of words between the u.s. and russia growing increasingly intense.

barack obama traveling in the far east but also speaking to european leaders by phone to line up new sanctions he said may come any time soon. >> what we've been trying to do is to continually raise the costs for russia of their actions while still leaving the possibility of them moving in a different direction. and we'll continue to keep some arrows in our quiver. >> reporter: u.s. forces on the ground at least in europe holding military exercises of their own to counter the threat from russia. these paratroopers are first of 600 soldiers deployed in poland, latvia, lithuania and estonia. all nato allies. who knows where russia could strike next. now, probably the most troubling incident we're hearing of is from the ukrainian interior ministry who says working with the organization of security and

cooperation in europe have been detained in slavyansk by pro-russians. five ukrainian soldiers and a driver. now, we also are hearing from self-declared mayor of slovyansk saying he thinks one of these people might be a spy. the fate right now isn't entirely clear but it's probably the most troubling thing we've heard in the last 12 hours certainly. wolf, the key thing is when we hear the ukrainian prime minister talk about the potential of world war iii here, that's rhetoric, bust each one of the small instances could become the flashpoint, the moment of bloodshed which may cause russian forces to decide they have the right to intervene. wolf? >> very important point. nick paton walsh in eastern ukraine for us. thanks very much. as nick noted, there is this breaking development in the ukraine crisis right now. those monitors, representatives from the organization for security and cooperation in europe, the osce have been

deta detained. joining us, u.s. ambassador to that organization. also joining us our chief national security correspondent, jim shuto. ambassador, what are you hearing? what is the status of the monitors? >> well, wolf, we've heard the reports that you all have which is that a small team, and just to be clear, this is not the monitoring mission we've talked about before. this is actually military inspectors that are invited by ukraine under the vienna government which all 57 countries have signed on to including russia. this is a voluntary inspection they are conducting. there have been several of these. you and i talked about this a month or so ago. so this was a rotating team that was there. what we've heard is what you've heard, which is that they were picked up by masked gunmen earlier today and that they may be being held in a pro-russian controlled militant controlled seized building in slovyansk. obviously we decry this kind of

terrorist hostage taking act and are deeply considered about their wellbeing. >> any indications that russians, themselves, russian government elements are involved in this, as you call it, hostage taking? >> as we've seen over the last several weeks, wolf, there's a number of pieces of evidence that point clearly to the russian hand in the unrest in eastern ukraine. the, you know,neatly pressed brand new uniforms, heavy weaponry would would cost many, many months of salary in eastern ukraine. we've seen the fact russia's hand is behind the unrest in eastern ukraine and stabnds to reason their hand is behind the pro-russians in slovyansk. the geneva conversations last week were aimed at giving an off ramp to the russians. saying you want to dampen tensions in eastern ukraine, here are the first few actions that can be taken that the ukrainians agree and you agree to. ukrainians have taken all of the

actions that they agree to and russia has done nothing except continue more of the same. that is to say more destructive activity. >> amambassador, hold on for a moment. jim is here. jim, this is a very ominous development if in fact these observers have been taken hostage and unclear who holds them other than pro-russians if they are involved. that escalates this dramatically. >> whoever directed these groups to take these monitor, the u.s. makes it clear that russia has the power to get them to release these monitors and a power they say the russians are not using to this point. this is one in a spate of kidnappings. we talked earlier this week about an american journalist held there as well. ambassador said, it's an indication of things getting out of control there. >> one of the pro-russian militants, ambassador, they have alleged that at least one of these so-called monitors, these observers as you correctly point out, they are accusing this individual of being a spy for

the ukrainian government. the kiev government. what do you want to say about that? >> well, i think that's bogus on every level. first of all, these escorts who were escorting these invited military observers are ukrainian military escorts. they are not spying. and they're on the territory of ukraine. there is nothing that they were doing wrong. they are not an armed mission that is going to confront anyone. they are observing activities and installations on the ground. this is something that russia has agreed to, that this document, and they like jim said, you know, they have done absolutely nothing. there's no question that the unrest in the eastern ukraine would not be happening without the russians and there is no question that they could take steps that could help deescalate and reduce the tensions. >> one of the interesting elements of this, and it's very significant, potentially, jim, is that some of these monitors are germans and that potentially

could have impacted angela merkel, chancellor of germany who has to make a decision now about tightening sanctions. >> the ambassador can confirm this, half a dozen nationalities including german represented there. that's intentional. this is meant to be a team. i think the other -- although this team is a part, it comes under the umbrella, other osce monitors have run into problems before in crimea when they attempted to go in to monitor the situation. in fact, i'm curious what the ambassador thinks about this, when there have been discussions about, you know, deescalating monitors who have been part of that conversation, not just from the european side, and the american side, but the russian side. do you think the russians, ambassador, will accept international monitors to help deescalate? >> well, you're absolutely right, jim. both with the distinction that you're drawing between the osce monitoring mission and these monitors under the vienna document which is all states are

signatories to within the osce. you know, i think the geneva plan was not meant to be a long-term plan. it was meant to be a short-term plan. it assigned a specific role to the monitoring mission. there are 120-some people on the ground including in eastern ukraine. it assigned a specific role to the osce monitoring mission in helping to facilitate the handing over of these illegally occupied buildings. disarming of the illegally armed groups. and the monitoring mission is on the ground in eastern ukraine. it is prepared to do that job. the ukrainian government has taken steps to make that job possible. introduced a new amnesty law. have an arms buyback program. made statements about constitutional reform committing to the people in the east. they've taken all the steps. the russian have not followed through on their commitments made just one week ago. >> very quickly, ambassador, this statement coming in from our pentagon sources suggesting that russian aircraft have actually penetrated ukrainian airspace. what do you make of that? >> you know, i think it's another worrying sign because it

shows that russia is continuing to escalate the situation and continuing to flout international norms and those international norms are what underpin not only safety and security but international commerce. it's a real threat not only to ukraine but also the rest of us. >> ambassador daniel baer, organization for security and cooperation in europe. jim schiutto, chief national security correspondent. more breaking news in "the situation room." al qaeda hideouts and cells. unfolding right now. we're learning brand new information. plus a new claim of responsibility for that deadly attack on a political rally. avo: wherever your journey takes you the expedia app helps you save with mobile-exclusive deals download the expedia app text expedia to 75309 expedia, find yours

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we're following more breaking news. sources telling cnn commando forces in yemen are carrying out ongoing raids on al qaeda hideouts and cells in the outskirts of the capital and deed beyond. let's go straight to our national security analyst peter bergen and our correspondent, mohamed, reporting extensively on what's going on in yemen. you've been there, reporting, you're getting new information. what are you learning sfw. >> wolf, this is exclusive information. there's a major operation i learned about from yemenese sources going on in the outskirts of the capital. you have simultaneous raids conducted by commandos from m t multiple elite units. they're still going on at this hour. this is highly secret.

the reason this is happening is because there are a lot of hideouts that al qaeda in the arabian peninsula which is al qaeda in yemen they have in and around the capital. yes, in the last few days we've heard of drone strikes, we've heard of aerial strikes and more remote parts of the country, but we must remember one of reasons they are considered the most dangerous wing of al qaeda in the world is because they've been able to carry out spectacular attacks against highly fortified government installations even in the capital. in fact, this last december we reported extensively about an attack against the defense ministry. this is one of the most guarded facilities in the entire country. this is in the capital, 52 people were killed as a result. aqap actually got through the barrier there. they went into the hospital's defense ministry, shot it up. at least 52 people killed. it really shows power and the strength of this group even in these extremely guarded, fortified parts of the capital city in that country. >> last week there was u.s. military cooperation with yemeni forces in going after al qaeda

in arabian peninsula. any indication u.s. military is involved. this current ongoing operation? >> no indication. doesn't seem likely because it is the capital and because the pal is the seat there of the power. the military power. it is a weak central government, but they are able to really take care of the capital. we're trying to find out how much longer the operations are ongoing. we know the yemeni military is deploying forces to encircle the part of the country where the strikes have been going on. they're trying to put security perimeter and they're trying to cut off vital outlets. >> peter, how much influence, how important is this al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, this affiliate of al qaeda? >> well, i mean, u.s. officials think it's the biggest threat to the united states of all of al qaeda's affiliates. now the leader of, another number two in al qaeda writ large. the fact these operations are happening is a big deal. one thing, wolf, i think is important to point out based on

the reporting is -- i can't recall a time when we've seen major operations like this in and around the capital. usually you think about al qaeda being attacked in the south of yell yemen in the remote parts where the drone strikes are concentrated. the fact they're doing these operations in and around the capital is a big deal. >> you may be on the verge of a major, major shift in this entire effort to deal with al qaeda, guys. thanks very much. just ahead, president obama facing a world of problems in crew y crew y ukraine, middle east and beyond. what's happening with his foreign policy? plus, we have details of a royal wrap-up down under. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line anytime for 15 bucks a month. low dues... great terms... let's close. new at&t mobile share value plans.

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president obama's asia trip is being overshadowed by fast-moving events that are overwhelming his foreign policy. from eastern europe, to the middle east, to asia. he seems to be facing a lot, lots of problems at every turn.

our senior white house correspondent jim acosta is traveling with the president. he's in seoul, south korea, right now. so, what tuz does it look like,? how bad is it for the president? >> reporter: wolf, as you know, the trip has been dubbed the asia pivot, but the president has been doing pivoting of his own away from this region and toward some of the other foreign crises that have dominated his presidency, namely russia and ukraine. senior administration officials say expect the next round of sanctions against russia to come in days. not weeks. the pageantry in south korea stood in stark contrast to the increasing chaos the president faces in ukraine. with ukraine's prime minister warning russia wants to start world war iii, mr. obama huddled on the phone with the leaders of britain, germ manygermany, fran itty on the next round of sanctions. afterwards the british only spoke of, quote, extension of current sanctions. the president conceded the economic pressure so far has had

little effect on vladimir putin. >> i think that's self-apparent. i think that there are no guarantees in life. we'll continue to keep some arrows in our quiver in the event that we see a further deterioration of the situation over the next several days or weeks. >> reporter: but ukraine wasn't the only crisis on the president's mind. there's also a major setback to his administration's middle east peace efforts. as the president acknowledged, israel's decision to pull out of talks with the palestinians. >> there may come a point in which there just needs to be a pause and both sides need to look at the alternatives. >> reporter: as for the president's asia agenda, there's a new worry. after holding a 24-year-old american for 2 weeks, north korea chose to reveal he'd been detained the day mr. obama showed up next door in south korea. and that comes as north korea was already threatening to conduct another nuclear test. a move that would draw quick international response. >> it's important for us to look

at additional ways to apply pressure on north korea. further sanctions that have even more bite. >> reporter: mr. obama offered an american flag and magnolia tree both from the white house grounds to south korean president park to honor the victims from her country's devastating ferry disaster. his response to the tragedy came as both a president and a parent. >> i'm a father of two daughters of the same age or close to the same age as those who were lost, and so i can only imagine what the parents are going through at this point. >> reporter: and there have been other setbacks with the president on this trip. he tdid not come away with the pacific trade deal he wanted although administration officials say there was a breakthrough in some of the final details. next he heads to malaysia which has been dealing with its own tragedy lately and that is the d disappearance of flight 370. wolf? >> jim acosta reporting for u traveling with the president. let's two to kuala lumpur

now. richard quest is back was. that's the next stop, richard, on the president's itinerary. he arrives in a few hours where you are. malaysia's prime minister spoke about this upcoming meeting. what did he tell you? >> reporter: they are absolutely for this meeting, wolf. it's the first sitting u.s. president to visit malaysia in 48 years. and this country and this region is absolutely front and center in the tussle for influence between the superpowers, china and the united states. the malaysian prime minister really made it clear, it doesn't have to be one or the other. it's both. what is the message that you will be giving to president obama? >> is that we want to be friendly with both united states and with china and that we expect the two superpowers to play a productive and positive role in the region. >> good luck.

they both want you on their side perhaps to the exclusion of the other. you know that. >> that's life. you just have to manage two superpowers. do we need to choose? i don't think we need to choose. we need both. we need america's market, technology. america's the strongest superpower. and we need china. china is our largest trading partner. and mind you, you know, the economic relations between united states and china is also quite strong. so, you know, we have to be realistic about it. >> in adopting that policy, that is an extremely tricky policy to execute. >> it's a policy adopted by asean as a whole, too. i mean, we believe that we must engage in the positive sense. both superpowers. >> you're talking trade. the tpp. i've lost too many nights' sleep

covering the doha round and the wto. i freely admit, prime minister, my cynicism at the ability to a deal. why am i wrong? >> i know you're not entirely i when we have other trade agreements worked out, it's knotts impossibnot impossible, but it's going to be tough. >> this is the fascinating part about it. from washington to kuala lumpur, this is where the tussle takes place on the ground, in realtime say between the united states and china for influence in asia. >> richard quest in kuala lumpur doing excellent work for us, thank you. just i had, deadly twin explosions at a political rally, and now a new claim of responsibility. but first, impact your world.

>> nick everling started not impossible labs for one simple reason. >> i can't stand the concept of no. >> where they identify a need, not impossible labs will crowd source an affordable solution, gathering a team to create or adapt a technology. one of their first projects helped paralyze graffiti artist tempt one. >> he is struck with als. so he has been laying in the same bed for ten, 12 years. we created an ocular recognition device called the eye writer. it allowed him to the draw with his eyes, and he is doing incredible work. so that kind of really gave him his expression and his love and his art back. >> more recently not impossible, found an affordable way to print 3-d limbs for a boy. project daniel has gone on to help many more. >> our device, you're looking at around $100. the really crucial part of what we did over there was to actually show daniel as well as

the community how to build them themselves. >> in fact, not impossible wants to share their challenges and their solutions with anyone and everyone. >> ultimately, everything we make will be online and open source. our mantra is help one, help many.

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some severe weather headed towards the southeastern parts of the country this weekend. let's check in with cnn's jennifer gray for the very latest.

what's going on? >> yeah, wolf, we still have these strong storms. no tornado warnings right now, but we still have the tornado watch in effect until 9:00 eastern time. these storms have been producing a lot of lightning, some very large hail, and also a couple of tornadoes have been reported with some of these cells. these are very strong and they're pushing off the coast of north carolina and virginia. so if you're in eastern section of these states, definitely be on the lookout for the storms for the next couple of hours. there are storm reports. we've had a couple of tornadoes reported, large hail like we mentioned, and wind. this is going to push off the coast. and our next system is going to set up. and saturday, sunday, into monday, we are really going to have to watch the severe weather anywhere from texas all the way up through portions of kansas, nebraska, as we go through saturday. on sunday, the threat shifts a little bit farther to the east you. have you the arklatex in that moderate risk for very large hail, damaging winds, isolated tornadoes possible. and then as we go into monday, wolf, that is going to shift over to the eastern side of the

country, including places like atlanta, and even the carolinas once again. >> jennifer gray with that update. thanks. we'll be on the alert all weekend and into next week. we're following some other top stories in "the situation room" right now, including some deadly attacks. an al qaeda splinter group says it launched this car bomb, which was followed by a suicide bombing in baghdad. the target was a shiite political rally. at least 31 people were killed. sectarian violence is flaring in iraq ahead of next week's parliamentary election. awful situation. the house speaker john boehner is mocking fellow republicans who are shying away from comprehensive immigration reform. the speech in his ohio home district, he summed up their attitude this way. >> here is the attitude. oh, don't make me do this, ohhhh, this is too hard. you should hear them. >> boehner also said, and i'm quoting him now, we get elected

to solve problems. and he accused some of his colleagues of taking the path of least resistance. sources telling cnn right now the federal prosecutors could file charges against congressman michael grimm as early as next week. the fbi has been investigating the new york republican's campaign finances and business dealings for two years. his attorney says grimm asserts his innocence and is disappointed by the looming indictment. the duke and duchess of cambridge, along with prince george are saying goodbye to australia and new zealand. the british royals wrapped up an almost three-week visit down under. their final official appearance was at a ceremony marking australia's day of remembrance. the duke and duchess laid a wreath honoring the country's fallen soldiers. and look at the early computer art by andy warhol, lost from almost 30 years. he created these works back in 1985, but they remained forgotten, lost on a floppy disincome the archives of the warhol museum in pittsburgh. another artist tracked down the disc after seeing an old youtube

video of warhol talking about the project. remember, you can always follow us on twitter. tweet me @wolfblitzer. tweet the show. you can watch us live or dvr the show so you won't miss a moment. thanks very much for watching. "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. next breaking news, a search area for flight 370 moving. plus, final texts from the passengers. how to retrieve them. a live demonstration. and outrage. the south korean ferry accident was no surprise. tonight, the builder's record of disasters at sea. let's go "outfront." >> good evening, everyone. i'm erin burnt net. "outfront" tonight, we begin with the breaking news. word just in from a u.s. navy source, therc