the accidental death of two al qaeda hostages reignites the debate over the use of drones. >> rising tensions in the u.s. as protesters demand to know how a man was fatally injured while in police custody. >> and in remembrance, leaders gather to mark 100 years since the mass killings of hundreds of thousands of armenians. hello and welcome to our viewers

here in the united states and around the world. i'm george howell. >> and i'm natalie allen. you're watching cnn newsroom. >> we start this hour in washington. u.s. president barack obama says he takes full responsibility for a drone strike that killed two western hostages. >> the american and italian aide workers were held near the pakistan/afghanistan border. senior correspondent jim acosta has more for us. >> reporter: president obama was forced to face one of the most harsh realities on his war on terrorism that even precise drone strikes can go horribly wrong. >> it is a cruel and bitter truth that in the bog of war certainly and foit against terrorists sperkly. mistakes sometimes deadly mistakes, can occur. >> one of those mistakes happened in january when the cia conducted a drone strike near

the afghanistan/pakistan border that interadd vertantly killed two hostages. u.s. government contractor warren weinstein captured from his home in pakistan and held by al qaeda since 2011 and italian aide worker, giovanni lo porto. >> as president and commander-in-chief, i take full responsibility for all of the operations. i profoundly regret what happened. on behalf of the united states government, i offer our deepest apologies to the families. >> the obama administration says weinstein and lo porto died in the first two of drone strikes. ordered by officials, not the president. after hundreds of hours of surveillance that determined there were none. killed in the strikes were two american terrorists, ahmad faruq

and a well known joal qaeda. >> that was essentially the reaction on capitol hill where john boehner welcomed the announcement of an independent review of the strikes. >> we need the facts for the families and so that we can make sure that nothing like this ever happens again in our efforts to keep americans safe. >> but drone critics are raiding question. >> cia doesn't know who it has killed until weeks after the fact. that calls into question, not just standard into which the legal force program is carried out but the reliability of the intelligence that is being used. >> white house press secretary pushing back on that assessment while refusing to offer any information on strikes and

declined to use the word drones, claiming they are sometimes necessary. >> we can't use troops to go after every terrorist in the world. we can't conduct an osama bin laden raid against any terrorist. >> senior international correspondent nic robertson reported extensively on al qaeda and international efforts to fight terrorism. he joins us now live from london. nick, certainly the u.s. ood min strags drone warfare on al qaeda has been quite controversial and now we have this. >> it has been very controversial, in particular in pakistan. they criticize the united states generally when these strikes happen. they believe by the pakistani government to be counter productive on the ground. that drone strikes that sometimes have class ral damage causing deaths of innocent civilians, actually help radicalize groups like al qaeda

and in that region. that's the ongoing pakistani concern. that said, however, the pakistani government, former preside president meu shar ef, saying that they have been given the green light, areas to operate in. the precise information of who may be in a building at given time is very hard to gauge even from the air, even after many potentially hundreds of hours of surveillance of those targ the. but it has serve had to decimate the leadership of al qaeda in that area. but at a price is what the critic would argue. natalie? >> yes, we had bob on earlier, our analyst, who is former cia, talking about. how it is virtually um possible to have the near certainty that they need that there won't be civilian deaths. when they call for a drone

strike. what our analyst likely to say about the future moving forward with this. according to bob he thinks this could possibly be an end to drone warfare. what are your thoughts on that? >> it seems at the moment that united states and other governments rely on drones. particularly in an environment like this. if you look at yemen, for example, there are drone strikes on al qaeda leaders there, taking advantage of the situation on the ground. so drones are very much part of the armory. the air force in the united states believes drones are an important tool in the future. cheaper to build. cheaper to man. cheaper to run. more easily replaceable as it is not the same cost as losing a front line top of the range fighter plane along with the pilot as well when you put this vehicle into combat. so it does seem to me that the

at least strategically at the moment, the united states air force and others are committed to improve the vehicles and try to improve the way that they operate. however, incidents like this one may cause enough at least political backlash that closer scrutiny is given and the limitations under which they use may be further restricted than they are already. but abandoning drones, i don't think that's going to happen in the near future. >> i see. we will certainly hear more about why it took so many weeks for this to come to light as well. nic robertson, thanks for your perspective. >> now to the streets of baltimore maryland. things are calm now following sporadic clashes between police and protesters early thursday. hundreds of people march in support of freddy gray again on thursday. gray, 25-year-old african-american man, died sunday in police custody. >> and his death has sparked

days of protests on thursday. two people arrested for disorderly conduct and destruction of property. here is cnn's brian todd. he got called up in one confrontation. >> let's go over here. watch out, watch out. they just got another man. we're being -- easy, guys. we're being pushed. you can see what's going on. when they try to arrest someone, they are swarmed by protesters. okay, okay, ma'am, thank you. and some objects are thrown. i'm not sure why that man was arrested. didn't see what he allegedly did. >> all right. again, let's put this scene in perspective. that's two people being arrested. despite that scene, baltimore police saying on the whole, the protests on thursday were peaceful. and in the meantime, police

officials have said they are investigating gray's death and they will turn over findings to the state's attorney's office on may 1. >> cnn learned ten years ago a man died from a spinal injury after riding in a baltimore police van. could these two cases be more than just coincidence? cnn's joe johns has more on that and as well reaction from the police union on gray's death. >> freddy gray under arrest at least partly mobile as he enters a baltimore police van. the lawyer says the answer to what killed gray lies in what happened next. >> something happened in that van. we just don't know what. >> if gray wasn't struck by officers then the likely explanation for his severed spine a fall against the van's met ool interior possibly cause bade rough ride. police union says it may have been an issue in the past. >> it is something that people on the street tell us a lot. that that happens. do i -- in my 16 years of

representing police officers, have i had anyone disciplined for that? no. >> but it is more than urban myth. november 2005, johnson, walking home from a bar, stopped here to relief himself. that offense is usually punished with a ticket. but johnson was arrested and transported to a police station unbelted in a van. at the station, johnson complained that officer was driving like an [ bleep ]. i fell and i can't bluf. taken to a hospital. he told a doctor the wagon made a sharp turn, i fell hitting face first. heard a pop and blacked out. two excessive force cases against the baltimore police department. >> clearly it is not a problem with the vans. it is a problem with the van op righter. >> like gray, johnson add broken spine. he died just two weeks later. johnson's family filed a $100 million lawsuit again the baltimore police. >> detective nicole leak regional auto theft task

force -- >> at trial, officer leak who drove the police van testified i did not seatbelt him because she thought he add full bladder. she denied purposely giving him a rough ride, a tactic some charges use against difficult prisoners. the johnson family won a wrongful death verdict and was aworded $7.4 pillon. but on afael reversed to $500,000. now are these two eerily similar cases just coincidence? >> a lot of people are waiting for the outcome of those investigations. that is cnn's joe johns. >> this is honoring armenians killed in world war i, a century ago today. >> starting in 1915 during world war i and in final years of the empire, turks slaughtered up to

1.5 million ethnic armenians. armenians call it it genocide, but turkey rejects that term. >> a european union leader pledging to triple funding for search and rescue operations in the mediterranean sea just days after migrant ship capsized leaving more than 800 people feared drown. >> $130 million a year in financing putting it off by italy that was cancelled last year. after wrapping emergency summit thursday britain says it'll pledge three ships and rescue aircraft. >> france and germany say they will provide two ships each to the multilayered mission. >>. >> translator: first we must and will do everything to take on

and continue the fight against human traffickeres who in an inhumane way damage people's lives and kill them. secondly, we will work on the causes for the flight and we need your knowledge too. third, and this is the most important point right now, which moves all of us, we will do everything we can to prevent more victims dying an agonizing death in the mediterranean in front of our doorstep. >> despite that terrible loss of life, these illegal crossings are still happening. >> yes. and cnn's ben wedeman joining italian police on a surveillance mission. here is the story. >>. >> reporter: late afternoon, the captain navigates his ship out of the port. he is with italy's finance police. he and his crew of 12 have the late shift on the mediterranean. not long ago they were busy chasing smug letters of cigarettes and drugs now the

finance police are on the look out for human smugglers and their desperate victims. >> we call the mediterranean the sea but here it seems more like the ocean. the water is deep, dark, cold and it is a terrible place to die. the crew knows only too well how terrible. in october 2013, they took part in rescue operations when a ship carrying hundreds of migrants sank off the coast, more than 350 people died. >> a 21-year veteran of the finance police captain says that day will stay with him forever. >> to have seen all those dead bodies was something hard to put in word he recalls. but what stayed with us is the pride to have been able to rescue four. >> on this patrol they came

across the you too neeshian fishing boat. the tunisia coast show is nothing suspicious. preparing dinner for the crew, he enthusiastically explains how he will prepare pasta and eggplant but turns serious when i asked him about his worst moment at sea. i still remember, he says, pulling out of the water with our hands a young pregnant woman who just died. almost the entire crew took part in the 2013 rescue mission. memories are still vivid. there were children. we recovered the bodies of children says crewmate, it was a bad situation.

what i remember is the body after we recovered. we put him in a body bag, his head was in this hand. at the moment we were too busy to think about it. but when go home before going to sleep, it all comes back to us. hard memories to ponder as they scour the vast black sea for signs of life. ben wedeman, cnn, in the mediterranean. >> ben wedeman always able to bring us so many different aspect of these stories. >> excellent story teller. always. >> all right. the sky turned red over southern chile as a volcano erupted. not once, but twice. the first time we have heard from it in almost 50 years. we will have that coming up fz. >> and u.s. general divulging classified information to his lover learned his fate. what david petraeus had to say outside the courtroom.

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u.s. general david petraeus must serve two years probation and pay a $100,000 fine for

sharing classified information with his lover. >> today marks the end of a 2 year ordeal that resulted from mistakes that i made. as i did in the past, i apologized to those closest to me and to many others, including those with whom i was privileged to serve in government and in the military over the years. >> petraeus admitted to having an extra marital affair with his buyi boyographer, seen here, paula broadwell. >> prosecutors agreed not to send petraeus to jail because none of the classified information was ever made public. >> this has been a five-month battle but the u.s. senate foinly voting to confirm president barack obama's nomination for attorney general.

wh w loretta lynch. >> ayes are 56 and noays are 43. nomination is confirmed. >> with that, 56-43 vote makes lynch the first african-american female attorney general in american history. legislation passed on wednesday ending a bitter standoff. a red alert after the calbuco volcano erupted twice in one day. >> images that came out are just amazing. including images of lightning. >> right. this is a phenomenon that's only been documented about 200 times since the last 50, 60 years, since they started recording these phenomenons. take a look at this lightning

bolts, in the middle of what is called the eruption column of the volcano. it is, george, really incredible. there is a scientific explanation for this as well. which i would love to share with you first. one more picture of this. look at this beautiful landscape of the lightning within the volcano. and get back it my graphics and you can see exactly what i'm talking about. it is actually reflecting on the water of a nearby lake. just by the volcano. one of our ireporters speending that in. so what happens? you shuffle your feet along the carpet, perhaps in winter, you reach for the door handle and get the shock. what you have done is create a separation of charges. that's exactly what happens within this column of dust, ash and rock. just spewing into the upper levels of the atmosphere. we are talking about 20 kilometers high.

65,000 feet. explosive eruption carries that debris way up there and that rock and that ash starts to become positively charged. so basically what we are doing is separating the charge of neutrality and negative charge to electronics. basically allowing for that static electricity or lightning bolt to form. and we get that within the volcano and creates a spectacular site. i like to call this the fusion of light. it is basically mother nature balancing charges. what an amazing thing. what a spent cal. nasa also capturing this image. this is from space. you can see just how high in the atmosphere this particular ash plume was, that shading of red indicating heights of about 50 to 60,000 feet. by the way, the eruption column sent shock waves. creating what is called a gravity wave. this spread out all around the

volcano and was visible from space. i think that's absolutely phenomenal to be able to report on something like that. >> it is. >> and it might blow again, right? >> that what volcanologists think. >> we will tune in today for a ground breaking debate hosted by christiane amanpour. >> she brought together a panel of politicians. what makes this distinct is you will see reaction from a auden audience flash up instantaneo instantaneously around the studio. want show to you an example of that. >> welcome back to cnn's election debit in 2015. that will turn now to immigrati immigration. as a fact, net migration to the uk in the year ending 2014 was

298,000. the target the prime minister david cameron said when he came into power is tens of thousands. so let's take the temperature of the audience on this. >> that's the issue, across our yop that time. and the question you want to ask you is has immigration strengthened, weakened or made no difference to the united kingdom. you have three chases in front of you. if you are are indifferent, think it hasn't made a difference. and use the screen now. please vote. the results come up and the strength and greens have it. 50% of this audience feel that immigration is strength in the uk, 26%, that is weak in the uk.

quite a few think there was no difference either. can i ask you which way you went? >> i think strength. a lot of immigrants are coming in and taking jobs that the brits don't want to go. and bringing in qualities that we don't have ourselves. >> i kind of like the smiley face. technology. that's this friday at 7 awning p.m. in london. 8:00 p.m. central here on cnn. >> ahead of that, christiane answered yeses about the key issues and players. log on to face book.com/cnni at the times on your screen. we will get an update of what is happening on the ground in the capital of yemen. >> plus one of the largest nato exercises from the year. and firsthand look aboard a u.s. navy warship.

press of the u.s. is apologizing for two hostages killed in a drone strike. both were killed when the u.s. drone hit an al qaeda compound near the pakistan/afghanistan border back in january. >> just days after a migrant tragedy in the mediterranean sea, european leaders say they will triple the budget for search and rescue operations. it was one of many options looked at to stem the flow of migrants to europe. over 850 migrants are feared

dead after a ship capsized off the coast of libya late saturday. >> we have live video here from armenia where a memorial is taking place to honor victims of a tragic event 1 century ago. that's the president speaking right now. armenian groups say turks murdered more than 1 million ethnic armenians during the first world war. their descendants call it a genocide but turkey always rejected that term. >> now into saudi arabia. air strikes continue in yemen on thursday even though saudi arabia announced an end to the air campaign on tuesday. >> yemeni militia say they will keep fighting the houthi rebels who are calling for u.n.-backed peace talks. >> let's hear the latest developments.

hakim joins us. thank you for joining us. what is the reaction there to these latest developments? >> reporter: the houthis are announcing that the saudis are not serious about a cease-fire because after the announcement it was ignored and the air strikes intensify even though saudi called this war as over. so they are intensifying and increasing into other locations. and saudi air strikes are not targeting targets. yesterday four schools in yemen were targeted by air strikes. so this is causing public anger and growing anger in yemen even among the lines of those who support in the first place. as long as they are targeting yemenis or schools, this will not help them in any way. >> hakim, if you could please

give context to, you know, what has been said, that houthi rebels stored equipment and supplies in civilian neighborhoods, potentially in schools, is that happening from your perspective, from what you are seeing if. >> that does happen in some incidents. but not all. the schools that were attacked yesterday were all not government-owned. they were private-owned. by citizens. so they were not occupied by the houthi. that does happen. but not the ones yesterday. again, these attacks, it is not the first time that civilian targets have been attacked. as of now, 9 r5% of those skilled in the air strikes in yemen have been civilians and they have been affected on the ground and continue to spread to different provinces within the country. because their manpower on the ground hasn't been affected.

yes, weapon storage and depots were destroyed in a sense but houthi power is not -- heavy artillery, manpower made them and controlled last year. >> but the air strikes continue, the humanitarian situation continues to unfold. you have people leaving their homes. you have refugees leaving by boat. we will continue to keep in touch with you, hakim, there in sanaa, giving us the latest on what happened in yemen. >> a new report says north korea's weapon production may be well ahead of previous estimates. according to the wall street journal, china's experts say they may have as many as 20 warheads additionally beijing says north korea could double that by next year. the wall street journal says according to sources this all came out in a closed door meeting between chinese and u.s. experts. back in february.

>> a major military exercise off the coast of scotland is set to wrap up in the coming hours. it's called joint warrior and it is the largest military drill in europe this year. cnn's phil black saw it unfold firsthand aboard a u.s. warship. >> the uss vicksburg carries awesome firepower. its decks house more than a hundred cruise missile launches. we were off northwest scotland. they are leading a nato maritime group including ships from germany and canada. they have joined 50 other ships and submarines. joint warriors. huge british-led exercises involving around 13,000 personnel. put forth in countries. >> nato says this exercise is not a response to any particular

threat but comes as a time when the russian military is consistently pushing an testing this region's defenses. over the last year, russian long-range bombers repeatedly approach nato airspace without turning on responders or filing flight plans. nato jets frequently intercept them. brad williamson commands this nato maritime group. he said today's tensions remind him of when he first went to sea during the cold war. >> it was an us or them mentality. i think we saw forces patrolling areas back then that we now see them doing again. and again, it reminds us that we have to be ready as an alliance. i think that's what this exercise helps us do. >> we don't know the details of the secret pretend scenarios played out on this ocean. but their importance is clear. as nato's real word adversary

tests the lines. phil black, cnn, on the uss vicksburg. >> armenians call it genocide. the turks refuse to use that term. we will take you to a live report on the 100-year anniversary. that's coming up. ms know their s often need a helping hand. after brushing, listerine® total care helps prevent cavities, strengthens teeth and restores tooth enamel. it's an easy way to give listerine® total care to the total family. listerine® total care. one bottle, six benefits. power to your mouth™. and for kids starting at age six, listerine® smart rinse delivers extra cavity protection after brushing. ...for capturing your world. and now... ...they can transform it, with the new angie's list app you can get projects done in a snap. take a photo of your project...

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♪ ♪ live video again here from armenia where a memmorial is taking place to honor tragic events in world war i. 100 years ago today. >> armenian groups say starting in 1915, during the final years of the empire, up to 1.5 million ethnic armenians were slaughtered. descendants call it a genocide. turkey long rejected that term.

foreign leaders include french president hollande and russian president putin. >> we are joined by senior international correspondent arwa damon. she is live for us in istanbul. arwa? >>. >> reporter: good even pg. a series of events around the country. one of the key armenian churches here expected to be attended and this is quite significant. by turkey's minister to the eu. this is the first time that a representative of the government has attend had such a commemoration since 1916. but for many of those descendants, of the armenias who were so horribly killed back in 1915, they want to see turkey do so much more. >> ♪

♪ report the music as haunting for those who don't understand the lyrics as it is for those for whom the suffering has no words. the concert, one of many commemorating horror from a century ago. descendants of those who perished then in the audience. among them, a grandmother. >>. >> translator: she was 9 during the 1915 genocide. she was taken from her family and raised muslim. >> reporter: she did not know her true heritage until she was in her 20s. >> translator: my first reaction was shock, total shock.

we did not know anything about the 1915 reality. this information was hidden from us in school. i had to stop myself from going out to the streets and screaming the truth. >> reporter: the empire crumbled, more than 1.5 million armenians died. some were brutally massacred. others sent on a march through the desert to their death. generations later, their tragedy remains embroiled in an intense debate over calling it a genocide. the turkish state rejects that it was a genocide. saying there are hundreds of thousands of criticizians and muslims killed during bloody world war i era. but society today is changing. >> that is the passport that the family used to escape. it was kind of family passport,

so migrant father is the one in the far left. >> reporter: a brazilian armenian spent four years shooting these images, about to go on display in istanbul. >> we tried to find armenian house. >> reporter: his grandparents, all survivors of 1915. his deceased grand father, a photographer himself. the black an whites taken with his camera. >> waited for the decision to bring his camera, was too good to, to bring it to his hometown. >> in search of stones and calls, armenian buildings, that would tell the secrets within. and stubborn shelves that refused to be completely destroyed. >> if it was a plan of ex termination, it was failed. but yes, emptiness, power of emptiness, that is a lot of

power in that and the melancholy and sadness. >> a power that cannot be denied. a power driving the quest for justice and reconciliation. and for h some armenians we have been speaking to, the very fact that this has become a part of public debate that turkish society at least they say has begun to face the reality of the past is bringing some comfort. though they do of course at end of the day ultimately want to see the government recognized 1915 as a genocide. >> following up on that, recently the pope chimed in, calling that a genocide. is this a sign that more people are looking at this situation in different terms in. >> those comments by the pope did cause o quite the

controversy if you'll remember. turkey recalling representative to the vatican and further straining its relationship with the vatican. european nations who do recognize the events of 1915 as a genocide are also seeing their ties being strained with turkey. turkey really trying to put out a statement saying everyone suffered during that bloody era and also trying to at the very least when it comes to what it is saying publicly, acknowledge the losses that took place in 1915 without branding them as a genocide. instead saying that even though the nation needs to come to terms with its past it need to not further aggravate the situation. and it does accuse those governments and individuals who are branding 1915 as genocide as trying to deliberately discredit the turkish government, trying to deliberately target it.

so it is still a very, very controversial issue. but as some armenians will tell you, we are at a very different point in the debate today than we were for example just a year ago. >> cnn's arwa damon reporting for us in turkey. thank you so much for your reporting. >> and we'll be right back with more news.

if you ever wondered how hoopy your country is compared to others, it seems like the same countries are popping up and we're not in it. canada is number one. can did's european style and north american natural wonders, it said, give it a definite advantage as well. >> not on the list is the u.s. but norway is the fourth happiest country in the world. prime location to observe the northern lights or midnight sun. denmark is third with a lively

music culture. iceland is the second happiest place. abundance of nature including natural geo thermal spas and cultures make it a favorite. >> and the happiest country in 2015, switzerland. skiing, and chocolates -- we have chocolates and skiing p. even mountains in georgia. no, we're not happy. we're too type a over here. >> we need do switzerland. >> a new bur bureau in switzerland. it is not good to sleep if you're working crazy hours like us. >> not a good idea to sleep if you're anchoring the news like we are or packing planes. >>. >> reporter: he has become

famous since the baggage handler fell asleep in an alaska airlines cargo hold. tried calling 911. >> you're where? >> inside a plane. i feel like it is moving in a hair. >> reporter: it wasn't just the luggage that was heavy. it was his eyees. >> i was exhausted. when i first started the job we we took snaps. >> reporter: on the job napping from subway clerks to cops. >> it was for his money -- >> reporter: an occupational hazard. even this 911 dispatcher could be heard snoring. second after answering a call from a woman whose husband was unconscious. >> yes. >> reporter: politicians are always nabbed nap ppg from dick cheney to president reagan feet from the pope. but come on. who eye mong us hasn't fallen

asleep at work once in a while i fall asleep at my keyboard writing a story mid sentence. and wake up to find myself typing gibberish. but it is far worse to be dead to the world when you're supposed to be live. >> he is really asleep. >> tucker carlson was asleep when they came back from commercial on this obviously too early in the morning news show. sports analyst charles barkley was teased mercilessly while played back in slow motion when his eyes dared to droop. >> when former howard stern's sidekick, arty, fell asleep during the show, howard had the mic move closer. >> did you hear that. >> and camera pointed at his midriff. >> looks like his fourth trimest trimester. >> but at least he went arrested for intoxication.

like this guy, even a puppy can fall asleep over a drink. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> in the uk we might fall asleep soon waiting for royal baby watch round 2. duchess of cambridge due to give birth any time. but royal enthusiasts are camped outside the hospital. decked out in union jack. the big guess is boy or girl. >> i think the male bet is absolutely fantastic. 11-8 out there. almost double your money. an 50/50. >> if names are your game let's play that. you can bettes on this. odds of the new baby called alice are now 6-5. coming in second is charlotte. at 5-1. and third is elizabeth at 6-1. >> royal baby watch commences. >> here we go. >> thanks for watching cnn, i'm

natalie allen. >> i'm george howell. early start is coming up for our viewers in the united states and viewers around the room. stay with us as cnn news rom continues. nearly half a million cars were stolen in 2012. continues.

breaking overnight, more than a dozen students fall in a really, really frightening stage collapse. dramatic video ahead. the white house apologizing after hostages are accidentally killed in a drone strike. we have team coverage breaking down the mistake and the global repercussions this morning. and then a rally for answers inhe