war on drugs implies an us versus them. and all over this part of america, people are learning there is no them. there is only us. and we're going to have to the president versus the media. as the white house blocks several media outlets from a press briefing including cnn. a new development in the death of kim jong-nam. what one of thes is pefof the s telling officials about her role. and plus the battle for mosul continues. iraqi forces approach a key area of that city and fight against isis. live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm george howell and good to have this person back. >> thank you. good to be with you. i'm natalie allen.

"cnn newsroom" starts right now. our top story, senior white house officials are pushing back against cnn's exclusive reporting denying any wrongdoing and asking the foobi to speak o against reports of contacts good the trump campaign and russians. >> the administration confirms it spoke to the fooibl about those communications, but in an unprecedented move, press secretary sean spicer blo er bl cnn and other news organizations from an informal press briefing. for more, jim sciutto reports. >> reporter: the white house vehemently defending asking the fbi to deny reports of communications between trump campaign associates and russians known to u.s. intelligence. the administration's intense push back follows cnn's exclusive reporting of the white house request. senior administration officials

insisting it only asked for the denial after a top fbi official himself volunteered that the "new york times" story on those communications was inaccurate. white house officials who asked not to be named outlined their time line of events saying the conversation happened on february 15th after a 7:30 a.m. meeting led by white house chief of staff reince priebus. fbi deputy director andrew mccabepriebus for five minutes alone and calls a report linking trump campaign advisers to russian intelligence total bs. priebus the white house says asked mccabe, quote, can we do anything about it and whether there is something the fbi can do to, quote, set the record straight. later in separate conversations, mccabe and fbi director james comey tell priebus the fbi cannot comment on the reports. priebus then asks comey if he can cite mccabe and comey as,

quote, top intelligence officials in pushing back on the story himself in tv interviews last sunday, which he did. >> i've talked to the top levels of the intelligence community and they have assured me that that new york times story was grossly overstated and inaccurate and totally wrong. >> reporter: the direct communications between the white house and the fbi were unusual because of decade old restrictions on such contacts concerning pending investigations. >> you don't even want the appearance evof political influence with respect to an investigation. >> reporter: president trump on friday ranted against the leaks that have plagued his administration making a case reporters should only use namednamed sources, everyone as white house officials spoke to roerts asking not to be named. >> i'm against the people that make up stories and make up sources. they shouldn't be allowed to use sources unless they use

somebody's name. let their name be put out this. let their name be put out. a source says that donald trump is a horrible, horrible human being. let him say to my face. >> reporter: mr. trump also criticized the fbi directly tweeting the fbi is totally unable to stop the national security leakers that have permeated our government for a long time. they can't even find the leerks with leerks within the fbi itself. dallas filed information is being given to the media that could have a ditch investigatev on the u.s. on the larger question of existing communications between trump campaign and russian officials, reince priebus seemed to a i that there is nothing to those reports, but the fact is the fbi is still investigating those communications as are both the house and senate intelligence committees. jim sciutto, cnn, washington. mr. trump took his war with

the media to the conservative political action conference promising a crowd of right wing activists that he would be taking action against a critical news media. >> mihis words have some concerd that picking and choosing among media outlets could just be the beginning. let's listen. >> as you saw throughout the entire campaign and even now, the fake news doesn't tell the truth. doesn't tell the truth. so just in finishing, i say it doesn't represent the people. it never will represent the people. and we're going to do something about it. >> which is just not correct. >> exactly. journalists in the country haven't always been sure how to reach act to the president's attacks. >> but our colleague jake tapper responded with some very direct truthful words to the white house. let's listen. >> let's not make any mistake

about what is happening here. a white house that has had some difficulty telling the truth and that has seemed to have trouble getting up to speed on the basic competent functioning of government and a president who seems particular lly owaverse ty criticism, they're taking the next step in attempting to avoid checks and balances and accountability. it's not acceptable. and it's indicative of a lack of basic understanding of how an adults white house functions. this white house does not seem to respect the idea of accountability. this white house does not seem to value an independent press. there is a word for that line of thinking. the word is unamerican. >> jake tapper, thank you. another board for it, unacceptable as per an official response from the cable news network saying this, quote, this is an unacceptable development by the trump white house. apparently this is how they retaliate when you report facts

they don't like. we'll keep reporting regardless. glu. >> now more on cpac. the conference of president skipped that conference last year at a time he where many republicans were critical of his campaign and some questioned whether he was a true conservative. >> but this year the president took a victory lap hammering home his america first agenda. we get more from tom foreman. >> you finally have a president, finally. took you a long final. >> reporter: for all the cheering at cpac, donald trump is hardly the champion many conservatives expected. in much of the nomination process, his support among them was extremely low. he's a former democrat, married three times, the voice behind those vulgar comments about women. >> grab them by the [ bleep ]. >> reporter: he struggles to explain his faith. >> have you ever asked good fd forgiveness? >> that's a tough question. >> reporter: he has slammed republican party cornerstones

such as broad free trade deals and on abortion rights, here is donald trump in 1999. >> i'm very pro-choice. i hate the concept of abortion. i hate it. i hate everything it stands for. i cringe when i listen to people debating the subject. but i still believe in choice. >> reporter: that choinkanged o the years and after the election he made sure his position was very clear. >> i'm pro-life. the judges will be pre-life. >> reporter: so aside from that last answer, what do conservatives like about him? listen to the applause lines at cpac. >> it's time for all americans to get off of welfare and get back to work. you're going to love it. we're going to repeal and replace boom caobamacare. we are going to keep radical islamic terrorists the held ig o hell out of our country. i'm not representing the globe on. i'm representing your country.

>> reporter: those instances have dwraun tarawn traditional republicans like reince priebus much closer to more radical social conservatives like white house adviser steve bannon. >> and i'm going to telling you, if the party and the ckoconser e conservative movement are together, similar to steve and i, it can't be stopped. >> reporter: conservatives may yet find their faith tested if president trump strays too far from their on trthodoxy and he find the party support softening if his approval rating continues to follall in the polls. 2000 right know as they say, everyone loves a winner and conservatives believe they are winning big. tom foreman, cnn, washington. for more insight on the conference this year, let's bring in celia borelli with politico. let's talk about this flap, first of all, between the whus

a white house and media outlets that were banned. jake tapper said it was unamerican. could it also be a continued effort by the white house to distract, to confuse from the issues at hand like russia? >> well, george, i mean, it's becoming quite amusing because the president is just in the habit of lashing out against the media and saying and doing all sorts ever things that would have been unimaginable up until a month ago. and i'm not sure if it's just a distraction because actually it's angering people and become position obvious that the white house can't manage certain situations and they're having difficulties facing the criticism and also dealing with issues like you said russia that are actually concerning to the american people. there was a survey that polled americans that actually wants an investigation into this communication between russia and

the trump campaign during the 2016 election campaign. and this is just something that the trump administration is ignoring. he's not even talking about the facts anymore, he's just talking about the media making up fake news and saying that it's all our fault for reporting things that are coming out of -- he doesn't even know where and sources that aren't accountable. and he knows the people that the media are talking to, so it's impossible that they're saying those certain things. and it's not really a distracti distractioni i think. it's the president having a hard time facing criticism and tackling all the news that isn't really making him look great. >> it is interesting, the attacks do keep coming. still this is the president of the united states and is always due the respect of the president of the united states but at the same time, the media will continue doing its job digging for facts on these stories and also separating fact from fiction. the president spoke at cpac and

this was the same gathering of conservatives who tried to derail his path to the white house just a year ago. let's listen. >> all of these years we've been together and now you finally have a president. finally. took a long time. and you made it happen, believe me, believe me. you did it because you love your country, because you want a better future for your children and because you want to make america great again. >> the president targeted the media as we talked about before, targeted globalization, drove home his populist message of america first and economic nationalism. but is that fully the message that will unite conservatives? >> well, it really looks like the fringe has become the

mainstream. establishment sort of went into hiding. we haven't seen much of them at cpac at all. and the part of the republican electorates in a trump is tapping in too here are the oto that want to hear trump speak to their anxieties instead of the facts. the fact that globalization and america needs to become great again, bocobamacare needs to be repealed, is everything what they want to hear. everything else is secondary. >> and the president set to address congress for the first time tuesday, not just speaking to a friendly kraud as crowd ast cpac, but speaking to both sides of the aisle and all americans even those who oppose him. is he likely to take this opportunity to unite the nation around his agenda or will we see trump continue to be trump as we saw on the campaign trail? >> well, when he addresses congress, he's also going to have to convince very hostile

democratic lawmakers to sort of side with him 00 certain bills that he can't pass through executive orders. so in congress he's definitely going to find a way to unite rather than divide. and what we think and what we expect is that he will outline his policies going forward. but without getting into much detail, so he will talk about tax reform, repealing bochl c.a.r.ecar obama care oirks but he probably won't outline a strategy in detail. and while he addresses congress, i think he will take the opportunity to sort of reset and go forward from what has been a very challenging and very complicated and eventful first month in office. >> thank you so much for your insight and we'll stay thin tou with you. president donald trump taking a victory lap and that is exactly what happened friday. we'll have more on the conservative gathering later this hour. also ahead here on "cnn newsroom," chilling new details

surrounding the mysterious death of the north korean leader's half brother. today, unlimited gets the network it deserves. verizon. (mic thuds) uh, sorry. it's unlimited without compromising reliability, on the largest, most advanced 4g lte network in america. (thud) uh... sorry, last thing. it's just $45 per line. forty. five. (cheering and applause) and that is all the microphones that i have. (vo) unlimited on verizon. 4 lines, just $45 per line.

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welcome back. we're following the murder mystery in malaysia. officials say no one needs to worry about coming into contact with a nerve agent that was used to kill kim jong-nam. >> they say the airport has been thoroughly cleaned and no one has become sick from vx since the reported attack there february 13. >> cla risrissa ward has more o this case. >> reporter: some of the last moments of kim jong-nam's life. he approaches security to complain that someone grabbed his face and he's feeltsing dizzy. he's escorted to the medical clinic. malaysian newspaper shows a photograph of him slumped over in his chair apparently unconscious. he dies before reaching the hospital. in a twist that reads like the script of a hollywood thriller, malaysian authorities now confirm that the half brother of north korea's tick taidictator

killed by v gchlt,x, a highly l nerve agent. >> if you get any of if of it o you're dead. there is nothing a doctor can do for you. you just die. microscopic dot on you, and you die. >> reporter: south korea is pointing to the volatile north korean state and the leader himself as the prime suspect. the dramatic assassination took place in broad daylight moments after kim entered the crowded check-in hall. malaysian police claim two women who come just be made out here wiped kim's face with some kind of liquid. one of the women can be seen walking off wearing a bizarrely eye-catching lol t-shirt. two female suspects are now in custody. and it gets more surreal. indonesian authorities say one of the women told police she believed she was participating in a prank for a tv show.

a claim malaysian officials dismissed. >> these two ladies were trained to will swab the face and after that, they were instructed to clean their hands and they know it is toxic. >> reporter: the hunt is now on for these four north korean suspects who left the country on the day of the attack. among them, a senior official with the north korean embassy in kuala lumpur. in yet another bizarre twist, police said someone twrid ried break into the mortuary where kim's body is being kept. after which they stepped up security sflp we know who they are. >> reporter: so why would north korea's erratic leader want his own half brother dead? of more children is how the dangerous dictates tore got his hands on one of the most deadly chemicals in the world and what else he could do with it.

>> it's a nerve agent that has terrified intelligence agencies in the west for a long time because it's so lethal. saddam hussein was accused of having it. in fact he didn't. they couldn't figure out how to weaponize it. but what disturbs me, they have figured out how to weaponize it. would he use it in the united states? there is simply no way for us to know. >> reporter: dollar rclarissa w, london. alex an today fiedtoday dra joining us live. there is new information coming from one of the purported suspects. >> reporter: that's right. indonesian diplomats have been able to meet with the indonesian woman who is under arrest. she's been held by malaysian authorities, she's the woman who you saw in that cctv video, the one who malaysian police believe may have applied the poison to

kim jong-nam's face. she is again telling authorities that she believed that she was participating in a prank, the deputy ambassador met with her for with haabout half an hour ad reporters that she told him that she met with a grucoup of peopl who were korean or japanese and they paid her around the equivalent of 900 u.s. dollars to take this substance which she described as being similar to an oil and apply to this man in the airport. but again, she's telling them she thought she was involved in a prank. you heard the police investigator saying he sdchbdid buy it, that the women with had to be highly trained in order to handle the deadly substance properly. but this is a poichbts point no contention from the north korean officials. they have said that items

impossible that the two women would not have suffered symptoms if they had handled the deadly chemical weapon. the indonesian diplomats say they didn't observe any signs that she suffered any physical symptom, but weapons analysts say in some cases vx needs two component parts that have to be combined together to produce a lethal effect. you've also got investigators talking about the possibility that these women had been trained to protect themselves, perhaps some kind of barrier on their hands. because we know the smallest dose can prove deadly. >> it really is bizarre how these women carried this out and are safe and kim jong-nam is dead. what about the rift between north korea and malaysian authorities about what happens to his body? >> reporter: yeah, tensions escalating. there is it a la lot of back anh on how the investigation has been handled, made asihaye mala

officials commanding more cooperation. they want to will speak to three citizens, one of whom is an employee of the north korean embassy. so they want north korean officials to help them track these people down. for its part, north koreans are saying that the malaysian investigation has been politicized, that it has been carried out in a way that is influenced too much by the south korean agenda which is to suggest that this is political. and malaysian saying they won't release the body unless next of kin comes to identify kim jom nank. >> all right. thank you. the attacks against the media continue by the trump administration. still ahead, the "new york times" is fighting back back doing something it hasn't done in years. also ahead, we'll have more on president trump's message to the conservative movement. and is answer hispanic. so when i got my ancestry dna results

it was a shocker. i'm from all nations. it puts a hunger in your heart to want to know more.

we're live in atlanta. welcome back to our viewers lear in t here in the u.s. and around the world. i'm natalie allen. >> and i'm george howell. >> syrian state media say suicide attacks in the regime held syrian city of hmoms have killed at least 32. bomber s targeted two syrian centers. and white house officials insist they acted appropriately in asking the fbi to publicly knock down some recent media reports. those reports concerned communications during the presidential campaign between

donald trump's associates and russians known to u.s. intelligence. the fbi ultimately refused the white house request to say that the reports areiraqi forces are on key parts of mosul as they refight to take the city. dozens have been killed, but others reportedly have escaped through tunnels. iraqi fighter jets also bombed isis targets in both iraq and syria for the first time friday. >> we're learning more about the circumstances surrounding the death of kim jong-nam. investigators say the half brother of north korea's leader was poisoned with vx nerve agt. t agent. into o no one else has gotten sick at the hospital since the attack. a year ait it ago, it was questioned whether he was a conservative, but this year the

fans at the cpac couldn't be happier. phil mattingly reports. >> the seera of empty talk is over. it's over. >> reporter: tonight president trump, a man who surprised the republican marty aparty and its conservative activists laying out his hard line agenda to a movements that has become his own. >> as we speak today, immigration officers are finding the gang members, the drug dealers and the criminal aliens and throwing them the hell out of our country. and we will not let them back in. they're not coming back in, folks. >> reporter: pledging to send congress' request for a major boost in funding for the u.s. military. >> we're also putting in a massive budget request for our

beloved military. and we will be substantially upgrading all of our military, all of our military, offensive, defensive, everything, bigger and better and stronger than ever before. >> reporter: and again leveling an attack on an american ally. this time paris, france. citing an unknown friend named jim who told him -- >> paris? i don't go there anymore. paris is no longer paris. >> reporter: which quickly garnered this response from the city's mayor. a picture from the eiffel tower with mickey and minnie mouse. trump's campaign style speech even targeted his former rival, hillary clinton, for once calling trump supporters deplorables. but it was his sharply

consistent pledge to stick to the very agenda he laid out during the campaign that resonated with the crowd. >> should lo let me state this clearly as i can, we are going to keep radical islamic terrorists the hell out of our country. >> reporter: all as trump promised new anti-terrorism actions in the days ahead. >> in a matter of days, we will be taking brand new action to protect our people and keep america saefr. you will see the action. >> the president of the united states there at cpac. some u.s. news papers are doing their part to stand up against the attacks. the "washington post" website says democracy dies in darkness and the "new york times" is arging its first tv ad in seven years. it will be shown during the oscars come sunday night. >> the truth is urination is

more divided than ever. the facts are just dishonest. >> the trut is we need to put the safety of the american people -- >> investigation ever aof any t [ everybody talking at once ] the ad that will play during the academy awards. senior havenvice president of tw york times spoke with richard quest about out ad was designed and why they chose to air it during the oscars. >> there a dialogue going on about how hard it is to find facts and to know what the truth is. and we absolutely believe that and we don't believe that there is any one source of the truth. we do believe that quality independent original journalism from expert journalists on the

ground makes a difference to people's understanding ever the truth and this spot is meant to boo both say that but portray it. >> at the end of the day, this will be perceived as an attack on the president and the administration and the way they're running things in the sense that they have put the truth into question. >> we see this as there is a lot of things that are making it hard to find the truth today. a lot of discussion of fake news. also what you see in your social media and if you're sitting digitally, we know it's very hard to know when what is true and what isn't. so what a we're trying to say is that we believe a that free press and the work that our journalists s do have a strong role to play. >> choosing the academy awards, i mean it's obviously very expensive and it didn't happen by accident. >> we absolutely want to be part of the dialogue that is going on

at the moment about the truth and how one fights it. we see that -- we've seen since the election quite a growth in our subscriptions so we know that being in the news ours has everything to do with that growth. we were looking for a high profile appointment viewing moment. this is when our ad was ready and this is the biggest thing on tv upcoming. >> was there much debate within the "times" on whether you should do this? >> whether we should do the campaign itself? not really. we've seen a couple of things. one is we've seen that readers in general really -- many don't have an understanding of what it takes to do the reporting that we do, but if we're able to tell them, we see a bends in their willingness to pay. so we've been looking for months at how do we tell the story more feskt difference effectively. obviously the current dialogue

has heightened you're desire to be in a premium appointment like the os cars. >> so since your campaign is about the difficulty of finding the facts, let me ask you a straightforward fact if i may. the president calls you the failing is "new york times." are you failing? >> we're now over 3 million subscribers. that is up 50% over a year ago gee. and up over 25% in the last quarter. >> and how is the "times" weathering in the same way that we have to weather an onslaught is, a regular diet and onslaught of presidential attack is? >> i mean, look, one of the things that we're seeing is that there is increased heightened interest in what is going on in the world at the moment and that is good for interest in the "times." people are trying to figure out what is happening and they're turning to us to figure out our take on what it is. and then the rolled we play in helping them understand that truth is exact aly what this campaign is about.

>> that was richard quest there with us.aly what this campaign is about. >> that was richard quest there with us. federal authorities are investigating a possible hate crime in kansas after an indian man was killed. the man's widow says she was worried about violence against foreigners, but her husband said everything would be okay. mourners held a vigil friday night for the 32-year-old. he died we also after being shot while having an after work beer with a friend will who was wounded himself in the shooting. the victim's widow spoke friday. >> his passion was saaviation. he wanted to succeed so muchwil wounded himself in the shooting. the victim's widow spoke friday. >> his passion was aviation. he wanted to succeed so muchilld himself in the shooting. the victim's widow spoke friday. >> his passion was aviation. he wanted to succeed so muchll himself in the shooting. the victim's widow spoke friday. >> his passion was aviation. he wanted to succeed so much wh himself in the shooting. the victim's widow spoke friday. >> his passion was aviation. he wanted to succeed so much wh himself in the shooting. the victim's widow spoke friday. >> his passion was aviation. he wanted to succeed so much in this industry and do so much for this country. is wil and he for sure he did s is -- i'm sorry.

he did not deserve a death like this.s and he for sure he did n is -- i'm sorry. he did not deserve a death like this. and he for sure he did no is -- i'm sorry. he did not deserve a death like this.and he for sure he did not- i'm sorry. he did not deserve a death like this. >> authorities later arrested this man, 51 years old. witnesses told local media the man had shouted get out of my country before returning to the bar and firing. police have not krcorroborated that. still ahead, weather extremes across the united states with blizzards in some areas, springlike temperatures and blooming trees in others. what is happening? derek van dam will have the very latest. also an update another battle for mosul. iraqi forces making gains in a key part of the city with the help of u.s. soldiers. a

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from isis. ben wedeman joins us from erbil, iraq with the very latest. hello, ben. >> reporter: the iraqi forces continue to push into west mosul itself. we understand at this point they have entered two neighborhoods which are just north of the airport which they liberated just a few days ago. as they push ahead, they're getting a little bit of help from some friends. >> we bring up and take it now and move up and try to mark that location. >> reporter: american soldiers who declined to share their names are setting coordinates for isis positions. just a little over a mile away from the extremists. they never fired their sniper rifle, but used to identify targets. nearbymble a dren.

pent began officials say u.s. service personnel are operating ever closer to the action. is the bo the bombardment of western mosul is intense and steady temperature iraqis flying attack helicopters blasted isis targets inside the city. rapid response force major says resistance has been stiff because isis fighters realize they're cornered. they're surrounded he tells me, there is no skescape. either they die fighting or they surrender. the airport on the southern edge ever the city is in ruins. the runway strewn with concrete blocks. the fighting is proceeding at an a accelerated rate.

iraqi forces may be eager to avoid a repeat of the grueling three month offensive to liberate the eastern part of the city. taking mosul airport was really just the first step. now these iraqi forces are heading into the city proper. that is when the real battle will begin. a battle in which americans may play an even greater role. and natalie, we've also learned that overnight in a spot about 15 kilometers for the west of mosul, about 50 or rather more than 50 civilians were either killed or wounded when fleeing in the middle of the night from isis-controlled west mosul. they ended up in a mine field. so the situation is difficult for civilians, they stay in the city, they're under bombardment. they try to leave and this sort of thing happens. so a very difficult situation for the approximately 800,000

civilians still stuck inside west mosul. >> we thank you, ben wedeman for us reporting from erbil. is. well, cnn is teaming up with young people around the world for a unique student-led day of action against modern day slavery with the launch of my freedom day. >> driving it is a simple question. what does freedom mean to you. >> i'm quincy jones and to me the meaning of freedom is a life unhindered by the unfair restrictions that society creates. >> to me freedom means will allowing people to provide for my family. >> to me freedom means the ability to make your own choices. >> freedom to me means do whatever i want at my own convenience. >> thank you for participating in this year's my freedom day. >> so send us your answer via text, photo or video across social media using the #my freedom day. the seasons have become a

bit twisted up in some parts of the u.s. with record breaking high temperatures across the south and dramatic snowstorms across the central u.s. >> let's bring in meteorologist daerricek van dam. >> pick a season, any season, right? mother nature a bit confused i'd say. we have a blizzard, record high temperature, we have severe weather. you name it, the united states has got it. we'll fry ftry to break it down you. but first coming out of rochester, minnesota, this is the blizzard i was talking about. the back side of the cold system that brought all the wild weather across the central u.s. homeowners up early clearing their driveways and sidewalks up to a foot of snow in these locations. that looks like heavy wet snow. there were some locations across the dakotas that actually had winds accompanying the snow of 45 miles per hour that reduced advise abili visibilities and there were blizzard warnings. we talked about how mother

nature is so confused. if you're located in the u.s., first of all, thanks for watching this bright and early in the morning. have you noticed how the flowers have been coming up a bit early, the leaves are starting to bud early? there is a daily spring index leaf anomaly. let's not get lost in the naming of this. let's talk about what it means. anywhere you see the shade of red from the mid-atlantic down to the deep south towards texas, that is an indicator that leaves are budding nearly 20 to 25 days earlier than they should be. we compare that a to ton to the average. we've broken nearly 7,000 record highs since is the beginning of is 2017 is. yesterday alone, we broke 70 record highs across the midwest and east coast. but we can say good-bye and sayonara to all the warm weather. if you like the early spring, well, you have to say good-bye to it now because this

significant cold front is marching eastward and you couldn't have to be a meteorologist is to see the change in seasons. look at the east coast, nation's capital, lower 70s. look what is just behind it. cincinnati, ohio 43. we're talking about 30 degree temperature difference is just by a few hundred miles. here it comes marching eastward, cold weather continues. don't plant your vegetables too early this season. i have seen people just outside in my neighborhood thinking we'll take advantage of the warm weather. well, that could be a problem if we start to freeze very quickly. by the way with this collision of air masses, natalie and george, that means conditions are ripe for severe weather, look out for tornadoes today across philadelphia, new york perhaps into washington, d.c. is. >> lots going on there. my goodness. well, the weekend hollywood has been waiting for is upon us. the 89th academy awards. all the statue, read carpd car d

stars get ready and we take a look at possible surprises and some snubs.

hollywood's biggest weekend

is upon us and last year of course the academy awards were criticized because of the oscars' too white controversy. but this year it's looking like it may be one of the most diverse ever. >> as hollywood gears up for its bi biggest night, stephanie elam shes us what to watch for. >> reporter: musical romance, family drama, and extra take recential life all competing for oscar. >> pretty strange that we keep running into each other. >> reporter: la-la land is the film to watch with 14 nominations, tying all about eve and titaniitanic. the musical is up for best picture along with rifarrival, fences, hell or high water, hidden figures, lion, manchester by the sea and moonlight. >> some think that maybe "hidden figures" could eek out in the

end, but iginla think "la la l will this will win. >> reporter: meryl streep returns and natalie portman as jackie. but stone is the frontrunner. >> emma stone has essentially won every single award you could win. >> reporter: race for best actor is tight. andrew garfield, ryan gosling and mortensen are all up for the honor. but the momentum is with denzel washington for fences and casey affleck in manchester by the sea. >> everyone will be on the edge of their seat for that competition. >> do you know who is hosting the oscars? i'll give you a hint, he's touching your face. >> reporter: jimmy kimmel is taking on the most challenging role. the late night host will emcee for the first time. >> he really is going to rely on his relationship with the actors in the room to try to make them comfortable and relaxed. >> reporter: although a few will probably be excited and degr

emotional after striking oscar gold. stephanie elam, cnn, hollywood. >> we'll all be watching. a woman in berkeley, california unexpectedly gave birth inside her car. >> lucky for her she was parked next to the hospital where she planned to deliver her baby girl and a nurse on her way to the hospital was at the right place at the right time to help deliver that beautiful baby. >> it's great. it's not what we had wanted to happen, but it will be a fun story for her to have. >> we are told that the mom and baby are healthy and doing fine. >> thank you for joining us. i'm natalie allen. >> and i'm george howell. the news continues next hour. you're watching cnn, the world's news leader. today, unlimited gets the network it deserves.

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president trump doubles down on his anti media rhetoric as some news outlets including cnn find themselves blocked from a press briefing. >> and a chemical weapon used to kill kim jong un's brother at an airport and the story of a man who wanted to end his life but wound up instead with an incredible second chance. live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta. to our viewers here in the united states and around the world i'm george howell.