an exclusive cnn report shows that small devices may be used to smuggle explosives onto planes. we'll tell you how. and the new concerns it raises.

asking for an immunity deal. michael flynn says he has a story to share with investigators for a price they may feel is not worth paying. in paraguay rioters set congress on fire after the president votes on a particular constitutional amendment. we'll break that down. from cnn world headquarters here in atlanta, welcome to our viewers here in the u.s. and around the world. i'm cyril vanier. a cnn exclusive now. u.s. intelligence officials believe that isis and other terror groups have found new ways to hide bombs in laptops and other electronic devices. even more alarming, they believe terrorists have got their hands on airport screening devices to figure out how to get the concealed explosives onto planes without being detected. sources say the intelligence on this played a major role in the recent white house decision to prohibit travelers flying out of

some airports in the middle east and africa. you see them right there. from bringing large electronic devices onto planes. more now from our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. >> reporter: u.s. intelligence and law enforcement agencies believe that isis and other terror groups have developed innovative ways to plant explosives in electronic devices that can fool airport security screening. the concern is heightened because there is u.s. intelligence suggesting that terrorists have obtained sophisticated airport security equipment to test how well the bombs are concealed. cnn has learned this new intelligence was a significant part of the decision earlier this month to ban laptops, tablets, and other electronic devices from the passenger cabins of planes flying directly to the united states from ten middle eastern and north african airports. demanding instead that they be stored in checked luggage. >> elevated intelligence we're

aware of indicates terrorist groups continue to target commercial aviation and are aggressive in pursuing innovative methods to undertake their attacks to include smuggling an explosive device in various consumer objects. >> reporter: officials have told cnn there was credible and specific intelligence that isis would try to attack aviation assets and a hint from a top u.s. commander about why the accelerated effort on the ground in syria against the group. >> there's an imperative to get isolation in place around raqqah because our intelligence feeds tell us that there is a significant external operations attacks planning. >> reporter: al qaeda's affiliate in yemen, aqap, has for years been actively trying to target commercial airliners destined for the u.s. looking for ways to create bombs

that contain little or no metal content to evade airport security measures including hiding explosives in the batteries of electronic devices like laptops. and in february of 2016 a wake-up call when a laptop bomb according to somali authorities was used to blow a hole in this somali passenger jet. the plane landed safely despite the attack, claimed by the al qaeda affiliate al shabab. cnn has learned the explosives were hidden in space created by removing parts of the dvd drive. >> paul cruickshank joins us now, cnn terrorism analyst for more on this. paul, you were telling us just now that this is serious but not catastrophic. >> serious. because these terrorist groups including al qaeda in yemen are developing new ways to try to get bombs onto airplanes including by concealing them inside laptops. they're perfecting some of those

techniques, the intelligence suggests. they are obtaining detection systems to try to probe their weaknesses. and so there's significant concern that they may stage future attempts to try to get a bomb onto a western passenger jet. but at the same time the state-of-the-art systems which are deployed in airports in the united states, in europe and certain other parts of the world including places like dubai and abu dhabi, those state-of-the-art systems are actually very good at detecting the kind of explosives that groups like al qaeda in yemen are developing, even when they're concealing them inside laptops. the key technology here is called explosive trace detection technology. that involves the gate -- a laptop or some other electronic device being swabbed and then a machine being used to analyze whether there's any explosive residue on that swab at all.

and they can actually, these machines, detect a trillionth of a gram of residue. so they're very, very good. >> the group that is believed to have the highest level of bomb-making expertise is aqap. that's essentially al qaeda in yemen. tell us more about them and how they developed this expertise. >> al qaeda in yemen are at the center of the concern when it comes to this threat. they are significantly ahead of isis when it comes to developing sophisticated devices, concealing bombs inside electronics. they have a master bomb maker ibrahim al asiri, a saudi who's very good at building these kind of devices. and for years has been developing underwear bombs, shoe bombs, even the group has experimented with surgically implanting devices inside people so that they can get them on planes. there's intelligence that's come out on that. and this is a group which is believed to have shared this technology with a number of

other al qaeda affiliates in the region, including al qaeda's affiliate in syria, the so-called khorasan group, a group that western intelligence learned in the summer of 2014 were plotting to get a bomb inside electronics in some kind of laptop or other device onto a plane. and actually, that plotting led to new rules being introduced by the tsa for foreign airports with the last destination coming into the united states. and those rules included the idea that you would have to power on your device to show that it wasn't a bomb. >> you have to turn on your computer. many people traveling in the u.s. have had to do that before. >> well, that's right. but one of the concerns here, cyril, is what these terrorist groups are now developing, we understand are the capability of producing laptop bombs where these laptops can actually power on and still house an explosive device. that bomb in somalia, we

understand, which was put on that airliner in february of 2016 was put inside the dvd drive of the laptop. so they're looking at new innovative, inventive ways to hide bombs on laptops. it should also be -- >> as you mention this, we're looking at the footage of the hole in the fuselage of that flight from mogadishu to djibouti last year. and as barbara starr mentioned that was one of the wake-up calls. the question now and the fear now is could that plan come to fruition on a flight going to the u.s. and has that technology improved since that attempt? >> ever since the attempted bombing of that airliner in somalia in february 2016 there's been concern that al qaeda or one of its affiliates would replicate that attack on a western passenger jet somewhere. that's not materialized yet, but there's been a significant concern about that given the sophistication of that device. one of the things we're

learning, and this comes from our colleague robyn kriel, is that that device was taken through an x-ray checkpoint by two airport workers, insiders who'd been recruited by the al qaeda affiliates in somalia. actually went through the x-ray machine and they handed it off to a third man, the suicide bomber, who brought it onto the plane. it then exploded. fortunately, didn't blow the whole aircraft up. but the investigators actually went back and looked at that x-ray scan and were able to figure out that actually you could see the possibility of an explosive device. in that case the belief is there was human error involved in not detecting that device even though it was quite sophisticated. sort of shows you that even x-ray machines, which are the least effective at detecting these kind of explosive threats, have in the past detected them, should have stopped these kind of attacks getting through.

the most sophisticated technology, those swab tests at the airport, should detect all manner of explosive devices that groups like al qaeda in yemen are putting together because they can detect tiny minuscule amounts of explosives and al qaeda's bomb makers are just not clean enough in their handiwork to stop a little bit of residue getting onto the surface of a laptop. >> cnn terrorism analyst there paul cruickshank. there's a new twist into the investigations into russia's role in the 2016 election. a lawyer for former national security adviser michael flynn says he wants immunity. flynn will agree to testify provided he's provide aid guarantee he won't be prosecuted. in a tweet president trump appeared to encourage an immunity deal but he later walked out of the room when a reporter pressed him on it. >> thank you, everybody. you're going to see some very, very strong results very, very quickly. thank you very much.

>> mr. president, today with your tweet were you trying to tell the justice department to grant immunity to michael flynn? were you trying to do that, mr. president? was that your intention, mr. president, sir? mr. president, was that your intention, mr. president? was that your intention, sir? >> now, flynn's conditional offer to testify does not appear to have any takers at the moment. law enforcement sources tell cnn there's no indication the fbi wants to talk to him again or give him any kind of immunity. for more on this here's cnn's jim acosta. >> any comment on michael flynn, mr. president? >> thank you. >> reporter: president trump biting his tongue on former national security adviser michael flynn's request for immunity before testifying on questions about campaign contacts with the russians. flynn's attorney explained his client's position in a statement. "general flynn certainly has a story to tell and he very much wants to tell it should the circumstances permit." >> is the white house concerned that general flynn has damaging information about the president, his aides, his associates, about

what occurred during the campaign with respect to russia? >> no. >> reporter: white house press secretary sean spicer said the president is encouraging flynn to testify, even though the retired general once misled the administration about his contacts with the russian ambassador. spicer tried make the case the real story is the president's allegation that mr. trump and his team were unlawfully surveilled. but spicer didn't offer any hard evidence. >> it sounds like you are just as the president is alleging that the obama administration conducted unlawful surveillance on the trump campaign and trump transition team. >> as i said in the statement, i believe that we -- that what has been provided and will be provided to members of the both committees i think should further their investigation. >> reporter: but the ranking democrat on the house intelligence committee, adam schiff, who was invited to review materials at the white house today, insisted flynn's proposal is significant saying, "we should first acknowledge what a grave and momentous step it is for a former national security adviser to the president of the united states to ask for immunity from

prosecution." the president is backing flynn's request for immunity saeg in a tweet, "this is a witch hunt. excuse for big election loss by media and dems of historic proportion." but lawmakers from both parties are balking at providing immunity to flynn. >> no, i don't think it's a witch hunt. it's very mysterious to me, though, why all of a sudden general flynn is suddenly out there saying he wants immunity. >> the concern eck oehoed time again in immunity requests could interfere with an fbi investigation. >> there's no way immunity is going to be granted and it would be granted by the department of justice. if and only if it provided a bigger fish. >> lock her up. >> reporter: then there's the quef hypocrisy. during the campaign when legal questions were aimed at hillary clinton, both flynn -- >> when you are given immunity, that means you've probably committed a crime. >> reporter: -- and then candidate trump mocked the idea of immunity from prosecution. >> if you're not guilty of a crime, what do you need immunity

for? right? >> and paul callan joins us now, cnn legal analyst. paul, as a lawyer what goes through your mind when you hear michael flynn wants immunity in exchange for giving his stir? what is the play there especially when you hear his lawyer say he's got a story to tell in. >> it's very interesting, cyril. i've been in this situation representing clients in the past. you almost never see a lawyer public publicly going around trying to sell an immunity deal. usually, if he's got something to sell, in other words, information to trade for immunity, it's done quietly by an approach to the prosecutors or the chairman of the committee that's doing the investigation. but here you have this attorney robert kelner, who's a sophisticated, well-known attorney, making a public statement that i've got a story to tell. now, that certainly would sound like the former national security adviser to the president has something significant to share that would be of interest to prosecutors. >> so you agree the lawyer is trying to raise interest for this michael flynn story, whatever it might be.

>> yes. this is the lawyer's definitely trying to do that and the question really is why. and what i wonder about is if he really had something that was worth selling to the prosecutors he wouldn't have to hold a press conference about it. he'd make a phone call to the lead prosecutor and say get over here to the office right away, that sounds fascinating. instead he's issuing a press release, and that makes me a little skeptical about whether he's got -- he's trying to sell ice in winter. you know. so we'll have to see. >> so if he doesn't have a big story to tell, what's the play? >> hard to say. there are three possibilities. one is it's just a lawyer being overly cautious and trying to get immunity for a client who doesn't need it. the second is there's a minor crime involved, possibly for instance there's been a lot of talk that flynn was an agent for a foreign country and he didn't register properly or possibly he was interviewed by the fbi and

maybe didn't tell the full truth. that would be a crime under u.s. law. the third possibility is political armageddon, and that is he's got information that could show a conspiracy with the russians to destroy the american election. i mean, that would be such an enormous piece of information that it would be hard to resist for prosecutors. so i'm betting it's an overly cautious lawyer and it's scenario one, that he's worried that maybe his client said something to the fbi that wasn't fully accurate and he wants to get immunity before he starts testifying in congress. >> and so that would square with michael flynn's own point of view and even what appears to be mr. trump's point of view as he expressed it in a tweet on friday saying michael flynn should ask for immunity given this political climate, his precise words are "given that there's a witch hunt of historic proportions by media and the democrats." >> that would certainly explain why the attorney being extra cautious and extra safe would seek immunity. ironically, both the president

and general flynn have made repeated statements on the campaign trail that if you ask for immunity you must be guilty of something. so i'm sure they're ruing the day they ever made those statements now that both of them are recommending immunity. >> paul, who's empowered to make a deal with michael flynn and his lawyer? >> there are really two areas where you have authority. one, congressional authorities can make an immunity deal for testimony and the department of justice could approve a deal separately. he could go either way. he could go for congressional immunity or justice immunity. now, justice immunity to be would be the best because that would indicate they're not ever going to prosecute. if he gets congressional immunity, it just means that his testimony can't be used against him but justice could try to independently develop a case and still come after him. >> and speaking of congress, the sense from congress is they're going to wait to get more information on this whole investigation until they consider making a deal with flynn. why wouldn't they just go ahead and see what he has to say? >> it's way too dangerous because let's say hypothetically

that it's a huge piece of information and that he is a major character in the commission of some crime. they may have immunized him from prosecution because bear in mind this can cause real problems for the justice department if congressional immunity's in play. they have to show all their leads came from something other than the testimony given by the witness. the oliver north case, for instance, was utterly destroyed by congress giving immunity to oliver north that prosecutors can't prosecute him after that. the smart move is for congress to work with the justice department and make a joint decision as to whether they want to give him immunity, or whether his testimony's important enough to give him immunity or whether they just want to proceed and see if he takes the fifth amendment if he's subpoenaed. >> all right. enlightening. thank you very much. paul callan, cnn legal analyst, we appreciate it. >> thank you, cyril. coming up after the break, protesters were so outraged in paraguay that they set congress on fire. we'll tell you where the anger

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in paraguay's capital angry protesters set fire to the country's congressional building friday night. it's outrage directed at the ruling party for trying to create a way to legally allow the current president to run for another term. our rafael romo takes another look. >> reporter: the violence stems from a decision by the ruling colorado party to create an alternative senate with the purpose of passing a law that would allow current president horacio cartes to seek re-election which issed forbidden under the current constitution. a group of 25 senators started holding sessions tuesday for that purpose. the 45-member senate requires a simple majority of 23 votes to pass legislation, meaning the rogue senators have two more

votes than required. meanwhile, protesters indicated they will stop the violent demonstrations once they get a commitment from president cartes he will stop seeking re-election. in a statement issued late friday president cartes said democracy is not obtained through violent but i lived under a dictatorship for 35 years ending in 1989. alfredo the stroh'ser, a paraguyan military officer, took power after an armed coup in 1954 and ruled the country for the next 3 1/2 decades. rafael romo, cnn, atlanta. venezuela's president and the country's national defense council are asking the supreme court to review a ruling that critics say amounts to a government coup d'etat. the court's decision would strip the national assembly, which is currently led by the opposition, of its powers. but nicolas maduro vowed to step in after the attorney general slammed the ruling. >> translator: as the head of state, invested with authority and constitutional power, this

impasse will be resolved in the quickest and best way possible. we will hand over to our people another constitutional victory through dialogue, through the heights of politics, through the heights of the state. >> the ruling has sparked violent clashes in the venezuelan capital, and mr. maduro is also calling for dialogue with the opposition. some of president trump's more controversial statements have worried foreign leaders all around the world and it's falling to his top cabinet officials to reassure u.s. allies abroad. plus, a leading member of the u.s. intelligence committee is finally seeing some controversial material. we'll explain what that's about after the break. does your makeup remover every kiss-proof,ff? cry-proof, stay-proof look? neutrogena® makeup remover does. it erases 99% of your most stubborn makeup with one towelette. need any more proof than that? neutrogena.

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welcome back, everyone. i'm cyril vanier from the cnn newsroom. terrorists may have found a new way to get bombs onto passenger airplanes without detection. cnn has learned exclusively that u.s. intelligence believes isis and other terror groups have improved techniques to hide explosives in laptops and other electronic devices that can evade airport security screenings. officials tell cnn there's no indication the fbi will grant michael flynn immunity in exchange for his testimony on russia. the ex-national security adviser's lawyer made that request after saying his client had, quote, "a story to tell." the white house appears unfazed, however, urging flynn to get his story out. demonstrators stormed paraguay's congressional building, setting it on fire on friday. protesters are angry over an effort to legally allow the

president to run for office again. police fired rubber bullets at the crowd. senate meetings scheduled for saturday have been canceled. and nato's secretary-general says talks over ukraine with russia are often very difficult but it's important to keep the dialogue open. jens stoltenberg's comments came at a meeting of nato foreign ministers in belgium. he also said credible deterrence and defense are needed for political talks with moscow. and about that. u.s. secretary of state rex tillerson was at the same summit and he stressed his support for the alliance that not so long ago was described as obsolete by the president. meanwhile, u.s. defense secretary james mattis held a news conference with his british counterpart in london. both of them urged realistic expectations when it comes to u.s. engagement with russia. here's james mattis. >> right now russia is choosing to be a strategic competitor, and we're finding that we can only have very modest expectations at this point of areas that we can cooperate with

russia contrary to how we were just ten years ago, five years ago. >> let's talk more about this u.s.-russia relationship that's developing under the trump administration. matthew chance joins us from moscow. matthew, if you listen to what rex tillerson and james mattis were saying over the last 24 hours it's very much unlike what trump had suggested, that there might be some kind of detente between washington and moscow. on the contrary it seems similar to what the previous administration was saying. >> there's not the contact with the russians as there was under the obama government. it's all very frustrating and very disappointing from the russian point of view, from the point of view of the kremlin because they thought quite rightly that donald trump was the candidate when he was campaigning to be the president

of the united states, who was going to build a better relationship with russia. he said that time and again. wouldn't it be great if russia and the u.s. could get along, to paraphrase what he said. he spoke about possibly recognizing crimea as being a legitimate part of russia. crimea of course was annexed by russia from ukraine in 2014. he spoke about cooperating with russia on the issue of international terrorism, particularly in the conflict in syria. he as you mentioned criticized nato. all of this music to the ears of the kremlin that had been waiting for a candidate to come along, a president to come along who saw the world from a similar point of view to them. but none of it has come to pass of course and instead we've got this political environment in the united states which is toxic and poisonous when it comes to the russia issue and as a result the relationship between moscow and washington has deteriorated and is in the words of the kremlin at the point of zero at the moment. and so yes, very disappointing, as i say, from a kremlin point

of view. >> right. toxic, poisonous, domestic american political environment as you describe quite rightly. how does moscow view that, and how does moscow feel about being front and center of this ongoing story and investigation here in the u.s.? and essentially being the bogey man it's been for a long time in u.s. politics. >> they're no strangers of course to being the bogey man, as you call it, in u.s. politics. this happens during most political cycles in the united states, that russia is villainized in that way. you know, but on this occasion of course the situation has reached fever pitch. there were these senate and house inquiry investigations into the role russia allegedly played into manipulating the u.s. political system in the u.s. elections. it's something that russian officials categorically deny. they call it fake news. they've adopted the same language as the trump administration, a witch hunt. they talk about the corrupt media propagating this idea.

just the other day two days ago vladimir putin broke his silence on the issue as well saying "read my lips. no, we did not interfere in the u.s. political system, in the u.s. elections." on one hand the russians are very frustrated that they continue to be, you know, used as a scapegoat, as they would call it, in this political situation in the united states. they say they're being used for the domestic political agenda. on the other hand, there are others in russia that are probably sitting back and watching the circus in the united states and probably thinking to themselves, look, we may have our flaws in russia but at least we have stability in a way that the united states at the moment does not. >> matthew chance, reporting live from moscow with the russian perspective. thank you so much. and on friday the top democrat of the house intelligence committee was given access to the same documents that were shown earlier to the committee chairman devin nunes. now, nunes of course has been at the center of a new controversy for the trump administration.

our sunlen serfaty has more. >> reporter: house intelligence committee ranking member adam schiff at 1600 pennsylvania avenue to review classified information offered up by the white house. an invitation extended in this letter sent to the senate and house intelligence committees thursday. schiff says he was told the materials he reviewed were the same that house intelligence chairman devin nunes reviewed over a week ago. meantime, chairman devin nunes faces continued fallout with new revelations about what he knows and how exactly he learned the information. first reported in the "new york times," a u.s. official now confirms to cnn white house staffers ezra cohen wattnik and michael ellis are believed to be two of the injuries involved. but still unknown whether these two white house staffers were involved directly in showing nunes the documents when he was on white house grounds last week. as he looked at the intelligence materials that he claims show

trump campaign aides' conversations were picked up in intelligence collection. nunes remaining adamant. a spokesman saying, "chairman nunes will not confirm or deny speculation about his source's identity and he will not respond to speculation from anonymous sources." the white house staffers' involvement fueling even more questions about the independence of nunes's investigation from the white house. >> i'm firmly convinced that the president and his aides concocted this and drew devin nunes into it and he became, you know, an advocate and an abettor to what i think is an absolute fabrication. >> reporter: and even more criticism of the credibility of nunes's claim that the information was brought to him by a whistleblower. >> to me this looks nothing like a whistleblower case. and again, i think the white house needs to answer is this instead a case where they wished to effectively launder information through our

committee to avoid the true source of the information. >> reporter: the white house attempting to swat down the criticism. >> what he did, what he saw and who he met with was 100% proper. we all found out. you, me, everyone else. that he was coming down here after he held a press conference with your colleagues to say was coming down here based on stuff he found that didn't have to do with russia, that a whistleblower source had given him. >> reporter: meantime, speaker of the house paul ryan is facing increasing questions about whether he still stands by the chairman. a spokeswoman saying the speaker doesn't know the source of the disclosure to chairman nunes. the chairman has the speaker's full confidence. >> larry sabato's the director of the center for politics at the university of virginia. larry, the documents that were first shown to devin nunes, intelligence documents about a week ago, were shown on friday to the number two in the house intelligence committee, a democrat, adam schiff. do you think the investigation can now continue as if nothing

had happened? >> certainly not. i would say that chairman nunes's actions have really brought discredit on his chairmanship and probably made it less likely that the house intelligence panel will be accorded the kind of respect that the senate intelligence panel will be. because the co-chairs on the senate side are well respected. they are clearly interested in a bipartisan inquiry. and they have done everything right. so far the house committee, or the chairman at least, has done everything wrong. >> but you could also argue, you know, if the intelligence has been shown, if it was intended and can be shared with everyone on the committee and it's now been shared with the number one and the number two on that committee, that that means that there's nothing wrong with it or nothing politically damaging. >> well, what was politically damaging was that the chairman of the committee was willing to go to the white house complex and be briefed by people who are essentially white house aides,

given the information, and then rush back to the white house the next day and pretend to be briefing president trump. one assumes that these individuals in the white house complex had already briefed trump or certainly could have. there's just too much subterfuge here and i think it has ruined the effect of the house committee no matter what happens from here on out. >> and there's also a lot of tension between the chairman of the committee, the one who's leading the investigation, who's a republican, devin nunes, and the ranking democrat on the committee. how big a factor is that? if those two men don't get along or even are accusing each other of wrongdoing. >> it's going to confirm what many americans think about this anyway, that it's just a partisan witch hunt, as undoubtedly trump would call it. now, democrats are very supportive of the inquiry, and republicans think it's a waste of time and money. but again, i think that we're bound to see the partisanship show once the hearings are held. that is simply going to shift

attention to the senate, where frankly the adults seem to be in charge. >> and does the senate have any powers or any powers of investigation that the house doesn't have? should the american public be concerned that the house may be less effective in its investigation at the moment? >> the public should certainly question what the house committee does because i doubt they will use the powers that they have. for example, the subpoena power. they could get some information, financial and otherwise, from the white house and even from the president if they wanted to do so. the senate committee, it's going to be interesting to see whether they stray into that area. certainly some democrats would like to do so. to this point the republicans on the committee or at least the chairman, senator richard burr from north carolina, has been willing to cooperate fully with the democratic vice chair,

senator mark warner of virginia. those two seem to have formed a bond and seem to be determined to get to the bottom of this probably because in part senator burr has already announced he's not seeking re-election when he would next come up in six years. >> so is the investigation in good hands with the senate, then? >> yes. i have confidence that the senate committee is going to produce real information and has a much better chance of getting to the bottom of this, although if you had to pick an inquiry that might get to the bottom of the situation it would probably be the fbi and not either house of congress. >> larry sabato, always appreciate having you on the show. thank you very much. >> thank you, cyril. still to come on "cnn newsroom," officials in atlanta charge three people in connection with a massive fire that collapsed a portion of this vital highway. plus, severe storms sweep across virginia beach on the u.s. east coast, causing significant damage. we'll have the details on that when we return. pe 2 diabetes knows how it feels to see your numbers go up,

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he. three people have been arrested in connection with a huge fire that caused parts of an elevated interstate highway in atlanta to collapse on thursday. officials say the three suspects are thought to be homeless. no one was injured during the incident, but officials say the highway is going to be closed for months and that impacts an estimated 220,000 vehicles that drive daily over that stretch of the i-85 in atlanta. whoo. as if our construction and road problems aren't enough here. >> yeah. >> you know, quite a few of us travel along that road. >> that's true. >> an avalanche in juneau, alaska nearly misses homes and buss and meteorologist derek van dam joins us with details on that. >> this was a close call friday morning in the small town of juneau, alaska like you just mentioned.

but someone captured this on their cell phone. of course everyone's got a cell phone these days. walking out of their gym. this is not the sight you want to see. an incredible, incredible fight. that is a 2,500-foot-long avalanche raining down the mountain. and you will not believe how close this got to a residential area. it has been a very precarious area for people to build up their homes, their houses and their buildings because you have to understand about juneau it's based on a mountainside, at the base of a mountain. here's a look at some of the images coming after the avalanche. and you won't believe this. it was 30 feet from a neighborhood. it plowed into that person's car. that'll end your day really quickly. fortunately no one was injured. there were no fatalities. but the avalanche center in juneau believes this area is becoming more dangerous as an unstable snowpack continues at the end of the season here. all right. check this out. bringing you back to the

contiguous united states. we have winter storms taking place across the new england coastline. you won't believe this. we have over 7 million people affected by this particular storm from upstate new york into vermont, new hampshire, connecticut, massachusetts, including boston. if you're traveling in or out of boston, you want to double check your flight details because you could have some delays. they have a good six inches of heavy wet snow that landed on the tarmac. of course they have the equipment to take care of it. however, it's piling up too quickly for them and krath winter wonderland. and it's not an april fool's joke. it is the 1st of april just to remind you. that system quickly moving off to the east. it's not the concern we have with this. we've had a string of severe weather on friday with another round of severe storms possible today but this is across the virginia beach region. we'll get to the video in just one second. but look at this. three confirmed tornado reports. 16 hail reports. today's severe weather chances brings us to central texas.

anywhere from dallas r dallas to waco as well as the del rio and san angelo region. as we head into the day on sunday we're ending off the weekend unfortunately with a high risk of severe weather. this time we focus on central and eastern sections of texas and portions of western louisiana. houston, really that's our enhanced risk area that we're going to look out for long track tornadoes and the potential for extremely damaging straight line winds and large hail as well. let's show you the video footage on friday of the tornado that formed in virginia beach, virgin virginia. this is a scary moments for residents there, a very rare tornado forming across this coastal community. it did destroy -- or i should say damage 50 homes with 12 of these homes, cyril, being condemned or completely destroyed. scary moments to say the least. >> wow. derek van dam, always impressive

footage. thank you very much. derek from the cnn weather center. also i want to update our viewers on a story you've been reporting on recently which is that peru is asking for international help after deadly landslides and flooding devastated much of the country. hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced because of this caused by severe weather. many prufians still need clean water, need food, medicine. the country's infrastructure has been severely damaged with major highways and bridges wiped out as you saw. economists estimate the cost of rebuilding at more than $6 billion. we're going to take a very short break, but when we come back we profile a film that pays tribute to a woman who became a hero to hundreds of people during world war ii. a fascinating report when we're back. and i couldn't wait to get my pie chart. the most shocking result was that i'm 26% native american. i had no idea.

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welcome back. "the zookeeper's wife" is a new hollywood film that tells the incredible story of a woman who hid jews in a polish zoo to protect them during the nazi era. cnn's oern lieberman introduces us to one of the people who lived through that experience. >> reporter: black-and-white

pictures from moshe tiloshe's childhood, a youth spent in hiding, now brought to color in the new film "the zookeeper's wife." set in warsaw, poland during world war ii -- >> the country's completely overrun. >> reporter: -- the movie tells the story of antonina and jan zabinski who made a courageous decision during the nazi occupation of poland. >> there are people i know, people trying to help. they have trucks. they have guns. and they want to use the zoo as a way station. >> what do you mean? >> a place to hide jews until safe houses can be found for them. >> reporter: moshe tilosh was one of those jews. he escaped from the nearby warsaw ghetto. his family split up to make it easier to hide. he was 5 years old when his family sent him to the zoo with his little sister. there he they met antonina zabinski. >> translator: when i saw her face, i knew we'd arrived at a good place. she radiated goodness.

she hugged us. >> reporter: he stayed for three weeks until he was smuggled to another hiding place. >> translator: i held my sister's mouth because she would cry for our mother and father. reshek, the zabinskis' son, competed with his mother, bringing us food so we were not hungry there. >> reporter: zabinski and her husband hid hundreds of jews during world war ii. israel's holocaust museum, yad vashem, named them righteous among the nations, non-jews who helped the jews survive the holocaust. academy award winner jessica chastain plays the title character. >> at the end of the day it's a movie about hope, about family and about love. and what it shows is no matter how dark life can be, how dark it gets, love will always be there and you can find it. >> reporter: that's a lesson tirosh learned in his own life. he was reunited with his family after the war. he moved to israel, where he

started a family of his own, proudly telling his own story and the story of the zookeeper's wife. oren liebermann, cnn, carmiel. just before we wrap up the show, something totally different. pop superstar beyonce has just got a totally cheesy tribute. literally. it's ben christened brieyonce but it's actually made of cheddar. 20 kilos of cheddar. this you may recognize as a recreation of beyonce's pregnancy photo from earlier this year on her instagram. you see it there. but actually, the cheese version of it took a whole team of people, sculptors, experts of food art. who knew that was a thing? and they did this for a cheese kaving championship in london. it took them 28 hours to finish. our take, if the jury likes it they should put a rind on it. get it? a rind on it? that's our creative input for the day.

thank you for watching. a new hour of "cnn newsroom" with natalie allen and george howell starts right now. stick around for that.

an exclusive cnn report. u.s. intelligence agencies believe terror groups may be closer to making bombs that can go undetected at airport security. we'll have details. president trump is dodging questions about former national security adviser michael flynn and his ties to russia. but he did tweet about it. more on this and reaction from moscow. in paraguay