of america. i'm tom foreman. thanks so much for watching. for all of us here on the cnn express, we hope we see you down the roid. . o. ad. i'm fredricka whitfield in atlanta. this breaking story. president barack obama has scrapped plans to travel to poland for the funeral of the polish president because of the vast volcanic ash cloud over much of europe. the white house announcement came within this hour, just about six hours before mr. obama was expected to leave. he joins a growing list of world leaders and dignitaries taking the same sort of decision. the ash cloud makes flying hazardous and has all but shut down flights in most of europe since thursday. here is a look at the volcano from space. the ash cloud is already huge and believe it or not, is still growing. right now it has affected

airports in about two dozen countries. no travel relief expected for at least another day. >> we just wait. there is nothing anyone can do. everyone just accepts this is an act of god and there is nothing we can do about it. sit back and relax. >> not everyone is ready to sit back and relax. jim bolden reports from london now. on day three of the travel chaos, some would-be passengers took to sleeping in heathrow's terminal three ignoring airline advice to stay away from uk airports. there were no flights leaving on saturday. the airlines here at heathrow airport are passing out these leaflets to passengers advising them to call their reservation line saying you cannot change your reservations at the airline desk. problem is, it can take up to an hour to get through to an airline. some tourists are finding it impossible to get a hotel room

or they don't want to pay for one. the problem for the airlines, they can't tell passengers when they will be able to fly again. in london, one russian carrier found accommodation for its stranded 1,200 passengers. >> we looked for transit passengers, especially for china and for south asia like japan or south korea. of course, passengers doesn't have proper information. >> reporter: another challenge for stranded passengers, different rules for different airlines. >> if you are traveling on an eu-registered airline that, airline has a duty of care legally to look after you. if you are traveling on an airline that is not based in the eu, that airline does not have to adapt to the same legal requirement.

>> reporter: with carriers only able to operate 10,000 flights out of a normal 28,000 on friday and fewer on saturday, passengers are stuck all over the world. >> i was coming from italy. i had to fly back on friday. you see i am here. i got to take the eurostar, but now i am driving to paris. in paris, no train to italy. everything is booked for two days. >> we should come back tomorrow, but there aren't flights and trains, so i think we will wait here until monday to see if the situation change. >> maybe i will rent a private car and they will pay, i don't know how much. this is the story. train, i think is full. bus full. red car is impossible. >> some passengers are setting up for a long stay in terminals. others headed for trains or ferries. some reportedly even paying thousands for taxis.

but with the volcanic cloud on the move, what air space is open and for how long, changes seemingly by the hour. jim bolden, cnn, london. pretty extraordinary. that ash spread is spreading even further. jack yack jacqui jeras in the weather center. that's because the wind is caring it? >> that's right. wind will carry that ash hundreds or thousands of miles. it could go over to asia. the ash plume itself vertically goes about 4.5 to 5 miles in the air. one of the other concerns we have high pressure in control over parts of europe. so it's sitting there over some of these areas, too. this is the latest showing you what the air traffic is looking like in the air across parts of europe. all these blue little areas is where we should be seeing the yellow airplanes, but we are not. they are only down here across

spain into the mediterranean. they were able to go across southern europe but not parts of the north. those jet stream winds you were talking about, this is what we are estimating what they are doing today. here is the volcano over iceland. it's going across europe and into russia. we are going to see a little bit of change in the weather pattern. maybe by the middle of the week or so we'll see more of this type of a pattern. it could go up and over europe. improvements are expected, but the volcano is continuing to erupt. unless it stops erupting, we are not going to get rid of this all together. there is another volcano nearby that historically erupts every time this one does. we have to watch for that. >> hazardous for airplanes. healthwise you wonder how bad this is to ingest. >> on twitter people are

concerned about health hazards involved. just looking at that you say to yourself, i don't want to breathe that. there are all kinds of particles in the air. we are getting ash fall reports from the uk. there are all kinds of gasses that volcanos also emit, things like carbon dioxide, hydrogen. the water vapor is not harmful but carbon dioxide can concentrate in low-lying areas and that can be lethal. you don't want to be close to it. and fluoride, as well, hydrogen fluoride is like this pale yellow gas that attaches to the fine ash particles. any animals that would eat that could be poisons as a result of that. and a lot of irritants. people with respiratory

problems, your mucous membranes. >> this has been a focus in this country, drafting an action plan for the african-american community. that is the focus of reverend al sharpton's national action convention taking place in new york. our own roland martin was moderator earlier today. i spoke with roland just last hour. >> the whole point was not just to talk about this, but getting commitments from people when it comes to a particular agenda. as opposed to having a discussion where you talk about 50 million different things broke it down to three distinct areas, politics, economics and socio-cultural. it's getting people to commit to what are they going to do over the next 365 days?

also people watching at home, online and in the audience. that's what the challenge was. everybody has attended black america events before, but that's been about meet, talk, disperse. >> tom joyner was helping to moderate with you. there are authors, professors of hbcus, congressmen. >> naacp, urban league. it's easy to have people who are in academics and activists, but you've got to have infrastructure. having the urban league and naacp, those groups have people, members and chapters. 100 black men. that it's difference. it's easy to say, folks do something. they say where do i go? >> you talk about the political economic and socio-cultural avenues here. these are things mark morial

with the urban league, naacp have been tackling on a regular basis. why this conglomeration today, for example, over the course of four days, why is this particularly important and pivotal? how might this help reset an agenda for the next coming months? >> this was specifically about give me one thing you are going to work on and you want people to work with you. thousands of folks watching on television, commenting online. i have been hearing since the election folks saying, i want to do something. of course the president's slogan was "yes we can," about hope and change. people said i want to do something, but i don't know where to start. here is an opportunity to say what do you care about? do you care about mentoring? do you care about jobs for ex-felons? do you care about rebuilding family? this is an opportunity for leaders to say this is what we

are going to do. not grandiose five-year plans, but over the next 12 months. our job is to hold them accountable. i made it clear on my show on "washington watch" on tv one, we are going to come back every 90 days and ask people what did you do? >> who is keeping track of the commitments made today? >> we are. >> this is what you promised, this is what you proposed to do. >> we are. folks that made the commitment, we are already compiling what these people said they are going to do. >> example on what some of those are? >> all of them. you had congressman james clyburn said the $1 billion settlement for black farmers will be approved by congress in the next 30 days. mark morial said they are going to be opening opportunity

centers to retrain ex-felons. you had the naacp are going to work with criminal justice. reverend sharpton said they are going to target six states to mobilize voters for the upcoming elections. albert dotson of 100 black men are going to expand their mentoring program to reach 1 million mentors. they have 500,000 and want to have a million more. now what my job is, tom joyner's job is, we are going to use our platforms and bring them back every 90 days and say where are you with this? how many folks have you signed up? at the end of a year, if the people who came to this forum and made a public announcement of what they want to do, if they've done nothing, then they are going to be exposed as hypocrites and people who all want to talk. now they have to be held

accountable by the people. my job in media is to hold them accountable. also the people at home. the people can't sit back and say let president barack obama do it. let congress do it. they have to change their communities, themselves, their houses, their neighborhoods, city, state and country. >> cnn contributor roland martin. all of them say they are going to check back with many of the leaders today who made those commitments in 90 days to turn in a progress report. legal limbo. conflicting reports on the fate of nine american missionaries facing charges in haiti. [ woman ] nine iron, it's almost tee-time. time for new zyrtec® liquid gels. they work fast. so i can get relief from the pollen that used to make me sneeze. with new zyrtec® liquid gels, i get allergy relief

at liquid speed. that's the fast, powerful relief of zyrtec®, now in a liquid gel. zyrtec® is the fastest 24-hour allergy medicine. so i'm ready by the first hole. with new zyrtec® liquid gels, i can love the air®. [ male announcer ] this week only, save up to $12 on zyrtec® products at zyrtectv.com and in sunday's paper. just to make phone calls. but when at&t or verizon offer you an unlimited plan for $69.99, that's all it's good for -- phone calls. with sprint, for the same price,

you get unlimited text, unlimited web and unlimited calling to every mobile phone in america. now, that's more like it. [ male announcer ] $69.99 for unlimited text, web and calling to any mobile in america. only from sprint. deaf, hard-of-hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com. you may never go back to your old furniture polish. ♪ love stinks ♪ love stinks, yeah, yeah it's the only furniture polish with febreze freshness. [ record scratches ] that's right, febreze freshness... to help eliminate odors, while you clean and condition. so your furniture is "swiffer clean"... and your home is "febreze fresh." swiffer gives cleaning a fresh new meaning. [ knock on door ] ♪

a look at our top stories at this hour. president obama has had to cancel his trip to the memorial service in poland for the 96 victims of last weekend's plane crash. the crash killed the polish president, the first lady and top military and civilian leaders. >> in haiti, the attorney general is denying reports that charges have been dropped against nine u.s. missionaries accused of trying to kidnap children after the country's earthquake back in january. this week a u.s. senator said kidnap charges had been dropped against all the missionaries except the group's leader laura sills bi, who remains in jail in haiti. new problems for toyota. the japanese automaker is recalling about 600,000 sienna minivans sold in the u.s.

because of possible corrosion problems. exposure to road salt may cause the cable holding the spare tire to break causing the spare to fall off creating a road hazard. they are from 1998 to 2010. april is national child abuse prevention month. this cnn's hero is drawing on other own childhood experiences to save others. wynonna ward is a trucker turned lawyer who reaches out to battered women and children in rural vermont. her motto, have justice, will travel. >> when i was growing up on a rural back road, family violence was an accepted way of life. this is my mother and i'm the baby here. my father and brother richard and my sister pauline. my father would commonly abuse all of us. he raped me and beat my mother

and my other siblings. when the neighbors heard screaming coming from our home, they just current their heads. for domestic violence victims in rural areas, it can be devastating. they're out there on these back roads with no access to in-town services. many of them do not have telephones. some of them do not have driver's license for an automobile, so we go to them. my name is wynona ward. the turning point for me was when a child in my family revealed she had been abused by my father and my brother. i just said, this has to stop. when i graduated from law school, i was 48 years old. good morning, my dear. i go to people's homes. give them in-home consultation. provide them with free legal services and transportation to and from court hearings.

i don't want children to have to go through what i did as a child. i want to see my clients become empowered. i can understand them and they know that i will be there to protect them. >> wynona ward estimates she drives 35,000 miles a year and helped almost 30,000 victims of domestic violence. websites come and go. it looks like twitter is here forever. ñnññññ÷[3 ♪ [ female announcer ] you choose the cutest outfits. are you choosing a detergent designed for her sensitive skin? tide free & gentle is.

and unlike the leading free detergent, tide free & gentle removes more residue from dirt, food, and stains. so you can be confident about every outfit you put her in, even the ones...she chooses. tide free & gentle. style is an option. clean is not. my subaru saved my life. i won't ever forget that. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. ♪ music plays ♪ [ sneezing ] ♪

♪ [ male announcer ] what are you gonna miss when youave an allergy attack? benadryl® is more effective than claritin® at relieving your worst symptoms -- runny nose, sneezing, and watery eyes -- and works when you need it most. benadryl®. you can't pause life. hey what's going on? doing the shipping. man, it would be a lot easier if we didn't have to weigh 'em all. if those boxes are under 70 lbs. you don't have to weigh 'em. with these priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service, if it fits it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. no weigh? nope. no way. yeah. no weigh? sure. no way! uh-uh. no way. yes way, no weigh-ing. priority mail flat rate box shipping starts at $4.95, only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship.

if you tweet, you need to know. your words may go down in history. the library of congress is archiving all public postings from twitter. the popular social networking site. josh levs explained earlier how it all works. >> here's the deal. the library of congress, esteemd constitution, obviously, holds on to all sorts of important documents and books. now they're holding on to every public tweet ever from the very beginning, going back to may 2006. it is a statement. it means they believe this is one way of tracing history. let me show you some of the big ones they're highlighting. this is the first tweet of all

time, jack dorsey, who created it, who tweeted, just setting up my twttr. also, barack obama, before he was president, we just made history, this is right after the election, all of this happened because you gave your time, talent and passion. all of this happened because of you. >> wait a minute. really only the impactful stuff or everything, even from tweets from people who are like, i'm about to make coffee, i'm changing my shoes, i'm tying them now. >> there is a lot of useless stuff on twitter. if the person has chosen to make his or her twitter account public, then, yes, every single tweet. it ends up being what you're saying. there are diamonds in the rough. let me show you one more. you might have heard about this. there was a journalist in egypt who was arrested and he tweeted one word as he was being arrested, he tweeted the word arrested. that set off a whole chain of events which ultimately led to his being freed the next day. and he tweeted he was free and that's how people found out. amid all the other random things

that you find on twitter, there are cases where you see the relevance of twitter and history being made and history being recorded. so that's why the library of congress is jumping in there. >> i guess that's the beauty of it, there is a variety of stuff that is very nebulous and stuff that is impactful and important and everyone should know about. >> if you want to look up in 80 years, was your grandma having coffee one day at 2:00 in the afternoon. >> and what she was brewing. >> it is probably on twitter. >> thank you very much, josh. the library of congress appropriately announced this project first on its tcourse. followed it up with a official press release. close look at what happens to airplanes flying in a volcanic ash cloud like the one that is being experienced throughout europe. we'll take you inside for a ride. -d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-dd

so what happens when an airplane flies through a volcanic ash? it is what many of you are asking now that air travel around the world has actually been crippled by a giant ash cloud over much of europe. adrian arceneaux has answers. >> reporter: you know the wait is long when it means doing laundry in the airport. this is frankfurt, but it could be anywhere in northern europe or scandinavia right now. accommodation is unavailable as information. schedules changing fast. clarity depends on the stubborn volcano which at one point erupted with even more strength.

winds still carrying ash towards europe. scientists eager to sample it, pilots review how to cope with it just in case. as of right now there isn't a single flight simulator in the world that can accurately replicate all of the effects of flying through an ash cloud. because so many planes have gone through them over the years, engineers now know enough about what is likely to happen in what order to a plane that goes through a plume that whenever possible pilots are forced to rehearse what may happen. some in simulators like this one, one of the most advanced in the world. the simulation starts with clear skies at 35,000 feet that get cloudy. then a telltale smell. >> a sort of sulfurous, sulfuricy, acidy smell. it makes your eyes smart because of the acidity of it. now the smoke has come into the cabin, the pilots now are reading the standard checklist.