it's 8:00 eastern. time to go to the control room. >> what are you going to talk to o'reilly about. >> we read miamis from viewers and then we decide if the view or bill is right. >> i'm guessing it will be bill. it's 3:00 on the east coast, 2:00 p.m. here in oxford, mississippi, and the news starts now. russia cuts a deal to help stop the violence in ukraine but the united states warns of new consequences if moscow doesn't make good on the grandma. now -- on the agreement. now the united states is get mortgage involved in the crisis. ahead, what our government is sending over to help out and what vladimir putin has just admitted. also, reports of people handing out fliers that order the jews to take part in ukraine to register with the government or be deported. >> one year since the fire and explosion killed 15 people at a plant in west, texas. ed to, we'll return to that

community to see how people are recovering. >> the story of the bank robber who was thrill to get caught. let's get to it. good thursday afternoon to you and yours. first from fox at 3:00 in new york city. 2:00 here in oxford. russia's agreement to stop the violence in ukraine is just words on paper for now. that is a warning from the secretary of state john kerry, who says russia had better follow through or it will face more punishment. and analysts are saying there's good reason to be skeptical here. hours after the russian president vladimir putin called eastern ukraine the new russia. putin's bold and defiant words came as ukraine saw the bloodiest day since the showdown began. ukrainian officials say troops opened fire when pro-russian fighters trade to storm a national guard post. they say the people died, and more than a dozen others hurt. president obama today signed off on sending aid to help the

country defend itself but italys only items like medical supplies and power generators no weapons. secretary kerry started negotiations in switzerland with russian and ukrainian officials today. and the secretary did not seem optimistic heading into the meeting. check out his reaction when a reporter questioned him about whether he expected to make any progress. >> thank you very much. thank you very minute. >> just a shrug. but some seven hours later secretary kerry said russia agreed to steps to stop the violence. the deal also called for protesters to leave the buildings they've taken over. sac kerry warns russia faces more economic punishment itself does not stick to its word and also reported somebody has been handing out fliers that target jews in the eastern ukrainian city. this flier says jews have to register or they could lose

their belongings or be deported. the fliers claim to be from a prob russian official but no way to confirm it. >> this is not just intolerable, it's grotesque. it is beyond unacceptable. and any of the people who engage in these kinds of activities, from whatever party or whatever ideology or whatever place they crawl out of, there is no place for that. meantime, president bush president bush -- president putin no shines of standing down help called ukraine the new russian and he says only god knows why it became part of ukraine in the first place. president putin said he is not fueling the fight in ukraine. western officials insist that is a bold-faced lie, and for the first time putin himself

admitted russian troops were in the crimean peninsula in match, something he long denied. or lied about. putin also said he has every right to use force in ukraine, but that he hopes doesn't come to that. >> translator: i very much hope that i will not have to exercise this right and that with political and diplomatic meansul the acute, if not the acutest problems in ukraine today. >> camera shows people in crimea cheering as they watched putin speak, and the event seemed tightly stricted. a six-year-old girl asked president putin if he thought president obama would save him were he drowning? putin said, yes, because president obama is a deposit -- decent and brave man. >> a lot of people not here in this region but in this city are completely divided, and you get

the feeling this is a place on the verge of a very bloody possible civil war. two miles 'the road to my right from where we are right now, is one of the central parliament buildings here for this entire region. pro-russian activists and separatists have taken it over, and there is all the essence of these old cold war there at the parliament building. we went there to see what was going on. listen to what we heard. >> you're angry with america. >> we are ang guy. very angry. not only at america but with the support of america, european union, such countries as germany. >> what should america do? >> america should go to america and lead their own life. >> stay out of ukraine. >> instead of ukraine. sure. without any doubt. >> and outside blaring on the loudspeakers was a lot of

russian patriotic music police, men with baseball bats. at journalists we were thenned in terms of being able to be there and film what was going on. they put it large barricades that were afraid the ukrainian army was going to move in. this is the balance being struck. the ukrainians don't want to move on these buildings because it would give president putin a pretext to send some of the tens of thousands of troops that he had massed along the russian border, which is just a few miles from here, into ukraine to, quote, protect russian interests and the russian people here who are inside of ukraine. obviously there's a lot of folks here who hope that president putin makes good on turning this into in the new russia. if so it will be very bloody. >> less turn the form for under secretary of state. do you feel like anything of

substance has changed her or if this is rhetorical? >> i think it's been an extraordinary day because secretary kerry was right to make this agreement because if there's any chance to get these armed ethnic russian gangs out of these government buildings in eastern ukraine this might be it. we were right to walk down this road. but he was also right to point out, secretary kerry, the russians need to implement this and as you said in this program, putin's peach was remarkable -- putin's speech was rashable. claiming, calling it the new russia, and he is intimidating the authorities by saying he hopes not have to intervene militarily. so we're seeing a power play by putin and the agreement between the u.s. and ukraine made by the russians, they're trying to escape sanctions and look more conciliatory but with putin we have to watch what he does and not what he says, and what he does is try to bully his

neighbors. >> what happens if diplomacy doesn't work? >> the u.s. doesn't have a lot of options here. rightly, president obama decided not to make this a military concentration between the u.s. and russia. george w. bush made the same calculation when russia invaded georgia in 2008. so what we only having a leverage is the the of u.s. and european sanctions and that's not going well because the europeans don't want to put forward big sanctions as the us might want to do, and we have the able to try to slow the russians down through grandmas like the one today. it's -- threw agreements like today. it's the best the us can do right now. if we can arm the ukrainian government in a more forceful way and put american sanctions-financial, on the line, that would be a stronger response. >> professor, live with us. thank you. one of the world's largest food companies whose products

are probably in your home right now, claims if you like any of its products on facebook, you can't sue the company and that's not the only way you may be giving up your legal right. plus, history in the making. that's what the campaign of toronto's crack-smoking mayor rob ford is promising when he kicks off his re-election bid in a matter of a few hours. details of the big party in toronto coming up on "shepard smith reporting." the day we rescued riley, was a truly amazing day. without angie's list, i don't know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley. for over 18 years we've helped people take care of the things that matter most. join today at angieslist.com

that's why i got a new windows 2 in 1. it has exactly what i need for half of what i thought i'd pay. and i don't need to be online for it to work. it runs office, so i can do schedules and budgets and even menu changes. but it's fun, too -- with touch, and tons of great apps for stuff like music, 'cause a good playlist is good for business. i need the boss's signature for this. i'm the boss. ♪ honestly ♪ i wanna see you be brave

>> something is up at the white house. one thing that never happens at the white house is they change the seen behind there. see the sign behind the podium? it normally says "the white house." look on the podium, the circle. that the presidential seal, nobody goes up to the podium with the presidential seal in front of it except the president. the knew the daily briefing would be delayed and begin around 3:15 eastern daylight item but they took the regular sale down and put up the presidential seal. is so the president about to come speak out there? we don't know. but i can tell you one thing, nobody else is going to speak at that podium with that seal. what mouth he be about to say? we don't know. but we'll keep an eye on it and the moment anybody walk out, we'll take you there live.

>> next time you're on facebook you might want to rethink who you like because you could be signing away league rights. take for instance, general mills. the company behind lots of popular brands including cheerios and better crocker, pills bury, yoplait, just to name a few. the company made a change to legal terms on the web site. as "the new york times" first reported you now give up your right to ever sue the company if you like its products on facebook or download a coupon. legal analysts say the terms may even apply to just buying the item. our producer, chris, is back on the fox news deck in new york with a look at what the legal terms say. >> we have them on their web site right now. they basically say, in exchange for the benefits you receive by using our web site, joining our online community, subscribing to ore e-mail knaus letter, downloading or prisoning coupons

or entering a sweepstake yao agreeing to this term. general mills has recent lawsuits in 2010 the lawsuit they were -- that was in involved was -- they were claiming that it had certain health benefits and that was eventually settled. then the trail mix bars that it penning. they said they were 100% natural source of whole grain. so that's white they're updating the web site. >> all right. let's bring in our legal analyst, arthur aidala. if you download a coupon or if you like them on facebook, i don't know why anybody would like a company on facebook but what the hell do i know? >> it's ridiculous. they're kind of roping you into this. there's something i did in

research. they're saying once you buy one of their products you're agreeing to binding arbitration. binding arbitration is not the worst thing in the world. first of all it's much faster. a law case can take a year or two years. binding arbitration goes quickly and it's much less formal. now, -- so someone could actually represent themselves. no results of evidence. what the companies like is nothing gets disclosed. their documents, their sensitive documents, are not part of a court file that anyone, including the media, can look at. but the way they're kind of hooking you into this just done -- seems sleazy, frankly, and my guess would be, shepard, if someone gets seriously injured, like they forget to label there's peanuts in a product, and a kid eats the peanuts and gets very ill or maybe dies, i would see them challenging and going to federal court and saying, forget this arbitration thing.

we have a very ill young man, child, we want to arbitrate -- we want all the evidence coming out in front of a jump and jury, and then we'll see whether this holds or doesn't hold. >> is this sort of thing common, where you just participate in one way or another online or download coupons and giving up rights. >> more and more every day. they don't let you check on next until you click off, accept all the rights, and no one -- come on -- nobody goes and clicks on the link for all the five pages of rights and reads that. nobody does. so, it's a bait and switch thing, and general mills does hamburger helper. so if you head some bad hamburger helper york stuck with binding arbitration and cannot go to court and sue them. >> we'll talk to talk to mandy, our producer, her most famous dish is hamburger helper, which helps your hamberger help her make a good meal.

i hope amanda is watching. >> enjoy mississippi, sir. >> i will. rebels and tigers tonight. it's going to be crazy. then there's toronto's crack-smoking mayor. rob ford always welcome in oxford. he is kicking off his re-election campaign bid with the theme, history in the making, and available rob ford bobbleheads and other memorabilia for sale. proceed goes to the campaign. we all know mayor ford is a big fan of his bobblehead. ford's brother is predicting thousands and thousands will show up at the event. no word on whether they're serving wings. ford's brother says this will make other campaign launches, quote, look like a tea party, unquote. mayor ford is trailing in the latest polls. history in the making tonight in toronto. we have no reason to doubt. john edwards is back in court, this time as a lawyer

again. that's according to the reporting of the "daily reflector" newspaper in greenville, north carolina two years ago a jury cleared the former democratic senator and presidential candidate of using illegal campaign contributions to cover up his affair and love child with ray a campaign videographer. now he has his own law firm where his daughter also works. her mother, elizabeth, died of cancer four years ago. when john edwards finally admitted his affair with hunter he claim it happened when his wife was in remission. >> a hook-handed accused terrorist is in court today in new york, but without his hooks. the feds say he tried setting up terror camps here in the united states. his lawyers say, not true. updates next, and we'll watch the activity at the white house where the presidential seal is up, programming prompter and now

the correspondents are standing up waiting to do something. but the white house won't tell us what is going on. we figure the president may be coming, and if he does, what is he going to say? well, we'll take you -- we just got the two-minute warning so we'll be right back. dive into our salmon bruschetta atop a buttery crab risotto, or fall in yum with our chicken primavera, always served with unlimited salad and breadsticks. the all new spring seasonal menu at olive garden. eating healthier,tion by drinking plenty of water, but still not getting relief? try dulcolax laxative tablets. dulcolax is comfort-coated for gentle, over-night relief. dulcolax. predictable over-night relief you can count on.

>> opening statements today in the terror trial of the islamic preacher known as dr. hook. he was born in egypt, claims an explosion ripped out both hands and one of his eyes as he taught the soviets in afghanistan. normally wears prosthetic hooks. it's a trademark for him. but the feds will not let him wear said hooks in court for security reason help is facing a

laundry list of charges including recruiting and training other terrorists and setting up training camps in oregon, and also accused of helping the hostage can takers in yemen in 1998. four tourists died in that one. the one-eyed, hook-handed preacher spent seven years in a british prison for inexciting racial hatred and that was before the was extradited to the united states. he called 9/11 a towering day in history and the columbia space shuttle disaster, punishment from allah but a the astronauts were christian, jewish, and hindu, but he claims he is innocent of the terror charges will testify against his lawyers' advice. david lee? >> reporter: some of the most damning evidence against the defendant might well be, as you point out, his own words. the judge has ruled that he is going to allow video and audio

recordings he made. among the recordings he said, quote, everybody was happy when the planes hit the world trade center. never feel sorry for wicked america, and talking about people who are not muslim, quote, it's okay to kill. but defense today admits some of his statements are outrageous but they say he has not broken any u.s. laws. they also say many of the statements were made years ago and are taken out of context. and then there was an unusual -- they said nelson mandela was considered a terrorist, and george washington was considered a rebel. the defendant will be testifying on his own behalf and it's also expected a woman who was taken hostage by a group of islamist extremists in yemen, is also

going to take the stand. >> david lee, thank you. secretary of state john kerry says russia agreed to a deal that could end the violence in ukraine. but he is warning there is no guarantee that russia will honor the agreement. rescuers are searching for hundreds of passengers still missing a day after their ferry sank off south korea. now we're hearing from the captain. officials say he was one of the first people to get off the sinking ship. the captain did not go down with it. and that us not going down well. the details coming up. hey. i'm ted and this is rudy.

say "hi" rudy. [ barks ] [ chuckles ] i'd do anything to keep this guy happy and healthy. that's why i'm so excited about these new milk-bone brushing chews. whoa, i'm not the only one. it's a brilliant new way to take care of his teeth. clinically proven as effective as brushing. ok, here you go. have you ever seen a dog brush his own teeth? the twist and nub design cleans all the way down to the gum line, even reaching the back teeth. they taste like a treat, but they clean like a toothbrush. nothing says you care like a milk-bone brushing chew. [ barks ] >> updating two stories. investigators say the oil slick they discovered in the southern

indian ocean did not come from the missing malaysia airlines jet. a search official says the u.s. navy's robot county submarine finished hit its full 16-hour sweep and crews are analyzing the dat tamp this week the submade two trips underwater but had to come up early both times. in the murder trial of the blade runner, oscar pistorius, the prosecutor laid into the defense's crime-scene expert, who admitted he is not an expert at all on some parts of the case. in fact, he said some of his measurements were off by up to eight inches. the prosecution claims oscar pistorius murdered his model girlfriend after an argue. he says he shot her in self-defense because he thought she was an intruder. live to the white house and the president coming up. óqoqúú

>> the captain of the ferry that sanger in south korea says he is sorry and ashamed. he was one of the first people who abandoned his ship. the captain appeared on korean television and wore a gray hoody to cover his face. he jumped into a life boat and is under criminal investigation. that ferry was on the way to a small tourist island. the hundreds of high schoolers and teachers were on a class trip. survivors heard a loud bang and then the ship tipped on to its side. the south korean coast guard tried to pull people from the ship but most passengers never made it to the deck. 20 people are confirmed dead and some 270 are missing. some relatives say they're holding out hope that maybe some passengers found an open pocket of air to keep themselves alive under the water but time is quickly running out. the president of the company

that runs the ferry broke down in tears and apologized for this disaster. >> translator: i bow my head in apology with deep regret. our members, our employees, i've committed an -- >> according to local media some parents received text messages from their sons and daughters, after the ferry started sinking. one student identified only as shin messaged her father, dad, don't worry, i've got a life vest on and we're huddled together. her father replied, i know the rescue is underway but make your way out if you can. the teen told her dad, she could not walk out and that the corridor was full of kids and too tilted-as she put it. that student is listed as missing ruth now. -- missing right now. lea gabriel has the details. we're learning more what it was

like inside the ferry. >> we have cell phone video as it was going down. listen and watch this. >> what you're hearing on the ship's loud speaker is, quote, do not move from where you are now because it's more dangerous if you move. you can see people were physicalling those instructions, and, shep, some witnesses told the "associated press" that people may have had a better chance for survival if they had not listened to the instructions and had taken chances in the water. >> what is the latest on he search effort? >> well, shep, the south korean coast is saying there are 400 people searching for centuryivors and also injected oxygen into the sunken ferry, hoping there might be an air pocket and they're trying to bring in cranes to salvage the ferry. the loved ones of the missing have been waiting for answers, despair can be heard in their

voices. >> translator: where you? i'm anxiously awaying you. come back alive. >> strong currents and bad weather made the search even more difficult, and some of the first responders reportedly told media outlets that the depth oft the water and wear temperatures make it unlikely they'll find survivors. >> mighty tough. thank you very much. a look at the white house now. we have got summon more information. the white house tweeted the president is about to speak from various sources we're learning the following: going to speak on the crisis in ukraine, let's hope there's some sort of development there that is positive. speak on health care and the number of young people who are signing up for the affordable care act, and in addition he will take questions so out of nowhere, unannounced and unexpected, a presidential news conference is coming up. we'll take you there live.

>> there could be a deal that could quiet the problems in ukraine. calls for illegally armed groups to drop weapons and for protesters to leave the buildings they've taken over, seized, really. american officials are warning that russia had better stick to its word, and secretary of state john kerry says nobody has the sense that the job is done. get the details on this from peter doocy at the white house. tell us about the aid from the u.s. >> it's nonlethal military aid so won't kill or wound an aggressive separatists. if you look at the list what the pentagon is sending over to ukraine it reading like something you might see a in camping store catalogue. >> medical supplies, helmets, sleeping mats, and water purification units for ukraine's armed forces, as well as shelters, small power generators

and hand fuel pumps for state border guard service. >> so now we wait and see the impact of the nonlethal aid. secretary kerry wants to see within one week some results from the deal that the americans and the europeans cut with the russians. the dole hinges on all side -- the deal hinges on all sides in ukraine laying their weapons down. >> has the president indicated what the u.s. plans to do if things on the ground in ukraine dent improve? >> shep, the president has said many times if things do not dee escalate quickly russia will have a price to pay. he doesn't go into detail how steep the price is going to be. >> what i said consistently is that each time russia takes these kinds of steps that are designed to destabilize ukraine and vie lit their sovereign -- violate their sovereignty, there will be consequences. >> not the first time president obama threatened consequences

for russian misbehavior and this morning, russia's president, vladimir putin, reminded a tv audience in russia he has permission from russia's federal racing council to use force in ukraine if he needs to but president putin said he hopes it doesn't come to that. >> all right. thank you very much. peter doocy on the north lawn. a lot of activity inside the building, especially the briefing room. the spot where jay carney and others have the daily briefing. you see the seal in the white house on the podium and on the podium is the presidential seal. and we now learned the president is going to speak. in fact we're led to believe the president is going to hold his first solo news conference of the entire calendar year. he hasn't had one since december of 2013. ed henry is our chief white house correspond and -- correspondent is in new york. aren't you important? what going to happen to not

schedule and it not announce it and not tease it, that's unusual. >> it is. i suspect there's two things going on. petey doocy was laying this out. this cries in ukraine is deepening, and troubling allegations that fliers have been going out saying that jewish people have to identify. thes in eastern ukraine. this situation is getting more worrisome. the president on the phone today with angela merkel, the german chance can lore, a key ally here, in trying to resolve this situation. we suspect he'll talk about that. i think more importantly for this president, senate majorettity leader harry reid told reporters he thinks the signup number is now over eight million and you can bet the president wants to tout that and is one thing he will talk below. sit hall republicans nipping at his heels on this. and might be chance to try to tout how he thinks this thing is turning the page. >> it's interesting to me the

timing. we just got through passover. the jewish holidays, good friday is tomorrow, and then easter. not exactly the height of a news cycle. i guess you get it in today and this afternoon so you get it on the evening newscast or it's a bust. >> you're right. with the holidays, nobody is paying attention. if you fill that vacuum before the vacation maybe the president can get his message out there. this is a grave situation playing out in ukraine. the president wants wants to pus message out there what he is doing to solve the situation. on health care, this is something he has taken a beat only for months and if he can continue to try to show there's some momentum on the healthcare law you can bet that something, whether it's easter or not, he is going to rush to that white house podium to tout it. >> i would think. and the situation in ukraine feels like to hear it from secretary kerry, they're at

least working on a framework of an agreement but i'm not sure what an agreement is worth from a president, president putin, who promised he didn't have any tropes in crimea, as we stood there, and look at his troops in crimea. he sounded like baghdad bomb. >> john kerry has been working on this but how much times as he met with if russian counterpart and saying we're getting closer to a deal, and none of it has stuck, and the president keeps throwing thing out there. the will be consequences if putin does this or that, and putin keeps doing thing. going back to syria, from a couple of years ago when the president said if he crosses the redline on chemical winds, easterly nor consequences. welshes assad crossed the line and there have not been enormous consequences. he talked in the interview yesterday, not enormous but said consequences in ukraine. here's the president.

>> hello everybody. before i begin, just want to express on behalf of the american people our deepest condolences to the republic or korea and the families of all those who have seen their loved ones lost when a ferry sank within the last couple of days. obviously information still coming in. we know that many of the victims of this terrible tragedy were students, and american navy personnel and marines have been on the scene, helping with search and rescue. as one of our closest allies, our commitment to south korea is unwavering in good times and in bad and that's something i'll underscore during my visit to seoul next week. before i take questions, i'd also like to say a few words about how the affordable care act is now covering more people at less costs than most would

have predicted a few months ago. the first open enrollment perfected ended -- period ended a little more than two week oozing, and as more data comes in we now know the number of americans who have signed up for private insurance in the market places has gene -- grown to eight million people. eight million people. 35% of people who enrolled through the federal marketplace are under the age of 35. all told, independent experts now expect that millions of americans who are uninsured have gained coverage this year. will millions more to come next year and the year after. we have also seen signs that the affordable care act is bringing economic security to more americans. before this law added new transparency and competition to the individual market, folks who bought insurance on their own regularly saw double-digit increases in premiums. that was the norm.

and while we suspect that premiums will keep rising, they have hard folk dids, we know that since the law -- as as they have for decades but -- in the decade before the affordable care act, employer-based insurance rose almost 8% a year. last year it grew at half that rate. under this law medicare costs per person have stopped growing the life of the medicare trust fund has been extended by ten years. and the independent congressional budget office now expects premiums for plans on the marketplace to be 15% lower than originally predicted. those savings add up to more money that families can spend in businesses, more money that businesses can spend hiring new workers, and the cbo now says the affordable care act will be cheaper than recently projected. lower costs from coverage provisions will shrink our

deficit by an extra $100 billion. so, the bottom line is, under the affordable care act, the share of americans with insurance is up, the greg of healthcare costs is down. hundreds of millions of americans who already have insurance, now have new benefits and protections from free prerepresentative care and no cap and no preexisting condition can deny coverage, a woman cannot be charged more just for being woman. those days are over. this thing is working. i've said before this law won't solve all the problems in our healthcare system. we know we have more work to do. but we now know for a fact that repealing the affordable care act would increase the deficit, raise premiums for millions of mentales and take insurance away from millions more. which is why, as i said before,

i find it strength the republican position on this law is still stuck in the same place that it has always been. they still can't bring themselves to admit that the affordable care act is working. they said nobody would sign up. they were wrong about that. they said it would be unaffordable for the country. they were wrong about that. they were wrong to keep trying to repeal a law that is working when they had no alternative answer for millions of americans with preexisting conditions who would be denied coverage again. for every woman who would be charged more for just being a woman, again. i know every americansen going to agree with this law. i think we can agree that it's well past time to move on as a country and refocus our energy on the issues that the american people are most concerned about, and that continues to be the economy. these endless, fruitless, repeal efforts come at a cost.

the 50 or so votes the republicans have taken to repeal the law could have been 50 votes to create jobs by investing in things like infrastructure or innovation or 50 votes to make it easier for middle class families to send their kids to college. or 50 votes to raise the minimum wage. or restore unemployment insurance that they let expire for folks working hard to find a new job. the opinion is the repeal debate is and should be over. the affordable care act is working, and i know the american people don't want us 'spending the next two and a half years refighting settled political battles of the last five years. they sent us here to repair our economy to rebuild our middle class and restore our founding promise of opportunity, not just for a few but for all and as president, that's exactly what i intend to keep doing. as long as i'm in this office. with that i'll take some questions. let's see who we got. kathleen from "the los angeles times."

>> sounds like there's been some development on the ukraine talks in geneva. can you describe your level of confidence in what this agreement is and how you can be sure that russia will follow through, given some of the remarks of president putin this morning? >> i don't think we can be sure of anything at this opinion. -- at this opinion. there's the prospect that diplomacy may dee ask -- dee escalate this situation, and let the the ukrainians make their own decisions. there was a meeting, the ukrainian government, the russian government, the eu and the united states. it was a lengthy, vigorous conversation. my understanding is that the ukrainian prime minister gave a detailed and thorough presentation about the reforms they intend to introduce,

including can reforms that provide assurances for ukrainian who live in eastern and southern ukraine, that they will be fully represented, their rights will be protected, that russian speakers and russian natives in ukraine will have the full protection of the law, and my understanding, based on what i've heard, is that there was an acknowledgment win the meeting that the ukrainian government in kiev had gone out of its way to address a range of the concerns that may have existed in southern and eastern ukraine. there was a promising public statement that indicated the need to disarm all irregular forces and militias, and groups that have been occupying buildings.

the was an offer of amnesty to those who would willingly lay down their arms, evacuate the buildings so law and order could be restored in eastern and southern ukraine. the russians signed on to the statement. the question now becomes will in fact they use the influence they've exerted in a did disruptive way, to restore order and allow ukraine to carry out the elections and move forward with reforms, stabilize their economy, and start getting back on the path of growing and democracy. and their sovereignty will be respected. we're not going to know whether in fact there's follow-through on these statements for several days, and so today i spoke with chancellor merkel, later on today i'll speak with david cameron. we'll be consulting i've our

european allies over the last week. we have hut in place additional consequences we can impose on the russians if we do not see actual improvement of the situation on the ground. and we are coordinating now with our european allies. my hope is that we actually do see follow-through over the next several days. i don't think, given past performance, that we can count on that and we have to be prepared to potentially respond to what continues to be efforts of enter fears enterinterference by the rescues in eastern and southern ukraine. if we do see improvement that will be a positive in the meantime we'll make sure we continue to help the ukrainian government working with the emf, the europeans and others to stabilize their economy, and to start reforming it. we're going to continue to work with our nato allies to make

sure that they are assured we'll meet our article 5 obligations, and that they are secure, and as i've said before, i think i had an interview with major yesterday in which i mentioned, this whole exercise by the russians is not good for russia, either. i think a number of articles today indicating the degree to which an economy that was already stuck in the mud, is further deteriorating because of these actions, and in my conversations with president putin i emphasized the same thing, that we have no desire to see further deer deterioration e russian economy. about we'll continue to upped hold territorial integrity and there's a way for ukraine to be

independent, sovereign, and to have positive relationships with both the west ask the east, with beth the european neighbors and its russian neighbors, and that is our primary concern. marie. >> thank you, mr. president. i have a hot spot for you. house majority leader cantor is angry you're attacking the g.o.p. on the lack of mom on immigration reform. i wonder how you respond to that. the second part, right now you have hunger strikers across the street demanding relief for undocumented immigrants and i wonder if you could disspell the umors that you will make some oater of announce the coming weeks to expand that relief for the undocumented. thank you. >> well, i actually had a very pleasant conversation with mr. cantor yesterday. i did.

you know, you're always kind of surprised by the mismatch between press releases and the conversation. i wished him happy passover, and what i said to him privately is something i would share with him -- i've said publicly, which is there is bipartisan support for comprehensive immigration reform. it would strengthen our economy, it would help with our security. and it would provide relief to families who -- many of whom have lived here for years and have children and family members who are u.s. citizens. congress should act. and that right now, what is holding us back is house republican leadership not willing to go ahead and let the process move forward.

so, it was a pretty friendly conversation. i think in his press reless i gater he was -- i gather he was referring to the observation we made a day earlier, it had now been a year since the senate passed a strong bipartisan bill and that although we heard a lot of talk about the house republicans being interested in doing something, nothing happened yet. and suggesting that we need some urgency here. i still feel the same way. i know there are republicans in the house, as there are republicans in the senate, who know this is the right thing to do. i also know it's hard politics. for republicans. because there's some in their base that are very opposed to this. but what i also know is that there are families all across

the country who are experiencing great hardship and pain because this is not getting resolved. i also know there are businesses around the country that could be growing even faster. that our deficits could be coming down faster. that we would have more customers in our shops if we get this resolved. in the know what the right thing to do is. it's a matter of political will. it's not any longary matter of politics and i will continue to encourage them to get this done. as far arizona our actions, jay johnson, the now head hoff homeland security, has been talking to everybody, law enforcement, immigrant rights groups, to do a thorough review of our approach towards enforcement, and we're doing

that in consultation with democrats democrats and republicans and any interested party. i do think that the system we have rooking now is broken. i'm not alone in that opinion. the only way to truly fix it is through congressional action. we have already tried to take as many administrative steps as we could. we're going to review it one more time to see if there's more we can do. to make it more consistent with common sense and more consistent with, i think, the attitudes of the american people, which is we shouldn't be in the business necessarily of tearing families apart who otherwise are law-abidding. so, let me -- i won't get into timing right now because mr. johnson is going to good ahead and do that review. tamara keith. >> yes. so, regarding the affordable care act -- >> yes, let's talk about that.

>> since you brought it up. i think everyone agrees it has flaws. but democrats have been sort of reluctant in congress to re-open the conversation, and republicans have been more than happy to re-open the conversation but in a different way. now that, as you say, it's here to stay, there's so many people signed up, in this environment, is it possible to do the kind of corrections that business community and many others would like to see, small technical corrections? >> it is absolutely possible but it will require a change in attitude on the part of the republicans. i have always said, from the outset, that on any large piece of legislation like this, there are going to be things that need to be improved, need to be tweaked. i said that -- i think the day i signed the bill. and i don't think there's been any hesitation on our part to consider ideas that would actually improve the

legislation. the challenge we have is that if we have certain members in the republican party whose view is, making it work better is a concession to me, then at it's d in that environment to get it done. i recognize that their party has gone through the stages of grief. right? anger and denial and all that stuff. and we're not at acceptance yet but at some point, my assumption is that there will be an interest to figure out how do we make this work in the best way possible. we have eight million people signed up. through the exchanges. that doesn't include the three million young people who are able to stay on their parents' plan. doesn't include the

million people who benefited from expansions to medicaid. so if my math is correct, that's 14 million right there. you have another five million people who signed up outside of the marketplaces but are part of the same insurance pool. so, we've got a sizable part of the u.s. population now that are in the first -- for the first time in many cases in a position to enjoy the financial security of health insurance. and i'm meeting them as i'm on the road. saw a woman yesterday, young woman, maybe 34, with her mom and tad, me -- dad, and she haso small children and husband self-employed and was diagnosed with breast cancer. this isn't an abstraction to her. she is saving her home. she is saving her business. she is saving her parents' home

potentially because she has health insurance, which she just could not afford. and the question now becomes, if in fact this is working for a lot of people, but there's still improvements to make, why are we still having a conversation about repealing the whole thing and having folks say any efforts to improve it are somehow handing obama a victory. this isn't about me. and my hope is that we start moving beyond that. my suspicion is that probably will not happen until after november because it seems as if this is the primary agenda item in the republican political platform. but the american people would much rather see us talk about jobs, much rather see us talk about high college costs, much rather see us discussing how we can rebuild our roads