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water and covered in debris. this is what it was. okay. >> you can see there are still scars. but the clean up and recovery effort well under way. the beached boats have been moved back to the water where they belong. >> and a street full of debris in orient bay, also on martin. roof still needed repairs and some of the windows still boarded up. but the transformation from that image. >> the recovery effort in puerto rico a bit slower. puerto rico, roughly 150,000 homes and businesses are waiting for electricity. that's 11% of the island's customers. i got to visit. i saw a lot of the devastation firsthand when i was there in january, several weeks back. and there's so much difference in some of the information we get here as opposed to what it's like on the island. that man lived in san juan. we heard things are so much

better in the cities, in the san juan area and there are so many people living in conditions they were waiting to get repaired, four, five, six months after the hurricane. >> and they're still dealing with this. >> tens of thousands of people still there, still scattered across the island, receiving temporary housing assistance from fema. the problem is, that help is scheduled to end march 20th. >> so many folks helped. >> people have forgotten about puerto rico. >> when we come back, we are working out with ruth bader ginsburg. oling sensation in your mouth and throat. zantac works in as little as 30 minutes. nexium can take 24 hours. try cool mint zantac. no pill relieves heartburn faster. breathe freely fast wmy congestion's gone.

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♪ all night long lionel richie there. he's the latest star to cement his legacy outside the chinese theater in hollywood. >> hand print, footprint and he wrote "hello" and signed his name. >> how did take that long? >> i know.

lionel richie. >> for him to get a star. >> it took "american idol"" and we're talking about legal briefs. sorry. talking about rbg. >> the og. >> the original g. this is sonny hostin's. >> i'm scared that sonny has that. 84-year-old supreme court justice has gone from legend to the most unlikely pop cultural icon. you don't have to pick that up. >> the rbg documentary features interviews about her life and sexism and discrimination she's fought against throughout her career and offers fans a look behind the robe. >> all i ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks. >> do you mind signing this

copy? >> i am 84 years old and everyone wants to take a picture with me. >> it opens world wide may 4th. the big story her workout routine. she's lifting those three-pound weights. >> what? >> oh, wait, she can plank. >> she's doing the plank perfect. oh, my gosh. >> that's a perfect plank. >> she can work out better than i can. >> they say she does 20 push ups. >> three times a week. if she can lift it then clearly -- michael jordan may play the villain in "black panther" but he's a really good guy in real life. you are scaring me. how many stars would offer to buy their fans new dental retainers. >> an orthodontist took to tumbler and outed a patient because she clenched her teeth so hard that she bit through the

steel in her retainer. >> the girl is 18-year-old sofia rob who tweeted, wait, that is my, that is my orthodontist's tumbler. >> jordan tweeted since i feel partly responsible for breaking your retainers, let me go i can replace them. >> so adam rippon became a star during the winter olympics and not because of his per formansz on the ice, but because of how entertaining he was the rest of the time. now he's going on the record about whether he will return in 2022. >> the 28-year-old explains he plans on competing but won't go to the next olympics, unless -- >> if i go to beijing 2022 it's because i found a great deal on a vacation. is that fair? i'm not going to be competing. this is my last olympics. and i -- again, that's why i

wanted the experience. i'm 28, jimmy. i'm not a spring chicken. >> but he is a spring -- . >> but he is a spring -- brl

nba star dwayne wade was back in florida. not for a game. he was there to visit students at stoneman douglas high school where 17 people were killed. >> you can imagine the impact it had. here is david muir. >> reporter: dwayne wade, the star player returning to the miami heat, showing up someplace else, surprising the students who have been through so much at stoneman douglas high school. high fives with the player whose been with them since the tragedy, selfies, then taking the mike. back with a message for this school.

i want to say, i'm inspired by all of you. >> reporter: inspired by the students and inspired by the young man, one of the 17 lives lost, joaquin oliver. his parents buried him in his favorite players jersey, dwayne wait. wade telling them how moved he was. >> going to make he cry. it's emotional telling me about that. that his parents felt that burying him in my jersey was something that he wanted. so i take a lot of pride in what i've done in this state and what they've meant for the youths. >> reporter: joe congresswomen -- joaquin, rest in peace. standing at the heat game with joaquin's sister, inviting the family. and tweeting, i just had a great conversation with some of the students at stoneman douglas high school. these young adults get it. they understand the power of their voices.

>> and dwyane wade knows the impact of gun violence. you may remember a couple years ago, his cousin in chicago was pushing a stroller when she was shot and killed. and he was there playing for chicago at the time and it's something that has lived with him for so many years now. >> how meaningful for students because just him being here was so meaningful. >> absolutely. stoneman douglas, we have had good stories that have come out of there. their hockey team winning the state championship after being underdogs. >> playing carnegie hall. >> absolutely. they have a long road ahead though. that will do it for this half hour. check us out on facebook. coming up, more news from abc. announcer: this is abc's "world news now," informing insomniacs for two decades.

good thursday morning. i'm kendis gibson. >> i'm linda gibson in for diana macedo. here are some of the top headlines we're following on "world news now." a monster winter storm still has plenty of punch left. details and today's forecast ahead. porn star, stormi daniels is refusing to back down after a so-called hush agreement to prevent her from talking about their alleged affair. her attorney dismissed a temporary restraining order by the president's lawyer, calling it bogus. alabama police are trying to determine if a deadly shooting at a high school was accidental or intentional. it happened around the time students were being dismissed. a 17-year-old girl was killed and a boy the same age was wounded. >> today marked the 107th international women's day. the world economic forum estimated global gender equality

will be achieved by the year 2133. that's insane. those are some of our top stories on this thursday, march 8th, 2018. announcer: from abc news, this is "world news now." on international women's day, you're supposed to mention the women that inspire you. our very own cecilia vega, here at abc. my woman crush day. this is a picture she posted in the white house briefing room. look at all the shoes. you can see which is cecilia. she captioned, which one of these is not like the other? the woman of the front row with it baller shoes, that would be our cecilia vega. >> that's a sign of gender equality. that means there's all these women wearing men's shoes. >> i think she's the only one. >> need to do some work there.

>> she's inspiring. >> she is. it's interesting to watch her work every day in the briefing room. we begin this half hour with the powerful storm unleashing snow, wind and chilly temperatures. >> the radar shows the storm is still kind of lurking right now. it dropped more than two feet of snow in northern new jersey which has stranded commuters inside their cars overnight. >> also in new jersey, at a moment when the snow was falling hard and fast, a live wire sparked this fire. >> reporter: a relentless nor'easter hammers down in the east coast. >> coming down heavy now. i mean, we shovelled earlier. within a couple seconds, it's gone. wasting your time shoveling now. >> reporter: white house conditions dumping up to three inches an hour from philadelphia to new york city. >> i was supposed to drive to connecticut today and i'm like nope but i think it's beautiful. so, refreshing. >> reporter: slushy roads combined with high winds, knocking out power lines and

causing paralyzed commutes on the ground. parts of new york, new jersey and pennsylvania getting hit the worst. check this out. northeastern's women's basketball team had to jump out and push their own bus after getting stuck on the campus of st. joseph in philadelphia. in the air, flights and cancellations marked the board. newark airport completely shut down for more than an hour. snowplows on the taxiway at laguardia. more than 3,000 canceled flights and over 1700 delayed nationwide. folks are frustrated. count me among them. we have to do a post mortem and figure out how we can have 20,000 outages. >> reporter: crews are playing catch up trying to restore power after the last storm. all of this going on while news comes out another nor'easter could touch down by next week.

>> all right. looks pretty snowy in central park. thanks to zachary there. so how long before this nor'easter finally moves out? >> accuweather meteorologist paul williams joins us now with the forecast. good morning, paul. >> good morning. well, plans will be altered in a major way because of the power out on outages from this storm, alone, particularly along the coast of massachusetts. look at some of these snow totals, 26 throughout new jersey, new york and two feet of snow. more snow along with very feisty winds at 40 to 50 miles per hour and possibly another snow storm down the road. kendis? linda? >> paul, thank you. we turn to president trump poised to sign a proclamation on his new tariffs today but there are reports the rollout may be delayed. the president is moving forward with plans to add a special tax on steel and aluminum despite a

letter from 100 lawmakers, asking them to reconsider. the administration has softened their stance saying canada and mexico may get an exemption. it was left off the official white house schedule and they say the white house was finalized. >> the white house is denying reports the administration is in turmoil despite the recent resignations of top aides. we're learning one was targeted by hackers. here is cecilia vega. >> reporter: from the former communications director and long-time confident, a stunning admission. a source inside the room for hope hick's testimony investigating russian meddling says hicks said one of her e-mail accounts were hacked. the hack taking place during the 2016 campaign. it is unclear whether it was a personal or campaign e-mail account. the disclosure raising a host of questions about who was behind the hacks and what exactly they obtained. hicks resigned a day after that

testimony. >> any collusion? >> reporter: a week later, another high-profile departure, the president's chief economic advicer, gary cohn, becoming the sixth top aide to leave. why are so many people leaving this administration? >> it's had a historic first year. we're going to continue to do great things. this is an intense place as is every white house and it's not abnormal that you would have people come and go. >> reporter: in fact, the number of departures is not just abnormal, it is record setting. according to one study, staff turnover in the trump white house is higher than the past five administrations. if this is not the definition of chaotic, how would you describe what's happening? >> if it was, i don't think we'd be able to accomplish everything we've done. >> reporter: one of the reasons, aides who still have not passed

a background check for classified information. and campaigning on protecting the nation's top secrets. >> we can have someone in the oval office who doesn't understand the meaning of the word confidential or classified. >> reporter: but more than a year in, it remains a major problem for his administration. now, chief of staff, john kelly cracking down. they've learned several low level white house staffers have been fired or reassigned related to their security clearance. still on the job, the president's son-in-law, jared kushner, who was stripped of his top security clearance after he was unable to pass an fbi background check. the fbi last year warned the trump organization's family business about an attempted hack from overseas and the fbi has also issued a warning telling hope hicks and others about the possibility of being targeted by foreign attackers.

now, on this latest admission from hope hicks' attorney, no comment. cecilia vega, abc news, the white house. and next week president trump will make his first trip to california since taking office. he's expected to visit the area near the u.s./mexico boarder and after that we will attend a republican fund raiser in los angeles. legislation in response to the florida high school shooting is moving at the state level, but congress still hasn't taken action. those who have been effected by gun violence are working to change that. we have the report. >> reporter: three weeks after the parkland school shooting, gun safety advocates are keeping the pressure on washington. >> we are sick of living like this, so i assure you, we will be relentless. >> reporter: democratic senators posted nine people directly affected by gun violence to see what they wanted to see. fred guttenberg said lawmakers

must keep up the momentum, even after a march planned for later this month. >> a moment of change, a moment where you all need stand up and be leaders and do something. >> reporter: florida law makers passed a bill that would raise the minimum age to buy all guns to 21 and establish a three-day waiting period for most firearm purchases. it does not ban assault-style rifles like the one used in the attack like the students wanted and it does allow some teachers and school employees to arm themselves, on a voluntary basis. the last is controversial. one teacher at the washington forum was firmly opposed. >> now i'm being asked to be an armed guard. this is not a school where i want to teach. >> reporter: elsewhere on capitol hill, florida senators, marco rubio and bill nelson introduced a bill to help establish restraining orders for people considered too dangerous. >> these are not small things. they are meaningful.

they don't go as far as people want, but i think they are steps in the right direction. >> reporter: they are hosting federal agency officials to get their reck menations on how to stop school shootings and that big march on washington is happening march 24th. >> our thanks to alley. thousands of cheerleaders may have been exposed to the mumps during it national competition in dallas. texas health officials say a person with a confirmed case of the mumps attended the national cheerleaders association all-star championship. following this potential exposure, there have been no reported cases so far. symptoms may not initially appear for weeks. parents are being alerted about this. >> wow, those girls are impressive. >> yeah, they are. the drama over a massive lottery win in new hampshire isn't over. even though the winner received her prize. >> so her attorneys picked up her big check worth more than $352 million. that's a lump sum payment before

taxes. >> the woman was the only winner of a nearly $560 million jackpot. she sued the state lottery to remain anonymous, despite rules that say her identity must be revealed. a top state judge is deciding whether her name will be revealed. coming up we're going to look at an interspecies smoke break. >> what? >> yeah. what is going on in this photo? we'll explain. and new details about one of the biggest mysteries of the 20th century. the disappearance of amelia earhart. >> you are watching "world news now."

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new pantene. foam conditioner. a at least one person is dead, six injured and another unaccounted for in this massive fire in this apartment building under construction in denver, colorado. panicked construction workers jumped from the second and third stories. it was so hot it demolished 30 cars parked nearby. the cause is still under investigation. now to north korea and the escape of many people who escaped the government uses of violence and starvation to opress its own people. >> and now they're fighting back with information. abc's juju chang is in south

korea with north korean defectors. >> reporter: in this working class neighborhood of seoul, a woman uses her voice to pierce through the border. they are among the 30,000 north koreans defected to the south, often risking their lives, like this soldier who plowed through a check point and dashed through the dmz as a hail of bullets chased him down. so many of the north korean defectors we talked to didn't want to show their face because they are terrified of what the government will do to their families back home. but this woman is ready to take the risk. she anchors a broadcast in seoul, south korea. every broadcast a love letter to the ones she left behind. her resolve forged by her own brutal defection. after her father was tortured, she fled across the border to china but was captured.

she commands the north korean people's liberation front. a paramilitary group defectors, former soldiers plotting to bring down the rogue empire. on this day, he's leading 20 defectors to the mountains for physical readiness training. >> translator: if north korea ever did war, they believe it would be during the winter. >> reporter: the mission is to help families become whole again through art and family therapy classes. she knows first hand that women are far more likely to deflect but are especially vulnerable. even after reaching safety, the emotional scars leaving many having to learn basic freedom like expressing emotion. >> they don't know how to express how they are feeling. they are mourning for each other in north korea. they're very afraid of expressing themselves.

>> reporter: a hard fought battle to win what many of us would consider ordinary. juju chang in seoul, south korea. >> it is a tough struggle for many of those folks who are there in the north and more talks are scheduled with north and south korean officials in april. so perhaps peace in our time. >> juju has some amazing stories there. coming up, a professor says he's 99% sure he's solved the mystery of amelia earhart. >> we're opening our vault, next. of things to wash we got this. even on quick cycle, tide pods cleans great 6x the cleaning power, even in the quick cycle it's got to be tide

♪ well, a prominent professor claims he's finally solved the mystery that's fascinated the world over 80 years. >> he says he's 99% sure that bones found in the south pacific, but since lost, mind you, belonged to pilot amelia earhart. she vanished in 1937 trying to

fly around the world. the professor reanalyzed the bone measurements and determined they likely came from earhart. but this isn't the first time we're learning of a discovery about earhardt. as we learned from our vault. >> what became of amelia earhardt when her plane disappeared somewhere over the pacific? now, a group of researchers may have found evidence that may reveal what really happened. here is jim. on july 2nd, 1937, amelia and her knave gator took off, trying to complete the first round the world flight. the next stop was 2500 miles away and after radioing they were searching for the island, the plane disappeared. the new research claims it ended up on a island 350 miles to the south. an uninhabitable island with no fresh water, temperatures run to 120 degrees. researchers say they found a

length of wire that could be from a medicine bottle, a pete of aircraft metal and a shoe. >> the shoe found is exactly like the shoe amelia earhardt was wearing when she disappeared. right down to the replacement. >> reporter: laboratory analysis of the metal by the national transportation safety board identifies it as the kind on the belly in 1937. >> this is a pre-war piece of aluminum that fits the belly of the aircraft and no other aircraft. >> they say there's nothing to contradict gillespie's evidence. they have drawn no conclusions. it would take a lot more to demolish all the other theories including the one where she was captured by the japanese and executed as a spy. he believe no one found evidence of the plane until now because it was washed into the sea by a storm. a he wants to go back next year and look for more.

abc news, washington. >> have a good evening. hope to see you later on night line. pe to see you later. dawn is serving up dinner for a whole town! that table was like... so big! can one bottle of new dawn clean all the dishes? we did it! 6,000 dishes! a drop of dawn and grease is gone. hey, need fast try cool mint zantac. it releases a cooling sensation in your mouth and throat. zantac works in as little as 30 minutes. nexium can take 24 hours.

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let's get right to showing this first video. there's nothing else to say except this happened. oh, wait, there's nothing to see here. just an orangutan smoking a cigarette. you see it? that's a cigarette. it apparently got thrown in by someone into the inclosure. he picks it up and starts smoking the cigarette. >> it's not going to smoke itself. >> clearly. a man took a drag, threw it in there. so maybe that's how he picked it up. >> this is at a zoo in indonesia. we've seen before where you have had chimpanzees, i think also in that area, that were addicted. this guy looks like he knows what he's doing. >> i'm concerned he's hanging out with the wrong crowd. i think that's how he learned. >> wait until someone throws an

edible in there. >> off the rails. >> this is really good. let me have a couple more. >> let's move on to the soccer player who has the last name of what. his name is sanchez what. he's playing soccer, gets a yellow card. watt. yeah. so the referee goes to him and says what is your last name? and he replies what? and the referee once again goes what is your last name? he goes, what. so the referee gives him a red card because he thinks -- >> he's talking back. >> yeah. there's no back chat in soccer. they realized his last name was what. just imagine -- they gave him a yellow card to the goalie whose last name is who. and take a look at some roller skating fun.

let's call it oh, my gosh. are they on a disc? what's happening. >> and there's twirling. she's attacked by her head to a guy's neck. espn, about this video tweeted, is this safe? because that's your first thought, yeah, apparently a man and woman roller skating on top of a tiny stage. >> take that. wait, there's more to this? just when you think it's over. >> they do all kinds of crazy tricks. look at that. >> take that, red panda. you thought you were the half time so to beat. >> oh, no. >> whoa! look, mom, no hands. >> wonder if they can do that on ice skates too because that would be fascinating. it reminded twitter users of the iron lotus scene from "blades of glory." i did not see that. >> probably looks something like that. two bull dogs playing in the snow. >> ahh. >> that's a happy photo. like they're enjoying that snow.

this morning on "world news now" stranded. >> it's breaking right now. people are stuck on snow covered roadways in the northeast, thanks to a storm that dumped up to two feet of snow in some places. we'll talk to someone stranded in their car and accuweather forecast live. another deadly shooting on a high school campus. new details about the alabama shooting which left one student dead. was it an accident or deliberate act? plus the president's team responds to a new lawsuit by adult film store, stormi daniels. what happens next? and this is creeping people out. their alexa device is laughing without warning. we're going to ask our own alexa why on this thursday, march 8th. that's not a person? announcer: from abc news, this is "world news now."

>> that's not creepy at all. alexa starting to laugh for no reason. >> i love how we went from the porn star to alexa and i said the alexa part was the creepy part as if the previous one wasn't as creepy. >> we are in new territory, my friend. >> yeah, absolutely. no laughing news. breaking news, the lingering impact of that massive nor'easter dumping wet, heavy snow from pennsylvania to maine, crippling commuter traffic, even at this hour. >> the radar shows this system stretching from kentucky to maine. >> in northern new jersey, disabled big rigs shut down traffic along two highways, strandsing drivers in their cars for more than five hours. rich is one of those people. he joins us by phone. rich, good morning to you. you've been stuck there for several hours. give us the lay of the land around you. >> caller: well, around me is just sea of trucks, cars, as far as i can see.

my rear-view mirror is -- we're just sitting in it. >> in the past few hours, have you made any progress or literally in place? >> caller: i think a couple inches. we've been staying in place for the last four, four and a half hours. >> that's absolutely -- >> it's nuts. it's not downed trees on the roadways that's keeping you guys in place? >> caller: i think, what i heard was it was a tractor trailer jackknife. i don't know if they have to unload it. i just got to have faith i'll get out of here. >> rich is not the only person in there. some moments ago, police in that area said there are 500, at least 500 cars stranded on roads in northern new jersey all of this because of the after results of the storm. they got nearly three feet of snow in this area. we're talking northern new jersey.

have you gotten a sense of how people are coping with this. they have enough food, stuff to get through night. i imagine -- he laughs. >> caller: i doubt they have food. that's one of the things i didn't think about. i came around the corner and i'm here. you don't think about it. i had some water but that's about it. >> any sense of how much longer it might be that you're there? >> caller: i got to be at work at 6:30, so hopefully 5:30 they wake up. >> nearly 12 hours for those people. so rich, any sense there have been people trying to help you guys out? have you heard from the authorities? >> caller: no. the authorities, i just saw a police car go down the opposite side of 687, yeah. he just went on the opposite side of the road.

that's the only police car i have seen in the last four hours, five hours. >> wow. >> so, rich, what are you doing to pass the time? how are you passing the hours? >> i tried to go to sleep. prior to that i talked to friends on the phone but as 10:00 came, i didn't bother anybody anymore. >> understandably. rich, we wish you the best of luck. rich is joining us there as well as the many, many, motorists who were there stuck on the roads of northern new jersey as well as other states in the northeast. we laughed at the storm system in new york city because we didn't get a lot. but areas got plenty. but a lot of people are still dealing with this. >> we got very lucky. >> it also produced a rare phenomenon called thunderstorm, a real weather term describing loud thunder and lightning

combined with snowfall. >> it piled up so quickly that women's basketball team had to use their best moves to get their bus back on the road. go ladies. >> hopefully they made it to the game in time. >> exactly. the storm is taking a heavy toll on air travel and will continue to effect thousands of flights today. >> accuweather's meteorologist, paul williams is live with us this morning. good morning from your climate controlled studio there. >> where you should be in this kind of a situation. prayers and best wishes to the gentleman that's stuck out there. look at the totals. nearly 27 inches in new jersey. we're looking at over 26 inches that fell in portions of new york and 24 throughout portions of massachusetts. snowy conditions will continue going to up state new york. vermont, new hampshire, going to get heavier snow showers there. but we have this volatile low pressure system going to continue for today. more power outages and travel disruptions. that's an understatement for what we are in store for.

>> paul, at the top of your list was new jersey with 26 inches. that's where he is stuck. you can understand then why there's so many people who are stranded right now. >> it's really a situation where it's a heavy, not only amount of snow, but heavy snow causing power outages. as you take a look, we're still expecting possibly up to two feet more in maine. i know there's such a thing as snow is a good thing, but there's such a thing of too much of a good thing. >> paul williams, thank you so much. >> and breaking overnight we're getting new details about the shooting at a high school in birmingham, alabama. >> police are trying to determine what happened around dismissal time yesterday. a teenage girl was killed and a boy wounded. he's already been released from the hospital. the gun involved has been recovered. reports say 17-year-old

arlington was a 17-year-old who died. she was set to graduate this spring and accepted to college. friends say she hoped to become a nurse. the suspected gunman in the florida shooting is now facing 34 counts, 17 of them for first degree murder and the same number for attempted murder. if convicted, he could face a death sentence and florida lawmakers have given final approval to a new school bill. it raises the age to purchase a gun to 21 and establishes a three-day waiting period for most purchases. it does not ban assault-style rifles. the bill also allows certain teachers and school employees to arm themselves on a voluntary basis. florida governor, rick scott isn't saying if he will sign the bill into law. we're learning more about the legal maneuvering of a lawsuit filed by adult film star stormy daniels against president trump. the president's attorney says the lawsuit violates a temporary restraining order that barred daniels from discussing a

hush agreement. daniels insists the agreement to keep quiet is invalid because the president never signed it. the white house was pressed about the lawyer's claim that the president knew about a $130,000 payment he made to daniels. >> i had conversations with the president about this and, as i outlined earlier, this case had already been won in arbitration and that there was no knowledge of any payments from the president and he's denied all of these allegations. >> daniels attorney calls the arbitration order bogus and says they will not be intimidated. president trump spoke to key witnesses about what they discuss zed. they asked former chief of stat about his interview with mueller. priebus reportedly, did not share specifics. that encounter is just one example of the president ignoring the advice of his attorneys in asking witnesses about their interviews in this ongoing probe. in the meantime, the white house is playing down reports of

chaos, insisting the turnover is not the norm, even as more aides head to the door. the economic chief, gary cohn prepares to go. the turnover is higher than the past administrations and at least three low level staff and teachers across west virginia have returned to the classroom after a nine-day statewide strike. lawmakers ended the strike by approving a 5% pay raise. >> i felt like there was nothing to look forward to. like, it was horrible. >> i couldn't see my friends and i couldn't see all the teachers. >> sometimes you have to do something about it, even though they might get on people's nerves. >> some 300,000 students in west virginia impacted. west virginia teachers may have sparked a new moment. teachers in oklahoma, arizona

are now considering actions of their own over pay and benefits. teachers and staff in eight school districts in kentucky are planning a walk-in rally today to protest cuts to their retirement benefits. meghan markle just took one step closer to the alter. >> prince harry's fiance has been baptized into the church of england. the private ceremony performed by the archbishop of canterbury took place tuesday evening with harry by her side along with her future inlaws, prince charles and camilla. >> it's a nod to harry's grandma, the queen, who is the head of the church of england. >> way to get in good with the grandmother-in-law. >> exactly. two months to go until the big wedding. coming up, we are going get wisdom from oprah winfrey as she talks about "wrinkle in time." >> the poison plot. authorities say it was nerve agent used against a former spy. also, take a look at the behind the scenes pick on instagram at abc wnn. you are watching "world news now."

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into a white suv. it was trying to make a left turn right in front of it. five people on board were injured. the driver of the suv is hospitaled, in stable condition. he faces charges for failure to yield and driving without a license and insurance. >> shouldn't have been driving at all. an officer has been arrested on child pornography charges. >> maryland state police say their investigation into the 52-year-old started last year after a tip from the national center for missing and exploited children about child pornography being uploaded on the internet. he could face additional charges as the investigation unfolds. overseas there's a new development of britain in that plot to poison a russian spy and his daughter. >> scottland yard is confirming they were poisoned with a nerve agent and they're treating it as an attempted murder. >> reporter: new security camera video showing a spy shopping at a local store.

now, he and his daughter are fighting for their lives, scotland yard confirming it was a chemical attack. >> this is being treated as a major incident, involving attempted murder. >> reporter: authorities confirming one of the first police officers on the scene, also contaminated. investigators in hazmat suits, scouring the town for clues, retracing the victim's steps. they had lunch, then at 3:47 p.m., this image, apparently showing them passing a security camera outside a gym and 13 minutes later, they are found collapsed on a nearby park bench. he was arrested in 2006, then sent to britain in 2010. at the time vladimir putin issued a chilling threat. traders will kick the bucket, trust me. he told friends he was worried for his safety. his wife died in 2012, his son last year.

investigators are now looking into this. terry moran, abc news, london. >> his wife and son both died of traffic accidents that were just random, as they are. >> right. >> traders will kick the bucket. that sounds like -- >> actually this whole thing sounds like a movie plot, like something made up, right? >> yeah, absolutely. i don't know that i'd believe it as a movie plot the way it is. but officials were saying depending on the impact of the investigation and the results, they might not take part in the world cup taking place in russia later on this year. coming up in our next half hour, a man accused of stealing francis mcdormand's oscar. he has pleaded not guilty. what's next for him? first, one-on-one with oprah. we're going hear the advice she's giving young girls. that's next on "world news now."

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♪ i free all my sons that's old school right there. >> it is. she rules the world, oprah. busy making the rounds, promoting her new film, "wrinkle in time" which opens tomorrow. >> but she still found time give advice and to charity. she sat down with our own robin roberts and answered a girl's question. >> this is one of the many things that resinate with people about you is that you're always about empowerment, you're about representation. "a wrinkle in time" why is that so important right now? >> because it's a wonderful film for young girls especially. those of you who read it when you were young and it's a film for people who want to understand that light can overcome the darkness. i think whenever there are challenging times or times even in your own personal life that it's calling for the light inside you to rise and so that's the way i look that.

>> do you have a question now for miss oprah? >> i want to ask what kind of advice would you give to girls who look like me who want to make a change and be a change in the world. >> i have advice for girls that look like you and that don't, because the advice is really the same. the highest honor on earth that you will ever have is the honor of being yourself. and your only job in the world is to figure out -- that's what this movie is about. your only job in the world, people think your job is to go raise money and take care of your family. that's an obligation that you have but your only true job as a human being is to discover why you came, why you are here. and everyone of us has an internal guidance, a gps, an intuition, a heart print, a song that speaks to us and your only job is to be able to listen and discern when it's speaking,

versus your head and your personality speaking. and if you follow that, you will be lead to highest good for you always. that's why all the voices of the world mean nothing if your voice is in alignment with all the voices of the world. >> oh, my gosh. >> i don't know if i understood that last part. wait, the other voices mean nothing if your voice is in alignment or is not in alignment? >> i think it's be yourself. >> yes. that's what she was saying. >> oprah promoting the film from our disney company, our parent company, disney there. that's the gist of what it was, is to be yourself. >> find your purpose. >> yes, purpose of flight. so there you have it. paul williams is back with us next. paul williams is back with us next.

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it is time for "the mix" on this thursday and it's sort of like a throwback thursday when it comes to the weather. >> of sorts. >> a little tbt. paul williams is joins us now. paul, what's your tbt on the weather here? >> well, i'm just trying to tell you everybody's calling me the bad guy. if i was really bad, i could have used my meteorological powers to make it look like 1962. 42 inches of snow. 70-mile-per-hour winds. 40 foot waves. hey, i'm not a bad guy but if i'm a bad guy, going to be a long time before you see a bad guy like this again. >> that was the ash wednesday storm on the east coast you are talking about, right? from the 1960s? >> so you're saying things could have gotten worse. >> that's right. and i was around then. i'm not going to tell you my age but i was around in the '60s.

>> you know, maybe you did whip up your evil powers there, because two feet of snow for some people today, this time around, for this storm. >> we're not saying it's not a real storm but back in my day in the '60s, this is a storm. >> up to school both ways. >> when we had black and white tv and we had to turn the dial. you know? back in those days. >> it actually went off. >> exactly. i got to say, that whole thunder snow thing we've been talking about, y'all making that up. >> thunder snow, i have never heard of that before. >> it's a legitimate thing. it's basically, the simplest term is, it's like a thunderstorm in the cold. same situation, except the precipitation is snow and it's scarier and it's worse. the only thing worse than that is a tornado but that's another issue all together. that's all that is.

a thunderstorm with a whole lot of snow, instead of a lot of rain. >> i think we never called it thunder snow before. >> exactly. all right. professor williams, thank you so much. >> i know what you called it. you called it scary. >> we grab our thunder buddies. >> thank you so much. >> thank you, paul. all right. so alexa is creeping people out >> yeah. >> yeah. because their alexa has been laughing for no reason. >> yeah, a lot of people are reporting that it will randomly start laughing. apparently she has heard the phrase alexa laugh in regular conversation. >> and some viewers have told us after we have done stories like this because we say, hey, alexa, turn on the lights, that their alexa at home are listening to us right now. so hey, alexa, play beyonce. >> hey, alexa, laugh. >> alexa, play some music. >> because that's not creepy a

this morning on "world news now" hundreds of drivers stranded on new jersey highways overnight as a powerful winter storm dumped more than two feet of snow in some areas. hear from a driver stuck since rush hour and remains there. the white house and the president's lawyer are responding to the legal challenge by a former adult film star. we'll have the very latest. and new this half hour are you guilty of drunk online shopping? >> i know someone who is. a new study finds it's a real problem in the u.s. to the tune of $30 billion in purchases just last year. and she's the most notorious supreme court justice, r.b.g. now the trailer for her documentary is shining a light on how the 84-year-old became a pop culture phenomenon. that's coming up in "the skinny" this thursday, march 8th.

>> announcer: from abc news this is "world news now." >> and we do say good morning to everybody this thursday. we're going start this half hour with breaking news and that powerful storm that's hammering the northeast and creating a realtime nightmare. >> disabled vehicles have shut down traffic, stranding hundreds of drivers in their cars for hours. a sound technician is one of those people. we spoke to him a while ago on the phone. in the past few hours have you made any progress or literally in place? >> caller: i think a couple inches. >> what are you doing to pass the time? >> caller: i tried to go sleep. prior to that i talked to some friends on the phone. but as 10:00 came, i didn't bother anybody anymore. >> it's not downed trees on the roadway or anything that's keeping you guys in place? >> caller: i think, what i heard was it is a tractor trailer jackknife.

i don't know if they have to unload it? i have faith that eventually, i'll be out of here. >> eventually. rich tells us, so far, he has not heard from anybody else. we're told there are hundreds, literally hundreds of cars stuck on new jersey highways. bad news for commuters trying to get anywhere at this hour and hoping to get out of that mess. moving on you'll see the train traffic in and out of new york city also ran into problems. that includes passengers on one amtrak train that stopped east of new haven, connecticut. stuck on the tracks about five hours before it started moving. >> and what happened on the ground during a nor'easter effects air travel across the country. >> thousands of flights were canceled and delayed. more problems in store for today. we have the details. >> reporter: that nor'easter bringing airports to a total stand still. flights at newark airport shut down for over an hour.

nearly 3,000 flights canceled and over 1700 delayed nationwide. crews in philadelphia scrambling to clear runways and in new york, trying to deice planes. it's just after noon here. there's almost nobody here. they've had to cancel 580 flights and american alone canceled 70% of their lights. able to fly out of here today? >> not at all. >> reporter: among the few souls left, ryan trying to get to atlanta for a meeting. how frustrating is this? >> very. an hour back home in the snow. >> reporter: he was delayed last week when strong winds ripped a roof off an airport hangar. this time, there are new problems. >> it seems like the big story is mixed accumulation and wind. >> reporter: laguardia airport remains open despite the fact they have canceled 700 flights. very few planes coming in or leaving. airport officials tell us they will start a recovery process,

but warn fliers to expect delays. we have already seen 400 cancellations. >> so when can commuters and everyone else in the northeast expect some relief? >> accuweather's paul williams is joining us live from college state, pennsylvania, with the good news, i think. good morning, paul. >> we hope. i'm going to give you the good news and my concern down the road. right now, it's staying snowy for today, particularly up towards vermont, new hampshire. look at these numbers. nearly 27 inches in new jersey. over 24 inches in adams. so look that scenario. we're expecting one to two feet throughout portions of maine, going into new hampshire. the wind is not cooperative, either. now, they're not going to be quite as hard but we're talking 40 to 50 mile-per-hour winds and as we go into the weekend, a pocket of cold air setting up for more scattered showers. that's not my big concern. my big concern is right here

over the weekend because that might come up this way down the road. >> do you get a sense it will come up this way as rain or snow? will it be cold enough this weekend for it to be a problem? >> it could be. first of all, this weekend it's going to track across the deep south with gusty thunderstorms there. that's one concern for the folks in the south. but here's the other problem. we're expecting it to push across the mason/dixon line. it could curve towards the north and if that's it case, we could be in for yet another nor'easter. i'm hoping that's not the case. >> let's hope for the other arrow, going the other way. >> paul williams at accuweather. thank you, paul. we are going to turn from those storms to stormi daniels pushing back as what she describes as efforts to silence her. >> daniels is suing the president over a nondisclosure agreement about their alleged

affair. the president's attorney says the lawsuit violates the temporary restraining order he received just last week. tom has the details. >> reporter: the white house is damage control. porn star, stormy daniels suing president trump arguinging her nondisclosure agreement is null and void. she claims she and the president began an intimate relationship in the summer of 2006 in lake tahoe, one that included at least one meeting in a bungalow at the beverly hills hotel. i spoke to her lawyer. did your client, stormy daniels, have sex with president trump? >> yes. >> reporter: no doubt about that? >> no doubt in my mind. >> reporter: in the complaint, daniels acknowledges signing what she calls a hush agreement, something she had not done before. >> do you have a nondisclosure agreement? >> do i? >> reporter: the president's personal lawyer has admitted paying daniels $130,000 of his own money day before the election. he said in a statement, neither the trump organization nor the

trump campaign was a party to the transaction. daniel's attorney says the president must have been aware. >> the suggest he didn't know about it is absurd. we believe he absolutely knew about it. >> reporter: the white house pressed on this. >> i've had conversations with the president about this and as i outlined earlier, this case had already been won in arbitration and that there was no knowledge of any payments from the president and he's denied all these allegations. >> reporter: in her lawsuit, she claims the nondisclosure agreement is invalid. why? >> there is a signature line for mr. trump on the agreement, he was obligated to sign it and he never signed it. it's that simple. >> reporter: president trump was referred to as david dennison and she was peggy peterson. right here, you can see a space where daniels says mr. trump would have signed, but it's blank. abc news, new york.

abc news has learned out going communications director, hope hicks told law makers her e-mail was hacked during the campaign. a source says she shared the information during her closed door interview with the house intelligence committee last week. it's not clear if it was personal or campaign e-mail account. there's no word on who was behind the attack. or what information was exposed. hicks announced her resignation a day after the testimony. governor rick scott still hasn't said whether he plans to sign a new safety bill into law. >> it won final approval in florida's house yesterday. it raises the minimum age to buy all guns to 21 and establishes a three-day waiting period for most firearms or purchases, rather, but does not ban assault-style rifles. it does not include the assault on banning rifles.

in neighboring alabama, police are investigating a possible accidental shooting at a high school. it happened around the time students were being dismissed in birmingham and forced a brief lockdown of the school. >> a 17-year-old was killed. she was supposed to graduate this spring. a 17-year-old boy was wounded. he's already been released from the hospital. they want oo to know if it was a mistake or whether the gun involved was fired on purpose. and the man who stole the academy award as defiantly pleaded not guilty to grand theft. >> 47-year-old terry bryant was caught on video sunday night walking out of the governor's ball oscars after party with her best actress oscar statue. his attorney said they don't rise to the seriousness of grand felony theft. he could face up to three years in prison, if convicted. >> well, there was plenty of booze, apparently at the governor's ball and some in our

audience have had some this hour. >> oh, yeah, i'm sure. and then some. >> the question is, are you drunk and shopping? >> a study finds americans are making billions of dollars in drunk purchases. on average last year, we spent nearly $450 each shopping while completely wasted. >> and surprisingly or not surprisingly, men are spending more than women. this is a bigger problem for men than women. the top item being bought after having a few was food. >> really? >> yeah. followed by shoes, clothing and gambling. >> all right. >> i think, i don't think i've ever had a drunk shopping online problem. i think i know someone -- >> guilty. this is the bike. that's the bike. i posted it on instagram a while ago.

i was completely wasted when i bought that bike. >> so you were home, had a few too many, logged on the amazon. >> amazon. >> and thought to yourself i already have a bike. but, i need this one. >> that was it. i wake up, i see an alert from amazon saying your new bike is on the way and i'm like, i already have a mountain bike. but, it was already on the way, so i just kept it. >> start thinking back to the night before. >> what happened? oh, my credit card got jacked. >> by me. >> by me. guilty. coming up an update from the hurricane damaged islands of the caribbean. new images of the recovery, ahead. and later, "the skinny" "black panther" star reaching out to a fan who saw him shirtless on screen. >> you're watching "world news now." out to a fan who saw him shirtless on screen. >> you're watching "world news now."

(male #1) it's a little something i've done every night since i was a kid, empty my pocket change into this old jar.

it's never much, just what's left after i break a dollar. and i never thought i could get quality life insurance with my spare change. neither did i. until i saw a commercial for the colonial penn program. imagine people our age getting life insurance at such an affordable rate. it's true. if you're 50 to 85, you can get guaranteed acceptance life insurance through the colonial penn program for less than 35 cents a day, just $9.95 a month. there's no medical exam and no health questions. you know, the average cost of a funeral is over $8,300. now that's a big burden to leave your loved ones. as long as you're 50 to 85, you cannot be turned down because of your health. your premium never goes up and your benefit never goes down due to age. plus, your coverage builds cash value over time. call now for free information and a free gift. all i did was make a phone call

and all of my questions about the colonial penn program were answered. it couldn't have been any easier and we both got the coverage we should have had for years now. mm-hm, with change to spare. (laughing) (colonial penn jingle) we're back with stunning before and after images. before and after last year's back-to-back hurricane. take a look. here is the court yard of the mercury hotel, submerged in water and cove