captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: the desperate search continues for the malaysia airlines flight that's mysteriously gone missing. as hopes for finding the jet with its passengers alive, all but disappear. good evening, i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill, also ahead this monday. a massive recall for general motors more than 1.5 million cars found to have a potentially fatal defect. >> woodruff: plus, a story from arkansas, about a program combating high rates of poverty and teen pregnancy, by helping young mothers and mothers-to-be fend off hunger. >> without this kind of help,

most would face what the government calls severe food insecurity. malnutrition during pregnancy can have consequences that last a lifetime for children. >> woodruff: those are just some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> i've been around long enough to recognize the people who are out there owning it. the ones getting involved, staying engaged. they are not afraid to question the path they're on. because the one question they never want to ask is, "how did i end up here?" i started schwab with those people. people who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of their lives. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation.

committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: the fate of malaysia airlines flight 370 remained a mystery today. there was still no confirmed sighting of any wreckage from the plane that vanished three days ago, on a flight from malaysia to china. 239 passengers and crew were on board. we'll have more details on the search right after this news summary. the senate moved this evening to revamp the way the military deals with sexual assault. the bill bars using a good service record as a defense against sexual assault.

it also gives accusers more say on whether their cases are tried in military or civilian courts. and, it makes commanders more accountable for their handling of such cases. the issue moves now to the house. they plan to talk snon top on its action on the issue, no climate legislation is currently slated for a debate in the senate.ñi >> ukraineñr]/> ukraine's foreign minister warned today his country is practically in a state of war with russia. meanwhile, moscow warned of growing "lawlessness" in eastern ukraine, raising concerns it may intervene there as well. we have a report from john irvine of independent television news. ñiñr a naval base in western crimea, yet another piece of ukraine that effectively became russian overnight. a mixture of locals,ñr some supportive and some against

the takeover, we're at the gates facing a few of theñiñr 200 soldiers swamp toward a supply depot. also hanging about outside were some of the garrison of 30 ukrainians who had beaten a hasty retreat from the base shortly after their rude russian awakening. ever since ukraine became an independent country back inñr 1992 the defense budget has been slashed. several ukrainian defense ministers have, in fact, been pro russian with no interest in building up the ukrainian armed forces. consequently, the ukrainian military had beenñi a pushover for russian soldiers like these. most of the troops were masked and muted, trying to maintain the putin fiction that they are somehowñr unaligned. but the hum il yated ukrainian navalçó commander who stayed on after ordering

his men to flee said the soldiers wore russian uniforms and addressed each other using russian army ranks. the pro russian forces here grew even larger today with the swearing in of a new cry meenan unit by the new cry minaan leader it happened at the local government offices where the russian colors painted over the ukrainian ones are barely dry. >> this is an officer inñr russia's black sea fleet satisfying himself that all's well at the naval base taken over last night. he refused to talk to us. but thençó what's happeningçó here speaks for itself. >> in syria >> ifill: 13 greek orthodox nuns were freed today in a rare prisoner exchange between rebels and the syrian government. the nuns had been held for three months by fighters linked to al- qaeda. they were released in exchange for 150 female prisoners held by the government.

the nuns said they were treated well during their captivity. the taliban is warning the people of afghanistan not to take part in the upcoming presidential vote. a statement by a taliban spokesman today called the election an american conspiracy, and said the militants will use all force to disrupt it. the balloting is scheduled for april 5. the nation's top lawyer called for new action today to curtail deaths from heroin use. attorney general eric holder posted a video message that said loss of life from the drug rose 45% between 2006 and 2010. in a video message, he called for cutting off supplies of heroin, and more. >> it is clear that opiate addiction is a urgent and growing public health crisis and that's why justice department officials including the dea and other key federal state and local leaders are fighting back very aggressively. confronting this cries liss require a combination of

enforcement as well as treatment. the justice department is committed to both. >> ifill: holder also called for letting all first responders carry a drug that can reverse the effects of a heroin overdose. a japanese scientist is withdrawing new research on stem cells that drew worldwide attention in january. the study appeared to show a simple, cheap way to reprogram mature cells into embryonic stem cells. today the researcher acknowledged no one else has been able to replicate his findings, and that his paper contained mistakes. the share of americans without health insurance has fallen to the lowest level since 2008. a gallup survey finds just under 16% of u.s. adults are now uninsured, compared with 17% at the end of last year. that translates to about three million more americans with health insurance.

the deadline for signing up under the affordable care act is march 31. colorado made $2 million from taxes marijuana. the state revenue department today said that is based on total sales of $14 million. much of the tax revenue is ear-marked for school construction. s on on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average lost 34 points to close at 16,418. the nasdaq fell more than a point to close at 4,334. the standard and poor's 500 was down less than a point, to finish at 1,877. still to come on the newshour: the search for the missing malaysia airlines jet; a major recall that's sparked an investigation into general motors; helping young mothers and mothers-to-be fend off hunger; plus, syria's public health system, ravaged by civil war.

>> woodruff: now, the apparent air disaster that's drawn the world's attention for three days. despite extensive efforts, officials still have no idea what happened to an airliner that disappeared over southeast asia. >> woodruff: the extensive air and sea search has so far failed to find any trace of the malaysian jet that vanished with 239 people aboard. the boeing 777 disappeared from radar screens saturday, somewhere between malaysia and vietnam, without any distress signal. it was en route to beijing. 34 aircraft and 40 ships from several countries are searching within a 50-nautical mile radius from the point where the plane disappeared. they've spotted objects and oil slicks but those turned out not to be from the plane. china's ministry of foreign affairs issued this new plea today.

>> ( translated ): we appeal to all ships in the area for help with the search. we are sparing no effort in the search. at the moment it is still the top priority. we are racing against time. we are racing for life. >> woodruff: most of the passengers were from china or taiwan. three of the missing were americans. families have been awaiting updates at a time when officials have more questions than answers. some flew to kuala lumpur today to demand assistance. >> ( translated ): i want them to give us any information they have as soon as possible, that way, whether we go or not, at least we can have some certainty. right now, our hearts are all hanging in the air. >> woodruff: amid the uncertainty, police and interpol agents in thailand questioned the owners of this travel agency in the resort town of pattaya. it issued one-way tickets to two men aboard the flight who used stolen european passports. malaysia's civil aviation chief says investigators examined

closed circuit television footage at the kuala lumpur airport for clues on the men's identities. >> we've looked at the footage of the video and the photograph. it is confirmed now that they are not asian-looking male. >> woodruff: for now, authorities say, they can't tell if the two men played any role in the jet's disappearance. >> woodruff: there are so many questions tonight, including how a modern jetliner vanishes without a trace. we explore some of them with a pair of experts. john goglia is a former national transportation safety board member who now works as a consultant on aviation maintenance and aircraft operations. alan deihl is an aviation safety consultant who has worked with the n.t.s.b., the federal aviation administration, the u.s. navy and the u.s. air force. we welcome you both. john goglia with all the modern technology out there, how could a huge jetliner

vanish? >> that is the big question of the day, of the week, probably. given all the av onics that is on the triple 7, the redundant electrical systems, it doesn't appear that it would be an accidental, shutting something off that would cause it. it would have to be a catastrophic event or a deliberate act by somebody. >> woodruff: what are you ruling out here when you said in the first part of your answer? >> about the redundant electrical system? >> woodruff: right. >> the airplane has if my memory is correct five redundant electrical systems. at least three vhf radios, two high frequency roose, you have a transponder and you have a data link with the airplane that sends down information about how the airplane is performing. and you may recall that that

data link was the first bit of information that we received on the air france accident out in the atlantic ocean. so and that's discreet. that's not really, the pilots don't have to do anything to have that work. so you have all these systems on the airplane. you have all the electrical power that you could muster. for them not to have communications in some form with the ground is just mind-boggling. >> woodruff: alan deihl, mind-boggling to you as well? or are you seeing and hearing some things that amount to clues? >> well, there are a few potential clues. most of the information right now, judy, is tentative. the vietnamese controllers said they thought they saw the aircraft turn around. now if that holds up, john, we may have to revisit this of some kind of maintenance issue being-- about the only

thing that seems to be ruled out right now is one of the four arenas, weather, the machine, human error and of course criminal acts. and right now they're saying the weather looks very unlikely. it was a benign environment. they really don't think there was any kind of turbulent upset like the air france accident that john was talking about a minute ago. >> woodruff: but if the plane turned around, was attempting to start to turn around, john goglia, wouldn't there have been a radar trace from that? >> well, that's what is giving us the indication that it may have turned aroundment but you know what is wrong with that theory, is that if he's turning around, with the radio call, no pilot in his right mind would turn an airplane around without letting air-traffic control understand that he's doing that, or at least broadcast it on the open frequency so that any airplanes that may be following him are aware that he is going to turn around.

so there are lots of protocols that were violating if he were turning around that raises questions about his actions and why. >> woodruff: so what are, alan deihl, what are the specific things that could have happened instantly, catastrophickically to make this happen. >> judy, you have to remember, i'm just speculating here. i obviously-- no one knows what really happened in that cockpit. >> woodruff: we all are, right. >> but as john is aware, they found some cracked windows on the 787, the successor airplane to this aircraft. john, i could envision a situation where perhaps a cockpit window cracks and they're talking to the flight attendants to get everybody down in their seats, we may have a rapid depression and as they are turning around, something catastrophic happened, a window might have given way. now again, judy, i'm stressing, i'm not suggesting this is the answer. but i can, i'm a human

factor specialist and we do know that in the air france accident that john talked about a minute ago, they never for several minutes they flew that thing into the water while trying to figure out what was wrong with the automation. these automated cockpits are a bit of a mystery and there was, in 2005 a problem with the automation as you know, on the triple 7, john. turned out it was a software error that boeing has corrected. but i'm lick john. i'm not willing to say-- certainly they probably could have and should have said something over the radio about may day or we've got a problem. but when you get busy, as an former pilot myself, i have an airline transport rating, sometimes it gets heck tk in that cockpit, judy. and i can see these guys maybe not doing the proper protocol as john described. >> woodruff: well, and we realize we're asking both of you to speculate. but we're asking you because you have spent your entire careers working in this area. john going lea, whatever happened, wouldn't there be

debris? and we know that they have now enlarged the area where they're searching. do you expect that they will eventually find something in the water. >> well, i certainly agree with the debris theory. no matter what happened at altitude, i would expect to find a lot of personal belongings, food packaging, water bottles floating, and not just one or two, a considerable number. so without the debris field, that calls into question all of these scenarios that we have believed happened at altitude. it's just, they don't equate. we can come up with the theories that work and the airplane and flight that could have caused this. but they don't work when we get down to the ocean because there's no debris. >> woodruff: john going lee-- go ahead. >> it is just really a cuan ree. >> woodruff: john goglia, is there any chance this plane could have gone down on land. >> i believe there is a chance it could have gone down on land. and i would bet that there have been satellite searches

conducted on nearby land areas where this airplane could have gone down. >> woodruff: alan deihl whack about that? >> well, i think john is certainly right. i believe the pentagon has already announced that they've looked at their infrared satellite pictures. these are designed to look for missile launches. and they didn't see any signs of a fuel explosion or a large explosion. so john may be right. this thing possibly could be down on land and we know that part of the world has got what they call triple jungle can opie, hundreds of feet high so it's possible, particularly if this some sort of terrorism act that they might have gotten to land. and if the airplane didn't explode so the satellites wouldn't see the flash, it could well be one answer as so why there is no flotsam and jet sum. and a agree, you would expect to see some of the airplane float. some of the structure of modern aircraft is honeycomb

and john is more familiar with this than i am. that stuff floats, it's lightweight and it should be on the surface. >> woodruff: well, there are so many questions. and we appreciate you both being with us tonight to help us sort through them. alan deihl, john goglia, thank you. twhauns for having me. >> thank you. >> ifill: the nation's largest auto company, and the watchdog agency in charge of vehicle safety, are under fire tonight, as critics raise new questions about last month's delayed recall of 1.6 million cars. drivers began complaining nearly ten years ago of ignition problems in some vehicles, including several older models of the chevy cobalt and saturn ion. the cars would stall, even shut down, and air bags sometimes failed to inflate. the problem has been linked with 13 deaths and 31 crashes. david shepardson of the detroit news covers the auto industry. he joins me now.

how were these flaws discovered. >> it took a long time, almost ten years, but at the beginning of gm's development, this new model, the 12005 could balance, back there 2004 a gm engineer reported that one of these incidents had happened that the power had suddenly gone out there had been a stall. gm ended up studying it, opted not to recall the vehicles for a number of reasons. issued a bulletin to dealers the next year. but then they started getting alot of complaints from customers. >> how many complaints? >> dozen, in fact n 2005 time frame, they bought back at least a dozen vehicles there consumers who had reported problems. so it dragged on for a long time. and it's only been recently that the company has decided that this is need to be recalled. >> ifill: when they decided no the to recall for a number of reasons. what kind of reason kos there be? >> well, auto companies face tons of safety issues all the time. not everything is a safety issue. instead they opt to send

basically a message to dealers. saying hey f a customer comes in with this problem, you know, fix it. but what the law says is if the company finds that an issue poses an unreasonable risk to driver safety they've got five days to recall that. that's what the government is now investigating. and gm could have to pay a fine of up to 35 million if they did not follow the law. >> so how did they change their minds? why was a recall eventually issued so late? >> well, it took a long time and there were reports of deaths, you know, in fact in 2005 gm had proposed changing the design, the to prevent the key from slipping out. remember what is happening is the ignition key when you went over a bumpy road was in some cases slipping out of position to either accessory or the off mode. >> ifill: why? >> because of the design of the key. it was-- the key head and the ignition switch itself. so as it bumped it actually,

think of your key chain it just shifted out of position. and as a result, sometimes the car, the steering and the brakes locked up and the air bags did not deploy. so but they kept investigating year after year and it was only in january after months and months and really years investigating that the company ultimately decided to recall them. but only half the vehicles. it then was two weeks later that under pressure because the same potentially faulty part was in other vehicles, that gm boosted the recall from about 800,000 to 1.6 million worldwide. >> when you say unpressure, under pressure from safety advocates. >> safety advocates, absolutely. pushing congress, and questioning why the government didn't do more, given that there were all these complaints. and now looks like the senate will also hold hearings on this. >> let's talk about what the national traffic highway traffic safety administration knew. and what they did when they knew what they knew. >> well, they had two reports of deaths that they

did look into around 2007. but the government did not open a full blown investigation. they said of the these complaints that they're relatively small number. a few hundred complaints relative to 1.6 million vehicles. six different models. so the government is looking for needles in a hey stake. and remember we're talking about over the last, you know, seven years, the government probably influenced over 900fuls. you know, over 50 million cars called back. so and this agency is not large. we're only talking about 50 to 60 people looking at the 300, 250 million cars on the road. so they do have to be selective. but it does raise questions about why they didn't do more. >> how does this recall, this, this huge number compare to what we've seen in the past. i remember sitting here talking with you about the toyota safety recall? >> it differs from toyota in two many reasons. it is much smaller. toyota ultimately was over 10 million vehicles worldwide for two pedal problems. and the difference was

toyota's recall affected a lot of vehicles that were still in production, still in dealer showrooms. so in 2010, 1-- at one point-- . >> ifill: which is not true. >> these vehicles went out of production about five or six years ago. so the new, the current gm models are completely different as to the ignition. the toyota problem had about half the vehicles at one point had to be, they could not sell because they had to figure this problem out. so that, gm is trying to emphasize this is old gm, something that happened in the past while also explaining why the new gm, the company that emerged from bankruptcy decided, you know, to act the way they did. and gm apologized which is pretty rare and its new c.e.o. has vowed to get to the bottom of it. not something that companies tip clee have to do with a recall. >> ifill: did they stop producing, has it ever happened that they stopped producing models in part because they have a problem they can't fix? >> that probably happened more in the 60ses and '70s. today models have natural lifecycles. and generally speaking, it's far more expensive to build a whole new model than fix

one part. >> ifill: you mentioned the new gm c.e.o.. how big a challenge is this for her just getting on the job? >> oh, it's huge. she's only been on the job for less than two months. and you know, this goes to some of the heart of what every person thinks when they buy a new car. is the car safe, are my kid goesing to be safe driving the around. can i trust the company to put my safety ahead of their profits. and so the company is going to face tremendous scrutiny as they look through e-mails and all the records of the employees. and the company is going to have to show or explain what they did and try to assure customers that the safety is the top priority. >> the costs could extend far beyond just a fine or a fee. >> in the case of toyota, they have already spent billions of dollars. the fine is never is 9 issue, it is always the bad publicity. >> david shepardson of the "detroit news", thank you. >> thanks. gwen. >> woodruff: nearly 16 million children in this country don't always have access to the food

they need. a growing body of research indicates the younger they are, the more serious the long-term impact can be. a key concern: making sure the very youngest and pregnant women are getting the proper nutrition. starting in 2010, a program under the health care reform law made that idea more of a possibility in many states. hari sreenivasan has our report on one effort in northern arkansas. >> sreenivasan: tori moon always thought life on her own would look different than this. at 20, she lives in a budget motel in harrison, arkansas. eats donated food when its available and is now several months pregnant. without much family in the area and a fianceé who works long hours, she spends much of her time feeling alone. >> it was really hard for me to make friends being pregnant because we live in the bible belt, and a lot of people around here don't believe in being pregnant before marriage. >> sreenivasan: but moon can

count on at least one person dropping by regularly. >> sreenivasan: every other week, deena tougaw sits down with moon to discuss ways of staying healthy during pregnancy. and talk about how that can translate into long-term benefits for her child. tougaw runs the circle of life program in northern arkansas. its one of many home visiting projects throughout the nation that received a big financial boost under the affordable care act to bring basic preventive services directly to low-income families. and quite often, that includes lessons on how to eat better when resources are slim. >> sreenivasan: in places like harrison, a town of about 13,000 in the ozark mountains, the barriers to good health for mothers and children can be steep. poverty and teen pregnancy rates here are among the highest in the nation and a trip to the

store for fruits and vegetables is often a long one. that's why tougaw and her staff use a portion of their one hundred and forty thousand dollar budget to drive moon and others to the grocery store when necessary. there are currently 38 new or expecting mothers enrolled in the program, and without this kind of help, most would face what the government calls severe food insecurity. >> so you eat cucumbers? do you just slice them up and eat them? >> and then i put them in the salads, too. >> oh good. ok. so why don't you grab you several? >> sreenivasan: moon now knows that women who skip meals or don't eat the right foods may be at greater risk for labor troubles and birth defects. and she takes that seriously. because her first daughter, who was born when moon was a high school senior, had a rare complication that left her intestines and stomach outside the body. given the expensive treatment needed for the baby's survival, moon decided to give her up for

adoption. >> there's all different kinds of things that could cause the birth defect that she had, but when i look back at the situation when i was pregnant with her, i wasn't able to make ends meet with my food stamps, i wasn't able to get as many fruits and vegetables, i wasn't able to do all that all the time. >> sreenivasan: for other families in crisis, the long- term impacts of malnutrition can be more subtle but just as devastating. two hours south of harrison, at arkansas children's hospital in little rock, dr. patrick casey has been studying the effects of diet on child health for several decades. >> are you clear on adding the material into the formula? >> sreenivasan: and since the 90's, he's been pooling his findings with doctors in other parts of the country through the boston-based group children's health watch. >> there's no doubt that food insecurity is associated with poorer general health and wellbeing, more hospitalizations, lower developmental achievements in preschool children, iron

deficiency, anemia has been found to be more common. >> sreenivasan: but there's also research emerging that indicates the domino effect may start much earlier, that malnutrition during pregnancy can have consequences that last a lifetime for children. on one hand, babies born to underweight mothers stand a good chance of being too small themselves, which increases the odds for developmental delays and a variety of chronic conditions later in life. but the other extreme is also common where a woman gains too much weight because she only has access to cheap and unhealthy foods. >> an overweight mother is more likely to deliver a heavy newborn, and a heavy newborn has a much greater statistical likelihood of being obese as they grow older, or having hypertension, and associated medical problems. >> sreenivasan: officials say producing better outcomes boils down to a simple calculation. >> sreenivasan: aggressively target at-risk groups like teens

with information on how to have a healthy baby and take it to them where they are, including their classrooms. at mills high school on the outskirts of little rock, upwards of ten girls become pregnant each school year. this winter, seniors isaria jackson and keroshi hendricks are among them. jackson says she was pretty clueless when she first went to the school nurse for help. >> she was asking me what was wrong, and i finally just came out and just told her, and she was like okay, well, then she sat down, and she brought out the book, this nutrition book that we have. >> sreenivasan: school nurse rae rice considers herself the first line of defense for these girls. >> i wanted to first talk to you all about being here at mills and being pregnant. >> sreenivasan: so she'll remind them early and often that their child's future depends in many ways on their own eating habits. and that when their kids start school themselves in a few years >> okay, start out with nine. now how many pieces were sold? >> sreenivasan: they'll be

better off in almost every way if they received the nutritional base they needed. they'll find it easier to concentrate, get along with others, and down the line, finish school on-time. >> developmentally, what has he started doing that's been new? >> sreenivasan: which is why deena tougaw says aggressive interventions for at-risk families save society money in the long-run, even if they do involve some up-front costs for programs like hers. in the circle of life program, home visits continue through a child's third birthday, to ensure developmental milestones are being met, and to take early action if they're not. >> sreenivasan: on this day, baby isaiah is learning to follow a moving target. but his mom, seventeen-year-old jessie sprinkles, is learning just as much about what to feed him as he grows up. food is a tough topic for sprinkles. it hasn't always been plentiful in her house, and when its there, she often binges on the cheap stuff she knows is bad for her.

but she wants better for her son. >> i do, because, you know, i don't want him to eat like me and be, gain a bunch of weight like i did, and stuff, when i was a kid, so... >> sreenivasan: sprinkles says she has a lot to learn and even more to do to meet that goal. but she now has a better idea of the steps to take, and a new reason to try. >> ifill: this week marks three years since the start of the civil war in syria. one segment of the population has been particularly hard hit: the children. jeffrey brown has the story. >> brown: at the outset of the war in 2011, rebels seemed to have the initiative, but president bashar al-assad's forces have fought back hard. and infighting among rebel group has led to even more bloodshed. all told, the syrian observatory

for human rights estimates more than 140,000 killed, as of february. and, according to us-aid, more than eight million displaced within syria, as well as in neighboring countries. now comes word of a major cost of this war: a growing health care disaster. in a new report, the international charity group save the children says: the crisis has hit children especially hard, with 10,000 deaths, and many more suffering from serious injuries and diseases. >> brown: im joined now by michael klosson, save the children's vice president for policy and humanitarian response. welcome. >> thank you for having me. >> brown: from the beginning of this report it says it's not just the bullets and the shells that are killing and mamming children, they are

also dying from the lack of basic medical care. >> right. >> brown: that is the main message here. >> it is the case that bulletin bombs have killed 10,000 children but the health system in syria is collapsing. and as a result of that, we're seeing all kinds of knock-on affects where children are not getting imizations, are you see the rise of childhood disease, you have case, for example, where children need a surgery or something and instead of the surgery being provided, their limbs are being amputated because they just don't have the equipment and the facilities and services that you need to save their limbs. really horrific. >> brown: the equipment, the facilities, the doctors, the medicine. it is just not there. >> what's happening is that i would say maybe 60% of the hospitals have either been damaged or destroyed. so even if you get to a hospital that hasn't been damaged or destroyed, you know, the chances of finding doctors, half of them have left the country. or you know proper medicine and stuff, is increasingly remote. so you have a case where one of the large cities in syria,

aleppo, it had before the fighting started, i think it had on the order of say 5,000 doctors. it's down to 36. >> brown: 36. >> right. >> brown: for a major city. >> for a major city. >> brown: are some of these health facilities being specifically targeted, do we know? >> yes, i think so. that is my understanding it from u.n. reports that people, you know, possiblery -- probably all sides are targeting health facilities. they're targeting ambulances. i mean, you are putting your life at risk often to go to a hospital because we have examples in the report where people, mothers are, for example, opting for cesarean section rather than sort of natural delivery because they want to be able to control a safer time to go to a health facility. >> brown: but the dangers also clearly suggest why a lot of doctors have fled for their own safety. >> right, right. but it's a free-for-all. and sadly, if you are a parent in syria, what do you want for your children. you want good health. you want an opportunity to learn. and you want you know protection from harm. and on all three counts, you know, those hopes that

parents have for kids are being shattered and children are at risk in all those areas. >> brown: so what kinds of diseases are more prevalent now. >> a lot of the childhood diseases that have been pretty much eradicated in the past are starting to come back. so measles, for example, is increasingly prevalent. there was a case, i think a couple years ago, the reported number of cases of measles was on the order of say 25, 30, something in that order of magnitude. and what we are understanding for the first week of this year in a limited number of places in syria, the report is 84 cases. so you are seeing measles ramping up, polio has come back. polio was pretty much eradicated and it's coming back as well. >> brown: i was curious about that, because the report cites thax i guess there is some question of how much it's back. >> yeah, i think in a countries that's convulsed in fighting like syria is, it's tough to get comprehensive and accurate data. so what we understand to be the best estimate is around, i think there is around 80 some confirmed cases.

and then there is reports of up to maybe 80,000 kids who are possibly infected. >> brown: it is clear from the report that the children, especially those born just before or during all this, they're not getting -- >> that is the challenge. this has been recognized by the who and un agencies. and there's been a real effort over the last number of months to say, you know, everything else being equal we have to figure out ways to resume immunization at least for polio. and what we want to see, i mean there is some good news. there has been cases where very brave syrians at the community level are passing out the immunization for the children. what we want to see is that to be expanded so you also restore immunization against measles and mumps and rubella and other childhood diseases because those are coming back. >> brown: you have cited statistics before all this. just for perspective, this was a country that had a fairly good health system previously? >> right. it is a middle income country. and it was known, i mean it produced much of its drugs, i think 70% or so of its medicine was produced in

country. i think it was known to have competent health facilities, competent doctors. and in the face of three years, you know, sadly, this has all been blown to smithereens, if you will. >> brown: so how much, if at all, are you and other aid groups able to talk to the government and insurgent groups about the situation, and of course, how much are you able to get any relief. >> we have certainly, i think first and foremost it is the responsibility of you know, the parties in syria to allow humanitarian assistant to-- assistance to comement in and we have certainly been calling that out, the need for that to happen. there is the statement by the security council last fall that did not result in a meaningful change on the ground for assistance coming in, particularly medical assistance. so the security council a couple of weeks ago passed a resolution that sort of underscored that there has to be humanitarian access. so we're part of it is for a real push to provide that kind of security council backing for access that needs to be obtained, on the

ground we are able, we have reached probably maybe 900,000 people inside syria, maybe half of whom, 500,000 or so are children with various kinds of support. so we are working on the ground. we're supporting some of these immunization efforts. we're supporting rehabilitation or the running of sort of some basic health facilities among other kinds of things. that's the way we're trying to contributement call out the need for humanitarian access and also where we can, provide assistance that needs to be ramped up dramatically. >> brown: a lot happening but not enough you say. >> absolutely not enough. >> brown: michael klosson from save the children, thank you sop much. > >> woodruff: we will be right back with a comedic take on the work we do here at the newshour, but first this is pledge week o.

>> ifill: we want to end tonight a little humor, albeit public television humor. pbs digital studios has launched a new web series, everything but the news, that manages to find some fun in what we do here every night. it's creator, steve goldbloom, laughed at us all the time when he worked here not long ago. now we laugh with him. a reminder: this is fiction, plus we're kind of in on the joke. here's the first episode. >> up next, i look inside the world of on-line video with some of the biggest creators and fans colliding

in southern california. pbs's steve goldbloom reports. >> how are you? >> i am a at lax stirbltion i thought i told you that. we're just getting some b roll of planes. >> why shots of plane. >> i thought it would be good to get shots of planes. >> no, it's not useful at all. keep saying we should all be filming. >> scorsese can do all the shooting you wants --. >> i'll tell him that. >> you do a good job of this. pbs is is going to you ever a you steady work. but if you don't -- >> i appreciate it we're to the going to let you down. >> noah and i are going to head out there now. >> go, go, stop talking to pe and go. i will talk to you later, bye. >> all right, bye. >> dow want to grab takeout first.

>> with you know what this is what journalism is, going where the story is. when you think of some of the all time great anchors, some of my heroes, cronkite and murrow cut their teeth first as field reporters in europe covering the second world war. robin mcneil was on the ground if dallas forth jfk assassinationment you just never know where the story will take. who knows, maybe this could be my nam. >> my name is allly. >> my name's ashley. >> i'm here at individual con 2013. >> i'm shacking. >> why are you crying. >> because usually like i will just scream. >> go, go, go. i'm keeping it together. >> yeah. you want to get out of here, noah?

>> i feel like i'm in a bad version of degrassi junior high. the original series. >> just relax. you're not at the white house. it's a bunch of kids, ask a to you questions, get the story, get out of here. >> i don't really know what this is. you asked me to cover it and i'm trying to find an angle. it's just a bunch of film:-- people filming themselves in capes, costumes. >> if you get down, just saying what would jim lehrer do. >> how are you doing, steve from pbs. >> do you have a second for pbs. >> we're from pbs. >> i'm here with you two.com/ -- >> that is not on fire. >> dan is not on fire. >> an amazing film. >> i do singing and bloc videos. >> singing and blog videos. >> how many views do you have. >> between my show-- we get 40 to-- a month. >> about 120 million views on my channel. >> 120 million views.

>> yes. >> we're like newshour style so what could we do. >> pbs is a little bit more like this, mr. rogers and its great but then if it wants to get on the internet it has to speed up a little bit. it's just the rate per speed per minute, it's a little bit like this this is how we talk on-line. >> i have a concussion. >> i everyone believes this video is fake. >> fake. >> no, really, it's fake. >> that awesomeness, you have two weeks, let's jump not story of -- >> the first thing i would like, gosh, i wish you would stop twerking, she's to the good at telephone. for whatever reason it is kind of gross. >> this isn't the only word. >> cutting it all the time. >> totally sheered. are you going to be like this all the time, filming everything. >> yeah. >> well, according to -- >> 3.4 million views? >> robin hood. >> why don't you come around. >> on this, the first night of the new "pbs newshour" we have a lot of news for you.

we also have a new look. >> we could try this, coy talk fast. and you could just-- cut it together quickly. >> you want to try it? >> hi, youtube, coming at you from anaheim, are you in the 6 billion hours of video watched each month, almost an hour for every person on earth, an most watched videos,-- we are at individualcom today pou with rapid cut, cut, cut. >> crisp back group, jazz am beean, graphics and more cut, cut, we're still cutting. cut and of course puppies. i'm actually getting a bit of a headache, noah. why don't we just submit a typical package the way they asked for it. >> you have one new message. >> tv, great work, this is reallying really good. guess what, i am a little surprised at this, okay, but pbs is going to send you down to san francisco to make more of these you're going to be our tech guy. i told them you're not a tech guy but they said you're as good as anybody

this is pbs so go down there, make me proud. i'm rotting for you, buddy. >> whooo. >> as you said it's everything but the news. >> my >> ifill: you can watch all eleven episodes of "everything but the news" online at pbs.org. >> woodruff: again, the major developments of the day. the fate of malaysia airlines flight 370 remained a mystery. the plane disappeared saturday on a flight from malaysia to china, with 239 people on board. and the u.s. senate overwhelmingly passed a bill today to revamp the way the military deals with sexual assault. among other things, it bars using a good service record as a defense. >> ifill: on the newshour online right now, it's spring training for politicians too. tomorrow's special election in florida is expected to be a test of strategies and trends for both parties in advance of november's midterm elections. you can find that and more is on

our web site, newshour.pbs.org. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. we'll see you on-line, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> at bae systems, our pride and dedication show in everything we do; from electronics systems to intelligence analysis and cyber- operations; from combat vehicles

and weapons to the maintenance and modernization of ships, aircraft, and critical infrastructure. knowing our work makes a difference inspires us everyday. that's bae systems. that's inspired work. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

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