making news in america this morning, policy rewrite. the wambaobama administration cs the rules for the affordable care act again. tensions rising between ukraine once again as the diplomatic solutions stall. john kerry now caught in the middle with two key players refusing to participate. close call. huge beams fly through the windshield of a truck. just how close the driver came to getting seriously hurt in a freak accident. miracle baby. hopeful news for the worldwide fight against aids. how american doctors have possibly cured another baby of hiv.

good thursday morning. i'm marci gonzalez in for diana perez. >> and i'm john muller. we begin with big changes to obamacare. thousands of americans will get to keep their plans at least for a bit longer. >> tahman bradley has the details and quick reaction from washington. good morning, tahman. >> reporter: marci and john, these changes would affect 1.5 million people. up the new guidelines those people will get to keep their old plans for two more years even if they don't meet the requirements of the new law. it helps insurance customers but helps democrats a political problem in the fall elections. that's why they were kritly criticized. the president is rewriting laws around the election calendar, but the white house says the decision was not political. without this change, john and marci, there would have been a

wave of cancellations of health care plans before the november election. >> all right, tahman bradley live in washington. thank you. all right now, our other major story, an intense diplomatic effort aimed at resolves the crisis in ukraine. >> secretary of state john kerry arrived in rome for another round of high life level talks with his russian counterpart. not much progress yesterday in france. abc's martha raddatz reports from paris. >> reporter: flash points in a red hot crisis. after putin's forces took over part of ukraine, thousands of demonstrators showed the world their support for russia storming past riot police to take over a government building. to the south in crimea, a similar scene, a mob of armed men threatening richard serry with a crowd bearing russian flags chanting behind them before ordering the official to leave crimea. america trying to find a way to

end this dangerous standoff. one hope here at these talks in paris, get the russians and ukrainians to eventually meet face to face, that did not happen. >> i don't think any of us had an anticipation that we were suddenly going to resolve that here this afternoon. >> reporter: the bigger goal, convince putin that his advance into crimea was bad enough, but advancing further, ignoring a nation's borders would bring the wrath of the world. but after a day of diplomacy, all russia really agreed to was to talk further. >> i'd rather be where we are today than where we were yesterday. >> reporter: the americans will continue trying to negotiate with russia and the europeans, as well. meanwhile, they will also try to get the ukrainians and the russians together face to face. martha raddatz, abc news, paris. new this morning, moammar ghadhafi's third son has

returned to stand trial. he fleed after his father was killed in 2011 as head of the libyan special forces, he is accused of shooting protesters among other crimes. he was known as the black sheep of that family because of his playboy lifestyle. in south africa defense attorneys for oscar pistorius have been trying to poke holes in the testimony of prosecution witnesses. they're challenging the time line offered by two neighbors who have testified about what they heard and when during the morning that pistorius' girlfriend was killed. and that follows testimony from a friend of pistorius yesterday, kevin lerena said a .before her death pistorius asked another friend to take the blame when a gun accidentally fired under a restaurant table they were sharing. his testimony was to cast a shadow on pistorius' character. >> breaking overnight a short but frightening flight for passengers on an american eagle flight bound for illinois. flight 3400 made an emergency landing in greenville, texas,

shortly after taking off from dallas. there were 48 people on board. passenger tiffany lieu tweeted the first picture reporting smoke in the plane, an emergency landing, standing in the middle of a field. we are all fine. a bus was sent to pick up the passengers. an extraordinary legal drama inside a courtroom at ft. bragg. jeffrey sinclair will admit to committing adultery and other charges. he faces trial on sexual assault charges that could land him in prison for life. the relationships were consensual and there was no assault he claims. a new poll reveals hillary clinton's popularity before the 2016 presidential race, 25% say they would definitely support hillary clinton if she entered the race. another 41% say they'd consider her as a candidate. while there is no clear republican front-runner 12% say they would definitely back mitt romney. another 33% say they would consider him if he ran again.

millions of kids currently in the ninth grade will be the first high schoolers to take the new s.a.t. among the changes, the top score will again be 1600. the essay becomes optional and the vocabulary will reflect words that are more commonly used in school and on the job. the revisions are the first to the s.a.t. since 2005. there's a desperate search in colorado mountains for a snowmobiler buried in an avalanche. the slide happened in the southwestern part of the state. four others dug themselves out and 19 have died in avalanches so far this winter. the avalanche risk is high all across the mountain area. up near the canadian border there were near blizzard conditions overnight go winter is hanging on all the way down to oklahoma. light snow fell in the oklahoma city area overnight. temperatures have dropped below freezing, making the morning commute a bit risky but a quick

warm-up is coming later today. and the relentless cold is shattering more than record low temperatures. ice cover on the great lakes is now the most widespread in 35 years. nearing an all-time record. >> wow. take a look at this sat like picture taken on february 19th. parts of the five lakes are covered. now take a look at this image. 91% of the lakes are now frozen over. all that ice will mean higher water levels and possibly some spring flooding. all right. let's take a look at the weather for across the nation. rainy across the south, stormy in florida. a wintry mix in atlanta up to richmond. a new storm slamming the pacific northwest and rain down in the bay area. 50s and 60s in the northwest. 70s and 80s down to the southwest. below normal in the northeast but warming up through the weekend. well, in one state, it is legal to take a picture up a woman's skirt in public without

her knowing. tell you why this controversial decision. some new details about the howling ocean rescue of a family trapped in a van. we are hearing more from the rescuers and the chilling message the children had after being pulled from the vehicle. plus, family affair. a mother, father and daughter under arrest accused in a multistate shoplifting spree.