i looked to make a transition out of law and david stern was somebody who my father had known and workedt the same law firm. precisely. i wrote david a letter, among a lot of people and said, "hello. i want to make the transition from law into business." i did not set out wanting to work in sports necessarily but more about media. david, in the early 1990's, had done a deal with tnt, which was a fledgling network. and a lot of talk about how david was moving the nba to be a modern media business. he was one that people called me. >> under david's leadership what you did in developing that aspect of the nba, nba.com. >> well, we were the first league to form its own full-time network. we launched nba tv show. we've always had a major cable presence, our teams and their cities with our regional sports networks have a major presence. the media business so i went to the nba as a huge fan, i grew up a knicks fans and going to a lot of games. my greatest interest was going into business. it happened to be i was fortunate enough to end up working with the nba. in my early years, focused entirel

i looked to make a transition out of law and david stern was somebody who my father had known. ad worked at the same law for my father had. i didn't know. so i wrote to david a letter, among a lot of people and said "hello. i want to make the transition from law into business." so just to be clear, i did not that out wanting to work in sports, necessarily. my track was more about media. david at the time, in the early 1990's he had done a deal with tnt, which was a fledgling network. and a lot of talk about how david was moving the nba to be a modern media business. so he was someone i wrote a letter to, among many people. he was one of the people who actually called me. >> that's one of the signal achievements under david's leadership, what you did with respecting that aspect of -- developing that aspect of the nba nba.com. >> well, we were the first league to form its own full-time network. we launched the nba.com tv show which became nba tv. we've always had a major cable presence. our teams and their cities with their regional sports networks have a major presence. i went in

david stern, bbc news, kiev. >> the area of this fighting is not very large. you can see that for the people caught in it, it is a desperate situation. there is increasing debate in the west and washington over providing lethal aid to ukrainian government troops. it is one of the arguments that was made in a new report. one of its officers -- one of its authors is now the brookings official. what you want is for america to start arming troops, effectively. >> the report calls for a billion dollars in assistance. although most of that would go to nonlethal assistance, one thing the ukrainians need our radars that would let them can -- let them detect incoming artillery strikes. we also argue that the u.s. government should change its position and allow lethal defensive weapons, in particular, light antiarmor weapons. those nato and ukraine told us when we were there in mid-january that they see a huge influx of russian armor coming across the border into eastern ukraine. >> what reception of you had in the white house for this proposal? so far, the white house

last i was here with david stern and we came on together. >> to remember this, you love the knicks --> growing up. i love all teams equally. >> you are a lawyer and then went to work for david. why did you make the transition from law to a job at the nba? >> i was practicing law in new york, a new york firm and i was doing largely media cases and i became fascinated with the media business. hbo at the time was one of the largest clients. while i was working on media matters i thought it would be interesting to go the other side of the table rather than litigating, i would rather build the business side of media. i looked to make a transition out of law and david stern was somebody, my father had known and worked at the same law firm. precisely. i wrote to david a letter among a lot of people and said "hello . i want to make the transition from law into business." i did not set out wanting to work in sports necessarily but more about media. david, in the early 1990's, had done a deal with at&t which was a fledgling -- tnt, which was a fledgling network. and a lot of talk about how davi

and david stern was somebody who my father had known. he had worked at the same law firm that my father had worked at. >> rose: the two worked together at the same law firm. >> precisely. i wrote david a letter among a lot of people. and said hello, i'm looking to make a transition from law into business. and so just to be clear i didn't set out wanting to work in sports necessarily. my attraction to the nba at the time was more about media. and david at that time this is in the early '90s had recently done a deal with tnt which was a fledge ling network. there was a lot of discussion about how david was moving the nba into being a modern media business. and so again he was someone i wrote a letter, among many people. he was one of the people who actually called me. >> rose: but that's one of your sing ale chievements. under david's leadership what you did with respect to developing that aspect of the nba. >> rig t >> rose: nba.com or whatever they call it. >> no and-- we were an early adopter. we were the first league to form its own fu

let's get the latest from david stern. >> we don't know what is happening.bviously, it's very tense and dangerous situation. the ukrainian government officials are saying there is fighting taking place around the railroad station on the outskirts. again, we cannot confirm that. if it's true it's the first time they have admitted there's fighting going on inside the city. it's difficult to say what exactly is happening. we know that fighting is ongoing. there has been shelling through the night. obviously, the tensions there are very high and the question is obviously, also how this is going to affect the cease-fire which seems to be coming under increasing pressure now. >> exactly, because all five under pressure to pull back and pressure from angela merkel too. >> exactly. we have heard just in the last hour or so that the leader of the people's republic says that they have actually begun the pullback of heavy weapons. now, again, we cannot confirm that. that would be a positive step however, at the same time the den donetsk people say they are not pulling

let's talk to david stern, our correspondent in the ukrainian capital kiev. nother sign that civilians are paying a heavy price for the fighting going on in ukraine. >> reporter: that's exactly right. we've seen a number of instances just in the last days of civilians coming under fire being shelled, high civilian casualties. if you remember the figure yesterday was 16 in total throughout the region. and we're receiving various reports. the story just breaking now about the hospital in donetsk. a bbc reporter on the ground reports three people killed. apparently there's aye crater in front of the hospital. so not clear. this could -- this toll could rise but it seems clear this has been a particularly difficult situation. this is another case of civilian casualties. obviously, this is going to cause -- this is going to cause concern in the international community. we've already heard from human rights groups accusing both sides of shelling civilian areas. >> yes. and talking about international reaction. in the past few minutes the european union's foreign pol

david stern, bbc news. >> heavy fighting between militants and forces from three countries on the border of nigeria and cameroon. the army says they killed more than 200 militants in a battle in northeast nigeria. reports from the town say they have had intense clashes with fighters. you are watching bbc world news america. should the american government have more power to oversee internet providers? the battle lines are drawn and consumers have a lot at stake. >> the egyptian court has sentenced 230 people, including one of the leading activists in the uprising of 2011 to life in jail. >> it was very much a leading figure in the revolution, having been a symbol of hope. he has come to symbolize the repression that followed. now, he responded to the life sentence with an ironic round of applause and the presiding judge said, do not talk too much or i will give you an extra three years. during the trial, he had referred the lawyers to the prosecutors for investigation. not surprisingly, they withdrew from the case. the judge issued controversial verdicts and sent the al jazeera journalist

. >>> our correspondent in kiev david stern, is explaining what ukraine wants from the negotiations. >> reporter: ukraine, as you said earlier, james, is looking for control over the regions, to maintain ukraine basically as an intact and viable country. this seems, at least as far as ukrainians are concerned seems very much in question. the president, when he traveled to cram kramatorsk is looking for closing of troops and all russian and foreign troops from the territory. whether he gets that and whether they agree on that as richard was pointing out, that is another question. as we have seen before the previous agreement said something along similar lines was not implemented. >>> there's plenty more in ukraine on our website including a breakdown what the different parties want on the crisis talks. go to our websitebbcnews.com website for a breakdown and analysis. forward /news. >> while trying to cross the mediterranean, there was a crash and the u.s. has been interviewing survivesors picked up by the coast guard and said scores were swept in heavy seas while setting sail. and we

david stern is able to join me now from kiev. ose talks going to be taking place, david, but interesting to hear from you what people are saying on the ground? >> well yes. i just spoke to a ukrainian official who saw the proposal who was not present at the actual meeting, but he said the meeting between president poroshenko and the german and french leaders went positively. apparently there are two sets of proposals, one coming from moscow the other one coming from the europeans. as far as the moscow proposal goes he said what president putin was asking or what is proposing is totally unacceptable. but what the europeans are proposing he said was actually nothing new, that these are concrete steps to achieve what has already been agreed upon in the minsk agreement agreed in september in the belarus capital. he said there wasn't anything there to interest mr. putin. not a great deal of optimism that likewise there's going to be a break through in moscow. he said if there are any cherries at the bottom of the cake they weren't on p

well david stern is in keefe for us. lsewhere in ukraine, the cease-fire appears to be holding, at least it has been for the last 24 hours, but the people of mariupol they're preparing for an attack. what's happening? >> well exactly, alice. the question is whether this latest de-escalation is a lull a lull before the next escalation in fighting or perhaps this is leading towards the actual implementation of the cease-fire. now, we've been seeing actually less fighting over a greater period and for the last basically, 48 hours, there have been no fatalities on the ukrainian army side. this was announced just recently. so the question is if this is now something that will allow the two sides to pull back their artillery, to have a full prisoner swap and basically implement the other issues of the peace deal. but as you say, there are great fears about what the situation in mariupol is. the ukrainians say there is a buildup of fighters and artillery there. difficult to say to what extent this is happening, but there has bee

david stern bbc news.ev. >> commemorations are due to take place in germany to mark the 70th anniversary of the bombing of the city of dresden. on the night of the 13th of february, 1945, british bomber command dropped hundreds of thousands of bombs on the city leaving 13 square miles of the historic city in ruins, obliterated. the ensuing fire storm killed 25,000 people. well, the bbc's jenny hill is in dresden for the commemorations. jenny? >> reporter: yeah. in the words of one survivor, it was like being in hell. it seems almost unimaginable, on a beautiful morning like this, that 70 years ago, this square was engulfed in flames, as dresden was all but razed to the ground. as they prepare to commemorate this anniversary, people here in dresden still refer to the 13th of february 1945, as the day which never fades. 70 years ago allyied bombers took off. their target one of the most beautiful cities in europe. beneath them people burned and suffocated to death as a firestorm with hurricane-force winds ra

david stern is monitoring things from kiev. what is happening at the moment? there were reports of fighting particularly around the railway stations. >> reporter: exactly. we can't say exactly what is happening. it's a very dangerous place. a very tense place at the moment. we have heard from ukrainian government spokesman who says there is fighting going on around the train station. now he says the government forces are holding the train station. the rebels say they have taken the train station. what we obviously can say is the fighting shifting to within the city limits. obviously, very fierce fighting going on right now. very tense situation right now and obviously, the question is how it will affect the cease-fire. is there a cease-fire and a peace plan to go back to at the moment? >> is there a chance david, that the monitors might be able to get in and start verifying what's happening there? >> reporter: difficult. as the fighting goes on they perhaps, are not going to be able to get as close as they would like. they have been stopped up to now, by the r

let's take you to david stern, who is there for us. david, this seems to almost be a done deal that something will happen. the u.s. will give some kind of weapons. do we know what kind of weapons they could possibly supply to ukraine? >> well difficult to say. and it should be said that it's still being discussed. the fact that it is in fact, being debated at the moment this is a major shift. because the obama administration has been very resistant to this idea. but now, we're hearing from officials, unnamed officials within the administration as well as others that they are debating this. but it hasn't taken place yet. and if it does take place, yes, the question is what type of weapons? one of the ones that's mentioned most often is a javelin anti-tank missile. a very effective anti-tank missile. other things that people are talking about are anti-battery radar systems, which allows the ukrainians to pinpoint their responses to attacks on them. but, again, it's difficult to say again exactly what it will entail. one thing that people

. >>> let's go to kiev to the ukrainian capital and talk to our correspondent, david stern. is are they abiding by the agreement or something mandatory serious, do you think? >> it could be something more serious. ultimately the question is what the repercussions are going to be. we are talking a great deal about how this puts the cease-fire or cease-fire that was supposed to begin over the weekend under great pressure puts the peace plan under pressure. ultimately this could have wide ranging political ramifications in kiev. mr. poroshenko can't be seen losing debaltseve a very strategic town we just heard about. if a cease-fire isn't adhered to he could introduce martial law. ultimately the question how it is obviously a serious setback for ukrainians. the question is how serious it is going to be. >> what pressure and what advice is coming through from the west. we heard in the last week america was considering arming the ukrainians. any developments on that? >> reporter: no. we haven't heard anything about the americans. obviously the calls by members of the administrati

bbc's david stern is in kiev. in these latest details for us david. >> reporter: well yes. this artillery pullback was actually supposed to start just 48 hours, or within 48 hours after the cease-fire began. the cease-fire was supposed to begin basically about ten days ago, saturday and sunday the previous weekend. obviously, the cease-fire hasn't begun. there's still sporadic shelling perhaps at a lower level than what we saw previously but it is continuing, especially around the donetsk city and the port of mariupol, and the ukrainian military, although having said that they would now begin the pullback of the artillery, along with the russian-backed rebels now says that they're going to -- that they cannot pull it back, as long as the firing is -- or the shelling is continuing. what the reaction will be from the rebels we're waiting to see whether they are going to start a unilateral withdraw or whether they too, will delay it. >> petrov poroshenko, meanwhile, the president of the ukraine, still sounding defiant

. >> david stern reporting from kiev. >>> the first large scale trials against the ebola virus are takenberia. the vaccines are being stored in a secret location. eventually, some 30,000 volunteers will take part in the trials. over the past year nearly 9,000 people have died of ebola and the number of reported cases reported has fallen recently. mark doyle wept tont to look around a site there. >> when first started burning materials yesterday on site and are continuing today, we had a survivor who started the fire and as he started the fire and put the torch in i heard him say, ebola, bye-bye. and that somehow, it seemed hopeful, but yet not shouting it from the rooftops was my personal feeling. it's a sort of low-key affair. we don't want to jump for joy, but we do want to mark the start of decommissioning of our -- it's not closing, it's only a small part. it's the first part that was here, but it is a step in the right direction. but i also think we should do it in a sensitive way. the community, for them the fire was a difficult subject for many liberians. we have to be aware of th

i asked our correspondent, david stern, what the government there is hoping for from america. >> reporter: ukrainian officials exactly what their wish list is. and they don't really give a detail but it's assumed that what they want is anti-tank weapons, the javelin, which is apparently very effective, and what they describe as anti-battery weapons. these are systems that allow them to pinpoint strikes that have already been firing on them. of course, ukrainians will be welcoming anything. they've been calling for a long time, four defensive weapons. they think this is absolutely crucial in stopping this rebel offensive and what they say is a russian-backed invasion or a russian invasion of eastern ukraine. >> that is kiev. well, in brussels today, nato defense ministers are meeting to firm up details of the biggest reinforcement of nato's collective defense since the end of the cold war. it's planning to establish a network of small command centers in three baltic republics. poland romania, and bulgaria. it will have what's being called a spearhead force, up to 5,000 troops. they'll be r

david? >> neal karlinsky from texas. name thank you. >>> now, to tough talk from one of the nation's biggest airlines, meant to get their own pilots attention. a stern warning from united to their pilots telling them to listen to one another, after some very close calls. abc's david kerley covers aviation for us. >> reporter: a united airlines crew got so close to ground unintention amly, they thaerdheard something like this -- >> terrain. terrain. pull up! >> reporter: and made an emergency pull up to avoid disaster. that as well as a crew landing with fuel below minimum reserves two of four major safety events and near misses recently that prompted an unusually blunt, brutally honest safety alert to all united pilots early last month. >> it should go direct to the source of the worry, which is, guys, let's pay attention to basics. >> reporter: and this u.p.s. jet crash in birmingham, alabama is highlighted, noting that crew thought everything was normal until just before impact. it was a lack of crew communication. >> no one should be god and everybody follows, you have to have communication in the cockpit and no one should ever be worried to spea

earlier today the prm david cameron said he was optimistic about the deal. but he had stern words for vladimir putin. >> if this is a genuine cease-fire, then of course that would be welcomed. but what matters most of all is actually actions on the ground rather than just words on a piece of paper. and i think we should be very clear that vidladimir putin needs to know unless his behavior changes the the sanctions went be altered. >> things have already escalated. world leaders remain hoe hopeful. there's no doubt sanctions played a role in the agreement. s&p recently cut it to junk status. the ruble has droppeded 51%. russia draws 45% of the tax revenues from oil taxes. all this has caused inflation and forced the russians to drive up interest rates. today's announcement as the international monetary fund said it would give $40 million to bail out the government. in the face of growing economic problems he was forced into a cease-fire. that's how it appears. president obama's strategy of sanctions certainly had an impact. as of now the conflict is not 100% over, but we are

sterns. but getting to the top headlines. disagreement over gay marriage. davida feigned opposition to gay marriage hiding his true beliefs, fearing he could help him with voters. he also said the same interview, it's clear that the timing -- the times are changing. >> we have hit a critical mass with states that have recognize same-sex marriage. it doesn't make sense for us to now have this patchwork system. it's time to recognize under equal protection clause of the united states same-sex couples should have the same rights as anybody else. >> and staying at the white house, the obama administration is trying to level the playing field against hackers. the agency will be modeled after the national counterterrorism center established after 9/11 to coordinate terrorism intelligence. and the powerball jackpot sit at $485 million right now, making it the fifth largest lottery size in u.s. history no one has to the jackpot in more than two months, but that could all change with tonight's drawing. i don't get too excited about the possibility of claiming the big mone

david. >> good morning, robin. you're right. blunt and very straightforward. a warning to united continental pilots that a series of incidents required immediate communication, a memo, a safety warning. united airlines issued this sternning to pilots after mistakes in the cockpit put passengers in potential danger. a spate of what were called safety events and near-misses. the memo seen by abc news and first reported by "the wall street journal" says one crew had to make an emergency pull-up to quote, avoid crashing into the ground. another crew landed with fuel below the minimum reserves. the note sent out early last month admitted it is brutally honest and points out that all the incidents were preventible. it also mentions this crash. this wide body u.p.s. jet. of a u.p.s. jet in birmingham alabama, in which the crew didn't realize it was too low. the united safety officials saying everything appeared normal on that flight until just before impact at the airport. this as we learn southwest airlines which missed an inspection of a backup system on a fifth of its fleet has now quickly looked at two-thirds of those planes. >> every major airline has lapses at times. it's whether they have a system that will catch it

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