>>> hello, welcome back to "newsline" i'm shery ahn. crimea's regional parliament has declared independence as a sovereign state. the ukrainian region held a referendum on sunday. people show overwhelming support for joining the russian federation. the assembly has decided to apply to become part of russia. now, earlier, russian president vladimir putin and u.s. president barack obama were on the phone discussing the referendum. putin says the vote was fully legal. putin's office quoted him as saying the referendum was based on international law, and the united nations charter. he said the crimean people have the right to freely express their opinions, and to decide their own future. obama says the united states would never recognize the referendum. he said american and european leaders are prepared to impose what he calls additional costs on russia for its actions. >>> the ruling party in serbia appears to have secured a sland slide victory in parliamentary elections. party leaders are pushing for membership in the european union. unof

>>> hello and welcome back to newsline. i'm cary anne. let's get started with the headlines. australia's prime minister say satellite images have captured objects that may be related to the missing malaysia airlines plane. >>> russian president vladimir putin is building bridges between his country and crimea to redraw boards. >>> and a step forward, they have agreed to resume talks after more than a year. >>> the people searching for the missing malaysian airlines plane may have caught a break. what could be pieces of debris showed in the indian ocean. military air crews are trying to find them. >> new and credible information has come to light in relation to the search for malaysia airlines flight mh-370 in the southern indian ocean. >> the jetliner set out almost two weeks ago, carrying 239 people. it was headed for beijing. 50 minutes after the takeoff, it disappeared. australia's maritime safety authority released photos taken sunday. two floating objects are advise, in the indian ocean. one is about 24 meters long, the other, about 5 meters. they say they were 2500 kilo

>>> hello and welcome back to "newsline." i'm shery ahn. let's get started with the headlines. aerial teams looking for the missing malaysian airliner have temporarily called of their search because of severe weather conditions. >>> the u.n. security council is expected to consider issuing a statement condemning north korea for its latest missile launches. >>> north koreans with disabilities are getting some support from abroad. >>> search teams hunting for malaysian airlines flight 370 have had to temporarily suspend their search because of severe weather. they've been zeroing in on an area in the southern indian ocean. new satellite images picked up more than 120 objects bobbing in the rough waters. nhk's craig dale has details. >> reporter: crews have battled fierce winds and choppy waters as they scour a vast area in the southern indian ocean. now they may be able to narrow their search for malaysian airlines flight 370. >> this is still the most credible lead that we have. >> reporter: malaysia's defense minister says french satellite images detected 122 objects floating i

>>> welcome to nhk world "newsline," i'm gene otani in tokyo. here is a look at some of the stories we're following at this hour. the leader of ukraine's southern region vows to strengthen ties with russia as supporters and opponents of the interim government clash in the country. >>> politicians turn their attention to improving education for children in rural areas at the national people's congress. we have the latest from beijing. >>> and a senior u.s. official has urged china to provide more openness about its defense capabilities and intentions after beijing increased annual defense spending by more than 12%. >>> people in ukraine are divided over their country's future. supporters and opponents of the interim government scuffled during demonstrations in an eastern city and the leader of the southern region of crimea is promising more cooperation with russia. >> translator: we will maintain our strong ties with russia. >> ethic russians make up a majority of the people in crimea, the road leading to an airport near zef stoep ol has been blo

>>> hello and welcome back to "newsline" i'm shery ahn. let's get started with the head lines. crews trying to find a missing malaysian passenger plane say they still can't figure out where it went. >>> engineers in japan are racing to develop robots to do work at the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant, where it's too dangerous for humans to go. >>> and farmers in northeastern japan have turned to some innovative technology to help them get back on their land. the head of malaysia's civil aviation authority says the disappearance of a jetliner is an unprecedented aviation mystery. the malaysia airlines plane took off from kuala lumpur on saturday, with 239 people on board. it flew out toward beijing over the south china sea. then, it disappeared. >> we have not found anything that appears to be objects from the aircraft, let alone the aircraft. we will be intensifying our efforts to locate the missing aircraft. >> crews on dozens of aircraft and ships from malaysia and neighboring countries are scouring the area. teams from china, australia, and the u.s., have joined them. the hea

. >>> hello and welcome back to "newsline" i'm shery ahn. let's get started with the headlines. chinese delegates have closed this year's session of the national people's congress by endorsing their leader france for the year ahead. >>> more countries are sending team to assist in the widening search for the missing malaysian airliner. >>> president obama and other leaders warn russia it will pay a price if it makes moves to annex the ukrainian republic of crimea. >>> delegates from across china have wrapped up a once-a-year political gathering that finished up the national people's congress. they addressed complaints about corruption, pollution and the gap between rich and poor. the delegates met for nine days in beijing to approve plans for the year ahead. leaders set an economic growth target for 2014 of around 7.5%. they included the target in their budget. the increased spending on defense by more than 12% to about $130 billion, but some delegates didn't agree with the approach to tackling corruption. prosecutors submitted a report on bureaucrats who abused their power. abo

>>> hello and welcomeback to "newsline" i'm shery ahn. let's get started with the head lines. fishermen in fukushima have approved a plan to release groundwater into the ocean, bypassing contaminated areas of the crippled nuclear plant. >>> u.s. president barack obama and his allies are pressing ahead with plans to ice late russian leaders for their annexation of crimea. >>> and malaysia's prime minister says satellite information shows a malaysia airlines flight ended in the indian ocean. >>> fishermen near the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant have agreed on a plan to tackle accumulating radioactive water. workers will pump up groundwater before it becomes contaminated then release it into the pacific ocean. representatives of fishermen's association signed off on the project. but they asked government and tokyo electric power company officials to make sure the work is carried out safely. they requested continued compensation for fishermen affected by the nuclear accident. and they asked if they chose to do what they can to stop rumors about the fishing industry. >> translator

>>> welcome to nhk world "newsline" i'm gene otani in tokyo. here's a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. western leaders are rushing to defuse a crisis in ukraine, as russian leaders pull in the opposite direction. >>> red cross officials from japan and north korea have finished their first talks in 18 months. >>> and we begin our week-long coverage, bringing you all the latest developments from the national people's congress in beijing. the interim president of ukraine says russian forces have made a declaration of war. troops have surrounded military outposts in the southern ukrainian republic of crimea. russian president vladimir putin suggested he had the right to invade. nhk world's minna comb saw wow reports. >> reporter: in this major crimean city residents gathered to show their allegiance to russia. ethnic russians make up more than 60% of the region's population. crimea is important to russia, as well. the country's black sea fleet is currently stationed at the foes of sevastopol. the russian parliament's upper hou

>>> welcome to nhk world "newsline," i'm gene otani in tokyo. here's a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. russian forces have tightened their hold on crimea, threatening ukrainian troops, and drawing more warnings from abroad. >>> japanese engineers have developed a device to reduce the swaying of high rise buildings during strong earthquakes. >>> and we speak with experts to learn more about the major issues being discussed at the upcoming national people's congress in beijing. >>> soldiers from ukraine and russia are starting across -- are staring across at one another, wondering who will make the next move. they're arguing over who ought to control bases in ukraine's crimean peninsula. russian forces have reportedly issued an ultimatum, surrender or face an attack. ethnic russians make up a majority of the people in the autonomous republic. russian forces have been building up their numbers and pressing ukrainians to hand over military bases and other facilities. russia's interfax news agency quoted a source at ukraine's d

>>> welcome to nhk world "newsline." i'm gene otani in tokyo. here's a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. we have the latest from beijing, as premier li keqiang has laid out china's growth targets at the beginning of the national people's congress. >>> western leaders want russia to end ukrainian officials to sit down face-to-face to resolve the standoff over crimea. >>> and a team of japanese researchers have released technical tips for creating stem cells that can be turned into any kind of tissue. >>> china's biggest political event of the year is under way in beijing. president xi jinping and his administration are meeting delegates of the country's legislature, the national people's congress. reform is high on the agenda, as the leadership aims for long-term stability. we're bringing you extensive coverage of the npc this week in our series "china: road to reform." nhk world's raja pradhan was at the opening of the npc and he joins us now live. raja? >> hi, gene. chinese premier li keqiang opened the annual gathering of

>>> hello and welcome back to "newsline" i'm shery ahn. let's get started with the head lines. three years after the march 11 disaster, people across japan are pausing to look back and voicing renewed determination to move forward. >>> a father who lost his three children to the disaster finds a way to honor their memory, and move forward with his life. >>> and u.s. and european envoys to the u.n. have expressed concern over a planned referendum that could determine crimea's future. >>> people across japan are marking the third anniversary of an unprecedented natural disaster. a magnitude 9 earthquake struck on march 11th, 2011, triggering towering tsunami that swallowed coastal communities. after that the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant lost power and reactors melted down. three years on, people are remembering those who died. japanese leaders held a national memorial ceremony in tokyo to honor the victims. participants observed a moment of silence at 2:46 p.m., the exact time the quake struck. >> they paid tribute to the more than 18,000 people who died in the disaster and it

>>> hello and welcome back to "newsline," i'm shery ahn. let's get started with the head lines. japanese prime minister shinzo abe and south korean president park geun-hye have held their first formal talks with a nudge from the u.s. president. >>> the u.s. government is expected to announce a massive overhaul of the national security agency's surveillance policies. >>> and volunteers in northeastern japan are touching lost mementos to help remind people of their past. >>> the leaders of japan and south korea have held their first formal talks since they both assumed office. japanese prime minister shinzo abe and south korean president park geun-hye have been caught up in disputes over history and territory. but they sat down together with u.s. president barack obama. nhk world has a report. >> reporter: the leaders of japan and south korea finally agreed to talk on the sidelines of the nuclear security summit in the hague. president obama had pushed both leaders to mend their strained relations before his official visit to the asian region in april. >> this is the first time th

>>> hello and welcome back to "newsline," i'm shery ahn. let's get started with the head lines. russian president vladimir putin has ignored criticisms from the west, and signed an agreement to annex crimea. >>> and some survivors of the disaster in northeastern japan are trying to preserve damaged buildings so they can pass along their experiences. >>> vladimir putin has heard threats after threats about his plans to redraw russia's borders. but the russian president has ignored the warnings. he signed an agreement to annex the autonomous ukrainian republic of crimea. he says it's an integral part of russia. nhk world's craig dale reports. >> reporter: a crowd in red square cheered on vladimir putin as he spoke about a move that's frustrated and infuriated western leaders. the president shouted glory to russia, as he talked about his plan to annex crimea. >> translator: after a difficult, lengthy, tiring sale crimea and sevastopol are returning to their home harbor. >> reporter: earlier in the day, putin asked lawmakers to adopt a draft bill that would allow the crimean republi

>>> hello and welcome back to "newsline" i'm shery ahn. australian authorities have shifted the search area for the missing malaysia airlines jet. they're now focusing more than 1,000 kilometers to the northeast from where search teams have been concentrating their efforts over the past few days. the decision was based on revised analysis of radar data from before the jet went missing nearly three weeks ago. >> this continuing analysis indicates the plane was traveling foster than was previously estimated, resulting in increased fuel usage, and reducing the possible distance it traveled south into the indian ocean. >> authorities are hoping to recover the plane's flight data and cockpit voice recorders to get crews about what happened to the aircraft. >>> nhk world has a report from perth on how the authorities made the decision to switch their focus. >> reporter: they say it's not based on new data, rather they came up with it after careful analysis, and calculation of existing radar data before contact with the aircraft was lost between

>>> hello and welcome back to "newsline" i'm shery ahn. we begin this hour with breaking news. the international court of justice has ruled that japan's whaling in the arctic ocean is not for research purposes, and is calling for the country to not continue the whaling program as it is. now, the australian government brought the case to the court in the hague to stop japan's research whaling in the antarctic four years ago. a judge says they don't believe japan has been conducting the practice for research purposes. the country has been hunting whales in the antarctic ocean for nearly three decades. a judge is still giving his ruling in the netherlands. we'll have more updates on this developing story as we get them. >>> world scientists have issued a stark warning on climate change. they say global warming poses a threat to world food stocks and human security after concluding a conference in yokohama, japan. nhk world's kurando tago has more. >> reporter: united nations intergovernmental panel for climate change or ipcc finished a closed meeting. it addressed the impact of cl

>>> hello and welcome back to "newsline" i'm shery ahn. let's get started with the head lines. g-7 leaders are holding emergency talks on russia's annexation of crimea, with some pressing for sharper response. >>> the chinese president has called on his south korean counterpart to strengthen cooperation between their countries. >>> and to everyone's surprise, a dark horse athlete wins the march grand sumo tournament in osaka. >>> the leaders of the group of seven industrialized nations are trying to work out a way to contain russia. they'll discuss president vladimir putin's decision to annex the autonomous ukrainian republic of crimea, and they may consider strengthening sanctions, even as russian forces tighten their grip. nhk world has more. >> reporter: russian defense ministry officials say their forces have occupied most of the ukraine's military facilities in crimea. they say the country's flag is flying at almost 200 bases, checkpoints and other installations. russian forces began mobilizing in the autonomous ukrainian republic about a month ago. they started taking ove

>>> hello you're watching "newsline," i'm shery ahn. let's get started with the head lines. the search for a missing malaysia airlines plane is expanding, and a team from japan is joining the effort. >>> some new information on radiation levels at fukushima daiichi is providing a clearer picture of the disaster at the nuclear plant. >>> and a japanese programmer is creating powerful software that could enable computers to outperform the most skilled human opponents. >>> crews looking for any trace of a missing malaysia airlines plane have expanded the scope of their search. flight 370 disappeared from radar last saturday with 239 people on board. teams from a range of nations are taking part in the effort to find the boeing 777. one from japan just joined them. nhk world has more. >> reporter: malaysian leaders put out a call for help. and these members of the japan disaster relief team responded. they arrived in kuala lumpur to lay the path for a larger contingent. >> we will be joining the search and rescue effort using our various aircraft. we hope we will be able to make

>>> welcome to nhk world "newsline," i'm gene otani in tokyo. here's a look at some of the stories we're following this hour. the u.n. security council has held an emergency meeting. sharp divisions remain over the crimean government's plan to secede from ukraine. >>> premier li keqiang tells the nation people's congress it's time to reform politics and the economy, an expert and citizens give us their take. >>> and a senior official in china's communist party says there will be no leniency for terrorists after a stabbing spree last week at a railway station. >>> the u.n. security council has held an emergency meeting to discuss the ukrainian crisis. it remains sharply divided over the crimean government's plan to secede from ukraine. the meeting came after local government officials announced plans to hold a referendum on secession from ukraine. it set the poll for march 16th. russian forces have effectively taken control of ukraine's autonomous republic of crimea. u.n. deputy secretary jan eleison joined from ukraine. he had called for meaning

>>> welcome to nhk world "newsline," i'm gene otani in tokyo. the fallout from russia's moves to annex the autonomous republic of crimea continues to spread. the eu and the united states have announced additional sanctions against russia, which has responded by announcing its own sanctions. the leaders of the 28 eu member states discussed the annexation issue in brussels. they announced they're adding 12 individuals in russia and ukraine to a list of people subject to travel bans and asset freezes. >> the european council has decided to expand the list of individuals subject to visa ban and asset freeze. some of them are really high ranking. >> this raises the total numb kwer of people subject to eu sanctions to 33. the numbers of the 12 have not been released. the eu leaders say they're canceling a summit with russia scheduled in june, while individual member states say they'll call off bilateral summits with the country. for its part, the united states is also taking aim at russian individuals and corporations. the measures include freezing as

joining us on the cnbc newsline is peter mizek who has a hold on blackberry and a $9 target. jim cramer said they have a ton of money at blackberry. buy it as in a stock, no. going under, no. do you agree? >> yeah. that's why we're a hold. we certainly believe there's a lot of value in the parts and given that they are no longer at risk of going bankrupt at least in the short to medium term, we think the chance of insolvency is very low and therefore the shares will probably not go too much lower but they really have to tart start to see revenue re. >> is john chen doing the right thing? >> he is absolutely doing the right thing. so is his new cfo. this thing was on the brink. think about their purchase commitments and what they were manufacturing last year, at one point they were manufacturing two million handsets a month and selling through a couple hundred thousands. that was staggering mismanagement. these new guys have come in and really righted the ship. this thing could have gone under and they really turned it around. >> indeed. they have unveiled a classic keyboard.

courtney reagan spoke to the ceo and is on the newsline. >> reporter: good afternoon, tyler.you lemmon's ceo and asked how lou will you lemmululemon is fixing this? when a brand gets an attack there's a defensiveness that did look like arrogance but there's no arrogance here. we're workingmility and being inclusive. it lost its voice, stopped what it stands for and they're working on changing that. asked about why traffic hasn't rebounded? he said i think we let down our guests a little. product didn't evolve like it should have. the company announced it will accelerate international expansion. i asked why do it now? the best growth for the company truly beyond the u.s.? he said, yes. i really think it is. he said we've had a lot of la meant? events in shanghai and singapore, demand is there. that could be something for investors certainly to look forward to. also spoke about the opportunity to strengthen the lulu team as a result of some of the symbols last year. back to you. >> courtney, thanks. courtney reagan reporting. >>> that will do it for this edition of "power lunch

heather connelly from the center for strategic and international studies who joins us on the cnbc newsline. welcome to you as well. steve, we were chatting in the makeup room, where all kinds of high level discussions always take place. you were saying putin is making a really big mistake here. he maybe didn't want to make this move but because he did not want to look weak at home, he kind of had to do it. does he need a diplomatic out? >> he does. he does, i think. i think that's right. assuming that putin's objective is not to take over and militarily occupy the ukraine and/or this notion of reforming the soviet union, i think that's a fair assumption. what he wants and what he's wanted for a long time is a ukraine that is not too much in the western orbit. it would love one in the russian orbit. halving ukraine only takes what's left and forces it further into the western orbit, assuming there are elections. think about the math. two million plus people in the crimea, 45 million in the country. you've taken about 5% or so of the country of what could be a pro-russian vote. >> ultimately

joining us on the cnbc newsline is lynn thompson, president of thompson buick gmc cadillac in springfieldri. great to have you on our show. how has business been since the start of the recall? >> thank you very much for having me on your show. the recall itself, we have four separate recalls right now that have gone into effect. the main one is of course the ignition switch recall which is the cars sold from basically 2003 through 2007, which is a lot of vehicles, and it's a time frame issue, too. do these people still own these cars. we have cars we have in inventory that falls under this and cars, these particular cars we have sold so we can follow up on this and try to get these people in and get them fixed as soon as possible. we've got -- the thing about mrs. barra, i have not met her personally yet. i will in a couple weeks at the new york auto show. but from everything i read and everybody i talked to, she is on top of this and wants to let everybody know that this is a priority for her. >> but lynn, as a dealer, do you feel that gm is communicating with you effectively? are you ha

and on the cnbc newsline, matt maley, who flagged us about this whole german dax, u.s.orrelation. you got all frothy, at least in e-mail it seemed that way. what's the correlation here? >> well, two things. number one, all this news on china. the overnight news wasn't a whole lot different. we've got negative news out of them for weeks. it wasn't much negative than earlier in the week or last week. so i don't think that was the main reason why we sold off. we opened higher. all this news was already out. what did change was germany's stock market rolled over pretty hard. shortly after we opened up and sold off significantly. as bob pointed out earlier today, he's absolutely right, we saw some of those euro/yen and u.s. dollar/yen trade down. that means less liquidity in the system. that's what really took the market down. that's also what is different than what we saw when the market got hit when this whole thing with russia and ukraine hit at the beginning of the month. that was a one-day wonder. but the yen cross did not change. today they changed. that could be an im

andrew ross sorken has the details on the cnbc newsline. not a big surprise.the timing is interesting, andrew. >> thank you, guys. crazy story. bizarre. it has now take an stranger turn. of course, there was th the @gselevator twitter handle. we unveiled who that was or unmasked who was about a week and a half ago. a 34-year-old from texas, former citigroup banker. never worked at goldman sachs. he was the man behind that handle. he'd also gotten a book deal. apparently today, touch stone saying the book is no longer on. what is surprising about it is that in many conversations that i had with the publisher and over the past week, the publisher reaffirmed multiple of the book and claimed they knew who he was the whole time. now they're raising some questions about what they actually did know in their statement, suggesting that information that's come to light in the past week or so, i imagine some or the reporting we did, changed their view. >> andrew, what do you think is the problem from the publisher's point of view. >> look, at this point the problem is th

>>> hello and welcome back to "newsline." i'm shery ahn. let's get started with the headlines. aerial teams looking for the missing malaysian airliner have temporarily called of their search because of severe weather conditions. >>> the u.n. security council is expected to consider issuing a statement condemning north korea for its latest missile launches. >>> north koreans with disabilities are getting some

>>> hello and welcome back to "newsline," i'm shery ahn. let's get started with the head lines. russian president vladimir putin has ignored criticisms from the west, and signed an agreement to annex crimea. >>> and some survivors of the disaster in northeastern japan are trying to preserve damaged buildings so they can pass along their experiences. >>> vladimir putin has heard threats after threats about his

welcome to "newsline." viktor yanukovych is not going quitely. he faced the media in russia and insisted he is still his country legitimate leader. he appeared in public for the first time in six days and apologized to the people of ukraine for not being able to maintain stability and he said he is not stepping

welcome to "newsline." u.s. president barack obama called for a meeting of a group of 7 next week. he wants to discuss the group's response to the situation in ukraine. the president's assistant ben rhodes told reporters the meet willing be held on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit in the hague on monday. >> and the president will consult with the leaders of the g7 about how to both support the ukrainian government and, of course, the