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NEWS STREAM

Nigerian President Vows To Find Missing Schoolgirls; Odessa Turns Violent; Despite Controversy, Clippers Continue to Win; U.S. Airways Flight Encounters Rough Turbulence; Lucha Libre Turns 80

Aired May 05, 2014 - 8:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet.

Nigeria's president vows to bring back over 200 schoolgirls that are still missing as protesters demand action now.

More violence in parts of Ukraine as the government struggles for control with pro-Russian militants.

And it's almost 80 years old. We go inside Mexico's colorful Lucha Libre wrestling culture.

Where are Nigeria's missing schoolgirls? Protesters around the world are demanding answers and action. Now more than three weeks after more than 200 girls were kidnapped from their school if Chibok. And now President Goodluck Jonathan is finally speaking out. He is vowing to bring them home. But he acknowledges Nigerian officials don't know where they are.

Mr. Jonathan has been accused of now doing enough to find the girls who were abducted by Boko Haram militants. But he's putting some of the blame on their parents.

Now CNN's Vladimir Duthiers is following the developments from Lagos. He joins me now live. And Vlad, just what is the government doing to find the more than 200 girls still missing?

VLADIMIR DUTHIERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kristie, before I even answer that question, I just wanted to tell our viewers that we are learning now through AFP reporting that the supposed leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau has claimed responsibility for the abduction of these 200 plus girls.

And so this has been what the authorities have said all along that it was suspected and believed that it had been this Islamist terror group Boko Haram that had taken these girls on April 14 in Chibok Government Girls College where they were sleeping after having taken some exams. These assailants smashed into their room, abducted these girls, carted them away into the bush after they burned down buildings of the campus.

What the president said yesterday is he sounded very confident in saying that he intended to find these girls, but he also admitted that he didn't know where they were. And there are reports -- we've spoken to family members on the ground and they say that they've seen trucks and vehicles carting girls away from Nigeria on a road leading into Cameroon.

Now for his part, the president said that part of the rescue efforts were being hampered. This is what he had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOODLUCK JONATHAN, PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA: (inaudible) or get them out, what we request (inaudible) cooperation from the guardians and the parents of these girls, because up to this time they have not been able to come clearly to give the police clear identity of the girls who are yet to return.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DUTHIERS: So, there you have it, Kristie. Essentially, it's sort of a head scratcher for a lot of people here. You know, you're asking the parents to enable the military and the police to do what it is they're supposed to be doing, which is to rescue these girls. This has taken three weeks before we've heard the president speak on camera about this -- these girls. I think some people here are somewhat relieved, somewhat happy that he has done so. But still a lot of questions remain to be answered, Kristie.

LU STOUT: That's right, one major question is it's been more than three weeks since hundreds of these girls were taken. I mean, why? I mean, how is it that they still, weeks on, still have not been found?

DUTHIERS: It's a great question. This area where this abduction took place is very remote in the northeastern part of the country. It's one of -- it's an area that's very rural. The supposed area where they have taken these girls is a forest that borders Cameroon and Nigeria.

But even beyond the response from the military, which families on the ground tell us has been inadequate, what our viewers should understand is what these families and what these parents are going through. They send their children away to school, one of the lease educated areas of the country, trying to better their lives in a country where life is not that easy. And in the middle of the night you wake up the next morning and find out that your child has been abducted by armed assailants. And you don't know where they are. And on top of that, your military, your government isn't doing enough to find them.

It's been three weeks and this is the first time you're hearing or seeing from your president -- what the president didn't say in his remarks yesterday, Kristie, is what kind of operational -- what are the operational details of this search and rescue mission that's we've been hearing about? We don't know what they're doing, how they're doing, how they're doing it.

We understand certainly that they have to keep some of that secret because clearly militants watch CNN as well. But we don't know what they're doing, what kind of -- how -- what the man power is on the ground, if they're using helicopters, if they're using aircraft, we have no idea, no clear idea as to what they're doing.

So that's how the parents feel. Not only are their children missing, the agony of losing your child, but also sitting by not being able to do anything about it and your military not able to do anything about it either, Kristie.

LU STOUT: But now the international pressure is on, the scrutiny is on to finally find these girls. Vladimir Duthiers joining me live from Lagos, thank you so much for that update there.

Now social media has played a big role in raising awareness. Now here is one man at a recent rally in Lagos, how he explained its importance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The social has been a powerful tool for us in Nigeria, because social media has filled us information (inaudible) is almost non-available. For weeks, we would not know the number of girls that were missing. So we have been able to fill in the gap, social media has totally, totally...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU SOTUT: The bring back our girls Facebook page is a list of protests planned around the world from South Africa to Sweden to the United States. It's urging people to keep the pressure on Nigeria's government.

Now one of our iReporters sent this image from a march in Toronto that took place over the weekend. Now she says many of the participants were Nigerian and demanded better support and protection for girls going to school. and this iReporter was moved to do more. She's actively tweeting about the situation and also created an online petition, nearly a quarter of a million people have signed it. It declares solidarity with the kidnapped girls and urges Nigeria's president to secure their safe return.

If you want to share your thoughts on the situation, go to iReport.com.

Now we're learning more now about the scale of destruction in one village in northeastern Afghanistan after two landslides turned the region into a mass grave. Authorities say as many as 2,700 people are dead.

Now heavy rain triggered the first landslide on Friday, which swallowed up at least 300 homes.

As people rushed to the scene to dig the victims out, another landslide buried most of the rescuers.

Aid efforts are now focused on some 4,000 survivors and evacuees who need food, water, and medical supplies.

Now let's get more on the landslide area there with Mari Ramos. She joins me from the world weather center -- Mari.

MARI RAMOS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Really amazing pictures there, Kristie.

Let's go ahead and first of all talk a little bit about the weather and the situation and what happened here.

This is the area that we're talking about, very remote region here in northeastern Afghanistan as you mentioned. These colors that you see here is the estimated rainfall from a satellite and pretty significant rainfall, over 150 millimeters of rain over the last seven days and some of you sitting there in the tropics saying, well that doesn't sound like a lot.

You've got to remember that this is an area in a part of the world that does not receive this kind of rainfall, particularly this time of year. So this is out of season rain that is coming in and it's coming in very, very quickly and has come in.

You may not remember, but these landslides that we're talking about right now that were so destructive happened on Friday of last week. There was another landslide the Friday before that also caused some deaths across northern Afghanistan, not as large, but this is just another example of how the rainfall has been so intense across these areas.

Looking at the last seven days of satellite, this is last Monday, and you can see one bout of rain going through, then here comes another one Tuesday. We put this in motion one more time, here's another one on Wednesday, again in the afternoon hours once the heating of the day takes place, another little disturbance pushes in on Thursday. Friday is when that deadly landslide happened.

Look at Saturday, more rain was falling on Saturday across this area. The threat for landslides across this region remains.

I want to go ahead and play that video one more time because I want to show you a couple of things that you might want to pay attention to. The terrain, number one, very vulnerable to landslides. The water has no way to go but down. And that scar that you see right there, that is the landslide itself, you can see it, it looks like someone took a hand and just took all of that dirt down into the village.

These villages tend to be not just on the hillsides, but on the valleys. And you can see how vulnerable they are to this kind of event. Very serious situation in a very remote area.

Come back over to the weather map, let me show you another thing over here. This is another view of the landslide and the landslide scar, so here you see the landslide that I just showed you. The slide of the debris on this very sleep slope coming down.

And then back over here on the other side of the mountain, this looks like old, another landslide, old debris from a from a prior landslide that may have happened years ago, or months ago that we wouldn't have even known about. And of course the village all the way down at the bottom.

One more thing to notice, because of the amount of mud that comes through here and the kind of rain that has been falling, do here at the very bottom there's something called call debris dam, that debris is blocking the water from flowing and that is also a concern, because with more rain in the forecast we could see more flooding.

With my last 30 seconds, I want to update you here on another piece of information that is coming in, this one from southeast Asia, Kristie. This is an earthquake that just occurred within the last 30 minutes or so across northern Thailand about 600 kilometers north of Bangkok. The shaking was felt across this entire area there even all the way down into Bangkok.

There are no serious reports right now of damage or injuries, but we're monitoring this story very, very carefully. 6.0 magnitude quake in this area. This is the shake map. And you can that that very strong shaking was felt for about 500 kilometers across in this region.

Now the concern is the type of structures that these home are built in these villages, dozens of them in this area where the strongest quake shaking occurred. We're monitoring information coming out of these areas. We'll let you know if we hear anything, but the concern is that some of these structures may not be able to withstand that 6.0 very strong shaking, so we'll have to monitor what happens here. Also, the quake was felt in neighboring Myanmar. Back to you, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Really, really appreciate that, an update on the latest quake to register there in northern Thailand.

Mari Ramos, thank you.

Now you're watching News Stream. And still to come in the program, Ukraine is struggling to maintain public law and order in the south and the east of the country. We'll get the latest on the growing crisis next.

And circuses aspire to jawdropping moments, but what happened in Rhode Island over the weekend was not supposed to be part of the show. We will have more on the accident that stunned and confused the spectators.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back. You're watching News Stream. And you're looking at a visual version of all the stories we've got in the show today.

Now we started with a search for over 200 schoolgirls still missing in Nigeria. A little bit later, we'll get analysis of the Oscar Pistorius trial. I has resumed after a two week break. But now to Ukraine.

News agencies report several people have been killed at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Slovyansk. And continuous gunfire has been heard. Now Ukraine has been losing battle after battle to maintain order in the country's east as pro-Russian militants continue to resist.

Now 67 of the separatists were freed from the Odessa police headquarters after pro-Russia activists stormed the building demanding they be released.

Now they had been detained during Friday's violence that saw at least 46 people killed.

To the east, in the city of Luhansk, an unease truce between Ukraine's military and pro-Russia gunmen. As Arwa Damon reports, there have been violent clashes in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The deadline was 6:00 pm Saturday. And when ministry of interior reinforcements from western Ukraine did not leave Luhansk, they came under attack at their temporary base, a military recruitment center.

"Where are the gunmen?" Someone shouts.

Men from another base tried to respond, but found themselves under fire at their gate.

"They shot the checkpoint, the window and the car we had blocking the entrance," Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Smirnoff (ph) tells us.

They eventually negotiated, sending away the non-local forces and (inaudible).

"We won't leave here with our weapons, and they won't block us."

A small unit of pro-Russian fighters returns to the scene to pick up their car that broke down the night before, kitted out in battle gear, confident and cocky.

"Do I have military experience? Bring me one of your Navy SEALs and I will show you military experience," Nicholai (ph) boasts.

"Who is going to get rid of us? Everyone is scared of us."

Do you think that is a good thing?

He insists he would prefer not to fight as long as Kiev acknowledges that this is their Russian land. That message is well understood here as the Ukrainian unit brings out a car battery for the militants who attacked them the night before.

An uneasy truce in an increasingly hostile and murky environment.

This is the military recruitment center that is now under control of the pro-Russian camp. But it's located right in the middle of a civilian neighborhood and the population here is finding itself on the front line.

Yuri (ph) lives right across the street, pointing to the bullet holes left from the battle.

"We fell to the ground. We laid down in the bathroom away from the windows," he says, blaming and despising Kiev for it all.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: All right, let's get more from Arwa Damon now. And Arwa, first let's talk about this upcoming referendum. Separatists in Donetsk, they're preparing for their own referendum on May 11. Will there be a repeat of what happened in Crimea here?

DAMON: Well, that is the concern, of course, for the central government and for the United States and Europe that Ukraine will lose the eastern portion of the country completely. The plans for the referendum not just here in Donetsk, but also in a number of other areas throughout eastern Ukraine.

It does seem to be a bit of a foregone conclusion. The question that's going to put to people at this stage is initially do you want to have a federal state? And then later on we're hearing is going to be the question to you want to the join Russia.

But this is a region that has a lot more divergence of opinion than Crimea did and the issue right now is that the loudest voice is that of the pro-Russian camp. But it's the voice of moderation, the voice that is perhaps that of the middle ground is really getting drowned out at this stage. So it could potentially prove to be a lot more complicated than the referendum we saw in Crimea, Kristie.

LU STOUT: There is this political tension between the pro-Kiev camp and the pro-Russian camp. And of course this military battle that's underway. Ukraine government forces, they have launched their anti-terror sweep as they call it. How capable are they? Can Ukraine gain the upper hand in this crisis?

DAMON: It's difficult to see how that's actually going to happen, given that this so-called anti-terrorism operation has been underway for quite some time now with no real significant gains being made by the Ukrainian forces.

Remember, they're not very well equipped, they're not very well trained, they're not accustomed, they don't have experience in this kind of urban battlefield. So they're facing those challenges, plus a lot of the areas that these pro-Russian separatists have taken over, they're right in the middle of cities as you saw from that report, which is going to make taking back using force incredibly difficult and potentially even more devastating and also could even further aggravate sentiments and the situation on the ground.

So it's a very tricky situation for Kiev to try to navigate.

LU STOUT: Arwa Damon reporting live from Donetsk, thank you.

Now you're watching News Stream. And still to come on the program, circuses, they're known for heart-stopping moments, but this one was not supposed to be part of the show.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, you are back watching News Stream.

A circus act that went horribly wrong is being investigated by authorities in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. An apparatus called the human chandelier was holding eight female performers by the hair, but then it failed sending them crashing nearly 10 meters to the ground. In all, 11 people were hospitalized, one is listed in critical condition.

More on the accident, CNN's Alexandra Fields joins me live from New York -- Alexandra.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORREPSONDENT: Hi, Kristie, investigators are still trying to figure out what caused the accident, the 4,000 people in the audience left stunned. They watched the curtain rise. They saw the acrobats hanging by their hair, and then all of a sudden they watched the eight women crashed to the stage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: A circus act goes horribly wrong.

Eight acrobats suspended by their hair more than two stories above ground suddenly plunge when the apparatus holding them fails.

Eleven people were injured, one critically.

STEVEN PARE, PROVIDENCE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSIONER: At this point it doesn't appear to be life-threatening, but they are serious injuries from that height and fall.

FIELD: The fall, a frightening sight for the thousands of spectators including many children.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody at first didn't realize it was an accident. They thought it might be part of the show, but soon realized it was an accident.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The whole metal came on top of everybody. It was scary.

FIELD: Promotional video shows what the stunt is supposed to look like, one of the highlights of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey's Legends Show.

They're working with local and national officials to make sure this doesn't happen again.

LAWRENCE LEPORE, DUNKIN DONUTS CENTER: We will do whatever it takes to get to the bottom of this, to make sure that when the shows back and starts to perform again that it's safe.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: And as soon as that accident happened, of course that show was stopped. The rest of the day shows were also canceled and another performance today has been canceled as well, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Alexandra, a circus spokesman has spoken to CNN saying that safety has always been a priority. So what else needs to happen here? What else needs to be done to make sure that accidents like this won't happen again?

FIELD: Sure. Obviously, the circus is looking into this. They want to investigate what happened here. Local officials are coming in as well as national officials. What we understand from the officials in the state of Rhode Island is that the circus did have the proper permits. It is the responsibility of the circus to ensure that their equipment is safe. And again you pointed it out, the spokesman saying that they do these equipment checks. They believe their equipment is safe. But they're really going to have to look into what went wrong here, what could have caused this sort of massive failure.

LU STOUT: Yeah, horrific accident. Alexandra Field reporting. Thank you.

Now you're watching News Stream. And still ahead, it's now been 21 days since more than 200 schoolgirls were abducted in Nigeria. And as parents wait for any word about the missing girls, CNN is bringing you special coverage of the crisis.

And in Ukraine, pro-Russia separatists freed amid renewed violence. Now Russia says the unrest could put the whole of Europe at risk.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching News Stream. And these are your world headlines.

Now a report called the white book by the Russian foreign ministry says the violence in Ukraine threatens peace in Europe. Now the report accuses Ukrainian nationalists of human rights violations against pro- Russia protesters. Now Kiev says the uprising in eastern Ukraine is backed by Moscow.

The scale of destruction from two landslides in northeastern Afghanistan is becoming clearer. Now authorities say as many as 2,700 people died in this disaster. Now heavy rain triggered the first landslide on Friday, which inundated hundreds of homes. Another landslide buried most of the rescuers.

In a video obtained by AFP, the leader of Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the mass kidnapping of girls in Nigeria. Now they were seized from their school three weeks ago. President Goodluck Jonathan has come under international pressure to do more to locate and to rescue them.

Now as we showed you earlier, people are using social media to organize rallies and to demand action from the Nigerian government. They're using the hashtag #bringbackourgirls on Twitter. And it has several high profile supporters.

Singer Mary J. Blige tweeted this to her nearly 5 million followers last week, "former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton writes access to education is a basic right." She goes on to say, "we must stand up to terrorism."

The education activist Malala Yousafzai posted this picture showing her solidarity with the missing girls in Nigeria.

Now the threat of a similar fate, it hangs over other schoolgirls in Nigeria.

Isha Sesay spoke to some students in Lagos. And for their safety, we've blurred their faces and kept their identities anonymous.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISHA SESAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tell me about the impact this had among your group of friends and what people were saying in school and how it affected your lives.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Most of like friends I don't see on campus, they leave immediately after lectures. Everyone goes home. No one, like, you know, extracurricular activities, nobody wanted to stay, because every -- most of us they really -- we didn't really -- not most of us, we didn't feel safe. So we just came to school and immediately we went back home.

SESAY: Did you ever think about not going to school?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It crossed my mind, but I felt that if I stayed at home, it might happen to me at home. It can happen to me at school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sometimes it's not about not going to school, but even if you go to school do you feel comfortable sitting in class and understanding what the lecture or teacher is saying, but so (inaudible) good school book. They (inaudible) have that comfort to stay and understand they're supposed to.

SESAY: The concern, obviously, is that not where you're from, maybe, but that this will have an impact and that more and more girls will become afraid and we know that there are already large numbers of girls not going to school in the north. Talk to me about just your feelings about the future for where you're from?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To be honest with you, if this goes on, many parents do not -- I don't think they'll allow their daughters to go to school. And you know sometimes the schools are closer to home and they're aren't very good. So, to get a college education we to go further from home. So it means that there will be low quality of education and illiteracy is going to increase.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (inaudible) Yes. In the future, even if after all this has settled and the girls return (inaudible) there's a (inaudible) feeling still which will affect you as the girls and the community and maybe in my community too (inaudible) happen there, it can happen here. So don't like to go to school (inaudible) parents most especially will say OK, why don't we go to this other good school, because we don't suffer from what other parents suffered -- yeah, learning from experience. What we're learning from (inaudible).

So definitely the girls (inaudible) what are these girls doing at home? (inaudible) comes in, first (inaudible) the girl's dreams are crushed. It is something we don't want for (inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we need to go to school so that we can be who we want to be, because many girls (inaudible) if -- I wish you could talk to many of us from the north, you're going to hear their dreams. I want to be a lawyer. I want to be a nurse. And it's very -- I think you can get only like 2 percent that will tell you I just want to marry and just be a mother, just be a housewife.

Before, yeah, before many girls (inaudible)...

SESAY: And I think that's what a lot of people still think.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But right now that's not true, to be honest with you. That is not true. Every girl in (inaudible) wants to be educated, she wants to be heard. She wants to help the society be a better one.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now we'll be bringing you updates on the missing girls all week. Isha Sesay has live reports from Nigeria throughout the days ahead. And she'll also anchor special editions of CNN News Center from the capital of Nigeria Abuja, that's at 7:30 pm in London and Abuja right here on CNN.

Now returning now to the ongoing violence in Ukraine. Now according to news agencies, the country's interior minister says several people died today in fighting at a checkpoint near the eastern city of Slovyansk. In Luhansk, separatist leaders have declared a state of emergency and announced the formation of a southeast army.

And further south on Friday, 46 people were killed in street violence and a deadly fire in the Black Sea port city of Odessa. Now that prompted angry protests at a police station and the release of dozens of activists held inside.

Phil Black has more on a conflict that now appears to be spreading.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Odessa is a long way from the Russian border, but there have always been concerns about the possibility of the country's crisis flaring up here. It's a city with a large Russian-speaking population, strong historic and cultural links to Russia as well. But there's a key different between here and the east of the country. In Odessa, you also have a large crowd of people who are regularly prepared to take to the streets in the name of Ukrainian unity. And it is that mix that in recent days has resulted in some of the worst violence Ukraine's crisis has seen.

Most of this crowd just stood in the rain and screamed, demanding freedom for the pro-Russian activists held inside the police station, but others wanted to break them out. They desperately attacked the building, smashing whatever they could and the crowd cheered them on.

Eventually they broke through into the station's inner courtyard. The police didn't try to stop them. The crowd was offered a deal, those detained would be released if everyone then went home.

Rage suddenly replaced by joy, public enemies of the Ukrainian government walked free.

Their chant, all for one, one for all. Another victory for a violent crowd, yet another humiliation for the country's police.

These men are coming out of the building saying (inaudible) cell doors have been thrown open have been greeted as heroes with smiles, hugs, people are crying. It's all so different to what was happening here a few moments ago when this crowd was screaming Odessa will never forgive, never forget.

While these people celebrated the freedom of the living, another large gathering mourned the dead. This was outside the trade union building where pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainians clashed Friday. More than 40 were killed, mostly pro-Russians as fire spread through the building.

There was anger here too, but mostly grief. They cried openly for people they didn't know. The deaths here inspire Ukraine's interim prime minister to come to Odessa, pleading for national unity.

ARSENIY YATSENYUK, UKRAINIAN INTERIM PRIME MINISTER: This is the wakeup call for the entire country for reconciliation. We need to realize that Russians want to eliminate our country.

BLACK: His message is a tough sell in a city where so many now believe people who speak Russian are being killed and arrested by forces loyal to the Ukrainian government. ]

Among Ukrainian authorities, there are different versions about who actually gave the order to free those prisoners. No one is accepting responsibility as there are different claims about who is responsible for Friday's violence. Ultimately, it is the legacy of these events that matter. Odessa is now a different city. Hearts here have hardened. There is greater bitterness, resentment, even hatred than there was just a few days ago.

Phil Black, CNN, Odessa, Southern Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Coming up on News Stream, it was a bumpy ride for passengers, some say the severe turbulence felt like a roller coaster. Others thought the plane was going down. I'll have the details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Now a new and more difficult phase is beginning in the search for Malaysia Airlines flight 370. Now officials say the next stage will involve using highly specialized sonar and underwater vehicles. Australian, Malaysian and Chinese authorities will meet in Australia on Wednesday to start on new plans for the search. Australia's defense minister says it could be as long as two months before a new, more sophisticated equipment is ready.

Now despite finding nothing, the search has been extensive. 26 countries have been looking for the missing plane. Aircraft have spent 3,000 hours in the air, covering more than 4.6 million square kilometers. Now that is a lot of territory.

But look at this, it is less than 7 percent of the entire Indian Ocean.

Now if you travel by air, one piece of advice is to always have your seat belt fastened while in an airplane. And here's why. Six people on a U.S. Airways flight were injured when the plane hit severe turbulence. Rene Marsh has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shoes were flying, cell phones were flying, people were screaming. It was very, very, very scary.

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A frightening scene on a U.S. Airways flight as passengers were jolted around injuring six people, sending five including two flight attendants to the hospital.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought we were going down.

MARSH: The Orlando-bound flight hit severe turbulence shortly after taking off from Philadelphia International Airport. Passengers say the drop in altitude came out of nowhere.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were going and there was a drop like you were going down the bottom of a roller coaster and things just flew up in the air.

MARSH: One passenger described seeing a woman flying out of her seat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The lady three rows in front of me, she bashed her head to the plastic. The plastic was broken.

MARSH: This photo shows cracks in another overhead compartment after a passenger crashed into it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was crazy, lifted out of our seats.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now, there were 265 people on board when the Airbus A330 hit turbulence at about 17,000 feet. Now the Federal Aviation Administration will investigate.

You're watching News Stream. And still ahead, step inside the high flying, hard hitting world of Mexican wrestling. We go behind the masks to uncover the secrets of Lucha Libre's success.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: In South Africa, the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius is back in session after a two week break. The defense is trying to cast doubt on the state's case. Now taking the stand today, the first person on the scene after Pistorius killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day last year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHAN STANDER, NEIGHBOR OF OSCAR PISTORIUS: He's praying. He's asking god to help him. He says he was torn apart, broken, desperate, pleading. It's difficult, really, to describe. And his commitment to save the young lady's life. When he put his finger in her mouth and tried to keep the airway open for her to breath, how he begged her to stay with him, how he begged god to keep her alive. No, I saw the truth there that morning. I saw it. And I feel it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now Oscar Pistorius admits that he shot and killed Reeva Steenkamp, but says he mistook her for an intruder.

Now CNN's legal analyst Kelly Phelps is watching the trial. She joins me now from Pretoria. And Kelly, testimony today from the first person on the scene after the shooting, Johan Stander. He said that the athlete was, quote, "broken" after the shooting. What did that testimony reveal?

KELLY PHELPS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, first of all it corroborated Pistorius's own retelling of the immediate aftermath of the incident. And secondly, and perhaps importantly at this stage of the trial, it also lays the foundation for the consistency of his emotionally distraught response in the aftermath of the killing of Reeva Steenkamp.

We know that Gerrie Nel has on occasion inferred for the court that Pistorius was, in essence, faking his emotions, or hiding behind them to avoid difficult questioning. And this is testimony that essentially puts back on the record that this distraught emotional response from Pistorius is something that has been consistently present from the immediate aftermath all the way up until the trial.

LU STOUT: Now both Stander and his daughter, they testified Oscar Pistorius's emotional state after the shooting. They also testified what they saw at Pistorius's house after the shooting. Now the defense has alleged that the evidence was tampered with, so did the two witnesses today provide any evidence of that after the shooting?

PHELPS: Well, they didn't testify to it directly, but certainly Johan Stander in particular laid a foundation of which the defense can further balk that allegation going forward through other witnesses. So particularly, he spoke about in a sense a state of disarray that he witnessed at the scene once the police arrived. So he spoke about it being riddled with different people and the fact that some people were in uniform and some people weren't in uniform. He wasn't sure exactly who was a member of the police service and that people were walking up and down the stairs.

And this does absolutely paint a picture of mismanagement or a lack of professionalism in terms of how that crime scene was being handled in the immediate aftermath.

LU STOUT: And just curious, why is it that the two individuals today who testified, including the one who was the very first on the scene after the shooting, why is it they were never called by the prosecution?

PHELPS: Well, that's the question, in a sense, that everyone would like to know the answer to. And certainly you can tell by the manner in which the defense started their questioning with both witnesses by getting them to put on the record that they had been expecting to testify for the state, that they thought they were state witnesses, they are certainly laying the foundation for the judge, to deduce, to draw an inference that the state essentially selectively chose their witnesses and that the Stander's testimony, despite being so crucial as they were the first people on the scene, didn't suit the state's case and therefore they tried to avoid calling them.

LU STOUT: Now the court is adjourned until Tuesday morning. Who will be called to testify next?

PHELPS: Well, no one other than the defense knows exactly who will be next, but we certainly know some key people we haven't heard from yet. So we are still expecting to hear from more neighbors, particularly neighbors that had also been on the state's list that were in fact closer in proximity to Pistorius's house. And this will pertain to the evidence about hearing a woman screaming and whether it was Pistorius himself or Steenkamp that was heard.

We'll also see more expert evidence, particularly from a ballistics expert pertaining to the wound ballistics as this has been a central part of the state's case. And we will absolutely hear from a psychologist who will be very important in terms of putting evidence on the record for the defense to try to convince the court that because of his disability, Pistorius's conduct on that night in question should be considered reasonable in the circumstances.

LU STOUT: So we're likely to hear from a psychologist, perhaps a ballistics expert, definitely more neighbors.

Now up to now, Kelly, the prosecution has been building a case to show this pattern of reckless behavior and gun use by Oscar Pistorius. So what does the defense need to do to refute that story?

PHELPS: Well, certainly I expect what they will and do is two things. Number one, they will try to suggest that compared with other people's gun use in South Africa, his gun use was not extraordinary or unusual and therefore should not be termed as reckless or negligent. Secondly, they will probably try and put more evidence on the stand to directly refute the state's case and show that Pistorius actually most of the time was very careful with his firearm and that the evidence that has been placed on record was essentially picked out of context and therefore misconstrued.

But this might be difficult for them, because recklessness, afterall, is something that is objectively assessed. And at the end of the day, the judge will determine whether as a matter of fact, objectively speaking, his conduct with those firearms was reckless or not compared with legal standards.

LU STOUT: All right, Kelly Phelps joining me live from Pretoria. Kelly, your analysis always very much appreciated. Thank you.

Now some key players in the Los Angeles Clippers' saga, they have spoken out. Now the estranged wife of the banned owner Donald Sterling says she supports most of the NBA's moves against him.

Meanwhile, the woman who recorded Sterling making racist remarks is urging him to apologize. And while the team has been distracted off the court, it has continued to win on it. Ted Rowlands has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With a win this weekend, the Los Angeles Clippers are moving on to the next round of the NBA playoffs.

Meanwhile, off the court, the drama surrounding team owner Donald Sterling continues to grow.

In an interview with ABC's Barbara Walters, V. Stiviano, the woman heard with Sterling on the now infamous recordings, defended the Clippers' owner and claims she is still close with him.

BARBARA WALTERS, ABC: Is Donald Sterling a racist?

V. STIVIANO: No. I don't believe it in my heart.

WALTERS: What is his state of mind right now?

STIVIANO: Confused. I think he feels very alone.

ROWLANDS: Meanwhile, Sterling's wife, Shelly, who was at this weekend's game, says she thinks the NBA's plan to hire an executive to run the team is a great idea, releasing a statement that seems to indicate she would like to hold onto the Clippers, which is part of a family trust.

The statement says in part, "As a co-owner, I am fully committed to taking the necessary steps to make the Clippers the best team in the NBA. That has been my aspiration ever since 1981."

IRA BOUDWAY, BLOOMBERG: She is saying, essentially, that you can do what you want to my husband.

He is a racist, maybe. You can strip him of his control as the board of governor.

But this is a piece of family property, and you can't just take away our property. We didn't do anything. We didn't say anything. This is not us.

ROWLANDS: As for Donald Sterling's next move, it's still unclear if he will be willing to sell

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on CBS' "Face the Nation" says after speaking to Sterling, he doesn't think he'll go down without a fight.

MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI, LOS ANGELES: I think he thinks he's going to be the owner for a long time, that he wants to stay the owner.

And I said this will be a long, protracted fight and a painful thing for a city that is a great city, great American city.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: That was Ted Rowlands reporting. and the Clippers, they play again on Monday night facing Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals.

Now, colorful masks, tight pants, oiled bodies, going to battle in a wrestling right, that is Lucha Libre. Now the Mexican sport is celebrating its 80th anniversary and is as popular as ever with growing and lucrative markets outside of Mexico. Nick Parker reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PARKER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORREPSONDENT: It's a show of top rope acrobatics, masked warriors and a crowd whipped into a frenzy.

It's Friday night in Mexico City and for many loud fans here, that means Lucha Libre. It's become a cultural icon of Mexico now celebrating its 80th anniversary.

Shocker, or 1,000 percent handsome, as he is also known, is one of the sport's biggest stars. He was unmasked a few years ago.

SHOCKER, LUCHADOR: Mexican people are used to the mask, because of our first wrestlers used to wear masks to come in the ring. They wanted to give the kids that mystic, you know, that -- who is behind the mask? You started get bigger, very popular, because of the high flying that we do.

PARKER: Lucha Libre, or Free Fight, rose to national prominence under promoters CMLL. They say a lot has changed in 80 years.

SANDRA GRANADOS, CONSEJO MUNDIAL DE LUCHA LIBRE (through translator): CMLL has signed a contract with Warner Brothers to manage all of the marketing of each fighter. They've made several TV shows. So now we're broadcasting to countries like England, France, and some places in the Middle East.

PARKER: Warner Brothers, owned by Time Warner, CNN's parent company, is by no means the only media company looking at expanding the sport. Film director Robert Rodriguez has launched El Rey, a new channel aimed at a growing Latino English speaking market in the United States. The channel has struck a deal with another Lucha Libre promoter to cash in on what they say is a billion dollar U.S. wrestling industry.

JOHN FOGELMAN, CO-FOUNDER, EL REY: It's got nostalgia for a lot of people who grew up with it from earlier generations.

The second thing that it has, it has the makings of great storytelling between having good and evil.

PARKER: Shocker is El Rudo (ph), or bad guy. I asked him to go through the basics of what people needed to know about being a luchador.

SHOCKER: You have to have a good entrance. You can either go over the ropes, or you can come in between the ropes, you know.

PARKER: Things quickly took a turn for the worse.

What does that mean lock up.

SHOCKER: Lock up, it's the tie up, you know, hand here, here. This is where we measure our strength. You know, you push -- no, you've got to push hard.

Then you twist their arm, you know.

PARKER: Oh yeah, you twist the arm.

SHOCKER: It puts a lot of pressure on the shoulders.

PARKER: Yeah, it has a little pinch to it.

SHOCKER: All you've got to do is scissor.

PARKER: It was definitely time to leave.

Nick Parker, CNN, Mexico City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Oh, poor Nick. Oh, my goodness.

Now once upon a time, flying first class on an international airline meant you got a slightly more comfortable seat, but nowadays airlines offer enclosed spaces for first class passengers that resemble private rooms.

But Etihad Airways is taking it a step further by giving passengers three rooms. Etihad calls it the residence.

Now here is the living room with seats for two. Down a carpeted corridor, there's a bedroom, and there's even a private bathroom with a shower. It measures about 11-and-a-half square meters in all, tiny for a living space, but enormous compared to a cramped airline seat.

But all that, it doesn't come cheap. Flying in the residence from Abu Dhabi to London costs about $20,000. So that's about $2,600 an hour.

And that is News Stream. World Business Today is next. And we will keep following the story of the 200 girls missing in Nigeria in the hours to come right here on CNN.

END