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Malaysia Airlines Flight Disappeared About 26 Hours Ago; John Kerry Talks Tough With Russia's Foreign Minister; President Obama Called Several European Leaders Today To Discuss Ukrainian Crisis; Ebony Wilkerson Charged With Three Attempts Of Third-Degree Murder; What Do Putin's Action Mean?

Aired March 08, 2014 - 15:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, it's 3:00 p.m. Eastern time. Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Officials in Vietnam believe a search plane has found a significant clue to the mysterious disappearance of that Malaysia flight 370. The Boeing 777 disappeared not long after takeoff from Kuala Lumpur Malaysia more than 26 hours ago. It was headed to Beijing with 239 people onboard. Vietnamese authorities an aircraft has spotted traces of oil in waters over the search area. Officials say the oil slicks are between six and nine miles long. They were found about 90 miles south of Vietnam's Tochu islands. The passengers are from all over the world, 14 countries in all, in fact. But more than half of them are from China, and at least three are Americans.

U.S. intelligence officials are following reports about the two passengers who may have been traveling on stolen passports. They tell CNN quote "we're aware of the reporting on the two lost or stolen passports. No nexus to terrorism yet, although that is by no means definitive. We're still tracking," that from the U.S. intelligence source.

We have correspondents and analysis covering this story from all angles, CNN law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes in Washington and our Andrew Stevens in Beijing.

So let's begin with Tom. How are we going to find out the identities of these people who may have been indeed traveling on stolen passports?

THOMAS FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Again that could be a slow process. But the first thing they'll do is going back over the videos of when they checked in, and see if there's video coverage of that at the ticket counter in the Malaysian airport. So that would be, you know, probably the first clue to try on that.

I should add something to my earlier reporting about visas for China. You can enter about seven cities in China. And if you stay less than 72 hours, you basically come in, play tourist, go shopping, and leave, you don't need a visa. It's considered that you're in transit. So the Malaysians and China southern airlines, the flight that they booked it through, will be able to say if they had round-trip tickets to leave China less than 72 hours, they would not need a visa. But a lot of this is going to go back to the circumstances of when those passports were stolen. See if there's any information to be learned at that point. And, also, comparing the videos with when they checked in, where they were going, in addition to Beijing. Were they coming back to Kuala Lumpur? Were they flying on to another country and, therefore, did not need a China visa? Did they check luggage? What kind? How big was it? Any of those pieces of information will be important. And, again, videos in the airport will show them hopefully as they approached the ticket counter, what kind of luggage, or how big the luggage is they brought in, and get clues from that.

WHITFIELD: And Tom, if those passports, one being from Austria and the other from Italy, were indeed stolen or misplaced and reported. And those citizens who own the passports have since been given replacements, why wouldn't these passports, the old one kind of set off alarms or how is that could be use? How could they be valid for travel?

FUENTES: They may not set off any alarms. If those passports were used to get boarding passes in the airport in Kuala Lumpur, and the Malaysian authorities did not make an inquiry with the database of Interpol headquarters in Lyon, France, they would have in knowledge that those passports had prevent been reported stolen.

Now, if they were leaving through the United States, the United States passports coming and going, does require the database to determine if a passport or other travel document being use had been reported stolen, and is in the database ant Interpol in Lyon.

WHITFIELD: All right, Tom Fuentes, thank you very much.

So, how unusual is it for a huge passenger jet like this at cruising altitude to vanish without a distress call? Our Rene Marsh joins us by phone.

So Rene, you know, how is it being (INAUDIBLE)? It's very unusual that a plane would disappear at this cruising altitude.

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Absolutely, Fred. I mean, I've been talking all day with people within the industry, and they all seem to agree. We really are not in a good place here. Here it is, it's more than 24 hours since we've heard from the crew on this plane, and the search and rescue teams have, really, don't have anything. I mean, we've talked a little about those oil slicks that have been spotted in the water or around the area where they lost contact with the airplane, but it could be a situation, as one person pointed out, may be connected, may not be connected, may have not nothing to do with this.

So, as I speak to you, this plane is still missing, still not a lot of answers. We're talking about a plane that is high-tech. We're talking about a captain who was in the cockpit who was very experienced. And we have a situation where we don't know where this plane is. So many people just -- they're baffled. They don't understand what -- how could this be and what exactly happened here? And it makes it really difficult to get answers because, Fred, we have no evidence at this point. We don't even know where this plane is. We don't have one shred of evidence as far as anything. We don't have recorders. We don't have accounts from passengers. We don't have the benefit of an interview with the pilot. So at this point, more questions than answers, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And then, what do you suppose might be next? What's the next layer in this investigation, in addition to trying to locate any remnants of this plane?

MARSH: Right. So pushing forward, the question is who will be looking in to this, who will take the lead here? We have been in touch with the NTSB and they tell us officially they're monitoring the situation. No word of them, actually sending a team there at this point. And they're not officially saying that they are investigating. That being said, we do believe that they will be part of this investigation especially when you consider two factors.

This plane was manufactured here in the United States, the Boeing 777. You had American citizens onboard of the plane. So they're interests there, in which we believe that the NTSB eventually will participate in this investigation, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Rene Marsh. Thank you so much.

So the passengers' families are getting increasingly worried and frustrated. Andrew Stevens joins us now from Beijing where relatives of the 154 Chinese nationals are onboard, gathering at a hotel complex.

Andrew, what are officials telling them?

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's very difficult for the officials to tell them any concrete facts at the moment, Fredricka, because they don't have any. What they are saying is that their priority, the airlines priority to give as much assistance to the people they need. All the next of kin have now been contacted. All next of kin of the passengers who were on that plane have now been contacted. And Malaysian Airlines, and I guess this is a way of saying they are expecting the worst, they have said, they've told the passengers as soon as the plane is found, they will fly them to where that -- where the plane is.

Now, we can only assume that that plane -- it will be wreckage. We don't know at this stage, as we just heard. There's no solid evidence, nothing to link the oil slicks we've been hearing reported about from Vietnam in the area in the South China Sea, nothing to firmly link those to the disappearance of MH 370. Although, most of saying it's highly likely that the two are linked. Very, very difficult time for everyone at the moment because there's so many concrete information to go on. And then you can imagine the frustration, the heartbreak which is surrounding so many people this hour. Not just here in Beijing, also in Kuala Lumpur, in countries around the world. Fourteen countries, nationals of 14 countries, are said to have been on that plane, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, sad, very sad. Thank you so much, Andrew Stevens. Appreciate that.

All right, new developments in the crisis in Ukraine. Secretary of state John Kerry talks tough with Russia's foreign minister. What he said, next.

And new video of the mother who drove her minivan into the ocean with her children inside, she made her first court passengers. We'll tell you what happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: President Obama called several European leaders today on the crisis in Ukraine. Those discussions coming as the standoff of Crimea is heating up. Pro and anti-Russian demonstrators both demonstrated in different regions of Ukraine and an unmarked convoy moved through Crimea's capital city.

Erin McPike is live for us now at the White House.

So Erin, what do we know about the phone calls that we are being made?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN GENERAL ASSIGNMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, President Obama held two sets of calls this morning and really all of them were basically designed to amped up the pressure on Russia. He first had individual calls with three European foreign leaders -- British Prime Minister David Cameron, Italian and the French president Francois Holland. And I want to read to you two comments from a senior official about these calls. Because they really show how much pressure they are trying to put on Russia. They said the leaders reiterated grave concern over Russia's clear violation of international law. Also, the leaders made clear that Russia's continued violation of international law will isolate it from the international community.

Now, one significant detail I also want to point out about those specific calls are -- that these leaders rejected the referendum proposed for next Sunday, that would allow Crimea sow secede from Ukraine, against the constitution and insisted all decisions made here include the government in Kiev and ways to provide assistance to Ukraine.

Now, the other set of calls was really just one conference call with the presidents of the three Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and basically President Obama was reaffirming the United States military support for those countries and they were grateful for the assistance being provided. We know the United States has sent half a dozen F-15 fighter jets to help the NATO air policing exercises going on there, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much, Erin McPike there at the White House.

All right, another critical phone call between U.S. secretary of state John Kerry and Russia's foreign minister. Kerry and Sergey Lavrov met last week in Rome and they had ongoing talks about Ukraine including today's conversation. A senior administration official released some details of the call saying Kerry told Lavrov the U.S. is ready to facilitate dialogue. But the official also said, "at the same time, Kerry made clear that continued military escalation and provocation in Crimea or elsewhere in Ukraine along with steps to annex to Russia would close any available space for diplomacy and he urged utmost restraint," unquote.

Barbara Starr joins me now from the phone from Washington.

So, Barbara, that statement, what about that statement, rather, stood out to you? Do you think it is particularly pertinent?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Yes, Fred. I've got to tell you, John Kerry's words that he made clear continued military escalation. That was a big concern. This is escalation Russian-style that the U.S. is so worried about right now. You know, there's no sign at the moment that Putin is authorizing or ordering military enforcements in, you know, in the thousands to cross in to Crimea.

But look at the drip, drip, drip of the last several days. We've seen continued localized violence. We've seen troops associated with the Russians all over Crimea, at strategic points, roads, roadblocks, the taking over of military bases, controlling things that operational control with Crimea that they got so soon. And you know, we are also told that the U.S. is seeing some small numbers of additional Russian troops going in.

So Putin, you know, is achieving escalation in a very, as I say, drip, drip way. You know, you add a little bit here, a little bit there, and he's beginning to achieve his goals. He doesn't need thousands of troops. He doesn't need to authorize a thankful -- military action in terms of firing weapons. But the problem, Fred is what the U.S. is so concern about as this standoff goes on day-by-day, you know, at what point does one side or the other out there blink? At what point you have an individual one of these incidents potentially erupt into conflict. It is very worse. It is worrisome administration.

WHITFIELD: All right, Barbara Starr, thank you so much.

All right, on to other news. In Florida, making her first court appearance, the mother charged with attempted murder after driving her minivan into the ocean with her kids inside. Hear what she allegedly told her children during this terrifying moment and the disturbing revelations about her mental state.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. New developments today in the case of a pregnant mother accused of trying to kill her children by driving her van in to the ocean with them inside. This is the first video that we're seeing of Ebony Wilkerson since she charged Friday with three attempts of third-degree murder. There it is right there.

Our Nick Valencia has more.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, Ebony Wilkerson made her first court appearance earlier today with the judge set her bond at $1.2 million. That is 300,000 for every count of first degree attempted murder, $100,000 for every count of child abuse.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHERIFF KEN JOHNSON, VOLUSIA COUNTY, FLORIDA: She definitely tried to kill her children from everything we have seen.

VALENCIA (voice-over): The Volusia County sheriff's office says new details in the investigation show this was not accident.

JOHNSON: She actually told them to close their eyes, go to sleep. She was taking them to a better place.

VALENCIA: On Tuesday, Ebony Wilkerson drove a minivan filled with her children into the Atlantic Ocean. The dramatic drive on Florida's Daytona Beach caught on tape as kids inside cried for help.

TIM TESSENEER, EYEWITNESS: We thought it was a joke. Hey, they're having a good time.

VALENCIA: Eyewitness Tim Tesseneer found out quickly the situation was serious. It was Tesseneer and another onlooker Stacy Robinson who helped rescue the family.

TESSENEER: We didn't know there were kids in the car to begin with. Then the back windows rolled down and we heard kids, you know, hollering a little and then I thought I heard a faint "help." I was like, did I hear a faint help and then it come clear. They were screaming for help.

VALENCIA: The children's mother charged with three counts of attempted first-degree murder and three counts of child abuse. Relatives told investigators Wilkerson was in quote "an abusive relationship with her husband and she had come to Florida to get away." Relatives said the 32-year-old pregnant mother of three had no history of mental illness. But a 911 call made by a concerned family member just two hours before Wilkerson allegedly tried to kill her kids.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. I need wellness, like she's having psychosis or something, or postpartum.

VALENCIA: Police say they did respond and evaluated her for about 30 minutes but said there was no legal right to detain her.

JOHNSON: The children weren't in crisis. The woman said I'm going to a shelter and she showed nothing that was no display she was a danger to anyone at that time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: Now, if convicted Wilkerson faces a maximum of 30 years in prison -- Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Nick Valencia.

All right, waiting and wondering about the fate of loved ones. That's the excruciating experience happening right now to the families of the 239 people onboard that missing Malaysian jetliner. The latest on the search and the investigation, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, bottom of the hour now. Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Committee, announcing the winner of its straw poll in about two hours from now, and that would give the GOP an early idea on who can serve as favorite for president in 2016.

On the other hand, none of the past three winners did that well. Rand Paul and his father Ron Paul never even got the nomination and we all know what happened to Mitt Romney in 2012. Young libertarians tend to dominate CPAC. The convention is hearing from most of the party's big guns hoping one will emerge as the person to carry the Republican banner into 2016. But it comes way warning from Newt Gingrich. Don't just be the party of no, if the party wants voters to say yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH, CNN HOST, CROSSFIRE: And I also came to issue a warning. If our movement is primarily anti-Obama, we will, in fact, reduce the number of victories we should win this fall. If we spend the next three years being primarily anti-Hillary, we will virtually guarantee her election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's bring in "Time" political reporter Zeke Miller. He is at CPAC and in National Harbor, Maryland.

All right. So, is there a way in which to look in the crystal ball? Are you getting a sense from people there as we draw upon this straw poll? You know who might be the favorites?

ZEKE MILLER, TIME POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, it's not so much a race for number one right now. That is going to be Kentucky Senator Rand Paul who won last year. It's really a race for second or multiple different races between the different branches of the Republican Party right now who will be sort of the elite establishment candidate who will be the lead social conservative candidate. All these different little signs, but number one is pretty much pre-determined and that is going to be Rand Paul.

WHITFIELD: OK. And then, you know, Newt Gingrich. What were the rumblings in the room? You can't be the party of no. You have to say grow some things. Was there, you know, any sentiment that was audible from the crowd?

MILLER: Nothing in the sense of, you know, a little bit of applause here and there. But that's really a message we've heard over and over again during this three-day conference. Rick Perry saying they need to be the party of ideas. Something that Paul Ryan has said. You know, really, there's a sense within the Republican Party, grass roots that they can't be just against the president, just saying no to things. Really, the question is, they haven't found a way to agree yet in terms of what they want to be for.

WHITFIELD: OK. And among those who it was expressing an opinion about who they don't necessarily want to see in the White House, somebody Representative Michele Bachmann saying, oh, yes, there's going to be, you know, a female president but it's not going to be Hillary Clinton.

MILLER: Yes. That was really the most overt shot we've seen taken against sort of the potential 2016 Democratic candidate, former secretary of state. You know, really, sort of kind of surprising we've seen a bunch of attacks at her husband, former president bill Clinton, over his womanizing while in office what that says for Democrats associating with him in the mid-terms this year. But certainly, that was a surprising development, a direct attack against a potential would-be candidate, and really coming from Michele Bachmann who ran for president herself last cycle, really did resonate within the room here.

WHITFIELD: All right, Zeke Miller of "Time" magazine there, National Harbor, Maryland. Thank you so much.

MILLER: Thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: All right, still ahead, the latest on that search, an investigation of that missing Malaysian jetliner. The families of the 239 people onboard are waiting for answers.

All that, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Rescue crews are scouring the South China Sea right now looking for any signs of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 after a jetliner vanished about 27 hours ago. Here is what we know right now.

(INAUDIBLE) aircraft has spotted traces of oil in waters over the search area. Officials say oil slicks found are between six and nine miles long. The Boeing 777 disappeared not long after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was headed to Beijing with 239 people onboard, most of them Chinese nationals. At least three Americans are among the passengers.

Malaysia Airlines lists one Austrian and Italian passenger on the man test, but Austria and Italy deny that saying the citizens in question had their passports stolen. A U.S. intelligence official tells CNN quote "we're aware of the reporting on the two lost, stolen passports. No nexus to terrorism yet, although that's by no means definitive. We are still tracking," end quote.

Joining me now on the phone, aviation expert Jim Tilmon.

Let's talk about these out slicks on the South China Sea. What needs to happen next to find out if indeed a plane went down there? And I know earlier when you and I spoke, you said it's a matter of trying to understand what kind of oil we're talking about.

JIM TILMON, RETIRED AMERICAN AIRLINES CAPTAIN (via phone): Yes. And you don't have to be a chemist to figure that out. Jet fuel has a very distinctive aroma of alcohol on it, and a novice would be able to just sniff his way through an analysis to come up with, yes, that's jet A.

WHITFIELD: Now, there was no distress call as far as we know, and that it would simply disappear after radar one hour to two hours after takeoff, what are some of the scenarios that that sort of describes for you?

TILMON: Well, the one that seems to stick out is the one that none of us wants to admit. And that is, that whatever happened was so catastrophic and so unexpected at all, that the crew had no opportunity to send a distress signal of any kind. There are, while speculation surround this in terms of how this could happen, my feeling is most likely, something happened that would incapacitate the crew and disable the airplane all at once. And whatever happened after then was just a matter of the airplane falling in to the sea, and it sounds like it has all the makings of a breakup in the air, for some reason. So that you might find the debris may be over a wide area.

WHITFIELD: And then tell me about the ping that investigators will be listening for, if that debris is, indeed in that South China Sea, and that I understand it's fairly shallow. So that's conceivable that investigators would be able to hear the ping versus some other aircrafts in the past who have gone down in deeper water?

TILMON: That's accurate. I mean, it's the -- if the water is relatively shallow there it will simplify a lot of things. One, we certainly should have no difficulty in listening for that ping. But this is a matter of putting some kind of sonar device underwater and just listening. And the first time we get a ping, we know for sure that we are in the right place and looking for the right aircraft. But that ping is very definite. And we have very, very sensitive instruments that can determine that it is, and where it is.

WHITFIELD: And how could the NTSB help in this investigation?

TILMON: The NTSB is the premiere investigative source in the world. They have more experience and have more, better equipment and everything else that you can imagine, than anybody else in the world. And they're sought after by every nation when they have an event, because other nations respect just how good the NTSB is, and it's analysis after an accident. So they're going to lend a lot of information to this. Once they find the black boxes I suspect they're going to send them back to the United States for the NTSB to put them on their table and determine what happened.

WHITFIELD: OK. Jim Tilmon, thank you so much.

All right imagine, a clock that would never lose a second. The science behind a Pentagon project coming up in just a few minutes. But first, the 2414 winter Paralympics games are happening now in Sochi. One of the athletes competing was born in Russia and then adopted by an American family. Now she is preparing to compete in a wheelchair race representing the U.S. Sanjay Gupta has her remarkable back story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Overcoming obstacles is nothing you for Tatyana McFadden. You see, she was born with spina bifida. That is a birth effect that prevents the spinal cord from properly closing while the baby in still in the womb.

As unwanted, disabled child in St, Petersburg, Russia, Tatyana was immediately sent to an orphan of after her surgery.

TATYANA MCFADDEN, 2014 PARALYMPICS: I didn't have a wheelchair. So my legs are actually behind my back and I walked on my hands all the time.

GUPTA: Six years later, a chance visit by an American to the orphanage changed her life.

MCFADDEN: I immediately knew she was my mom.

GUPTA: Adoption gave Tatyana an instant family. Her mom pushed her to get involved in sports.

MCFADDEN: Getting involved in sports saved my life. I wrote down goals and said I really want to be a Para-athlete and be in (INAUDIBLE).

GUPTA: The 15-year-old became the youngest member of the U.S.A. track and field team at the Athens Paralympics games. McFadden won four more medals to Beijing. And in London, she finally won gold. In 2013, McFadden won the grand slam title for marathon wheelchair racing and then traded her wheelchair for a sit ski.

Now, McFadden is back in Russia where she's competing in the Sochi Paralympics cross-country Nordic skiing event.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Four fishermen lucky to be alive this day after spending ten hours in the water. They were thrown overboard in the water off key Biscayne, Florida. This photo on twitter shows their capsized boat right there. One of the men was able to swim ashore and get help. The coast guard says they're alive because they were wearing life jackets.

All right, time now for the science behind where we look at the why behind the what. Well, today, the science behind the time and the push for a perfect clock.

Here's Barbara Starr.

STARR: OK, Fredricka. So it's daylight savings time, but what about your wristwatch? What about your cell phone? What about what these devices say?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STARR (voice-over): Chicago asks the age-old question and the Pentagon is looking for the answer. This high-tech lab of lasers and mirrors measures the movement of atoms, 429 trillion atomic vibrations add up to just one second.

STEPHANIE TOMPKINS, CHIEF OF STAFF, DEFENSE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY: That vibration is sort of the smallest unit of time we can actually measure.

STARR: Their goal is to make the most precise clock in the world. Currently, the source for precision time is GPS satellite, which contain atomic clocks used to synchronize clocks on the ground. But the Pentagon worries the satellites could be jammed. So they want an even more accurate alternative.

Your wristwatch loses a second every 30 days. Clocks on GPS satellites lose a second every 30,000 years. This program is aimed at building a clock that wouldn't lose a second for a billion years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't care what your watches say. Mine say they should have gone three minutes ago, so send them.

STARR: Synchronizing time has always been vital for soldiers, but now it's more important than ever.

TOMPKINS: We've got all of these high-speed aircraft, you have precision guided munitions, you have cameras and sensors and radars and are all operating simultaneously. You have to actually do that synchronization much more precisely.

STARR: So if GPS goes down, troops will face more dangers.

TOMPKINS: If you were to lose a couple of billions of a second, your positioning starts to gets often by about a meter, you lose a few more billions of a second. And now, you're starting to get off by several meters.

STARR: And your life won't be so smooth either. GPS time is in everything from power grids to your cell phone to the ATM you use to get cash. Without precision time, that ATM would eventually stop. If we can tell time more precisely, you still may be late for work, but now you'll know exactly how late you are.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: Keeping precision time for a billion years? Well, it just means that wristwatch and that cell phone have to last -- Fredricka? WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Barbara Starr.

All don't forget, daylight saving time starts tomorrow morning, 2:00 a.m. Set your clock ahead one hour before you go to bed tonight. And then you'll be on time tomorrow.

All right. What can experts tell from Russian president Vladimir Putin's body language? Maybe a lot. That's why the Pentagon is analyzing every move.

But first, in the Los Angeles public schools, nearly one in five kids drops out of before graduation, but this week's CNN hero is helping teenage girls find their voice and their future. Meet Karen Taylor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I blossom with each pen mark.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I found myself in the words.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every girl has a story to tell.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some of our girls are facing some of the greatest challenges, teenagers could ever face -- pregnancy, incarceration, violence in their family, at school. Those girls need a mentor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They need to be inspired about their own voice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Life in the light can be so bright, nothing can be so pure.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Writing and self-expression can give them a tool for moving forward.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Say something that nobody else has said before, because you have your own way of saying things.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We match underserved girls with professional women writers for mentoring and group workshops.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to match you, Christa, with Kristy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The moment you ask a young person to tell me about something you're passionate about, the writing and the ideas just flow.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know you're going read today?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was kind of scared. Like, I'm really quiet, and I keep to myself. And Emily, I met her and she's so excited and enthusiastic about writing and I absolutely love her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Writing gave me that position in life, like, I am a girl and I have a story to tell.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Their senses are diluted by the sparkly things that cross their eye. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to help girls see that their voice matters.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You got a lot of good stuff here and what I would like to hear more about is you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: to give a girl a tool to be able to be positive, strive and whatever challenges she's facing. What's better than that?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, some new developments on Ukraine. President Obama called several European leaders today on the crisis in Ukraine. Those discussions coming as the standoff over Crimea is heating up. Pro and anti Russian protesters demonstrated today in different regions of Ukraine and unmarked convoy moved through Crimea's capital city.

Another critical phone call today between U.S. secretary of state John Kerry and Russia's foreign minister. And a senior administration official released in details saying, Kerry told Sergey Lavrov, the U.S. is ready to facilitate dialogue. The two men recently met in Rome and they have been having talks on going about Ukraine, including today's conversation.

And Russia's president has the world wondering about his next move in Ukraine. His unpredictability even has the Pentagon studying his body language, hoping it might give something away. The technique is called movement pattern analysis.

And earlier in the NEWSROOM this morning, Joe Johns talked with a body language expert. Janine Driver teaches her skills to the FBI. So what is Putin's body language saying?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANINE DRIVER, BODY LANGUAGE EXPERT: What they're looking for right now, the team they're using in the Pentagon, they're trying to determine most likely how quickly is he going to take action. Is he spending a lot of time gathering research? Is he going to spend a lot of time doing pluses and minuses on invading the Ukraine, maybe taking that peninsula permanently for Russia, or how quickly will he pull the trigger? Is he going to pull the trigger really quickly on taking action?

In general body language, we're looking for all of the non-verbals. What does it say? My specialty is detecting deception, which we have loaded with Putin in the last week or two is a lot of deception that we can prove. He is telling us things that are not true.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: So, OK. Let's go to specifics. Putin first broke his silence - on the Ukraine at a press conference earlier this week. What did you take away from his body language while he was defending his actions and blaming western powers, especially if United States, for causing I think he called it an anarchy and armed coup in Ukraine?

DRIVER: Well, you see with his right hand he did just a second ago a zero. Literally, this is how he feels probably about the United States of America and then he does a chop. That chop with his hand is very aggressive. It's like a karate chop. It is very aggressive. We used to see with Bill Clinton, and we saw with Tony Blair, they did the thumb of power, America, I want you to listen. He's not using his little thumb. The thumb of power is a combination of pointing and chopping. Putin is not taking the softer approach. He's taking, this is who America is. He's calling us lab rats. That we're doing experiments we don't know the outcome is. We're a big fat zero in his book. He's trying to intimidate us with his non-verbal.

JOHNS: What about deception? What are the signs of deception that helps him, for example, perhaps with a liar?

DRIVER: Well, it's very interesting, Joe, that you're asking me that because there are common signs. One is contempt, which is moral superiority. It looks like this. It's a smirk on the face saying yes but shaking your head no. And big one is shoulder shrugs. A shoulder shrug is uncertainty. I don't plan on taking over the peninsula in Ukraine.

The problem with Putin is, we see none of that. We know he's lying about his soldiers. He's trained those soldiers. He said he didn't train the soldiers. He's in there with a huge presence, thousands of soldiers. He's saying that those aren't his soldiers. We know he's lying but we're not seeing those non-verbals tell. That makes him a very scary threat and a scary leader. Why? He used to be KGB, right? So, here's a guy that is so controlled with lying. Why is that, Joe? Powerful liars literally focus on the rewards, not the consequences.

Powerful liars, literally Joe, have a decrease in the cortisol, that stress hormone. That is released when we are nervous. That powerful liar, in the moment of lying, has that decrease in cortisol and an increase in this happiness. They literally are so good, powerful liars. When one lie doesn't work, you misunderstood me. What I meant to say was this. They have an increase in their cognitive function. So if one lie doesn't work, they can divert and do a smoke screen. And Putin is a pro at it. It makes him a very dangerous threat.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, that conversation there pretty enlightening. The Pentagon started studying Putin's body language well before his moves on the Ukraine.

All right, here's a quick look with what's ahead with "DR. SANJAY GUPTA MD" -- Sanjay.

GUPTA: Fred, we're going to have a preview of my upcoming documentary about medical marijuana, I have traveled the world investigating this topic, talking to dozens of scientists and hundreds of patients. And it is something to see, Fred. Also, Jane Fonda, Russell Simmons and the super nines (ph) are stopping. We have a full show, 4:30 eastern.

WHITFIELD: That's a great combination. Thanks so much.

And tonight, CNN's newest original series "Chicagoland" explores how politics and social issues collide in that city. Mayor Rahm Emanuel's controversial proposal to close down certain schools has several detractors, including a third grader concerned about safety.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: The mayor is taking a risk with his bold school plan. While it might make sense because of the budget crisis and declining enrollment, many parents fear it puts their kids at risk because they'll have to walk across dangerous gang lines to attend to those schools.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rahm Emanuel thinks he can come into our schools and move all our kids, all over gang lines and just say, we can build a building right here. Let's take this school out. We don't care about these kids. But there are kids in there. They need safety.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: And Sean (ph) is speaking out for the 30,000 kids who will be affected by school closings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You should be investing in these schools, not closing them. You should be supporting these schools, not closing them! We are going. We are not going down without a fight!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: You can watch "Chicagoland" right here on CNN tonight, 8:00 eastern, 7:00 central.

All right, that's going to do it for me. Much more of "the NEWSROOM" straight ahead with Jim Sciutto in Washington.

Jim, lots to continue to talk about -- the crisis in Ukraine, of course, this mysterious disappearance of the airline jet.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: No question. We are watching it very closely.

Thanks very much, Fred. I know you will be back tomorrow.

WHITFIELD: Yes, indeed.