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New Day Saturday

Obama Visits Malaysia; Bluefin-21 Cuts 13th Dive Short; Storms Halt South Korean Ferry Recovery; Connecticut High School Student Stabbed; Pennsylvania School Stabbing Suspect Had "More People To Kill"; Treacherous Storms; Magnitude 6.5 Earthquake Strikes Off the Coast of Tonga; Federal Prosecutors Close to Announcing Charges Against Rep. Grimm; Search for Flight 370

Aired April 26, 2014 - 06:00   ET

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

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VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST (voice-over): New this morning, President Obama arrives in Malaysia, the first American president to visit in nearly 50 years. It comes exactly 50 days after Flight 370 vanished.

KRISTI PAUL, CNN HOST (voice-over): Punishing Vladimir Putin, G7 leaders all agree on tough new sanctions against Russia. The question now, what will the U.S. do and is an invasion of Ukraine imminent?

BLACKWELL (voice-over): A 16-year-old honor student viciously attacked in the hallway of her own school. And now there are questions about her killer's motive. Was it all over the school's prom?

PAUL (voice-over): And a rare twister hits the Tarheel State. This is only the beginning, that, folks. Fresh warnings about a violent weekend are coming our way.

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PAUL: I want to wish us some Saturday sunshine here. I'm Kristi Paul. We're so glad to have your company.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Six o'clock, as we said here on the East Coast, 3:00 out west. It's NEW DAY SATURDAY. And first this morning, really an historic visit, as we said, President Obama just arrived in Malaysia's capital.

PAUL: His visit comes nearly seven weeks to the day since Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished into thin air. The president telling the Malaysian newspaper the U.S. is still fully committed to this search.

BLACKWELL: And he's warning Russia that new targeted sanctions are ready to go as tensions in Ukraine ramp up. But, he cautioned earlier, they may not get Moscow off its back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I think it's important for us not to anticipate that the targeted sanctions that we are applying now necessarily solve the problem.

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BLACKWELL: We'll talk more about Russia and Ukraine in just a moment. But as the president arrives in Malaysia, a much warmer message.

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PAUL: Yes. We want to bring in CNN's Will Ripley in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.

Will, good morning to you. We know the president is the first U.S. president to visit Malaysia in nearly a half century.

How is he received this morning?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Definitely it's a rock star welcome. As you mentioned, it's been 48 years since Lyndon B. Johnson was the last sitting U.S. president to visit Malaysia.

And if you look at the front pages of the local papers, like this one, "Welcome, Mr. President," school children holding up the American and Malaysian flags.

And there's another headline here, a big headline, "Ties that Bind." And ties are a key, key message here, key reason why President Obama is here in Malaysia this morning. He's here pushing a trade deal, the transpacific partnership which he hopes will help bring Malaysia into the fold and strengthen trade between these two countries.

There's also competition from China, which is trying to put together its own trade deal, trying to get Malaysia's loyalty there as well.

So the fact that we have a sitting U.S. president who just moments ago shared a stage with the Malaysian prime minister and the king of Malaysia, very significant push forward.

Other key issues on the agenda that will be discussed tomorrow in meetings with the prime minister and President Obama, counterterrorism. They are trying to grow that relationship and of course MH370 as well. We can expect to hear remarks from President Obama both expressing his condolences over the tragedy and also pushing forward the agenda that perhaps we can learn something from the disappearance of Flight 370 to prevent this from ever happening again.

BLACKWELL: And Will, now 50 days since this jet disappeared, we are learning that the physical search for this plane may shift a bit. What are you learning about that?

RIPLEY: We know that the Bluefin-21 is now almost finished combing that search area where it felt that, based on those four pings that were (INAUDIBLE) was the highest probability that Flight 370's data recorders would be located. They've been scanning the ocean floor; they haven't found anything.

Now, once they exhaust that search area, essentially they are going to do what we saw in previous weeks, they're going to shift up north and search the next highest probability area. This is looking increasingly like this could be a very long haul in the search for 370.

PAUL: Will, I have to ask you about the Ukraine crisis. That seems to be overshadowing the president's trip to Asia here. Every stop that he's made thus far, as far as we know, from what's being reported, he's getting questions about Russia and what the U.S. is going to do.

What is he saying?

What have you heard?

RIPLEY: Even yesterday, when he was appearing on stage with President Park, he mentioned that he was going to be meeting by phone with several key European allies, talking about broader sanctions against Russia, if it decides to invade Eastern Ukraine, talking about sanctioning not only individuals, prominent individuals but actually the Russian energy sector, which, as you know, is a huge part of Russia's economy.

And so this is something that he's dealing with on an hourly basis. And you can bet he was on the line on Air Force One on the way over here dealing with that crisis. And we might be able to expect to hear more from him during this visit as well.

PAUL: All right. Will Ripley, good to see you this morning. Thank you for the update, we appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Will.

And he touched on it for a moment there, about the timing of the president's trip. And it's coming just as officials there are wrapping up the initial underwater search for Flight 370.

Fifty days after the Boeing 777 vanished, search crews have been unable to locate a single piece of debris.

PAUL: That's what's so baffling, I think, for a lot of people who watch this. Now any minute, we are expecting the high-tech underwater sub called the Bluefin-21 to complete its scan of the ocean floor. A U.S. Navy source told CNN if the robot doesn't find any debris, search crews plan to shift their focus slightly north.

BLACKWELL: CNN's Erin McLaughlin is in Perth, Australia, with the latest.

Erin, what are we learning about the shift and has the level of optimism changed?

ERIC MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Victor. I don't think the level of optimism has changed. I think people are still very, very determined here to solve this mystery. The Bluefin though did have to cut short its 13th dive due to a software technical glitch, forcing it to resurface early. They resolved that problem overnight, resetting the software essentially.

By morning time here in Perth, it was back in the water on its 14th dive, having as you mentioned scanned about 95 percent of that very narrow area, identified really as their best guess as to where the black box may be.

As you mentioned, officials already discussing what to do next if they, in fact, do completely rule out their best guess. And they're saying that they're going to be shifting that search area, more to the north, towards where they detected that first ping.

No mention, though, of introducing a different underwater submersible, different than the Bluefin-21, which is something people really here have asking, given that there are more capable underwater submersibles out there, such as the Orion, which can go about a mile deeper than the Bluefin-21 and stay down for weeks on end.

We do know it's something that Malaysian and Australian officials are discussing. They're currently hammering out a longer term search agreement based on a Malaysian proposal to broaden the search area out and introduce more underwater equipment. That agreement is expected within the week so perhaps we can expect an announcement then.

PAUL: Erin, when we look at the fact that it's been 50 days and nobody has seen anything floating in the water, have they talked at all about backing off on air searches?

MCLAUGHLIN: Well, Kristi, that's another big question mark hovering over this search operation. Angus Houston, about a week ago, held a press conference, in which he acknowledged that it was becoming increasingly unlikely that they would find any pieces of debris from the plane as a result of that visual search and that therefore the focus was turning to the Bluefin-21.

He said that it was something that the key stakeholders were going to be discussing in the coming days. But since then, no timetable has been given as to when they are going to wrap up that operation. And as of this morning, there are about eight planes and 11 ships still out there, still searching -- Kristi.

BLACKWELL: All right. Erin McLaughlin reporting from Perth, Australia, Erin, thank you very much.

PAUL: Thanks, Erin.

And this morning, divers are having to take a break from their grim mission of recovering more victims from South Korea's ferry.

BLACKWELL: Stormy weather has suspended operations at least for now. CNN's Nic Robertson is in Jindo, the hub of the recovery efforts there.

Nic, good morning. NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor. We just talked to the divers, both the civilian divers and the diving center here. Neither of them can say for sure whether or not the divers restarted behind me in the harbor here, and if you can see, it's beginning to get a little dark. There's been about a dozen police boats, they all came in as well when the dive was suspended about five hours ago.

Just in the last few minutes, we've seen quite a bit of movement. They seem to be reshuffling. A couple of the police boats seem to have gone back out to sea again. So it's possible that the dive may restart. There are several factors here. The main factor at work is the fact that the tides are stronger right now. The underwater currents where the dive is underway are strong.

That's why the dive was suspended. But in the harbor is where you've got a lot of fishing boats. They all came racing back in a few hours ago as well. That's because a big storm is headed this way. That's going to put a big swell on the sea right above the sunken ferry.

So all these factors are coming into play right now. Of course, for the families waiting, this is a very, very difficult period. And the last thing they want is a pause in operations. And just in the last 24 hours, we have heard divers found 48 young girls, all wearing their life vests, all crowded into one tiny room aboard the ferry, a room big enough, really, we were told, for about 30 people.

Now, divers believe there may be another room like that with as many as 50 people crowded into it. So obviously they're keen to get back to work. So right now, it's not clear whether the dive will restart tonight as the sun goes down or whether if it will have to hold off for longer -- Victor.

PAUL: Hey, Nic, real quickly, I think that has been one of the most jarring reports, is hearing of all of these girls that were crammed into one room and that they were wearing the life jackets, knowing that they could have been saved.

What resources are they making available to family members who hear these kinds of reports?

Because I know what it does to us; I can't imagine what it does to them.

ROBERTSON: Well, what the government has pledged to do in the last couple of days is provide more sort of skilled psychological help for the family, so counselors, if you will, to help them with this difficult situation. Part of that really seems to have arisen or at least came out of a big confrontation between a lot of the families a couple of evenings ago. They surrounded one of the ministers, a chief of maritime police, his deputy. For hours, these top officials were sitting on the ground, surrounded by very angry family members around them, asking them questions, demanding that they get more divers to work. And the government has got more divers on, it's put civilian divers back in the mix as well. But it does appear that they are trying to give more psychological counseling to the families. It is very hard for them. A lot of them are still camped out around the harbor. There's a lot of aid tents there, Salvation Army, a lot of Christian groups, a lot of Korean groups. There's a huge outpouring of support. Any number of people down there offering from medical facilities to food to blankets to tents.

But, that only goes so far. It doesn't really help the pain or their suffering. But the government does seem to be trying. But it's a difficult time down there for all those families -- Kristi.

PAUL: Nic Robertson, thank you so much for getting us apprised of what's happening. We appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Nic.

We are also covering this story out of Connecticut.

PAUL: Oh, my gosh, 22 miles from Newtown, mind you --

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BLACKWELL: So close and she was doing the right thing, 16 years old, an honor student. Police say this girl was stabbed to death, slashed at school. Her classmate is now accused.

Could this have all been over her refusal to go with him to the prom?

PAUL: Plus, treacherous storms. Tornado threats across parts of the South and, you know what? This could be just the start of things to come. Major storm moving in. We are going to make sure you are informed.

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BLACKWELL: Investigators in Connecticut, they are trying to figure out the motive behind a deadly attack on a 16-year-old honor student. Listen to this. It was a vicious attack. It happened yesterday at school in Milford, just a few miles away from Newtown. You remember Newtown; 26 people were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School -- that was back in 2012.

PAUL: Police say Maren Sanchez was slashed several times at the hands of a classmate here.

I want to bring in CNN's Nick Valencia.

So what do we know about exactly what happened?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, last night was the junior prom. Maren Sanchez should have been at that junior prom, but instead, we are dealing with this this morning.

Investigators are looking down whether or not she was slashed and killed because she refused to go to prom with her alleged attacker.

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VALENCIA (voice-over): Police say high school junior Maren Sanchez was attacked by a classmate, she was slashed in the neck, chest and face. They say the attack happened in a stairwell at her school around 7:00 in the morning. Staff members and first responders tried to save her life. But she was pronounced dead about an hour later at a local hospital.

The school community is devastated.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Vibrant, very, very involved in Jonathan Law High School, an incredible contributor, someone who was loved and respected by both her peers as well as her students.

VALENCIA (voice-over): Investigators recovered a knife at the scene. The 16-year-old male is being held at a local medical facility and a murder charge is pending. Police have not determined a motive. The police chief cautioned against any speculation, including the idea that the boy was angry because Sanchez had refused his invitation to the prom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have heard those stories or that information. Whether or not that's rumor or whether or not that's fact, we don't know. And so I think it's important that no one here and no one out here speculate on these rumors.

VALENCIA (voice-over): The victim's cousin read a statement from the family.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Maren should be celebrating at her prom this evening with her friends and classmates. Instead, we are mourning her death and we are trying, as a community, to understand this senseless loss of life.

VALENCIA (voice-over): The school's prom scheduled for last night was postponed.

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VALENCIA (voice-over): Family and friends held a vigil at a nearby church. Hundreds of people gathered at a local beach to release balloons. Purple was Maren Sanchez's favorite color and the color of the dress she would have worn to her prom. Her classmates, heartbroken.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was very nice. She was gorgeous, too.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was amazing, she did everything right. Everybody loved her. She was always smiling.

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VALENCIA: Always smiling. We are looking at her Facebook profile page this morning. Just a wonderful person. Her alleged attacker, which we mentioned, Victor and Kristi, scheduled to be arraigned in juvenile court on Monday. BLACKWELL: When you said the purple balloons, purple the color of the dress that she should have worn to the junior prom, I felt that.

What was the relationship between these two?

Do we know anything about that?

VALENCIA: According to a local affiliate who spoke to students there on campus, they, at one point, were in a relationship, boyfriend- girlfriend. We don't know the status of their relationship.

And again, looking down that line of investigation, whether or not she was stabbed and killed because she refused to go to prom, you know, unfathomable to think. But at that age, guys, you know, you think that's everything, right?

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PAUL: I know, but still...

VALENCIA: It could have led to something, a rejection, in fact, could have led to something. Again, this is all speculation. But definitely tragic there. And her friends all showing up, dressed like they were going to prom. Just very sad.

BLACKWELL: That is something they are investigating, that rejection possibly being the motive for the stabbing.

Nick Valencia, thanks.

PAUL: Thank you, Nic, so much.

Meanwhile, the suspect in another school stabbing earlier this month has been charged with 21 counts of attempted homicide. We are talking about Alex Hribal. He's accused of stabbing 20 students and an adult in Pennsylvania. I know you remember this one. Although two of the victims are still in the hospital, the good news is nobody died in this attack. The teen has been denied bond, though. We have learned that.

BLACKWELL: Yes, and the criminal complaint says the suspect allegedly shouted during the attack, "My work is not done, I have more people to kill."

And authorities are looking through his locker. They found a document dated three days before the mass stabbing. And it says -- let's put it up on the screen -- "I can't wait to see the priceless and helpless looks on the faces of the students, one of the best schools in Pennsylvania, realize their previous lives are going to be taken by the only one among them that isn't plebeian."

PAUL: So we'll keep you updated on that story as well.

And this one because this could certainly affect you. Oh, April showers, they are more than showers.

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PAUL: Springtime storms igniting a major tornado threat in parts of the Southeast.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And the forecast predicts there is more, more, more to come. Meteorologist Karen Maginnis is tracking the latest; that's next.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my gosh.

PAUL (voice-over): Is that ominous or what?

BLACKWELL (voice-over): It is.

PAUL (voice-over): You take a look at that and you just feel like, oh, I know what's coming. This was a scene yesterday in eastern North Carolina. Damaging winds spawned a host of tornado watches and warnings there. You see some of the ominous funnel clouds that formed. There were no confirmed reports of an actual twister on the ground, however.

BLACKWELL: There's also this threat of a tornado outbreak in the Central and Southern Plains.

PAUL: The region is bracing for what could be a weekend of pretty -- they're calling it -- treacherous weather, which does not sound good. Meteorologist Karen Maginnis is tracking the system for us.

Good morning to you, Karen.

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning to both of you as well. And yes, we have got about a three-day event. Beyond that time period, it looks like it's still going to be a very volatile situation across much of the nation. And I don't exaggerate. We are watching this weather system just march toward the east over the next several days.

Here is Saturday's severe threat. Here's Sunday, here's Monday. This encompasses millions of people across the central U.S. all the way to the Eastern Seaboard. The set up is going to be this, an area of low pressure, very vigorous in the atmosphere treks across the Rocky Mountain region.

We have got the backside of this with some fairly cold air, mountain snowfall, in fact. But out ahead of it, temperatures are going to be mild. We'll pick up that return flow from the Gulf of Mexico and the risk of severe weather is going to escalate, not just for this afternoon, perhaps more so into Sunday afternoon and then, into Monday. Where you see this red shaded area, that's where there's a moderate risk. The storm systems that could erupt here will be the high winds, large hail and the potential for tornadoes. That's all out ahead of this weather system. But what is considered the warm sector of the storm.

Ahead of this, temperatures are going to be running a good 10 degrees above where they should be for this time of year. We are looking at the forecast going into Monday.

Now, all the way from southwestern Kentucky toward Memphis, toward Jackson, Mississippi, and then making its way further toward the east. Watch out for the severe weather. If you have got a weather alert system, listen to it. The next several days are going to be particularly dangerous.

Back to you guys.

BLACKWELL: Wow. We'll watch out for that. Karen, thank you very much.

PAUL: Listen, that underwater drone that is scanning the Indian Ocean has only 5 percent more to search in that specified area that they have been looking at. We are going to ask the Bluefin's owner, are you surprised with what's going on? We're going to talk to our panel and find out what we do from here if nothing is found.

BLACKWELL: Also, this Nevada rancher is elevated to the level of almost folk hero. He says he's not a racist, despite his shocking comments. We'll tell you what he said. That's next.

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PAUL: Well, the moving - the morning is moving right along. We are 30 minutes into the hour already. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Let's start with five things you need to know to start your day. Number one, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake hit off the coast of Tonga, that's just south of Western Samoa. The U.S. Geological Survey says the overnight quake was six miles deep and about 44 miles from Tonga's capital. There were no initial reports of injuries or damages and no tsunami warning - that's a good thing - no tsunami warning has been issued.

PAUL: Number two, federal prosecutors are close to announcing criminal charges against New York Congressman Michael Grimm. This is according to U.S. officials. Now, the FBI has been investigating Grimm's business dealings as well as his 2010 campaign. Grimm may be best known -- remember him -- as the lawmaker who threatened to throw a reporter of a capital balcony after he asked about illegal campaign donations.

BLACKWELL: Number three, now the annual meeting of the National Rifle Association happening right now in Indianapolis. Gun rights advocates are celebrating voter backlash after firearms restrictions were passed in Colorado, also blasting a new gun control effort bankrolled by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. His group, Every Town for Gun Safety has also dispatched victims of gun violence to demonstrate near the NRA meeting.

PAUL: Number four, the Nevada rancher in a dispute with the government over grazing fees told CNN's "NEW DAY" he's not a racist. Cliven Bundy says, he doesn't understand the uproar over his comments about African-American and slavery, though he did later apologize. The Fed said Bundy has been grazing his cattle for free on public land and owes more than $1 million in grazing fees.

BLACKWELL: Number five, President Obama arrived today in Malaysia's capital as the hunt continues for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. He was greeted with the traditional welcoming ceremony as seen here. Mr. Obama is reaffirming Washington's commitment to search for the jet liner. Also, he's calling for stronger trade ties with Malaysia to boost jobs and growth there and here in the U.S.

PAUL: Now, the president is also scheduled to meet with the Malaysian prime minister. The two, by the way, expected to discuss this, of course. The search for missing Flight 370.

BLACKWELL: Yeah, let's talk more about this. We are joined by CNN aviation consultant, Mary Schiavo. Mary is also the former inspector general for the Department of Transportation. We have got Alastair Rosenschein, an aviation consultant and former pilot as well. Good to have both of you this morning.

ALASTAIR ROSENSCHEIN, AVIATION CONSULTANT: Good morning.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION CONSULTANT: Good to see you.

BLACKWELL: Let's start with Mary. What do you think the president's impact is on this search on the investigation? Does this put more pressure on the Malaysian government to day 50 get things in gear?

SCHIAVO: Well, I think it does. It probably also gives them a level of confidence that they will have somebody to backstop them when with the interview with Richard Quest with the prime minister, excuse me, the prime minister did hint that their resources, while he said the search would go on as long as resources allowed. I think that sent an ominous concern out about perhaps running out of money. With president there, assuring them that the United States will help backstop. I think it probably takes a little bit of the edge off and gives them a greater level of confidence that they can go forward, even if the Malaysian resources run thin.

PAUL: So, Alastair, after hearing those acoustic signals, but even the pinger maker said, he believed they were from the missing plane. What is your take on the fact that nothing, nothing has been found?

ROSENSCHEIN: Well, it has seemed quite extraordinary that there's no floating debris been found, given the assets that have been put in place to search in that area. But, the fact that they perceived a beacon, which is almost certainly from one of the two recorders, if not both of them, at the - would have to be fairly close to there. Because these are very short range, probably only 9 kilometers, about six miles. So, I suspect they probably will find something in the, you know, fairly short term. Whether or not they actually find the flight recorders any time soon is another matter entirely. But it is quite surprising that there's absolutely no physical evidence of this aircraft so far.

PAUL: Hey, Mary, some of the families and Sarah Bajc whose partner was on that flight, her name stands out. They've indicated that they think they are now going to go to Boeing to try to get some answers. There is a shareholders meeting on Monday. Is Boeing obligated any more than the Malaysian government to release any information to the families?

SCHIAVO: No, they are not. And, you know, there's an organization in the United States, the National Air Disaster Alliance and Foundation. And they do go to shareholders meetings of Boeing and the airlines. But they are shareholders. They are - over the years people have given them shares of stock, and so, you know, the rules of shareholders are very interesting. They can allow only shareholders to speak. And you don't go to the meetings and just protest, you have questions that you could ask. Now it would be possible to ask reasonable questions at a shareholder meeting, for example, Boeing, would it be possible for Boeing in the future to manufacture planes with transponders that couldn't be turned off? Oh, that you have the system's status update messaging, the ACARS. That cannot be turned off. Now, that's a reasonable question. But going and asking about a specific investigation, it won't happen. And I would assume they wouldn't get the mic. Boeing will not discuss an ongoing investigation, except with the investigators, which they do. As actually they are party to the investigation.

PAUL: Alastair, we know that the search is shifting north to where that first ping was heard. Who do you think is best equipped, country wise, government wise, who is best equipped to handle this from here on out and who do you think will stay committed to doing so?

ROSENSCHEIN: Well, I see ...

SCHIAVO: Well, I think it has to be Australia.

PAUL: Australia, OK.

ROSENSCHEIN: Yeah, I was going to say, if it's - yes, if it pulls within the Australian, you know, region, which apparently it is, at the moment, then it would clearly be on the Australians to be - to lead this. But, you say where the first ping was heard, as I understand, there were about eight pings. I think perhaps you meant the ultimate, or last ping was heard?

BLACKWELL: So, Mary, would you say this is a shift of focus after, you know, we are expecting it to wrap up soon. If it's not done, it just hasn't been announced, this Bluefin-21 search. Would you call this a shift of focus or losing the focus?

SCHIAVO: No, I just say it's the next progression. They have exhausted the area around the ping they thought was the strongest. We've heard a lot of comments from various oceanographers over the past few weeks that the ocean can play funny tricks on signals and they can travel vast distances in certain layers of the ocean. So, I just think you are moving onto the next logical step. The next ping area. And search the next one. And I think they have four distinct areas. And so. No, I just think it's the next progression. Sadly, it's going to take a lot longer than people had hoped or thought. But, you know, we remember some of the past ones that the one in the Java Sea, Adam Air, crashed in January and they found it in August. So, it could be a long haul. But no, just another step.

BLACKWELL: All right.

PAUL: All right, Mary Schiavo and Alastair Rosenschein. We are so grateful for your expertise. Thank you for sharing with us today.

BLACKWELL: Thank you both.

And the other big story that is happening this weekend, 48 hour deadline is coming to a close. Ukraine violence adding more stress to that crisis. "NEW DAY" is live with a push to stop pro-Russian militants. Also, President Obama says more target sanctions are ready to go.

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BLACKWELL: Bloody, fiery clashes, they are erupting in Ukraine. Military forces are trying to reclaim the cities seized by those pro- Russian militants.

PAUL: And yesterday, more thoughts of sanctions against Moscow from the G7. CNN's Arwa Damon is live in Ukraine right now with the very latest. Arwa, good morning to you. What do you know this morning?

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Well, despite all of the proclamations coming from Kiev that they are going to be launching as they are calling them, these anti-terror operations. We are not actually really seeing a significant movement by the Ukrainian military. But if they should decide to go into these various areas, that the pro-Russian camp holds well, they say they are ready for them.

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DAMON: This is the command and control center of the pro-Russian revolt in Slavyansk. CNN was given rare access behind the barricades of the security services building. On condition we don't show any faces. Just as Kiev announced the second phase of its so-called anti- terrorism operation. These self-defense units, as they call themselves, are digging in.

This is one of the vehicles that was captured from the Ukrainian military around a week ago. And those that are inside the security services or SVU building, they are absolutely confident that they can repel any sort of attack.

Yevgeny Gorbik (ph), a former military man turned spokesman says they have 2,000 fighters at the ready and plenty of weapons. YEVGENY GORBIK (speaking Russian)

DAMON: It's war trophies. The Ukrainian Army gave them to us, he says. 90 percent of the cases, it was voluntary. They are communicating and coordinating with pro-Russian groups in other cities and towns. GORBIK says they have developed several layers of defenses, which were tested on Thursday when the Ukrainian military approached their barricades on the outskirts of the city.

GORBIK (speaking Russian)

DAMON: The barricades are set on fire. Which then warns the mobile groups that the enemy is approaching, he explains. They seemed to work. The Ukrainian military withdrew. Confidence seems to be growing among pro-Russian militants. At a nearby Kramatorsk air base, smoke drifts into the sky. A helicopter was fired on and destroyed says the Ukrainian defense ministry. Others say it was an accident. Ukrainian soldiers guarding the perimeter looked edgy as they argued with curious locals. This isn't what they are trained to do, nor is it a conflict they want. For now, the pro-Russian groups seem assured that what they have, they will hold.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAMON: And with this conflict, it's something of a stalemate with both sides very hardened in their positions. You can just imagine what it's like for the rest of the population here, completely unsure of what the future will hold.

BLACKWELL: Arwa, has there been any clarity, as it relates to these members of the OSCE, the organization for security and cooperation in Europe that they are being held, there's some conflicting reports about whether or not these men are part of the OSCE. What have you learned?

DAMON: Well, they are part of a military monitoring team that is mandated by the OSCE. They are not part of the OSCE team that has been tasked with trying to negotiate the surrender of these various buildings. But they were basically picked up by these pro-Russian protesters very close to Slavyansk where you saw that report that was just broadcast. And this is very much a hub for the pro-Russian movement. And the self-proclaimed mayor of Slavyansk has come out and said, well, we don't believe that these are members of the OSCE team, we think that they are actually NATO spies. So, we are going to keep on holding them just coming out on a press conference say that they are going to try to use them as a bargaining chip to get some of their activists released by the government in Kiev. And it just really goes to underscore how chaotic this situation here is and potentially how lawless it could become. But at this stage, they do very much remain in the custody detained by these pro-Russian groups.

PAUL: All right, Arwa Damon in eastern Ukraine now, Arwa, thank you.

BLACKWELL: So, the Bluefin 21 is wrapping up with the search for Flight 370 on the ocean floor. So far, nothing, no leads. OK, so what's next? We'll walk you through some of the other technology that could join the hunt for Flight 370.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Welcome back. Coming up on ten minutes before the hour. Here is the question. Is it time to fire the Bluefin? Now, the underwater drone that's scanning the ocean floor for Flight 370, it's completed more than 95 percent of its search. And so far, nothing. Is there better gear that the search crews can put down there? Well, let's go through three other options that could be brought in. First of, is the El-Ryan (ph). This is a towed system. So, it's towed behind the ship on a long cable. It's a side scan sonar system, but you get real time information back from that. So, with the Bluefin, you know, you have to send it down to the bottom of the ocean, it does its mission, it comes back and you see what the vehicle saw. The big advantage of this is that as we said, in real time, you can go deeper and get the information immediately, more than 19,000 feet.

But there is a tradeoff for everything. You get a bigger range, but a little less quality resolution than with the Bluefin. All right, so next, we've got the Rena 6,000. Very similar to the Bluefin 21. It's torpedo shaped may to do the very same precise mowing pattern to see those long lines at the bottom of the ocean. Same thing with this one, use your side scan sonar just like the Bluefin, you send it down, it does the work, comes back with the images.

Now, three of these were used in the search for Air France 447. The big difference between the Remis and the Bluefin and the depth ability. Remis goes deeper. Maybe 19500 feet, and it's operated differently. But overall, same category of robot. Here's the third one we want to show you. This is the Remora. This one was used in the search for Air France flight to actually pick up the black boxes. It was also used on the Titanic wreckage to do a very detailed forensic look there. The Remora is also different than the others, it's not just - it's not towed, it's actually operated by cable.

So, it's actually controlled by a pilot sitting on the ship. You know, it's someone sitting there with actually a joy stick working it. The Remus - actually the first one where you are going to see live video images from the bottom of the ocean. So, you have got all these options. I know the question you are thinking, why weren't these vehicles used from the start during this entire search?

Well, CNN analyst David Gallo who co-led the search for Air France Flight 447 says more is not necessarily better especially until we know where, exactly, the wreckage is. He says, if the search area is expanded, we could see a combination of all three of the tools using El-Rian (ph) and the Remus for the wider area, and then the Remora for a more detailed look. But Gallo says if he had to choose just one of these to try and find MH-370, he would go with the Remus 6000. And we'll see, as this phase wraps up and they move on to the next one, if they will incorporate all these vehicles. Christi?

PAUL: Already, hey, Victor, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Sure. Did you know that YouTube celebrated another birthday this week? You know what that means, right? Yes, an excuse to see the best viral videos over the years. I don't know what this is. It's a dog eating peanut butter, people. But we'll show you more. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Do you realize, man, this makes you feel old. It's been nine years since YouTube uploaded its first and maybe its worst at the time video of a pretty unremarkable trip to the zoo.

BLACKWELL: They have gotten better over the years.

PAUL: Yes, they have.

BLACKWELL: Compared to the trip to the zoo. And Jeanne Moss takes a look at the site that changed the way we use the Internet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You are looking at the very first video ever uploaded to YouTube. It was nine years ago that one of YouTube's founders Jawed Karim.

JAWED KARIM: Here we are with the elephants.

MOOS: Uploaded "Me at the Zoo."

KARIM: Really, really, really long trunk.

MOOS: it was a really, really, really, unremarkable video lasting 18 seconds. Happy birthday, YouTube. And with that boring zoo video, you ushered in what many considered to be the greatest genre of YouTube video.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bye!

MOOS: The animal video from a lion wishing he could eat a kid dressed in a zebra costume ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh!

MOOS: To a camel wrapping his jaws around a little girl's head.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Au!

MOOS: How time flies, even nine years when you're watching animal videos.

From keyboard cat to --- we have passed lord knows how much time watching a sneezing panda or a sneezing goat. If it isn't a goat sneezing, it's goat screaming like humans. We are wide awake watching a sleepwalking dog.

But when it comes to the most watched video on YouTube in the first nine years, the winner isn't some cute animal video ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gangnam style! MOOS: It's wrapped up more than 1.9 billion with a "b." views. YouTube itself isn't celebrating. Don't light those birthday candles, just yet. We'll celebrate YouTube's ninth anniversary in May when YouTube.com became public. But most of the Web is paying homage to that first upload in April.

KARIM: And that's pretty much all there is to say.

MOOS: But there's plenty to say about a German shepherd eating Jiff out of a jar. One poster spoke for us all when he said I'm watching a dog in a suit eating peanut butter. What am I doing with my life? You are watching finger licking good animal videos. Jeannie Moos, CNN, New York.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(LAUGHTER)

BLACKWELL: You know, a sign of the times. We are watching the "Gangnam Style" video and I'm like, what is that guy's name again? What is his name? Yeah, we know it now. But you are hot for a minute on YouTube, and then not so much.

PAUL: Yeah, but you know what? I bet in nine years he will still make that video.

BLACKWELL: Yes, and the screaming goat, which is one of my favorites.

PAUL: We do waste a lot of our time, don't we?

BLACKWELL: Sitting there and watching YouTube.

PAUL: We admit it, right? But we are glad that you are here with us this morning.

BLACKWELL: It's always a pleasure to be with you. Your next hour of your "NEW DAY" starts right now.