First to the ukraine. More than two dozen people dead and hundreds injured. A threemonth long standoff escalates out of control. Ukraines president seems to be cocying cozying up more to moscow. It was violence overnight. Whats it looking like now, nick . Reporter the noise you may hear, that is fireworks, but its a sign that protestors here have lost none of their energy. They are still engaged in a standoff. They are now increasing their numbers. Remarkable for ukraine where political aggression is not really often on the agenda. Heres what we saw just hours ago. Its been nearly a decadelong struggle. This is where it stood. Its a stalemate. The Police Closing in, but looking tired. Even with fewer protestors here the morning after, still more are moving in. They have been pushed back to a small area on the square, but still, this violent standoff persis persists. The question being, is there any kind of negotiation that can bring an end to these scenes. Will not resolve the crisis. To restore peace and stability. We urge president january cowitch to end the confrontation. The president held brief talks and afterwards, demanded the denounced radicals in their midst. Im very unhappy because it was no discussion and dont want to listen opposition. Reporter fury continued into the morning, fueled by Police Violence. Evidence of pellets and rubber bullets displayed. This man told me he was here for the future of the ukraine. Ten years ago, the orange revolution tried to turn this huge nation ward europe, but failed. Many here say they want to be free of raw russian grip. These men tell me this outburst so unexpected. What many people i think look at this as a pitiful moment for this vast country, but also perhaps the future of europe and the soviet ideology being pushed now by vladimir putin. Thats why this matters so much. Thats why the u. S. Has so much at stake here. Its about permitting those who want to face the wars here to have that chance, but also to accommodate the interests is what they need to keep themselves in jobs and their economy healthy. Very well laid out how delicate the situation is right there as we see the smoke rising behind you. Joining us from kiev by phone is christopher miller. Hes been seconding out truly some amazing pictures through social media of the protests. Christopher, can you hear me . I can hear you. Youve been covering these protests from the very beginning. You have been in the middle of it all and were showing some of the images you have been sending out. Can you describe really the unexpected escalation of this violence . Yeah. Down the street, the mood is incredibly tense. More so than it has been over the last more than two and a half months, nearly three months now. In the beginning, this was a protest that began in response to the president s decision to spurn an eu deal and turn towards russia. And and sense then since then weve seen it escalate month after month, first in december when police raided for the first time entering dozens of protestors. It was on december 1st. Everybody here thought that that would be the worst of it. Theyre a they were afraid it could escalate further, and it did in january. But this type of violence that weve seen over the lost 30odd hours is violence we havent seen here can you describe who is committing the violence . Of course, both sides are blaming the other, but what are you seeing . As far as the men at the front lines who first instigated this violence, its a number of people. The people ive spoke to on the ground have identified themselves from a number of different groups. From far right groups to just more radical liezed protestors who have grown more angry over the course of the last two and a half months. And helping them, assisting them are normal ukrainians, men, women, young and old who created human chains and are chiz ling away at paving stones on the sidewalks and passing them down this line to the front line for these more radical younger and middle age men to heave them across police lines. Theyre firing fireworks. A number of them were seen with handguns and firing air rifles. Police in turn are using shotguns and cocktails. I was speaking with a group of them yesterday. They told me that they did have live ammunition. I was able to look at one and confirm, yes, they did have them. They told me they had not been used at that time. Theres certainly possession of them. If these guns are used on protestors, you could see the death toll rise from 26, the officially confirmed number right now, to much, much more. Lets hope that is not what happens today. Our reporters on the ground say there has been no energy lost amongst the protestors this morning. Christopher miller, thank you so much for jumping on the phone with us. Stay safe. Thank you. Well go to east asia. Thailand where the death toll again is uncertain. Almost a hundred have been hurt after the latest protests. Violent demonstrations are overtaking the streets in bangkok. The Prime Minister is facing corruption charges. Protestors shot at officers after tear gas was used to disburse the crowd. Protestors have started camping out around the city in bangkok and their numbers are reportedly growing. To venezuela now and the exploding crisis in that country with tens of thousands of protestors taking to the streets demanding their president step down. A top Opposition Leader is now behind bars connected with the violence. All of this days after three u. S. Officials were expelled from the country. Carl is with us from the capitol in caracas. You yourself have been roughed up by all of the mayhem surrounding these protests. Tell me more. Reporter absolutely. Let me bring up to date first though what is happening on the ground. Lopez made a brief Court Appearance last night. He was held in a military prison overnight and is due back in court today. Opposition protestors have made a rallying call to flock to the courthouse. We are expecting tens of thousands to turn out. That could prove to be a serious flash point in downtown caracas just a short while from now. We also fell victim here. We went after dark to take some video of a faceoff between opposition demonstrators and pro government supporters. At one point the National Guard was out there watching trying to keep the peace. At one point, a group of men armed with automatic pistol came around the corner on motorcycles. They disbursed the crowd by driving straight through them. They put guns in our faces, saw our camera equipment and proceeded to take all that equipment away. Were trying to get that back. We understand that the perpendicular tray tors may have actually been plainclothed cops. Be careful there. All this is happening as president obama is attending a summit in mexico today. The trip, of course, overshadowed by this violence. Senator john mccain is calling the u. S. Peace talks a farce. The u. S. Is reportedly revisiting military options. Where do we go from him . Jim is live in mexico. What was it supposed to be about down there, but what is the new agenda . Reporter good morning. Thats right. President obama will be meeting down here with his north american counter parts, the mexican president and the canadian Prime Minister steven harper. The keystone xl pipe line, canadians would very much like to see that oil project approved. Thats not likely to happen down here. Also the president of mexico would also like to see the Immigration Reform efforts come to fruition back to washington. That is also not likely to happen. As youve been talking about some of these world crises, these concerns will be following the president down here to mexico where the summit will be held. We heard the Obama Administration say yesterday they are reviewing their options when it comes to dealing with the crisis in syria. At this point they are stressing they do not see a military solution to that crisis. As for ukraine, Vice President joe biden called the ukrainian president yesterday evening, urged him to show maximum restraint according to a statement from the white house in dealing with those protests there. You just heard carl talking about the street clashes in sends. You may hear something from the president or the white house on venezuela later today. A lot of people waiting to hear more from the white house today on a lot of the fires burning around the world right now. Lets turn now to more breaking news overnight. Two flight attendants and sefrt passengers were injured after a jet encountered severe turbulence. The a plane was headed from hong kong to San Francisco. Tell us more. Reporter well, it was terror at 30,000 feet to paraphrase on old Twilight Zone episode. Nine people were injured when a boeing 747 on route to hong kong from San Francisco got slammed by that turbulence. The plane was carrying 321 passengers, 21 crew members. It was met at the gate by paramedics and emergency personnel. Two crew members and six passengers were taken to the hospital by those rescue crews upon arrival. They also say that the plane encountered this turbulence while over the Pacific Ocean north of the main island of japan. Japanese Officials Say it may have been further north. It happened about six hours before it was due to land in hong kong. Pictures posted show just how rough of a ride it was. Theres luggage just scattered all over the cabin. Air space over the pacific this time of the year is prone to turbo benefits. Pilots certainly try to avoid it, but there are times it cant be detected. It slams into an aircraft unexpectedly. The only way to avoid getting injured is to fasten your seat belt. I have to tell you, ive been in a situation where theres really bad turbulence, it happens so suddenly that a kid with a mom in the seat in front of me was instantly in my own lap. Well continue to find out what the fall out was there. We already know what thats going to be about. So far this morning, the news has been rough. So heres a little bit of a Silver Lining all right. Heres what were told, the temperatures are finally expected to rise across much of the country. Thats good. But heres the a little bit of the corollary on that. What happens when all this stuff starts to melt . The potential for major flooding. We have to watch that. Indra petersons is my source for all this information. I dont know if 44 seems like a large warmup, but it does. Look at these 70s, almost near 80 expected today near dallas. Were talking about warm temperatures, so snow melt. Plus another system making its way into the northeast. Only adding to the melting of the snow already on the ground. So, yes, the concerns for flooding, especially ice jams out there. This is the system were seeing pull out of the four corners today. This guy has the potential for a couple things. Such cold air up to the north looking for blizzard conditions tomorrow. Remember, when you have cold air up here, warm air down here, you line up the jet stream, we have the threat for Severe Weather. About 300,000 of you by tomorrow looking for the threat of strong winds, but even tornados could be in the forecast. Really looking for that concern. The biggest day will be thursday. By friday, spreading into the midatlantic. A bigger concern as we move towards the end of the week, the threat of tornados in the forecast. Never ends in my world. That jet stream sure seems to be messing with us this year. More of your headlines. This morning the debate over raising the minimum wage is getting murkier. A new Office Report says raising it to 10. 10 would lift 900,000 families out of poverty, but could cost nearly a half million jobs. Right now it is 7. 25 an hour. Nuclear talks with iran getting underway this morning in vienna. Theyre trying to get the iranians to scale back their Nuclear Ambitions in exchange for loosening sanctions. They vowed their country will never bow to pressure. Back here at home, a wisconsin National Guard soldier has been suspended after posting controversial photos online. The caption read quote, we put the fun in funeral. Harrison has been suspended indefinitely from the yun ral honors detail. A former top aide to Chris Christie is refusing to respond to a subpoena in the George Washington bridge scandal. Bill stepien says he wont turn over records. He is the former campaign manager. Bridget ann kelly has also refused to respond. Tonight is your chance to win more than 400 million in the powerball jacket drawing. You get, what, 230 million. You can do some things with that. The odds of winning the big prize, one in 175 million, but go ahead. Keep hope alive. I say iter time, i just dont believe the chances that youre going to win matter. Because you got a chance. You got a chance. Say it, i got a chance. Thats what hopes all about. Lets talk olympics. And of course, as always, the caveat, we have a spoiler alert from sochi. If you dont want to hear, but we know you want to. Eight medal events. Already this morning, skiing and snowboarding events underway. This comes after another big day for the usa. More now from sochi. Rachel . Reporter well, chris, how great is this. Half pipe skier david wises wise took a photo of their baby daughter and put it on one of those giant sticks. So when he went down the pipe for what turned out to be his gold medal run, he said all he saw was the giant smile of his baby girl. Take a look. When it comes to free style skiing, the u. S. Is proving unstoppable. 23yearold american david wise showed no fear in the first ever halfpipe ski competition. He cut through the slush landing impressive flips, twists, and spins. He even ate it during one run. But his previous tricks proved so sick he landed atop that podium. Its funny. Somebody compared us to the norwegians. The americans are really cleaning up house in these Action Sports events. I think right any so. One of our friends is going to win tonight. Reporter on the bobsled track, american duo Lauren Williams and elana myers darting ahead of the track. Now she and myers are on the edge of grabbing gold. On the buy yath lon course it all came down to this photo finish. They broke out in a fullon sprint clock in at the exact same time at the finish line. But take a closer look at these photos that show the ones boot crossing the line just before. Today americans ted leg eti and bode miller. Whats going on there . I sat down with miller who told me he was surprised the interview was so controversial. I felt like it was it was me, not her, you know. She asked questions that i feel like with her knowledge of my brother and the situation, i felt like were were pretty normal questions. But ive known kristen for a long time. I think shes really comfortable with me. And i felt terrible that she was getting just maskered in the press and social media. Reporter miller says hes happy to get the chance to set the record straight and happy that in some way, the memory of his late brother did help him win that medal. Hes really elkwebt in that interview. His teammate right now is leading the giant slol lem by nearly a second. On another gold medal watch right now as we speak. Love starting the day off like that. Looking for ward to more of the interview later. Another spoiler for you even. Time for a check of the medal count. The netherlands and the United States are tied for the overall lead with 20 medals each. Russia follows. Norway and canada are just behind. Updated tally in the next hour for you. Lets take a break, though. Coming up next. Horror at the sea, a female cruise passenger attacked by a crew member. Wait until you hear how police say he tried to cover up the crime. Its all right. I got you. The olympics. So were covering the loud music trial. The big question is how did they not convict. Youre looking at one of the jurors. She says she does believe michael dunn got away with murder, but why . Youll hear from her. You decide. Polly wants to know if we can pick her up. Yeah, we can make room. Yeah. [ male announcer ]. Office space. Yes, were loving this communal seating. Oh, its great. Yeah. [ male announcer ] the best thing to share . A data plan. New at t mobile share value plans for business. Our best value plans ever. For example, you can get 10 gigs of data to share. 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The suspect is in custody this morning accused of breaking into the womans cabin, sexually assaulting her, and then trying to throw her overboard. Chris, good morning. That now former crews ship employee is waking up in federal custody while cruise line executives are working with the fbi to determine how this could have happened. W