In france. The city is no longer a place where you can afford to live in if youre middle class. Woodruff those are just some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by at bae systems, our pride and dedication show in everything we do; from Electronics Systems to intelligence analysis and cyber operations; from combat vehicles and weapons to the maintenance and modernization of ships, aircraft, and critical infrastructure. Knowing our work makes a difference inspires us everyday. Thats bae systems. Thats inspired work. Ive been around long enough to recognize the people who are out there owning it. The ones getting involved, staying engaged. They are not afraid to question the path theyre on. Because the one question they never want to ask is, how did i end up here . I started schwab with those people. People who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of their lives. And the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill the annexation of crimea, by russia, became all but final today, after a signing ceremony and a fiery speech in moscow. Chief Foreign Affairs correspondent margaret warner, traveling in ukraine, reports on the days developments. Reporter with a stroke of his pen, russian president Vladmir Putin endorsed a treaty, adding crimea to the map of russia. It followed an emotional address, as a defiant putin told his parliament he acted legally to right a historical wrong. translated crimea has always been and remains an inseparable part of russia. Both time and circumstances could not erase it. Dramatic changes that our country went through in the 20th century could not erase it either. Reporter putin dismissed western claims that crimeas referendum sunday, to secede from ukraine and join russia, was illegitimate. He also rejected any suggestion that russia means to seize other parts of ukraine. translated do not believe those who try to scare you about russia. Who is shouting that crimea will be followed by other regions . We do not want the division of ukraine, we do not need it. Reporter it was only two weeks ago that putin made similar comments, denying any plans to take over crimea. Todays speech was watched with great interest in the crimean capital, simferopol. Immediately afterward, workmen removed all references to ukraine from parliament buildings. translated we are incredibly grateful happy that this day of victory has arrived, and we have been freed from occupation. Now we are citizens of our own country, russia. Reporter most crimeans were overjoyed at putins swift action today to join their peninsula with russia. And reacting to what may prove to be the most significant speech by a russian leader since the end of the cold war, they cheered his declaration that moscow would act to defend ethnic russians elsewhere. In kiev, the putin speech sparked a decidedly different reaction from the new president of ukraine. translated i would like to remind you of the history world war ii started with the annexation of the territory of other countries by fascist germany. Today the president of russia, mr. Putin, who likes to talk about fascism a lot, is copying the fascists of the last century. Reporter meanwhile, ukrainian troops moved toward crimea, where a military spokesman said a Service Member had been killed when armed men stormed a Ukrainian Military base. But in a televised speech, ukraines interim Prime Minister sought to reassure the kremlin that his country will not join n. A. T. O. translated despite Russias Armed aggression against ukraine, i will do Everything Possible to uphold peace and build relations of partnership. The country will be defended by a strong, modern ukrainian army. Reporter meanwhile, russias actions drew new condemnation from the west. Vice President Joe Biden met with polish Prime Minister donald tusk in warsaw. Russia has offered a variety of arguments to justify what is nothing more than a land grab, including what was said today but the world has seen through, has seen through russias action and has rejected the logic, the flawed logic behind those actions. Reporter biden vowed the u. S. Commitment to its Eastern European allies is ironclad. In london, British Foreign secretary William Hague announced his country is suspending military cooperation with russia. And French Foreign minister Laurent Fabius said russia has been suspended from the group of eight industrialized nations. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov rejected u. S. And european sanctions as unacceptable. In a phone call, he warned secretary of state john kerry of unspecified consequences. Kerry, in turn, warned this afternoon against any further territorial moves by the russians. Im not going to into the details except to say that that would be as egregious as any step that i can think of that could be taken by a country in todays world, particularly by a country like russia where so much is at stake. Reporter but no warning appears likely to stay moscows hand in crimea, at least. The Russian Parliament is expected to formally ratify the annexation within days. Ifill judy takes a closer look at what moscow might do next, right after the news summary. The Obama Administration has suspended Syrian Diplomatic operations in the United States. Todays announcement essentially closes the Syrian Embassy in washington, plus consular offices in troy, michigan and houston, texas. Syrian diplomats and staff have until the end of the month to leave the country. The u. S. Closed its embassy in damascus in 2012. Iran and six world powers resumed talks today on reining in Irans Nuclear program, but with decidedly different goals. Irans foreign minister said the vienna talks were merely an exchange of ideas. A Top European Union official said the focus was the nitty gritty of a deal with the u. S. , britain, france, germany, china and russia. Their hope is to reach a comprehensive agreement by late july. In afghanistan, at least 17 people died in a suicide bombing. The attacker blew himself up at a checkpoint in a northern province. More than two dozen people were wounded. Its the latest in a series of attacks ahead of next months president ial election. There was another twist today in the story of that missing malaysian jetliner. But, it brought investigators no closer to knowing what happened. That, in turn, produced heated new demands for answers, now in china. We have this report narrated by tom clarke of independent television news. This morning, in a beijing hotel, officials met with families of some of the 227 missing passengers on board flight ma m. H. 370 and watched ay turn to anger. This woman lost her cousin. Her signed letters, a message to investigators. Hunger strike and protests tell the truth return our relatives. The families frustration stems from the fact that 11 days, the official story never stayed the same. Originally the planes last location was given as the south china sea. Then it was confirmed military radar picked the plane up hundreds miles to the west in the andaman sea. Early on, pilot and crew were not suspects, now theyre amongst the prime suspects. More than a week after it supposedly disappeared without trace after takeoff, it emerged the plane in fact flew on for seven hours. The search area covers 2 million square nautical miles, an area larger than australia. The control of information could be crucial not just for families but for the investigation itself. The question is some of the information had been politically filtered, are people not giving it out or denying it because they would lose their jobs. Time military radar saw the plane at the time it disappeared but they waited ten days to share the information. Eyewitnesses reported seeing a passenger jet fly over the island six hours after m. H. 370 disappeared. Ifill the government of thailand lifted a state of emergency today, now that violence in bangkok has abated. The decree was imposed two months ago in the face of mass protests demanding the Prime Minister resign. Last month, a thai court struck down several parts of the decree. U. S. Authorities say theyve broken up a child pornography ring that preyed on hundreds of children in this country and overseas. They announced 14 arrests today. The ring allegedly enticed 250 boys, and a few girls, to post images that were used on a subscriptionbased website. The secretary of homeland security, jeh johnson, says its one of the largest such operations ever. The site had more than 27,000 members involved in producing and distributing child pornography on a massive scale. The majority of the victims of these heinous crimes were between the ages of 13 and 15, with two victims under the age of three. Ifill the investigation is continuing, with more arrests expected. Black firefighters in new york city have reached a settlement over racial discrimination. The announcement today said some 1,500 minority candidates will be eligible for back pay totaling 98 million. They took entrance exams that were found to be biased. The new York Fire Department is 85 white. President obama awarded the nations highest military honor today to two dozen army veterans, from world war two, korea and vietnam. A review found theyd been denied the medal of honor because of racial or religious prejudice. Only three of the soldiers are still alive. Well have more on their stories later in the program. The white house is using a new report on sports injuries to boost enrollment for health care coverage. Nearly two Million People sought emergency treatment for such injuries in 2012. White house spokesman jay carney said its one more reason to sign up for coverage. So far, more than five Million People have done so, but thats still a million short of the revised goal. We have a lot of people who signed up, and there are going to be more. I dont, our goal has always been to get a substantial number and for it to be demographically and geographically allocated in a way that allows the marketplaces to function effectively. We believe very strongly that well achieve those goals. Ifill the enrollment deadline is march 31st. On wall street today, the Dow Jones Industrial average gained nearly 89 points to close at 16,336. The nasdaq rose 53 points to close at 4,333. And the standard and poors 500 added 13 points to finish at 1,872. Still to come on the newshour reaction to russias annexation of crimea; clues to what happened at the dawn of the universe; the Silicon Valley perk stirring a bay area controversy; new questions about saturated fats effect on the heart; plus, awarding the medal of honor to onceoverlooked heroes. Woodruff russias swift claim of crimea has raised serious questions about the future of the region, moscows next moves, and what else the u. S. And other countries should be doing about it. Tonight, we get three views on those questions from Richard Haass, president of the council on Foreign Relations and former director of the policy planning at the state department during the george w. Bush administration. Jessica mathews, president of the Carnegie Endowment for international peace. She served at the state department during the clinton administration. And dimitri simes, president of the center for the national interest, a Foreign Policy think tank, and a native of russia. Dimitri simes, today was the one of the most passionate speeches we heard Vladimir Putin give. What do you think his main message was to his own people and to the west . Well, i think his message to his own people is mother russia arrived. It cannot be pushed around anymore, it cannot be ignored. Russia is a great power and has to be treated with respect or else. The second message to the west was twofold. First, as far as crimea is concerned, its all over but the music. It is a part of russia, and this is the way it is going to be. However, russia does not plan to invade ukraine, and russia may be even under some circumstances a part of a constructive solution for ukraine, a constructive solution with mr. Putin having his own agenda. Woodruff what you take away from what mr. Putin said . I agree with part of what dimitri said. Two weeks ago, we heard he had no plans to annex crimea, and if you read it very, very closely, he says, of course, russia reserves the right to protect russian citizens, so there are enough russians living in ukraine and elsewhere in the former soviet empire. So i would call that decide lid a mixed message at very best. Woodruff Richard Haass, how did you read what we heard from putin . Not a lot to add, actually, judy. The real question for all of sus whether what were hearing is crimea exceptionalism. He did this in order to compensate for the loss of kiev and this is his way of saving face and saving some strategic position. Thats one set of problems that poses to us, mainly the way he went about it. On the other hand, it presses something more, an effort to rebuild parts of a lost empire, then obviously its far more worrisome. We dont know enough. Im not sure mr. Putin is. We assume the guy across the table has a fully articulated and elaborate game plan. Its fully possible hes improvising and making it up as he goes along and what he does next depends in part on what domestic reactions are and international responses. Woodruff dimitri simes, could Vladimir Putin be improvising as he goes along, waiting to see the reactions internally and from the west before he decides what to do next . I think richard is right. Jessica just said something very important. Putin promised two weeks ago not to invade crimea, and then we know they have done it. However, when putin was promising not to invade crimea, they were already talking about crimea and there was just one question, an extending of ukraine. Then when things happened between russia and the United States, they have moved the date of referendum forward, and another question, complete independence for crimea and then joining russia. I think richard is right, putin was changing his mind as progression was happening and the kremlin would not have to pay a heavy price but, at the same time, felt that the United States and the European Union were taking russia seriously. Woodruff if russia stops at crimea, if they dont move further, is that something that the west, europe and the United States can accept . Can live with . Well have to live wit because crimea is done, its over and wont be reversed and u. S. Policy should not be to roll this back. Even as we refuse to recognize what happens, our policy now should be focusing on Eastern Ukraine and the yiewfn case of ukraine as it now exists and on, i think, a new russia policy. Woodruff i want to pursue that but let me get Richard Haass take on it. If russia were to stop with crimea, can the west live with that . Well, well have to live with it unless such a time as russias forced to discourage it because of some kind of a nationalist reaction. But i think for the foreseeable future, this is the new reality, weve got to accept it and what we want to do, then, is try to use this in ways that discourage further russian news, and this means the kind of thing that Vice President biden is doing, stepping up u. S. Support for the neighboring countries that are part of nato, shoring up ukraine itself. The rest of ukraine has a history of political and economic dysfunction. We shouldnt take its stability for granted. We ought to be opening up our ability to export oil and gas. We have to dilute russian Foreign Policy which is the influence it derives from energy exports. Woodruff if these are the kinds of steps that the u. S. And europe take, what would the effect be . What would the russian reaction be . Well, i completely agree with jessica and richard. Again, as far as crimea is concerned, theres very little we can do. We can make clear that there will be no western investment in crimea. That is up to us. In terms of removing russian troops, that is not in the cards. What i think we should be doing are things that are quite unusual for this administration. 30s, we should think strategically and understand what our objective is, and our objective should be not to allow russia to invade ukraine. I dont understand woodruff any more of ukraine . Ukraine proper. I dont understand why its important for the administration to make sure there would be no more russian invasion. At the same time, i will be talking to the russians about the possibility of building a new relationship, getting out from this hole to provide putin an incentive. More pressure and incentive. Woodruff sounds like what were hearing from the administration is more threatening talk that if you do more of this, well do x, y and z, rather than the kind of openings we ear hearing now from richard and dimitri. I think we need to be operating on several different levels, some which appear to be somewhat contradictory. We have got to impose some cost, even if theyre very, very minor and leave room for escalation. We have to be talking seriously to the russians because, as horrible as what they have done is, it is crucial