Sanctions imposed on Russia, aid to Ukraine, the history of St. Patrick and saving forest elephants

On Monday, President Obama said he had authorized additional sanctions in response to Russia's actions in Crimea. We'll take a look at how the sanctions will be applied with Anders Aslund, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. A bill which attaches IMF reform to 1 billion dollars in aid to Ukraine has cleared the Senate but it is unclear whether it can pass the House. Ukraine would be able to borrow more money from the IMF if U.S. lawmakers sign off on the IMF reforms. The reforms were agreed upon in Seoul in 2010 and involve transferring 63 billion dollars from an emergency fund to the IMF's main fund. Stephen Nelson, a professor of political science at Northwestern University, explains the politics behind the debate on aid to Ukraine and IMF reform.
We'll also take look at the history of St. Patrick. Plus, Scientists once believed that the African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) was a subspecies of the more well-known African elephant. But recent science shows that forest elephants are a separate species altogether. They live mostly in Central and West Africa and many kinds of fruit trees can’t survive without them. Recent studies show that forest elephants face extinction. Due to poaching and habitat destruction, the forest elephants’ numbers have dipped by 65 percent over the last decade. Dr. Elizabeth Bennett is vice president for Species Conservation at the Wildlife Conservation Society. She’ll show us what she believes are alarming trends for the Forest elephant and what it could mean for the region’s ecosystem.

(AP Photo/ David Azia)