with texas' success story ask why more jobs have been created there. texas governor rick perry in d.c. for the national government association gathering stops by our studios to talk about this and more. plus, nascar fans everywhere are gearing up for the daytona 500 and we'll give you a preview, live. hello, everybody, live from the nation's capital, starts right now. we begin our show with the continuing crisis in ukraine where protesters remain informally in control of that nation's capital city. that nation's president has fled the city, but vowing not to step aside as protesters continue to demand his ouster. all this as the country's parliament moves ahead and calling for new elections as early as may. let's turn now to amy kellogg who has the latest. >> reporter: we're just reading reports that the speaker of the parliament has said that president victor yanukovych or former president, it's not even clear what we call him at this point, has actually tried to flee the country, tried to go to russia, for some reason didn't make it and is in the eastern part of the country. this from the speaker of the par limb. we don't have any further information on that. as you mentioned parliament voted today to oust president yanukovych and by law supposedly at this point the speaker of the parliament will remain the acting president until those early elections which are calling for on the 25th of may, but yanukovych said earlier today and probably still sticks by this, i would imagine, that he is not resigning and as far as we know he still considers himself the president of the country. however, the interior ministry and the security services are both now run by opposition people, so those two very key power centers are with the opposition. yanukovych fled the capital kiev this morning and rumors started to fly around first thing that he might have fled the country. the large security detail around his very lavish suburban residence relaxed, barely there, there were even reports that people at some point were able to wander inside the compound today. yanukovych turned up later today on video, only on video in eastern ukraine calling it a coup and comparing the situation to the rise of the nazis in germany. every time you start to think that the conflict is so complicated and mine not entirely about part of ukraine wanting to break away from russia and join europe, you see pictures like this, the toppling of statues of lenin across the country and whoil lenin is long gone, he remains the symbol of russian domination here. and finally, very importantly, tonight, uma, the opposition, well -- the archrival i should say of yanukovych and the ya jaileded opposition leader has been freed from jail and is pea parentally on her way to keyve, a very long drive from where she was, she was in a hospital basically but basically serving a prison term. there's been a quote from her that she is planning to run in the upcoming elections but we assume that at some point later today we will probably hear from her. we will hear from her ourselves. she is not in very good health. as i mentioned she's been hospitalized, so it's not clear whether or not she'll bring something to the ring. two other things yanukovych still has a fairly strong support base based in eastern ukraine and if he's there now and rallying people around him, there are some fears being raised that the country could somehow split. but, again, events are developing so quickly today that we will see what happens in the next few hours and days, uma? >> amy kellogg, thank you so much for that update. joining us now to discuss the very turbulent situation there former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, john hurst. you know despite this deal has failed to end those protests and even though yanukovych has fled, the opposition wants the new elections to happen in may. is that realistic given the fact that the country remains so unstable at this time? >> elections in may are not ideal. but the situation is so fluid it's impossible to say that they will or will not happen. >> what do you make of the developments that have happened so quickly in the last several hours? >> i don't think it's surprising. i mean, yanukovych was clear he was not able by repression to restore order in kiev. and because he had overseen a government which used snipers against its own citizens, he knew his situation in kiev was intenable, so he left to a place where he thought it would be secure in the east. the demonstrators who had been in the streets three months, who braved the cold and braved sniper fire, live fire from the police, 16 months ago. so, the deal was reached just the other day, brokered by the eu, which would reduce yanukovych's power but keep him president. it's not clear if this deal can be sustained. >> the deal called for more of a caretaker type of role for him, correct? >> well, not quite. even with reduced powers he would have significant authority. but -- and the important but is -- that the prime minister under that arrangement would be his co-equal and not reliant on the president which as a compromise is not a bad thing. but the protesters in the streets have been radicalized by the police and yanukovych has blood on his hands and can't stay. >> he said he's not resigning and stepping aside and calling what's happening right now a coup resembling what we saw with hitler back in the 1930s. >> well, the only true thug tactics we've seen over the past three mons have been at the hands of him and his supporters, so that analogy is silly. but he's using that to try to build up support in the east where, of course, they remember the nazis and don't like them, understandably. >> and also in the east we're hearing that leaders of the mainly russian-speaking areas are saying that they are taking control of their territories until constitutional order is restored in kiev. >> well, that's a way of saying they may not listen to any government that emerges in kiev. >> what are the implications for that? >> they are potentially dangerous because this is a single country and this suggests the country can split. i'm skeptical that, in fact, there could be a split in the country. it's possible mr. yanukovych may try, but many influential members of his own party don't want a split. a major oligarch who is a power baron also in the east not too far from where yanukovych is, of course, ukraine will remain a single country and many people in yanukovych's own party do not want to be part of a tiny little constituency in eastern ukraine. >> you know, to the larger point, the deal doesn't addressed what sparked these protests, the fact that the president abandoned the closer ties with the eu, instead went along with the bailout that russia had proposed to help the country out of its debt. how do you see that contentious issue playing out, and what are the stakes right now for vladimir putin? >> on your first question, the issue of an agreement with the eu sparked this crisis, but it is a secondary or even a tertiary issue. the reason why people stayed in the streets they were protesting against four years of authoritarian re authoritarian reign by mr. yanukovych. and he wants to make sure that they don't have closer ties with the eu and he doesn't want tose ukraine, he would like to pull it into an economic union with kazakhstan and armenia which is an economic agreement to nowhere and i think mr. putin has been surprised by the events of the past week or two. >> does the u.s. have any leverage in this at all? >> we have some. this is overwhelmingly an internal ukrainian dispute. the most influential outside partner is russia. the second most influential partner is the eu and the united states is third. our role as you might say as a champion of freedom, so we were the first outside power to sanction ukrainian officials for brutally treating their citizens. and we have said positive things to the demonstrators and we've tried to encourage the eu to also issue sanctions and, of course, the eu did make that decision two days ago. and note, when the eu did it, things in ukraine changed. because this is a very important because, the oligarchs in ukraine want to have access to europe because that's where they see their economic future. even the people in yanukovych's own party see it. they understand that russia is a dead end. russia under its present leadership. a russia engineered reform could be a great global and economic power. but with the backward-looking leadership it has today, it does not have a great future. >> mr. ambassador, thank you very much for joining us with your insights. i know you'll be watching these events very closely because the stakes remain quite high. >> thank you. >> thank you, sir. as we keep close tabs on developments in ukraine, we're also reminded that there are other major hot spots around the globe where violent unrest continues and threaten the stability. and in venezuela dueling rallies are set for government allies and protesters and they are hoping for peaceful demonstrations to express their anger with the status quo which includes high crime and food shortages. at least eight people have died in just over a week of clashes there. in egypt, islamic militants threatening vie ledges against tourists. a deadline for western tourists to leave that nation has just expired and this threat coming from the same militant group claiming credit for last week's tour bus bombing. three people dying in that blast. and syria's three-year-old war rains on displacing millions of people turning them into refugees. just moments ago the united nations security council unanimously voting to demand that syria allow humanitarian aid be delivered to millions of dense pratt people throughout that nation. conner powell is joining us live from jerusalem with the very latest. >> reporter: uma, a lot of backroom associations taking place the past few days as u.s. and european diplomats try to reach an agreement that all five permanent members of the u.n. security council can agree to. russia and china for the past few years really have prevented the security council from passing any resolutions that have anything to do with syria. they had previously vetoed three other resolutions condemning the assad regime and also threatening it with sanctions. but as the three-year-long bloody civil war rages on, the u.n. security council passed unanimously a resolution to boost aid to syria, in a surprising move both russia and china voted in favor of the motion. today's resolution demands that all groups in syria allow humanitarian aid everywhere in the war-torn country, but it does nothing really to stop the violence. the u.n. says 9 million people there are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. and more than 140,000 have actually been killed in the past three years. now, international efforts so far to forge a cease-fire have repeatedly failed. the latest peace talks just collapsed just about a week or so ago. and both rebels and the assad regime blame the other side for the violence and have really shown no willingness to negotiate, uma. and right now neither side appears strong enough to win the war in syria. so, the fighting there, uma, just continues and continues. >> a very unfortunate situation indeed, connor, thank you very much for the update. turning now to the situation that's happening in benghazi, it's been more than a year since the terrorist attack on the u.s. consulate in libya killed four americans and now a new fox news poll is showing that a majority of you still want answers. in a recent poll of registered vote errs 66% are saying they w congress to keep investigating the white house's handling of the benghazi attack and that includes 50% of democrats, 68% of independents and 83% of republicans. >> going to work with congress wherever i can, but whenever i can act on my own to expand opportunity for more americans and help build our middle-class, i'm going to do that. >> turning no you to events back here at home, the president threatening to use executive orders once again this time to raise the minimum wage. this week he asked federal contractors to pay employees at least $10.10 but this latest move has a growing number of lawmakers asking if the president is going overboard by doing an end runaround congress. and joining us is ann coulter, and ann, great to have you here. thank you very much for joining us. >> good to be here, uma. >> you know, the president's own advisers are saying if you raise the minimum wage it allows folks to work less and that the workforce is going to shrink. is this a wedge issue for democrats against the gop at a time that the democrats desperately want to turn the spotlight away from obamacare? >> yes, i think so. but i do have a good counter attack for the republicans. i mean, i feel sorry for them because any serious economist will tell you, you artificially raise the minimum wage, that will reduce the number of jobs. but the average person think there's just a set number of jobs, that will never change and this will just mean higher wages for them. the reason the natural minimum wage what people are being paid at the low end of the scale is so low is because our immigration policies are dumping millions of low-wage workers on america. so, i think republicans should introduce a bill saying no more immigration until the minimum wage that employers need to pay through the laws of supply and demand just rises. a country like australia which has very restrictive immigration policies as an extremely low unemployment rate and a minimum wage that just naturally is about twice what our minimum wage is. we, republicans, believe in supply and demand. and democrats believe in everything being a hand-out from the government, whether it's because you lost your job because of the minimum wage, we'll give you food stamps and unemployment insurance. or we, the beneficient government will give you this minimum wage. that isn't the way a natural market works. we need to cut off immigration until the minimum wage naturally rises. >> you know, interestingly enough, though, studies have shown that as the minimum wage rises, those with the least education and fewest skills are the ones who are going to suffer the worst increases in unemployment and this actually also increases income inequality and that's something the democrats continue to side against. >> no, that's absolutely right. and it is the people that can't see that aren't just a static number of jobs. there would be more jobs that you don't even think of and you are especially as you say it is the people at the very bottom of the economic scale, often young people who have never held a job before and it's very important, you know, just to get in the habit of waking up to an alarm clock and showing up for a job. mostly it's young people. but wages are very low now. they are low now because there are so many low-wage workers. cut off the stream of low-wage workers coming in through our immigration policies, how about we get high-wage workers competing with, you know, the democrats coming up with these terrible ideas. >> but this whole issue of income inequality is something that the democrats are running with, and yet we've not heard a huge outcry from the gop at a time when certain arguments can be made to counter that. >> yes. and i think the main one is immigration. that is part of what is leading to income inequality and as a result of income inequality it is the people at the top end of the income scale who want lots and lots of low-wage workers. they want enough to start building the pyramid. they want to have gardeners and nannies and maids and pay them less and less and less. so, low-wage workers coming in via our immigration policies are fantastic for the ultrarich. it is very bad for the people competing for those jobs. >> what do you make of the concerns that are being raised over the last few weeks the president stepped up use of executive orders? concerns have been raised by both democrats and republicans right now. where is this going to lead as you see it? >> i -- i mean, i think the only constitutional response for congress is impeachment. it's not going to happen. but i do think it's a serious matter arguably, theoretically, rising to the level of impeachment because what obama's doing, i mean, democrats and republicans arguing about this in terms of the number of executive orders. of course, the president is allowed to issue executive orders. he runs the executive branch. it's his constitutional responsibility to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. the way obama is using executive orders is to rewrite legislation. i'd say most egregiously in the case of obamacare. i mean, it is written that in the law that was passed on an exclusively party line vote, by the way, and signed by a democrat president, that all of these mandates on employers are supposed to be going into effect now, but the only people who are going to have to suffer under obamacare are -- are -- are -- are -- are the individuals who do the not have employer-provided health care. you can't rewrite a law like that through executive order. it's the legislative branch's job, oddly enough, to write legislation and the president's only role is as he says is pen. he can veto it or not veto but he can't say i can't enforce this portion of it. >> well, he seems to be running with it and i know you are keeping close watch on it so we'll see where it all leads us. ann coulter, always great to see you. thank you for joining us today. >> thank you, uma. and still to come -- >> join us for our conversation with texas governor rick perry who will be joining us live in a few minutes. he's returning to the all-important presidential primary state of iowa next week. does it mean that he plans to be a contender for president in 2016? we'll also talk about the contin, governor's race that's happening in his state. plus, a major security flaw puts apple users at risk. how hackers could access your e-mail and worse. and what apple is now doing to protect you. and later nascar's own super bowl. we're live at the 56th annual daytona 500 with nascar outlaw kurt busch. fighting constipation by eating healthier, drinking plenty of water, but still not getting relief? try dulcolax laxative tablets. dulcolax is comfort-coated for gentle, over-night relief. dulcolax. predictable over-night relief you can count on. you want a way to help minimize blood sugar spikes. support heart health. and your immune system. now there's new glucerna advance with three benefits in one. [ male announcer ] new glucerna advance. from the brand doctors recommend most. too small. too soft. too tasty. [ both laugh ] [ male announcer ] introducing progresso's new creamy alfredo soup. inspired by perfection. legs, for crossing. feet...splashing. better things than the joint pain and swelling of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. if you're trying to ma, now may be time to ask about xeljanz. xeljz (tofacitinib) is a small pill, not an injection or infusion, for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. seris, sometimes fatal infections and cancers have happened in patients taking xeljanz. don't start xeljanz if you have any infection, unless ok with your doctor. tears in the stomach or intestines, low bod cell counts and higher liver tes and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tts before you start and while taking xeljanz, and roinely check certain liver tests. tell your doctor if you have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common, and if you have had tb, hepatitis b oc, or are prone to infections. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, and if you are pregnant,