we have to say good-bye. we thank you very much for joining us. the show may be over but the conversation continues on our web site. you can find us on twitter at aj consider this. see you next time. >> ukraine... >> chaos in ukraine as russian gunmen sees the airport in crimea. moscow raises financial aid. >> preparing to speak - viktor yanukovych to address his removal of power as he hides out in rush a ia -- russia. >> the new look. >> the fight for freedom for our al jazeera colleagues detained in egypt.

people around the world rally for their release. >> hi there. welcome to al jazeera america. i'm thomas drayton. we begin with a crisis in ukraine. moscow is trying to hold on to ties with ukraine. russian president vladimir putin ordered his deposit to discuss possible financial aid for ukraine with international partners, and is asking the government to consider humanitarian aid. the south is seeing backlash to the new ukrainian government. there has been a wave of protests and reports that gunmen in russian-marked uniforms seized the main airport. this was taken at the airport, a dark image of men in helmets. 50 armed men were there. earlier another group of pro-russian gunmen took control.

lawrence lee takes a look at the rising tensions in crimea. >> there's attempts made to turn the crimea capital into a kiev, but in reverse. the parliament building in the hands of dozens of heavily armed men, protecting it from what they see as undemocratic forces. the support is not so many, but eager to tell you that they'd like nothing more than russian tanks on the streets to protect them them. >> the american army was supported in different countries. we support russian army because every one of us has relatives in russia. >> the police lines served by a handful of men. it didn't look impressive. the point being that they wanted to tell the armed group that they were with them, and that

they were in control. >> so it's pretty obvious exactly who is in charge, the police line as it was, simply melting away as these people said they wanted to hold their protest in front of the building, which is under the control of this armed militia. at the moment there's no one to stop them doing more or less what they feel like. >> today's surprise guest sergie milarnav, hard line nationalist and member of the russian parliament. in he went to talk to the mao in this supposed ukrainian city. this woman could barely describe her fury. the people from the west, weed u kated them, she said -- we educated them, she said. the people thing they are governed by a bunch of fascist

sympathizing peace ants. others walk around with faces on display. behind all this is the knowledge that whatever aspirations the new government in kiev might have, the russians were in crimea a long time ago. >> it's becoming obvious that ukraine is in the middle of a diplomatic proxy war between the west and russia. as of right now there's a government in kiev harbouring aspirations for the country, one day, perhaps, to join the european union, but if that happens, it'll be a country with the russian fleet. >> did the russian propolitician think the forces leave them. it's impossible, he said, and he's almost certainly like. is crimea on the brink of war?

it's hard to say. >> secretary of state john kerry has a message for russia as it begins military exercises near the border of ukraine. he says this is no time for russia to interfere. russia says the military exercises were scheduled in advance of upraises. he was assured by russian foreign minister that russia will report ukraine sovereignty. we believe that everybody needs to step back and avoid provocations, and we want to see in the next days ahead, obviously, that the choices russia makes conform to this arm nation that we received today. this comes as president viktor yanukovych is getting ready to come out of hiding. he scheduled a press conference on friday. viktor yanukovych is asking russia to protect him from

extremists. if any country, ukraine was wondering about, there's a display going on right now. vladimir putin put two of russia's four military districts on high alert. land, sea and air power, tested for readiness. moscow insists the war games are not connected to the events in ukraine. n.a.t.o. hit a warning against escalation. i urged russia not to take action that could escalate tension or create misunderstanding. i urged the ukrainian leadership to establish an inclusive political process that reflects the democratic aspirations of the ukrainian people. >> on the streets in moscow there was concern about the heightened tensions but solidarity with the ethnic russians, particularly those in

crimea. >> i think russia should help our ukrainian friends to get back to life. i think political leaders should decide. it's a nightmare. >> translation: on one hand they are our brothers. on the other hand it can cause an international conflict. it's important to keep the territory integrity. >> where is the man who still calls himself ukraine's rightful president. >> a russian newspaper claims he was spotted here at the grand moscow hotel earlier in the week. it's known as the hotel ukriena. >> if there was doubt that viktor yanukovych was in russia, it was squashed late on thursday, when the state newsagency announced that he's

to give a press conference in a southern city at 13 gmt on friday. >> in his published statement viktor yanukovych says the people in southeastern ukraine, in crimea will not accept what he called "complete lawlessness in the country with leaders appointed by a mob." >> documents from edward snowden's files reveal new files. this time the british intelligence agency is accused of intercepting many of yahoo chat's explicit text messages. the images were saved at random in 2008 and shared with america's national security agency. >> president obama gave a candid and personal act thursday, as ha announced a ground-breaking initiative. it's called my brother's keeper in the government to help keep

young black and hispanic boys in school. the president made the case, drawing on his personal experience growing up. >> when i was their age i asway lot like them. i didn't have a dad in the house. i was angry about it. i didn't realise it at the time. i made bad choices. i got high without thinking about the harm that it could do. >> president obama said the idea for the program came in the aftermath of the murder. it will receive $200 million for the next five years. magic johnson, n.b.a., is one of the businessmen pledging to help. >> rain is expected this weekend, but it will come at a cost. the state is bracing for a storm that could trigger flooding in mudslides. mandatory evacuations are under

way. 1,000 homes may be in harm's way. >> conditions are changing. we are looking at changes if terms of rain and snow. we saw rain across parts of california. thursday we saw a break, as you cap see. unfortunately we are picking up what is coming next. that is the second storm, the one that will bring heavy rain showers across the south. friday we are looking at flash flooding and mudslides, land slides and snow showers in the mountains, just to the north of la. the problem is 6-8 inches of rain will be falling in the next 24 hours. a major problem there. sarah nevada - you'll pick up 26-48 inches of snow in some of those locations, particularly

into the higher elevations. textures cooler. it will last all the way to saturday night. as we go through sunday things will improve and our textures will be improving as well. a little to the north, for seattle we will see rain, a break on sunday and some more rain showers as we go towards the beginning of the week. >> across parts of texas temperatures coming up with dallas, 78 degrees. we don't expect to see much in terms of rain. for san antonio heavily text doors, getting over towards monday, temperatures dropping to 54 degrees. for parts of the south-east. we'll see atlanta at 62. things will stay cool on monday. >> venezuelans returning to the streets to protest. the new signs emerging as a stalemate for the government and

opposition forces. >> nutrition labels looking at a make obvious. how it will be used to combat obesity. >> a global push to free al jazeera colleagues. how people around the world came together to shed light on their detention.

>> welcome back. at this time of year venezuelan's are gearing up to celebrate carnivale. instead unrest is turning the country upside down. >> the president hoped to diffuse tensions by starting celebrations early. the tactics failed. >> venezuela's president nicolas maduro was hoping that thursday, which kicked off a week-long holiday around the carnival, which showed an easing of temperatures between protesters and government forces didn't

happen. there's several here in the surrounding area. and protests in the south-west. on the border of columbia, which has been the epicentre of protests between people unhappy with the government and rising inflation and insecurity, and having standoffs with security forces. people are barricading nems their neighbourhoods, blocking out the forces, getting into fights. this happens on a day in which the government announced an arrest warrant for the number two leader of the same party headed by leopoldo lopez, who was taken into custody. this is showing that perhaps there's a stalemate between the president and these protesters and leaders. the president hosted a peace confidence a day after, they announced an arrest warrant for a prominent member of the

opposition. one of the main leaders skipped the peace conference, henriques capriles didn't want to be a prop used by the government to show a cord being laid. venezuela is divided and people are not ready to give up their right to protest in the streets. >> attorney-general eric holder has been released from hospital after experiencing chest pains. he was treated for an elevated heart rate and sent home to rest. >> food labels are getting a maimer makeover. first lady michelle obama and the head of the food and drug organization unveiled new guidelines. it's about healthier choices when you go shopping. >> according to the food and drug administration it is time to update the nutrition labels found on items in the growry store. the biggest change deals with calorie counts. here is the current label, where

it's tough to read. on the new one, there's no missing how much you read. the amount of sugars also is on the label. they are considered a big contributor to the obesity epidemic. the proposal was rolled out at the white house, with the nutritious-minded first lady leading the charge. >> you, the parent, and a consumer, should be able to walk into a grocery store, pick an item off the shelf and tell whether it's good for your family. >> some people said they welcomed the change. >> any time we try to get people to know what they are eating, it's a good thing. does it work, not so sure. >> anything that is transparency is a good thing. >> another big difference with the proposed label is a change

in surfing size to reflect how we are eating. for example, this muffin, under the label is considered two serving sizes. >> come on, you really are going to eat half. >> this is one serving size, a serving size would be 400 calories, not 200. >> a food advocacy group applauded the move. >> most of the changes are for the better. who can be against that. getting sugar on the label, added sugars is important. i don't think they went far enough. >> michael jacobsen he'd like the f.d.a. to add information on a daily amount for added sugars. they requested feedback. in a statement the grocery manufacturers said it is critical that any changes are based on current and reliable

science. equally important, any changes inform and not confuse consumers. new labels will not be showing up soon. once the f.d.a. makes its final decision, food companies will have two years to update their labels. >> once again we have to point out as lisa said, because you are not going to see it right away. companies will have two years. it's legal for drivers in california to look up directions on the cell phone. a judge reversed the case of a fresno case of a man ticketed for talking on his iphone. talking and texting is illegal in some states. >> 13 workers at a new mexico plant have been exposed to radiation during a leak. jacob ward explains what it means for public safety. >> the wipp is not a landfill,

it's a toum. the department of energy opened the facility in 1999, to house the by-product of nuclear weapons. it has hazmat gloves, suits, and is supposed to entomb the materials for 10,000 years. that is until the year 11,999 ad. if, as reports reports suggest, the place has failed, that means it failed before it reached a quarter of 1% of its life span. i spoke with an academic, and he described a warren of panels. at the end of the horizontal shafts in the rooms the size of a football field, barrels of radioactive trash sits on pallets. over the cores of years, they are supposed to collapse.

it's not clear how radiation might have gotten loose. the site was chosen for geological stability. it makes for a handy material. there's no groundwater to speak of in next coe. as described to me, there is a tremendous amount of monitoring equipment, the workers are in close proximity and would be exposed if there was a leak. this is a unique facility. nowhere else in the world is there a permanent resting place. a deep repository. this is a place where the planning and resources were gathered in one place and brought to bear on the problem. unfortunately that seems that was not enough. the material on site is so frightening and will remain dangerously radioactive that the department of energy convened a group of thinkers to solve the problem of warning people away

from the site. imagine is future civilisation coming across the place in 8,000 years. they can't read or write. none of the archives survived. how would they know not to dig there. the does link wist and science fiction writers tried to solve the problem with a vocabulary of signs, intended to warn the future people to stay away. >> the project begs the question - if the stuff is so dangerous that we need to warn people 10,000 years from now. what steps are enough to protect ourselves today. >> jacob ward in san francisco. still ahead - drawing attention to the detention of journalists in egypt. people rally for the release of al jazeera colleagues and others held. >> two years later the captain of the costa concordia returns

for a first-hand look at the doomed i must begin my journey,

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>> welcome back. two years ago the costa concordia ran into rocks off italy. the cap tape accused of abandoning the cruise liner. under court order he boarded the ship. many locals hope to close the chapter on the tragedy. >> francesco schettino was swamped by the media, as he returned to the trip he captained to tragedy. after spending four hours on board, he had an answer. >> translation: there are those who have plea bargained admitting blame. i'm here and undergoing trial so before you say the guilty one or the person responsible, i'm doing this. >> investigators were inspecting an emergency generator that was meant to power elevators and life boats, which didn't work

the night of the shipwreck. lawyers demanded he be allowed to join them. francesco schettino faces 20 years in prison. charged with abandoning ship. residents who have been faced with the reminder of the tragedy for two years are divided over his return. >> there's no sense for him to come here and cry in front of the ship, when all this happened basically he took a cab to go back to his hotel when everyone was running around looking for the parents, the children. >> translation: in any case, guilty or not, and in whatever way, anyone can make a mistake, and especially it could happen to others, who could give you the blame. >> 32 people were killed when the costa concordia hit rocks and capsized. more than 4,000 people were on board, meaning a long list of witnesses and the trial expected

to last several more months. >> the salvage operation of the 114- tonne ship continues, workers hope to refloat and toe the ship away. >> a satellite flying through space is designed to improve weather predictions. n.a.s.a. and the weather agency launched the satellite. it creates 3d models of developing storms, sending them back to earth. >> thursday marked a day of solidarity with our detained colleagues. demonstrations took place around the world to draw attention to the challenges journalists face. we take a look at the international show of support. >> making a statement with their silence. the solidarity on delay in the

al jazeera newsroom swept crass the globe. the message clear from the streets of australia, floating in indonesia, with balloons released in england, and flying high in brazil. in every language one message. >> journalism is not a crime. >> a nobel peace prize winner said it in yemen. >> we are asking for the freedom. >> a poet in mexico, the rain in paris, and in toronto, calling for freedom for al jazeera's imprisoned journalists. >> we want to call on the egyptian government to release them, and the canadian government to call for their release, publicly, strongly, unequivocally to get them free. >> none of the al jazeera employees are americans. that didn't stop the white house press secretary for calling for their release.

we are watching the trial of al jazeera staff and journalists in egypt. we understand that the defendants pleaded not guilty and it was adjourned until march the 5th. we urged government to allow these and others to do their jobs, and it's impossible to do that, how any journalists can do their jobs when faced with charges and are on trial. >> a call echoed on capitol hill. >> locking up reporters never stopped the world finding out what is going on in a country, particularly in this modern world. >> with petitions delivered to embassies across the road, simple protests, washington to beirut and flashed across the screens. this was a day to send a message in one voice to egyptian officials. you can put the journalists in a cage, you can put them on trial, but they will not stand alone.

the world is watching. >> we are hoping for the immediate release. >> that will do it for this edition of al jazeera. "the stream" is next and news at the top of every hour. thanks for watching. >> hi, you are in the stream. dubbed king of the politically incorrect, mel brooks is join "the stream" in a live and rare interview. he's reflecting on 60 years of pushing the envelope in show business. >> we are bringing all of the