governments would get out of the way. >> thanks to all of our guest force a great conversation. until next time we'll see you online. u up. >> good evening everyone. welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. crisis in ukraine. russia accused of sending forces into the area. in we are now deeply concerned about reports of military movements taken by the russian federation inside of ukraine. >> costs for any military intervention in ukraine. and yanukovych comes out of hiding.

speaking in russian, the out offed president vows to fight for ukraine. >> tonight, explosive allegations out of ukraine. the new government in kiev accusing russia of an armed invasion in the crimea region. signs that troops are moving in from russia. washington is talking with its allies in europe about consequences and ukraine's defense minister says radical groups are planning new activities in ukraine. our in-depth coverage begins in the southeast of ukraine. in the capital of crimea. jennifer glasse, defense

minister says there are operations what he calls radical forces in the works. what are you hearing? >> reporter: well, john, tonight in crimea, the air space is choafd closed. we see a lot of armed men around here in the last day. th started in the middle of the night last night taking over sevastopol airport which is a military airport, they look very well trained, no military insignia, no identifying marks on their vehicles either. military trucks moving on the roads of crimea, certainly from the capitol and sevastopol, that is the headquarters of russia's black sea neat. we can't identify -- fleet. whee can'we can't identify who ,

who they answer to or what they are doing here. the air space is now closed. we have had a movement of military vehicles on the roads and so a very worrying development here in crimea tonight. >> jennifer are they facing any push dk back on the grown? >> not at all. as a matter of fact when armed men came into the parliament, which is just on the street behind me a couple of nights ago the police put up no resistance whatsoever. there have been some police on the street in this area in the center of town but a very lack luster force. in fact, the majority of crimea is ethnic russian. they are very concerned about what's going on in kiev. for the last few weeks have been calling the opposition now the government in kiev fa fascists,

they were especially concerned when the new government made ukrainian the official language. people here felt that marginalized them. they have ties to russia and are very eastern european hooking, and very military exercise going on as comforting signs that russia is watching very closely what's happen here. >> jennifer glasse, in s fehrople. , mike viqueria is at the white house covering that story mike. good you could hear the escalating alarm in secretary of state john kerry's voice. in jay carney's voice, the white house spokesman, they warned of a grave mistake if russia was to

interfere in the sovereignty of ukraine. it all came about around 5:00 this afternoon, when president obama appeared in the briefing room, talked about costs to russia. what are those costs? john, i've spoken to a senior administration potential, they're talking about the g-8, it's in sochi, the site of the just concluded winter olympics. how to see how the g-8 participants, the europeans would join vladimir putin in g-8, looks like it will be cancelled if events continue the way they are now. they're also talking and pointing us to the fact that the rubel appears to be losing value at this point. consequences, in the real world are already taking place. president obama had harsh words, a beef statement but part of what he had to -- brief

statement but part of what he had to say: >> we are concerned about military movements taking bin the russian federation inside ukraine. russia has historic any violation of ukraine's sovereignty, or territorial, not in the interest of ukraine, russia or europe. >> and a senior administration official also points out that any bump in world reputation and enhanced reputation that russia got from the just concluded sochi olympics is already going away. john. >> so mike, what is the u.s. doing right now to help ukraine's new government? >> well, vice president biden has been on the phone with the prime minister. they pointed out over 9 times over the past couple of months that vice president biden had been in touch with viktor

yanukovych the now departed president of the ukraine. who does he want to call now when he wants to talk to the top officials? they refer to the caretakers that bet them to the may 25th elections. john. >> thank you, mike. demandindemanding russia pu. nick schifrin, big challenges for the new government in kiev. how are officials responding there? >> reporter: john, we've heard a lot of rhetoric and a lot of parliamentary resolutions bit there has been no -- but there has been no action. this government is 30 hours old. it is brand-new, huge problems, political unity across the country. few hours from default but they have been entirely focused on crimea and this cries they see it. the interior minister took to facebook, he took to what is

going on crimea as a russian. >> matt: invasions. pleading basically with russia not to do anything and that was reiterated by the country's acting president just a few hours ago. >> i personally addressed president putin with the demand to immediately end the provocation and call back the troops from the autonomous republic of crimea and act within the boundaries of previously established agreements. >> reporter: now the government has demanded that if there are russian troops they pull back. you heard jen glasse, you heard mike viqueria describing this as a technical government. it's not clear if the government has the capacity or will to act with certainty in crimea. >> what does the government want from the international

community? >> reporter: just to give you a little perspective here. the recent training mission that putin sent the russian military on along the border, had about 140, 150,000 troops. the ukrainian military has 140,000 troops. that is what they're up against so therefore they turned to the international community. they are very, very eager to get security council help. any kind of security council resolution against putin. that's why you hear president obama come out very forcefully this afternoon. this government needs to focus on the economy, doesn't really have the capacity to deal with any kind of russian intervention in the crimea and so therefore it is begging the international community for any help it can get. >> and nick we are also hearing that switzerland has launched a money laundering allegation against president yanukovych. what do you think about that? >> any time that a head of state

gets moved out of power from any kind of crowd, they always in the last decade have tried to move money around. to a certain extent it is not a surprise that yanukovych has moved money around. but over the weekend journalists got into yanukovych's estate out of kiev. they found documents dumped in the river, journalists found them. they actually worked together, they dried those documents in the sauna and all weekend they poured through them and out of those documents they say they have evidence of tens of billions of dollars of money laundering by yanukovych and his son and his family. that's why we are seeing europe launching money investigations not only into yanukovych but into his ahighs and his family, john. >> now ukraine's president, phil ittner is live with that. first off, we heard president

obama's warning to ruiz short time ago. are you hearing any reaction from the kremlin? >> well, john, keeping in mind that the president made those statements basically in the middle of the night here. there has been no official reply from the russian government. but there is a precedent for this sort of thing. russia does not like being dictated to. they see themselves as a reemerging power as a significant force on the ghoacial stage. they are the -- global staining. they don't like being told what to do, certainly not being told what to do by the old cold warren my, america. >> as we mentioned the former ukrainian president spoke in russian today. tell us more about what he had to say. >> he had a lot to say. he struck out at those who are now in power in kiev. he called them nationalists,

extremists, even calling them nazis, but he also had some harsh words for the west. he said that western powers were very much to blame for the current crisis. as far as what he intends to do from now, well he said he will return to ukraine. he does expect and want to return to power. as he says, he is still the official head of state. >> translator: i right pete it over again -- he i repeat it over again. i am a legitimate president of ukraine i remain the letting lee president of ukraine. >> that echoes a lot of what we've heard from the russian foreign ministries on this side of the border in russia as the crisis internally in ukraine continues. john. >> thanks to all of you, phil,

nick, jennifer for covering this for us tonight. a military strategist and a fellow at the truman national security project. glad to have you with us. >> glad to be here john. >> what strikes you tonight? >> it's a classic military operation. he's taken special operations forces, that's the key to any forward intervention you might have in crimea at this point in time. and with 150,000 troops on that western border of russia he has now what could be a very large force that could sweep across into the ukraine should ukraine forces decide to come down and match what we're seeing inside crimea. the pictures you have shown tonight tell me has got heavy forces coming, bmps part of heavy mechanized part of russian units. >> how does the u.s. respond to this? i'm not saying necessarily

military action, but military movement in response? >> john we don't have anything that could keep them launching forward on the ground with their military at this point. we have standoff missiles over the horizon that has to act as a deterrence but it doesn't look like it's going to deter vladimir putin from this level of operation. so the response has got to be diplomatic at this point. there is nothing from the military perspective that we can do except to give aid and information as to when they could attack. >> essentially warns the russians, what about the timing of this? >> he had to say something. he didn't use the same language that he used in syria. red lines, he didn't put any of that out there. but now he's actually put something that the russian president has to think about. i know our military is making plans trying to come up with some options to give the president here. but the nearest u.s. forces are let's say a thousand miles away

in tu stutgart, germany. nothing in the black sea or that entire region. >> the russians deny that they have forces in the courtroom, who do you think is there in sefropl? >> russia is using this to reinforce that naval situation there and perhaps their goal is to take that peninsula back, to make it part of russia again, use this because they can. they know that the ukraine right now is in a weak position, that area has always been the crown jewel within the russian empire going back to catherine the great. from a military proposition, that's very important. >> what does the united states do? >> not a lot they can do. if the ukraine goes back and

tries to go back and request help from nato to help russia answer for what they're doing, again there's too much military force on the ground right now that's already been expended for him to back off. >> what does the ukrainian government do and what does kiev do? >> again if they decide to launch and meet this potential military force you could have a very bloody battle that takes mace in the southern part of the ukraine and again with 150,000 troops on that border very quickly deployed, while ukraine's military is very sharp very highly trained, it would be a very interesting battle so to speak. there's not enough numbers to match the russian forces. >> they are outmatched? >> they are outmatched, outnumbered outsupplied. better naval fleet that exists in the black sea easily reinforced. >> do you think this will happen

quickly? >> if it does, it will happen quickly. will he back off in the next 48 hours? if he moves more troops in all we have to think is that he wants to keep that region. >> mike lyons thank you. secret documents released. thousands of records from bill clinton's presidential library now in the public domain.

>> every sunday night, al jazeera america brings you conversations you won't find anywhere else... >> your'e listening because you wanna see what happen...

>> get your damn education... >> talk to al jazeera only on al jazeera america >> oh my... >> rain is in the forecast for much of california. more rain has fallen there than more than a year. but with the rain come the risks of mudslides. the cities of glendale. >> talking about the storms coming along the coast. center of circulation still way

our in parts of the pacific. rain though is starting to ease off just a little bit. we're watching band after band making its way over the shore. pushing through nevada, through the southern part. after that, we do get a break in the rain. but we expect to see another surge in the rain over the overnight hours. how is this going to play out and how is it going to affect the rest of the country? here we go, let's start tonight and put this into motion and tomorrow in the afternoon you can see rain showers still a big problem along the coast. but now we're going to get storms here, winter storms across parts of nebraska, let's put this a little bit more forward in time. there you go. back into sunday morning where the storm then turns into an ice storm across parts of arkansas as well as parts of missouri. there we could be seeing about one iem inch of rain for some

people. this storm is going to making its way to the east and snow for the eastern seaboard. john. >> richelle carey, here to tell us,. >> the heating bills you soaring and the bill is going up no matter what type of heat you use. >> propane and natural gas, temperatures plunging, demand for heating fuel has been soaring this winter and that has fuel prices reaching new highs in some areas. >> consumers have been lull intermediate a safety net feeling prices wouldn't go up that high, because we have had mild winters in the last couple of years. this year it hit with a bang and consumers weren't prepared. >> 5.5 million homes use

propane. natural gas has jumped more than 20%. according to the census bureau about half of households use natural gas as their primary heating fuel, and home heating has risen 2%. bottom line, the average bill for an american family was $150. this year, it's closer to $450. analysts see these increases are common in winter but this has been an exceptionally cold season affecting so much of the country, prices are even under more pressure. >> we've seen a five fold increase in heating this winter. it can't go much further and our consumers will be strapped. >> there is a lot more snow in the forecast for parts in the country in the days ahead, john. >> so when might they see some relief? >> usually in the spring is, right? but think about this, when the summer comes if we have a really, really hot summer that is going to be more money for

consumers as well. >> the impact of this? >> if you are spending this on utilities, you are not going to be spending it on going out to eat and movies and things like that. you need the money for that. >> after a quick break, u.s. officials believe russians are moving into crimea. a near death experience, a medic who barely survived kiev's opposition uprising. how the extreme cold in the midwest is affecting delicate crops.

>> welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler. a lot to cofl this half hour

including the power of creatively, including how art is helping refugees. holding back important funding for uganda. also the frozen tundra. the unusually cold temperatures damaging very delicate crops. all that's coming up. first richelle has our top stories, ukraine. >> the president says he's deep deeply concerned about ukraine. tonight u.s. officials say there are signs that russian troops are moving into the crimea region in southern ukraine. viktor yanukovych made his first public appearance since being driven out of power. he says he is still the president of the ukraine and will fight for future of the ukraine. accusing russia of aggression in ukraine.

radical groups, officials say, have been planning more operations and john's britain's foreign minster william haig says he will travel there to conduct talks with the new leaders. >> jennifer glasse is in the crimean capitol of simferopol. away are you hearing tonight? john, air space is chosed. armed forces came into simferopol, present at the terminal all day, but this evening many more men came in, no flights in or out of simferopol, this is the crimean capital capitol, not for 18 hours here. they are wearing military

uniforms but no insignias. they won't speak to reporters, they won't speak to anyone. they won't say who they're taking orders from or really what their intent is. and tonight we've got a report that another group of armed men is standing outside a police station there. sorry, a television station there. they haven't gone in but a little bit more of a presence on the street. >> all right, jennifer glasse reporting from ukraine. jennifer, thank you very much. during ukraine's uprising dozens of demonstrators were killed. one woman nearly lost her life trying to help them. nick schifrin is in kiev with her story. ♪ >> reporter: in independence square they refused to forget. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: below the stage that helped launch the revolution, the shrine borrows

evergrowsevery day. they call them the heavenly squad, the nearly 100 people killed in the last ten days by police bullets. this country, this city is still mourning. they didn't come here to listen to president yanukovych's first press conference since fleeing the country. they came here to remember the people who died to depose him. >> the time comes and you must sacrifice in order to achieve greater things. we must all support the people who fell at the barricades. it is all because of them now. >> it's all because of them. last wednesday activists with flimsy shields walked into a massacre and alessia jucosa ran towards the bullets, towards the wounded.

she's a volunteer nurse and knew she had to help. but then a sniper aimed at her. the bullet went straight through her neck. >> do you remember getting shot? >> yes. good what do you remember? >> translator: i remember everything. she says. in the ambulance she tweeted the words in ukrainian, i am dying. it went viral. she became a symbol of sacrifice. >> when you were in the ambulance you tack out your phone. why did you do that? >> translator: i was convinced i would die, she says. so i wanted to say good-bye. it was a miracle she survived. it was a miracle she didn't lose her voice. and now she pledges to return to independence square. the passions that were there, she says, they don't go away. >> i think lesser gave the belief that anything is possible. knowing that she is now alive is unbelievable, and that gives people hope and belief that you

must fight for what you believe in. >> thanks to people like alessia, 19-year-old daria isn't afraid anymore. she insists, yanukovych is no longer her president. >> he is running away in any possible way. he is afraid, he now knows that we have so much power and dough not any more. >> power because of those who fought and survived and those who didn't. and to give you a sense of what independence square is like right now, there was fighting for months. there was a real sense of excitement. earlier this week, john, now it is simply sad. every few hours behind me there is a funeral for one of those people who died fighting the old government. >> nick, the fear that that woman says she no longer has, what does that say about the future of protests in independence square? >> i think it's a really

important point. because the people behind me are not leaving. they have in fact moved some of their camps from independence square to outside the parliament. yesterday i saw an armored personnel carrier full of opposition members, members of the afghan war, people who fought the afghan war, veterans, ukrainians who this guns. who said they were watching what is going inside, very closely. there isn't any kind of armed invasion of the parliament or anything like that but the point is that the opposition here, is watching and judge the new parliament and they say if the new parliament doesn't act the way they want to their fate will be the same as the old government's john. >> thank you nick. several protestors gathered outside the united nations today. john terret spoke to several of them and john joins us now with more. how do they view what's happening overseas, john?

>> well, good evening to you john. i'm actually in what we know as little ukraine in lower manhattan. you might be able to see a shrine to the dead in kiev, there are candles and photographs. people in this ukrainian community in manhattan are very, very concerned about what is happening in their home land. we've seen people with tears in their eyes today when they think about it and as you say john, earlier outside the united nations headquarters there was a protest by ukrainian americans determined to get the ambassadors of the security council to do something to help their country. take a look. >> russia, hands off ukraine. >> reporter: ukrainian americans protesting outside the united nations in new york. they are angry at what they say are russia's war-like maneuverings in their backyard. >> i have family in ukraine right now. and it is very dangerous

situation right now in ukraine. it's pre-war situation. invasion of russian military forces to ukrainian territory. >> we'd like to bring attention that's really important in this really urgent issue and ukraine, russia is behaving very, very aggressively. >> it's scary. >> his message, keep the demonstrations doing. >> they are doing a tremendous job. they are raisin raising the pros and the wars around the world. we have more than 20 millions people around. and they will protest, on the squares around the world, asking the governments to raise their voice, and to protect ukraine. >> there weren't a lot of protesters outside the u.n. are it was a freezing day in new york and this demonstration was put together at the last minute but passions were still running very high. >> americans, stand up in

defense of what is right. >> don't want any more blood to be shed. >> majority of people did not even know where this country was prior to november and december of last year. they must know it is not the soviet union anymore. >> reporter: and with me now here in little ukraine in lower manhattan is ivana who was at that demonstration at the united nations this afternoon. what were you hoping to achieve? what was the main message? >> well, we tried to educate the united nations and the american public in general that ukrainians are hoping to stay together, they don't want another berlin wall in the middle of the country and in the middle of europe, of europe, and they would like to tell that they stand for the same values and the same western values as other countries. >> reporter: and you're

appealing to the ambassadors of the security council today but russia has a veto on the council. how do you think you might get round that? how do you think the council would help you with that russian veto sitting there? >> well, i really hope that u.n. can stand as the whole organization and show it's not only about russia. it's an organization of all states. and i did above that we have other methods to -- u.n. have other methods to use and whatever possible and do in their power to make sure that ukraine stands united. and values protected. >> reporter: thank you, john. >> lock and key for 13 years, include copies of clinton's speeches schedules and talking points for interviews. some of the records come from

then first lady hillary clinton's office. how to humanize and show what a good person she is. nearly ahalf a foot of rain fell in some of the dryest portions of california today, still not enough to stop the drought. people in glendora and other municipalities. akiko fujita is in glendora. >> over whun are -- 1,000 homes have been evacuated. there have been no reports of homes that have been damaged so far. but you see that sign behind me, road closures all across the city because of all that mud and debris that has just spilled out on the roads. let me show you what we are

seeing hidged those road closure signs. earlier we saw mud and debris just spilling out onto the roads, in some cases spilling out into backyards. this is the same area that was burned by a 2,000 acre fire just last month. the soil can't hold the moisture that's coming down and that's what is triggering all these mudslides. >> the rain and the mud, i didn't know all this debris would be coming down. >> reporter: in addition to torrential rains we have had strong winds and thunder. that has triggered several power outages. as of this hour still more than 25,000 customers without power in los angeles. the roads have been treacherous. bumper to bumper traffic, roads closed down, even one man had to be rescued from the l.a. river with his two dogs.

we're expecting another mixture of rain strong winds and thunder to pick up around midnight local time. the midnight expected to continue through sunday morning, some areas could get up to five inches of rain, good news from an area that has been struggling from the most severe drought in recent history. forcing the u.s. postal service to suspend mail delivery today. you can understand how severe the weather has been. >> akiko fujita, thank you very much. frigid weather has returned to a great part of the country. ash-har quraishi reports on that. >> reporter: at the taber hill

winery, everything is clicking along but outside, there's a different story. >> the extreme cold, we know there's a lot of bud injury and we are going to have to play a whole different game as growing season in order to get a crop. >> wine maker michael merchant says the polar vortex that plunged into record cold temperatures has taken a toll on his vineyards. >> we are going to be down at least 50% in many of the varieties, that could be 75 or more percent. >> merchant has taken stock by saying cross sections seeing which buds are already dead and which are still viable. >> we'll just go through and we'll cut. and that one does not look alive. >> while michigan isn't the first place you look at when it comes to wine, it is big business here. >> welcome to michigan, where the four as soon as and four great lakes smile on the wine

maker. >> according to the department of agriculture, the state is home to 1 million wineries, attracting agritourists every year. but this winter's frigid temperatures may have long lasting impacts on michigan's thriving wine businesses. >> we can get down to minus 15 or even minus 20 below and colder than that and maybe be okay. but for wine grapes, that is much closer, much warmer up near zero. >> some grapes can survive, but hardy and more in demand wine grapes anything below 5° could be a problem. >> what we're concerned about is not only the bud dying but the wood itself. the plant itself, if it gets too cold it will kill the plant so growers will have to replant. >> 60 miles north, in 10ville, michigan, unique i geography had

the area. >> we tend to be buffered from both the north and the south because of our position at the widest point in the lake. >> even with the loss of between 15 and 50% of the buds, 10 valley is on target to have a -- fenn valley is on target to have a good yield. possess misses neepessimists ne. ash-har quraishi, al jazeera, michigan. what was the largest bitcoin exchange has filed for bankruptcy. the ceo of mount docs bowed in apology, 850,000 bitcoins have disappeared, apparently because

of a flaw in their software. criticizing uganda's president over the tough anti-gay laws. malcolm webb reports. >> reporter: it's been called one of the toughest anti-gay laws in the world. punishable with life imprisonment. wants to make sure its development objectives are not affected by the new law. >> this is a very big move by them to say this is not social, nondiscrimination, i think it is courageous by the bank, they're learning about the mistakes they have had in the past by having too extreme a view of what the consequences will be. >> the loan is about $90

million, only a small portion of the projects the world bank has in uganda, worth in total about $1.5 billion but uganda relies on foreign aid for about 20% of its foreign budget. sweden is also reconsidering its aid package. the netherlands an norway have each frozen about $9 million in aid and denmark is moving its aid from government to ngos. many people are slightly baffled by the reaction. the donor countries never made much now about widespread corruption or other human rights issues which are common. gay rights plays into the hands of the proponents of the new law. they claim that the west has an agenda to promote homosexuality

in uganda. and the new law says that's illegal too. it doesn't define what promoting homosexuality is but the law could be used against any gay rights activists. seven were identified by a tabloid newspaper this week. now they say they are in fear of being lynched. the country says not discriminating against them. >> a state of culture and values, we are in discrimination of anyone. it is intended to stop the promotion of homosexuality in our country, the inducement of our children into a behavior that is foreign to them. >> to stand up to western demands it makes them more popular at home. but for many of the international donors the new law has crossed the line. malcolm webb, al jazeera,

kampala, uganda. the oscar goes to, we'll meet the men and women of the academy.

>> we are watching what is happening across the southwest of course but in the northern plains it is going to be those very low temperatures we saw, tomorrow will continue the rest of the weekend. fargo minus 27° is what is expected saturday morning. here across the northeast, this morning in new york we saw about 11°. we do expect that to only go up a couple of degrees saturday morning, low temperature there of 13. the other big story is what is going to happen with that california system making its way across the country? saturday and sunday the snow is going to make its way across parts of pennsylvania as well as ohio, severe weather outbreak across arkansas and texas is going to be a major problem.

we follow this as we go through the beginning of the week northeast, boston, new york, philadelphia, as well as washington, possibly seeing snow starting on sunday night going through mon, that is going to cause -- through monday, that is going to cause some problems, that is going to cause controversy how much we are going to get, four to eight inches, some areas higher than that. that is the weather, news with john is coming up after this.

>> every friday we take a few moments from covering the news to enjoy art. art therapy helping yum peeping in syria from the horrors of war. >> these children are not misbehaving. they are actually being encouraged to scream and they have come from a war zone. and this exercise helps them release their violent emotions. the teachers ask them, what does the word violence mean? some talk about the arguments

they have with their classmates back in syria. others recall their memories of war. >> translator: my friend grabbed his chest with fireworks. to detonate himself so he kills us. he burned himself. >> my brother was killed. a shell hit his house. >> miss, miss, army soldiers came and raided and burned our house. >> then it was time for the children to put their memories and feelings into drawings. death and dying dominates much of their work. wants to show me her brother's grave, others want to show me tanks and other weapons. it is a syrian organization funded by a $25,000 grant from the danish government. trained by the danish red cross

to provide psychological sport to syrian children. good. >> how to express those feelings, using painting and interactive theater so they gain a sense of control over them which helps in the coping process. the growing is being suppressed by many of those factors. 65% of those children are not going to school. of those 35% are forced to work in very difficult circumstances. >> it is time to have fun for some, expressed here. >> around one 50 children have participated in workshops like this one. some of them are showing signs of posttraumatic stress disorder, including severe depression, lack of sleep and eating disorder. the trainers say they need psychiatric help. but there aren't enough psychiatrists, hospitals schools or even food for the syrian

refugees. they pay in war but the war will always be in their lives. near the turkey border. >> who are being awarded the golden statute? good last but not he's i thank you, the academy. >> i want to thank the academy. >> i'd like to thank academy as ubiquitous as, when a few hollywood luminaries got to talking at a dinner party. from that the academy of motion picture arts and scientists was born. formed by 36 of the most influential men and women in the film industry. fast-forward and today's academy

looks much different with some 6,000 voting members, including film makers, artists, executives and everyone in between. >> you don't have to be a multimillionaire film star in order to be a vote. you could be a relatively humble worker as a sound mixer and also have a vote. >> or you could be like film producer and past academy president sid gannis. >> you have to have a body of work. becoming a member is not mysterious, the standards are pretty high. >> when you consider the power a member wields. and eternal bragging rights. >> that symbol of the best that we all aspire to. it's so damn exciting, i can't even explain it to you. i remember the first night, the first time i went to an oscar

ceremony. i remember it because i couldn't believe my eyes. >> argo. >> each year the awards become more opulent and elaborate. but it didn't start that way. the first wor awards were in 19. 270 people attended. tickets cost only $5. but there was little constituencsuspensewhen the awa. creating the fanfare we know today, film maker paul hurtsburg has been a member since the 1990s. good it's special, and for me, it's night, but if you meet someone, you go, you vote for the academy awards? it's like, yeah.

>> and make no mistake, many voting members aspire to perhaps one day not only be a voter but also a winner. >> what happens when you're on a movie set, you're like a big family and it might be a dysfunctional family but everyone works together for the common cause and common goal of hopefully making a very special feature film, at the end of the day, a makes money and gets the academy award. >> an oscar statute worth its weight in gold. for the few who make up the academy. jennifer london, al jazeera hollywood. >> we'll have more on al jazeera 11:00 eastern. she's a young woman whose art lifted her from poverty.

innocente. those stories and much more are coming up. okay, so normally we do our freeze frame. but we want to show you some of these pictures, live pictures, well we just lost them. let's try again. we got them back. some pictures out of california. this is the rain. it is a real mess out there getting worse around los angeles. they have had a huge drought and now it is pouring, more rain than they've had in almost a year, in the last few days. we'll continue to watch that situation and we'll have more coming up tonight. 11:00 eastern, 8:00 pacific, we'll see you then. >> al jazeera's investigative unit has tonight's exclusive report. >> stories that have impact... that make a difference... that open your world... >> this is what we do... >> america tonight

next only on al jazeera america

>> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm richelle carey. here are tonight's top stories. ukraine's new president is

accusing russia of armed resistance. the state department is warning u.s. citizens to put off all nonessential travel to ukraine particularly crimea. president obama says he's deeply concerned about the situation. earlier this afternoon he warned there cost for any russian military intervention in ukraine. washington is consulting with its allies. after almost a week in hiding ukraine's ousted president made his first public appearance since driven out of power. speaking in russia veurkt yanukovych says he is-- viktor yanukovych says he is still the real president of ukraine. more rain is expected to hit southern california tonight, a thousand residents have been evacuated. rain triggered mudslides in the region, same area devastated by fire last month. those are the headlines.

i'm richelle carey, "america tonight" with joie chen is next. thank you for your time. do keep it here. >> maint investigates. "america tonight" investigates. beaten up by sheriffs deputies. >> i had four or five came around and i heard this. >> denied medical care. >> she would sit and cry and say please please take me to the hospital. i need them to stitch it up. >> and a botched execution. >> deprive them of oxygen for 25 minutes as they slowly die in front of their