>> go bend the scenes at aljazeera.com/techknow. follow our expert contributors at >> >> a russian flag flying over the ukrainian city of crimea. international pressure mounting to pull back the russian troops. >> the trial of the century - an olympic athlete heads to court. >> rain, snow and its - a massive storm that already shut down the government. >> call it carnivale, call it

mardi gras, or you can just call it the wildest party in the world. >> we begun with breaking news out of pakistan. 11 at least are dead after an ambush in a courthouse in the capital of islamabad. gunmen stormed a complex opening fire. one victim was a senior judge, the other two attorneys. it comes days after the pakistani government agrees to a ceasefire. the pakistani government is denying involvement in the attack. >> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm thomas drayton. we'll follow the latest on pakistan. first, a developing story. a great deal has changed in ukraine. russia controls crimea and southern ukraine.

there's pressure from around the world for russia to remove its troops. the foreign minister says he'll meet with the u.s. secretary-general on monday. ukraine's interim president says russia's invasion is not a threat, but a declaration of war. russia is calling up its military reservists. the new government will meet on tuesday. sunday night the g7 suspended plans for a summit in sochi. in the head of ukraine's navy has been fired for high treesons, after defecting and swearing allegiance to pro-russian leaders in cooumia. >> covering the unfolding cries circumstances we have teams in kiev, and sevastopol. >> jennifer glasse was in

perevalnye as it happened. >> it was not a day that the colonel expected. a contingent of russians came to his base and wanted him to surrender, "they said they are here to bring stability to crimea", what that means he doesn't know. he refused to give up. more russian arrived - truckloads of them. the colonel watches and tells someone they're here. the ukrainians moved an armored fighting vehicle to the gate. there'll be no reenforcelets -- reinforcements. >>, "no one is coming from kiev. i'm alone, me and my brigade. we'll do what we can and we'll see." they say we'll see if there's going to be war. then the troops come in on foot. some civilians tried to stop them. but soon they had the base surrounded. the two armies feet from each

other. >> we have a stand off. ukrainian troops, russian troops all around here. they came in earlier and told the commander to give up the base. he said he wouldn't. now they are standing against each other. >> they want the ukrainians to lay down their arms. >> no deal, says the colonel. as they enter the territory of the base, "i'll have to shoot." an offer of negotiations. all they can agree on is no one wants to start a war. >> an orthodox priest has appealed for peace. the public is divided. some praising their appearance. >> people from another country are here. what shall we call it, intervention, occupation. they have no legal right. >> but they are, in significant numbers. given the way they are setting up, there's no signs they'll be

leaving soon. >> as we mentioned the newly appointed head of ukraine's navy defected and swore allegiance to crimea. >> welcome to the middle of the capital of crimea turned into a ghost town. there's literally no one on the streets, no sounds at all. the only thing you hear is a few stray dogs walking down the street. it's a sense that the capital is occupied by the russian military. not only here, around parliament. the only ones you see are soldiers. as we walk off the plane, they are not tense, they don't approach anyone, they look from a distance. their automatic weapons and numbers reveal they are in charge. officials say there's 6,000 heavily armed russian soldiers, and they are very much in

control in the u.s. in control of the entire peninsula. there's a sense that pour has shifted -- power has shifted. the head of the navy, embarrassing for the government has defected. pledging his allegiance not to the government in kiev, but pledging aleegance to russia. >> i swear allegiance to the residents of the autonomous republic of crimea. the heroic city. i swear to obey orders of the chief commander of the city of sevastopol. orders approved by commanders of military units. >> he was pledging allegiance to the prime minister and to give you a sense of perspective that was selected over the weekend after russian soldiers walked into parliament and with arms pointed them at lawmakers who elected the prime minister so you know where his aleegance is. there's a sense of an occupation

and people believing it's okay that russia has come in, many looking towards the east. they are ethnic russians, and they have allegiances not to the west but to russia and moscow. there's a large minority who are against moscow and look to the rest, and they are appealing to kiev and the new government for help. >> nick schifrin reporting from crimea. >> the white house has taken a firm position on russia's actions. the secretary of state will travel to meet with the embattled government. mike viqueira has more from washington. >> secretary of state john kerry insists this is not the cold war all over again, but, he says, russia's behaviour towards ukraine evokes an error. >> you don't, in the 21st century, behave in 19th century fashion behaving in trumped up pretext. >> russia has control over

crimea, with 6,000 plus troops on the ground. the escalating confrontation has the administration scrambling to respond. kerry and president obama worked the phones, coordinating with allies. all of them, every one of them are prepared to go to the hilt to isolate russia with respect to this invasion. >> on the table economic sanctions. freezing assets of russian official officials, isolation on trade and investment and a boycott of the g8 scheduled for sochi in june. there's talk of throwing russia out of the g8. president obama spoke with the leaders of great britain, germany and poland. they are trying to deploy international monitors. one option that is not on the table is military action by the west. "we are trying to de-escalate

this", says a senior official. another added that the focus was on economic options. republicans and democrats are supporting the president, some believe president obama should have seen it coming. >> putin is playing chess and i think we are playing marbles. >> the u.s. signalled that it could get much-needed financial support to ukraine. treasury secretary jack lew spoke with treasury counterparts, saying washington will work with partners to help kiev support finances. support would hinge on whether the new government would embrace reforms. >> australia assumaned its russian ambass -- summoned its russian ambassador to explain it's actions in ukraine. ukraine opened military recruiting centres. hundreds of men are volunteering. jacky rowland spoke to some in

the capital kiev. >> ukrainians are preparing themselves for war. in kiev, where there has been so much bloodshed people express their allegiance to ukraine and their defiance of russia. it's fighting rhetoric and it still is only talk. parliament has been meeting in emergency session. afterwards the prime minister said russia had brought them to the brink of disaster. this is not the threat. this is the declaration of war to my country. and we urge president putin to pull back his military and to stick to the international obligations and li lateral and multilateral agreements that were signed between ukraine and russia. >> the army opened recruiting

stations across the country. there are nine in the capital alone. on the outskirts men were waiting outside before the doors opened. people have been responding enthusiastically for the call to mobilise. here there are young men, older men, people with military experience, people without military experience, but who want to take part. we visited a total of three stations in and around kiev and in the first few hours seller hundred enlisted. >> somehow we have to win. i can tell you that we will win, but we have to. >> russia is powerful. on the other side we have friends in europe, united states who claimed the support, so we will fight until then. >> this is the gravest confrontation between russia and the west since the end of the cold war. what started here as a protest

movement escalated beyond what most demonstrators imagined. it's not over yet. >> you have to keep in mined ukraine's new government is less than a week old and is facing daunting challenges. phil ittner is in kiev focussing on that part of the story. >> here in kiev there's a sense of anxiety. people are concerned about what is happening in the east of the country in the crimean peninsula, but are concerned about a potential war on a grander scale in ukraine as a whole country. the people are looking to the new government, and they are finding it wanting. we have heard a lot of complaints from people on the street today, but their new government doesn't know what it's doing. it may be because many of the new politicians are just that, they are new. they are not career politicians. they have to learn on the job.

at the same time they deal with an external threat coming from russia. what we have in kiev is a lot of people who had hope for a new country, one swept away from the cronnyism that we saw with the viktor yanukovych presidency. the hope is whittled away for fears of an impending war. it's interesting to note that the government is trying to establish itself. the prime minister today appointed 18 regional governors, and that will yeahate a network taken away when the government was ousted. of the 18 regional governors, two are oligarchs. when who got their power, came to strength through cronyism, through the use of money, that was a major concern and reason why there was an uprising. still there's a job that needs to be done in ukraine.

there needs to be a government, someone needs to be controlling things, there's a lack of that here. we have heard grave concerns about the security situation. the police apparently are not doing their jobs. many are not being paid and there are vigilantes on the streets. there's also the concern that the russians may come. and that, of course, is the cloud hanging over everything. phil ittner on the new government in kiev. >> protesters around the globe are calling for peace in ukraine. dozens spoke out to the russian consulate. they called for a free and independent ukraine. >> over 100 people have marched more than two miles from new york's times square to the russian consulate to protest what they call an act of aggression on the part of putin and its ukrainian russian

tensions coming to a boil - many demonstrators worried about their family back home. >> i have family in crimea, and they describe the situation as the russian soldiers occupying ukrainian territory. i don't feel safe for them. it's not - the russians should not interfere with ukraine. >> at the consulate and through the streets of new york city, protesters have been chanting crimea is ukraine. they want russian forces to redeploy back to their bases. >> still ahead - north korea launching missiles. why it may be a warning to the u.s., and why the regime later released a political prisoner. plus an olympian accused of murder. the case that's called south africa's o.j. simpson trial.

(♪) carnival taking a backseat in venezuela. why protesters took to the streets in violent clashes - wearing costumes.

>> looking at the weather the federal government will close offices. the national weather service predicted 6-10 inches of snow for the washington d.c. area. meteorologist rebecca stevenson joins us. >> this satellite takes pictures from up in the air down to space, underlying a map of land and water. you can see a satellite of a strong front as it approached slowly but surely into the east, south-east. this is the storm system today, the storm system bringing in ice in the d.c.

federal offices closed and a lot of folks will stay home, instead of driving from philadelphia to washington d.c., baltimore and durum. it will be a soaker in the west, a series of storms bringing in up to two feet of snow. rainfall in the valleys, snow east of the cascades into the rockies, colorado rockies getting a hit. the winter concerns focussing in to the ice accumulations we are going to get early this morning and throughout monday, kentucky tennessee and into virginias. ice will make it impossible to drive on the roadways. we are looking at the winter conditions, overnight being difficult, moving out of missouri and into arkansas. ice storm warnings will be popping up throughout the morning. i want to point out the north

platt river is flooding. this is about the time of year that the sandhill cranes arrived. a lot of folks coming in. beautiful mating dance. you have to look those up on the internet. the windchill warnings are off the side of the river. we have flooding positions where a lot of people will see the special bursts. the storm, as it moves to the east will move monday. the first part of the day will be saturated in the show, across maryland, delaware and manhattan, 1-3 inches before the storm moves off. the focus of heavy snow, 6-12 in the south. >> a rough commute for many. >> north korea freed an australian missionary. john short was arrested last month. according to north korea's official news agency short

admitted he committed a crime, signed an apology and requested forgiveness. american kenneth bea remains. he's been sentenced to 15 years in a hard labour camp. >> north korea fired short-range missiles for the second time in a week, and is believed to be in response to exercises taking police in the u.s. and south korea. two missiles were filed 200 miles into the sea of japan. north korea carried out a similar launch of missiles on thursday. >> the death toll in a sword attack stands at 33. a group of unidentified men stormed a train station in western china. the chinese government calls it an act of terrorism. police fatally shot four of the attackers and are looking for others. >> south african track star oscar pistorius goes on trial monday for murder. we'll take you live outside the

courthouse in south africa. we'll see several of these images in the coming weeks. the former olympian known as the blade runner because of his prosthetic legs is accused of killing his girl. he said the shooting on valentine's day was an accident. he thought she was an intruder. prosecutors say he killed her on purpose after a late-night fight. south africans are watching the case that could send him to prison for 25 years. >> the media may make or break the case because of information that is not in the public domain yet, might dom the public domain when the trial runs, and other witnesses may hear or see this evidence or statements that are made and might alter the version that they put to the investigators. >> the trial is highly anticipated that a south african cable channel launched for oscar pistorius trial coverage. the 24 hour channel began to

broadcast on sun. >> a surge of protests in the midst of carnival. tens of thousands filled the street. the protesters are angry about rising inflation and high crimes and are calling for a new government. paul beban reports from caracas where the demonstrations have been ongoing for weeks. >> we are on one of the main bull vards. this is the hottest of the hot spot since mid february when the protests began, behind me are a series of barricades. a few hundred yards are police and national guards. occasional groups of people running up the streets, surging back this way and back to the barriers. opportunitying police and security forces into a confrontation. thousands and thousands pressing

down in this direction. protesters responding with fireworks now. police and security forces are firing tear gases. you can see the clouds rising beyond us. they are taking the cannisters and throwing them back. it's happening over and over as the confrontations run through the night. >> paul beban in caracas. protests in venezuela did not stop the party in rio. >> millions sell braut the world's wildest party carnival in the lead-up to lent. and they are rolling up the carpet at the academy award. the big winners from the academy award.

>> it's carnival season and many consider brazil's carnival the

greatest show on earth. thousands flood to the park for a block party. carnival in rio is famous for hundreds of street parties. samba darns will kick off the official carnival parade. -- samba dancers will kick off the official carnival parade. >> it appeared that tiger woods was getting his moo back, now this. sunday morning he tweaks his back and had to withdraw. he tried to man up and get through the rounds, but if you had back problems, you can feel his pain. the 38-year-old was slicing and dicing his shots over the course. after completing number 13, tiger decided that's it and walked off the course. it's the sixth time in his career that woods has withdrawn from a tournament. he issued a statement saying:

>> as for the action on the course - rory mcilroy had a 2-stroke lead and the former number one player was having issues. rory mcilroy lost the lead and ended up in a 4-man play-off. rory mcilroy flies, and was getting chippy from the rough stuff. hate it when that happens. it opens up the door for russell hanley. he got his second pga and pocketed $1 million. the ladies had a play-off. paula cremer, lighting this baby up from another area code. from 75 feet away it was eagle

and victory. there's no way it's going in, right. >> the pink panthers pretty in pink. paula captures an lpg event since winning the 2010 u.s. women's open. i can't tell you how good it feels. it's a big win. this has been a long time coming, and i wouldn't be here food if it wasn't for col jip, my -- col jip, my -- colin, my caddy and best friend. >> a lot of smiles in hollywood. the stars came out for the 86th academy award. best picture to "12 years a slave." jahi mcmath won best actor for "dallas buyers club." cate blanchett best actress for her role in "blue jasmine." jared letto won best supporting actor in "dallas buyers club." best supporting actress went to

lupeeta nyong'o in "12 years a slave." and alfonso quaron won best director for "gravity." that will do it for this edition of al jazeera america. we leave you with live pictures from south africa where the murder trial of oscar pistorius is getting under way. hello, i'm richard gisberg, and you are at "the listening poet." ukraine gets a domestic government. the obama administration observes the right to cease