>> they're locking the doors... >> groung breaking... >> they killed evan dead. >> truth seeking... >> they don't wanna show what's really going on... >> breakthough investigative documentary series america's war workers only on al jazeera america ♪ president obama and russian president vladimir putin speak for the second time in a week on come away with little help with the escalating crisis in ukraine. antigovernment protests in venezuela turn deadly and asking for human rights monitors to be allowed in the country. new jersey chris christie addressing the republic parties race and trying to rebrand himself ahead of the 2016 race

for the white house. >> all agree that people should not be using marijuana and driving. >> reporter: a new roll for police in colorado trying to spot motorists driving under the influence of pot. ♪ good morning and welcome to al jazeera america, i'm stephanie sy. ukraine is in the middle of a tug of war between russia and western allies but a symbolic vote is threatening to re-dale a diplomatic resolution and in crimea they voted to reunite with russia. next week voters there will decide whether to do so in a referendum and russia says it will support the people's decision. the sus slapped a visa ban on officials and president obama followed with an order laying ground work for sanctions and eu suspended visa talks with moscow and threatened to impose travel

bands and freeze assets and cancel a summit with russia. for the second time in a week president obama and putin spoken the phone and mr. obama urging there putin to hold direct talks with ukraine and we have coverage on the situation in ukraine and lisa stark is covering the froms in washington for us but we will begin with phil in kiev and good morning and european leaders taking a hard line with russia now. will it work? >> well, stephanie taking hard line and very strong words but what needs to happen is follow-up with strong actions to really get russia's attention and they may be difficult and a clear divide in the european union on how to apply possible sanctions and some member states would like to see sanctions on industry and others as the united states has done sanctions on individuals and that divide is going to be difficult to overcome. take for example germany have very strong trade relations with

russia and they probably will not want to see an industry-wide sanction and the uk and the city of london is filled with rich russians to buy property and that will have to be overcome but europe has come to the conclusion that something, some sort of response has to be delivered to russia. >> reporter: deep economic ties there as you say, phil and european leaders meeting in ireland to vote on eu candidates and opposition leaders are also there and what are they hoping to gain? >> well what is happening in dublin is interesting and kind of on the sidelines of what has been going on the last few days and gathering together to see who will be the next executive branch of the european union and we have a man who is out spoken in his relationships with russia. so at a time when there is this

very strong tension, this very exacerbated tension between the east and the west europe looks for leadership and if they find one against russia it could have long lasting effects on relations and a ukraine president in dublin is trying to make that happen. stephanie. >> while they duke it out on the sidelines they are across ukraine and what can you tell us about that? >> sorry, stephanie we lost you there for a quick second. >> reporter: the latest on the unrest that we are still seeing across some parts of ukraine. >> yeah, absolutely stephanie and east of the country at a town called dunyette and other places and we see tension, government building that has been changed hands time and time again. the russian flag goes up and the

ukrainian flag goes up so russian and ukraine flag and it exemplifies what is happening in the far east of the country where there is not a clear majority like crimea and mostly russians down in the crimea peninsula but there is pretty much an even split or balanced split in the east of the country and means there are those who want to be with keb and those who want to be with moscow and now we are seeing clashes. >> reporter: phil reporting from kiev and thank you. the u.s. is beefing up its military presence in the back sea and truckston left greece for a previously-scheduled training exercise with bulgarian navy and sending jets to a mission in the baltics. president obama is trying to find an answer to the crisis and for the second time in a week he

spoke with putin over the phone and lisa what do we know about this phone conversation? >> well, stephanie, the white house says the conversation lasted for about an hour and that president obama continued to stress to russia the u.s. believes that i are violating international law by going in and violating the integrity of ukraine. he urged president putin to resolve this issue peacefully by allowing direct talks and letting the observers and moving forward to a new election in may. the two did agree to continue to have secretary of state john kerry continue their talks and that is one positive thing that came out of the phone conversation. >> how did mr. putin respond? >> from what the kremlin is saying the two men were talking past each other and said there were differences that emerged in the call about how this crisis really began, the russians

continuing to insist that it was because of an illegal coup in ukraine and also made the argument that russia cannot continue to ignore the cries of those in the crimea region and that is why it moved into that area. and so there was not a lot of common ground at least publically. >> reporter: and the phone call took place just a short time after the white house announced several measures against russia. tell us about those. >> well, the white house did announce a number of measures against russia including visa restrictions on ukraine officials that they will identify and feel it had something to do with violating the integrity of ukraine. the president also laid the framework for future economic like freezing assets in the u.s. if need be and made it clear the administration will take further action if necessary. but again stressing and hoping

for a diplomatic solution. >> reporter: al jazeera's lisa stark in washington for us and thank you. ukraine's former prime minister shanka is calling for action from the u.s. and allies on russia. in an interview with al jazeera john hendron in kiev she says the time to have a diplomatic solution is running out. >> translator: i think currently there is a lot of talk about creating special negotiation groups and more diplomacy talks. i think that is not to the point. i think if we follow this course after the 30th of march, after the referendum to be held in crimea we shall lose crimea and adhere to absolutely different methods. >> translator: i think it's not just ukraine who will lose crimea during this crisis. i think it's the whole world who will feel the consequence of the lost and the world will feel the critical moment of this situation. >> reporter: you can watch the

interview on sunday's edition of talk to al jazeera at 7:00 p.m. eastern. cuba is set to begin talks with the european union, among the topics on the table trade and human rights and the foreign minister says it marks the end of the one-sided relationship with europe and they lifted sanctions against cuba in 2008 and last month the eu indicated it wanted to broaden economic cooperation with havana and iran is rejecting it was behind a shipment of rockets headed to the gaza strip and on wednesday the military said it found the weapons on a ship it stopped in the red sea and organized by iran but tehran says israel is lying and accused them of arming groups like hamas. they are asking venezuela to send in human rights observers. the u.n. is responding to reports of excessive force used

on demonstrators and journalists during vent protests and they sent a written request to the venezuela government and want to investigate. tensions are high in venezuela after the anniversary of hugo chavez death and they clashed in the capitol city of caracus and continued through the night. >> intense fighting in caracus, an area where there has been fighting night after night. when we arrived people were running and on motorcycles, groups of young men throwing rocks where forces had been masked and tear gas moments before and you could still smell it in the air. they were waiting for a rush by security forces and when the motorcycles came down the street that is what they thought it

was, probably people on motorcycle taxis but agitated and hard to have a conversation with anybody. we have been talking to protesters here and are fighting the government and the government is the fashist and they are calling them fashists and throwing molotov cocktails here and there are people on the apartment building next door watching it like it's the evening entertainment, like it's a baseball game. >> got to go. >> let's go. >> reporter: that's when the mood started to shift. you can hear shouts of camera, camera and said it was time to put distance between our cameras and this mob. this violence, this kind of mob violence seems to be increasingly the face of this protest movement at least in caracus and the concern is this is how this is going to play out across the country as this crisis continues to unfold. >> reporter: al jazeera's paul in caracus.

at least 21 people have been killed since the protests began last month and includes a national guard soldier and motorcycle taxi driver who died on thursday. a tense standoff in portugal with police against police. thousands of off-duty officers trying to break in the parliament building in the capitol lizben on thursday and held back by riot police and are mad about benefits that were passed in 2011. they convicted a congo leader for crimes against humanity and a short time ago germain katanga was guilty for an attack on a village in 2003 and convicted of rape, sexual slavery and using children as soldiers and we followed the verdict at the international criminal court at the hague.

>> throughout court proceedings at the hague germain katanga is relaxed and smiling and asked to stand for the verdict and was impasive and he is guilty of being an accessory to murder and pila pilaging and it took place in a village that borders uganda 13 years ago which 200 people were killed. some eyewitnesses of that massacre say that people were hacked to death with may -- machetes and dragged from their beds. and he recruited child soldiers under 15 and forced to be part of the armed malitia and acquitted of rape and sexual violence as well. we now know he will remain in custody. the court will now decide on a

sentencing date and have a clear idea of what his full sentence will be, how many years he will remain behind bars. >> reporter: and barker reporting there, the trial of three journalists in egypt is adjusted, bahimi and gresta and mohamed are accused of spreading false news and al jazeera rejects charges and calls for immediate release and the trial will resume on march 24. winter is far from over in the upper midwest and let's bring in nicole mitchell, good morning. >> a couple places where we are watching the winter weather and the metrologist winter ended at the end of february but we have a few weeks until the official start of spring and a system through the mid atlantic and bringing ice in virginia. more on that coming up. a disturbance in the midwest and not a lot of moisture associated with it but as we get away from

one system and h ed to the next, as this comes through the front associated with that behind that as we get in the overnight hours is going to bring more air in from canada once again, just reenforcing the rough winter we already had. look at the snow pack across the country. extending in some cases stim snow on the ground as far south as places like oklahoma or tennessee. well, right now we have about 46% of the country covered and this time last year 7% less, which doesn't sound like a lot until you add in the fact that places like florida will not have a snow pack and ice on the great lakes. the thickest or the most coverage in 35 years. so that tells you how persistent the cold has been and the flow tomorrow will drop the temperatures like fargo back if the negatives as we start off tomorrow. there is some relief in site and next week temperatures above average for places like minneapolis and back in the 40s

and this is not the only place that will see some milder air. we are going to start at least getting back to normal in places like the northeast. i'll have more on the temperatures in a few minutes and back to you. >> some potentially good news for the winter weary northeast and california they issued an el-nino watch and could mean this year's long, cold winter will not be repeated next year and fewer hurricanes in the atlantic because water temperatures could cool and provide rain for california and the south, both suffering through lengthy drought and there was a watch two years ago and it never materialized. airline customers frustrated over changes to frequent flyer miles. i can't arrest someone based on odor or a couple of crews, i need a driving action. >> reporter: police in colorado learning a new skill how to spot

someone driving hoot high on pot and how legalization of the drug is changing how they do their jobs and the creator of bitcoin but says he never heard of the virtual currency. ♪

a live look at rocks bureau, north carolina this morning, that is north carolina and snow still on the ground and good morning and welcome back to al jazeera and i'm stephanie sy. police in colorado learning to recognize people driving while high and first let's look at the temperatures across the country and nicole mitchell is back. >> and you mentioned north carolina and that is one area that snow on the ground is new in a lot of cases and a little ice this morning and as temperatures warm through the day, rain but it is a very slick start and a couple places be careful as you head out the door. here are the temperatures and milder this morning in places like new york city and even into minneapolis and both in the 20s where we had teens and single

digits yesterday and the wind chill on top of that but watch what happens the next couple of days and minneapolis warms up to 34 and new york at 39, one gets the front and one doesn't and the temperatures different going to the weekend with the east coast, 40s and 50s and people looking for the warm up. stripping commanders of authority to prosecute sexual assault failed to move forward and they said changes are needed to reduce the rate of rape and sexual assault in the military. pentagon opposed the bill saying they should have been given more responsibility for the men and women they lead and not less. two abortion in texas rio valley have closed and no clinics between houston and louisiana for 400 miles and forced to close from restrictions last

summer that doctors have to have admitting privileges at local hospitals and 24 clinics left the state with 26 million women and 19 others closed and more expect to shut by the end of the year. a contractor discovered a body in a foreclosed home. authorities believe the woman in pontiac, michigan and they thought she moved and bills were taken out of her account until the money ran out and her body was found in the back seat of a vehicle in the garage and investigating the death. marijuana has been legal since the start of the year but no law dictating how much a driver can smoke before getting behind the wheel and we report on a campaign what they are calling du-highs. >> reporter: this is not acting class and it's real-life police work. >> when i ask you to i'm going

to ask you to tilt your head back and close your eyes. >> reporter: special apps, a squad being trained to recognize stoned driving behavior. they want to prevent this which happened days after recreational marijuana was sold legally. >> violation of the law and looking for the car and semi in front of us and see what we are doing. >> tell the difference between stoned and drunk driving and police say alcohol brings out slurred speech and bloodshot eyes and officers find on marijuana people have a harder time communicating. >> i introduce myself and tell them why i stopped them and he will tell me and based on that i will start to get cues. >> reporter: troopers must have probable cause. >> i cannot stop someone based on odor or a couple of crews, i need a driving action. >> to get the word out the

california department of transportation is unveiling an ad campaign designed to keep people from driving high. the law says drivers are impaired with five nanograms of thc in the blood and people under the influence of marijuana can try and convince a jury they were not high at all. >> it's not the nano gram it's how it might effect someone and i don't think necessarily it matters if it's 5 or higher or lower but behaviors of impairment. >> research for scientists and law enforcement and the marijuana community too because the marijuana community is less, not really knowing often times whether they could be -- whether they are truly impaired or convicted. >> reporter: so far in colorado there have been at least two arrests a day for driving under the influence of marijuana. >> we can all agree people should not be using marijuana

and driving, the same way they should not drink alcohol or prescription drugs or other illegal drugs. >> reporter: with this graduation there will be more troopers trained to be on the look out for people who decide to get high and drive. carol, al jazeera, denver. >> reporter: the $1 million television ads will premier next week. in business it's about jobs and the government will release the closely watched employment report two hours from now and they said they added 150,000 jobs in february. one analyst says the weather is not the only challenge for the economy. >> out here in san francisco we have are, you walk down the street here south of the market and hundreds and thousands of new businesses being started, a frenzy of entrepreneur ship among the younger workers and it's one of employment that is more part time, contingent,

independent, project based. >> reporter: we will have a live coverage of the report at 8:30 eastern time this morning. wall street is cautious ahead of the report and dow up 9 points and dow is 16421, 1877 and nasdaq 4352. overseas the asian is lower and chinese stocks under pressure as one of the solar panel makers defaulted on what was ode on bond and are posting losses at this hour. safe way is falling and the chain is being bought by rival albertson's and the private equity firm that owns it will pay $9 billion for the company. traditional super markets have been struggling to compete with big box retailers like costco and they will close as a result of the merger. boeing will end pension plans for 68,000 nonunion employees

and effects employees and manager and nonunion employees hired since 2009 and some union workers have moved to this type of plane. they are changing the way to redeem frequent flyer miles. >> not the biggest fan. i think it's more of like a liberal republican. >> reporter: new jersey governor chris christie hoping to reband himself after the bridge scandal and the hurdles he faces reaching the conservative basis of the gop. >> hyper connected as a culture. >> reporter: shut off your phones and it's as difficult as a drug addiction. >> i won't be turning off mine and fans are not content to watch the action anymore, a disturbing trend in american

sports. ♪

welcome back to al jazeera america and i'm stephanie sy with the top stories at the hour, tensions rise and the u.s. slapped a ban on russia and ukraine officials and preparing possible sanctions and eu leaders are threatening bans and freezing assets and cancelling a summit with russia after they voted to reunite with russia and two people were killed in venezuela after protests in caracus and u.n. is asking the government to allow independent human rights observers to travel to venezuela and the human rights council in geneva wants to follow-up on excessive force against protesterss and journalists and they hand out the second guilty verdict in

history and germain katanga found guilty of crimes against humanity and acuted of crimes and using children as soldiers and saying he took place in 200 villages. the conservative political action conference better known as cpa c kicked off the annual meeting in washington d.c. and potential frontrunners like paul ryan and rubio and ted kruze on hand but new jersey governor chris christie is drawing attention. >> it's different this year for chris christie and had welcome arms but last year he was snubbed and he had photo ops after the hurricane hit new jersey and people noticed. >> he is buddy, buddy with obama. >> reporter: the scandal over

the georgia washington lane closure ordered by his staffers as political retribution. >> i'm not the biggest fan and he is more like a liberal republican. >> as a new yorker i see what he does across the boarder in new jersey and not a big fan over what he has been doing. >> i like him but he is not my favorite. >> reporter: the abc poll say 3 in 10 republicans would not vote for christie. the worst odds of any republican tested. cpac is to win over a skeptical audience. >> let's stand for principles and out of the conference resolved to win elections again. >> reporter: winning the white house is what matters to mary ann and says there is time for politicians to prove their values and their electability. >> i'm for whoever will win. we have to get behind the one

that will win. it might not be my favorite but if it's going to win that is who i want. >> reporter: and attendees are keeping their mind open and christie could capture their loyalty, libby casey with al jazeera. >> reporter: joining us to discuss the conservative conference is joe watkins former aid to president h.w. bush and mr. watkins it's great to see you and how important is this conference for republican presidential contenders, let's start with that? >> well, it's an early indicator whether or not you are viable as a republican because you have to win the nomination first before you can be the party's candidate. so being invited to the cpa c convention and certainly passing the test with conservatives is an important thing inside the party. >> reporter: christie has not always been invited. >> last year he was not invited

because he took the photos with president obama but it goes to show you how much things can change a year in politics, someone who was not invited last year or two years ago today is not only invited by tomorrow could be the darling of the party. with the 30% that said they would never vote for him it could change easily in a year. >> not even just a year, how about a couple of months, right. >> right. >> reporter: let's look at the cbs news "new york times" poll released last week about potential republican presidential contender and showing jeb bush in the lead with 41% of republicans saying they want him to run for president and rand paul second and followed by florida senator marco rubio and paul and rubio were at the conference and mr. bush is not and is that deliberate on his part and how do conservatives see jeb bush? >> jeb bush is somebody they

would accept and i think he is smart to certainly this early on avoid maybe being at the cpac conference but not out of the running and still a strong candidate. >> reporter: why would someone want to avoid being at the cpac conference. >> reporter: because the person running in 2016 is somebody who can attack women and african/americans and hispanics and win over moderates and independent voters. so if the republican nominee in 2016 is somebody that is too far to the right chances are he is not going to win. >> reporter: the conference is used as a gauge for how much influence the tea party still has in the republican party. we have seen tea party losses in some of the early primaries and how would you assess the strength going into the mid term elections. >> reporter: a huge factor and a lot of tea party candidates who have been elected to congress and a strong contingent

of candidate whose are part of the caucus in congress and both on the house side and the senate side and they will continue to be a factor. but again you have to look at what is going to win it for the republican nominee in 2016 especially if the democratic nominee is hillary clinton and pulling strong and that person has to win women and independent voters and hispanics and attack the groups and be viable in 2016. >> reporter: you sort of alluded to what someone called fault lines in the republican party and has a libertarian wing in guys like rand paul who don't necessarily agree or frankly do not agree with social conservatives on certain issues and paul for example gets some steam as a presidential contender in the polls. >> yeah, he has some traction, certainly he has a following out there and he is not easily type cast as more of a libertarian than a republican. he is able to draw in groups

that wouldn't ordinarily support a republican candidate. but he still has a long way to go and also it's still earlier and think back in 2007, december 2007, the leading republican candidate was herman cain who had the 999 plan and we know how far he went and followed by newt gingrich and i like them but they are not the party's nominee. >> reporter: looking at early primaries what are the major issues that might sort of precede the mid term elections? >> well, i think of course jobs and the economy, the economy continues to be very sluggish and jobs and the economy matter a great deal and immigration is a huge issue and i'm not sure that anything is going to happen this year from a legislative standpoint from immigration but it's going to be a huge issue and certainly issues that circle around money, dollars around the

economy. >> reporter: i'm surprised you did not mention obamacare. >> that is a huge mid term issue, the mid term elections are going to be pretty significant this year and obamacare could determine whether or not the senate is dominated by the democrats to being led by republicans. republicans are certainly going to use the affordable care act also known as obamacare as a huge, as hopefully as momentum to win back the senate and to maybe even gain more seats in the house. it's so very unpopular with americans and federal mandate and means everybody has to participate. >> joe watkins former aid to president h.w. bush joining us from washington and thank you. as airlines change frequent flyer programs and look for ways for bargain travelers. >> a crisis of credibility and

mile cards.com found most travelers trust bank, cable and telephone companies more than their airline reward programs and changes making it hard to redeem air miles are getting a chilly reception. >> this would really nix the earning. >> reporter: some will follow delta's decision to change the way you earn miles based on how much you spend rather than how far you fly. that is why travel expects say begin figuring out now other ways to earn. >> rewards programs are not just about earning but earning dollars you can spend on airlines, hotels and many other things. >> reporter: that means credit cards with loyalty rewards can be more effective at accumulating points and are not as restrictive as air miles. >> you don't have blackout dates and able to use your rewards to

book hotels any time of year. >> reporter: getting miles for more than just flying. >> easier to redeem for hotel stays and gift cards, so even if you don't want to redeem for flights there is still ways to maximize your miles. >> reporter: brian kelly says these changes mean air miles are going to lose value quicker than ever now. and chris clackum. >> reporter: american airlines and united base rewards on miles flown. inventser of bill coin is a mystery since inception in 2009 and "newsweek" that returns after a year long absence today says it cracked the case and he says it's a case of mistaken identity. >> can i ask you about bitcoin, why are you involved with bitcoin. >> reporter: the so called father of bitcoin may be out by "newsweek" and hitting stores today the magazine claims this man is the creator of the digital currency valued at $7

billion. >> i'm not involved in bitcoin. >> reporter: since bitcoin's birth in 2009 the currency's creator has remained a mystery, a faceless person known only as nakimoto and outside of this house in southern california this man told the throngs of reporters there they got the wrong man. >> i don't know anything about it. >> reporter: "newsweek" is standing behind the story and sparked a frenzy at his doorstep and backlash on social media and facebook and twitter was criticizing "newsweek" for revealing someone who fought to remain so private or potentially outing the wrong man. especially at a time when bitcoin is under close scrutiny due to heavy losses and the bankruptcy. a bitcoin exchange that stopped

trading lost month and costing investors $500 million. >> the reason i'm here is to clear my name, they have nothing to do with bitcoin, nothing to do with developing. >> reporter: in an interview with the associated press he said he is an engineer who has worked for the u.s. government offered proof he says including his driver's license and a timeline of his whereabouts when bitcoin was in its development. >> reporter: if you look at the time spent 2001 when it was supposed to be developed, i wasn't there, i was working for the government through contracting company. >> reporter: and he says when he was approached by the "newsweek" reporter about whether he helped create bitcoin she miss interpreted his answer, thomas with al jazeera. >> reporter: the mystery continues, bitcoin is popular because it allows people to make one on one transactions digitally without using banks, credit cards and fees and are anonymous and it's appealing to

criminals and baseball is talking about a surgeon who saved the career of 500 major league pitchers and he died thursday and was famous in 74 with the surgery on tommy john with a ruptured legitimate in his elbow and a career ending at the time and removed the tendon and the surgery commonly known as tommy john's surgery and he pitched 14 more years after the operation. another incident where fans are getting a little too close to the action in college spots and john henry smith is here with the story. >> it's happening a lot and probably needs to stop, there is a trend in stadiums across the country and not a benign one and seeing fans interjecting themselves into the action everybody paid to see and thursday during a basketball game with the university of hawaii a ucs bchl fan ran on the court after a stoppage of play

and confronted a coach and christian hardinger pushed the fan away and seven days in march and already a fan tried to touch irving while he was playing and fans rushing the court started a brawl in a college game in utah and the coach did not know what to make of the incident. >> i've never seen anything like that in 22 years of coaching and a lot of years of playing, but it was a little crazy to have a fun running and pushing rounds on the game floor like that and never seen it and you don't expect that so a little different. >> reporter: uc says the unnamed student will go before the judicial affairs board and could be expelled. college hoops news of a more conventional sort and nova up 5 early second half and ryan goes to the hoops and later he uses

the screen, takes the three and makes the three, wildcats extend to nine and win 77-70 to capture the first big east title since 92 abbig easy tournament and a top seed in ncaa tournament. the colors are purple and gold, the jerseys still have lakers written on the front but that is the only way the current group of la lakers are what we remember and thursday night they proofed the lakers are not the best tenant in the staples center and it's the clippers world and the lake murders -- lakers are living in it and the long time laker fan, jack n nicholson can't handle the truth and finishing with the worst record since the team moved from minnesota back in 1959.

tiger woods brought him and his aching back to florida to defend the championship and did not appear to be hobbling he was not good with two bogies and mother nature put her foot down and said no one can play and play resulted after 2 1/2 hour rain delay and jason wound up tied for the lead at four under and the play is 8:45 a.m. this morning. signing a 7 year, $155 million deal to join the yankees doesn't mean you get the number 19 and see the jersey go on sale and drop 195k for a jumbo jet so your dog can ride in comfort and means that your first strain training start is a big deal and thursday against the phillies he has the first inning splitter for the final out of the outing and they had a look at the

captain and he had a single at the top of the third and back to tanaka and it was not rosy and deep in the bottom of the third for an solo home run and ties the game at one and he gives up two hits and 1-1 and three innings of work and yankees win 4-3 and that is your look at morning sports. >> did you hear about the dog? >> that is exactly true. >> living it up. >> we would do it if we could. >> thank you. in case you didn't see it on your smartphone or computer today is the 5th annual national day of unplugging, people behind it are calling on everyone to disconnect devices and reconnect with people in their lives and allen talked to some folks who checked into rehab to break their device addiction. >> we do all kinds of things. >> reporter: when we met the therapist ray at her retreat outside seattle i had been unplugged for 24 hours, no iphone, no computer, no texting, e-mailing, facebooking or

tweeting and no google maps and no television and feeling a little disconnected. >> a little bit worried about what is out there and happening and at work and your friends et cetera, family. >> reporter: that is fairly normal. we have become very hyper connected as a culture. >> reporter: breaking that is the goal here, at one of the country's first internet addiction treatment centers, a 45-day live in session caused $23,000 and the waiting list is long. >> the point is to rediscover the things that make you human. >> reporter: for andrew fulton and others unplugging is a chance to get their lives back and counseling and intense physical workouts and daily chores and connecting with nature and obsessive video gamer from middle school on andrew flunked out of college in one semester after spending weeks alone in his room online. >> it's like a drug. you don't have to think about the real world and once you are out of that virtual world it's

just depression. >> reporter: the virtual world of competitive gaming, social media and enless video options became reality. >> there is nothing wrong with entertainment unless we entertain ourselves to death. >> reporter: health insurance does not cover the treatment and the american psychiatric association says the concept of internet addict shunl still needs more study but in china and south korea it is seen as a major public health threat. >> an eating disorder and you may have a problem but can't say i'm not going to eat again. >> reporter: he rediscovered music and he abandoned that during the online bilges and hoping it the help reorder his life. >> go on the internet and see all your friends and go watch youtube and the real world doesn't matter. >> reporter: as everyone here relearns that the real world does matter they have simple advice for people like me and maybe you unplugging for a mere

24 hours, that advice, do it. >> for one day be present and then i invite you to bring more of the days in to be present. it really will change your life. >> reporter: so consider giving it a try. it's really just that easy. allen with al jazeera seattle. >> reporter: here is another tid bid last week a 19-year-old california college student was reported missing after she stopped responding to text from her friends and family, turns out she was okay, she simply turned off her phone for some alone time. many of us take it for granted but water is becoming big business and how it's traded like a commodity and a special birthday for a little boy and more than 200 people showed up to deliver him birthday gifts. ♪

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♪ scientists are working to save a critically endangered finch and they once provided evidence of darwin's theory of evolution and there are 80 birds last and last month they breeded the first finch in capacity and welcome back to al jazeera america, ahead the multi-billion business of running water. but first a look at the forecast across the country today and metrologist nicole mitchell is back. >> as we look at the broad picture we have a pretty easy to pick up there is a front but not a lot of moisture and ice in parts of the midwest like minnesota. to the south this system is causing us a few more problems currently and the same as it went through florida caused the thunderstorms yesterday afternoon and now still some areas of heavy rain and snow and ice especially as you get in the higher elevations, that would be snow but cities including

roanake, winston and salem and it's not moving out too quickly and we will get warm enough over the next few hours that it will be rain and soggy along the coastline. as this moves out and already by overnight you can see finally this starts to clear out you can see the system in the midwest getting more moisture is it so tomorrow in places like missouri watch for that potential rain and back to you. >> reporter: thank you, water is already a booming business, americans consume nearly 9 billion of bottled water a year and investors are looking to cash in on the commodity even more and we check on the business of buying, selling and trading water. >> we all tend to think of water is being essentially fee and think that it falls out of the sky and could be delivered to us free if not completely free. >> reporter: colorado water

analysts steve say most americans have no value of the water that come out of their tap everyday but they say they buy water with a combined $6 billion and a fraction of the $500 billion invested in the over all water industry but gaining interests as investors bet on water as the new oil. >> it has tremendous challenges and opportunities because there is no substitute. >> reporter: it's hard to imagine water as a commodity and bought and sold like gold and here is how it works, every year they divide the water supply among what are call water right holders and these are farmers, moon paltys and industrial interests. certain areas in the western united states allow these rights to be traded with interested buyers, usually in one on one transactions and that is where private investors come in and snatch up water rights in dry states with the highest water needs and mostly districts in

california, texas, arizona and colorado. >> having said there there are pitfalls in investing too quickly and without sufficient background. >> reporter: water can be complicated to invest in as a commodity and prices of water vary region to region and it's heavy and expensive to move and ex use the pond it can be a liquid as billionaire oil pan pickens found out when i took him nearly a decade to unload trillions of water he owned in texas. >> there may be only one, two or a handful of potential buyers for the assets that you hold and when you're ready to exit your investment those buyers may not be ready to buy. >> some private water investors are can'ting on water out performing other investments over time and companies like pure cycle in colorado sell the water they buy to local consumers like arapaho as a private utility and say pure cycle is providing a service

many governments can no longer afford. >> there is a tremendous amount of investment and a tremendous amount of expertise that goes behind that that is making sure to deliver that water, is it clean, fresh, supply of water for our customers. >> reporter: and harding says you don't need much expertise to see water's value in the years ahead. >> if you have a fixed supply of water and you have a growing demand for that water supply, your economic forces indicate the value of that water in a water short area is going to grow. >> reporter: david shuster with al jazeera. >> reporter: nearly 1,000 first responders in rhode island created a party for a boy battling cancer and he wanted a few cars from his fearros but police and firefighters were so touched they showed up to his house in 200 police cruisers and fire trucks and bringing gifts and well wishes and he was named

the new honorary chief of police and he relapsed this winter and had to go for more treatment and we have more of what is ahead. >> the world would be better with more pinky swears and president obama and russian president putin speaking by phone for about an hour and talks doing little to ease the tensions over military action in ukraine and a split verdict by the court at the hague and found a congo leader guilty of attacks dating back a decade but not guilty on other serious charges and anticlash is turning deadly in venezuela, two people are killed as the country marks the anniversary of chavez. they talk about the setback and what she thinks needs to be done to fix the problem and undocumented immigrants and fighting for the right to go to college and forced to pay higher

tuitions than other students who live next door. al jazeera news continues and dell and i are back with you in 2 1/2 minutes ♪ >> tafficked labor on the front lines? >> they're things...they're commodities... >> we go undercover... >> it isn't easy to talk at this base... >> what's happining on u.s. bases... >> the taxpayer directly pays the human trafficker. >> fault lines... al jazeera america's hard hitting... >> they're locking the doors... >> groung breaking... >> they killed evan dead. >> truth seeking... >> they don't wanna show what's really going on... >> breakthough investigative documentary series america's war workers only on al jazeera america real reporting that brings you the world. giving you a real global perspective like no other can. real reporting from around the world. this is what we do. al jazeera america.

>> ukraine's prime minister denounces a vote on the secession of crimea and hard line against russia. >> why would you reward someone for an illegal activity. >> undocumented students fighting for the right to go to college at resident tuition rates. some say it's a boost for the economy, as well.

>> by five years old, he had 500,000 seizures. >> an treatment work are on an aggressive form of epilepsy. >> without a job, you lose your sense of belonging. >> the universal and unusual training disabled vets are getting to become heroes of a different kind. >> good morning, welcome to aljazeera america. i'm stephanie sy. >> i'm del walters. ukraine caught in the middle of a tug of war between the russia and west but threatening to derail diplomatic resolution. >> russia says it will support the people's decision. >> the u.s. slapping a visa ban on russian and ukrainian officials, president obama with an executive order laying the groundwork for sanctions. >> the e.u. suspended bilateral

visa talks with moscow and threatened travel bans, to freeze assets and cancel a summit with russia. >> president's obama and putin talking by phone, president obama urging talks with ukraine. >> denouncing crimea's vote to join russia, what's the latest. >> that vote to join russia by the crimean parliament has been a huge shock here in kiev and is causing grave concern. the parliament in crimea said that they would hold a referendum, that the vote yesterday was mostly symbolic, but nevertheless, almost immediately, ukraine's supreme court declared that any referendum would be illegal and the prime minister had this to

say: >> the referendum decision is illegal and this is why i'm warning separatist and other traitors of ukrainian state who continues working that any of our decisions that will be considered is illegal, unconstitutional and no one in civilized world will recognize decisions of sump cold referendums of such so-called eye craneian -- i'm sorry -- >> and already from around the western world, there are leaders who are supporting that position, saying that it is indeed unconstitutional for crimea, a part of this country, a not yet independent part of this country, although it does have autonomy to be holding a referendum of that nature. >> european leaders are meeting in ireland told to vote on new

e.ure candidates and there are ukrainian opposition leaders showing up there. what do they hope to gain? >> i think those opposition leaders have shown up in dublin because that vote happening there is crucial. it is basically the european union gathering to go to vote on a new president for the european commission, and executive of the european union, held now by jose maroso with that at a time when europe and russia are at logger heads, the future leader of the european union could have long standing effects on how this relationship progresses. already, there is one candidate there who is pretty outspoken in his condemnation of russia, a bad time for moscow, at least to be picking a new leader in

europe. >> phil, thank you. >> president obama is stepping up pressure on russia to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis. for the second time in a week, the penalty speaking to russian penalty vladimir putin by phone. aljazeera's lisa stark is in washington. what do we know about that phone conversation? >> the white house said the conversation between the two leaders lasted about an hour. president obama continued to stress to russian president putin that the u.s. believes their move into crimea violates the international law, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of ukraine. he is urging putin to talk with the provisional ukrainian government, to pull his troops back into their bases in the crimea area and to respect whatever elections happen in may. the two did have one area of agreement. there will continue to be talks between secretary of state kerry and the russian foreign minister

ladlov. they will hopefully continue talks. >> any sense of how vladimir putin responded? >> the russian read out of this phone call's quite different as you might expect, almost like the two men were having different conversations. vladimir putin's, the kremlin said russia continued to insist that it was the illegitimate government of ukraine that caused this whole crisis, that russia had every right to beef up forces in crimea to help the people there because they were asking for help, crying out for help, and so there was not a lot of common ground at least publicly. >> this call taking place just a short time after the white house came out and then announced several measures against russia, so tell us about those. >> the white house has said that all options are on the table and it said it was exercising some of those options. what the white house announced was visa restrictions on russian and ukrainian officials with

direct links to this crisis in crimea. they haven't named those officials yet. "the new york times" has reported that it would be fewer than a dozen people. that's one of the few things the u.s. announced. the president signed an order that set up future economic sanctions against russian and ukrainian officials who the u.s. believes might be responsible for the crisis in ukraine. that would be things like freezing assets, even seizing assets, but no names named and that would happen in the future. the white house said it's keeping an eye on whether to invoke that or impose any further sanctions, as well. >> lisa stark for us in washington, d.c. in the white house. thank you very much. >> calling for tough cooks from the u.s. and allies on russia. the time to negotiate a diplomatic solution is running out, she said. >> i think currently there's a

lot of talk about creating special negotiation groups and about more diplomacy talks. i think that's not to the point. i think if we follow this course, after the 30th of march, after the referendum, we shall lose crimea and we need absolutely different methods. >> i think it's not just ukraine who will lose crimea during this crisis, i think it's the whole world who will feel the consequence of this loss. all the world should feel the critical moment of this situation. >> you can watch more of the interview on talk to aljazeera sunday at 7:00 p.m. eastern. >> meanwhile, syrian president bashar al assad saying he supports russian president vladimir putin in ukraine, assad praising putin for his leadership. russia has stood by assad in the civil war and continued to supply that government with weapons. the u.n. envoy trying to

negotiate peace is in new york today. the u.n. is expected to talk about the effects of the war during their meeting on children in armed conflicts. in washington, the senate holding a hearing about terrorism in syria. aljazeera has continued coverage of the crisis in ukraine all day long. we'll look at vladimir putin, his history and what it tells us about how he handles crisis. >> the united nations is asking venezuela for permission to send in human rights observers. the u.n. is responding to reports of excessive force used on demonstrators and journalists. six experts with the u.n.'s how many rights council in geneva sent a written request to the venezuela government about allegations being beaten and tortured by security forces. tensions are running high in venezuela. two were killed thursday as protestors clashed with security forces in caracas.

the violence continued through the night. >> we heard reports of intense fighting in the neighborhood in caracas, an area where there has been fighting night after night. we found people running, people on motorcycles, groups of young men throwing rocks in the direction of security forces who were lobbing tear gas canisters. you could still smell it in the air. these guys were waiting for a rush by security forces. when these motorcycles came down the street that's what they thought it was. this was probably just people on motorcycle taxis. they were very aggravated and hard to have a conversation with anybody. >> they say the government is the fascists, the government calling them fascists, now they are trashing the ministry of transportation, throwing molotov cocktails. there's a crowd of people on the balcony watching it, just like it's the evening's

entertainment, like it's a baseball game. that's when the mood started to shift. you can hear shouts of camera, camera, we decided it was time to put distance between our cameras and this mob. this kind of mob violence seems to be increasingly the face of this protest movement at least in caracas and the concern is this is how this is going to play out across the country as this crisis continues to unfold. >> aljazeera's paul beban reporting from caracas. the venezuelan government it is at least 21 have been killed since protests began that month, including the national guard soldier and taxi driver who died thursday. >> a tense standoff in portugal pitting police against police. thousands of off-duty officers tried to break into the parliament building in the capitol of lisbon thursday, held back by riot police. the group is protesting against

government cuts to their pay, pensions and welfare benefits. those austerity measures were passed in 2011. >> the south african republic is begging for help. as the violence escalates, people are fleeing their homes. more than 700,000 people have been displaced inside the country, 290,000 are seeking ref final in neighboring countries, and 250,000 have fled since december. >> the international criminal court at the hague convicted a congress lease militia leader of crimes against humanity, found guilty for his attack on a village in twee. more than 200 people died. he was acquitted of charges including rape, sexual slavery and using child soldiers.

this is only the second time in its history the international criminal court has handed out a guilty verdict. >> cpac kicked off its annual meeting in washington, d.c. potential front runners like paul ryan and marco rubio and ted cruz on hand. new jersey governor chris christie is attracting the most attention. >> let us come out resolved not only to stand for our principles, but resolved to win elections again. >> he wasn't even invited to cpac last year. thee in 10 republicans would definitely not vote for christie, the worst odds of any republican. rand paul is expected to speak later today. the kentucky senator has not made any decision about running

for president in 2016, the same year his senate term ends. he could run for both if kentucky state legislatures have their way. there is a bill before the senate to allows running for several officers. >> there is a study about earthquakes tied with lightning. >> this isn't a bolt of lightning, it's more like an electronic discharge so to speak. we're looking at a glow or little flash that would be seen in the sky before earth quakes. it had been reported for years, but scientists were hesitant to think that had anything to do with earthquakes, doesn't sound like it would. now with advent of you tube, people were capturing some of these glows. this is very smart for scientists, they actually took tupperware bins of flour to simulate the soil. if you bike like stephanie and i do, when you kind of shake the

flour down -- we do! >> it will make cracks in it. it doesn't always move together. they put a voltage meter on the crack and it was producing voltage. they're not sure how all of this works, but it's creating electric current that they can measure and if they measure that in the atmosphere, that's helping create that discharge you see in the sky, that is what they're measuring to say oh, a big earthquake might be coming. countries like turkey have actually put up voltage meters and if they see that go up, they know that that might be going on in the ground and they might be about to get a big earthquake. i know if this is me and i was a science teacher, i'd be getting out the bins of flour right now trying to reproduce this in class. pretty neat how they figured out all of this, kind of like you shuffle across the floor and zap your little brother. >> if they study barbecue, i'm

their guy. >> the scariest part of earthquakes is you can't predict them, so it's quite an advancement. >> headlines making news around the world, the pentagon is now paying a team of experts body language experts to study russian president vladimir putin. they've been doing this since the 1990's. how do you think he looks when he's on that horse with no shirt. >> one of the researchers the government paid $300,000 in the last few years to look at the body language of foreign leaders has said the way he walks and the fact that he's so muscular and sporty does say something about the type of decision maker he is. the pentagon has not confirmed that program, by the way. >> scientists of tracking the first great white to cross the atlantic ocean. you have to tag a shark to do that. the big break through here is that they're noticing this one shark who's name is lydia, traveling much further north and

much further east than they thought great whites would travel, so giving us more in sight into a creature which scientists don't know a lot about. >> 19,000 miles she has traveled. they're going to need a bigger boat. >> a new jersey judge ordering a father to pay for his estranged daughter's law school tuition, and we're not talking about just a little bit of money. we're talking about $110,000, that is half of what it is going to cost her to go to cornell law school here in new york. >> the difference being that and the other case last week where the judge decided not to grant that 18-year-old tuition, that the divers settlement laid out the parents would pay for law school. it's important to say that. >> the price of tuition is at the center of a debate about undocumented immigrants. >> some say the rules are unfair, keeping them from an affordable education. >> i saw them pursuing their dreams and i was going to be

stuck at home. >> why some immigrants say they are forced to pay more and why some lawmakers say it's fair. >> they are doing these heinous crimes here, you know, back on the soil i was trying to protect. >> how disabled veterans are getting new job skills to fight a different kind of war here at home. >> 80,700,000,000,000 is our big number of the day. >> we'll tell you how this number is a symbol of recovery from the financial crisis.

>> a very big number for americans, $80.7 trillion, that's the new net worth of households and non-profits at the end of last year. >> it is a 14% increase from 2012 and we can all thank the housing sector and wall street for the increase. >> adding 5.6 trillion added last year, 2.3 trillion from the housing market. that might be the biggest number

we've had so far. >> it is a very, very big number. >> straight ahead, why undocumented college students say unfair rules are stopping them from getting an affordable education. >> first, temperatures across the nation today. meteorologist nicole mitchell is back. nicole. >> i had a colleague this morning say why aren't we just allowed to cry about the cold air this season. it's warmer in the northeast, 20's versus teens yesterday. the midwests, single digits, in the 20's once again. this could be short lived with the next weather system coming in, enjoy the 30's today. temperatures warm as we get into tomorrow, but look at what happens, after the next front, air comes in from canada, tomorrow morning in the midwest, back to singles and negatives while the east coast warms up. >> tennessee could because the first state in the southeast to offer in-state tuition to students in the country illegally, but it's not a done

deal yet. opponents say they could quash the bill before the state legislature. we talked to people on both sides. >> graduating at the top of her high school class, jasmine ramirez hoped to attend tennessee state university and major in business, but because she's an undocumented immigrant, she learned she doesn't qualify or in-state tuition. for her, that means college is unaffordable. >> the week before all my friends left to college, i cried myself to sleep so many nights, because i saw them pursuing their dreams and i was stuck at home. >> when she was seven, she and her mother left mexico and moved to minnesota and tennessee. out of state fees are three times more than in-state tuition. attending t.s.u. would cost more than $20,000 a year. >> you're preparing students to go to college but at the end of the day not allowing them to go to college? not everybody has the same

access to college education with in-state tuition. >> a bill before the legislature could change things allowing undocumented immigrants who came to the state at children to qualify for in-state tuition if they lived in tennessee for at least five years before graduating high school and immediate academic requirements. >> people who graduate make more money in their lifetime. that's more taxes and productivity for our economy. there's a good economic argument for this legislation, but also a good practical argument around fairness and now undocumented students deserve an opportunity to pursue their dreams like all students do. >> we got a lot of positive feedback yesterday from all these representatives and senators. >> jasmine and others in her situation are meeting with lawmakers, sharing their story and asking them to vote in favor of the bill. 19 states already offer in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants. here in tennessee, the bill is

receiving support from top democrats and republicans, but there are also vocal opponents. >> to me, it's just crazy. why would you give a reward to someone for an illegal activity? we're giving them a reward for an activity that we're not evening giving to people legally in the country, people in kentucky who may be just over the border. >> she was yes at some point then turned into a no. >> next week, we'll find if the bill passes the hurdle, a vote from the senate education committee. she continues to walk the hall of the capitol to put a human face on what she considers an urgent issue. >> so far, only the house education subcommittee in tennessee has taken up the education equality bill. >> we'll get the key february jobs report in about an hour, economists expect 150,000 jobs were created last month and for

the unemployment rate to stay at six points 6%. one analyst is keeping an eye on a certain area of the economy. >> the sector changed. certainly i expect health care sometime soon to show greater growth, just because you can't add this large number of people to plans and not have some labor demand. >> we'll have live coverage of the jobs report at 8:30 a.m. eastern. >> stock futures are slightly higher ahead of that job report, job futures up 11 points and going into trading, the dow jones industrial average is at 16421, the s&p 1877, the nasdaq at 4352. over seas, asian markets mostly lower, chinese stocks under pressure after one of the countries solar panel makers defaulted on payments made on its bonds, european stocks showing losses. >> bowing will stop pension

plans for employees, shifting them to 401k style plans in 2016. the change affects top executives and managers, the move help cut its pension costs. non-union employees hired since 2009 and somein workers have already moved to this type of plan. >> russian president vladimir putin first rose to power in the k.g.b. >> he then continued to climb in the post soviet era of russia. we'll tell you what his history could tell us about hit motivations in ukraine and how he's likely to handle future international conflicts. >> too many members of the senate have turned their back on these victims and survivors. >> a bill to reform how the military handles sexual assaults stoles in congress. >> 16 month seizure free today.

>> one mother sharing the story of how medical marijuana has drastically improved her son's life. >> i'm john henry smith. divers city is fueling one of the favorites in the world cup. coming up, why that fuel is in danger of drying up.

>> twenty five years ago, pan am flight 103 exploded in the skys above lockerbie. only one man was convicted of the attack >> the major difficulty for the prosecution, that there was no

evidence... >> now a three year al jazeera investigation, reveals a very different story about who was responsible >> they refuse to look into this... >> so many people at such a high level had a stake in al megrahi's guilt. lockerbie: what really happened? on al jazeera america >> good morning, welcome back to aljazeera america. i'm stephanie sy. >> i'm del walters. we're going to talk about vladimir putin's rise to power and how that shaped the future of russia. >> a lot of people trying to read the tea leaves on putin. >> a closer look at handling the epidemic of sexual assault in the military. i'll interview a victim back from the tail hook scandal. >> we're going to talk to the

ambassador to latvia to talk about the crisis in ukraine and how some of the baltic region fears that what is happening could spread into neighboring countries. vladimir putin is shaping history in that region, his public appearances and image appear to be carefully orchestrated, but there's more to the russian president than meets the eye. aljazeera takes a closer look at russia's leader. >> it has been a remarkable career from modest beginnings to world power at the kremlin. born and raised in leningrad, now st. petersburg he was an indifferent student, a trouble maker is the way he's described in his kremlin on line biography. he bother down in high school, later earned a law degree and phd in economics. he went straight into the intelligence service rising to the rank of colonel in k.g.b. doing war duty in germany.

the collapse of the soviet union brought new challenges and political opportunities. >> i think that the fall of the soviet union was a blow to russia's ego to a certain extend, so i think that putin is the type of person he had the experience to help bring russia back to their former greatness. >> after his k.g.b. service, he came home, worked in international relations for his law school alma mater, joined city government and rose to the range of deputy mayor. he moved to moscow in 1996 into boris yeltsin's adding and was appointed to the security service, served at secretary of the security council, named prime minister in 1999 and later elected president after a rebounding economy. >> this came after extreme recession in 1990's and suddenly

the economy was getting back on its feet, people felt greater stability and were grateful to those in charge, pool tin. >> he served two terms as president but prevented by the constitution from running again. he served at prime minister under medvedev. he reorganized the country into districts, oversaw reforms, visited israel and strengthened image as a strong leader with a brutal and military campaign to put down the rebellion in chechnya. >> the popularity that comes from sump actions in short lived. there was a huge rallying behind putin in the early months when he sent troops into chechnya for the second time. his popularity evaporated quickly. >> he used the media, becoming

famous for his shirtless photo opposite and showing his martial arts prowess. his marriage ended last year. they have two daughters, still a mystery in russia, kept out of the public eye. his relationship with the u.s. and west has warmed and cooled over the years, as the man who grew up in post stalinist soviet union learned the espionage trade during the cold war and helped create today's russia continues to make his mark on the country and the world. >> a story and author on russia and the former soviet union joins us, good morning, ms. knight. vladimir putin said "above all, we should acknowledge the collapse of the soviet union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century." >> should we watching what is happening right now in crimea be

concerned that basically vladimir putin is trying to resemble the old satisfactory jet union? >> well, i think that statement, it's very appropriate to bring to mind that statement. i do believe that vladimir putin is motivated by a strong sense of russia as a nation and i think he genuinely does feel that the loss of the republicans that were part of the soviet union, including ukraine, was a tragedy, so his strategy and the strategy of the people who surround him has been to exert as much influence as possible on the former soviet republics, including ukraine. >> one month from now, will crimea be part of russia? >> that's a good question. it's quite interesting. i mean, clearly the crimeans, where the majority is pro russian, if their referendum is

acknowledged, i suppose it could, but what russia is a little bit of a conundrum, because first of all, they already have a naval base, a military presence in crimea. the economy in crimea is not great, it's been kind of an economic drain on ukraine, the government is corrupt. i don't really see what russia has to gain by actually annexing crimea. it would create problems, because there are other republicans that are actually part of the russian federation, like chechnya. what if they start demanding independence? >> let me show you some of the adjectives used to describe pal poot joe biden bully, thug, he has been scribbled as losing his grip on reality. is he crazy or is he crazy like a fox?

>> i don't think it's fair to call him crazy. he didn't have a very impressive career when he came to power and compared to other people in his administration, the foreign minister who we see on television all the time, mr. putin was very unsophisticated when came to power. >> everybody wants to figure out what does he want. >> well, this is where he has an innate sense of how to get power. i think he's very clever, but i'm not sure that his judgment is always good in the sense that i don't think he has the perspective that might be needed to make some of these crucial decisions. he's really operating from a power point of view, and i also think, you know, for personal reasons, he needs to express himself as a very powerful guy. >> president obama spends an hour on the phone with him,

spends 90 minutes on the phone with him before that. does vladimir putin really care about what president obama and for that matter, the west thinks about him? >> i think he does. look at the amount of money that he spent or that the kremlin spent over $50 billion on the olympics, and one of the main motivating factors there was putin's desire to show that russia was a modern, successful country, and also to put himself on show as the leader. i think his image is very important. he thinks his image in the west is very important. that said, he's very anti american. >> amy knight, than thank you vy much for joining us. >> thank you. >> in a close vote, the senate rejected a bill aimed at dealing with sexual assault in the military. while this is somewhat expected, it came down to only a few

votes. >> this seemed to be a bipartisan efforts backing the bill, but in the end be fell short by five votes. >> even though she had the support of the majority of the senate, u.s. senator could not beat the fill bust their blocked her about him. >> the motion is not agreed to. >> the measure garnered 55 votes in favor, including conservatives rand paul and ted cruz, but needed 60 votes to bring it to the senate floor. >> we know that the deck is stacked against victims of sexual assault in the military today, and today, sadly, we saw the same in the hauls of congress. for two decades, all we have seen for nearly 25 years is zero accountability. >> the senator pushed for changes to curb the growing epidemic of sexual assaults. there were 5,400 reported cases

of sexual assaults last year, a 60% jump from the year before, opponents do not doubt there is a problem. what they're up in arms about is the idea of changing the chain of command. this bill would have stripped senior military commanders of their authority to prosecute all sexual assaults, giving the power to independent military prosecutors. missouri senator and fellow democratic led the charge to shoot down the bill. >> the argument was posed at victims versus commander, who's side are you on, and it's not that simple. if you take the time to really get into the complexities of the military justice system and how these cases are handled, i'm confident that the choice the senate made today is the write one. >> senator john mccain agreed. >> you take the responsibility from that commanding officer, then you are eroding his ability to lead. >> the senate turned its back on the victims of sexual assault in the military according to the

senator. >> we will continue to work harder than ever to strengthen our military. >> just as the senate was voting on this bill, a former army general accused of forcing a female captain to perform oral sex pleaded guilty to lesser charges. also on this same day, the army confirmed the suspension of its top sex crimes prosecutor because of a groping allegation. stephanie. >> we're going to dig in deeper on this. now, paula coughman is a retired u navy group to com bats military sexual assault, also is a survivor who in 1992 helped exposed the now infamous tail hook convention scandal. first, your reaction to what happened in the senate. >> obviously we're disappointed. it doesn't thwart our efforts. as a member of protect our

defenders, we're going to press on with changing the way that sexual assault is handled in the military. we are pressing on. >> this happened with the backdrop of a guilty plea with a 15-year-old sentence. does that case prove justice is available in some cases to sexual assault victims? >> well, i think that if you look closely at general sinclair's case, there are so many irregularities, if you compare it to a civilian case. it is a good study in what is really broken about our military justice system. i think that pleading down to lesser charges is worth a closer examination, and it came after a significant blow to the case when the lead prosecutor stepped

down. there's undercurrents within the military that these cases can actually be still manipulated by the chain of command with the right tools of bias and command influence, so i think that that particular case is really, again, it could have been a case to do on how justice is available possibly for victims, and the accused, but it clearly, if you look closely at just how difficult it was a sit a jury for that case and the article 32's that happened, there were so many highly dysfunctional components of that case, it really is not a clear example of good military justice. >> i want to move back to this legislation that's discussed in congress and how to better address these sexual assault cases. the military, pentagon, white house argued that changing military law, to change the chain of command could set a

precedent and said handling to military prosecutors to decide which case to say prosecute doesn't necessarily solve the problem. you heard the report that stars and stripes military newspaper as you know is now investigating allegation of groping by the head sexual assault prosecutor in the army. does that, again, add fuel to the argument that's being made that changing the military chain of command structure in this case doesn't necessarily solve the problem here. >> i think that in the case of the most recent charges against the sexual assault leading prosecutor, i'm going to suggest that in every environment, there are people that break the law. there are criminals in the entire chain of command of the military in the civilian sector, but how we handle them in the military is completely different than how we handle those cases in the civilian sector, so to

point out that we have a perpetrator, an alleged perpetrator within an organization that is designed to support and protect those victims is unfortunate, but it's also clear that we need to be able to handle these cases in a way that brings justice to all the victims, and there has to be in the chain of command, a tool for those commanders to hand over a case where a person in their command that's been accused and a person in their command has been victimized. commanding officers have to have to tool to hand that case over to a third party. they are not qualified, they are not empowered, they are not trained and they should not be expected to handle those cases without their own bias, without their own influencence and without their own prerogatives.

it's unfortunate that's come up. >> it's a debate that continues and an important one given the epidemic proportion of this problem in the military. thanks for being with us this morning, paula. >> there is an oil made from marijuana that goes by the name of charlotte's we believe so and parents are saying it is performing miracles in children who suffer from epilepsy. the oil seems to make their seizures disappear. we show the science behind charlotte's web. >> more than 400,000 children in the u.s. suffer from epileptic seizures. heather jackson's son is one of them. >> he started having seizures at four months old, has a rare epilepsy. by the time he was five years old, he had had 500,000 seizures. i don't usually start crying

this early, actually. it's an emotional day, because he's 16 month seize you have-free today so i'm happy, it's a happy emotion. >> today, he is talking, walking and being home-schooled. >> right on the arrows, nice job. >> his mom is convinced it's due to an extract found in this consist recovers yell plant. this is a family owned operation, the five stanley brothers went into business in 2008 under the medical marijuana laws passed in the rocky mountain state. >> people calm it the hippy's disappointment. you could smoke it all day and wouldn't get high, but we still grew it, so much that it hurt our other crops. >> it wasn't until the stanleys met charlotte that they became convinced it could really help

people. >> once we started it, the first day, seizure-free, no seizures, a week went by, still no seizures. we knew we were on to something. >> renaming their strain of plant charlotte's web, word spread quickly in the epileptic community. >> for some people giving any type of marijuana extract to a child seems extreme. what would you say to those scenics? >> i would say holding your child, praying for them to take their next breath is pretty extreme. >> coming up, how colorado plans to get tough on pot smokers behind the wheel. >> the world cup in brazil is less than 100 days away, but the future look of one team could soon change. >> we have the details on that. good morning. >> swith errand's national football squad is a favorite heading into the 2014 world cup.

one thing you notice about the squad is its divers city, two thirds from immigrant backgrounds. switzerland voled on immigration quotas that could change the face of the team and the nation, as well. we have more. >> the national football team of switzerland proudly ranked at one of the top eight for the world cup finals, but this is what the team would look like without players who's families are immigrants. the swiss public has just voted in a referendum to restrict immigration. the margin was less than 1% but a shock to those who see switzerland as a multi-cultural success story. >> where are you go, to the tram station, where you eat, wherever, in your family, people are talking about this quite furiously sometimes, because it's like they are racists. that would be too easy, it's not

like that. like about 10%, we don't really know where the rest came from. >> the football squad shows the confusion of the vote. two thirds of from balkan countries. born in switzerland to turkish parents, while this member born in ivory coast. >> we talk about it. that's normal. we're human, you know. we know what's around us. i think we should not forget the value and try to keep it as it is now. >> switzerland's like this world cup warm up match, showing the complex nature of swiss national identity. in the switzerland squat are croation backgrounds while in the crowation squad, one member

born and raised in switzerland. >> we have people from other countries, it's nice feeling. >> i love the cup, all the people like from croatia. >> both goals were scored by this team member of croation descent. this team represents switzerland looking outwards and opening its doors. the politics of the next few years and implementation of the law will determine how the swiss teams of the five will look and how switzerland will look. >> the swiss will play in group e in the 2014 world cup along with france, honduras and ecuador. >> the swiss get criticized for a lot of things but the melting

possibility concept works. >> veterans getting unusual job training. >> the idea is to use special skills to help protect people returning home. >> these wars have truly demonstrated physical toughness. >> the program training former service members to track down child predators. >> icy start for some parts of the mid atlantic. i'll have that forecast.

>> no doubt about it, innovation changes our lives. opening doors ... opening possibilities. taking the impossible from lab ... to life. on techknow, our scientists bring you a sneak-peak of the future, and take you behind the scenes at our evolving world. techknow - ideas, invention, life. on al jazeera america >> al jazeera america is a

straight-forward news channel. >> its the most exciting thing to happen to american journalism in decades. >> we believe in digging deep. >> its unbiased, fact-based, in-depth journalism. >> you give them the facts, dispense with the fluff and get straight to the point. >> i'm on the ground every day finding stories that matter to you. >> in new orleans... >> seattle bureau... >> washington... >> detroit... >> chicago... >> nashville... >> los angeles... >> san francisco... >> al jazeera america, take a new look at news. >> welcome back. >> let's get a look at rain or snow across the u.s. today. nicole. >> we do have a couple trouble spots, one into the mitt atlantic. a front going through the midwest and at least a drier day for the northwest where we just got soaked yesterday.

as we get to it, it's that same system that moved through florida with the thunderstorms now into more of the mid atlantic. weaver had snow through midnight now switch to go freezing rain as things warm a little bit within the next few hours. a lot of this will be rain but still take the day to get out. watch for that slick start and a chance for more moisture over the weekend. >> they fought to protect the nation and back home still want to serve our country. >> disabled veterans taking part in a new program called the hero corps. this program is designed to help wounded vets get back to work and bad people off the streets. >> this marine said the images of war embedded in his mind are nothing compared to the images of child exploitation he's discovered on i phones and hard drives. justin loft his legs in afghanistan but said he wasn't prepared for looking into the warped mind of a child predator.

>> they're doing these heinous crimes here, you know, back on the soil i was trying to protect. the things that they're doing are just absolutely disgusting. >> gardner and fellow marine david blow of waging an on line battle to take down as many child preed stores as possible using computer forensics. they are unpaid interns working for home land security. along with 13 other vets across the country are the first class of hero core. the program mission is to provide disabled veterans with training so they can find not just a job, but a career. >> it takes a special person to be able to conduct these investigations, and these individuals, these wounded warriors have truly demonstrated their mental, psychological and fill tougherness, so they make the perfect candidates to be able to deal with this. >> he temporarily left his wife

and three young boys behind to seize this opportunity in oklahoma. he suffered a traumatic brain injury in iraq. he said for seven years he's been trying to transition to land a job with the federal government. >> without a job, you kind of lose your sense of belonging. you come from a family and you enter the civilian world and it's just a struggle trying to fit into where you used to fit in, especially for wounded vets. >> the $10 million pilot program is funded through the private sector. its five year goal is to see 200 wounded veterans trained and employed. >> hopefully, this program will go through like everybody says it will and we can start hiring vets again. that's one of the biggest problems in america, especially with how many homeless vets are out there. >> it is painting a path toward a positive future. they're an inspiring presence in the office, reinvigorating those mentoring them.

aljazeera, tampa, florida. >> when the veterans finish training, they'll be placed at home land security offices around the country. >> on you crane's acting prime minister meeting with european leaders. >> a split verdict by the international criminal court at the hague found a congress lease militia leader guilty of attacks but acquitting him on other charges. >> anti-government clashes turn deadly in venezuela as the country marks the death of hugo chavez. >> the strength of the job market with the release of the jobs report. we will break down the numbers and ask whether the harsh winter weather affected employment. >> while one part of the country is in for a warm up, others are getting ready for the big chill. the national forecast coming up. >> the aljazeera morning news

continues. dell is back with you in two minutes. happy friday and have a great morning. >> tafficked labor on the front lines? >> they're things...they're commodities... >> we go undercover... >> it isn't easy to talk at this base... >> what's happining on u.s. bases... >> the taxpayer directly pays the human trafficker. >> fault lines... al jazeera america's hard hitting... >> they're locking the doors... >> groung breaking... >> they killed evan dead. >> truth seeking... >> they don't wanna show what's really going on... >> breakthough investigative documentary series america's war workers only on al jazeera america >> i'm joie chen, i'm the host of america tonight, we're revolutionary because we're going back to doing best of storytelling. we have an ouportunity to really reach out and really talk to voices that we haven't heard before... i think al jazeera america is a watershed moment for american journalism

>> the u.s. shifting more assets toward ukraine. >> we know that the deck is stacked against victims of sexual assault in the military today and today sadly we saw the same in the halls of congress. >> congress walking a

controversial bill. >> the monthly jobs report due out in 30 minutes. washington and main street watching to see if winter is icy for the employment picture. >> it's beautiful out here. >> even though it's freezing. >> our winter blues giving birth to a natural phenomenon on the great lakes, attracting the curious to a small town in wisconsin. >> good morning and welcome to aljazeera america america. i'll del walters. russia is stepping up military presence in crimea, coming as the former soviet states take a hard line against moscow. foreign ministers along with the baltic countries are now condemning russia's military presence in ukraine, asking the e.u. to take action and send a mission to kiev.

tensions are heating up between the u.s. and russia a day after washington threatened sanctions, moscow hitting back. meanwhile, a u.s. navy warship is heading to the region coming amid reports of 30,000 russian troops now in crimea. we are tracking events in ukraine. we begin in washington. the u.s. is beefing up its military presence in the black sea. there are reports that turkey has given a u.s. warship the green light to pass through. what can you tell us about these latest developments. >> this is a u.s. naval guided missile destroyer called the uss track stonn heading to the black sea. it was in greece and now heading to the black sea, as you said. the u.s. navy says that this is not part of the cries in ukraine, that this was in fact a routine deployment, this was scheduled before any of the events unfolded in ukraine, that the warship is going to conduct training exercises with the

navies of romania and bulgaria. this sends a message, coming a day after the u.s. announced it was sending six if-15 fighter jets to increase nato patrols over the baltic, so flexing their muscle, obviously. >> president obama and putin had a phone conversation thursday. can you tell us about that call. >> the white house said the president continued to try to convince president putin to go the diplomatic route, wanting him to pull troops back to their bases in crimea, have them talk to the provisional ukrainian government and also to let international monitors into the crimea area. after the call, the president also came to the brieferring room, spoke to reporters. he talked about this referendum that will take place next week in crimea, about whether to secede from ukraine and join russia. the president said this would vital international law. >> any discussion about the future of ukraine must include

the legitimate government of ukraine. in 2014, we are well beyond the days when borders can be redrawn over the heads of democratic leaders. >> obama also said that warned russia that the u.s. and european allies will continue to talk about sanctions and other penalties if this crisis does not get resolved. >> talk about your lack of timing or timing, that call taking place right after the president talked to report either in that unannounced news conference. tell is about the sanctions he was talking about. >> they include visa restrictions, pulling some, denying others to ukrainian and russian officials directly involved in this crimean conflict and the other possible sanction is economic sanctions, freezing assets, seizing assets in the united states. the president signed an authorization to do that in the future, if need be. >> lisa, thank you very much.

we turn now to phil ittner, following developments in kiev. baltic and nordic nations now joining the e.u., denouncing russia's actions in ukraine. how significant is that? quite significant. that's a powerful block within europe. strong language, they used to be soviet republics, nobody knows better how it is to deal with moscow than republicans like latvia, lithuania and estonia. there has been an awful lot of strong language from former warsaw pact and other nations that fell under moscow during the cold war when the soviet union was the dominant force. we are seeing the strong language. whether or not the rest of europe takes that onboard and pushes harder for the sanctions program being discussed in brussels, we'll have to wait and see if that there does seem a be

a consensus in europe that there has to be a strong reaction. we'll have to wait and see what that is. >> we are now hearing from russia, russia respond to go that vote in crimea. what is the latest on that situation? >> well, it looks pretty clear that the russians are behind that referendum that's planned for about nine days from now. there was a delegation sent from the crimean parliament to moscow. they met with the lower house of the russian parliament, the leadership of the upper house. it does seem pretty clear to the russian legislature will fall in line and support crimea, as it tries to rejoin with the russian federation. of course, that's what the crimean parliament voted for yesterday, it was a symbolic vote, now being in moscow to get political support from close allies there, it seems as though they may push through a win on that referendum whether

everybody in the peninsula casts their vote. >> phil ittner, thank you very much. at the bottom of our hour, we're going to talk to the latvia ambassador to the u.n. about concerns that the ball particulars states and crisis that could spread beyond ukraine. meanwhile, ukraine's former prime minister is calling for tough action from the u.s. and its allies concerning russia. in an interview in kiev, she says the time to negotiate a diplomatic solution is running out. >> currently, there is talk about creating special negotiation groups and to have more talks. i think that's not to the point. i that if we follow this course after the third of march, after the referendum to be held, we shall loose crimea. we should adhere to absolutely different methods. i think it's not just ukraine who will lose crimea during this

crisis, it's the whole world who will feel the consequence of this loss. all the leaders should feel the critical moment of this situation. >> you can watch more of that interview on sunday's edition of talk to aljazeera. it airs at 7:00 p.m. eastern time. >> a tense standoff in portugal pitting police against police. thousands of off-duty officers trying to break into the parliament building in lisbon thursday were held back by riot police. they are protesting pay cuts. austerity measures were passed in 2011. >> the united nations is asking venezuela for permission to send in human rights observers. they are responding to this, reports of excessive force used on demonstrators and journalists during recent pro tests. the u.n. how many rights council in geneva sending a written request to the government want to investigate charges that protestors have been beaten and

tortured by security forces. tensions are running high there following the anniversary of hugo chavez's death. two were killed thursday as protestors clashed with security forces in caracas. the violence continued through the night. >> we heard reports of intense fighting in the neighborhood of caracas, an area where there has been fighting night after night. when we arrived, we found people running, people on motorcycles, groups of young men throwing rocks in the direction of where security forces had been massed and lobbing tear gas canisters moments before. you could still smell it in the air. these guys were waiting for a rush by security forces and when these motorcycles came down the street, that's what they thought it was, probably just taxis, but they were very acknowledg agita. it was hard to have a conversation. >> protestors are fighting the government, saying the ghost is

the fascist, the government calling them fascist, now they are throwing molotov cocktails. there's a crowd of people on the balcony of an apartment building watches it just like it's the evening's entertainment, like it's a baseball game. >> got to go? >> let's go. >> that's when the mood started to shift. you can hear shouts of camera, camera. we decided it was time to put distance between our cameras and this mob, this violence, this kind of mob violence seems to be increasingly the face of this protest movement at least in caracas. the concern is this is how this is going to play out across the country as this crisis continues to unfold. >> that is paul beban. 21 people have been killed since protests began last month, including a national guard soldier and taxi driver who died thursday. >> cuba to begin talks with the

european union thursday. the u.s. has accepted or he has accepted the e.u.'s offer to hold a discussion of a wide range of topics, including trade, investment a understand human rights. rodriguez says this marks the end of what cuba considers to be a one-sided relationship with europe. in 2008, the e.u. lifted sanctions against cuba. >> u.s. senate rejecting a controversial bill to fix the problem of sex assault in the military. while this was somewhat expected, it was still a very close vote. >> that's exactly right, del. this seemed to be a bipartisan effort with liberals and conservatives backing the bill. in the end, it fell short by five votes. >> the motion is not agreed to. >> the measure had a majority of the senate, 55 votes in favor, including conservatives like republicans rand paul and ted cruz, but needed 60 votes. it never got to the floor.

missouri senator and fell democratic claire mccaskill let the charge to shoot down the bill. for them, it comes down to the idea of changing the chain of command. this bill would have stripped senior military commanders of their authority to prosecute all sexual assault giving the power to independent military prosecutors. >> the argument was posed as victims versus commander, who's side are you in. it's not that simple. if you get into the complexities of the military justice system and how these cases handled, i'm confident that the choice the senate made today is the right one. >> i always hope we can do the right thing, deliver military justice that is free from bias and conflicts of interest, but today, too many of the members of the senate have turned their back on these victims. >> there have been some reforms

as part of the defense appropriations bill pass said in december, congress made it a crime for the military to retaliate against victims who report abuse. >> this all came on the same day news broke about possible sexual misconduct related to an officer. >> just as the insanity was voting, the army confirmed its top sex crimes prosecutor lute colonel joseph morse had been suspended because a female army officer said he tried to grope her in a hotel room. also army brigadier general pleaded guilty to charges of adultery while maintaining his in sense that he forced a junior officers to perform oral sex. if convicted, he faces life in prison. >> thank you very much. >> one college in illinois now offering health insurance for students who are seeking a sex change. trustees at the university of illinois at urbana champaign

said the changes will increase annual fees by $2 for undergraduates and $3 for graduate students. thee quarters of students use that insurance. the university campus also offers that very same coverage. >> the thermostat is going to be dropping in some parts of the country over the weekend. we go to nicole mitchell for details. >> after each blast, everyone asks is it over yet? not quite. heading out this morning, here's a look at the radar. we've got a couple areas, even with ice in the mid atlantic and another system in the midwest. this is the one that's going to drop temperatures once again. it's been such an interesting winter to watch some of this phenomenon, not only cold enough that our snow pack is still much more than we would typically see this time of year, more of the country covered than last year at this time. there's been incredible occurrences, things like frost quakes reported, a rare occurrence, but the ground

actually freezes so quickly and then cracks, it causes a little shaking and even like a sonic boom sound. that waking up people in the middle of the night. things like the pipes bursting in minnesota because the frost has gone so far down. the great lakes, more ice than the last 35 years because of that cold weather, so more is on the way. after that front comes through, arctic air out of the north and especially into the day and tomorrow morning is when we'll see temperatures, places like minneapolis down to seven. dropping the temperatures back into the 20's, the nice thick is there is a quick rebound back to at least normal temperatures getting into the 40's by the next couple days. of the rest of the temperatures for the rest of the country in just a couple of minutes, del. >> the last two abortion clinics in the rio grande valley of texas closed.

there are know no clinics between houston and louisiana. the clinics were forced to close because restrictions passed by lawmakers last summer required doctors to have admitting privileges at local hospitals. there are now 24 clinics left in the state which has 26 million women, 19 others have closed an more expected to shutter by the end of the year. >> republican presidential hopefuls are undergoing an early test this week. the cpac started on thursday and this year future speakers including paul ruined and marco rubio. new jersey's governor chris christie attracting the most attention. >> this year is different for governor christie, welcomed with warm applause after last year's snub. he stood by president obama's side after the hurricane hit new jersey. >> i know he's been buddy buddy

with obama. >> adding the scandal of the george washington bridge lane closure ordered by his staffers over political retribution. >> not the biggest fan. i think he's more of a liberal republican. >> i was a new yorker, i get to see it first hand what he does across the border in new jersey and i'm not a big fan of what he's been doing. >> i like him, but he's not my favorite. >> a poll suggests three in 10 republicans would not vote for christie, the worst odds of any rutrepublican tested. it's a chance to speak to the conservative base and win over a skeptical audience. >> let us be resolved to stand out for our principles and to win elections again. >> winning the white house is what matters to florida retiree marian in a fowler. she said there's still time for politicians to prove their values and electability.

>> i'm for whoever will win. we have to get behind the one that will win. maybe it might not be my favorite, but if it's going to win, that's who i want. >> attendees are keeping their minds open and christie is one of dozens who could capture their loyalty. aljazeera. >> cpac runs through sat. >> revealing the identity of the person behind bit coin, the man one major publication says is the founder, but he says he's not. >> the monthly job report is due out in 10 minutes. whether the winter storms will keep the employment picture cool. >> the true wealth of russian at the vladimir putin shrouded in mystery. just how much is he worth and where is all his money coming from?

>> welcome back to aljazeera america. the inventor of bit coin has remained a mystery since 2009 with its inception. now noose week says it has

cracked the case. thomas dry to know reports on the man newsweek named who says it's a case of mistaken identity. >> why were you involved in bit coin? >> the so-called father of bit coin may have been outed by newsweek. in a front page story, the magazine claims this man is the creator of the digital currency, valid at $7 billion. >> i'm not involved in bit coin. >> since the birth in 2009, the currency's creator has remained a mystery, a faceless person. thursday, outside this modest house in southern california, this man told the throngs of reporters camped there they got the wrong man. >> i don't know anything about bit coin. >> newsweek said it is standing behind its story, a story that sparked a backlash on social media. facebook and twitter were

flooded with comments criticizing newsweek for possibly revealing someone who has fought to remain so private, or for potentially outing the wrong man, especially at a time when bit coin is under close scrutiny due to heavy losses. a bit coin exchange abruptly stopped trading last month. >> the main reason i'm here is to clear my name that i have nothing to do with bit coin, nothing to do with developing. >> in an interview with the associated press, he said he is an engineer who la worked for the u.s. government offered proof, including his driver's license and a time line of his whereabouts where bit coin was in its development. if you look at the time span, 2001 when it was supposed to be developed, i wasn't there. i was working for the government through a contracting company. >> he says when approached by

the newsweek reporter about whether he helped create bit coin, she misinterpreted his answer. aljazeera. >> bit coin is popular because it allows people to make one-on-one financial transactions digitally without involving banks, credit cards and those fees. users can remain anonymous, which is why bit coins appeals to criminals. >> in business news, we're going to be looking at the key february jobs report, the data she hadding new light on how the rough winter weather affected the economy. 150,000 jobs were created last month and for the unemployment rate to stay steady. we will have live coverage of that jobs report when it is released here on aljazeera america. >> stock futures slightly higher ahead of that report, do you futures up 15 points. ahead of the opening bell, the dow stands at 15421, the s&p 1877 and the nasdaq at 4352.

overseas, asian markets are lower, chinese stocks under pressure after one of the countries solar panel makesser defaulted an approximately payment on bonds it owed. european stocks are posting losses at this hour. >> safe way shares are falling before the market opens. the supermarket chain is being bought by an equity firm that owns albertsons and will pay $9 billion for the company. traditional supermarkets have struggled to compete with big box retailers. no stores are expected to close because of the merger. >> the tough winter weather hitting the gap hard, february sales dropping by a surprising 7%. the decline's coming across its main sake stores as well as old navy and banana republic. bad weather forced it to close 450 stores at least one day last month. >> how cold is it going to be today? for that we check in with nicole

mitchell. >> today, we're actually not doing too bad, starting milder in the northeast, into the 20's this morning. same thing for the midwest, cold air a little milder temporarily. the forecast for today, we have nice forecasts for houston at 68, but it's the front coming through the midwest today that will in some cases have falling temperatures and the 20's this morning, say goodbye, far go, minus four is what we'll be starting the day off at. the midwest is going to ahead of that front bring this cold or some warmer air into places like the northeast, new york up to 49 degrees and this -- even these temperatures that are colder in the midwest will eventually go back up as we get into the next couple days. more on where we're seeing the rain and snow in a few minutes. >> as the u.s. boosts its military presence in the

baltics, concerns about that conflict. >> getting behind the we'll while high, the steps police in colorado are taking to recognize stoned drivers in the wake of legalized marijuana. >> coming up, i'll tell you why record cold temperatures have transformed this fall town into a booming winter destination, attracting thousands of visitors from around the world. >> mariano rivera, find out what he is saving now after saving hundreds of games for the new york yankees.

region. >> good morning, welcome back to aljazeera america, i'm del walters. we're going to talk to the latvia ambassador about the conflict in raw crane and russia. >> figuring out how to police people getting behind the wheel after getting high on marijuana. >> first, ukraine, tensions are bubbling between russia and u.s. a day after washington threatened sanctions, moscow saying it will respond if penalties are imposed. a u.s. navy warship is heading not much is known where russian president putin gets his money. >> russian president vladimir putin refers to himself as a humble servant, reporting his

salary as 5.8 million rubles and estimated total net worth atlas than $500,000. for years, there's been speculation that putin is rich, super rich, a popular russian political scientist said he's worth as much as $70 billion. putin owns 37% of the shares in an oil company, and four and a half% of the russian controlled company, the largest natural gas supplier in the world. the companies have murky ownership structures and shareholder information is not public. wealth in russia is held through shell companies, front men and offshore accounts. six years ago, the rumors surrounding putin even reached they be u.s. secretary of state condoleezza rice. she sent a diplomatic cable and cited a russian opposition

source saying putin was nervously seeking to secure immunity about negotiations into his alleged i will lit sit proceeds. through the years, there have been glimpses of extravagantly, saying his watch collection alone is worth $700,000. a few years ago, he gave a $10,000 watch to a siberian boy he met on vacation. >> former russian politician boris, another putin critic issued a report that said putin has access to 50 aircraft, 20 homes and four yachts. >> i have not his eyes, it all belongses to him. >> putin spokesman told a russian newspaper that all the yachts, palaces and properties are state properties that putin uses according to the law. >> the fact is only putin and his closest friends may know the full extent of his foreign, but if it's close to $70 billion,

that would put him near microsoft founder bill gates, the wealthiest man on the planet. >> the latvian ambassador to the u.n. joins us, thank you for being with us. safe to say the eu and u.s. are winning the war of words but if vladimir putin has boots on the ground, how concerned are you that what we are seeing in crimea is going to spread? >> first of all, we are concerned with what is already going on in crimea and as nato member, e.u. member, international community, united nations are doing are trying to get back to the point of beginning already on the existing stage. in other words, that it doesn't spread yount crimea. >> what do you think about people saying vladimir putin doesn't care, he is trying to seize more land, trying to reinstitute what was once the old satisfactory jet union and

he is going to step over everything that lies in his path, including latvia. >> i wouldn't want to speculate an the reasoning. >> it's not speculation, he's already done it in georgia, boot on the ground in crimea. why not make the argument lad via is next. >> i do not want to speculate on possible hypothetical developments. i would note for us, there are several key point of reference. first of all is international law, we as a country are relying on that. second is the fact that we are both e.u. and nato member, self defense alliance. >> are you convinced that if push comes to shove to use the phrase, that nato will do what it takes to stop any aggression by russia to seize other territory other than ukraine and including ukraine? >> well, nato has already been involved in the case of ukraine.

it has already taken a number of steps with the possibility of building up on those, we have been assured by the fact that also the air patrolling by nato of our air space happen stepped up, so we are not worried about that. >> what are you doing now to support your neighbors, ukraine. >> there have been a number of steps taken both within the framework of nato where it has been decided both to suspend the cooperation with russia and to step up operation with ukraine and also to increase the security of the member states of nato. second, there have been also a number of steps taken within the e.u. that also can be stepped up further. >> there have to be some things that you have heard over the last week that make you uncomfortable. take a look at this map.

prior to 1991, latvia was part of the former soviet union. 59% of the country is latvian, but close to 28% are russian. one of the things that russian penalty vladimir putin said in going into significance is that he wanted to protect the interests of russian-speaking ukrainians. what happens if he does the same in latvia? >> first of all, there are certain set of rules what a country is supposed to do what it has concerns over minority rights. these are national rules, nothing in those rules includes force. that is violation of united nations charter which calls for peaceful resolution of disputes. furthermore, there is certain sets of instruments and mechanisms that should be used when a country is concerned with human rights, minority rights. the prime one would be in this

situation, she has just come back and stated that she has seen no evidence to be concerned about the rights of russian speakers in crimea, however she does have concerns about situation of ethnic ukrainians and ethnic crimean charters. when it comes to latvia we have worked to build a system of protection of human rights. that is reason the fact we have been able to join the u.n. nato, otherwise it wouldn't have been possible. for us, the -- we have done our part so that there would be no basis whatsoever for any allegations. >> history always gets in trouble when one leader decides not to follow the rules. with that as a backdrop, how concerned are you about the behavior of russian penalty vladimir putin which some say is unorthodox and that might be the polite word? >> we are very much concerned about the fact that our

neighboring country, russia has commit an act of aggression against it's other neighbor, ukraine, which is a concern for all international community and we have been very much glad that this concern has been very much vocal and we hope that the situation can be deescalated and led back to dialogue. >> he talked to our vice president, vice president biden talked to the president yesterday. the conversation good, reassuring? >> yes, absolutely, because for us, united states is a strategically and this is of course a symbolic step, showing a commitment of united states to the security of the baltic states of latvia, and as i mentioned, no less important than this gesture of solidarity is that very concrete fact that six additional fighter planes

have been brought to the baltics to patrol our air space. >> ambassador, thank you very much for being with us this morning. we hope you come back as this situation either improves or gets worse. that is the latvian ambassador to the united nations. >> two members of the russian protest band pussy riot suffered injuries when attacked by a group of men. they were sitting in a mcdonald's when men burst in, hit them with pepper spray and poured ref fuse over them. they suffered chemical burns and head injuries. they were in prison for staging an anti putin protest song. they were freed last december as part of government amnesty. >> the foreign minister in the african republic is sending in more peace keeping troops, considering a plan to 10 in more soldiers into that war torn country, one official saying ethnic cleansing has nearly wiped out muslims in some part

of that country. nearly 1 million people threing their home is a fifth of the countries population. >> former girlfriend of oscar pistorius testifying that the runner had a temper and always carried a firearm. she complains their relationship ended when he cheated on her. he is accused of shooting his girlfriend in her home in valentine's day of last year. the woman claims he was prone to shouting and once shot his gun out of the a car. >> idaho state legislature is passing a bill allowing people to carry concealed guns on to college campuses. if the state's republican governor signs it, idaho will become the seventh state allowing guns on campuses of higher learning. >> marijuana has been legal in colorado for two months, but unlike alcohol, there's no law dictating how much a driver can smoke before getting behind the wheel with that we report from denver on the campaign to stop what they are calling d.u.

highs. >> this is not acting class. it's real life police work. >> now when i ask you to, i'm going to ask you to tilt your head back and clothes your eyes. >> law enforcement special ops being trained to recognize stoned driving behavior. they want to prevent accidents like this one which happened just days after recreational marijuana was sold legally. >> it's a violation of the law. i'm looking at the semi in front of us and i'm going to see what they're doing. >> how does law enforcement tell the difference between stoned and drunk driving. it brings out slurred speech and bloodshot ice with drinking. on marijuana, people have a harder time communicating. >> i tell them why i stop them and they will tell me and based on that, i will start to get cues. >> before they pull anyone over, troopers must have probable cause. >> i can't arrest somebody based on an odor or on a couple of

cues. i need to have a driving action. the colorado department of transportation is unvealing an ad campaign designed to keep people from driving high. the law says drivers are impaired with five-nanograms of t.h.c. in their blood, but people charged with driving under the influence of marijuana can try and convince a jury that they were not high at all. >> it's not really the nanogram level, it's how the substance might affect someone and i don't think necessarily it matters whether it's five-nanograms or lower or higher, ait's a frustrating area for the law enforcement and marijuana community, too, because they are left not really knowing oftentimes whether they can be -- whether they're truly impaired or can be convicted. >> so far in colorado, there have been at least two arrests a

day for driving under the influence of marijuana. >> we can all agree that people should not be using marijuana and driving, the same way that they shouldn't be drinking alcohol or prescription drugs or other illegal drugs. >> with this graduation, there will be more troopers trained to be on the lookout for people who decide to get high and drive. carrol mckinley, aljazeera, denver. >> that one million-dollar ad buy premieres march 10. >> they say confession is good for the soul. pope francis saying he stole a rosery cross from another priest right out of the casket. said it belonged to a clergymen buenos aires and said he couldn't resist the little thief inside him when he grabbed it. he asked for forgiveness and said he keeps the cross with him each and every day. >> a welcoming surprise on the health of the job market. we are following the monthly

jobs report. we have more of the numbers everybody is waiting for. >> >> it was an upside surprise, a big change from the last two months. the estimate was for 150,000 jobs but that february jobs number beat expectations. the economy added 175,000 jobs in february. the unemployment rate ticked up to 6.7% but the labor force participation rate, which is the number of people in work, as well as the number of people actively looking for a job remain the same at 63%. now, when you actually take a look at the quality of jobs, though, it wasn't quite as good as people would hope for. in february, we added 15,000, the economy added 15,000 construction jobs and manufacturing jobs remained unchanged. we talked about this, a lot about the quality of jobs, because you want high quality construction jobs and manufacturing jobs, because they have what economists call demultiplier factor wimp means

other jobs are created around them especially in construction. >> everybody kind of expected the construction jobs would take a hit. it's kind of hard to build a how else when it's snowed in and you can't get to it. >> the weather of course is the big debate, how much is the weather impacting the health of the economy, how much is it impacting the data. there was a note on the official press release from the bureau of labor statistics saying if you want to know more about the effect of the weather on the data gathering, go see these reference points especially because we had very disappointing numbers in december and january, there has been a raging debate among economists as to how much of this we could blame on the weather. of course for february, though, it was an upside surprise. >> this is starting seem like a hollywood cliffhanger, we'll wait until next month to see how the weather affects, now waiting to see whether the it improves

the jobs. >> even federal reserve chair janet yellen is unsure of how much the weather is impacting numbers and it is going to take another month of data when the severe weather clears up to actually get a better handle on the underlying strength of the economy. >> thank you very much for being with us this morning. we're going to switchgears now, turn to sports, tiger woods saying the sun will come up tomorrow. john henry smith is here with the details. good morning. >> good morning, del. tiger woods brought him and his aching back to south florida to defend his championship. while he didn't appear to be hobbling after pulling out of a tournament last week, he couldn't play more, because mother nature put her foot down and said no one could play more. play resumed after a two and a half hour rain delay. jason duffner tied at the lead.

play suspended thursday, the tourney resumed play just a few moments ago. >> there seems to be a trend in renays and stopples across the country. increasingly, we are seeing fans interjecting themselves into the action everyone paid to see. thursday night at university of california during a basketball game, a u.c.s.v. fan ran on to the court after a stoppage in play and confronted the coach. hawaii players pushed the fan away before he left the floor. we're just seven days into march, already a fan has tried to touch cavaliers guard kyrie irving while playing and fans helped stop an on court ball in a college game in utah. hawaii's coach didn't know what to make of the situation. >> i've never seen anything like that in 22 years of coaching and a lot of years of playing, but it was a little crazy to have a fan rush in and push your guys

around on the game floor. never seen it, you don't expect it, so a little different. >> u.c. santa barbara said the student will go before the judicial affairs board and could be expelled. >> lakers written on the front of the jerseys, but that's the only way this group resembles the great lakers team we remembered. the lakers aren't even the best tenant in the staples center. it's the clippers world and the lakers are just trying to win in it. the clippers crushed the lakers, the 41-point loss the most lopsided defeat ever. long time fan jac jack nicholson looks like he can't handle the truth. an poise to finish with their worst record since the team moved from minnesota back in 1959. >> yankees legend mariano rivera

enjoyed an opening day thursday. rivera and his wife clara opened the doors to their newly renovated church called the refuge of hope. he has spent over $1 million and three years of time fixing up the place. he sounds as proud of this accomplishment as he is his on-field accomplishments. >> this is to help families bring people close to the lord. i was just the vehicle. >> it was a house, so we were like this, but this, the lord has blessed us with this tremendous house of god. >> you just new rivera would keep busy and do great things with his time. >> i was just thinking, nobody ever rushed bobby knight or woody hayes and when they did, they get a five finger mary.

>> something to celebrate with this winter's cold, celebrate, ice cakes have people flocking to one small town on the great lakes. >> community college with the keys to a rare dodge viper told to destroy it, $250,000 worth of cars. why chrysler wants it after giving it to the school. >> a slick morning in spots. i'll tell you where, mother nature is putting her foot down.

>> al jazeera america presents extrodanary documentaries. colin comes from a long line of ferrymen. >> you're a riverman from start to finish... >> now he leaves home to see what life is like on the waters of bangladesh. >> it's absolutely filthy... >> he learns how difficult working ther can be. >> how do you say..."get out the way"? >> shoro >> can this brittish man find common ground with his local host? >> "must really take it out of

mr. loteef"... >> toughest place to be a ferryman on al jazeera america >> these protestors have decided that today they will be arrested >> these people have chased a president from power, they've torn down a state... >> what's clear is that people don't just need protection, they need assistance. >> welcome back to aljazeera america, take a look at this, the natural beauty on the great lakes thanks to the cold winter weather. first, let's find out if it will rain and snow across the country

today. we turn to nicole mitchell. >> the most ice they've seen in 35 years in the great lakes because of this cold. we have some ice in the mid atlantic this morning. into the northwest, we've had significant rain and snow recently. we get a little bit of a break and that's a good thing for a couple days, because we have flood concerns now with that rain and snow melting off. the system that moved through the south yesterday bringing strong storms to parts of florida has moved into the mitt atlantic now. what we're seeing with the coastal system that will move off during the day. we had snow then ice this morning, be careful on the roads. as temperatures rise in the morning, they will continue to do so. all of this should be switching over to rain, but still some significant spots where you're going to have a wet go of it today. here's how this transfers off the coastline. most of this by this evening, if not in the overnight period, we have another front bringing the cold air to the midwest, moves

through and picks up more moisture tomorrow. parts of texas up to indiana, we could be seeing rain during the day saturday. >> good news for winter weary northeastern people, it rained across california. government forecasters issuing an el nino watch. it could mean this year's long winter would not be repeated this year and mean fewer hurricanes in the atlantic. it could provide rain for california and the south both suffering through long droughts, the government issuing an el nino watch two years ago but that one never materialized. >> the freezing cold built a pat to adventure in the midwest. thousands of visitors can walk up to ice caves. it's a track more than a mile long through deep snow across a now frozen lake superior.

for those who make the journey to the hidden caves, they say it's worth it. >> it's beautiful out here. >> even though it's freezing. >> a chance to get in and under and around all these things. it's just tremendous. >> tucked away along lake superior shore is a display of ice formations rarely seen. it was created by the lake's own wave patterns and colored by the minerals from sand stone cliffs. the result, a majestic series of sculptures. >> it's not just the natural beauty attracting so many, it's accessibility. because of record cold sub zero temperatures, you can get here by walking across this frozen lake. >> thousands are doing just that. most would have missed out on this natural phenomenon if it hadn't been for kelly, who just

happened to post pictures of the ice caves on twitter. >> that post almost immediately went viral. within two hours, it had about 10,000 views. the next morning when i woke up, we were at almost 85,000 views. at that moment, we knew something big had really happened. >> there is a population of 487 people. since the twitter post in mid january, it's businesses have been overrun with visitors. it will be weeks before the only hotel in town has a vacancy. >> game-changer. theirs stores that are opening up that typically are closed in the winter. it's down right saved some businesses kind of on the outskirts in the area. it may be the biggest exposure potentially ever. >> at maggie's restaurant, they can't keep up with demand. at night, it's the only restaurant in town open to feed the thousands of hungry visitors that started showing up. >> i'm pretty sure we've almost

tripled last years numbers. >> no one's sure just how long the sculptures will last. >> we know this is not going to be typical. we're describing this as an endangered national park experience. we don't know whether you're kids or grandkids will be able to do this. >> 80,000 have braved the sub zero temperatures to get to the caves. weekends, they're attracting 10,000 views a day, more than any other day in the park's history. it's a rare glimpse of the natural phenomenon that may never be seen again. aljazeera, lake superior. >> there is a chance the great

lakes could break a record set in 1979 when 95% of the lake's froze over. >> a $250,000 dodge viper now caught in a custody battle between chrysler and a washington state community college. the car was given to the school by the company for educational purposes seven years ago. chrysler now saying the 1992 dodge viper should be destroyed because it's a liability. two of the 93 vehicles given to schools across the country were involved in accidents and that cost chrysler millions and the schools, as well. chrysler that the contract calling for them to be destroyed if the company it is so and it says so. the school has two weeks to comply. it has started a petition drive trying to save the vipers. >> that will do it for this edition of aljazeera america. we want to look at key moments from this week in the on going

crisis between russia and ukraine. there is more on that straight ahead. we are following developments from kiev, washington and europe.

>> tafficked labor on the front lines? >> they're things...they're commodities... >> we go undercover... >> it isn't easy to talk at this base... >> what's happining on u.s. bases... >> the taxpayer directly pays the human trafficker. >> fault lines...

al jazeera america's hard hitting... >> they're locking the doors... >> groung breaking... >> they killed evan dead. >> truth seeking... >> they don't wanna show what's really going on... >> breakthough investigative documentary series america's war workers only on al jazeera america