... al jazeera america live from new york city. i am jonathan betz with today's stop stories. searching for a jet liner that banished in the middle of the night carrying 239 people. warn shots in ukraine, talk of diplomatic solutions and economic sanctions. the libyan government threatens bomb an oil tanker. a tug of war between a serbian museum and a church for the remains of famous inventer, nikola tesla.

♪ the u.s. navy has joined the search for a missing jet liner off the coast of vietnam. authorities suspect the malaysia plane crashed last night with 239 people aboard. three of them were americans. an oil slick off of the water of vietnam has been spotted near the plane's last known location. our emra kahn has more >> reporter: search efforts continue for the missing plain asvette nam easy aircraft search the area where the plight was last in tunnelling with ground control room. anxious families wait for news of flight 370 which disappeared off the radar in the early morning of saturday morning. it was on its way to beijing. 239 people were on board. in beijing, the similar scenes. there are few details but the fact the crew didn't send a distress signal means whatever happened may have happened

quickly. >> our focus now is to work with emergency responders and the authorities and mobilize its full support. and our thoughts and prayers are with all of the passengers and crew and your family members. the vem nam ease search and rescue official said the last signal from the plane was detected some 225 kilometers southwest of vietnam. international efforts were underway with the u.s. and singapore sending help. here is what we know about the flight path: the 77-200 was expected today arrive in beijing at 6:30 a.m. then it disappeared. it has a great safety record with only one fatal crash in its history. it's been flying for 19 years and is recently as a few days ago, experts prauzed its safety features? >> the aircraft is 12 years old features?

>> the aircraft is 12 years old and we have had aircraft flying for almost 20 years. they have flown more hours and flights in this particular one. if it was going to be a structural break-up, we would have expected to see more problems with the older fleet than we already have done. >> the manufacturer, boeing is closely monitoring the situation but with little information on what happened, no one is willing to guess on what went wrong. emeran kahn, al jazeera. much more later in the show but we want to bring you the latest on the crisis in john boehner which is becoming an international stand-off. nilt observers were shot at when they tried to enter crimean for the third day in a row. they say they were warning shots and nobody was hurt. our nick schifrin jones us from crimean on this. what can you tell us about these warning shots fired earlier today? >> reporter: jonathan, this is really, really important because what the united states has been trying to do is try to convince the world, trying to convince russia that there is a diplomatic solution to this crisis and that solution is

sending in either u.n. or european inspectors or monitors. and the only way that the u.s. has had to try to actually stop this war, as some of the u.s. officials have put it, from happening are these monitors. and they can't even get here. what's happened on the border for three straight days is they have tried to enter crimea through a single road that connects the rest of ukraine into the peninsula. armed men control that road just like they control a lot of roads across crimea, and they stop anyone. they will stop journalists. they will stop diplomats and clearly, they are stopping these monitors. and until these monitors can get in, the united states's own argument about how to solve this glomatically simply is irrelevant. so the u.s. is pushing very desperately to fly or move these monitors in. as you just said, they have not been able to get in. as far as those armed men can stop them, there is no way for those monitors to get in. >> nick, what happens then if this referendum is approved and

that people of crimea do vote to join russia, what is -- what is expected to happen at that point? >> reporter: well, i think it's almost a fete accompli that the majority of this peninsula feels like they should join russia. we don't know what's doigoing t happen in the vote but a lot of people consider themselves russian here that's what's interesting about some of these armed men. there is video today, for example, from crimea of these new, almost crimean army or militia is probably the best way to describe them. increasingly, they are running law and order. they are fanning out across basis, across roads toward important installations and they are coordinating with the russian troops who have vastly increased up to, perhaps, 30,000 troops according to ukrainian intelligence. sos what's happening is that it's almost a given that the pressure on these people will be to vote to join russia. and that leaves a lot of people who don't feel that way very

much isolated in the streets today, we saw a lot of armed men, a lot of men carrying shields and the pro-western activists were carrying signs and flowers and given how much law and order is being returnun those armed men now, the future is being decided by those armed men. >> means that this vote is only going to be more likely to go toward russia, jonathan. >> do those pro-western activists feel confident in speaking out? do you feel like their numbers are large or even growing? >> reporter: they are not con fe if i h if i h fident or the overtly demonstrators who talk about how they want to join the e. u. they are being hounded. we have seen a lot of people being attacked physically. some of them just being threatened verbally. but, no, they are very much not more confident and,

increasingly, they are turning to themselves for self defense. tartars, for example, one of the largest minorities on the peninsula, probably about 30%, of the peninsula very much pro-western, anti-russian. they have self defense units guarding their own neighborhoods. they do not trust the police who are basically ineffect annual at this point and they are worried about these pro-russian activists becoming more armed and more aggressive against anybody who opposes crimea joining russia. >> nick schifrin live for us in crimean tonight. thank you. president obama phoned european leaders this morning to discuss the crisis in ukraine. it included a conference call with the presidents of lithuania, latvia and estonia. jer johncare spoke. >> reporter: they give us readouts after the conversation. we did notice something that seems to be a little bit different from what we have been

hearing before from secretary of state, john kerry. in his conversation with lavrov, kerry said continued military escalation and provocation in crimea or elsewhere in ukraine along with steps to an excrimea to russia would close any availability possibilitibilities for diplomacy. we haven't put it so point-blank in the readouts. perhaps he has been saying that to lavrov all along. meanwhile, on his vacation get away, president obama is having a working weekend, staying in close consultation with america's spoken allies in addition to that conference call he made to leaders of the baltic states. he also made individual calls to the united kingdom, to italy, and, also, to france. and in all of those calls, he was calling for the end of russia's military intervention in crimea and saying that, of course, they all support ukrainian sort ofty and u.s. support for air patrols over the

baltics. earlier this week, president obama did sign ought risation for imposing sanctions on russia. those sanctions have not yet been imposed. europeans aren't pressing the president to do it, because russia could turn around and impose their own kind of sanctions, cutting off natural gas supplies. to counter that possibility, some european nations have turned to house speaker john boehner for assistance. today, boehner revealed he had received a letter from four central european countries, poland, begunary, the czheck republic asking for more american natural gas. speaker boehner saying, i hope president obama will heed this call from our allies and immediately approve tending natural gas export requests and do everything possible to reduce dependency on russia. boehner then turned a little bit political criticizing the administration's processes for approving energy exports. a lot going on diplomatically behind the scenes in -- with our nation's leaders today.

jo jonathan? >> randall pinkston following reaction from washington today. thank you. joining me now to discuss this from england is gwendolyn sachsa. she is an oxford scientist. i want to get your reaction to the news today that the pro-russian forces in crimea continue to fire upon international observers being sent to that region. why does that keep on happening? >> i think first of all, it's important to stress that so far, we have seen restraint being exercised by particularly the ukrainian side but, also, by the russian forces on the ground. so there have been a number of incidents. a and, of course, they are worrying, particularly worrying because they could spiral out of control. but i think so far, it's important to stress that we haven't seen an escalation of the situation, and the key question is whether if something kicks off locally, moscow, in fact, will be in control of what

is happening on the ground. >> why would -- why would they continue to reject the idea of these observers coming into crimea? what is the harm in that? >> well, at the moment, i think they are making a very strong claim in their own logic that it has to go first to this referendum now that is scheduled for the 16th of march. the question -- questions posed will be one about joining the russian federation and the other question abois about the autono state within ukraine. they see that as the next step in the process. the reaction to what the observer seems extreme because it is not clear what is observers at this point could really do. but going forward, i would not preclude the possibility of service, getting involved, and, in particular if a path could be found towards negotiation process of some kind. >> how wise is it for russia to accept this referendum in crimean considering that russia, itself, has its own regions that

would like to break away from its -- from russia? >> this is a potentially a dangerous game. kosovo has played this game for a while. at the moment, putin has structured the processs so that it looks as if the shanelle parliament is passing the necessary steps to enable crimea to join and having a referendum and having the people express their opinion looks democratic. but i think for the moment, we don't -- we simply don't know how the crimean population will vote in this referendum and then what the next steps will be. there are a number of scenes. the first is on the first question about joining russia, in fact, the majority of crimeans will vote in favor. the next step could be that russia goes ahead and unilaterally recognizes them as part of the russian federation and then we are in international

legal limbo and it will be overruled by politics on the ground. you can imagine a variation is about a bargaining chip for putin in anything on or aboutations going forward about a number of things with ukraine and possibly with the invol involvement of other international act orders. the other two scenarios is one is a vote in favor of the second question, autonomy within ukraine. then we could go back to a scene, over the autonomy state u.s. or a third could be, perhaps not an unlikely one to occur that there might be a very tight result or a high number of people abstaining from the referendum so that it maybe doesn't look like a full-blown acceptance of this -- of this motion. we don't know. at the moment, i think the most likely outcome is that there will be majority support for this motion of joining russia, but the implementation is still in doubt, and it might suit

putin better to, to use it as a bargaining chip. >> the tartars, you have them a fact in this mix. does this referendum threaten to dis disenfranchise them at all? >> yes. i think actually the crimean tartars will be increasingly one of the decisive factors in the region. so far, we haven't heard so much about them. they have been a voice of moderation. they have repeatedly called for a political process. going forward, if, in fact, the referendum shows an express of interest in joining the russian federation, the crimean tar tarz will quickly become the most visible political actor in the region. they account for between 12 and 13% of the -- of the region. they define crimean as its home land. they were deported in the 1940s under stalin. they returned, the next generation in many cases, returned from the late gorbachev

period, onwards. this cannot be easily appeased by moscow or bought off. they have serious grievances they associate with the soviet union and with russia and moscow. they are clearly strongly aligned with kiev and they also, they are the most organized. they are bound to be -- >> act of factors. we are running out of time there. appreciate it. agent of factors involved without question, in the upcoming referendum. thank you for your time today. let's look at what a refer endum could mean for crimea and ukraine. to understand what's happening, you have to look at what's happened there >> reporter: so we do need a history lesson. here it is. we are talking about this country, ukraine, here it is, capitol keeiev, russia, moscow d here is the disputed peninsula of crimean. we will come back to this city down here? just a second. first of all, in 1954, the then soviet liter nikita which yokhr

still under the soviet system of power, of course, nobody really nodes why he did that but he just did. and then, in 1991, once that iron curtain finally collapsed, in the the berlin wall. the iron curtain disappeared around 1991. it became independent and five years later, in 1996, under the new constitution, ukraine designated the crimea as a semi autonomous region. here is more history because today, ethnic russians account for the majority of crimea's population. many speak russian. over and above that, there is skrairnians there and tarta are. s, another sgrukraine s, another sgrukrainians there . s, another ukraine. they make up crimea. pay attention to this. this is the warm-water port of sevastopol. it is home to the kremlin's back sea navy fleet, smallest of

their fleet, but it's very important because it allows mosc moscow swift access to the mediterranean sea and they get flew he knew over the bal cans. what does being a semi autonomous region within ukraine actually mean? for almost 20 years, crimea has been holding elections for its own legislative body, only parliament if you like. 100 members in total and called the supreme council of. it has an executive power held by a small group of ministers and there is a chairman or president on top of that. and he serves with a nod and a wink from the crainiukraineians the part of the judicial system have no autonomous authority whatsoever. >> brings us up to speed where we are today. >> john terret there. z 's prime minister visited

fukushima today. harry fossel says more needs to be done for the city that's devastated. >> a journey into the heart of japan's nuclear disaster has become an almost daily routine. he and his colleague, are former counselors in the once thriving town that ajoins fukushima power plant. >> just because we are retired doesn't mean it's not our business anymore. we need to do all we can to keep this place alive. >> so these men and their volunteer colleagues monitor the radiation levels, clear the waterways, maintain a stake in thousand their town. their personal exposure isn't a problem before admitting it amounts to two mil i civerts a year, twice the recommended limit. their goal is to get 400 people living in an outlying neighborhood within the next three years, people froepd live on the doorstep with three skrimd reactors and regular

water leakscrippled reactors an water leaks. >> there is a sense of realism, acceptance of bringing anybody to live here at a time when a nuclear disaster continues to unfold over there is going to be very, very difficult. reviving okuma is a task they will have to pass on to the next generation. >> the few kill meters out of town, we come across a different group, no masks or hazard suits here this is all about confidence. the center of the scrum, japan's prime minister to assure locals of continuing government efforts. tight security prevented us from hearing from him. earlier, he visited nearby new housing for evacuees. >> but fukushima and suzuki, government is part of the problem. here where theyfied migratory swans, there is a debris from around the region. >> it's not the first time our town has suffered hardship. think what our 7 cestors did to bring the paddy fields.

we have to do the same for our future generations. >> for now, nature is in the ascend ant and the guard yapz admit a number of theirs neighborhoods willing to consider coming back gets smalling every day. harry fawset, okuma, japan. >> still ahead, held hostage, why a north korea ian oil take ta tanger is facing threats. >>ap the fight for the remains of a famous inventor.

♪ we want to turn to our top story on the missing malasian plane. ross amer, a former united airlines pilot and the ceo of experts and consulting firm. thank you for being with us. i am excited because i have a lot of confusion about this story. i cannot understand how in this day and age with the technology we have today that we can lose track of a modern, major airliner and not know exactly where it went down.

>> i probably share your frustration. this is unprecedented that a modern airliner disappear into air. but if you consider the topography of the area that this airplane presumably went down, it explains everything. we are talking in possibly either china's sea or over cambodia or vietnam, which are practically inaccessible jungers. >> how does the technology work on these planes? i think a lot of people assume gps keeps track of the planes. we know where they are flying in the sky. how does it work? especially in this part of the world between the air traffic control towers, the pilots? whom speaks with whom? ho those planes tracked.

>> there are what we call dark spots around the dmroeb. unfortunately,globe. unfortunately, not every spot on earth is covered by radar or communication. this aircraft, which is a very highly sophisticated 777-200lr has the latest technology inside of it as satellite communication, gps, but unfortunately, when they are that you can talk /* /- talking to, let's say, vietnam control, they are way behind the technology. in fact, most people won't believe it, that they still communicate with airplanes over the ocean in vietnam control by hf radios. >> that's the old high-frequency radios, which are definitely outdated. when i started flying 50 years ago, we used to use that. so, that is probably the

problem. the high -- >> what is used in other parts of the world office if those radios are outdated, what is the current use? >> we ute satellite technology. the latest site light technology on most rounds around the world, especially in north atlantic, most of the passic, but the dark spots like the controlled by, let's say, vietnam. there are a few other spots around africa and south america where there is, unfortunately, very little communication. my fear is that this airplane, while it was going down for whatever reason that may have been, they have tried to communicate on hf and send a may day. they were not successful. and if they were were not any aircraft yost to them, they were not able to communicate on normal vhf communication.

>> just to be clear with that, ross, because i think that's an important point. you are saying that if this plane sent out a mayday, it is possible that air traffic control in vietnam may not have heard it? >> that is correct. >> that's very possible that hf communication was not established at that moment, and they may not have heard it. >> ross amer, a former united airlines pilot talking to us from houston. i appreciate your insight today. thank you. >> my pleasure. >> nikola tesla is one of the most important inventors of modern times, pineered ac power and devices used today in radio communication. 71 years after his death in new york city, there is controversy over plans to move his remains within serbia. tim vinell has that story >> reporter: protesters demand the preservation of an eyecock calling for tesla's remains to

be left in a museum named after him. >> this is the message that they are sending to scientists, that if we are good and trying hard in our work, maybe one day, we will finish in the church. church leaders say the temple is where he belongs alongside other serbian heroes. opponents argue he was an atheist and should be upheld as a figurehead of science, not religion. >> the place of the church is not in a museum just like the plates of nicola tesla is not in a temple. >> he is best known for his work in developing the current or ac electricity. ac is when the direction of an electrical current constantly reversus on its self or a lot earn it's a. it makes it easy to change the voltage of power and can supply electricity to people over great distances. it's the kind of electricity used in main supply. ac largely replaced thomas

edison's direct current or dc, which is unable to transport electricity a great distance. tesla also created devices which were later used in the invention of radio communication and the modern x-ray machine. the leave tesla alone campaign group said the decision to move his remains was a result of the orthodox church but politicians, not protesters will have the final say with the new belgrade counsel to vote on the site of tesla'surn after elections next sunday. next on al jazeera america, marking both the progress made and the challenges left for women around the world on international women's day. a cast of conservative all-stars slated to speak on the final day of cpac is next.

>> 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 welcome back back to al jazeera america. here is a look at the top stories this half hour. the search for a missing

malaysi malaysian airliner, a suggest the plane crashed with no survivors. 239 people on board. the republican party's largest annual meeting is hours away from wrapping up. earlier, newt gingrich took the stage and later, sarah palin is expected to release after the list of presidential hopefuls. >> observers were shot at when they tried to enter crimea unsuccessfully, russia's foreign minister threatening retaliation if the west follows through with sanctions. >> many are pushing for a future with moscow. in the small city of kirtch, they have been welcoming soldiers with open arms. >> on the gateway from russia into crimea, the unmarked green trucks all drive one direction. according to ukrainian init w l willience shows russia has more than doubled it's sdmrfrmths

forces. >> can anybody tell me where you are from? >> this is one of the eastern most basis. soldiers who admitted to me they are russian stand outside, making ukrainian soldiers prisoners inside their own base. down the road, the radar station and therefore the air bass is controlled by russians whose supporters are happy to brave the cold. >> there is in that ukrainian army left so we need protection. if there is going to be a referendum on crimea's future, this city has already voted. it was the first place where pro-russian activists lowered the ukrainian flag and raised the russian flag on city hall. activists recorded russian forces taking over the ferry terminal and from the hill above the terminal, russia is only three miles away for igor schumac, that is painful. his family lived in this spot for decades.

first they were soviet. they are ethnic russians and have always looked east. >> translator: i served in the soviet army. it's unpleasant to me when they make me speak ukrainian. in the '80s, he says life was better. at the least, he had running water. today, he relies on a well. he accuses the ukrainian government of letting crimeans live in the stone age. >> i don't believe in any ukrainian government, not the old one, not a future one, not the current one. he lives under a new crimean government. constant teen yermatov is militia leader and politic organizationers. he has 4,000 fighters? >> we can mobilize a big army within an hour, he says. he wants to join russia because he believes crimeans are culturally different than wetter than ukrainians.

he spews hate toward europe. >> we see from the west homosexual people. we don't want to live like these people. >> that target did this city's few proceed western activists. a human rights cam paperer, last week she with stood a furious crowd. she is not sure how long she can hold out. >> if this referendum passes, what happens to people like you? >> i will leave this city, she says, because in russia, there is no democracy, no free press it is becoming a home for those who have just arrived. nick schifrin, argues, ki hsc h, ukraine. >> the stand-off is not stopping sfrans from selling russia two warships. french president says the contracts were signed before the ukrainian crisis. theships are part of a

$1.6 billion deal made between the two countries. the ships can carry 16 helicopters, 13 takes and hundreds of soldiers. the ships are part of a big investment by moscow. it's been building up its military since the war with georgia six years ago. one study says russian defense sten spending has risen 31% in the last five years, making it the third largest spender behind china and the u.s. it's you know clear. some estimate it has 845,000 soldiers with a reserve force of 2 million people who have had recent military training ukraine has nearly 130,000 but those sources are underfunded and i will equipped. >> what does nato do in this situation? more on that with george benetiz, the director of nato source and joins us lifetime george, that's the question. should nato frankly even get involved in this conflict? >> nato was involved because

ukraine is a partner of nato as is russia. each have their own counsels where they meet and a few days ago, the leaders were meeting with the senior leadership and the nato decided that they were going to cancel in upons to this crisis and step up their training and support for the ukraine. >> as you mentioned, ukraine is a partner but not a full-fledged member of nato. some worry nato's response is going to further anger russia. >> it's not because they both have relationships with nato, russia and the ukraine are partners with nato. the point for these partnerships are to build confidence and to help the countries to have transparency, get their militaries to get to know each other and work with nato so everyone is aware of what's going on and don't feel threatened by one another. these relations, this is how to describe them the way they were

before russian troops seized their territory. >> a lot has changed. do you feel like nato the next step should be? >> poont says it has received his personal priority. the russians initiated exercise in the baltics and in koliningrad. i think president obama and the other heads of state of nato should have an emergency nato summit in warsaw to show the rest of the allies in the region they are standing by them during this crisis. i think nato should deploy a few hundred members of the nato response force to eastern poland to make sure that the borders are defended. >> do you not worry that could further escalate this crisis when you talk about deploying soldiers to boarders? >> i don't think so because like i said, it would only be a few hundred soldiers. it would be a show that the alliance is united and that it is serious and it is receiving

its top attention. a few hundred nato soldiers in comparison to the 150,000 the russians used in their exercise is really not much a threat. >> if it's not, what is the point of it especially since russia clearly understands nato and the united states have no intention of getting involved militarily? >> it's not an offensive threat. it is a defensive deterrent. it shows that all of the nato allies will be standing by to uphold the security guarantees which means all of nato's borders will be protective. it shows defensive not offensive. >> george, thank you for your time today? >> thank you. the republican party's largest annual meeting, cpac is hours away from wrapping up. the focus has zeroed in on two goals: winning control of the senate and siding up the presidential field for 2016. our libby casey joins us from the convention just south of washington. so, libya, good to see you as always. what are some of the highlights from today?

>> thet we will hear from sarah palin. we saw newt gingrich, a former presidential candidate. he took a popular tactic as he addressed the audience. he went after president obama and criticized him on foreign policy and said that the president should have signed an executive order last week letting american natural gas go to europe in order to hurt poont economically. here is what else newt gingrich had to say about the president? >> the president spent all of last week week proving he is capable of being ineffective. i believe he can be as ineffective in key larringo as he wasgo as he was as he was in the white house. >> you get a sense of gingrich criticizing the president. a big part of today is not hearing from people who are

really viable 2016 candidates. but a lot of the celebrities of the partito determined to draw out the base and speak to the big issues. one exception is ben carson. he is a pediatric neuro surgeon. he is a rising figure, getting a lot of attention. got some criticism because he, last year, compared homosexuality to beastalty and pedophile i can't. he defended those comments today. >> of course gay people should have the same rights as everyone else but they don't get extra rights. they don't get to redefine marriage. >> so you hear ben carson, one of the new faces of the republican party. >> libby let's talk about the straw poll, the list of presidential hopefuls. are there any frontrunners at this point? >> yeah. we are going to hear the results of that in just a few moments. leading,nator rand paul, republican of kentucky.

it's a crowded group, though, 26 people are on this list. >> just goes to show you, both the fact that 2016 is a little ways away but also the field is wide open. there is a lot of discussion at cpac about what the focus should be, a lot of disappointment in the losses of john mccain and mitt romney competing for the white house. they are looking for someone who, a, can win, and b, embodies conservative values. a lot of the young people like rand paul, so he is leading, going in to the final hour here. >> okay. a lot of potential contenders there. thank you, libby casey live from the final day of cpac. it's international women's day. efforts are highlighting the challenges that affect more than half the world's population. caroline malone has this report. going for a record, more than 10,000 people turned out to sporty quality for women. they are hoping to work make it into the guinness world record

book. the participation of men was crucial. it helped highlight the fact that the philippines was ranked the 5th most gender equal country in the world last year according to a world economic report. the u.n. says men's had is important in changing global attitudes. >> one of the things that we are doing, which we long to see is a campaign we call he for she where we are recruiting men to promote the emancipation of women, women's rights as well as women's empowerment. >> afghanistan is one place where women's rights have improved in the last 12 years? >> after all, what happened to the woman during taliban, that they were deprived of money, basic rights. i think it is an international agenda. we need to look at the international need giving women more rights to things such as an education is a right, itself.

it could change lives. 1 in 10 children die before reaching 5 in afghanistan. studies show educating women leads to lower child mortality. when they joined the work force, they helped reduce poverty. in the gaza strip, hundreds of women took part in a march to the u.n. people there know all too well how women suffer disproportionately in poor and deprived societies. >> when women and girls thrive, entire societies thrive. just as women's rights are human rights, women's progress is human progress. >> earlier in new york, a group of high-profile women walked down the streets of the city. even in the world's most developed nations, more can be done to encourage gender equality. and men, whether they are fathers, sons, or friends of women are needed to make a real impact. caroline malone, al jazeera.

>> the libyan government is threatening to blow up a north korea ian flag tanker in its port. they don't want it to leave with their oil. it's not quite that simple. al jazeera's hshamel abara has more >> reporter: this is a day to remember says this official of the port of sidra in libya. they are loading oil on to this north korea ian-flagged tanker if successful, this would be the first known shipment of oil under the government of bakar. it's members demand greater autonomy for this oil-rich region. the central government in tripoli describes it as an act of piracy and has threatened bomb the ship. it's a threat that the prime minister of the self-declared government dismissed. >> translator: we found we don't accept any chip we are dealing with or are contacted with.

we are not making threats and we don't want to use our force. if nip attacks us, we will be prepared to defend ourselves. >> this isn't the first time that armed groups have challe e challenged. the government's control of oil exports. last summer, armed men shot down most of the country's main oil terminals. >> caused libya's oil exports to drop to a record low and cost the country billions of dollars in losses. struggling with lawlessness, libya's interim government is under growing pressure to restore order and rein in the armed militias. when we come back on al jazeera america, a closer look at nascar's diversity program in its attempts to steer the sport toward a new audience. artem tating life, two performance live on a life-size

hamster wheel. on al jazeera ama

jessica is here with sports. nascar is trying to get a makeover? >> the sport has one of the biggest fan basis in this country but one of the things is does lack is diversity. i was in daytona and got a chance to talk to stores about what nascar is doing to help the sport evolve on and off the track. >> reporter: this isn't your grandfather's nascar anymore. the sport of left hand turns and a good ol' boy's mentality made it of white -- made up of predominantly white drivers is trying to steer toward a new audience? >> the diversity platform is an important one for nascar. we recognize america is a d demographically diverse place and nascar wants to be diverse in every aspect of our business.

>> including the front office with revolution racing mac siegel being the first and only president of a nascar franchise. jamie rago is one of many female genes and dion williams turned tire man has found a second career in the pits. >> darrell wallace jr. came from drive for diversity program. the now 20-year-old known as bubba made history at marti martinsville when he dabecame t first black nascar driver to win a series race in 50 years. >> i think the biggest thing was relief. then i get in victory lane and they are talking about the history behind it and the magnitude of that. i am like, wow. didn't even see that. so, you know, there was another tear-jerker of being a part of that. i do my best. the next thing you know, you just were the highest finish in african-american in this race. i am like sweet.

>> another driver intends to extend the global reach, daniel suarez, having started out 2014 winning his first two races, the 22-year-old is on pace to be one of the future stars in motorsports. the second year driver on the nascar k & proceed series, a regional racing series that feeds their national series says the toughestrition into the sport has not' been the driving but the language barrier. >> i feel like we have been learning a lot about how to communicate with the team. i feel like all of these, you know, thinking in english and what i am for the team, we need to work on it. we worked on it last year. i feel like all of this adaptation is present decent right now. >> nascar's drive to diversity program isn't about forgetting about the legends about the past or by passing those that are on top of the support right now in the present. it's about looking toward the future and making the sport more representative of what the world

looks like today. >> right now, nascar has one of the largest fan basis of any sport in the country and is the second-most popular t.v. sport, but the criticism is that its made up of 60% men and nearly 80% of them are white, mostly from southern and midwestern states. while success for drivers like suarez and wallace help move it in the right direction, last year's rookie of the year says there is still a ways to go. >> for me, when i would encounter, you know, the bad and the negative side to it and the racism, i was too young to really understand it. i mean i could get hand gestures thrown out, slurs being thrown out. but i was just like, okay. what is that? you know, my parents, it hit them because they understood it, of course. but they just told me to go out there and win again. okay. i will do that. and we would go out the next weekend and win and either they would be quiet or just, you know, stop complaining and, you know, finally, say, the kid is

good. >> yes, he is. >> do you get the impression the face of nascar has changed, the typical fan? >> it is a little bit just with so many more women now that really like it. it's not just, like i said, it's not just with the race. it's gender. it's all of those things. now, you have different people from different countries doing it. it's a lot of fun to see. >> a growing sported and very, very popular across most of the country. thank, jessica jalila is here with beautiful weather and temperatures in the northeast? >> i go outside every chance i get. it's absolutely beautiful. temperatures came all the way up to 51 degrees here in new york city today. temperatures will be falling off a little bit between today and tomorrow. but look at this. in our nation's capitol, coming in at a high of 60, absolutely phenomenal temperature, high temperatures are well above where they were this time yesterday, about 19 degree difference between today and yesterday across new york city. washington d.c. also about 20 degrees warmer. a little bit cooler toward

pittsburgh, toward the bulk of the colder area across portions of the midwest and into canada. we will make our way today the west coast where not so dry, no the so sunny, we have a major storm pushing in off of the pacific, an abundance rain to portions of british columbia through portions of washington state at the coast into oregon where it's going to be a slow go out there tonight into tomorrow. give you another angle of the storm, all of this moisture pushing off of the pacific into portions of british columbia. as i said, down into the mountains of washington and, also, into oregon. we are looking at heavy rain right now right outside of the seattle area. as i said earlier, it will spread into northern and central portions of california, very light towards california, but it's going to be heavier right at the coast, and, also, some gustier winds at the coast as well. it's not a cold rain. look at how comfortable it is across portions of the northwest. portland a high of 61 degrees back towards billing, making a run toward 65. because it's so mild out there, a lot of the snow that's in

place across the area is going to be melting, and that's what we are going to look at right outside of helena, where we have a flood watch out and also right out of seattle, slow out there along i-5. take it easy on the roads. this next story got my attention. they say what goes around comes around. two new york artists have taken that to an extreme. they are spending 10 days living on a giant hamster wheel. we asked them why. >> hi. my name is alex sclader and i am an artest and an arkanschitect new york city. >> i would ward shelly, also from brooklyn and together with my partner, we living okay this piece called "in orbit". >> ward and i got the idea for "in orbit" based on a number of other pieces we have done in the past. we wanted to explore two people having to synchronize their entire day. all of the sort of normal activities of the day spin around and we synchronize, you

know, 180 degrees from me is ward's bed. >> i am on top of the wheel. and the situation up here is different than in the bottom because i have actually a very small area that i can safely stand in. he's got to be thoughtful about me at every moment. he can't move suddenly. you know, he's got to keep his mind on me. >> so the script for all of the performance buildings that we do, that we endeavor, is just to live your life as normally as possible. >> oh, my gosh. >> thank you so much. thank you so much. >> that's great. >> that's great. terrific. hey. thank you. yeah. >> nice to share. >> absolutely. absolutely. >> so one of the biggest difficulties, one of the things i found a little unusual is to have to keep every surface free of clutter. if i put a coffee cup down and i forget to take it away, that coffee cup will wind up on my

head. >> it's been full of surprises. we decided that it would be smart for me to wear a harness and a strap. >> that's what the piece is about. it's about balance and so, over this 10 days, we have been able to maintain the balance, and that's one of the ambitions of the work. >> well, probably the first thing i will do when i leave "in orbit" will be to take a nice warm shower. >> i would hope so. don't you love art. fascinating story there. i will be back in an hour. >> does it for this hour. a look at the headlines after this very short break on al jazeera america.

. this is al jazeera america live from new york. i am jonathan betz with today's top stories. we continue to follow breaking news out of asia. there is still no sign of a malaysian airliner that went missing overnight.

a 12-mile oil slick suggests it crashed into the south china sea. three americans were among the 239 people on board. european military observers were shot at when they tried to enter crimea unsuccessfully. russia's foreign minister is threatening retaliation if the west promises through with sanctions. the will libyan government is threatening to bomb an oil tanker in its port. libya will not let the ship leave because it bought oil from a group controlling that area. the republican party's largest annual meeting is just hours from wrapping up. earlier, former speaker of the house, newt gingrich took the stage and later, sara palin spoke after the release of the g.o.p.'s list of presidential hopefullies. >> protesters in the streets of venzuela, the police moved in to disperse the crowd before it could reach the food ministry's. events regarding women's

day, reducing poverty and increasing health for communities. those are the headlines. i am jonathan betz. "fault lines" is next. forehead lines all day long, go to aljazeera.com. >> it's christmas eve, and us soldiers are preparing for their last months in afghanistan. about forty thousand are still here - by the end of the year, there'll be just eight thousand. we traveled to afghanistan in the midst of this transition. but on the base we found a story