day, we shall see the lady in number six. >> this show my be over, you can continue the conversation on >> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these are the stories we're following for you. tensions on the rise in ukraine as russia ignores warnings from u.s. and tightens it's grip on crimea. more leads on the missing malaysia plane coming up short as families wait word on their loved ones. and more on the trial of osama bin laden's son-in-law.

>> russian forces are tightening their grip on crimea despite warnings. jennifer glass in crimea. jennifer, give us the situation there. >> reporter: you know russian forces continue their grip across the crimeaen peninsula. we saw forces outside of two bases. a lot of times forces have been moving around, and we saw truck loads just outside of si simferopol. they continue to have the army and navy blocking across the peninsula. the ukrainian military even when they have control of their bases

they can't moorfowl of them because russians are blocking them. >> more warnings from president vladimir putin. tell us about those. >> reporter: that's right. we saw on sunday angela merkel, the german chancellor had a phone call with vladimir putin. they said thershe said the refef crimea secession is illegal, and if russia continues, they will introduce sanctions. >> crimea is and should remain a part of ukraine. discussion over. that said, i have been encouraged to see comments were prime minister and others

indicating that the government, the ukrainian government is open to enhanced levels of autonomy for the people in crimea. >> reporter: now the prime minister will be in washington this week meeting with president obama and vice president biden. many wonder if the russians already have control of the pen, peninsula. is the election a forgone conclusion. manthe majority in crimea want o be part of russia. >> the president will play host to the ukraine employment at the white house. randall pinkston is in washington. what do we expect to come out that have meeting? >> reporter: the obama administration is assured to

receive a big expression of support from ukraine's prime minister. his high profile visit is filled with symbolic importance. >> the white house is signaling it's strongest support yet for the new ukrainian government. on wednesday president obama will host the new prime minister of ukraine in washington. the support comes at a critical time as a vote is scheduled to take place thi this weekend that will pave the way for crimea to join russia. >> if it moves crimea out of ukraine and to russia we won't recognize it, and most of the world won't either. >> reporter: he couldn't escape the crisis. seen here on the phone with frontal system's president he continued to work with european allies setting the groundwork for economic sanctions and isolating russia politically. last week the administration

opposed travel restrictions on those they believe instituted the move o. critics of the president say that strategy is not working as russia exerts its grip over the crimea peninsula. >> i think this president has not projected enough strength and has not shown a priority to ththe national defense. >> reporter: that sentiment who were unavailable to stop vladimir putin when he invaded georgia in 2008. >> i think we need to take sanctions off the table. i don't think the administration should do that. >> have they done that? >> he seems to operate like that most of the time.

>> reporter: with pro russian leaders of the referendum declaring the vote will not be stopped, but the ukrainian prime minister vows to keep the country intact. >> our parents and grandparents spilled their blood for this land. we will not give up a single sentiments of ukrainian land. >> reporter: despite the assertion effectively ukraine has already lost control of crimea because russian soldiers surround the crimeaen region. >> thank you very much. for a third day a multi national effort to find that malaysian airlines flight that disappeared without a trace. here's what we know about the search. there is still no confirmed wreckage that has been located, and they have not ruled out the possibility that the plane may have been hijacked. authorities are talking to the authorities of a travel agency in thailand.

they want to know more about the two stolen passports used on board that flight. we have more from koala lumpur. >> reporter: a huge search on a huge scale. dozens of airport near and farer but yet with no definitive answer there are no answers to what happened to flight 370 from kuala lumpur to beijing. >> the missing aircraft mystery. we are including our efforts to do what we have to do. many are helping us, all the experts around the world are helping us. but as far as we are concerned we have to find the aircraft. >> reporter: malaysian officials are not discounting any possibility for the plane's disappearance including hijack

terrorism or something catastrophic that ripped apart the aircraft above the wards. >> reporter: they continue to investigate the two men who had stolen passports. the u.s. fbi in malaysia is consulting with authorities on the investigation. china has an investigation of its own. chinese state television has reported one name o on the passenger list that did not list the passport number and that person with the pas passport nur is still in china. the despair of the families of the 239 people on board waiting for any shred of information. >> earlier we spoke with john, an air safety consultant and former member of the ntsb. he talked in generalities of the integrity of the boeing 777 and what problems if any might have

played a role in the flight. >> this airplane has proven to be such a reliable platform, it has been structurally sound, from what i've been told in the heavy maintenance visits, they have not found any serious problems with this airplane in the 20 or so years that it has been flying. >> while in a statement mahlah malaysian airlines saying that they will take care of the families of the misses passengers. >> behind closed doors the anger of relatives still waiting for answers of their loved ones and believing they have not been told the whole truth. government officials faced a range of complaints. why has it taken you all this time to hold this meeting, this woman shouts? have you any idea of the pain we are going through, another woman asks from the back. officials tell them to be patient and not to take radical

action. there was no evidence of a hijack, they told them. nor was there any evidence that the vietnamese had recovered parts of the aircraft from the sea. malaysia airlines are arranging flights to kuala lumpur to be closer to the search but so far in the reluctance of firm news. >> 80% of the people do not want to go to malaysia. >> we want the government to tell us what is really going on. whether we go or not we need to know. >> several nations and international organizations are trying to determine what happened to the missing jetliner. china's ministry of foreign affairs has called upon the malaysiaens to do more to try to solve the mystery. >> we have a responsibility to demand and urge the malaysiaen

side to increase search efforts as soon as possible and. >> three days out confirmation without the aircraft's fate, they believe questions are going unanswered but but the most important question of what happened to the flight, still no one can answer that. >> peter lanza said he wishes his son was never born. in an interview he said he hopes he can prevent another similar attack from happening. peter lan da alaska said he believed that adam wanted to hurt him saying with hand sight i know adam would have killed me if he had a chance. i don't question that for a minute. the reason why he shot nancy four times. one for each of them. once for nancy, once for him, once for ryan and once for me. he said he tried to reconnect

with adam but adam lanza ignored those requests. in boston's marathon three people were killed and many injured when two bombs exploded at the end of the race. coming up on al jazeera america, he is the son-in-law of osama bin laden. and people look back at family loved ones lost in the earthquake and tsunami in japan.

>> start with one issue ad guests on all sides of the debate. and a host willing to ask the tough questions and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5pm et / 2pm pt only on al jazeera america >> hundreds of detainees at its detention center in washington state are in a hunger strike,

130 caller for better conditions. they've been on a hunger strike since friday. they're demanding better food, better treatment and better pay for the jobs they perform there. that prison holds some 1300 immigrants who are in the process of being deported. major testimony is underway in the new york trial of osama bin laden's son-in-law. the trial is in its second week. prosecutors claim that he acted as a al-qaeda spokesman after the september 11th attacks. the star witness has yet to appear but what has happened in the courtroom so far today? >> that's right. we're getting to that in the next couple of hours or so, but the court has been hearing from the other star witness from the prosecution. he is in a prison in up state new york who had aspirations to join the fbi. but he didn't join the fbi.

he joined al-qaeda instead. he went to a training camp and then turned in evidence against those who attendant there had. he is now being cross-examined by defense. there has already been evidence in the new york subway bombing plot. he's wanted on terrorism charges in boston, so he can't come to the united states. he is a convicted terrorist and served six years in his part of the shoe bomb plot. ed a prosecution is going to try and prove that he knew that the defendant around the time of 9/11. more than that when he was accused of saying things wave after wave of commercial aircraft coming in as bombs continue, that those weren't hollow words. they were linked to a specific plot. in this case the shoe bomb plot. they think that the jury will recognize that the defendant and

that they are very different people and he is not a terro terrorist. >> give us the background of the case. >> reporter: well, the background to the case is that the opening arguments from the prosecution is that on septemb september 12, 2001, was asked by osama bin laden if he would help spread his murderous decree, and prosecution held up a picture. he said here is the world trade center on fire. while our buildings were burning, this man, pointing to the defendant, was saying yes to osama bin laden, yes i will help you. defense said you have been looking at too many films. this man is a father, an imam, he may have said dumb things but the defense is challenging the prosecution to prove that that amounts to a terrorist plot.

>> thank you very much. >> well, street getting off to a weak start. the dow down 86 points. disappointing data coming out of japan raising concerns about the health of the global economy. a global recall chrysler is recalling more than 25,000 jeep and dodge utility vehicles after an investigation found the flow of brake fluid was restricted causing irregular pedal fuel while aggressive braking. the company said there have been no reports of accidents or injuries related to the problem. chrysler said it would notify all of its commerc customers foe calls and would cover all related costs. the crisis in ukraine is effecting your wallet with gas

prices jumping $0.10 in the last ten weeks. it has contributed to the rise of ethanol used in making gasoline. nearly all of the ethanol in u.s. is made from corn. the average price is $3.51. marking the third anniversary of the fukushima disaster. radioactive contamination forcing 150,000 people from their homes. as we report many are still struggling to rebuild. >> japan's northeastern coast is marked by what's missing. houses from dozens of neighborhoods, loved ones from thousands of lives. endo is doing what he can to rebuild. a carpenter, he's putting up a memorial, a playground where his house once stood where the day after the disaster he found his mother cradling the body of his

youngest daughter. all three of his children had died. on top of the playground there are three arrows pointing to the sky. they symbolize my children. if other children came to play i think my own would be happy. i don't want it to be a sad mourning place. >> they were 13, 10, and 8 when they decide. their loss plunged their parents into what they call a living hell. in the three years since endo has thrown himself in volunteer work. he senses that his children have guided him. >> you might think it strange but when my wife is sitting here and me over there, eating, drinking, chatting together, sometimes we feel something, someone looking through the glass. when i notice it, so does my wife, she'll say, they probably came home to play again. >> reporter: a 20 minute drive from their home is the sea

reared up 30 meters here, more than 800 people were killed. >> reporter: there is no question that the people u commp and down this coast are changing but it's till marked with a terrible absence. >> like that of the bank that stood on this plot and the 12 staff members who were swept from the roof. a womathis 57-year-old bus drivr qualified as a rescue diver, he won't stop until he finds his wife's body. >> she needs to come back home. be buried. her bones, i mean. so we can pay tribute to her. if i leave things like this, she'll continue to lie where she fell at the bottom of the ocean, and that is too sad to bear. >> reporter: the weather is

turning. but endo wants to show us an earlier memorial he made. he sits and remembers. it's just theirs bodies that aren't here. so he spends time on each lovingly crafted seat one for each child so they don't get jealous. he says he will always be their father. miyagi prefecture, japan. >> an encouraging study for early detection of alzheimer's long before the symptoms start. but the test is still years away.

>> welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. here is your headlines at this hour. pro russian forces tightening it's grip on the crimea peninsula. ukraine's prime minister will be in washington on wednesday to talk to the president i at the white house.

ththe malaysian government y the oil slick are nos are not cd to the missing airplane. enhanced security following last year's deadly attack three people were killed. 260 injured after two lines exploded near the boston marathon finish line. a new test may be key to diagnosing alzheimer's. >> researchers worked with 500 people over 70 years old, and they had such success in this testing method they believe they have found a way to predict who would be developing alzheimer's. this may be game changing for the medical world and life changing for people and their

families struggling with this disease. >> when she began forgetting where she was on a daily basis her husband new something was going on. >> you see her deteriorating in her mental faculties and physical abilities and it takes over all aspects of a person's existence. >> alzheimer's has no cure, treatment plan or early warning sign until now. a new study out of georgetown medical center and published in major medicine described a blood test that accurately finds those with memory problems 90% of the time. out of the 52,052 senior studied, a researchers were able to predict who would come down with dementia a couple of years later. that could be a game changer in treatment to slow down or stop the disease.

>> you talk to anyone who is developing drugs with alzheimer's. they say you have to treat them before the disease begins. >> reporter: this potential medical break through may not help sylvia or the others living with alzheimer's disease right now, but it could help the growing number of those diagnosed in the future as well as the family members who also suffer through the sickness. >> for good or bad we married, we loved each other. this turn of events does not mean i'll stop loving her or caring about her. >> reporter: researchers say it will take a couple of years to develop this blood test for the general public. this comes as surprising new numbers show alzheimer's would be the third leading cause of deaths in america. >> meteorologist: we're starting in the northwest. quite a bit of rain.

these are rain-setting records, seattle, olympia with two inches of rain and over sites in washington had two inches of rain setting records. this is what it does when you get records like this with flooding across washington, oregon and montana. too much rain too quickly is leading to flooding across all these states. plus we're getting heavy snow in the mountains. a number of winter storm warnings are in effect. here is the satellite plus the radar. now the storm will be developing as this all moves across the rockies and really intensify east of the rockies. that will lead to a big storm as this moves across the country. today we have heavy snow and winter storm warnings in effect. there could be running with flood advisories in effect. a lot of moisture coming into

the northwest, and this will move east of the rockies. watch the timing of this as it moves across the country. tuesday and wednesday bringing cold air from righ the north. there is heavy rain with warm temperatures and not far away heavy snow. the rain will bring up warm air from the east coast and it will slowly push into new england. it will stay cold there. 60s to the south but colder to the north. heavy snow wednesday and thursday across new york and new england. and it is a lot of rain with temperatures close to 60 degrees. >> thank you very much. brazilians are saying goodbye to carnivale in style. they're celebrating the traditional block party that closes out weeks of celebration there is. as you can see more than 200 drummers in this parade alone.

it guarantees that everybody can take advantage of the last street party of 2014. so the celebration continues. thanks for watching al jazeera america. i'm del walters in new york. inside story is next. >> it is a write of passage of teens. the s.a.t. is getting a makeover. grab your pencil and the best title would be a, "inside story."