conversation continues on the website. aljazeera.com/considerthis, google+ or twitter, facebook. welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these are the stories we are following for you. new information orn those two passengers using stolen passports to board that missing malaysian plane. the cia accused of illegal activity. and the eu threatening sanctions again russian, as crimea moves one step closer to independence. ♪

an international fleet of slips, planes and helicopters, now expanding the search for the malaysian airlines flight 370. the focus now shifting to the straights between the west malaysian coast and indonesia. lisa stark is live in washington, d.c. what kind of support the u.s. providing to help find the plane? >> it is a huge involvement. the u.s. has two naval destroyers in this area. they are searching the waters, and there is a pc3 oh ryan plane overhead at well.

>> lisa what can you tell us about those stolen passports and the men who used them to board the flight? >> there was certainly a lot of concern when this came out that two passengers had boarded the flight with stolen pass ports they bought one way tickets both from the same travel agency in thailand. their photos have been released and now interpol says it has identified them. they are both iranian. they believe there is no connection with terrorism; that they were trying to get to europe on these passports to seek asylum there. >> and if terrorism now seems unlikely what can you tell us about those two black boxes on board the plane? >> it is critical to find these black boxes. it can withstand 3400 times the force of govry. if they are under water they

will release a pinging noise ever 30 seconds for the next 30 days. but right now they have found no sign of any wreckage so until they find some sense of where that plane went down, they won't find those black boxes. >> you have had a lot of experience with aviation and these types of crashes. it might be years before we find wrout this plane actually is. >> with air france which went off of the coast of brazil, it took a number of years to locate that wreckage. but they kept at it and found it. and the same thing will happen here. lisa stark for us in washington, d.c. lisa thank you very much. earlier, todd curtis talked to us about whether a real time

satellite based system should replace the long used black boxes, and here is what he had to say. >> the question is given the cost and the efforts to implement it, is it worth the effort for the airplane industry to do so, and if tomorrow the rules change, it could take years, perhaps decades before the entire world's fleet evolves to the new technology. >> that is todd curtis, the al jazeera america national transportation expert. in washington the head of the senate intelligence committee now saying the cia improperly searched a network established for congress. that accusation made by senator diane feinstein on the floor of the u.s. senate. mike these are very troubling accusations. what is behind it? >> can you imagine the cia is accused of spying on the senate

intelligence committee. and that is the allegation that has burst into public view. this story has been percolating when we were all preoccupied watching the ukraine situation. the senate intelligence committee had been performing a year's long review of the cia detention and interrogation techniques. it has been controversial after being revealed by the bush administration in 2006. the senate intelligence committee had undertaken a review, there was controversy over what the cia was providing to them, and whether or not it was useful, whether or not it was the correct documents, and whether or not it was a comprehensive number of documents. the cia destroyed some tapes and document surrounding that

information. somewhere where committee members could go, then there were allegations coming in january, diane feinstein says -- and remember she is the chairman of the senate intelligence committee that some documents had been removed. this final list has burst into public view, the cia initially blamed contractors, and here is what the chair woman had to say about that. >> then the cia stated that the removal of the documents was ordered by the white house. when the committee approached the white house, the white house denied giving the cia any such order. after a series of meetings, i learned that on two occasions, cia personnel electronically removed committee access to cia documents after providing them to the committee. >> when you consider when these

allegations first surfaced last week, the director of the cia put out a statement calling them spurous allegations, and pointed the finger at the executive or legislative branch, and encouraged members of congress to refrain from public outbursts that would poison the relationship between the cia and congress. diane feinstein obviously had had a enough of that and went public this morning, del. >> she is a person who does not mince words, and if she is asking for an apology, she must mean it. >> and she was first made aware of these missing documents two months ago, january 15th was the date he is gave in that floor speech. she said she tried to keep it quiet but could no longer hold her tongue, dell.

>> thank y you very much. crimea voting on resolution. meanwhile the country's ousted president says he is still the rightful leader of ukraine. phil what does today's independence declaration actually mean? >> reporter: well, del, by a vote of 78 out of a body of 100 delegates at the crimean parliament, they voted for a declaration of independence today, now the question is the legality of it. all along this has been an issue in ukraine. the powers that be say the local parliament out there in crimea is outstepping their authority, they don't have the power to make these kind of sweeping decisions; that this has to be a national referendum; that these kind of votes can't just be

decided by a local power. nevertheless what they voted on today will send a clear message to kiev and moscow as well, that they are well and ready to be part of the russian federation, del? >> and today we heard from viktor yanukovych insisting he is ukraine's leader. tell us more about that. >> well, he held that press conference just across the boarder in russia. he said first and foremost that he is still in control, the legitimate leader of ukraine. let's have a listen to what he had to say today. >> translator: i would like to remind you that -- i remain the only legitimate president but also the chief commander of the country. >> now, del, the response here has already been one of

confusion. a lot of people saying the ousted president seems almost diluted. and even those in kiev are backing that statement or opinion up by quoting vladimir putin of all people, the russian president himself said that viktor yanukovych has no political future in ukraine. >> it seems that any diplomatic solution to thises crisis has now hit a roadblock? >> yeah, it does seem that way, doesn't it del? both sides the west and the east seem to be standing hard on their positions. we have seen the possibility of a proposal from secretary of state john kerry sent to moscow. that was almost immediately rejected because that comes from the premise of what they say is

a coup dee tau. but really del as you say it just seems as those the two camps are just widely apart, and that chasm between the two, nobody is moving any closer. >> phil ittner live for us in kiev. thank you very much. while many of the ukrainians are proud of the revolution, russia is saying the government is illegitimate controlled think right-wing extremists. >> reporter: they are young. they are organized. and according to russia they are part of a fascist takeover in ukraine. these are members of white hammer, one of many armed groups that have risen to promise recently. and their commander says they are nationalists, not racists.

>> translator: when we were on the barricades spilling our blood, we were fighting for this nation, including the various minorities. we were protecting their dignity, their well-being. i'm sure there are many among them. >> reporter: walking around kiev you will see different flags and symbols wronging to the groups that took part in the protests. some of these are self-defense units, but others are linked to far right even neognawsy groups. >> translator: i can't understand people's definition when they talk about radical extremists. there was probably no more a moderate organization than the right sector on the mid-arm.

we only went to attack, because we wanted to realize the people's right to revolt. >> reporter: one party already in power is this group. they have talked about jewish oligarchs controlling the juke. for now the west seems happy for it to play a role in politics. >> we have been positively impressed by the evolution -- the positive evolution of saboda's role as part of the opposition. we have been clear that for the united states, the use of anti-semitic symbols, the use of intolerant language is a red line. >> reporter: but in kiev it's not that hard to find symbols used by the nazis. and they are a reminder of the challenges ukraine faces.

and remember for the latest on the events coming out of the ukraine and latest details on that missing malaysian airlines plane you are follow us online on our twitter page. 30 senate democrats holding an all-night session trying to bring attention to climate change. harry reid picking off the marathon monday night. 30 senators participated. they are hoping to make climate change an issue that will rally the base ahead of this year's elections. japan is marking the third anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that lead to the fukushima disaster. workers holding a moment of silence on tuesday. they are remembering the 18,000 people who died, the magnitude 9

earthquake and tsunami forced 300,000 people in japan to evacuate. we'll be right back.

pan am flight 103 exploded over lockerbie 20 years ago. and now an al jazeera investigation has revealed that libya did not act alone. >> reporter: 25 years after the lockerbie bombing, al jazeera

has accessed documents verified by security and legal experts which points to the involvement of iran's security service, hezbollah, and the armed group the popular front for the liberation of palestine or pflpgc. the documents reveal that the four parties met nine months before the bombing of the pan ma'am flight to discuss potential american and israeli targets >> in essence they were recruiting support. we're all going to help each other. some may be able to do something or others, but we're all going to join together and we're going to have a campaign against israel and american targets. we want to inflict maximum damage. >> reporter: three months after meeting the u.s. navy shot down an iranian passenger plane killing 290 civilians including 60 children. it was then that the plan for the lockerbie bombing was

hatched. >> they decided to retaliate as soon as possible. the decision was made by the whole system iran and then confirmed by ayatollah khomeini. the target was to copy exactly what happened to the iranian airbahs. everything exactly same, minimum 290 people dead. this was the target of the iranian decision makers. >> reporter: the therapy that the pslpgc was involved didn't new. many at the time believed there was evidence pointing to the palestinian group. what is new is now the evidence links iran's secret service to the attack. >> i have often wondered whether or not the truth about lockerbie will ever come out. so many people at such a high level has a stake in this man's

guilt. talking about presidents of the united states, secretaries of state, heads of the fbi. british prime ministers. that's what makes this case so difficult. >> reporter: the only person to have been convicted of the bombing, a libyan agent is now dead. these new revelations will again focus attention on those who carried out the bombing and what recourse there is for bringing them to justice. ♪ on wall street stocks are moving higher after yesterday's losses. the dow right now up 18, 16 points. the s&p 500 on track to hit yet another record. a house committee is launching an investigation as to why gm took so long to report

that dangerous ignition problem. the company reports it new of the problem a decade ago. small business optimism taking a negative turn last month in february. it fell to a level usually seen in recessions and periods of low growth. business owners are citing concern with the health care law, minimum wage talk and crisis reform. many are looking at changes to europe's energy landscape, but as patricia sabga reports there is no quick fix. >> reporter: it's the soft underbelly of western dip maty laid bare by the crisis in ukraine. >> there are no quick fixes. >> reporter: russia's threat to starve ukraine of natural gas prompted the european mission to announce its readiness to pump gas from ukraine into europe back the other way. an engineering challenge that

also doesn't address the bigger long-term problem. >> gas pipelines that now move gas west could be reversed, but then where will you get the gas? >> reporter: europe produces only about a third of the gas it consumes. the rest is imported. and russia captures most of the growing market. >> my view is eastern and western europe should begin to develop their own natural resources including shale gas. >> reporter: but that could take years. a time line that has accelerated calls here in the u.s. to loosen restrictions on exportation of natural gas. producers would be free to sell to the highest bidder, and they

may not be europe. and the knock-on effect to the u.s. economy is uncertain? >> is it good for consumers? it may lead to somewhat higher prices, but i think for the u.s. economy overall, natural gas exports are a good thing. >> reporter: and some say it would send an important signal to moscow. >> just those moves alone, i believe will begin to put pressure on the russians to not use gas in quite the same way they have been. next on al jazeera america, a dog is man's best friend. now they are helping children coping with cancer, a new study tests the effects. ♪

what is this place?

where are we? this is where we bring together the fastest internet and the best in entertainment. we call it the x1 entertainment operating system. it looks like the future! we must have encountered a temporal vortex. further analytics are necessary. beam us up. ♪ that's my phone. hey. [ female announcer ] the x1 entertainment operating system, only from xfinity. tv and internet together like never before. welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. here are your headlines at that hour. the head of the international police agency, interpol saying the disappearance of malaysian

airline is unlikely to be the act of terrorism. in washington, the head of the senate intelligence committee saying the cia improperly searched a computer network established just for congress. diane feinstein aledging the activity a short while ago on the floor of the senate. and viktor yanukovych insisting he is still in charge. crimea's parliament adopting a referendum will be up for vote so they can decide whether or not to be part of russia. ♪ i'm meteorologist dave warren. the count think will be impacted by a big storm developing now here. it is across the southern plains. fire weather dangers here today

with that wind and the dry air. tomorrow and thursday we have winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories in effect really pushing into new york and new england. heavy snow expected here. developing here just east of the rockies over wyoming, a little bit of snow and rain there, a lot of moisture will be pulled up over the next 24 hours. you can see this being predicted by the forecast here. and by tomorrow morning it intensifies over the midwest. there is heavy snow pushing through the midwest. very cold temperatures and then a quick drop in temperatures behind the cold front. you'll feel the winter weather return in the form of a blustery wind here. 60s close to 70 here just ahead of this cold front. by wednesday evening and thursday morning, the cold air comes in behind this, so you'll see a big drop in temperatures.

temperatures in the 70s, and dropping to 24 thursday morning. snow amounts about 10 to 20 inches all through is this area here. that snow line pushed to the north. the rain may end briefly as snow before the cold wind picks up, but the heaviest will be up through new york and new england. look at these temperatures in washington, d.c., 70 to 31 with a blustery wind on wednesday and rebounding on friday. hospitals use therapy dogs to help children battling cancer, but there has been little evidence to show that animal therapy makes a difference. jonathan martin reports. >> he is excited. >> he is. he loves to just sit with you. you are so good to him. >> reporter: it has been a month since this 5 year old buzz

diagnosed with leukemia. bryce's mom says spending time with his dog push puts him at ease. >> it has eased his anxiety a little bit. >> what makes him so fun? >> he -- he crawls on me. when he crawls on me. >> doctors and patients often stair stories about how beneficial animal therapy can be. >> we need that data in order, really to -- to show -- to justify bringing dogs into the hospital. we don't want to bring dogs into the hospital if there's a risk of harming a child in some way without a benefit. >> reporter: vanderbilt is one of five children's hospitals taking part in a new study, the clinical trial by the american humane association looks at stress and anxiety levels. this doctor running the pediatric research people at

vanderbilt hospital and is a lead investigator in the study. >> we know some children might start vomiting on the way to the hospital because they are so anxious, even before they get chemotherapy. so we're hopeful this study will show that it decreases anxiety. >> reporter: the children are between the ages of 3 and 17 and were diagnosed with cancer within the last month. once a week before chemotherapy the patients spend 15 minutes feeding, sitting, or playing with the dog. their blood pressure is taken and they are asked questions like how do you feel? sad, cheerful or frightened? >> cheerful, excellent. >> reporter: the data will be compared with patients who did not work with animals.

researcher hope the companionship will be backed up in their study to help children with cancer. thanks for watching al jazeera america. i'm del walters in new york. "inside story" is next. didn't take back the cars and warn the public. after 13 deaths later the gm recall is the inside story. >> hello, i'm ray suarez. general motors has issued a recall of more than 1.5 million older compact dollars. this news go much further than the