stalin, and they're feeling very threatened right now. >> we'll have to talk more about the ukrainian future and thank you for being with us. that brings us to the end of welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters, these are the stories we are following for you. ukraine's acting prime minister set to meet with president obama and the secretary of state this afternoon, as crimea moves closer to splitting with ukraine. and an building explodes in upper manhattan, two people are confirmed dead. and a stunning vote in israel will require ultra

orthodox jews to serve in the military. we begin with the mounting crisis in ukraine. there is a meeting today between the interim prime minister and president obama at the white house. it is intended to show symbolic support for the interim government. mike what can we expect? >> symbolic support you are absolutely right, you might want to add economic aid as well. there is a bill trying to make its way through congress, to try to help ukraine's economy. but there is urgency to this no doubt. secretary of state john kerry is testifying on capitol hill about the budget. and on ukraine he has announced he will once again meter is

-- sergei lavrov in london. russia has continued to tighten its grip on crimea. and what about eastern ukraine. a referendum where ukrainians will vote whether to split away from ukraine and join russia. that is the backdrop. no apparent movement in any respect, but we do have arseniy yatsenyuk, of course the interim prime minister of ukraine here meeting with the president. vice president biden and secretary kerry will be sitting in on that as well. del? >> ukraine's government saying it will not use force trying to

keep crimea part of ukraine, so with that said, what other options are on the table? >> the united states and his allies keep trying to tarnish the reputation around the world. suspending plans to meet at the g-8 meeting coming up in june. they have sent united states f-18s to the baltic states. but when you talk about economic sanctions and aid, it is just never easy, del. the russian integration into the economy, the dispensance on natural source has prove tone be a very high bar. and obviously the danger is, though, the outrage meter is still tipping the scales into the red, it has dissipated somewhat. so as rush -- russia tightens

its grip on crimea, the international yuan -- community calling on russia to second their troops home. >> mike viqueira thank you very much. the g7 power saying they don't recognize the referendum on whether crimea will separate from ukraine. on the ground tensions are yiezing in ukraine as well. a group of journalists were kidnapped by pro-russian militia. they are free but say they were tortured. >> reporter: it is an eight-drive to crimea to the capitol of kiev.

and it was just after dawn that we got the call that the freed -- captives were freed. all exhausted and still in shock. >> nice to meet you. >> reporter: they were detained at the check point on the border. and so began a terrifying two-day or deal of threats and intimidation. >> i need to cover my head and my hair is cut now and it looks disgusting. >> reporter: they cut your hair off? >> yes. >> reporter: please can we see? >> no. no. >> here, here, this is from cigarette, and this is from a gun. >> reporter: so they shaved your head? >> yeah, yeah, they tried to get the gun here and [ inaudible ] need to pray and to beg not to shoot me.

>> reporter: but their experience has left them shattered. did you think that you might be killed? >> yeah. yeah. >> yeah, for sure. >> they promised to do that. >> [ inaudible ] we would -- we would be [ inaudible ]. >> reporter: the check points established exert a strangle hold on road traffic in and out of the peninsula. the so called self-defense troops operate with little oversight. a delegation was denied entry to crimea over the weekend. they tell me their release was nearly canceled just as they were about to walk to freedom. it highlights the confused almost arbitrary chain of command in crimea. there was some point of conflict at the check point, but now they are free and back in kiev, hugely relieved but very exhausted indeed.

paul beban, al jazeera, kiev. and we continue to follow breaking news in new york, two people are dead and another 17 injured. morgan radford is live on the scene. morgan what is the latest that you can tell us? >> reporter: good afternoon, del, like you said around 9:30 this morning, two buildings pancaked and collapsed. right behind me you can see the plumes of smoke coming up in the air. the fire department has said that two women have died and 17 have been injured. what you are looking at now, one of these buildings is a piano repair shop, each of the buildings was five stories high. people are walking around now wearing air masks to protect themselves from the thick plumes of smoke. people are calling on their cell phones to friends and family. and we spoke to one man who was across the street working a

construction job who said he went in when we heard the explosion and went to rescue people in the building. he said he saw a little girl between 7 and 10. let's listen. >> was walking my little cousin to school, and we took 115 coming [ inaudible ] and you just heard it and you felt the ground. like you heard it. it doesn't like your ordinary boom, you know? it was like a bomb or something. like a bomb. you felt the ground vibrate everything. it was ridiculous. >> reporter: now you heard him saying that he felt the ground vibrate. in fact, [ inaudible ] has been responding to a report of a gas like odor just before the explosion happened. >> morgan this must have been unnerving to the -- residents of

the area, how did they react? >> they are saying they were shaken. a man said they could barely speak. and a little girl he picked up was bloody and inside of a blanket. people don't know how to react. they are simply shaken and scared, del. >> morgan thank you very much. again the latest two people dead, 17 injured, and con-ed now reporting that they were investigating gas-like orders in the area. labia's parliament [ inaudible ] was dismissed from a tanker, after the tanker broke free. libyan authorities saying they had control of the tanker as it tried to leave. john henry has more. >> reporter: libya's post revolutionary army is a marriage of former enemies.

long-time rebels, jailed by the regime after coup attempts, like general mohammed. >> translator: i'm still in a state of ecstasy from the victory of the february 17th revolution. >> reporter: and there are officers who joined the revolution. >> translator: i defected when the people rebelled. we saw how he treated libyans. i was close to the regime and i saw how it worked. >> reporter: they are now all part of one libyan army. but libyan's defense force is made up of smaller armies. and some of the militia fighters who rescued the countries from ga duffy's grip are now part of the problem. rouge militias threatening to overthrow the congress.

>> armed brigades have inherited the gadhafi arsenal, and with the political turmoil we have and all of the issues that come with the transitional period, we have a terrible security situation. >> reporter: the prime minister fledgling government is trying to control the armed groups by placing them under the control of the army. here most of the 40,000 fighters from more than 200 revolutionary militias have now joined the army. this is not so much that these former revolutionary troops are joining the army. without them there is no army. general mohammed says his troops are now part of an increasingly

unified force. for now a major part of the army's mission is protecting libya from the armed fighters who won that revolution. john henrik. malaysia flight 370 now missing for five days and authorities still don't know what happened to the plane or the people on board. scores of ships and planes from several countries are now looking. florence has more. >> reporter: the fact that authorities expanding the search area on day five of the search operations indicates just how difficult this mission is, and it shows that they have absolutely no idea where this plane could be. now malaysian authorities have said that military radar has picked up what could be an indication that the flames could have turned back, that there was

a reading at 0215 local time about 45 minutes after air control last had contact with the plane, but they are not entirely sure that what the radar picked up was this missing plane. and that's why the search area has had to be expanded not only in the south china sea, but also the straights where the plane would have turned back. you can imagine how frustrating this must be not just for the families but also for authorities involved in the search. you have already had vietnam saying it is scaling back its operations until it gets a bit more confirmation from malaysian authorities. are more countries joining the search, but it is still extremely difficult operation. and we have no idea of knowing what happened to the plane. demonstrators battling

police in turkey for a second day. police firing tear gas to disburse about 2,000 protesters. the demonstrations were prompted by the death of a 15-year-old boy on tuesday. he had been in a coma since he was hurt in a march. when we return to al jazeera america, a major change in policy for israel's military. voting to force ultra orthodox jews to serve. it's one of the most toxic places on the planet. i'm in eastern washington state. just ahead the challenges of cleaning up a nuclear reservation.

>> 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 a bill has been approved by lawmakers in israel that would allow the israeli army to draft ultra orthodox jews who has been excepted until now.

kimberly has our story. >> reporter: prayers by students in jerusalem who hope they won't have to serve in the military. but now enlistment is mandatory. >> the nation has said we're not prepared to put up with this situation any longer whereby our son's serve in the army and this community doesn't play its part. >> the view among a majority of politicians is it's time for them to share in the burden. they voted overwhelmingly to pass the law. >> translator: it is too much to expect from people who live here and who's lives are protected by the israeli army day after day, and university's are subsidized by israel, is it too much to ask

them to contribute their part like every israeli citizen? this means sharing the burden. >> reporter: the students who were subsidized by the government for their full-time story of the trora say they are serving in a different way. they say they are already contributed to the state with their prayers. now with the bill passed into law, implementation is expected to be phased in over three to five years. still hundreds of thousands of them in israel and thousands more around the world have protested in advance of the vote. the debate over the law, they say has been painful for the community. >> 65 years of the state of israel there is even a thought of passing this kind of bill; and that our brothers don't recognize that we are contributing in the way we believe we are contributing to.

we're not trying to dodge anything. >> still those who refuse could face jail time. some of the most dangerous toxic waste in the world is sitting in a tank in washington state and now there is evidence that tank is leaking. alan what is in the tank, and why is it leaking? >> reporter: well, some of the nastiest biproducts possible from the effort to process pollute tone um. we're at the library where they are holing the monthly meeting of the tank-west committee, and they are talking among other things about small leaks that have been found in one tank cleanup has been going on for a quarter of a century, a huge, complicated and dangerous job. there have been a lot of

successes, but still many challenges, and a lot of questions. in the wide-open spaces of the nuclear reservation, where the first plutonium processer was built, attention focuses again on one buried waste tank. it has leaked before, and the federal department of energy says it has now found radioactive waste in a new spot. mike geoffrey knows the tank, and its contents very well. >> ay102 if we take a cup full of the stuff in the tank and put it right there, at the end of the interview we would be dead. yeah. >> he worked 27 years for private contractors monitoring the waste tanks. he quit over a dispute over what the public was told about the situation.

he is not surprised that more material has leaked or reports that six more tanks could be at risk. this 580-square mile site is arguably the biggest most polluted area on the content older single-walled storage tanks have leaked to years. the biggest concern, the health of the columbia river. signs representing cleaned up waste sites hang on a fence proof of progress in a region still proud of its role at the dawn of the nuclear age, but the leaking tank and plans for dealing with it have the state and federal government at odds. >> to receive a plan that indicates that preparations and -- and pumping wouldn't begin for two years at the

earliest is a concern for us. >> reporter: federal regulators say that there is no threat to public safety. >> the chances of catastrophic failure are de minimis. we're talking about the potential for a stress relief. >> it is just continuous evidence that the inner tank is breaking down. >> reporter: watch dogs group say the leaking tank is a major concern. the state right now saying that they would like to see it pumped out and muched out faster than the feds say they want to do it. del? >> alan thank you very much. ♪

on wall street shocks trying to snap a two-day losing streak. right now the dow is down 16 points. worries about the global economy keeping pressure on the market. many americans could soon qualify for overtime pay the president expected to issue an executive order tomorrow that would expand the amount of people that are eligible. and a surprising resignation at disney. she is stepping down as president of the disney television group. she says now she will work behind the scenes as a tv director. coming up getting water to parts of africa, why some governments of senegal they say they are against it.

welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm del walters, these are your head lines at that hour. details of that building

collapse are still unfolding in new york city. two people are dead and another 17 injured this con-ed say they were reporting to a gas leak prior to the explosion. four days of searching still no sign of the missing malaysia airlines plane. the search area has been expanded to cover 27,000 square miles. the first high level meeting between president obama and ukraine's interim prime minister is just hours away. the talks come as secretary of state john kerry announced that he will meet with russia's foreign minister in london two days from now. >> modern technology making it possible to farm in senegal. but not everyone is pleased. >> reporter: growing tomatoes in the desert, this vil sage an

oasis powered by the sun. this system powers pumps that draw water from underground. >> translator: it is a miracle. we haven't seen any rainfall since october and yet we have all of the water we need. >> reporter: 74% of senegalese have no access to electricity. this is part of a pilot project funded by international donors. >> it is less costly now to organize some irrigation using solar energy than pumping of the water with diesel energy. >> reporter: developed countries promise to raise $120 billion to fund projects like this. there is a growing eagerness to brick -- bring in new

technology here. the government is cautious and less enthusiastic about these new alternative form of energy. the government has just signed a half billion dollars contract to build coal-fired power plants. >> translator: at the moment the state subsidizes energy. that's why we have inest vested in this power plant. it's a quick and easy way to get electricity and reduce costs. >> reporter: but anti-corruption campaigners are not convinced. they say energy from coal costs more than solar. >> translator: we want the government to make the contracts public. >> reporter: solar power could pose a serious threat to the government's ability to make energy from power. the sun is reliable, free, clean, and available all

year-round, investing in this green energy is giving power to the people who need it the most. ♪ i'm dave warren. a big storm here in the midwest. we have warm temperatures and severe water possible and cold wind chills and snow. all of that around this area of low-pressure. right now to the north is where you are getting think snow, to the south 60s and 70s. as it pushes through western pennsylvania, the warm air continues to move up the mid-atlantic. severe storms possible, gusty damaging wind through virginia, west virginia and maryland as the storm pushes east, and that

could be followed by bitter cold wind chills. very heavy snow new york to england, it could be slippery tomorrow morning with that cold wind. >> dave warren thank you very much. and thank you for watching al jazeera america. i'm del walters in new york. "the stream" is next. >> hi, i'm lisa fletcher, and you're in "the stream." zero tolerance policies are pen to keep schools safe. but are they going overboard and doing more harm than good for our kids ? our coost, rajahad ali, is bringing in all of your feed