>> i'm on the ground every day finding stories that matter to you. >> in new orleans... >> seattle bureau... >> washington... >> detroit... >> chicago... >> nashville... >> los angeles... >> san francisco... >> al jazeera america, take a new look at news. search. >> final words malaysian officials sharing the last conversation with the missing malaysian airline flight as officials dispute a lead in the search. asking for intervention, ukraine's interim prime minister requesting help from president obama over the standoff with russia. as secretary kerry prepares to meet with russian counterparts. >> an explosion rocking new york city, destroying two apartment

buildings. nine are still missing. >> it's considered a toxic, dangerous place in america. how it may be leaking radioactive waste. >> hi there, welcome to al jazeera america. i'm thomas drayton. we begin with a search for malaysia airlines flight 370. that search is taking a new turn. china released these satellite images showing what could be debris in the south china sea. the malaysian chief says no signs of the missing plane have been found. here is what we know tonight. the plane bound for beijing disappeared from radar over the gulf of thailand. there were 239 passengers on board, including three u.s. citizens. 80 ships and planes are searching on area about the size

of indiana. malaysian officials reveal the final message from inside the cockpit. a routine sign-off "all right, goodnight." authorities have not ruled out possible cause, pilot error, sabotage or terrorism. mary is the former inspector general of the u.s. department of transportation, saying if the debris belongs to the plane, the next steps are vital. >> two things are important. one, look for the black boxes and get as much wreckage out of the water. on the wreckage will be characteristic pipping. if it exploded. the residue will be on the plane, and characteristic pitting. they can rule it out and get that going. the third thing that should have

happened, and we haven't heard about it, is the investigators should have grabbed the maintenance repair records. it had been in maintenance. they said they had something to do in june, something 10 days ago. often in accident investigation the answers have been found in maintenance records, and we have not heard a peep about that. >> al jazeera america will stay on top of the investigation. >> lawmakers are being asked to intervene. arseniy yatsenyuk met with president obama at the white house on n wednesday. the two discussed a peaceful resolution, and economic support for the cash-strapped country. russia again has been accused of increasing military presence. the standoff will happen on sunday, when crimea will vote on whether to become part of russia. >> eight u.s. senators say they'll travel to kiev to meet

with the new government. president obama hosts ukraine's beleaguered prime minister arseniy yatsenyuk in the oval office. >> we have been very firm in saying that we will stand with ukraine. >> the prime minister wants economic aid, but first he wants russia out of ukraine, and things the u.s. and its allies are obligated to help make it happen. >> we fight for our freedom, for our independence, for our sovereignty, and we will never surrender. >> both rejected the referendum, with crimea to vote whether to stay in ukraine or become part of russia. >> we reject a referendum patched together in a few week, with russian military personnel basically taking over crimea.

>> two days after his spokesman declared he would not meet with his russian counterpart without concrete steps to a reversal. secretary of state john kerry announced he'll meet the russian foreign minister friday in london. >> we will offer certain choices to foreign minister lavrov and president putin through him, and to russia, with hopes, and i think the hopes of the world, that we will be able to find a way forward that diffuses this. >> but so far russia has shown no public signs of backing down. and going too far with economic sanctions carries its own sanctions. >> it can get ugly fast if the wrong choices are made. and it can get ugly in multiple directions. >> so our hope is that, indeed, there is a way to have a

reasonable outcome here. >> outside the white house, after his meeting with obama, a comment from another president. >> mr putin, tear down the wall. >> mike viqueira from the white house reporting. we should mention arseniy yatsenyuk will make his case to the u.n. on thursday, appealing for international sport. >> a massive explosion in a level ii apartment building. the blast may have been caused by a gas link. residents reported noticing a smell of gas. when the explosion happened, some new yorkers raced to help. >> a little girl, she was 10. she was saying, "hep", she was full of blood. we grabbed her. >> she was full of blood.

where was she. >> she may have blown out the building. >> you think she flew out of the building. >> she had a playstation control in her hands. we grabbed her with a blanket and everything. >> residents said they could feel the boom from several blocks a way. >> president obama's appearance on an internet comedy show appears to be paying off. nearly 900,000 people visited healthcare.gov after president obama appeared on "between two ferns." a republican announce the her decision not to seek another term. burr became governor. the arizona constitution limits governors to two terms. >> another round of snow battered the midwest on

wednesday. now snow is taking aim at the north-east. three were killed during pile-ups. tens of thousands of phones in northern illinois lost power. flights into chicago were cancelled. storms are expected to hit parts of the north-east. bringing as much as two feet of snow. meteorologist joins us now with more on the details. >> it is going to be a messy night across much of new england because of the storm that you see here on the radar and satellite image. in some places across northern new york and other areas we expect 20 inches of snow. it will be rain, but the temperatures will be dropping. a lot of warnings are in effect, but most concerning are the blizzard warnings. that means almost white-out

conditions if you are travelling. highway 86, highway 88. that will be a blajor problem. up towards main, that's where the storm is lingering. everyone else will be improving. high temperature in new york. things are going to be improving by the time we get to friday. a cool morning, but we expect a high of 46 degrees, going up to 56. and going back down as we go to monday, but no snow in the forecast. we are looking at rain coming in, a high temperature of 55 degrees. the rain will be light for the next couple of days. the temperatures moderate. warmer conditions as we go towards sunday. a little bit of rain across parts of the valley. not enough to cause accumulation. los angeles seeing 75 degrees, the temperatures as we go

towards sunday. 90 degrees. towards the south we are looking at clear conditions. no rain in the forecast. here in dallas, 67 degrees. >> overall looking good. still ahead - violence flaring up in venezuela. al jazeera goes behind the barricades to where the demonstrations began, as tensions remain high. >> health care for residents, and the steps a nuclear facility is taking to maintain a leak. >> some say the new pope has done to change your the church's ways.

>> welcome back. syria's president barbara bu bush -- president bashar

al-assad made an appearance. standing besides his body guards, talking to women, and hugging children. he was last seen attending prayers at a mosque. >> three were killed during anti-government protests on wednesday. security forces used water canons. fighting intensified in the city of san cristobal. as paul beban reports, troops are stepping up security and protests show no signs of letting up. >> we are driving into san cristobal. this is where it began more than a month ago. it's only 10 o'clock in the mornings, and there's barricades we are removing to get to the hotel. it was tense right from the start. this is where one student was killed in overnight clashes, just like these, just the night before. we barely had time to get our gear out of the vehicle when it got very intense.

so we are in the hotel courtyard trying to get a shot. this is the scene that has played out in this neighbourhood and others across the country. these are the people that the government calls fascist. they say they have no choice. the tear gas was too intns. we had to get into the hotel. we stayed inside for a couple of horse. >> then things calmed down. we came outside, we crossed over the barricades, walked up the streets to where the protesters were gathered and wanted to ask questions. >> what do you want the world to know? >> that we are ruled by a dictator. how does this end. when will it stop? >> this will stop went the president quits, because we don't... >> you want the president to resign? . >> yes >> what about negotiating. >> we don't negotiate are people that kill their own people.

>> things settled down, life started to get back to something like normal, and we had a chance to look around. >> they sunk chnks of rebar into the street like a pick ot line, the -- pickett line, the kind of thing that goes backwards. this was knocked over by an armoured vehicle. >> if they rebuild it. now, over here on the street corner what we have going on. looks like we have a lunch of teenagers sitting around. they are making molotov cocktails, so they got empty cases of beer bottles, wine bottles, they are pouring the gasoline into the bottle. they have a little assembly line here. >> then we met marco.

neighbourhoods are filled with people like marco, with so much at stake, they have no other cards left to play. >> what is the alternative? they drove us into a corner. that corner - this is all we have. this is my home here. >> then he took us to his house. showed us why he doesn't go to the barricades. >> i have a 10 month old daughter. and it feels so bad to see that she is growing up in a country that used to be rich. >> once again, al jazeera's paul beban reporting from san cristobal. turning to your health, the f.d.a. approved the first device approved to help with migraine headaches. it supplies a pulse.

it was tested on 67 patients in belgium before being approved. test subjects reported fewer migraines and used lower doses. patients are only allowed to use the device once a day for 20 minutes at a time. >> the hamford nuclear station may be one of the most to toxic places in the country. there are reported of leaks that may not be fixed for years. it's near richmond, washington. allen schauffler takes us there >> here where the first plutonium processor was built for world war ii atom bombs and missiles, attention focused an a waste tank. it leaked before. the federal department of the energy found radioactive waste in a few spot.

between the walls of the double walled tank. ay 102, mike knows it well. >> if we put what was in that and put it there, we'd be dead by now, yes. that's the instrument that detected the leak in the tank. >> he worked 27 years for private contractors. and quit after a dispute over what the public was told about the situation. he's not surprised more material as leaked or by reports six double-walled tanks could be at risk for similar problems. >> we are in big trouble. we are running out of time. >> this site is the biggest most polluted area on the continent with 63 million gallons of waste, and plumes of contaminated groundwater. older tanks have leaked for years. >> the biggest concern the

columbia river, whose waters were used to cool two of the reactors. signs on a fence, proof of progress in a region proud of his role. but that leaking tank and plans for dealing with it had the state and federal government at odds. deita works for the state department of ecology. preparations and pumping wouldn't begin for two years. there's concern for us. >> federal regulatures say there's no threat to public safety. >> the chances of catastrophic failure are de minimis. what we are really talking about is a stress relief or corrosion or weld with a small crack. >> whistleblower mike sees bigger problems. >> evidence that the inner tank

is breaking down. >> here is a long-range time frame. the current government plan is to have in place by 2019 a vitry fibbingation plant that would take this waste, glassify it into rods so it could be stored and trapped. 2019 is when it would be online. 2047 when they project they would finish glassifying all of the dangerous material. there has been problems with the design and construction of that plant, and the deadlines are in jeopardy. >> still ahead, pope francis celebrates a milestone. the accomplishment that he has made in the first year as pontiff and chance that need to be made. >> the leader on and off the basketball courts. the presence making his presence felt at one american university. recreating the most tweeted photo of all time by hand.

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>> welcome back. let me tell you about a bit of royalty in the world of sports. a star basketball player for st. john's, big with the fans in america. in his home in nigeria, let's say he really stands out as a real prince. ross shimabuku has his story. >> he's royally gifted shot blocker. he comes from royalty. he is the prince of a tribe occupying much of central nigeria. his father is a prince, his grandfather was the king. his uncle is the current king. >> he's called prince. i just, like, call me chris. my travelling name. >> they calling chris. >> chris doesn't speak a great deal about the royalty aspect.

he has a regal presence, but humility, a sense of humour, the ability to laugh at himself. >> his first love was soccer. he became a basketball fan through his older brother that lives in the u.s. he september chris instructional tapes. >> he sent a lot of teams to me. i was watching it. >> he moved to new york city as a junior. it was quite the culture shock. >> it was the weather and the food. it was totally different. i'll be back home, 80 degrees, eating rice or something. some local food. here, it's freezing. maybe pizza. >> do your friends teach you about the movie coming to america. >> what do they say?

>> i'm here to find my bride. always. >> it's no laughing matter. he's one of the leading shot blockers in the nation. to me it's a difference between winning a championship. i love playing championships. >> it's one of the big things for me. >> his iq or feel savvy, court sense, is exceptional. as he continues to get stronger and refine his skill set he has a bright future, not just at st. john's, but the next level. >> have your parents seen you play? >> a couple of times. >> what do they say when they see you on the basketball court. >> they proud of me. they almost stopped crying. they are proud of me doing what i love. >> he is loving life and hoping to one day play in the next level like idol and country

maun. >> i watched akemo. he's from where i'm from. he came and made a name for himself. that's what i wanted to do. i'm looking at tracing his steps. that's a dream for me, home fully comes true. >> it was ross shimabuku reporting from queen's. there's no doubt the popularity of the pop francis is rising. it tripled since pope francis became the head of the church. critics say not much has changed behind the scenes of the vatican. >> a simple good evening and history was made. it was the first time the catholic church had chosen a leader from south america. it was clear his that's correctality was not the only thing that would make pope francis n stand out.

his popularity was immediate. he practised what he preached. strong statements against inqualitiry were matched by a choice to live in a modest quest house rather than a grand papal apartment. he witnessed poverty and crimes, and a first act was to kiss the feet of inmates at a young offenders' institution. his warmth draws crowds at his weekly outiens. >> from the rich and -- audience. from the rich and power to the less bless said his appeal is global. >> then you have a pope to whom you can identify himself with. he's in a position to understand that. when we talk to him, then he - he can connect with us, you know. this is like he's with us. >> pope francis inherited a church beset by child abuse

scandals. over the past year he's been able to change your the image of the church. how many real change your has he achieved behind the scenes. critics would say not much. a u.n. report accused the church of failing to properly deal with cases of child abuse. the vatican bank is being audited. no results are being released. the pope's tone on issues like gay rights and divorce softened, there's no sign of religious reform. >> you cannot do these kind of things weekly without making disasters. he is a man that will do thinks and in due time. >> a year on there's little doubt that the pope has the right intentions to change your the church for the better. as the doves released by him and attacked by a seagull attest, the best-laid plans do not work

out as attended. some see pope francis as a superhero, capable of turning the church around. although he's had an undeniably great first year. he hasn't performed that miracle yet. >> how popular is pope francis. a poll found 85% of catholics give the pope a frafrable rating. he had a 74% favourable rating before he stepped down. >> ellen degeneres's selfie set a record for the retweets. it's been turned into a work of art. this is a time lapse video by helen rooney using coloured pencils. she darts with ellen degeneres, jennifer lawrence and cooper out front. they take hours to complete and

get millions of views. >> that will do it for this edition. al jazeera. news at the top of every hour, and log on to aljazeera.com, for the latest headlines. thanks for watching. hi, i'm lisa fletcher, and you're in stream. the latest high-tech tools that some say are missing from an officer's arsenal.