on al jazeera america 94 women and children are being held his on theing by r -- are being held hostage in syria. and this is al jazeera live from doha and also ahead on the program, u.s. navy ships turn their attention to the indian ocean to help in the search for the missing malaysian airliner and ukraine talk moved to london and the prime minister is hosting the u.s. secretary of state. and pope francis' home country celebrates the first anniversary

of the head of the roman catholic church. ♪ we begin in syria where 94 women and children belonging to assad mine tear alawites are being held hostage by rebels and there is footage of the prisoners they are holding them for prisoner swat and erica wood has more. >> taken by sunni rebels last august from village in the northeast. the region is a stronghold of president assad alawites, a branch of islam. they are ready to free the 94 women and children in exchange for release of prisoners being held by governor forces and made demands over which prisoners should be freed and should be mainly coastal regions and at least half of them must be women and children.

and prisoner swap last week saw the release of 14 greek orthodox nuns from the al-qaeda linked front. in this video one of the kidnapped women accuses assad of allowing release of members of another religion but for getting his own but these women are clearly under control of captors. they shouted at the government for dropping barrels packed with bombs. >> assad you strike here and there and you cry enough, enough, when will this end, the whole world is watching us, where will we go, enough, enough, we can't eat or sleep or do anything anymore. >> reporter: it's unclear how many people died in the strikes but barrel bombs are an inaccurate weapon and one condemned by the international community and homes and mosques

and buildings were brought down. >> translator: we were in our houses when we heard air strikes and targeted the mosque and bombed the house of god and god take revenge and we were under the rubble. >> reporter: the politics of the fight and blamed the regime of what it calls a new prisoner swap technique in a three year old long war. >> reporter: alawites are a minority in syria and makeup about 12% of the population and sunni muslims makeup 75% and assad and his family are alawites and they control several senior political points and they are found on the cost in altakai and north of turkey. and he is a senior commentator at golf news and says kidnapping

tactics are not uncommon. >> this kidnapping presumably occurred last august so obviously damascus knew about it and kept silent until today. it's possible the family members involved in this particular tragedy were void if you would like by the resent negotiations that saw the release of 13 orthodox nuns from maloola and bring it to the forefront to encourage the government to enter into similar type of negotiations with presumably the kidnappers. we still don't know the identity of these kidnappers of course and a lot will depend when we figure out who are precisely these kidnaps and it will make a big difference obviously. >> to all the news and malaysia says finding the missing jet liner in the indian ocean is lou. search efforts are focused west of malaysia in the indian ocean and the mallaca strait and they

scaled back the operation in the china sea after six-day search and they are talking about the last contact on saturday. >> i don't think the families will be satisfied until they find out what happened to the aircraft and you have a range of emotions in there from people who are vocal and angry about the situation and very frustrated at the lack of information in terms of where is the aircraft and others that may have reached a more equitable or balanced viewpoint, more resignation i suspect, that may not be the most appropriate word but it really is that they have come to accept that there is not going to be a good outcome and just waiting quietly for the information to come in. >> reporter: there were scenes of frustration in beijing where relatives are anxiously waiting for news, most passengers on the missing plane are chinese and

accusing malaysia of wasting time. >> translator: the malaysia told people to be responsible for what they are saying and keep promises, instead of giving us impression, make responsible remarks without thinking. >> reporter: 370 disappeared six days ago with 239 people on board. aviation experts are calling it one of the most baffling mysteries of modern times and rob reynolds has more. >> they are steaming towards a new search area on the western side of the malay peninsula after the white house said unspecified new information indicates the ill-fated malaysia flight 370 may have veered off course and possibly flown for hours after losing contact with ground control. >> based on some new information and it's not conclusive but new

information that an additional search area may be opened in the indian ocean. >> they have been searching by air and sea for the jet since it disappeared from going to beijing on saturday and they said automatic data transmitters in the plane and equipment sent signals to the aircraft's manufacturer, boeing for four or five hours after it vanished from radar screens and boeing declined to comment. but malaysian authorities denied the journal reports saying there were no automatic transmissions from the aircraft. meanwhile u.s. defense told an american television network there were indications the plane had gone down in the indian ocean, a senior boeing executive said india joined the search effort, a further indication the

plane may have ventured far into remote indian waters. >> there are multiple countries that just joined the effort, okay, boeing has been invited and we are working with them and that all i can tell you. >> reporter: passengers of the crew wait for information, aviation experts remain baffled and the fate of 370 has become the greatest mystery in the history of modern air travels. rob reynolds, al jazeera, los angeles. >> reporter: the bomb blast in pakistan killed 7 and injured more than 30. it happened near a police station in a market. police say it was a suicide attack and a security vehicle was in the middle. explosions have been heard at the gewa barracks where they are holding hundreds of rebels and killed thousands in the region

since it began its fight five years ago and they want a separate islamic state and they intensified it against the fighters last year. u.s. secretary of state john kerry is in london where he is due to meet russian foreign minister sergei fedorov and trying to solve this crimea and whether to join russia. meanwhile tension is growing in ukraine ahead of the vote and one person killed between proand antirush is a demonstrators in the eastern city. the violence began after protesters tore through a police quarter keeping the two sides apart. across the border russia is holding another round of military drones and 8.5 thousand troops are there and they told the security council they don't

want war and the acting prime minister said they will join talks to end the crisis and james bates has more. >> a clear message from the interim prime minister of ukraine to the u.n. security council holding its 6th meeting in the crisis in two weeks. and they aim some of the strongest comments at russia, looking directly at the russian ambassador as he spoke. >> translator: my country has faced a military aggression of neighboring country which is the p 5 member. this is absolutely and entirely unacceptable. in the 21st century to resolve any kind of conflict with tanks, artillery and boots on the ground. >> translator: i'm going to respond to a direct question put by him, russia does not want war and neither do the russians and

russia did not have the violence in the last few months in ukraine. >> translator: it's clear the last remaining chance for a diplomatic solution for the crisis will be at a meeting in london on friday. >> reporter: secretary minister will meet sergei fedorov to talk about the confrontation and given the conflict none of us can afford to leave any stone unturned. >> reporter: if they do not make a breakthrough the security council is likely to meet on saturday for a vote on ukraine, no one dougs that russia will use its veto but they want to show they are completely eye isolated. a draft has been achieved and what will be achieved bringing the security council to a vote on this. >> let's wait and see. what we want to achieve, we want to stop russian invasion, we want to get to the negotiating

table. we want to find a peaceful solution of this dramatic conflict and we want to have ukraine independent and free. >> reporter: the interim prime minister met the u.n. secretary general moon before leaving new york and now on his way to kiev and he knows in the time he has to keep crimea inside the ukraine is running out. if that referendum goes ahead, yes, there were will be sanctions from the west but very hard then to change the facts that will then exist on the grounds. james bates, al jazeera u.n. >> later in the program we are going to be looking at how the ukraine crisis is already effecting russia and moscow stock market falling 14% this week and investors are getting nervous and the first trial of its kind on french soil on the former rwanda army captain accused of genicide.

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♪ good to have you with us and these are the top stories on al jazeera, al jazeera obtained a video that shows 94 women and children kidnapped by opposition fighters in syria and reportedly from the minority alawites and taken from latakia last august. malaysia airlines says the likelihood of finding the missing jet liner in the indian ocean is low and efforts are focused west of malaysia in the indian ocean and the malacca

strait and u.s. secretary of state will meet in london on talks of solving the crisis in ukraine and they told the u.n. security council the conflict with russia can be resolved through dialog. and markets in russia have been reacting to the upcoming referendum in crimea as the rest are worried about possible sanctions and russia's stock index fell 5% on friday and went to the lowest level since occur 2009 and just this week it has fallen nearly 14%. raising money to fund russia's debt is more expensive and interest rates on 7 year bonds reached historic highs of over 9%. and we have an analyst live from moscow now and very good to have you here on al jazeera. goldman sacs has projections of

the russian economic growth from 3% to just 1%, $45 billion has already left russia this year. how worrying is this for investors or how worried are investors by all of this? >> well, let my start by saying russian economy is one of the economies have experienced slow down already before this crimea crisis. and during the year the government had to reconsider growth from 3% to 1%. before crimea crisis government says economy is sliding to a crisis stage and that is accepted as a reality. the crimea crisis can add to that problem, mounding problems of russia economy and while sanctions were not yet put into action, there is a lot of fear

that it can really deteriorate investment climate which was created during the last years. >> reporter: how prepared do you think, ben, that the russia government is to deal with any sanctions that come their way, have they been making any projections? >> well, a lot will depend actually what sanctions will be brought into action because, you know, at present, let us be frank there is more talk of sanctions rather than sanctions and european union has different set of situations depending on the situations. >> and talk from the german chancellor coming yesterday saying the actions caused massive economic and political damage. so what kind of sanctions is russia anticipating and are they

prepared for them? >> well, to be frank, the dominant mood is there is no question of just the legitimacy and a few people care about the economy for simple reason that the people got used to economic stability. they believe while president putin is in power he will be able to withstand the pressure and believe me the political analysts who appear in tv and mass media say the west would not be in the position to impose really sanctions on russia economy for simple reason that it would clash and in the last moment they will have to scale down the pressure on russia. >> reporter: thank you very much for that, that is political analyst for the newspaper and he is joining us from moscow and thank you for your time. hackers brought down the rub

site of russia president and central banks several times in the past few hours and the kremlin spokeswoman says the attack is continuing and security experts were trying to prevent further disruptions. air strikes continued between israel and gaza despite promises of cease fire and four rockets were fired on thursday and one was intercepted by a missile defense system. the strikes first started on wednesday after israeli forces killed three fighters from the armed group islamic gihad. they accused mohamed of murder, corruption and selling out palestinian national interests. he also hinted he could have played a role in the death of former leader arafat and it's a possible success for the top position and was once a leader but removed from the group in

2011 after corruption allegations. >> translator: and 2004 mohamed gave a statement and said arafat's mission has come to an end and should be a new generation and the question now is who could arafat and this is not proof but it's evidence that deserves to be investigated, who delivered them. >> reporter: and they rejected allegations against him, in a facebook post he said it was full of lies, stupidity and ignorance of palestinian reality. and richard white is a center fellow at the center for political military analysis at the hudson institute and says the remarks showed desperation. >> you would think that in the past they have been able to keep these kind of tensions under control but there must be some concern that he is basically

positioning himself to success him and that is something that abbas would strive to prevent. this kind of maneuver is a desperation and if darlan is a new successor and does not, whatever the outcome, this will leave a split in the movement for a long time. >> reporter: world bank authorized an investigation in labor and human rights with tea plantation owned by the giant in india and workers say they have not been treated fairly despite the company making huge profits and they traveled and spoke to workers at a tea plantation. >> he and his wife have been living and working on the tea estate for more than a decade. about five years ago the tea owned by the conglomerate gave them a chance to buy company shares and he said he and others

were not interested but not given a choice. >> translator: we were told if you don't take shares your work will be stopped and the labors cannot read or write and we were scared and that is why we gave in. >> reporter: even though he is now a part owner they live in a home without electricity and a roof that has been leaking for eight years and say any complaints about living conditions or shared dividends are ignored. >> translator: our house is in bad shape and i cannot take a $80 loan, how do they take $130 from us. they forced us. >> reporter: we tried speaking to other employees but were asked to stop filming by men on motorcycles who escorted us away and the tea declined an in-camera interview but through e-mail said dividends were paid yearly but called something else in bank statement and say any

issue with worker conditions were isolated incidents and al jazeera met other tea employees who told us despite now being part owners of the company they still live in poor conditions and had no idea they received dividends and different company officials gave them different answers. they rely on a large number of workers to stay productive and profitable giving workers company shares is a way to share profits and improve their lives but critics charge it's actually a way to shield the company. this union leader says workers say now there is shareholders they lost the right to complain about conditions and giving shares simply gives them rights to what they endure. >> after given $130 they don't have proper homes, water to drink or hospitals and what they need they are not getting. >> reporter: when contacted,

the tea stated that the share scheme is entirely voluntary. and that they strongly refute there was coercion or any sort of pressure whatsoever on employees to apply to the scheme and that no employee has lost his or her job either for not subscribing or voicing grievances but workers say they are weary to complain and powerless to improve their lives or future. i'm with al jazeera in india. >> reporter: democratic republic of congo military has victory of a rebel group in the east. these pictures obtained exclusively by al jazeera and showed the army fighting against forces and the group is mostly made up of gunman in, uganda and

plagued for decades. a trial of an army captain accused of taking part in the 1994 genicide, prosecutors are seeking a life sentence and want him to be declared guilty of genicide and not just complicity and it's the first of its kind on french soil and claire has details but a warning that viewers may find the images in claire's report disturbing. >> almost 20 years since the genicide and clashes left 800,000 dead in the space of 100 days. ethnic tensions between the hotu and the tootsies existed for years but when the president juvenile's plane was shot down what followed is hard cocomprehend, brutality and blood shed saw 20% of the population wiped out and most of

them were minority tootsies and hutus also died and it's coming to a close in paris and a former captain on trial for his alleged part in the killings and he is the first rwanda to be tried in france and accused in the genicide and something he denies. at times during the trial witnesses told how he distributed weapons that were later used for killing tootsies and there also has been conflicting evidence saying he saved ethnic tootsies by hiding them or driving them to safety. since the war relations between france and rwanda have been strained france is one of the country's make backers but accused paris of providing the government with military training and sheltering people. beyond that the case is crucial to the relatives killed in the

genicide. >> translator: we have the feeling that impunity is over and important and the feeling that the french society is looking after us and looking into the case because it's also very important. we have the feeling we are being heard at last and supported at last. >> reporter: if found guilty he faces a life term and more significantly his case should set a precedent for many more rwanda people to be tried on french soil. claire reynolds with al jazeera. >> reporter: one year since the white smoke of the vatican had a new head of the roman catholic church and the first pontiff in a thousand years and sent one year anniversary on a spiritual retreat and no major celebrations planned by the vatican and we traveled to argentine to see how the people are celebrating. >> mary mother of the people in

the neighborhood of buenos aires where he was born and brought up and there was a club which he supported since he was a boy, the current champions of argentina and the presence of the catholic church is very apparent here and run a music school, a nursery, a home for old people. it was an area that the young father was responsible for as well, visiting here on a regular basis, getting to know the people, working in this particular neighborhood where he is still very well-known. the people here is one of the poorest neighborhoods in buenos aires and following the progress of the vatican very closely and staying in contact with his friends her and gave a radio interview which is being transmitted for the first time

and the first anniversary of his election of the bishop of rome. >> reporter: that story and the rest of the day's news can all be found on our website including much more on the crisis in ukraine which you can see on your screen there, all that and more at al jazeera. plus zombies and vampires in your neighborhood. how these real estate monsters could effect your ability to sell your home. i'm ali velshi. this is "real money." ♪ >> this is israel you are the most important part of the show, so join our live conversation for the next half on twitter, if you like facebook, i real all of