>> faultlines al jazeera america's hard hitting... ground breaking... truth seeking... >> they don't wanna see what's really going on >> break though investigative documentary series death in plain sight only on al jazeera america widening the search for the missing malaysia airliner to the indian ocean and the plane may have flown for hours before dropping from radar. a historic weekend that could shape the future of ukraine as proantiand russians clash in one part of the country and another section of the country will vote on cessation and they are held

by rebels who want to exchange them for jailed for fighters. >> it's her birthday and can't happen. >> reporter: the recalled vehicles may be responsible for hundreds of additional deaths. ♪ malaysia airlines 370 disappeared a week ago today and it's going west to the indian ocean and a u.s. navy ship is heading there. i'm stephanie and the search was expanded after a report said the plane may have continued flying for hours after its last radar contact and a chinese ship and radar found nothing off vietnam and we have the latest on the investigation.

>> one of the most confusing and intriguing questions, did the plane keep flying, was the jet in the hour for hours after it disappeared in the air and they reported from "the wall street journal" that investigators are looking into in and systems that automatically send out engine data continued to operate for sometime. malaysia officials refuted that. >> whenever there are new details they must be corroborated. and these media reports talks specifically about the details. as far as boeing are concerned, those reports are inaccurate. >> reporter: it turns out now what may have been the case according to reuters is that the electronic signal from the monitoring system continued to be picked up by satellites but not the actual engine data itself and could mean the plane was still in the air but someone had disabled part of the monitoring system.

where is the jumbo jet and the search area may be expanding significantly, some 43 ships and 40 aircraft have been scouring first the south china sea under the plan's planned flight path and then the other side of the malaysia peninsula, the strait of malacca on the possibility it maybe made a u-turn and now looking further west. >> new information that is not necessarily conclusive but new information an additional search area may be open in the indian ocean and consulting with partners about the appropriate assets to deploy. >> reporter: heading to the indian ocean, uss kid one of the two destroyers helping in the search, is anything off the table? with no wreckage and little radar data and days of fruitless searching nothing can be crossed off the list, not mechanical problems, not pilot error, not terrorism. on capitol hill boeing's president says the company is

looking for answers. >> boeing is certainly joined with the national transportation safety board and technical advisor and team on the ground and high-priority effort for us. >> reporter: the frustrating truth is finding this missing plane is like searching for a needle in an hay stack without knowing the location of that hay stack, i'm with al jazeera, washington. >> reporter: scary moments for passengers on u.s. airplane at philadelphia and forced to evacuate when the nose gear suddenly collapsed during take off. these are images after the flight came to a halt at philadelphia international airport. >> the plane, the plane crashed. >> reporter: passengers sliding down the emergency shoots on the runway and sprinting from the smoking flame to get as far away as possible. >> evacuating the plane. >> the plane dipped down in the front and the front wheel touched a bit. >> reporter: flight 1702 to

florida with 149 aboard were forced to evacuate after a tire blew. >> the front wheel broke off and we started sliding and people were screaming. >> reporter: the airport shut down and plane grounded and injuries all minor. >> passengers were cold. >> reporter: they opted to get on another flight to fort lauderdale. no major damage to the plane. faa opened an investigation into the incident. ahead of this week's cessation vote they are talking on the crisis and a high-level meeting and john kerry and russian foreign minister sergei fedorov are meeting this morning in london and residents will vote on sunday whether to leave ukraine and be part of russia and hoping it will have them back off aggressive stance in the region and we have team coverage on the story and we

have dana on the phone and good morning, 72 hours away from the critical referendum vote, mr. kerry met with brittish prime minister before talks with sergei fedorov. >> reporter: kerry is in the meetings on downing street this morning and also soon to arrive here at the u.s. ambassador's residence in london to meet his russian counterpart, sergei fedorov and really to do dwo things, one is to get a measure are the russians willing to step back from ukraine, is there any indication that president putin is about to blink and also to deliver the message very clearly to sergei fedorov and to the kremlin that if russia does not respect the territory of ukraine they will face very serious sanctions and we will probably hear some proposals over the table between kerry and sergei fedorov where americans are trying to get the russians to understand they are willing to

take into account some concerns expressed by president putin. one of those proposals is reported in some european press this morning is that perhaps there could be some protection force or ethnic russians in crimea who are worried about what is happening eternally in ukraine but again he will warn sergei fedorov today that very specific sanctions will come into place on monday, you could see members of key russians facing travel bands and even members of the presidential administration around putin and the freezing of russian assets abroad, stephanie. >> reporter: and meanwhile the rhetoric has been stern and kerry on wednesday warning it can get ugly fast if the wrong choices are made and then you have german chancellor angela merkel critical in discussions saying the integrity is not up for discussion. what has been russia's response so far to these western threats,

dana? >> the response is pretty minimal if you take into account the fact that president putin is saying they will respect the referendum that will take place on sunday and not stepping back from that and members of the russian parliament are encouraging the referendum and saying they will support and ratify it later this week and could take sanctions themselves against america and europe and of course they refer to the fact they import 30% of europe's gas and sort of holding that up as a weapon. as we speak 80,000 russian troops reportedly along the border with ukraine in some kind of mysterious military maneuver and raised between kerry and sergei fedorov at the talks now, what are the russians doing there. >> reporter: a lot of developments and expecting out of long do and dana lewis reporting there. in the disputed southern ukraine peninsula crimea and residents are two days away of voting on a

referendum that could change the boundaries of the nation and jennifer glasse is in sevastopol and jennifer is all of this diplomacy going on going to change anything where you are or is this referendum going to happen this weekend? >> i think, stephanie, it's a done deal that the referendum is going to go ahead and the ballots are printed and getting ready at polling stations and crediting journalists for the referendum and posters pro-russian, only pro-russian posters up around sevastopol and the other cities across the crimea peninsula and all of the city halls, we have been to a couple city halls in cities not just here but yalta and around the peninsula getting ready for the referendum and here people think it's going to go ahead. as a matter of fact many of the ethnic russians here are very anti-american, very anti-european saying stay out of our business, we have the right to have this vote and it's going to go ahead, all diplomacy in london is not going to change sunday's election. >> reporter: i heard the tatars

will boycott the referendum and is there concern of the standoff of russia and ukraine could spread beyond crimea? >> there is, stephanie, a lot more concern about that now, you are right the ethnic tatar and ukraine will boycott it and think it's illegal and voting could legitimize it and the concern of the spreading happened when we saw violence last night in eastern ukraine, an industrial city in eastern ukraine when pro-russian supporters clashed with pro-ukrainian supporters and one man killed and the first death we have seen in eastern ukraine and of course it comes as my colleague dana mentioned with russian troops on the eastern border making a lot of people here nervous and worried that there is going to be a protection for russian troops to come in to protect ethnic russians on the east and allegations by the government in kiev that russia is actually

bussing people in from russia to try and start this kind of trouble to kind of very fierce clashes we saw last night in donet for pretext of sending russian forces in as they sent russian forces in here, one note perhaps of encouragement, russia saying it's or sorry the pro-russian crimea authorities saying in the last 24 hours they will let osce mission come in and trying to come in more than a week to monitor the situation here and that might be a step forward. >> reporter: jennifer glasse in sevastopol, ukraine and thank you. progovernment and opposition demonstrators staged dueling protests in venezuela capitol city of caracus. [gunfire] kerry is calling out the government and says the country must end what he calls a terror campaign against citizens and on thursday nicholas announced the arrest of six people he called

snipers for para military groups and 25 people have been killed since the demonstrations began last month, two decades since clashes in rwanda left hundreds of thousands of people dead, a verdict is due in paris today in the trial of a former army captain accused of genicide and crimes against humanity and it could set a precedent for more trials on french soil and we want to warn you some of the images you will see are graphic. >> it's almost 20 years since the rwanda genicide, ethnic clashes between the country's two main groups left 800,000 dead in the space of 100 days. ethnic tensions between the hotu and the tootsies have existed for years. and when the hotu is plane is shot down and what followed is hard to comprehend, a systematic camp page of brutality and blood shed saw 20% of the population

wiped out and most were minority tootsies and moderate hotus also died. historic court case is drawing to a close in paris, a former army captain on trial for alleged part in the killings and he is the first rwanda to be tried in france. he is accused of complicitity in the genicide and he denies. witnesses told how he distributed weapons that were later used for killing tootsies but there has been conflicting evidence, claims he saved ethnic tootsies hiding them or driving them to safety. since the war relations between france and rwanda have been strained. france had been one of the country's main backers but rwanda accused paris of providing the government with military training and of sheltering hotu militants but the case is crucial to relatives

of those killed in the genicide. >> translator: last we have the feeling that impunity is over, this is very important. we also have the feeling that the french society is looking after us and looking into the case. this is also very important. we have the feeling that we are being heard at last and supported at last. >> reporter: if found guilty he faces a life term, more significantly his case could set a precedent for many more rwanda people to be tried on french soil, claire reynolds, al jazeera. >> reporter: last month rwanda condemned a decision by the top appeals court to block extradition of three genicide suspects who are likely to be tried on french soil. more problems for gm this morning over recalled cars and finds 300 people died after airbags failed to open up in two gm cars and those same two models are already part of a massive nationwide recall. gm says those cars faulty

ignition switch caused 34 crashes and killed 12 people and we are following the latest developments for us from detroit and good morning, this gm recall is looking more serious now. >> that's right, stephanie. good morning to you. a private watchdog group commissioned the study and found hundreds of people have died from the faulty ignition switch. gm has been heavily criticized over the past couple of weeks for not acting sooner after realizing there was a problem and now the federal government is also being blamed. they are strangers bound together, the victims of fatal car wrecks, 13 in all. that gm has linked to a defective ignition switch on six of its models. >> she hydro planed and went across two lanes of traffic and was hit in the side by another car. >> reporter: that's how ken felt and describes what happened to his daughter brook who was killed after the ignition in her

2 now 5 chevy cobalt shut off cutting the power steering and anti-lock brakes. >> it's her birthday and cannot happen. >> reporter: the deaths led gm to have a recall last month of 1.6 million vehicles but now a new report reveals another defect could be tied to a much larger number of victims, according to the "new york times" 303 people died between 2003 and 2012 after their airbags failed to deploy on two of the models that were recalled in february. the new finding suggests the faulty ignition switch which ceased the engine would render airbags useless and review conducted by freedman research and analyzes vehicle safety data comes after gm admitted it received the first sign of problems with the ignition switch back in 2001 waiting more than a decade to order a recall,

disclosure has spawned a criminal investigation by the justice department who wants to know what gm officials knew and perhaps more importantly when they knew it. congress wants answers too like why the national highway traffic safety administration or nhtsa did not open an investigation into the matter sooner despite hundreds of consumer complaints. >> i want to know what happened here, was there some key information missing in nhtsa's analysis of these complaints, what are we looking at here? >> conducting an on going aggressive investigation in gm and timing of the recall. >> reporter: meanwhile gm is criticizing the report over the airbags calling it pure speculation based on raw data. but the timing comes just as the auto makers new ceo mary barra has called for an internal probe into the recall. >> i think that mary wants to makeup for the mistakes of the past but she has a lot to makeup

for. >> reporter: the federal government is on the case for the past three weeks, gm if found liable of any wrongdoing will face millions of dollars in fines as well as possible criminal charges. stephanie. >> we are in detroit and bc thank you. the weekend could be stormy for some parts of the country and we will bring in metrologist nicole mitchell. >> after the last system cleared out we are phenomenonly quiet today and could use a brief break in the action but we will take it. this is the eastern half of the country and dry and sunshine across the country and that in addition to a pattern shift will help us warm up and nice to hear. so a little bit of moisture in the southwest. more into the northwest but a very quiet day, things do change over the course of the weekend. so here is how things start today. watch for a little bit of moisture over the great lakes that could impact the northeast in the day tomorrow, minor amounts, this is what we watch, so in the central section of the

country we have a developing system, there could be some strong storms with this and we are getting to that time of year and pulls out into sunday and then monday for the east coast and that is significant because that is st. patrick's day and big parades in places like savannah or up to new york that could be impacted by some of this moisture so that is something we will watch closely. in the meantime we have a warm up but not until we get through this morning. this morning for the south, you know, march to have temperatures in the 30s all the way in north florida is significant because of that and because things have started growing we actually have a freeze warning across the region because of those conditions. so some of the tender vegetation could be at risk this morning with temperatures. otherwise mild temperatures this morning, a lot of 40s in the midwest and it is going to be warm through the course of day so that at least is some improvement and back to you. >> we will take it and nicole mitchell thank you. the civil war in syria began three years ago and video

obtained by al jazeera shows human rights monitors there and nearly 100 people taken hostage and women and children. this turned into jobs for struggling single moms. next hour is part of new york city few will ever see, the secret side of clubs and restaurants and people who lived in the city a long time don't know they exist. >> these were illegal establishments with no signs to tell you where it is so you have to know someone in order to be able to find it. >> reporter: coming up, in the next hour at 7:45.

officials from fully investigating the cause of a deadly explosion that levelled two apartment buildings in new york city. firefighters have recovered the 8th victim of wednesday's gas explosion in harlem and rescue workers are using dogs and gear to search for more victims and five people are still missing.

spring is officially a week away and feels like winter in the country and the cold winter has been particularly brutal in detroit especially for homeless people and there is a program providing warmth for people the street and providing women with jobs and much-needed hope. >> you do that. >> okay. >> reporter: on a bitterly cold night in detroit church volunteers rick pop and mark are on a mission, the temperature is only 12 degrees, the biting wind makes it feel like 5 below 0. the men are driving through detroit looking for those most vulnerable on a brutal winter night, the homeless. piled in the back of their truck are heavy-duty coats that double as sleeping bags and approaches a man sleeping on a sidewalk. >> i have a sleeping bag, do you

know how to work it? this is not a fancy one and don't let anybody take it from you, give me a big hug. >> like a big bear is what it feels like. >> reporter: such a coat was the only thing keeping her warm when she was hopeless and living in a shelter with no heat. >> i came from nothing but i have my coat do you know what i'm saying, that coat is everything to me. >> reporter: she is one of 15 seem stresses who work for a nonprofit group known as the empowerment plan and the ladies known by veronica scott and america tonight first sat down with veronica last august and said the idea of making the coats grow out of a college project but then realized the coats alone were not enough to make the kind of difference she had in mind. >> a coat on its own is not going to change anything but if i go in and hire the people that are in the shelters that would possibly be on the oreceiving

end instead of giving them a coat and hiring them. >> reporter: all single moms and all homeless or living in shelters and all desperate for work. >> when you have nothing the smallest thing can mean the world to you and me making the coat is contributing. >> reporter: and in the first year veronica said the empowerment plan produced 25 coats, the following year it made nearly a thousand and over the past year the nonprofit stitched together nearly 3,000 coats and veronica will expand and hire more seamstresses to keep up with demand. >> with the weather and seeing the people in the conditions they are in because of the weather, this is a huge part of what we are doing. we have given a stronger dedication to making these coats the best we can make them. >> you can still valcro it over the back. >> thank you. >> stay warm, man. >> reporter: chris al jazeera

detroit. >> reporter: they have skills to help them get other jobs in the future. wall street and slight gains at open after increasing worries over china economy and the ukraine crisis triggered a sell off and dow had the worst and states 16108, s and p. is 1846 and nasdaq is below 4300 level. overseas asian markets picked up where the u.s. left off and down 3% and selling spilling to europe and markets are lower across the board and mcdonald's is facing lawsuits in new york, california and michigan and forced them to work off the clock, did not pay over time and took hours off their time cards and the lawsuits could effect 30,000 workers and they are investigating the allegations. bp, the oil company behind the largest oil spill in u.s. history can once again bid for new government contracts and the u.s. lifted ban after the 2010

gulf of mexico oil spill and bp will abide by safety, ethics and other requirements and drop a lawsuit against the environmental protection agency. u.s. auction for the right to drill in the gulf where the spill occurred is set for next week. lawmakers on capitol hill finally reach an agreement on extending unemployment benefits and what it may mean to the nearly 2 million people who rely on those benefits. >> it wasn't in the best dream to come to get treatment in israel. we are the enemy okay. >> reporter: long time enemies now providing a helping hand, people injured in syria civil war and treated by doctors over the border in israel. a carriage horses in the center of a political dispute in new york city and some say the new mayor is going back on a promise they made about him. >> and he has come to new york city and brought his scoring touch with him and highlights on his record-setting day.

welcome back to al jazeera america i'm stephanie sy and the top stories and it has been seven days since flight 370 disappeared and new reports say the plane may have flown for hours after it was last spotted on radar and the focus of the search is shifting to the vast indian ocean and a chinese navy search of the coast of vietnam thursday turned up nothing. following a meeting with david cameron john kerry will hold talks with sergei fedorov. this morning in london. last-minute diplomacy is ahead of the sunday vote in crimea and residents will decide whether to leave ukraine and be a part of russia. a study says 300 people died after their airbags failed to open up in two gm models and the cars are already part of a

massive nationwide recall and admits faulty ignition switches caused 34 deaths and they are disputing airbag findings al jazeera has video showing women and children being held against their will by rebel fighters in syria and erica wood has their story. >> taken by sunni rebels last august from villages in the northeast. the region is a stronghold of presidential assad alawites, a branch of shia islam and ready to free the 94 women and children in exchange for the release of 2000 prisoners being held by government forces. they made demands over which prisoners should be freed and say mainly coastal regions and at least half of them mouth be women and children. prisoner swap last week saw

release of 13 greek orthodox nuns who had been detained since december from fighters from the al-qaeda linked front. the video one of the kidnapped women accuses assad of allowing the release of members of another religion but for getting his own but the women are clearly under the control of their captors and west of aleppo they shout because there are barrels dropped with bombs. >> translator: assad you strike here and there and cry enough, enough, when will this end? the whole world is watching us and where we will go, enough, enough, we cannot eat or sleep or do anything any more. >> reporter: unclear how many people died in the strikes but barrel bombs are inaccurate weapon and one condemned by the international community. homes, shops and mosques were among the buildings brought down. >> translator: we were in our

houses when we heard air strikes and targeted the mosque and bombed the house of god, may god take revenge on them. all my relatives were under the rubble. >> the women and children and court and politics of the fight the syria national council blamed the regime for what it calls a new prisoner swap tactic in the three year long war, al jazeera. >> reporter: agencies are calling syria the worst humanitarian disaster in modern times and middle east and north africa division deputy director with human rights watch joins us from beirut and thanks for being with us and sobering statistics and more than 2 1/2 million syrians fled the county and 6.5 internally displaced on average 6,000 people fleeing each day in 2013 and 140,000 people died in the conflict including 10,000 children. it's hard for me to think of

another instance of this vastness in resent memory. >> exactly, i mean, it is the biggest tragedy and humanitarian challenge since the mid 1990s and so far the international community has failed. it has failed to deliver aid, it has failed. >> reporter: who is failing here? i know there are many humanitarian organizations. >> detainees and worsening pattern of abuses on the ground. i mean your documentary showed the idea of exchanging hostages. security council last month issued a clear call on releasing all people in syria and also releasing also all hostages and now what is happening on the ground is they are being used, you know, as bargaining chips by the fighting parties and that is clearly unacceptable.

>> reporter: and i don't think you can hear me so we're going to have to leave it there and he was with human watch from beirut this morning. the war is forcing wounded syrians to flee into enemy territory and crossing the border in the israeli occupied golden heights to seek medical help and patients and israeli doctors talk about it in their own words. >> this is a very severe injury because he has fracture, open fracture of the bone and we lost his articulation here. i think next week he would be back in syria. >> when it is needed i leave this job and go to be the command commander. the position of syria in the country so these people remain untreated. >> translator: exploded near me as a car swerved and hit me at

the same time and riding a motor bike and would like to go to a hospital in syria but it's not safe with injured civilians arrested for no reason for the regime and cutoff from food, drink, bread, water and electricity and the family has fled and where did they go, i don't know. >> and one day i will be able provide medical aid for people and people from the syrian country, there was and still an enemy and never thought these people would ask me to help them. [gunfire] for them it's a big surprise to be here. it wasn't in the best dream to come to get treatment in israel. we are the enemy, okay? >> i had four a day and all of them they take the bilateral leg and open wound there and they

have exposed bone. >> translator: a group of guys came over and brought me to the border between israel and syria, they handed me over to the israeli military through a fence. >> translator: the beginning of course we knew that israel is the enemy. that is what the regime used to tell us. when i came here to israel i found the people that want to live. >> with me saying i don't know which one to fight. no religion asks for such a thing like this. >> translator: i am full of happiness and appreciation to the country that assisted me. i would like to thank all those who helped me. >> reporter: israel's newspaper reports that right now about 490 syrian citizens are patients in hospitals in northern israel.

i want to bring back our guest of human rights watch on this three-year anniversary and sorry we lost you earlier and let's pick up where we left off with the issue of aid and hearing of massive hunger and massive lines to get a few pieces of bread in the capitol. in geneva there were negotiations about opening up corridors to allow aid to go through, what is the status of aid deliveries in syria today? >> unfortunately, you know, the commitments in geneva have not been respected. we have seen an increase in aid in some areas under government control, but many other areas remain off limits particularly areas under siege, areas like the camp for palestinian refugees which is outside of damascus and also suburbs of damascus in eastern guda and are under siege by government forces

and denying aid and any medical assistance and for wounded civilians to go in and out and also documented opposition armed groups are still be sieging two towns in northern syria and also denying aid. there are also some abberration and where it would be possible to do do and they were supposed to remedy and the words of the resolution have not been translated into any actionable item for the civilians in syria on the ground. >> reporter: are there additional challenges for aids groups that are working in syria and the safety of their own workers and trying to get aid to the people that need it? >> definitely. i mean, from day one, be it from the government side or the rebel

groups, there have been abuses against aid workers. we have seen, there are many detainees and the government detained aid workers and doctors for assisting the wounded and providing humanitarian relief and seen rebel groups come out, humanitarian workers, msf, doctors without borders have five members that were kidnapped in northern syria, international community of red cross and syrian red crescent had members kidnapped and shot at. it's essential that the basic principle of international neutrality of those providing humanitarian aid and medical assistance be respected today in syria. and this is -- the only way to do so is to have more international pressure on the warring parties. on the government to release those detained and to ensure that government checkpoints are not going to open fire and not going to arrest aid workers but also on a number of rebel groups that have kidnapped and detained

and in some cases shot at aid workers. >> reporter: i want you to comment on the al jazeera exclusive report that you may have heard we heard that rebels are holding hostages of alawites and assad and demanding a prisoner exchange, is this do you think a new tactic by the opposition? >> so, you know, the kidnapping of more of 200 women and children in the northern alawites and we had a report back in december and the abduction was a crime against humanity of the rebel groups and called on the rebel groups to release women and children and again sort of the tactic today we are seeing both sides use which is you kidnap people and try to use them as bargaining chip is illegal under international law. what needs to happen is for these women and children and also all other people who have

been kidnapped or arbitrarily detained to be released. the new footage is the first that surfaced in the last two months. you know and we are happy to see they are alive but more importantly we want to see them freed. ideally without any preconditions, not just them but also all arbitrarily held people in syria. >> reporter: and we are with human watch and thanks for joining us, we will have coverage tomorrow morning as we mark the third year of the civil war. a new truce in gaza is holding and israel said no new rocket fire after two days of rocket attacks and air strikes and the gihad says the truce is in place. a battle over animal rights may put an end to one of y city's famous tourist attraction and deblasio said he will make horse-drawn carriages history and the carriage drivers are

fighting back. >> officer, we just got married. >> reporter: it's an iconic new york scene played out again and again in film and tv. >> nope. >> reporter: manhattans horse-drawn carriages attack tourists by the thousands each year. and steven has driven his far share of them over the past 26 years. >> responsible for putting today on the table for my kids, it's also responsible for feeding the other horses i have as well. so we all earn our keep and we have a mutual bond between us. >> reporter: there are 68 licensed carriages in new york city and more than 160 active drivers. but because each carriage is individually owned drivers say it's impossible to know how much revenue the industry generates. 20-minute ride is $50 and the horses work year around except very hot and cold days and he makes between $50-$80,000 a

year. >> hardworking men and women and provide for our families and meet our bills for expenses for the horses, there is nobody here taking trips around the world and nobody owns yachts and going around the country. >> reporter: they support the plan to ban carriages saying the horses work long hours and kept in poor conditions and breathe dangerous exhaust and although new york's new mayor is a liberal, this is not partisan and the carriage is one thing they agreed on in last year's race. >> there has been 20 accidents and horses hit by taxis and horses that have been hit by suvs and horses simply collapse or drop dead on the streets. it's the year 2014 and 8 million residents in new york and putting an animal in midtown traffic among cars and trucks and buses is not safe any more. >> reporter: they proposed antique style electric cars to replace the horses but the horse and carriage association say the

cars are impractical. >> bottom line is people come to see the horse is the celebrity. you cannot pet a fender, they come and pet a horse. >> reporter: horses may be another part of new york history and i'm with al jazeera, new york. >> reporter: a poll by the university found about 61% of city voters said the mayor should leave the carriage horse trade alone. a star in basketball took center stage and did not disappoint and john henry smith is here with the story. >> he is the 8th college player to score 3,000 points and on the cover of sports illustrated this month and he has taken his show to broad way or two blocks away from there, and he opened played thursday in the big east and he hit six of the first seven three-point attempts and record 27 points in the first half against dupaul and sixth game

and number 14 and wins 84-62 and go to the semi final against xavier and they seem to have a top seed in the ncaa tournament locked up if they could just get through the big east war on the garden floor unscathed but the coach was feeling the pressure and the wildcats tied with under one minute to play and ryan with the steal to hillard and nova 61-59 and hall's turn and takes the three from the corner and makes the three with 17:6 on the clock and it's hillard and scored 11 of the points in the second half and the tough two spot and nova with 1.31 seconds left and takes the pass and

shakes himself up and shoots for the win and all net and number 3 villa nova and the big seed in the dance is probably gone. if you are a folk who prefer college hoops because you think the pros are money hungry you will love to hate the next story 40-year-old steve nash says he will not let his injuries force him into early retirement, why? the lakers owe him $10 million next year and nash says i want the money and i can't blame him. even without nash who is out for the year the lakers upset the powerful oklahoma thunder last sunday and no wonder the thunder had something to prove and russell westbrook and kevin durant had 29 points and teammates chipped more than a bit as okc rolled 131-102 and thunder half game behind san antonio for the best record in the western conference, a football and a guy who needed a fresh start got one and traded jonathan martin to san francisco

49ers and he will play for his college coach harbaugh and 15 miles from campus where he started as part of the cardinals and he talked about the next phase of his career. >> out of ball for five months and wanted to get going and start in a month so trying to be reunited with coach harbaugh and be in the bay area and play in front of the fan base. it speaks for itself, three straight championships and edge of the top and it's fun to be in an atmosphere of winning team that is ready to get to the top of the mountain. >> martin is turning the page from what was an ugly incident in miami and a look at sports this hour. >> great to see him with a positive outlook. by partisan resolution for a how potato on benefits. >> i used to buy and sell drugs

from there. >> reporter: heroin. >> pills, heroin what ever. >> reporter: staying clean in a state where heroin addiction step depositionic and rules on rehab may be making the problem worse.

on al jazeera america ♪ a live look here at 5th avenue in new york city, a chilly 23 degrees here today. welcome back to al jazeera america, straight ahead help may be on the way for nearly 2 million americans who have been out of work for a while but first let's look at the forecast across the country and metrologist nicole mitchell is back. >> it might be 23 in new york by the winds are down and makes it feel better than the wind chills yesterday and a lot has quieted down and look at the eastern half of the country and how dry

it is, the area in the midwest later today for great lakes and tomorrow in northeast could bring minor amounts of moisture and interested in the western half of the country and southwest and northwest and in the northwest there is rain on the coastline and parts of the olympics 3" and in the cascade maybe 6" of snow. but not as wet of a system as we have seen recently. in the southwest a lot of this is not making it to the ground yet but watch for potential for thunderstorms today. this is the area that is eventually going to develop in the weekend, i'll have more on that coming up, back to you. >> thank you. a by partisan group of senators have struck a deal on unemployment benefits. al jazeera's erica has more with details and this comes after months of contentious debate and good morning. >> jobless benefits have been somewhat of a political hot potato and they extended emergency unemployment

compensation program a dozen times but when it hit a five-year low of 7% republicans pushed back on extending benefits and it made it to the senate floor several times and republicans blocked it each time even though gop says it was the democrats who blocked their amendments and president obama in december said actions are costing millions of americans much-needed help. >> because congress didn't act more than 1 million of their constituents will lose vital economic lifeline at christmastime. >> reporter: the unemployment rate has gone down even more since december but there are still 2 million americans without jobs which is why this group of 10 senators half democrats and half republicans agreed on a deem, jack reed, a democratic from rhode island and nevada led the charge since their states are suffering from high unemployment rates. in the end this $10 billion plan is expected to give relief to unemployed by boosting benefits an average of $300 a week and

the white house praised the compromise calling it quote the right thing to do for our economy and the president says he is ready to sign it in law and urging the senate to pass the bill and for the house to do the same but it's a while before the doc sees a vote and probably late march because ukraine is the top priority right now, stephanie. >> thank you and we are joined by david nelson chief strategist at acid management to get a little deeper in this and thanks for being with us this morning. remind us who the 2 million people are and what they have been doing since they lost their benefits at the beginning of the year. >> i'm not sure what they have been doing. really long-term unemployed and a lot of issues here and certainly the short term one, look, i get it. when you're out of work and down to your last dollar you need relief but there is long-term implications that really need to be addressed as well. >> reporter: we will go to those in a minute but let's break down what is in the by partisan deal by group of senators and ael l

senators and it provides benefits for up to 2 million americans. what is in this deal besides that that got by partisan support from this group of senators? >> part of it is the financial and economic implications are rather small, congressional budget office scored this at $26 billion a year and this is an extension of retroactively as you said five months and works out to $10 billion. the democrats are going to point to a big bump in the economy from this. i don't think we will see that. i think we will see a very modest pick up that will actual peter out as the year goes on. >> reporter: i guess the democrats assume that the near term money that is in these people's pockets will lead to stimulus and saying not a long-term solution. >> not a long-term solution. i think something has to be addressed here. a lot of the job losses in the last couple decades have been secular in nature and we are a

global economy and a lot of the jobs are never coming back and at some point in time a lot of americans have to come to grips with the fact that the job and the salary they had in the industry they love just may not be there and they will have to become more mobile. i know for myself i'm on my third career and if i didn't have a job right now i would be on a bus to idaho looking for work in a place that is maybe more job friendly. >> reporter: as part of unemployment benefits i understand there is additional job training. >> that is important. >> reporter: and retrain people so they can find other jobs? >> i think that is important. because, look, job training is key. state insurance, unemployment, insurance programs, what they do is they monitor and document you are out looking for a job but not forcing you to relocate or force lower pay so i think job training is key. >> reporter: tough situation but realities of the economy may require people to cross state lines in order to get work.

>> absolutely. >> reporter: david nelson chief strategist of acid management and thank you and we have a look at what is ahead. >> the end of the first hour and this is what we are following the search for the malaysia flight 370 expanding and crews in the indian ocean afterward the plane sent signal to a satellite hours after it disappeared and secretary of state john kerry is meeting with sergei fedorov in london. kerry hoping to stop the referendum to make crimea a part of russia and gm dealing with a new report that links its recall over faulty ignitions to as many as 300 deaths, the battle vermont is waging against a growing heroin epidemic and stopping addicts from getting clean. plus an al jazeera investigation looking at the secret new york hidden hot spots, some with ties of speak easys of prohibition. >> i'm metrologist nicole

mitchell and big stores in changes for the weekend and i'll have the national forecast and al jazeera continues and dell and i are back with you in just 2 1/2 minutes. have a great morning.

>> new clashes in ukraine as secretary of state john kerry meets with russia's foreign minister trying to stop crimea's vote on secession. >> that plane crashed. >> a plane off the runway during an aborted takeoff. >> in every corner of our state, heroin and opiate drug addiction threatens us. >> vermont fighting back against a growing heroin crisis.

some say the governor's plan to deal with it is back firing. >> the secret new york, the city's coolest hidden hot spots. >> good morning, welcome to aljazeera america. i'm del walters. >> i'm stephanie sy. the clock is ticking on the ukraine crisis, a high level meeting ahead of the secession vote in crimea. >> meeting in london, with residents set to vote this sunday on whether crimea will leave ukraine and join russia. >> jennifer glass is but first

we start in london. what are you hearing? >> stephanie, indeed the russian foreign minister arrived here about 40 minutes ago here in london. on his way here, he was saying it's a very difficult situation, certainly there's no one would say he is underestimating that and he noted that a lot of time has been lost, and secretary of state kerry will be delivering two messages here, really after two things here. one is to determine are the russians willing to deescalate this crisis, willing to take a step back, is president putin willing to blink at this point. there is no indication that he is. they will be delivering termly to the rues the fact that they will pay economic and political

penalties if they are not willing to stand back and pull back from ukraine as they are maneuver 80,000 troops on the russian border very close to ukraine as we speak and causing a lot of nervousness. i think that will be talked about at the table between the secretary of state and russian foreign minister. they will tell the russians that they could face freezing of accounts by people that are supporting this resolution in the crimea this weekend, members of parliament could face travel bans, all of that will be laid out. it is possible that secretary of state kerry has brought unnamed proposals to the table to talk to the russians, possibly about protecting ethnic russians in the crimea, some kind of compromise that they melee out to the russians. >> ahead of this meeting was strong rhetoric, secretary kerry saying it can get ugly fast if the wrong chases are made and

german chancellor saying the territorial integrity of ukraine is not up for discussion. has there been any sign at all from russia that they are budging because of these western demands and threats? no budge. dug in. i think the fact that sergei is here, right now putin is not blinking and not taking a step back. >> dana lewis reporting from london for us. >> in crimea residents two days away from voting on that referendum that will change the boundaries of ukraine. jennifer, is diplomacy going to change anything or is it a

martyr of it just being a done deal? this is really right now going for it happening. the russian authorities have ignored any entreaties by the west to halt this referendum. kiev has called it illegal, moscow doesn't recognize the government there and people here are going ahead, the ballots are printed. they're getting ready with the election stations. there are posters up around done. while it's a done deal for the ethnic population, the majority here, the crimean tartars, and ethnic ukrainians are very unhappy and worried about what this vote will mean for their place in crimea. the tartars and many ukrainians are going to boycott the vote. they're not going to vote at all.

>> is there a concern that the standoff could spread beyond crimea? >> very much so, del. we're hearing worrying words from moscow. we had a clash in eastern ukraine, pro russian protestors broke through police lines, one man killed, a very violent clash that went on for more than an hour and the kremlin saying that kiev is not in charge of the situation and it reserves the right to protect the ethnic russians there. those are words that nobody wants to hear. the international community is not going to want to hear because ukraine is worried that russia will use this as a reason to send troops in and russia is massing troops on that border of

eastern ukraine. the ukrainians don't have the military wherewithal to fight. if it he is delights east he were ukraine, that's a real concern that things could get even worse. >> a reminder to stay with aljazeera america for continuing coverage of the crisis in ukraine as we near that referendum in crimea. we'll tell you about this violent confrontation. >> pro government and opposition demonstrators staged doing protests in caracas. secretary of state john kerry is calling on venezuela's government, says the country must end what he calls a terror campaign against its own citizens. thursday, the president announced the arrest of six people he called nines for anti-government paramilitary

groups. 25 have been killed since demonstrations began. >> flight 370 from malaysian airlines disappeared one week ago. the plane may have been flying for hours after first spotted on radar. >> rolls royces confirms a the last bits of transmission from the engines, there are systems that monitor the engine health, send data. the last bits came at 10 1:07 a. malaysian time and then that data quit. the transponder sending information about the plane's location then quit. sources say that the satellites continued to pick up electronic signals from this plane, from those systems that monitored the engines. that's why many people believe this plane was still in the air

for hours after it dropped off radar. that raises the possibility of foul play and malaysian officials were asked about that this morning. >> i cannot confirm whether there's no highjacking. like i said from the start, and i've been very consistent, we're looking at all possibilities. >> of course, they have to keep all possibilities on the table, but veteran investigators i've talked to say based on the sequence of events that we believe we now about now and remember, data is still sketchy, it does seem to point to foul play, highjackers or someone in the cockpit taking that plane down. >> what is the u.s. doing to aid witness search effort? >> the u.s. has a lot of assets in the area, the navy two destroyers, it has started move into the western part of the western side of malaysia because the search is now expanding off towards the indian ocean and we also know that today a

surveillance plane from the navy is supposed to come in the area to help with the search, as well. >> what are the officials in malaysia saying about the transponders being turned off? >> they refuse to say things until they have it nailed down, but it's very suspicious according to people that i talked to that both the systems that send out engine data and then transponder both went off about 14 minutes and a gap between the two. what would cause both those systems to go off without someone deliberately doing it, that is the big question, whether this was deliberate. base understand on what we know that is what appears to be the case. >> thank you very much. >> some scary moments for passengers on a u.s. airways plane at philadelphia international airport forced to evacuate when the nose gear

collapsed during takeoff. >> it was horrifying. it really was. >> these are the images after the flight came to a screeching halt at philadelphia international international airport. >> my plane just crashed. >> passengers sliding down emergency chutes sprinting to get as far away as possible. >> they are evacuating the plane. >> everything went into such a panic at the time. i never experienced anything like that before. pilots on the flight were forced to abort takeoff after the landing gear collapsed and a tire blew. >> the plane's having difficulty taking off, almost like a landing where they slam it in. the pilot did a fantastic job. >> the airport was shut down, planes grounded and the injuries all minor. >> some of the passengers opted to get back on another flight to fort lauderdale. >> there was no major damage to

the plane and the f.a.a. opened an investigation into the incident. >> federal safety officials prevented from investigating the cause of that deadly explosion that leveled two apartment buildings in new york city, firefighters recovering the eighth victim of the gas explosion in harlem. rescue workers are using dogs and thermal detection gear, five people still missing. dozens were injured. >> in syria, the war marks it's third anniversary. exclusive video show women and children held against their will by rebel fighters. the hostages are from bashar al assad's sect. they were abducted from villages in the coastal town, a strong hold of the clan. rebels demand the release of 200 opposition fighters in exchange for these hostages. tomorrow marks three years since the start of the civil war. aljazeera america will provide extensive coverage beginning at 6:00 a.m. eastern.

>> in 1994, rwanda was torn apart by ethnic clashes that lasted 100 days and more than 800,000 people from rwanda were killed. a man is facing life in prison for crimes against humidity. it could set a precedent for more trials on the killings in that country. >> more than 1 million fleeing their homes as a result of months of fighting in south sudan, many living in refugee camps now face another challenge, heavy rains flooding those camps. things could get even worse. >> rebecca ran from her home three months ago to this camp for displaced people. she and her family were afraid for their lives and took ref final in a low-lying part of juba. last night, much of what she was

able to bring with her was flooded away. >> we've lost everything. everything has been ruined. we don't have food or clothes. all we have is this chair to sit on until we go to bed. >> scores of people were killed when fighting broke out in december. this u.n. base provided sanctuary for thousands but the land never intended for people to build homes on. for six months of the year, it's a swamp. they're using sand at this health clinic to try to raise the ground level to prevent flooding. usually this place would be teeming with people. it had to close while repairs were made. if the conditions aren't improved, human tarns warn disease will spread. >> it will be catastrophic. i can compare it to something, but it would be catastrophic. after three days of small rain, it's already flooded, muddy. i think if the rains are

continuing it will be catastrophic. >> latrines have collapsed. there's a danger that the 25,000 residents of this camp could be left without sanitation altogether. >> just 24 hours ago, there were people living on all this flooded air. there's only within one big rain this season but already most of this settlement is underwater. >> the people here are too afraid to go back in their homes, but in these conditions, the camp isn't safe for them to live in, either. >> peace talks between rebels and the government are set to start again earlier this month, the two sides signing a ceasefire agreement in january but the heavy fighting continues. >> g.m. is being investigated for the recent recall of more than a million vehicles. >> a new report is pointing to another deadly failure involving

two models already recalled, this time saying the problem could be responsible for more than 300 deaths. >> where you are, you open the door and it's like the party of the century is going on behind that door. >> inside the secret new york that dates back to the prohibition era. >> our big number of the day is 55,700,000,000. >> what this number has to do with americans that really, really love their pets.

>> you're looking live at new york city's central park where it is a balmy 24 degrees. it was cold. >> that is one frozen pond right there in central park. welcome to aljazeera america. i'm stephanie sy. >> i'm del walters. >> air bags could be responsible for hundreds of deaths. >> first temperatures cross the nation today. >> definitely still some cold air, the improvement has been the winds have died down, it's not quite as bitter. up and down the east coast, cold temperatures once again before

we rebound today. our comparisons, 36 in atlanta versus 38 in minneapolis and 49 in houston versus 51 in seattle. you can see however southward that cold air spread. arctic stuff that moved through the northeast is start to go slide off now. up and down the coastline, temperatures nudge up in a lot of cases, 10 or 15 degrees versus yesterday, but look to the midwest once again, minneapolis, those temperatures that are in the 30's for today go into the 20's for tomorrow, so as the east coast warms tomorrow, some of that cold air eventually for sunday. back to you guys. >> nicole, thank you. >> more problems for general motors involving two cars that have already been recalled. a new study finds more than 300 people died after their airbags failed to open. both cars of part of a nationwide recall and that involves faulty ignition switches, causing 34 crashes

killing 12 people. we are following the situation from detroit. this recall is looking more serious now. >> this latest development comes on top of a massive recall involving over a million general motors vehicles. a private watchdog group commissioned this most recent study and founds hundreds of people have lost their lives at crashing and their airbags didn't deploy. general motors is tasing harsh criticism and now so is the government. >> they are strangers bound together, the victims of fatal car wrecks, 13 in all. general motors has linked it to a defective ignition switch on six of its models. >> she hydroplaned, went across two lanes of traffic and hit in the side by another car. >> that happened to his daughter, brook who was killed

in her 2005 chevy cobalt shutting off. >> it was her birthday. i kept thinking this can't happen, it's her birthday. >> those deaths led to issue a recall last month of 1.6 million vokes, but now a new report reveals another defect could be tied to a much larger number of victims. according to "the new york times," 303 people died between 2003 and 2012 after their airbags failed to deploy on two of the models recalled in february. it suggestion the faulty ignition switch would render the airbags useless. the review conducted by a company that analyzes vehicle safety data comes after g.m. admitted this week that it had received the first sign of problems with the ignition switch back in 2001, waiting more than a decade to order a recall. that disclosure has reportedly spawned a criminal investigation

by the justice democratic, who wants to know what g.m. officials knew and perhaps more importantly when they knew it. congress wants answers, too, like why the national highway traffic safety administration didn't open an investigation into the matter sooner, despite hundreds of consumer complaints. >> i wanted to know what happened here. was there some key information missing in the nationals of these complaints? >> we are conducting an on going aggressive investigation into g.m. and the timing of the recall. >> g.m. is criticizing the report over the air bags, calling it pure speculation, based on raw data but the timing comes just as the automakers new c.e.o. marry bara called for an internal probe. >> she wants to make up for the mistakes of the past, but she's got a lot to make up for. >> the federal government has

been investigating for the past several weeks. if general motors is found liable of wrongdoing, the automakers could possibly face millions of dollars in fines as well as criminal charges. >> live in detroit, thank you. >> in business news, a massive car seat recall expanded, adding 400,000 car seats to the recall. the new models were sold from swings to this year, the harness buckle may not unlatch, making it difficult to exit the car in an emergency. the recall should include rear facing seats that have that same buckle. >> stocks trying to regain their footing after the biggest drop in five weeks. this is over chinese economy and the ukraine crisis.

overseas, the asian markets picked up selling, nikkei down 3%. european markets are lower all across the board. >> mcdonald's is facing lawsuits in new york, florida and michigan, workers saying they were not paid overtime and had hours taken off time cards. mcdonald's says the allegations are not true. >> b.p., the oil company behind the largest oil spill in u.s. history can once again bid for new government contracts, the ban lifted that was imposed after the 2010 gulf of mexico oil spill. b.p. agreed to abide by a series of safety ethics and other requirements and will drop a lawsuit against the e.p.a. the u.s. auction for the right to drill in the gulf where the spill occurred is set for next week. >> how much do americans love their pets? how about 55,000,700,000.

>> that is the domestic amount spent on pets. >> the bulk was spent on pet food, americans shelling out $22 billion feeding dogs, cats and other animals. no table scraps for these pets. >> we are talking about dogs and cats here. they spent another $14 billion on trips to the pet and $13 billion on supplies and over-the-counter medicine. it's a lot of money americans spend on pets, but they spent $80 billion a year on beer. >> my wife spends more to have the dog groomed than i do for a haircut. >> i believe it. >> crimea's referendum, i'm going to change the subject now less than 48 hours away. >> some are running for the bank while others are running for

cover. >> why some say journalism has become the most dangerous profession in crimea. >> i suffer from a disease and there's no known cure, and that's really hard to get across to people. >> struggling to get clean from heroin addiction. vermont's new fight against the epidemic could be making it harder for addicts to kick their habit. >> welcome to employees only. have a look-see. >> we have your key to the hidden hot spots in new york city. >> with tournament time looming, fear the blue jay. why creighton basketball is loaded and poised to make noise in the ncaa tournament. >> the sun is starting to rise in washington, d.c. it is 32 degrees. that is where i get high haircut.

>> these protestors have decided that today they will be arrested >> these people have chased a president from power, they've torn down a state... >> what's clear is that people don't just need protection, they need assistance.

>> welcome back to aljazeera america. i'm del walters. >> i'm stephanie sy. >> a last ditch effort at diplomacy as the number of russian troops in and around ukraine and crimea increases. >> we're talking about one state's war against heroin addiction. some say the plan is may going it harder for the addicts to get clean. >> in our next hour, one woman's unique invention is helping the homeless stay warm and helping some of them get jobs. >> we want to get you caught up on that situation in crimea. we are two days away from the controversial referendum there. people are going to vote on whether to remain part of ukraine or join russia. it has produced anxious moments between pro russian forces and the russian military and

ukrainian military. >> a cameraman runs out of fear for his life. down the road, deeply worried crimeans run a bank out of fear for their futures. no matter which side they're on, these are the days of doubt. in 72 hours, they'll decide whether to join russia. their apprehension stems from savings to safety. this afternoon, a cameraman from the local t.v. channel filmed violent tension in a place there's supposed to be order. on a military base just outside the crimean capitol, those are pro russian militia on the far side, inside the gate, ukrainian soldiers. at first, both sides used wooden weapons, but then. [ gunfire ] >> that's a resolver, around the side, militia members who

already threatened a cameraman breached the walls. the cameraman takes off. for weeks, pro russians have targeted, harassed, even kidnapped journalists for exposing the russian occupation. this time, the cameraman he is scales and describes the incident as they drive away. >> the militia captured a french cameraman and it is called crimea's most dangerous profession. >> journalists who write and tell the truth and try to tell the world what's going on in the peninsula and the terrible things that are happening. >> outside a bank, hundreds of people tried to withdraw their money after they heard a rumor that all crimean banks might be nationalized. >> there's a limit in other a.t.m.'s of about $50 and i need a bigger amount. >> the banks imposed limits,

struggling to keep enough cash on hand to meet demand. their customers are seizing what little time is left before the referendum. >> here people are worrying more than they are supposed to. that's why we have this line. i don't want to wait until tomorrow. >> even here, after only half an hour, a journalist presence is no longer welcome. >> despite the risks, she vows to keep doing her job. right now for her, it's more than a job. it's a sort of national duty. >> i never thought that because of these conditions i would love ukraine even more. this is my country, my morland and i'm scared what they're doing to it. >> nobody knows if the fear and loathing will end soon or whether it's just begun. >> that is nick shiffrin voting. sunday's vote could impact the utilities. the northern province provides crimea with electricity, fresh water and natural gas.

officials warning they will shut everything off if that referendum goes forward. the executive director of the american institute in ukraine joins us this morning. the prime minister talking to the united nations yesterday saying that there should be diplomacy. >> we urge russian federation to pull back its military forces, deployed in crimea and to start real talks and negotiations in order to tackle this conflict. >> yatsenyuk saying russia does not want war. they are flying the russian flag in crimea and troops on the ground, everyone believes this vote is a done deal. was it taken without shots fired? >> it appeared when the referendum happens sunday, the thing will pass and crimea's clearly bound for independence,

and then possible incorporation into the russian federation. that would appear to be the case. >> secretary of state john kerry set to meetian with sergei labarov. do you believe there is room for diplomacy? >> there is room for diplomacy, but the treble is they're at an impasse in the sense that the russians, you know, do not want to deal with this government in kiev, do not reward is as legitimate. the russians have said already that they would reward a return to the agreement that calls for the restoration of the status quo in ukraine, not the return of yanukovych, the president necessarily, but the beginning of a power sharing arrangement in kiev, which would undo effects of what russia rewards as an illegal coup d'etat against the legitimate government of ukraine.

the americans are saying this is the government we have to deal with in kiev, so this is the nature of the impasse. >> strong words yesterday from german chancellor and go merkel. she said in a speech we see it not only as a threat, it would change the european's relationship with russia. this would cause massive damage to russia economically and politically. she speaks russian, she speaks german, they have a good relationship, they go back to the details of the old soviet union. can she make vladimir putin blink? >> if anybody can, she can, however the problem is that if you talk about first of all western sanctions can only be effective against russia if germany participates. germany is the key to the whole sanction idea. however, russia has said in fact, russia said immediately after merkel spoke yesterday that they will retaliate, that the retaliation will be

proportional, but they will strike back. >> 52% of what russia makes its money off of is natural resources, natural gas, petroleum products. we are looking now at a global economy that is shifting and changing. is russia now as powerful as it used to be with regard to oil? >> yes. they'd have to find alternatives to russia as a source. they would have to go to natural gas coming from the u.s.a. that takes a long time to develop. russia is the name of the game right now for germany. it's unlikely that russia respond to german sanctions by cutting off oil and gas, that is extreme but there are lots of german direct investment in russia, lots of german money at stake in that reward. right after merkel spoke yesterday, the association of german exporters, representing 120,000 german companies said no, we don't want sanctions. there's a lot at stake here, this could blow back on us.

she's under enormous pressure from a group of industrialists that have formed part of her core base -- >> that's saying don't do it. there is a moral obligation that the prime minister was reminding the united nations about saying look, we signed a treaty. we said that we would get rid of our nuclear weapons, the third largest arsenal in the world so you have to protect us. there's a moral obligation. >> that's what he would say and the russians would say to that but who are you to speak for ukraine, nobody elected you, and in any case, you know, there is no russian threats to -- there's the crimea thing, but yatsenyuk does not agree in that. there is the impasse. >> thank you very much. >> a glimmer of hope for illegal

immigrants in the u.s. the white house is reviewing all the way deportations are handled after president obama met with hispanic lawmakers. it could lead to fewer deportations, but senior democrats want deportations to stop altogether. >> the justice democratic wants top reduce prison sentenced, saying shorter sentences would be fair and would only apply to some crimes. >> there are people, we have to understand who have to be prosecuted and deserve to go to jail for extended periods, extended periods of time but there are also ways in which we can maintain public safety and reduce the prison population, reduce the number of people we

are sentencing. >> the commission will vote on the proposal next month. if approved, sentences will be shortened by about a year. >> vermont faces a serious battle against heroin addiction second only to maine for people seeking treatment. in part two of a special series, america tonight is calling addicted in vermont, we look at how the state is dealing with an epidemic. >> kim, how long have you been clean now? >> 16 months today. >> today is 16 months. >> yeah. >> congratulations. >> 25-year-old kimberly jones was one of the busiest heroin dealers in this vermont neighborhood. >> you sold drugs right there. >> i used to buy and sell drugs from there. >> heroin? >> yep, pills, heroin, whatever. >> in the heart of ski country, vermont is ground zero of this epidemic. >> in every corner of our state, heroin and opiate drug addiction threatens us. >> we traveled throughout

vermont to find more about the governor's plan to deal with this crisis. our investigation found part of that plan may actually be backfiring. we've heard the same story everywhere, we talked to rehab center directors and they tell us over the last nine months, they have seen the relapse rate at their clinics skyrocket. >> we've certainly seen an increase in the number of people coming back. >> relapsing. >> relapsing, yes. >> do you have a percentage? >> i'd say it's probably 15 to 20% more than it used to be. >> dick runs se serenity house n vermont that treats 400 people a year. the state used to pay for addict to say stay 28 days, but last july, they cut that in half. only 14 days unless patients get a special waiver. >> two hours north, the director

of valley vista treatment center said the relapse rate since july has increased even more, nearly 100%. state officials insisted the relapse rate had climbed only 5%. >> we asked the governor's commissioner of health dr. harry chen why the state shortened in-patient rehab. >> most of what we want to create is not one size fits everyone. as we put more capacity on outpatient treatment, whether intensive or treatment at methadone hubs, the less we actually will need those extra days. >> is 14 days in a rehab facility enough? >> absolutely not. it takes a much longer, in my experience, in general, you need about 90 days for people to at least be able to reset their thermostat so they can have more resistance. >> the state's new plan is to cut back existing in-patient

treatment and focus on out patient care, giving addicts heroin replacement drugs, like methadone at five hubs around the state. >> i suffer from a disease and there's no known cure and that's really hard to get across to people. >> kimberly's now in recovery, and she's turned her addiction into advocacy, lobbying vermont lawmakers to increase funding for long term rehabilitation so that addictses like her have a fighting chance. >> it's hard, you know, to admit that i'm an addict. >> aljazeera, rutland, vermont. >> heroin addiction is not just a personal struggle. children born oh to addicted

mothers fight for their lives. in the third installment, we take a closer look at the price paid by the next generation, babies forced to go through the agony of withdrawal. that begins tonight right here on aljazeera america. >> a religious group in one small texas town is coming under the microscope. wells texas has fewer than hey hundred people. some residents say a group known as it is church of wells is a cult and families from across the country have come to search for loved ones they believe have been brainwashed. coming up at 8:30, we'll follow the story of one couple trying to get their daughter back. >> taking a look at the weather, it's a roller coaster ride out there. >> again. let's bring in meteorologist nicole mitchell. >> a couple days ago when it got warmer everyone was like spring is here to stay, not quite. it has been all over the place. all that cold air even down into

the south we've had it. north florida in the 30's, unusual for the month of march. temperatures are getting around the freezing mark, freeze warnings up this morning. usually you see that more in the fall when things freeze for the first time. now that things have started to grow, that's the warning that that's going to be hard on some vegetation. the biggest blast of cold air is moving out, and with the winds dying down, those temperatures will rebound up the coastline, 60's, 70's, 40's farther northward. that is going to improve conditions, and it's all right been mild in the midsection of the country into almost near 70 in memphis today. as we head toward the west coast, this is sunday, but look at los angeles at 90 degrees. most of the country would say give it to me. here we're in drought

conditions, that's going to dry hinges out more. it would be nice if we could have just some of this moisture into the southwest. this is our next, it doesn't look like much now. that's going to be our next developing area, while right now things are quiet, changing tomorrow. >> today, moisture through the great lakes moves into the northeast into the day tomorrow. not a lot of moisture with that. it's this next system that we're going to be concerned. watch that brew up into the day tomorrow, enough of the clash of the cold and warm air. we could even see stronger storms move through across the weekend and look at what this could do for st. patrick's day parade. >> that's the weather version of march madness, the real deal just a couple days away. >> john henry smith is here to tell us about it. >> still thinking about nicole's -- >> let's talk about the bracket.

i've got my pen. >> you guys are going to fill out your brackets. there's also a but..., i had to go there, i'm sorry. the great blue jays are coming offer a big win last night in the big east tournament. now you may have heard about their biggest star but as we report, there's more to the success than high scoring doug mcdermott. >> if the name said duke, kentucky or kansas they'd be on t.v. a couple of nights a week. instead, the men at creighton university go to work with a chip on their shoulder and are slowly but surely putting omaha, nebraska on the college basketball map. >> a lot of us weren't high major recruits. we were recruited here to play in missouri valley, so kind of wanted to show people that might have missed out on us. >> what did scouts miss out on? two time all american doug mcdermott who has had a dream

career in omaha. the 6'7" forward is a shoo in for player of the year. playing alongside fellow senior ethan who has become one of the nation's best three-point shooters, and yet the game announcers still get his name wrong. >> how many ways has your last name been pro nunsed? >> multiple. you can pronounce it with a w. or without. a lot of people raggy, froggy, it's across the board. >> we were coming off that road loss to providence so we knew we had to get it. it doesn't hurt when ethan hits his first seven threes. that got everyone going. everyone was hitting their shots. >> that has set the tone and showing the rest of the nation not only they can compete in the

big east but have the chops to flat out win it. >> our goal now is just to take it one day at a time, keep getting better, improving as a basketball team so when it comes time for the ncaa tournament we're playing our best basketball. >> the last time they made the sweet 16 was 1974. they've got a great cast of seniors. they say they're ready to make some noise. >> that's our overall goal. we've gotten knocked in the third round the last two years and it's something we strive for every day. >> we were one game away from a sweet 16 the last two years. unfortunately we ran into carolina and duke this past year. we want to get back to that point. obviously we'd love to get back to that game and have a chance to kick that door in. >> while the coach is proud to have a program that boasts consistency with four seniors in the lineup he wouldn't mind having the problem the likes of john calendar perry has in kentucky. >> i hope i have a couple one

and done guys. that means you've attracted some great talent to your campus. it's an exciting brand of basketball, you're playing in front of 18,000 fans. i did doesn't get much better than that. >> making a run at a national title could certainly make that happen. aljazeera. >> creighton takes on xavier tonight in the semifinals. >> they're like the old speak easies of the prohibition era. you probably remember that, del. ♪ >> why this newborn kangaroo's appearance was such a special occasion.

>> secret new york hot spots hidden in back alleys and behind store fronts. good morning and welcome back to aljazeera america. i'm receive sigh. >> i'm del walters. we'll have that story in a moment. first nicole mitchell. >> i think stephanie's hitting the hot spots all the way she is zinging del this morning. we have a quiet pattern. the west coast, more activity, more rain. this isn't as potent as those last systems causing flooding concerns. still could be minor flooding and for the cascades and olympics look for snow. as we head sawedward, this is the developing system we're watching closely over the

weekend. by tomorrow, could see strong storms out of that moving across the country. >> it is a side of new york city few ever get to see, a secret society of clubs and restaurants tucked away behind store fronts and non-descript buildings. >> most long time residents don't know they're there. >> manhattan's lower east side, walk through a dark tunnel in a back alley way. you'll never guess what's there. you can't get inside unless you know the -- password! ♪ >> the dancing, the wallpaper, the paintings, transport you back to a time when speak easies flourished, providing ref final, a safe place for those dodging the law. >> these were illegal

establishments, no address, no signage, nothing to tell you where it is, so you have to know someone in order to find it. we kind of operate the same way. our doorman aren't allowed to tell people where it is if they're walking up and down the streets on their cell phones, where? where am i? only if you ask do we tell. >> this place has been operational since the 1920's in some former fashion and rumored to be an old watering hole for gangsters. the drinks are served in mugs. >> the reason that is is because back then, all drinks were just a shot and a beer. in order to fool the police when they came in, they wanted to make people think they were drinking coffee or tea. >> in the west village, another place operates behind a hidden point of access. >> welcome to employees only. have look-see. hidden exclusivity have because hall marks.

establishments are looking for unique ways to draw people in. >> there's just a psychic sign in the window. you would never think about going inside. >> they don't advertise, instead relying on word of mouth and the natural desire to be in on a secret. in the east village, chris dog's hotdog shop. >> this is no ordinary hotdog place. this phone booth is a secret package way to a bar next door. you go inside, pick up the phone, dial one, and if there's room inside, they'll let you in. it's an intimate atmosphere where only 40 guests can dine at a time, no exceptions. >> doesn't matter who you are, where you come from, how much money you have, if there is a bunch of girls in your party or not, it's just if you're there, the first person there, you're the first person to get seats. >> a few blocks away, anyone can hawk goods in this neighborhood pawn shop but not everyone knows

what's behind it. >> you come up and all you see is two people and you open the door and it's like the party of the century is going on behind that door. it's just a big thing, a cool thing, you know, the first time someone comes here, it's a really cool thing. >> hidden portals, secret codes, seductive forces making a fantasy very real. erika ferrari, aljazeera. >> by 1930, new york had 32,000 speak easies, most serving booze openly. i missed it by about three years. >> i'm sorry, i know you weren't around during prohibition. it's an interesting trend. >> we're getting our first look at an endangered baby kangaroo, the first born at sydney zoo in 20 years. this is the first time the baby peeped out from its mother's pouch. it is known as the ornate tree

kangaroo. it lives north of australia in new guinea. the mother's pregnancy lasts for 45 days. >> we are following the search for the missing malaysia flight. signals went on for hours after the plane disappeared. >> secretary of state kerry meeting with his russian counter part trying to talk about the crisis in ukraine. >> the race is on to save a baby gorilla. zoo officials used a procedure used in human mothers to bring this baby into the world. >> we have a little lull between storms this friday, but big

changes in store for the weekend. i'll have that national forecast. >> the aljazeera morning news continues, del is back with you in just two minutes. have a great friday morning.

>> secretary of state john kerry meeting at this hour with russian foreign minister in london, both men at adds ahead

of sunday's crucial secession vote in crimea, kerry hoping this meeting could face russia to back off what is called its aggressive stance. we begin with dana lewis in london. they have been meeting for two hours. how vital are these talks? certainly i think that the americans are here trying to determine two things. are the russians willing to take a step back, is putin willing a blink and is he listening to what the americans and the european union are telling him, and that is if he continues on in his interference of ukraine, he is going to face very stiff economic and political fallout. some of that will be the freezing of assets by russians

abroad, some of those people could be very close to the kremlin itself and they're talking about a lot of travel bans on any russian that was involved in supporting this action in the crimea that should be members of the parliament, reuters reporting they are looking at a list in the e.u. of 120-130 names of russians. it doesn't mean all of them would face travel ban but certainly some may well do so. a lot of tough talk coming from the e.u. and america right now saying to the russians take a step back, pull your troops back from the border, because they're exercising 80,000 troops along the borderer now. here's what u.s. secretary of state kerry said yesterday. >> there will be a response of some kind to the referendum itself, and in addition, if there is no sign of any capacity to be able to move forward and

resolve this issue, there will be a very serious series of steps on monday in europe and here with respect to the options that are available to us. >> no one is saying that we're going to have to wait very long to see those anxiouses and that economic action. you'll probably have an announcement on monday right after this referendum. >> has there been a russian response? >> there has not other than their continued line they believe they're protecting or they eight that they're in there protecting russian ethnic groups and that they believe that the government in kiev is not a real government. they won't recognize it. in the meantime, they've been moving troops along the border with ukraine and refuse to pull back.

>> thank you very much. our coverage continues now in crimea. residents there just two days away from voting on that referendum that will change the boundaries of ukraine perhaps forever. jennifer, what is the mood ahead of that vote now just 48 hours away? >> ethnic russians leer are very excited about the vote, thinking it's going to reverse a mistake made when crimea was given to ukraine. they are looking forward to it. bill boards have popped up encouraging people to vote. only pro russian bill boards and only pro russian demonstrations really are encouraged here. no matter what's going on in london or any other capitals in europe or around the world, people here are determined that this is going to go ahead, that this referendum is going to go ahead on sunday. not everyone is thrilled. the tartar population, 13% of the population as well as ethnic

ukrainians who are terrified. some of them are being threatened. i spoke to a gentleman born here but because he supported the government in kiev he has been threatened by his neighbors here. they say they're going to boycott the vote that it is a p.r. exercise by russia by russian supporters -- by pro russian officials here in crimea to just show the west it is a democracy but they say it is a far as. >> thank you very much. >> it has been a week since malaysian airlines flight 370 disappeared. there are new reports saying it flew for hours after it fell off the radar. the search now appears to be heading west to the indian ocean. >> there are just so many strange things going on with this aircraft. first, the transponder stopped working. why was that? did someone turn it off

deliberately. that sends information about the plane's location and altitude. after the plane dropped off radar, it appears there were still some signals coming from this plane, possibly from devices that monitor the electronics and engines on the plane. these signals were picked up by two satellites. if they were coming from this plane, it would indicate that the engines possibly were still turning, possibly the aircraft still in the air after it dropped off the satellite, after it dropped off the radar, i should say. that's one of the reasons they're expanding the search out to the indian ocean. u.s. investigators ever looked at this pinging data from the satellites and have taken a look and said it appears that the plane may in fact have gone out west toward the indian ocean. the u.s. navy moving a destroyer in the air into that region to start looking for wreckage. it's ahuge area to search. still again, a big mystery still

a lot more questions. >> of course, those questions swirling asthmalation officials held their daily news conference. the big question, did the plane stay in the air, were these communication systems deliberately turned off and what does that mean. malaysian officials were asked about that. >> there are possibilities we are exploring. it could have been done intentionally, under duress, it could have been done because of an explosion. that's why i do not want to go into the realm of speculation. >> they would not speculate about whether this was a highjacking, or an act by the pilot. aviation experts say if the sequence laid out by the data we have so far, i want to stress this is what we have so far, if this appears to hold up, it does seem to point towards foul play. >> thank you very much. >> joining us now by phone from hong kong is commander william

marks spokesman for the u.s. navy seventh fleet on the u.s.s. blue ridge. based on the fact that you have now been deployed to the indian ocean, what do you know that we don't know? >> i can tell you now it's a completely different scenario. if you look at the gulf of thailand, we had a relatively defined search area, started out about 50 nautical miles by 50 nautical miles. it did expand about 100 miles. now, we've shifted over to the northwest part of the straight of malaca, the entrance to the indian ocean, we have a p and p3 on station. those take off from kuala lampur and can fly upwards of 1,000 miles if they need to into

the indian ocean. then the u.s.s. kidd has two helicopters. we are prepared to search from the strait westward. it's a completely different scenario -- to an area where there is an expansive entire ocean out there. >> my point is when you talk about repositioning that amount of man power, that amount of money that it takes to really maintain these vessels, these crews, these aircraft, that type of decision is not made in a vacuum. is it your belief that there is concrete evidence that that airliner may have gone down perhaps in the indian ocean because of no information that is coming from the engines? >> i'm not sure if there's any concrete evidence. i am at the tactical level. the u.s. navy's seventh fleet, my role is to ensure that we search as much area as we can in a safe manner.

the evidence, who knows what's out there? right now, we're doing our best to search and one for survivors and two for debris. that's where i am right now. >> is the u.s. base in the indian ocean monitoring all of the crafts approaching the indian ocean, to your knowledge? >> to my assessment, that's a little too far away from the situation right now. our best asset is the p3 and p5 out of kuala lampur. those are very advanced patrol crafts that fly at an altitude of 5,000 or 10,000 feet. they can cover 10,000 to 12,000 square miles in one flight, so that's our best asset and that's starting around the straight working outward. >> when a fleet is deployed like

you have been deployed however up the chain of command does it have to go, in other words who in washington signed off on this mission, to your knowledge. did it go to the white house? >> i know at least some chain of command, it goes all the way up to the department of defense, so the chairman takes a look at that. i can't tell you where it goes from there, i can only talk about the maritime chain of command. >> what were your orders, what were you told to do? >> from the u.s. navy's perspective, the first 72 hours of this search and really any search, that's going to be a search for survivors. you can -- a person can survive in the water without food or drinking water, they can survive pretty much on sheer will power, so that first 72 hours was critical for a search for survivors. after that, it's in coordination

with the government of malaysia. we're not sure exactly how long we'll be here. i think those plans are developing still. i cannot speculate on that, but i can tell you there's 700 u.s. navy out here and that's what we train for. we're doing our best. >> you can assume this is now a recovery mission. >> it looks and awful lot like that. the longer a person would stay out here, the hopes diminish. there's really nothing to recover quite yet, it's a search and if it moves to recovery, then that would be if anything were found. >> thank you very much for your time. i know exactly how busy you are. that is commander william marks, a spokesman for the navy's seventh fleet. >> a close call in the u.s. for passengers onboard a u.s. airways plane at philadelphia

international airport. this was taken moments after the jet was forced to make a hard landing. the plane was bound for fort louder dial but the nose gear collapsed. passengers evacuated the plane using emergency chutes. no injuries were reported. there is an investigation. >> facebook c.e.o. has a message for the white house, president obama on thursday, mark zuckerberg calling the president to complain about the n.s.a.'s controversial spying program, the secret documents published this week showing the agency impersonate's facebook to gather information from targets. code was used to break into the targets' computers to get data. >> several storm systems are brewing across the u.s. nicole mitchell joins us now. >> we have a couple systems that we're monitoring. right now, things are quiet. a lot of people are ready for

the breaks in the action after snowstorm after snowstorm we have had this winter. pretty much the eastern half of the country is dry. we'll monitor this little disturbance through the northern tier great lakes through today and northeast tomorrow. we have to go all all the way to the northwest and four corners region to look at hour next couple of systems. this one also not as wet as some of our recent systems here, but watch for a couple inches of rain and several inches of snow in some of those higher elevations. it is not as problematic as the next system we're watching. could see showers and thunderstorms through today in new mexico. it is over the weekend we are more concerned. this is how we all start off this morning. parts of the plains, california in the drought, very dry through the midsection of the country, as well. as we get into saturday, as all this spins up, that rain could be beneficial.

we could be looking at strong storms with that. we're starting to get into that time of year, as this moves across the country, enough cold air on the north side of it, we could be watching for snow and definitely showers and storms on a lot of the east coast, just in time for st. patrick's day. we're going to watch this closely and how it times out with the big parades like new york and savannah. we'd rather have the dry forecast. >> there are more problems for general motors over its recall, more than 300 people dying after airbags failed to open in two cars. those same models are part of a massive recall, faulty ignition switches caused 34 crashes that killed 12 people. we are following the developments from detroit. this g.m. rahm is looking even more serious. >> this latest development comes on top of a massive recall

involving over a million general motors vehicles. it was a private watchdog group that conducted this most recent study. they found hundreds of people died after the airbags in their cars didn't deploy after crashing. general motors has already faced harsh criticism and now so is the government. >> they are strangers bound together, the victims of fatal car wrecks, 13 in all. general motors has linked it to a defective ignition switch on six models. >> she hydroplaned, went across two lanes of traffic and was hit in the side by another car. >> that's how ken described what happened to his daughter who was killed after the ignition in her 2005 g.m. car shut off shutting off the power steering system and anti lock brakes. >> it was her birthday. >> a recall was issued last

month of 1.6 million vehicles. a new report reveals another defect could be tied to a much larger number of victims. according to "the new york times," 303 people died between 2003 and 2012 after their air bags failed to deploy on two of the models that were recalled in february. the new findings suggests the faulty ignition switch which ceased the engine would render the airbags useless. a company that analyzes vehicle safety data report comes after g.m. admitted this week it received the first sign of problems with the ignition switch back in 2001, waiting more than a decade to order a recall. that disclosure has reportedly spawned a criminal investigation by the justice democratic, who wants to know what g.m. officials knew and perhaps more importantly, when they knew it. congress wants answers like why the nts investigation didn't

open an investigation sooner despite hundreds of complaints. >> was there key information missing in the analysis of these complaints? what are we looking at? >> had we known there was an issue, that might have changed the outcome of those initial crash investigations. >> meanwhile, g.m. is criticizing the report over the air bags, calling it pure speculation based on raw data. the timing comes just as the automakers new c.e.o. marry bar wells ra called for an internal probe. >> she wants to make up for the mistakes of the past, but she's got a lot to make up for. >> the government has spent the past weeks looking into the initial recall this past february, if general motors is found liable for wrongdoing, the automakers could face millions

of dollars of fines and criminal charges. >> fighting to keep scott land in the united kingdom, the case that has the british prime minister taking a look at the country's future. >> the political posturing behind the agreement. >> why officials at the san diego zoo were forced to use a common surgical procedure used with humans to bring life to the animal kingdom.

>> good morning, welcome back to aljazeera america. british prime minister david cameron appealing to the people of scotland not to vote to leave the u.k. opinion polls are starting to narrow. >> six months ago until these people have an historic decision to make. some have made their minds up. enough haven't to make

predictions impossible. >> we don't need to go whole hog independent. >> i'm still a wee bit weary about it. i want to know more about it. >> in some ways, it is odd given all the way in which vetting for independence has been portrayed as a bit like voting to throw your country off the cliff. >> over the course of the last few minutes, the people have been left in absolutely no doubt what a terrible uphill struggle it would be for them if they wanted to go independent. they've been told that they couldn't stay in the currency, couldn't join the european union, that the banking system wouldn't work and they wouldn't be able to guarantee of the future of north sea oil, so every single economic button against them has been pressed by london. during the same period, the yes to independence votes has not only solidified, it's grown slightly. >> this comic video, a takeoff

on the american star lady gaga boils down the frustration felt by the 40% who are pro independents, in their opinion the london elite continues to patronize them by implying that scotland is too little to function without english protection. the artist herself is convinced that the pro independence arguments of yes we can will always resonate better with scots than the drum beat from plan don of no you can't. >> people don't like being patronized and told what to do. it's ironic, that's part of why we want independence. people are tired of being not dictated to, but policies forced upon them that they didn't vote for. >> what should david cameron do? if he gives more furious compromise has he not accepted some of the core values of the independence campaign? >> it will be interesting to see whether nevertheless mr. cameron

said i do believe, this is the direction which we should go and therefore kind of suggest that there is a positive vision for scott land's place in the union in the event of a no vote for not saying anything because his party is not ready to do so. >> the wisdom in the no camp is scotland won't to it. the political class in london has yet to find the language for the arguments to win this decisively. >> britain's defense secretary is so confidence the scots won't break away he is now making no contingency plans for moving forces out of the country. >> we turn to nicole mitchell. >> the eastern third of the country hasn't enjoyed the last couple of days with the temperatures. we're starting to get out of that. we have to get out of it in the

south. these chilly temperatures are spread into florida. miami's at 60, cooler than a couple days ago. it's been impressive and because of that, we're still under this freeze warning until 10:00 a.m. this morning. that just means we usually see this in the fall when things start to freeze, but some things have started to grow now, so you don't like to see that freeze hit that tender vegetation out there. rest of the country, very cool over the coastline. you don't have the wind like yesterday, so it feels better. look at the warm air that's already spread through the midwest. compare minneapolis at 37, seattle at 51, houston at 49. the warm air spreads up the east coast, 60's to 40's, but we're going to see more cool air come into the midwest and spread over the next couple of days. >> lawmakers in the senate striking a deal on unemployment benefits. will this latest attempt to rein state the money for millions of jobless americans have the

support to clear the house? >> you're facing a lot of these accusations, you don't want to clear your name? >> there is a religious group in texas facing accusations of being a cult as two parents try to bring home their daughter who is now a member. >> as crews keep searching for the missing malaysian airlines flight, the crews aboard the flight. >> an offer that redskins owner can't refuse rewarding that controversial nickname.

you're looking live at central park where it is a tale of two weather stories, where the sun is shining very warm and still cool where it is not shining. nicole promises it will be a nice weekend.

good morning, to aljazeera america. ahead in our next half hour, got second part of our aljazeera america look into a religious group raising alarms in one texas town. also we're going to look at how some of putting aside their differences to help those hurt in syria's civil war. >> senators striking a deal to help 2 million americans without jobs. this comes after months of debate. >> even though for the past five years, congress extended the emergency unemployment compensation program a dozen times, but in december when the national unemployment rate hit a low of 7%, republicans pushed back on extending benefits. it's been a stop and go fight ever since. unemployment has gone down even more, but there are still millions of americans without jobs, which is why a bipartisan group of senators came up with a compromise. this is a $10 billion deal. it reauthorizes benefits for

five months, allowing for retroactive payments to december 28 when benefits ran out. the plannings expected to boost benefits by $300 a week. legislation will include two changes to the program, requiring more job training for people to keep getting benefits. it eliminates state or federal benefits for laid off workers who made a million dollars the previous year. you would think that provision already existed, but apparently it did not. >> jeannie is the professor of campaign management at new york university. the last time this bill was brought to the floor of the senate, they couldn't get enough votes to pass. do you think it will clear the senate? >> this is the fourth time to bring it to the floor, last time late february missed by one vote. because they have full democratic support this time at 55 and the five as erika mentioned republicans who signed

on to co sponsor the legislation they will get to the as i could they need to move it forward. they're off for break next week and will not do this until after the vote on the ukraine is what we're hearing. >> five senators an each side drafting this bill, bipartisan effort, take a look at who is involved. the lead sponsors on both sides, jack reed of rhode island coming from states with high unemployment. >> this has been a very stressful situation for lawmakers and the 2 million families of the long term unemployed whoever suffered since december 28. 75 days without benefits now. it should be bipartisan. we see a democratic and republican co span for from ohio, from two states with high unemployment. this should be bipartisan. the question they've struggled with is how to pay for it.

the good thing about this deal is they did pay for it with offsets. >> it's retroactive, which sounds great, but if you were unemployed and being threatened with losing your car, your bill collector didn't wait on washington to decide what it wants to do with unemployment benefits for their payment. is this good news or do you think washington still just doesn't get it? >> i think they still don't get it. you're absolutely right. we know our bills, mortgages, rents all come in regardless of what the government is doing. you have people 75 days without these benefits, and so they have been struggling an enormous amount. what frustrates me is this will wait a week until they come back from break. since it's retroactive, lawmakers said you're getting your payments going back. now you've hurt your credit, lost your car, your house. it's a big deal for the people in the family suffering like this. >> senator jack reed said this:

sounds like they're popping the champaign corks in the senate but the bottom line, if they actually pass this, does not that send a signal to america that this was all about political games and not people trying to hold on to their houses, cars, livelihoods. >> we can't forget, the senate is not the end of the road. this bill has to go to the house and we haven't heard whether republicans who control the house will support it. there are a lot of political gamesmanship going opinion. the president has pushed for it, for the departments a win. they don't want to give the president wins. they feel strong at this point. whether this passes the house is a big question. >> your thoughts on will it pass the house? >> i like to predict i'm always wrong. i think it may, because

democrats will go for it. they only need some republicans and since it's paid for, it's going to be hard for republicans to make the case against passage. we will hear some who don't like all the way it's paid for and don't think -- >> -- immigration reform. >> we've seen democrats pushing for parliamentary procedures to get these votes done, so democrats are really pushing for this. we have to wait a week now until it gets passed in the senate and then see about the fight in the house. >> which side has the most to win, which to lose? >> it's a mixed back on both houses, i think, democrats, they lose the argument they were able to make that republicans were not sensitive to the unemployed, something they'll be saying through the election but win because the american people who are unemployed win. republicans lose to a certain extent if they don't pass it because they want to focus on obamacare which they think is their winning strategy. if they don't pass it, they look

like obstructionists who don't care, if they do, looks like they give obama a win. >> if this passes, both houses, it will once again open up the door, the tiny window that both sides might actually want to show that they're getting something done before the mid term so they are not referred to in every campaign commercial as the do nothing congress. >> let's hope so. this is only a five month deal. it's going to have to be revisited in five months. i was not confident in december we were going to have an active congress, and even if this passes, i'm not sure we'll get things done, immigration a huge issue. i'm not sure we'll see movement on that. sorry to be negative. >> i was hoping for a little ray of optimism.

>> there is hope for the illegal immigrants in the u.s., the white house looking at deportations, the news coming after the president met with lawmakers. he ordered homeland security to new ways to enforce immigration laws, more humane. it could lead to fewer deportations. some want the president to stop deporting people altogether. >> a former police officer accused of shooting a man for texting was texting himself. his father texted him inside the theater just before the incident. the man has pleaded not guilty saying he was acting in self defense. >> a religious group has

residents in one town concerned. they say the church of wells is a cult. families searches for their family say they are held against their will. we follow the story of a family torn apart by a church. >> it seemed that 27-year-old catherine had it all, a loving christian family and promising career in nursing. eight months ago, she disappeared from her northwest arkansas home. patty and andy grove worried their daughter has been abducted. five days later, catherine finally called from a town 380 miles away. >> she goes hi, mom, i'm with a group of people that are taking good care of me, but i can't listen to you and dad anymore, mom. i'm in texas. >> wells texas, population 800, a town of cattle and lumber. the groves came here looking for their daughter but instead found an even bigger mystery.

>> catherine said she was with the church of wells. her parents asked locals for directions. >> they said oh, you're here looking for the cult. >> three waco college students founded the church of wells in 2010. the group believes itself to be the world's only true christians, while everyone else is condemned to hell. the groves knocked on the door of this house, owned by the church. >> their first words were mr. and mrs. grove, we fear you're going to kidnap your daughter from us. >> the groves say when they finally saw catherine after four hours of pleading, she looked to have lost 10 pounds. >> i couldn't help but ask are you ok? do you have plenty to eat? and she didn't answer. she looked at the elders. >> she chose not to return home and has remained in wells since. her parents believe the group uses sleep deprivation a

brainwash members. >> you're facing accusations, you don't want to clear your name? >> the lord will testify me. >> are you guys keeping people hostage? >> of course not. >> a neighbor says she saw catherine grove last week. >> yes, she looked like she wanted to be here. i don't think they're holding her against her will. >> the groves disagree. they've witnessed food being brought to locked sheds and a church leader showed them what appeared to be a meat locker in the back of the group's grocery store. >> inside were like mini heat lamps and i don't know, 50 to 100 small fans, and i said what on earth is this? he said this is our prayer room. >> police and the f.b.i. have received complaints against the church, but say no criminal investigation currently exists. last november, a church member called police to report

catherine had run away. the groves say search dogs found her alone in the woods carrying a backpack full of clothes. her parents say police returned her to the church, then the last phone call from catherine. >> she goes mom, catherine's dead. this is jesus, mom. >> the call left the groves chilled and wondering if this is a test of faith, then what exactly happened to their daughter? >> in just two years, the church has grown to 100 members. the group calls themselves the world's only true christians and has bought up many homes and businesses in that small community. >> a new truce in gaza, no new rocket fire after two days of back and forth attacks, the

truce remains in place. >> in syria, abducks are becoming more and more creek went with the third anniversary of the war. this video allegedly shows women and children being held against their will by rebel fighters. the hostages are reportedly from bashar al assad's sect. rebels demand the release of 2,000 opposition fighters in exchange for those hostages. the war is forcing syrians to flee to seek medical help. patients and israeli doctors talk about it in their own words. >> this is a very severe injury, because he had open crushing of the bones. i think next week, he would be back in syria.

>> when it is needed, i leave this job and go to be the commander of the hospital. >> a car swerved and hit me at the same time. i was riding a motor bike. i would like to go to a hospital in syria but it is not safe. you hear about injured civilians arrested by the regime. we were cut off from taxes food, drink, bread, water and electricity. my family fled. where did they go? i don't know. >> i never thought that one day i will need plane to provide medical aid for syrian people. i never thought these people

would ask me to help them. >> it's big surprise for them to be here. it wasn't in their best dream to come to get treatment in israel. we are the enemy, ok? i had surgeries today, all by the lower leg. they have open wound there and exposed bone. a group brought me to the border between israel and syria. they handed me over to the israeli military through a fence. in the beginning, we know israel is the enemy. that is what the regime used to tell us. when i came here, i found a people that want to live. >> they say that i don't know which god asked me to fight, no religion asks for such a thing like this. >> i am full of happiness and

appreciation to the country that assisted me. i would like to thank all those who helped me. >> an ambulance with a gun. aljazeera america will provide extensive coverage beginning tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. eastern time as we mark the third year of syria's civil war. >> the controversy over the redskins name takes a turn. >> washington redskins owner has rebuffed calls for him to change the nickname of his football team to something that is not racially offensive. house minority leader nancy pelosi said a way to get him to change his mind was to convince the patent and trademark office to stop trademarking the name. pelosi has told the national congress of american indians:

>> to other nfl news, a guy who needed a fresh start has gotten one, bullying victim jonathan martin traded to the san francisco 49ers to play for his college coach jim harbaugh. he'll play 15 miles from the campus where he starred as a member of the cardinal football team. he talked about this next phase of his nfl career. >> i've been out for five months. we start in about a month. it's just outside the arena of coach harbaugh in the bay area playing for this great fan base. superbowl appearance, the right on the edge of being at the top. it's fun to be around an atmosphere that winning, a team that is just ready to get to the

top of the mountain. >> to the hardwood, he's the eighth college player ever to score 3,000 points, on the cover of sports illustrated this month and craig mcdermott that taken his show to broadway or at least two blocks away. they open play thursday in the big east tournament with a flourish. mcdermott hit six of his seven first three-point attempts, 27 points in the first half, 35 for the game. creighton wins, advancing to a game tonight against xavier. >> coach jay write's top-seeded team, the steal, nova up. takes the three from the corner, and makes the three with 17 seconds left, pirates up one. double possession and hilliard

scored all 11 of his points in the second half including the tough two spot right there. nova's got the lead back by one. last chance, step back, nothing but net and that is it, seton upsets villanova. >> in 2006, blake hit a shot while laying on his back to win a state championship for minnesota's hopkins high. eight years later, lightning has struck again in the fourth overtime of the matchup, the game was tied with time running out when sophomore launched one, nothing but net, winning 49-46 to advance to the state championship game. there's no shot clock in minnesota high school hoops. >> we've got a shot clock. its i'm out of time. >> i wonder if i can get that guy to buy a lottery ticket for

me this weekend. >> i'm sure anything for a price. >> when we come back, we're going to talk about a coat that provides more than just warmth. >> i came with nothing, but i had my coat, you know what i'm saying? that coat is everything. >> one company's gift to those living on the streets is helping some get back on their feet. >> a rare procedure to save a newborn gorilla. why zoo officials call this a critical move for the animal's survival. >> pretty quiet now. we have a developing storm in time for the weekend. i'll have that forecast.

on al jazeera america >> a rare medical procedure was used to save a baby gorilla.

trouble in love and survival in doubt, the vets stepped in and delivered the gorilla by c-section. the emergency surgery is rare in animals. mama and baby are doing well. >> she's extremely strong, she can grasp, she kicks, she's vocal. has a very strong as you canle reflex. she can look around and hold her own head up. >> she has a face that only a mother could love. she is still under the watch of the veterinary hospital. >> welcome back to aljazeera america. how one company's generosity is helping the homeless having life after the results but first let's find out about the rain and snow that may fall across the country today. >> happy friday to everyone. i think we're all excited about this after another round of cold weather we had. not a lot of snow. we might see some in the higher elevations, two areas we're watching. this cold front pushing into the pacific northwest.

couple areas of heavy rain, thunderstorms, higher winds and for the mountainous terrain, we could get snow out of this. then we head to the southwest with another developing system, a chance for showers or isolated storms. that energy comes together over the weekend. pretty quiet other than a little disturbance that could impact the northeast tomorrow, minor. this one is much bigger, developing storm system, slight chance for severe storms and could really impact the holiday for us. back to you. >> the president expected to sign a new flood insurance bill that caps premiums, senate approval the bill that cleared the house last week. it places an 18% cap on most flood insurance premiums providing the same protection for homeowners who don't live in flood zones, correcting legislation that led to massive increases for some homeowners. >> the lead air man for the at

suskeegee air man, charles anderson grew up the first african-american to earn a pilot's license. he died in 1996 and trained hundreds for a unit that flew during world war ii. >> the cold weather has been tough on people especially those living on the streets. aljazeera found a unique program provides warmth for those living there and jobs for women who need hope. >> this sleeping bag things, you know how to work it? you know how to do that? ok, all right. >> on a bitterly cold night in detroit, church volunteers rick pop and mark are on a mission. the temperature is only 12 degrees. the biting wind makes it feel like five below zero. >> thank you, god bless you. >> the men are driving through detroit looking for those most

vulnerable on a brutal witcher r night. coats double at sleeping bags. rick approaches a sleeping man on the sidewalk. >> i got that sleeping bag thing here. you know how to work it? this is a fancy one. it's like someone giving you a big hug. >> all right. >> like a big bear on you. >> caroline said such a coat was the only thing keeping her warm when she was homeless and living in a shelter with no heat. >> i came with nothing, but i had my coat, that coated is everything to me. >> she's now one of 15 seamstresses who work for a non-profit group known as the empowerment plan. the ladies as they're called by the founder veronica scott. we sat down with her last august. she told us the idea to make the coats grew out of a college project. she realized the coats alone

were not enough to make the kind of difference she had in mind. >> a coat on its own is not going to change anything, but if i go in and hire the people that are in the shelters that would be possibly on the receiving end of these instead of just giving them the coat and hiring them. >> the employees all single moms, all homeless or living in shelters, all desperately for work. >> when you have nothing, the smallest thing can mean the world to you. i feel like me making the coat is contributing. >> in its first year, the empowerment plan produced 25 coats. the following year, it made nearly 1,000. over the past year, the non-profit stitched together more than 3,000 coats. she plans to expand the warehouse and hire more employees to keep up with demand. >> with the weather we've experienced and seeing the people in conditions they're in because of this weather, this is a huge part of what we're doing.

we have given a stronger dedication to making these coats the best we can make them. >> you can still velcro it over the back. >> thank you. >> stay warm, man. >> aljazeera, detroit. >> they are learning special skills that could help them get more jobs in the future. >> that will do it for this edition of aljazeera america. we leave you with a look at a memorial erected in kuala lampur for the passengers of malaysia airlines 370 still missing one week after it disappeared. aljazeera will continue to follow the story as they search for the plane as u.s. navy ships now steam toward the indian ocean. aljazeera america will be following the civil war in syria as it now enters its third year tomorrow. here now a look at the devastation and destruction stemming from that ongoing conflict. extensive coverage on that war's milestone begins tomorrow morning and there's more news

straight ahead in this case in just two minutes.

bloc hello there, welcome to the news hour. these are the main stories this hour. >> obviously we have a lot to talk about -- >> a final chance for u.s. secretary of state meets his russian counterpart for last-stitch chance to resolve theri