evidence... >> now a three year al jazeera investigation, reveals a very different story about who was responsible >> they refuse to look into this... >> so many people at such a high level had a stake in al megrahi's guilt. lockerbie: what really happened? on al jazeera america >> this is al jazeera america. live from new york city. new information in the missing plane mystery. the referendum vote on crimea just days away. the u.s. said it is not legal but russia said it is well within international law. as many as 303 people may have called in recalled general motors vehicles.

>> one week after malaysia flight 370 vanished there is new signs that foul play may have played a role. the jet may have deliberately flown hundreds of miles off course. this comes as the search area for the missing aircraft and the 239 people on board moves farther west. lisa stark is in washington for us. you have covered in industry, the aviation industry for some time now. what are your sources telling you about foul play possibly playing a role here. >> reporter: well of course everyone will say this is too early to rule anything out, but even in this early stage, without the black boxes, wrought wreckage, everything is raising a suspicion that this was no

accident. >> reporter: with evidence of the missing plane may have stayed in the air for hours after it dropped off radar the search is expanding westward into to the vast indian ocean. the navy said that the p-8 surveillance jet arrives tomorrow. >> reporter: our best assets are flying out of kuala lumpur. those are very advanced patrol craft flying at a rage of 5 to 12 altitude feet and cover 12,000 square miles in one flight. >> reporter: also a destroyer. based on the evidence so far it seems likely whatever happened to this jumbo jet in the dead of night was a deliberate act. two different communication

systems went dark at different times. first the one that sends back information on engine performance, and then it's transponder which shows the location and altitude of the plane. was this a hijacking or rogue pilot? malaysian officials only finance to say they are considering everything. >> we're looking at four or five possibilities. it could have been done intentionally. it could have been done under duress, it could have been done under explosion. that's why i don't want to go into speculation. >> reporter: but it seems that the plane stayed in the air for some time. satellites continued to pick up automatic signals from systems that monitor the engines. based on those signals and sighting of the plane on radar the plane is believed to have turned far off course and headed west to the indian ocean, a huge

expanse of water to search for this one plane and the 239 people on board. >> reporter: and the white house jay karen' carney, the spokesmad that the president is updated on this situation and is very concerned. >> will you remind us of the hard facts. >> reporter: we know that it took off from kuala lumpur headed to beijing. an hour and a half after the flight took off rolls royce confirms that was the last time that the engine data was received from this aircraft, that was the last data hit. the final contact came 20 minutes later about 1:30 in the morning, and there was no

distress call sent. and also the weather was good. there were no weather problems as far as we know. and the man in control, very experienced. 18,000 hours in the cockpit. >> lisa, appreciate it. as the investigation into the disappearance appears to move towards foul play we're looking at the possible paths the missing plane may have taken. john terret with more for us. >> reporter: this is widely being reported by news agencies around the world, and it does take the story on a little bit. but we have to cover the same information that lisa covered. on civilian radar screens came 1:30 saturday morning which puts the plane pretty much here just off the coast of malaysia on the way to vietnam. that's where it should be. now the air force chief has said

this week that an aircraft that could have been the missing plane was plotted at 2:15 a.m. 45 minutes later, it 200 miles of penang. now we come to the new source. anonymous sources are telling journalists around the world, they're saying the last confirmed placement of the plane heading towards vietnam. exactly where it should have been going, and near a navigational wave point. you can see where i'm pointing. away point. times a way point is a physical position like a lighthouse or a rock. sometimes it's just a location that is generated by satellite

or radio signals when they converge. the military track provided by the military sources suggest that it turned sharply westward away from the way point and over towards the way point which they caltheysass badly damaged in the tsunami. and they plan to head on to the middle east. now from there the plot thickens because it indicates that the plane flew on to another way point, this one is south of the of an island and the final plot of these anonymous sources are giving us as another way point all the way over here is going to come up to the west called igrex, and this way point is on route that would take the plane over to th europe.

this is the air way that airlines use when they're coming from this part of the world to europe. now that last sighting happened at 2:15 in the morning, and that, tony, is exactly the same time given by the malaysian air force chief when he said the plane may have been flown far, far from its intended track. >> certainly at this point something is leading investigators to suggest that it's time to widen this search and maybe this leaked information gives us real clues. >> reporter: you know, the indian ocean is 28 million square miles. >> massive. >> reporter: it's a big task. >> j.t. appreciate it, thank you. as the search continues the

weight of it really is taking its toll on families. >> reporter: lack of information is too distracting. [ crying ] >> reporter: seven days and still no clear direction of where the search for the missing malaysimalaysiaen flight is hea. the atmosphere is tense as relatives meet officials from the airline in beijing. but they don't find the answers they're hoping for. >> we have been stuck here too long every day is a torture. i don't know how many more days we have to wait. i just want accurate information as soon as possible. >> reporter: in kuala lumpur families have been put up in a hotel. volunteer caregivers have been assigned to help them cope. many hope that the airplane will be fine and their family will be

safe. >> cross the county some has not given up hope. placing their faith in higher powers. so with the grace of allah we ameall pray that the crew and al will be found safe and in good health. >> reporter: day seven of the search of the jetliner ends like all previous days with insufficient new leads and fewer reasons for families to believe that their loved ones are still alive. >> the u.s. seems to have failed in its attempt to stop a secession referendum in crimea. secretary of state john kerry

and foreign minister lavrov met for several hours. kerry said they were constructive. >> we dug into all of russian's processions, their narrative, our narrative. our perceptions and the differences between us. >> is there any way that the u.s. or west can stop or delay this referendum? >> it's highly unlikely an to happen. and frankly anchoring some people in crimea. at this point u.s. and others are pivoting to diplomacy to figure out what will happen next. >> reporter: six hours of meeting between secretary of state john kerry and russian foreign minister lavrov, in which lavrov said they were no

closer in agreement. >> reporter: the vote in crimea about whether to split from ukraine is self determination. >> we will express our opinion after the results are announced. >> reporter: but secretary kerry repeated the white house position is that the vote carries no legal weight and is outside of the ukraine constitution. >> neither we or other international community will recognize this referendum. >> reporter: many waiting to see what happens next and push russia not to react to the crimea referendum with force. >> what was clear to me with president putin unwilling to make any decisions regarding the next steps until the vote has been taken, what has been made clear is that he has said that once that referendum vote is taken, he will make a decision

with respect to what will happen. and i will say to him today as i said to foreign minister lavrov, that is a decision of enormous consequence with respect to the global community. >> president obama called for russian restraint. >> strong message to russia that it should not violate the integrity and the sovereignty of its neighbor. we continue to hope that there is a diplomatic solution to be found, but the united states and europe stand united not only in its message about ukrainian sovereignty, but also that there will be consequence it is, in fact, that sovereignty continues to be violated. >> the international community is watching closely not only for russia's reaction to the crimea referendum but what it plans to do with its troops along the

ukrainian border. minister lavrov seem to allay some of the fears. >> reporter: the russian federation does not have any plans to invade this region. we assume the rights of russians, of the hungarians, bulgarians, as well as the ukrainians. >> reporter: as the crimea referendum nears eight senators traveled to crimea as a show of solidarity. >> reporter: general secretary ban ki-moon spoke with president putin saying they're staying in close contact, and if positions continue to harden there is a great risk of a dangerous downward spiral. >> libby casey at the white house for us. appreciate it. one of the ethnic groups caught in the middle of the struggle when russia and ukraine are the tatars. their horrible treatment at the hands of the soviets have them

worried about their future. al jazeera america explores their story in return to exile. a watchdog group says more than 300 people have been killed in crashes after airbags failed to deploy. this comes after gm is already under fire after knowing about a defective ignition switch in thousands of vehicles and not doing anything about it for years. let's go to bisi onile-ere. she's at gm headquarters. tell us more about this new report. >> reporter: tony, an @safety wash dog group had a study conducted, and what they found was over 300 people killed in crashes when their airbags did not deploy. some of these vehicles date back to 2003. while there is not a connection some of these vehicles are named in gm's massive recall. >> reporter: strangers bound

together, 13 accidents in all that gm has linked to defective ignition switch on six of its models. >> she had gone across two lanes of traffic and was hit in the side by another car. >> reporter: that's how he describes what happened to his daughter brook when the ignition in her 2005 chevy cobalt shut off and locked her brakes. >> it was her birthday. i thought this is her birthday. this can't happen. >> reporter: this led gm to recall 6 million vehicles. now 303 people died between 2003 and 2012 after their airbag it's failed to deploy on two of the models that were recalled in february. the new findings suggests the faulty ignition switch which seized the engine would render

the airbags useless. a company that analyzes vehicle safety data comes after gm 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 a justice department who wants to know what gm officials new and perhaps morley when they knew it. congress wants answers, too, like why the national highway administration or ntsa did not open the investigation sooner after hundreds of complaints. >> was there key information missing request these complaints? what are we looking at? >> had we known there was an issue that might have changed the outcome of the crash investigations. >> reporter: meanwhile, gm is

calling it pure speculation based on raw data, but the timing comes just as the automaker's new ceo mary barra has called for a probe. >> i think mary barra wants to make up for the mistakes of the past, but she has got a lot to make up for. >> reporter: the government has been investigating for a couple of weeks now. i'm told if there is any evidence of wrongdoing found there could be criminal charge. and the lawsuits are already stacking up. >> you can't imagine. bisi onile-ere for news detroit. thank you. coming up on al jazeera america we'll follow the story of a texas family who says they were torn apart by a local church. and a new program aimed at curbing college debt. ♪

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that's my phone. hey. [ female announcer ] the x1 entertainment operating system, only from xfinity. tv and internet together like never before. >> you welcome book al jazeera america. a religio religious group is beg

called a cult. families are searching for their sons and daughters that they say are being held without their will. heidi zhou castro tells us about a family that was torn apart by the church. >> it seems that katherine had it all a devout and loving christian family and a promising career in nursing. but then she disappeared. patty and andy worried that their daughter had been abducted. and then five days later katherine called from a town 385 miles away. >> she said, hi mom, i'm with a group of people that are taking care of me. i can't listen to you answered more, mom i'm in wells, texas. >> reporter: population 800. a town of cattle and lumber. the groves came here looking for their daughter but came here found and bigger mystery.

>> reporter: katherine said she was with church of wells. her parents asked locals for direction. >> they said, oh, you're here looking for the cult. >> reporter: 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 of wells. >> their first words were, mr. and mrs. groves, we fear that you're going to kidnap your daughter from us. >> after four years of pleading she looked to have lost ten pounds. >> i couldn't help but ask, are you okay? do you have plenty to eat? she didn't answer. she looked to the he woulders. >> katherine grove chose not to return home that day. her parents believe they use

sleep depravation to brainwash. >> are you keeping people hostage? >> of course not. >> reporter: a neighbor said she saw katherine last week. >> yes, she looked like she wanted to be here. i don't think they're holding her against her will. >> reporter: but the groves disagree. they witnessed food being brought to locked shed and what appeared to be a meat locker in the back of the group's grocery store. >> inside it looked like mini heat lamps, and i don't know, 50 to 100 small fans. i said, what on earth h is this? he said this is our prayer room 2347 police and the fbi have received complaints against the church but say no criminal investigation currently consists. last november a church member

called police to say that katherine ran away. search dogs found her alone in the woods carrying a backpack full of clothes. the police returned her to the church. then the last phone call from katherine. >> she says, mom, katherine is dead. this is jesus, mom. >> reporter: the call left the groves child, and wondered if this is a test of faith then what happened to their daughter. heidi zhou castro, wells, texas. >> stocks today marks the fifth straight session the market has fallen. the dow down 43 points today. tensions between the west and russia over ukraine keeping investors on edge make sense. a push for new regulations on for-profit colleges. the white house wants colleges

to better prepare their students for the workforce or risk losing federal aid. let's bring in nila richardson at bloomberg government. good to see you. let's take this one on a friday: >> reporter: let's do it. >> the administration tried something similar maybe this exact proposal last summer, and it didn't pass. is there a chance of it moving forward this time around? >> reporter: i think so, they got rid of the sticking points. the sticking point trying to make colleges show that they were making students prepare for the workforce is the economy such that it is it's tough to show that this degree is going to prepare them for the labor force. >> these for-profit colleges have to offer career training that better prepares students

for a job that would pay enough to help them offset their student loan debt? >> reporter: with what they have to do is prove that their degrees are worth something to employers. for this student population there are about 30% of higher ed students or 13% of higher ed students. 31% of students loans but 50% of loan default. these students are making money after school but it is not allowing them to pay their debt. that's a problem especially when you have $1.2 trillion in student loan debts out there now. >> that was great. i think i read articles today and they didn't explain it as well as you just did. thank you. >> reporter: you're welcome. >> what happened to the complaint from republicans? >> well, republicans are going to charge that the white house is attacking the very students who actually use these programs. for-profit colleges are popular

with low-income families and for working adults. by making these institutions compliant and having such tough benchmarks you might reduce funding for these students. the white house would current and say, look, we're trying to protect these students from having too much debt and not enough jobs. >> nila, terrific. you have a great weekend. senior cool unfortunately from bloomberg. a critical vote in crimea will decide if crimea part of ukraine or russia. but is it even legal? and desperate measures in california calling in water witches to help farmers worried about the drought.

>> in two days crimea will vote whether or not to become part of russia. the referendum has been the talk and is a vote that the united states and e.u. say is illegal. the outcome of this vote seems to be a done deal. what is the feeling on the ground. >> reporter: it depends on what side you're on. if you're pro russia this feels like the independence day they've been waiting for for 60 years. if you're pro western this is a day as dark as it's been since world war ii. the pro russian camp they point to the mistake by kruschev, the leader of the soviet union in the 50s. it was given to ukraine, not

very important back then. and these people say finally after so many years that mistake is being righted. if you're on the other side, however, let's take the minorities, the tatars who are muslim, or i spent the day with this small jewish community, and they're fearful that history could repeat itself. they've been kicked out of this peninsula. they've been run out and in the jewish case many thousands were killed by the nazis. many came back, but now many are leaving, and there is a sense that if or once crimea becomes part of russia the minorities will be pushed out and they'll have no protection that they have wanted and have been getting from kiev and the capitol and from the west. >> so nick, violence broke out in eastern ukraine last night.

i believe it was between pro ukrainian and pro russian, is this a symbol of the violence, and is it limited to crimea? >> that's really important to distinguish what is happening in crimea that history that i just mentioned means that crimea is really separate and wanted to be independent and separate from ukraine. eastern ukraine is the big challenge. just think of this country as a bridge between the west and the east, between europe and soviet union, eastern ukraine is the center of that bridge. if there is any stability to that bridge, to use a metaphor, if you take out the center of that bridge, that's the ukraine, the more unstable that bridge s the more unstable the whole country s the fear is there is more talk from moscow about the

instability of ukraine, and that is the fear that moscow has its sights on crimea, and that's terrifying for washington and all of europe. >> the debate over crimea's referendum has become an international tug-of-war. argentina 73 of the ukrainian constitution said alteration to the territories o of ukraine wil be resolved by all of ukraine. secession is not possible without all 44 million ukrainians voting for. russia, on the other hand, say that crimea residents have a right to decide. and vladimir putin falls in line with the u.n. charter which supports self determination. william taylor former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, ambassador, good to see you, good to speak with you again.

thank you for your timer. those are the arguments on both sides of this referendum question. let me ask you, for our purposes you're the tiebreaker. is the referendum league or is it according to international law. >> it is not legal. it won't be free and fair, the referendum. so the legalities aside it will not an good indication of what ukrainians want and it won't an good indication of what crimeans want. there will, crimean tatar who is will probably boycott the vote, and there will be others who will be intimidated. this will not be a serious vote. >> what happens on monday the day after the referendum. the vote comes in and if it comes in as every seems to be suggesting what happens then?

what does vladimir putin do? >> that is exactly the right question. because it is up to president putin to make that decision. there are a couple of things he could do. one is nothing. he could accept the vote, but not move to actually annex crimea. or he could recognize crimea as an independent state. if he douse any of those things. if he let's the referendum go forward which is almost sure to happen, it goes forward and it will pass for reasons as i said then the united states and the european also take action on monday that decision is to do anything with all these troops.

>> we have fighting in eastern ukraine. do you see the unrest starting to develop here spreading and ultimately being used by russia to launch a full-scale invasion of eastern ukraine? there are russians there that are causing these problems. that having been said those in the east as well as the west will resist this notion. they will resist being provoke: they'll resist maintain order and calm.

when the russians revoke a problem people will see who is revoking that. >> william taylor former ambassador to ukraine joining us from washington. it's great to talk to you. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> tomorrow is the three-year anniversary since the start of syria's war. the longer the war goes on, the worse it becomes for civilians. we have video showing women and children from alawites being held hostage. >> the region is a stronghold of president bashar al-assad's alawite, a branch of sheer islam. the rebels say they're ready to free these women and children in exchange for the release of 2,000 prisoners being held by

government forces. they may demand over which prisoners should be freed. they should be from coastal regions and half of them must be women and children. prisoners swap last week saw the release of 13 greek orthodox nuns who had been detained since december by fighters from the al-qaeda linka link al nusra fr. syrian national council blamed the assad regime for what it calls a new prisoner swap tactic. >> we still don't know the identity of these kidnappers, of course, and a lot will depend when we figure out who are these kidnappers. it will make a big difference. this is nothing new. situations like this in civil war are common. >> the homes and lives continually being destroyed, and

areas west of aleppo residents angry at the government for dropping barrels of bombs. >> enough, enough, when will this end? >> we were in our houses when we heard airstrikes. they even targeted the mosque. they bombed the house of god. may god take revenge on them. all my relatives were under the rubble. >> reporter: it's unclear how many people died in the strike but barrel bombs are an accurate weapon and one contends in the international community the politics of this three-year long war. >> search people thought to have ties to an al-qaeda link group. the suspects wer suspects suspeg members to fight in syria.

some of the recruits were released from guantanamo bay. in my gee nigeria trying to fre captured fighters. reports say some civilians were killed in the cross fire. nigeria's ministry of defense said four soldiers were injured. this is the fourth deadly attack in the city since december. in argentina the government is issuing fines on supermarket chains for breaking price controls. the government imposed fixed prices on certain foods to crackdown on price gouging. two college students and a popular app are helping people save money. >> when mario goes grocery shopping he takes no chances. armed with the free smart phone application he's able to police prices, to make sure he's not getting cheated.

since he started using the app he said he's saving 30% a week on groceries. >> you realize that supermarkets are taking advantage of the situation because before we had no way to compare prices but now we have a tool. >> these university students created the app. it's the top download in argentina more popular than twitter or instagram. >> bit's easy to find out if products are not being sold at prices set by the government . >> there is a huge difference. >> with the click of the button or free phone call people can

report price hikes. soaring food prices is a growing problem in argentina. the government has struck a deal with the top supermarket chains. >> there are 225 products that come under the price agreement that the government has reached with two suppliers. while this may provide temporary relief for the consumer many hearsay the policy does not go far enough. >> specifically that price freezing fails to attack the causes of inflation, which is expected to remain in the double digit this is year. >> here we have the state, which should be able to implement policies to diagnose the problem, and to implement policies, to deal with this is now saying that it is the people's responsibility to make sure that the prices don't increase, which is i think is a backwards way of going at the

problem. >> whether or not the government is dancing around the issue by trying to seek prices, with current reserves shrinking daily, many believe the government has little room to maneuver. al jazeera, buenos aires. >> reporter: tony , in tempe, arizona, a man accused of killing a monk was sentenced to 20 years behind bars. his life was sentenced to life in prison and said the crime was his idea. the body of a woman has been found in the rubble of those two collapsed buildings in new york city. she's the eighth victim of wednesday's gas explosion. firefighters are continuing their search efforts in case

there are any unknown survivors even though the commissioner said there are no more missing people. senator scott brown interest is expected to draw attention during the northeast republican leadership conference in the state. scott recently relocated to his vacation home in new hampshire. no. northern california the drought has worried farmers so much they're turning to water witches to help them find the better places to dig wells. >> reporter: sharon hates it when people call her a witch. a water witch. she's not a water witch. she's a professional douser, and her work is serious business for a serious matter. >> i felt that energy. you can feel that energy when you're standing over the water vein. it feels like chills going through your body. because you have the electrons coming up so it makes like a

chilling feeling. >> basically we want a well in this area. >> reporter: the hunt for water in drought-stricken california has farmers going underground. but drilling wells can cost $10,000, and that adds up if you don't strike a good source of water on your first, second or third try. dousers can help. on this afternoon sharon hope looks for water at a vineyard. these vines are dormant which means they don't need any water. but worries growers is there will be enough water for new grapes to mature. some have turned to dous ers. >> i've never used one before. people have been using them for a long, long time. i think between them and the experience of the drillers we'll make our best decision. >> reporter: hope takes a two-prong approach.

a common tree branch and her metal divining rods. she has doused successfully for 20 years. >> i'll walk and our rods are crossing right over that. >> reporter: some might say people like sharon hope have simply developed a good sense for where to find water. >> they are students of geology, maybe folks geology, but geology. and they know where to turn to look for striking water. >> reporter: they say dousing has no basis in science. >> this appears to have five gallons a minute. >> reporter: but sharon believes more research ought to be done. >> my grandfather doused on the coast. i think people are skeptical about anything that they haven't

tried. >> it's a tradition that won't go any tim away any time soon. and the precious commodity today is water. >> those are the stories around america, tony. >> if she finds water. >> yes, yes. >> she's a reality tv star next year. that's all i'm saying. thank you. >> thank you. >> coming up on al jazeera america. why the fbi resueses to run nationwide back ground business hoping to open a bought-growing business in washington state. and the lake frozen over for the first time in five decades. why that is causing problems in the shipping industry. >> a deadly combination... >> death could have been prevented... >> her and a hundred more women... >> it hurts to the core >> 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

>> legal marijuana businesses are growing, but running into some hangups in the process.

the fbi will not run nationwide banks for those who run a marijuana business even though they do run those same background checks in colorado. it's just one more dilemma that the justice department faces since marijuana became legal. what does this mean for the marijuana industry, and alan, i'm a bit confused. why is the fbi taking this position? >> reporter: well, a lot of people are confused about that and right now we just don't know. it looks like they're waiting for clarification from higher ups in the department of justice. this is a collision between state and feds. written into the initiative that they voted on was a clause that said the fbi background checks and finger print checks may an vetting process for those who want into the pot business.

they've asked for a year now for fbi involvement but have never got an commitment. officially, federally marijuana is still considered a schedule 1 substance, a dangerous drug. lawyers working for people who want to get into the pot business call the fbi stance on background checks puzzling. >> the state of washington made it clear that it wants to prevent any organized crime elements from getting an or deepening a foothold in this industry as it become legitimate. >> and the department of justice has said we're watching you to make sure that this runs smoothly. >> eight guidelines with with respect that they want to make sure that they do. number one is to make sure organized crime is not involved. the refusal to assist the state

in the background check seems conflicting. >> they'rthis is what they're s this is not an issue that just popped up and has to be decided by the department of justice. i've been following this story for more than 16 months now since before the election, and have asked the fbi and doj what they would do about this, and all along their response is no comcomment. now they might give states complexion terms of policies. >> just as the nation prepares for spring and st. patrick's day, mother nature is getting ready for more snow and cold. >> reporter: you may not like it here over the next 24 hours especially in the southeast, high pressure bringing in the

colder air. this will eventually work its way south not really tomorrow. look at these temperatures climb tomorrow. highs into the 50s and 60s, warmer to the south. but here's the change from saturday to sunday a little different temperature pattern here. we have cold air coming around western tennessee and connecticut. warm air trying to move up the mid-atlantic. that's where the storm is. warm air will move its way up the coast, but arriving first above the surface. that's where you get this rain falling into the cold air. a large area of sleet or freezing rain very heavy snow where the air is cold enough. that will be on the ground by monday morning. lafayette paradit will begin toy monday afternoon and evening and then behind it the bitter cold. >> this is that time of the

month. >> it's changing. >> for months freezing temperatures have gripped much of the midwest, and for the first time in decades some 90% of the great lakes frozen over, and that's causing big problems for the shipping industry. >> at the fraser ship yards in minnesota crews work in frigid temperatures. these car goes must be ready to go when the shipping season opens. >> they need to get out of here in time for their first load, and they want to be loaded with a full load of cargo when they hope the gates. >> the problem is no one is sure when that will be. some ice on the lakes is normal but not on this scale. satellite images show for the first time in decades the five great lakes are almost complete plcompletecompletely frozen ove. blame the vortex resulting in

one of the coldest winters on record. >> reporter: if this were summertime it would be impossible to stand where i am now because this is lake superiosuperior. in some parts the ice is more than a meter and a half thick. the five great lakes formed the largest group of fresh water lakes in the world and are a vital north american trade route that feeds into the atlantic. it's critical for moving everything were moving food to melt ores for 100 million people. cargo carried by great lakes vessels have been hit hard by the deep freeze. trade plunged 21% and in january those cargoes were down 41 peppers befor41%.ice breakers ha path. >> we have steel mills that need

iron ore, and we have huge impaceconomic impact. >> search tired of winter. it just came so fast and so severe we're ready for spring. >> reporter: but with the ice covering lake superior expect it to take months to melt regardless of what the calendar says spring on lake superior may still be a long way off. al jazeera, duluth, minnesota. >> aren't we all ready for spring? the look of the day's top stories when we return. this is al jazeera america. build

they need assistance.

>> this is al jazeera america american. a last-ditch effort to end the ukraine crisis through diplomacy has failed. secretary of state john kerry met russian foreign minister

lavrov in london for over five hours with no progress. >> however, after much discussion the foreign minister made it clear that president putin is not prepared to make any decision regarding ukraine until after the referendum on sunday. >> as we move close for sunday's crimea vote violence broke out. one person is dead and 20 others are injured fighting between pro-russian and pro-ukrainian sides. shipthree women kidnapped by rebels were released by 91 others are being held. rebel forces will release them when damascus release prison fighters. the obama administration has proposed new rules to regulate

for-profit colleges that with will require colleges to do a better job preparing students for the workforce or risk losing federal student an aid. >> ed you hayouthis is the "ins" >> i'm ray suarez.