>> first, major developments in the search for the missing airliner jet. the prime minister najib razak delivered his first conference since the jet and 239 people disappeared a week ago. he said communications had been cut, and that investigators hadn't ruled out hijacking and revealed knew data showing the plane was deliberately steered off course. >> it then flew in a westerly direction back over peninsula malaysia before turning north-west. up until the point at which it

left military primary radar coverage. this movement is consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane. >> well, scott heidler is with us from kuala lumpur with the latest. we heard the evidence pointing to deliberate action to turn off the plane's communication systems, to take it off course. does that many a hijacking? >> not necessarily. obviously it's pointing in that direction. we have someone deliberately turning off transponders so the plane can't be seen on radar, as well as making a deliberate move away from where it was supposed to go. obviously there was foul play going on. it was a hijacking, someone in the flight deck with psychological issues, someone in

the crew that got in and deliberately turned it. it's yet to be determined. that's what happened on the flight deck, it won't be known until there's physical proof. that's why there's a refocussing, as the prime minister put it, on the passenger list, the crew list and the flight deck. who were they, what are their backgrounds, could they have intervened in the flight deck. something that came out through the forensic studying of the signatures, the radar signatures that we are seeing, the blips that have been talked about with aircraft automatically sending information to satellites, that indicates, the prime minister said, that there are one of two air corridors, essentially sky highways that this aircraft went into. one goes to northern thailand, all the way to kazakhstan, another indonesia to the

southern part of the indian ocean. they are being looked at to see if they can find evidence along the way. that indicates too, that either it was some kind of autopilot that directed the plane into the two flight corridors, or someone that knew how to fly, or the pilot coerced by someone on the aircraft. that is where we are looking. we have a lot more answers now, but there's a lot of questions as to why in the flight corridors, how far it went. the last contact with the aircraft was 8:11:00am, nearly sevenures after it dropped off radar. it's a long time. it could have gone far. the forensic studying of the satellite information will continue. now that we have a wider search area, more nations will be brought into this. you are talking about other places and land and waterways

that need to be searched. right now we get a bit more detail. it's still a very, very big search that needs to happen. that being said the south china sea search will be shut down and all attention focussed west. >> scott updating us on the situation from kooum bur. >> tom valentine joins us, the chief correspondent from orient aviation, a commercial aviation magazine. first of all, looking at the latest evidence that has arisen so far, what scenarios does the evidence point to? >> well, it probably points to one of two things - either a hijacking where someone took control of the aircraft and coerced the pilots to do what they did, or that something happened in the cockpit, that either one or both of the pilots - there was some sort of issue, a psychological thing.

they decided to take this plane off to do whether they wanted to do with it. i think it's quite significant though that there has been some take of pilot suicide, for instance, one would have thought if that was the aim, then they would simply have crashed the plane in the south china sea, rather than flying for hours in the other direction. my feeling is that we are looking at some sort of a hijack, a taking over the aircraft. what the purpose was, until we get the physical data from the wreckage, from the black box is we are simply going to speculate again. unless we have certainty and focus now, and are looking in a specific direction. >> what sort of clues, what sort of evidence can be sought at this point in the investigation to confirm what had happened? >> well there's little that can be at this point in the investigation. there's little that you can find from radar blips, from satellite

blips to tell you what occurred inside the aircraft, inside the cockpit. you need the cockpit voice recorder, where there will probably be some sort of evidence of what happened - either from what the pilots were saying to each other, or by someone breaking into the cockpit, for instance. there'll be some evidence there. until you get that hard physical material, you really are still playing a game of guesswork. >> now, another thing by the malaysian prime minister mentioned was that the military radar seems to show that the plane - he's saying it's an unidentified plane, it could have been this airliner, changed course and headed in a different direction. doesn't that raise the question of why was this unidentified plane not intercepted, no planing scrambled to see who it

was. >> it totally does. one would have thought across asia and individual countries if an unidentified aircraft is seen on the radar coming into your airspace, you would think the military would want to know what it was, and would scramble aircraft and go up and have a look. that's a mystery. the same would apply if the aircraft was approaching india. one would expect the indian defense forces to react and go up and look at the aircraft. that's a question that needs to be answered. >> thank you for your thoughts on that. >> gunmen have opened fire on army police checkpoints. state media reporting what mapp happened on the outskirts of cairo, at least five police officers were shot dead. >> a peaceful process reduced parts of the country to rubble.

forcing millions from their homes. the first protests erupted, spreading to syria's cities, amid fighting between opposition groups and forces. this video, said to be from damascus, was posted an a social media site. we cannot independently verify it. fighting in northern hama province. the town is on a strategic supply route. >> the damascus public refused to back down. a group of rebels formed the free syrian army to fight against bashar al-assad. now, three years on, the anti-assad protests have not stopped. the military campaign has had successors and failures. in the beginning the opposition made a series of gains, but soon became embroiled in infighting.

>> syrian rebels sheering army positions in the mountains. a crucial moment for the rebels. if they lose the area, they lose vital supply routes linking the suburbs of damascus to lebanon. and in the north the position controls large areas of lapped. short of tactical weapons, they are unable to capture cities. their only significance milt gained is the capture of the lakar province. groups affiliated to al qaeda. groups with religious agendas powerful in syria, a major setback for backers of the opposition. they spent hundreds of millions to create a modular secular army. to lead the fight and control the country.

now, the free syrian army is more divided than ever. hundreds of its fighters were killed in fighting a group affiliated with al qaeda. called the islamic state of iraq and taliban. the opposition sacked the chief of the f.s.a., the general, and ordered a revamp of the army. many rejected that decision, threatening to walk away from the syrian national coalition. weak and divided the rebels are on the defensive. fighting seems to be shifting in bashar al-assad's favour. over the last few months the rebels lost villages in the north, and in strongholds in the suburbs of damascus. >> opposition fighters insist that if they cannot get advanced weapons, they won't be able to great an army backed by

thousands of hz -- hezbollah fighters and militias. >> syrian forces entered the abroud on friday. the syrian activist group says lebanon's hezbollah is spearheading the fight to remove the rebels from the town north of damascus. >> there's more on the website. head to aljazeera.com. special indepth reporting on the war in syria. >> lots more ahead, including the victims of human trafficking. details of a raid in southern thailand. >> they may work for a profitable tea producers, but these sri lankans say they are among the poorest people. we'll have more on that.

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>> welcome back. let's recap the headlines here on al jazeera. malaysia... >> mission authorities have refocussed the investigation into the crew and passengers on board. >> malaysia's prime minister says the missing airliner was deliberately steered off course and hijacking is not being ruled out. he called out a search in the south china sea. >> three years since the start of the uprising to overthrow bashar al-assad, it continues. this video was posted on a

social media website on friday. syrian forces have retaken one of the last rebel-held areas. the army entered the town of ahbrood. residents say hezbollah is spear heading the fight. >> the syrian conflict has entered its fourth year. 140,000 people died in the conflict. 2.5 million registered as refugees in neighbouring countries. 6.5 million are displaced within syria. the u.n. secretary-general criticised all sides for failing to make progress towards peace. the political process is in crisis. it's not enough to bring the parties to the country, into the same room. what matters most is what they do there. after two rounds of talks,

either side is praying to compromise over the suffering of the syrian people. i strongly urge the syrian government and opposition to show the the leadership and flexibility needed to end the conflict. >> last week's arab league summit said the peace process failed and called for renewal in the fight against president bashar al-assad requesting heavy weaponry against allies. this is after the geneva talks bought the warring sides together, failing to achieve progress. >> away from the statistics, it's the stories of how people are faring in syria that shed light on the war. this resident shed his hopes for the future. trnchts i am from one of the cities. i was an ambulance job, injured

and in bed for six months. thank god i'm fine and will return to work on the ambulance. we started the revolution spontaneously. our feelings didn't allow for us to not act while people were killed. the people stood up. we started as a peaceful revolution, but the regime used machinery to kill people. we started as a peaceful union and wanted to stop it. the regime doesn't want to stop it peacefully. the revolution started three years ago. shortages of everything, medicine, water and electricity. all the infrastructure is destroyed. we hope everything will be fine when bashar al-assad goes. we will rebuild everything, god

willing. >> men, women and children from found in a camp run by people traffickers. many say they are from turkey. there are suspicions they are weeingas from -- weeingas from china. >> they are weak, tired and scared. more than 200 men, women and children were found in a camp. thai police have not been airport confirm their identities. this man insists they are from turkey. police are questioning that. since undocumented emgrants from turkry are largely unheard of in this part of the world. >> i was able to communicate with someone who spoke arabic. he refused to say how they entered thailand and if they were planning to go somewhere else. all he said is they wanted to speak to the turkish embassy. >> this is the first time that i

have turkish ipp grants in my area. if they are with them, we have to - we cannot prosecute them. >> if they are not, and they come to thailand illegally, we have to prosecute them to the court and give them back >> the immigrants could have been trying to get to china. thai police suspect they are wigers, the muslim people who international agencies say are oppressed and persecuted under chinese rule. it's a suspicion that worries the men. human rights groups are concerned.

officials from the chinese embassy were here. human rights watch said they cooperate with chinese counterparts to track down and deport members. they documented cases where people were punished upon returning home. the men are seeking turkey's help. they have been trying to highlight the plight of the g rohingya. if turkey says they are not their nationals, they could be imprisoned or deported. >> international observers will visit ukraine. 17 monitors were invited to simferepol and pro-russian people in the region. the vote has been described as

unconstitutional by the u.n. secretary of state john kerry and sergei lavrov, failed to make a break of it. john kerry said: sergei lavrov says: >> the focus shifts to the u.n., where the security council is expected to vote on saturday. if the result confirms russia's take obvious, crimea can expect to switch currency to the ruble. as jacky rowland reports to simferepol, there's uncertainty about the ownership of state assets. >> the timing could hardly be better. the pro-russian authorities bring gas to the neighbourhood days before a referendum on crimea's future. and are nationalizing the crimean branch of the ukrainian oil company. >> translation: this company

will be under the control. crimean authorities, the people that run it will come from crimea, not ukraine or russia. all the income will go into the crimean budget. >> the question of money is on people's minds as they make what might be the last trip to the market as citizens of ukraine. >> the outcome may seem a foregone conclusion, but there's a lot of uncertainty about what it will mean for ordinary peep. what will happen to their salaries, will their pensions be paid on time, will they have money to buy what they need for their family. people are anxious to get their hands on their savings. atms are running dry. the director of this bank says he can work with any national authority. all he needs is it stability. >> as soon as we know which currency we'll use, we'll have a

clearer idea of which actions to take. >> putting your money into bricks and more tar or concrete and steel has been a safe investment. uncertainty is affecting the construction industry. it's not the best time. there has been a lot of corruption and certain companies get contracts. many years ago we had 100 employees, now i have 30. >> nightfalls and they continue to cue patiently outside the back. for the most part people are keeping their opinions about the referendum to themselves. only cash gets everyone's vote. >> sri lanka's tea industry earnt more than $1.5 billion last year. plantation workers, the backbone

of the industry, remain among the country's poorest. we went to visit a project aimed at improving conditions in the industry. >> this is hard work. this woman and hundreds like her spend six to eight hours a day harvesting tea leaves. they are descendants from india, brought to sri lanka almost 200 years ago by the british, to work on plantations. they earn $4 to $5 for picking a day's quota. ranging between 10 to 18 kilos. it's only if we meet the daily targets that we are paid the basic wage. >> and they meet the targets in all kinds of weather. earnings fluk tute depending on the crop. living conditions are difficult. >> you can see the poverty level, and the children are

malnourished and living in a small space for the last couple of decades. >> plantation housing consisted of buildings like this, divided into rooms for each family. parents, children and extended families sometimes 10 to 12 people live in the lined rooms. alcoholism and malnutrition are common. plantation companies say they take care of workers. they provide health care, child care and other services. there is still a lack of basic facilities. >> sometimes we are late. when you ask why they are late, they say they don't have the facilities or water. >> sri lankan tea brings in millions. plantation workers, who are the backbone of the industry, see little of it. there have been improves in recent years, many live in houses like this. but now this project is aiming

to improve their lives. world vision worked with a plantation company to introduce a pilot scheme for workers. 23 families have been given specially designed houses with running water and dedicated toilets. the project allows people to earn extra money by raising chickens and growing vegetables. >> we lived with my inlaws, we have three children of our own. it's for everyone's benefit that we got the house on our own. >> the people at world vision say the success means many more houses will be built. for the workers, they are happy to have a decent place to live. >> a chinas human rights activist died in police custody. he was arrested for staging sit-ins at the chinese foreign

ministry. the human rights group said she was denied medical treatment leading to her death. >> the monk owlian capital is known as the coldest city. the mongolian government is trying to clean up its act. >> mongolia is known as the land of the eternal blue sky. when textures drap drop, the sky is heavy with smog. unlike industrial places, it's not caused by factories or pur plants. >> this woman is not using a traditional stove. a new one was subsidised to cut down on pollution. >> it's cheaper, retains more heat, takes less coal and cope. >> she is one of 700,000 that lives in this district, named after a mongolian tent homes.

they are unplanned settlements populated by migrants. they could afford little else. there's no water, sewerage system. half of the population lives here, and the coal and wood is responsible for 60 to 70% of the city's pollution. on a cold day the smell of burning coal is so strong it's difficult to breathe. >> getting everyone to use the clean stoves is expected to cut down pollution by 30%. this is not a permanent solution. >> in the long term we are doing affordable housing, greening projects. >> it's a battle between progress and tradition. with the economy on the rise more migrants are expected to

come to the city. with nowhere to live, it means more smoke stacks to heat up their homes. >> that's it for this show. you can get more on all those stories and more at aljazeera.com: >> ed you ha yo this is the "inside story." >> i'm ray suarez.