prosecution, that there was no 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. i am jonathan betz with today's top stories. crimea is part of ukraine today. it will be part of ukraine tomorrow. it will be part of ukraine next week. >> powerful words from the united nations on the eve of a controversial vote. violence in the streets of it eastern ukraine as groups for and against russia square off. no accident, the malaysian prime minister believes someone helped fligthe flight disappear

a cult-like church group is changing an east texas town and its congregation is growing. this afternoon, russia vetoed a u.n. resolution that would have declared thely tomorrow illegal. this has groups moving into the mainland. the ukrainian army pushed them back. violence erupted again today in eastern ukraine, not far from the border. it's where thousands of russian soldiers are running military exercises. ten hours from now, the polls will open in crimea. the vote on whether they want to leave ukraine and rejoin russia. our jennifer glass is in sevastopol, which has declared itself part of russia. jennifer, what have you seen there today?

>> reporter: well, jonathan, here in sevastopol, they are ready for this referendum. it seems everyone thinks it's a pretty foregone conclusion the vote will head in moscow's direction. many are very much in favor of voting to become part of russia. the bill boards we have seen have been pro-russian. campaigning we have seen has been pro-russian. there are really only russian flags flying here but as this all happens, we have sort of a dangerous escalation earlier today. russian troops moved out of crimea onto the strip of land to the northeast of crimea and into ukraine proper, and they moved forward. they came in, in helicopters and with a couple of armored vehicles, moved in to a village there and took over a gas station there, a gas pumping station that belongs to a company called "black sea oil and gas." that's a company crimea says it will become crimean property when this place becomes

independent. the russians saying they took that to keep the peace to make sure no terrorists took it over. >> that's their code word for anyone from kiev. the ukrainian forces faced off against them. we understand the russians are still in those positions tonight, a very dangerous escalation here tonight. the foreign ministry has called on russia to get off of ukrainian soil. this is the accomplishpoint everyone is concerned about, the kind of movement that everyone is concerned about, that things might get further than what's happened here you have thousands of russian troops here on the crimean pennsylvania pennsylvania faced off against an out might ha-manned ukrainia basically stuck on ships and in their bear affordable care act. but now you have russian forces but now you have russian forces. holding onto a key pumping station there. >> when you consider that and the violence we are seeing in eastern ukraine throughout the last few weeks, how much concern is there within ukraine thatsh that russia may try to grab more

of that country >> reporter: there is a lot of concern. we have seen violence in two big cities in eastern ukraine and russia and very, very worrying words from the russian foreign ministry saying that it's getting requests for protection from there, that it reserves the right to the protectethnic russian citizens there and the violence in donesk showing kiev is not in control of the situation so that a very, very big problem. we had a situation tonight here a hotel in sinthropal, about an hour up the road. masked gunmen came into the hotel, apparently looking for someone. they understand they are still in there now but it shows the kind of -- kind of gang rule that's going on here. nobody knows who is in charge. earlier today, we tried to get into a poling station to talk to people, to talk to the polling officials who were happy to give us an interview about how this referendum is going. we were stopped by a militia that wouldn't let us go any further. they wouldn't tell us why. they said they were told simply not to the let foreign judits

journalists in. until articles bands, the civilian force. a confused situation in crimean about who is in charge of security and how things will move going forward for this referendum tomorrow and beyond, jonathan. >> very confused, intense scene there. jennifer glasse on the ground in crimea for us today. thank you. at a time u.n. u.is trying stop the upcoming election but russia vetoed what would have declared the vote invalid. live at the united nations, john, talk to us about what happened at the security council later >> reporter: good afternoon. well, it was a rather gathering for the ambassadors for the skufrt council on saturday morningecurity council on satur morni morning. they came together seeking a vote on the resolution that would declare the referendum on sunday to be illegal. it was a mission they knew was ultimately doomed to failure, but one that had the added cashe

of sending a serious message to russia at the same time. >> one day before the refer endum and the global body responsible for peace and security sent a powerful message. the referendum in crimea is invalid. >> translator: the result, 13 votes in favor, one vote against, one abstension. >> western ambassadors wanted to show how isolated russia is on the world stage by drafting a resolution showing there is no legal basis for sunday's poll. 13 council members voted in favor and china abstained leaving russia to kill wiit wita ve veto. the u.s. ambassador to the u.n., samantha power, said this was the wrong time to use the veto. russia has used its veto as an accomplice to unlawful military incursion. the very veto given nearly 70 years ago to countries who had led an epic fight against aggression, but in so doing,

russia cannot change the fact that moving forward in blatant did he haefiance of the interna rules of the road will are have consequences. >> moscow's line never waivers. violence could spread throughout ukraine and its only trying to protect russians who live there, particularly in crimea. >> the violence had to be noted that happened over the months in kiev and other regions of the country. violence, which threatened and threatened to spread to other regions of ukraine. violence which just didn't happen in crimea thanks to the measures taken there. >> but ukraine's ambassador to the u.n. says russia'stions are not those of aemodern era but hay back to the old soviet era. >> the demagogue gy, just words. at the same time, three are

paratroopers and other forces, they entered the mainland of ukraine. so this is scynicism of what is going on. they are coming to the southern part of the mainland. now, we have a different situation than before the security council. the aggression is expanding >> reporter: saturday's failed resolution in the security council may have come too late to halt the poll in crimea but ambassadors here are keen to send a broader message to vladimir putin. don't try anything like this in other parts of ukraine, particularly the eastern section, which also leans heavily moscow's way, as crimean does. >> it may be too late to stop the referendum on sunday but a lot hangs on what president putin decides to do once the results come in and because the security council is the world body to peace and security, look for a lot of activity here in the east side of manhattan next week. jonathan? >> john terrett live at the united nations. thank you.

we tunnel to the search for flight 370. a week after that plane accident happen happened, at a time malaysian prime minister said it appears the plane was diverted and flew on fore another way another seven hours. lesiona stark live from washington with the latest. a lot of new information today >> reporter: jonathan, there was, indeed, the prime minister of malaysia is still not calling this a hijacking. he said all possibilities remain open but based upon the information he released today, it is clear someone took control of this plane, took it off path and toflew it for hours. now that this is a criminal investigation, investigators are looking into the backgrounds of everyone on board this jet. today, in malaysia, reports that the home of the captain, a veteran, a 30-year veteran of this airline reports that his home was searched for clues. we do not know yet if the home of the co-pilot has been searched as well.

the prime minister this morning said that the radar hits that were found on after the jet turned off course, the military radar hits have been confirmed it was this missing jetliner and that this went way off course. >> up until the point at which the it left military primary radar coverage, this movement is consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane. >> now what we know from the information that investigators have gleaned so far is that soon after plane took off for ken lamke bound for bang e-mail, someone turned off a system that sends out information about the plane's engines and aircraft performance. >> that's the first communication system that was turned off. then, a short time lay later, they turned off the second communication system, a trans

ponder. >> tells the planes -- tells the plane's location and altitude. there was another routine voice communication from the voice cockpit and this that plane suddenly veered off course, veered to the west. then, it was picked up by military radar and later satellite picks. the aircraft was sending out electronic signals. satellites picked that up. >> is how investigators know the plane was still flying, and they have determined two possible paths that this plane may have taken based upon that satellite data. very different paths. one is to the north, through india, pakistan, up to kazakhstan. the other, to the south. this would be out through the indian ocean to the south. my sources tell me if the plane wanted to avoid detection, that is the most likely path that the plane -- that whoever was in the cockpit would have taken. what that means is all of the ships and the planes that have been searching 14 kuntz trees, dozens of ships and planes being

pulled out of the search area in the south china sea and the gulch of thailand, all being moved westward now as they concentrate on the indian ocean, as they try to figure out where this missing plane went. jonathan? >> agonizing search continues. lisa attacker life for us in wasn't today. thank youkiesh for more on the unending questions on this story, we turn to our transportation contributor, todd curtis. he joins us from newton, massachusetts. todd, a lot of questions on this. i am hoping you can help us break it down. the first one is this term "deliberate action." the malaysian prime minister is using. i am trying to figure out how this could be justified in a pilot's mind, turning off these different forms of communication, diverting the plane. how could it be anything but a hijacking? ? >> i think the prime minister was correct in using the term deliberate action because that part, i think it's fairly agreed

upon some action had to be taken by the pilot. the big question is why? the answer on that question will determine whether or not this was a hijacking by a third party -- that is someone outside of the cockpit, a commandeering of the aircraft by the crew for reasons having nothing to do with completing their mission. >> but in all of your years flying, todd, in all of your years working with planes, can you think of a legitimate reason why the pilot would do the things this pilot apparently did. >> i think of legitmat things they were doing things that are completely off script. >> that's, if there were a series of system issues in the aircraft, systems failing, systems putting out bad data, other unusual activities, the pilots could be using american checklists or what they call a non-normal checklist if it's less than an emergency to try to isolate a problem, to try to cut off machinery that's not behaving and perhaps -- and this is speculation. perhaps things were progre progressively failing and the

pilots had to do something creative, very much outside of the normal procedures to try to save the airplane. so, i think, again, getting back to the prime minister's words, a deliberate, yes. but a deliberate action for malicious reasons? that remains to be seen. >> what do you maining of the stunning revelation that we heard overnight and into today that this plane continued flying for seven hours? one of the first things i am thinking is that when malaysia should have been aware that it's plane was missing, there is a chance that the plane was still in the air and that their passengers were still alive. >> indeed after seven hours of flight, this may have been alive. without knowing what was going on inside of the aircraft it's hard to say what was going on. either the crew was not communicating with the outside world because they didn't want to communicate with the outside world or because they were unable to communicate: a system failure. perhaps the crew and the passengers were incapacitated and the plane was on some sort of auto pilot routing to go to their destination. >> but just knowing the pla

plane -- let me ask you: just knowing the plane continued flieling for seven hours after its last known contact, do you feel like the malaysian authorities are handling this well? do you think there should have been earlier alarms that went off somewhere within malaysia's government to say, hey, we are missing this plane. we need to try to find it. >> well, i think in the early stages, very early stages, that they reacted accordingly. when the plane didn't show up at its destination, a search was initiated. a search in the reasonable areas was initiated. but one must keep in mind, the last seven days are clearly without precedent, at least in the 30 or 40 years, of civil aviation. even in cases where an aircraft was lost for several days, as was the case with the air france event in 2009, there was debris found after five days and at least at that point, there was some assurance that the airplane was no longer in one place and that, perhaps, it had crashed. after seven days, there is nothing. no debris.

no sighting of the aircraft, no survivors calling in. nothing. so given that this is a situation where many things can be happening and that this government, to the best of their ability, they are trying to keep this in control and get a consortium of countries to work with them. sure, one can point fingers at the malaysian's government saying they should have done something different. but let's go back to the basic fact here. this is a very, very unusual situation. any country would have been tasked very heavily to deal with this. >> todd curtis, a transportation contributor talking with us from massachusetts. we appreciate it? >> thanks, jonathan. people in a small east texas town say they are under asaul from a group they call a cult. over the past two years, the church of wells has bought many homes and businesses in that small community. dozens of desperate relatives say they have lost contact with their songs and daughters t heidi takes us inside the group

that calls themselves the world's only true christians. >> new year's eve, the night was dark, chris myers was worried about the rv that had broken down in front of his house. two men stood outside. >> i asked them where they were headd they said they were headed here. >> the group was the beginnings of the church of wells founded in 2010 by three waco college students. the leaders all in their 20s had traveled the country recruiting members through street preaching before landing here. >> within days, the group had settled in the town of well. and over the last two years, have been systematically buying house after house in this small community. it's gotten to the point where the towns people have spray painted their doors to keep this group out. the church now numbers around 100 members. it also owned a gas station and grocery store, which many residents boycott. jim maddox pastors a small church next to some church of well. properties.

he says the group's communal style living and message of damnation have earned it the reputation of being a cult. >> they begin telling everybody that they were going to hell, that they were, you know, in the bondage of religion and all of these sorts of things. >> according to the recorded sermons, the church believes salvation requires cutting ties with one's own family. patty and andy grove say their 27-year-old daughter joined the group in july and no longer speaks to them. they say when they tracked her down in wells, she and to be brainwashed. >> she goes, "mom, you make me smile. and i am not supposed to smile. i am supposed to be down." and i think that ripped my heart out >> reporter: pastor maddox says the gross are just one of many families from around the country who have come looking for loved ones who have joined the group. >> most all of these people are very intelligent. they come from very good, strong

family backgrounds. >> what would make someone like that break. >> keep them weak in their body, weak in their mind >> reporter: the f f.b.i. says the church of well. is on the agency's radar. local police have investigated the death of a three-day-old infant born to a church member in 2012. according to a statement from the child's father he and other church members did not seek medical treatment for the baby because they would she would be resurrected. a grand jury decided not to press charges. >> that's not faith. >> that's not godly. >> what was it? >> i would almost call it murder. >> we tracked down the church of wells reclusive leader, sean morris. >> we want to give you -- let you guys explain some of perhaps the false assumptions about you guys. >> no. i don't want to give any comment. thank you. >> a church member who did not wish to be identified says the allegations against leaders are false. >> they make these people look

like they are monsters and they are not. you know, they just regular people like you and i. >> they can come across as very polite but, also, the most judgmental and at times hostile people i have ever met. i hope they leave. >> for now, the church of wells is staying put while distraught families continue to search for answers. heidi jo castro, al jazeera, wells, texas. >> our coverage of the church of wells continues in the next half hour. we will follow the path of katherine groves. her family says she disappeared from her home in arkansas and was traced to the church of wells. >> stead ahead on al jazeera, the war in syria three years later, thousands dead, you are watching al jazeera america. a new species of dinosaur. we will tell you how they came upon it and figured it out 70 million years later.

now, to syria where three years ago today, the uprising against president bashar a bashar al assad began. syrians and people outside of the country are still all demanding an end to the crisis that killed hundreds of thousands of people. demonstrations took place in london calling for president asaad to step down. i spoke with the commissioner for refugees to speak about what the nearly mine n.h.l. displain syrians displaced. >> it's the largest displaced population and six million of them are inside syria. many have already had to move six, seven, eight times. they have e ous problems to get essential things for life. many of them have problems or

food. 50% of the children are out of school. many hospitals destroyed, many health centers destroyed. when they managed to cross the border, i believe, 3 million people have crossed borders, two and a half million with us and when they crossed the border, even if together with all of the agencies and with the states of the neighboring countries even if we are doing everything we can to support them, their needs and the dimension of the problem is out of proportion with the capacity with the humanitarian aid and mistaken, mistaken people are living in exile with enormous problems an especially the children. children traumatized by violence inside syria. thirty per se of children that are forced to work, i have seen

yesterday children of nine, ten, eleven years old were working, picking potatoes. children that are in the case of girls, young girls, forced to marry by their families as a way to allow for the family to survive. the worst violations of human rights because of the poverty and all of these represents a humanitarian tragedy that needs to stop and the only way to stop it is to end this war. >> how would you grade the international communities for the response to this crisis so far? >> from a humanitarian point of view, there has been a lot of support, even if, as i said, that support is out of proportion with the needs. but if you -- if 1 takes into attention the requirements that the neighboring countries have to address the structural problems caused by this huge increase in population, there we must confess, the international

community has done very little. and if one looks at burden sharing in other countries in other parts of the world opening their borders, syrian refugees, burden sharing, has been limited until now. >> you miss mention did you would like to see more countries around the world accept these refugees. have you found some western countries resistant to opening their borders? >> we have recently a situation in bulgaria in the external border that was close to syrian refugees. we see refugees trying to come into europe. it is essential that all borders are open. it is essential that these polici policies, and familiy unificatin programs are more effective and that more opportunities, like german recently did,

resettlement are open for syrian refugees. at least today in leb anon and jordan that have vulnerabilities that have no solution in this country because this country has dramatic problems and can hope for a better life to rebuild their lives in a better way if they can be resettled in north america or in europe. thanks to antonio guteres, the u.n. refugee. the military led government synpathices with the band of muslim brotherhood but the group denies involvement attacks on soldiers have increased since the ousting of mohamed morsi last july. roughly 300 military officers have been killed. in neighboring libya, rebels who control three oil ports in the country say they are ready to negotiate with the government. separatists seized the port six months ago. they say they will give it back if the government does not go through with a military offensive against them.

the rebels are calling for a greater share in the nation's oilwealth. last week, tripoli threatened to attack a tanker that took oil from one of those ports. tensions running high in ukraine one day before a controversial referendum. we will get the view from russia how the crisis is there. >> thet how to bring the blue back to a among o mongolian sky clouded with smog

. welcome back to al jazeera america. here is a look at your top stories this half hour. the search for flight 370 is now a criminal investigation. malaysia's imply primary said it appears the plane was deliberately diverted by someone on board and continued in the air for another seven hours. the airliner still has not been found. today is the third year the syrian uprising, the anniversary

comes as process claim north of damaskus. more than two and a half million refugees in the region. russia vetoed a resolution that would have declared the election in crimea illegal. russian troops are trying to advance it northward from the crimean peninsula. let's turn to kiev, home to ukraine's government. phil itner joins us where this all began three months ago. what's been the reaction in kiev to these recent movements by russian troops? >> reporter: well, a lot of concern, jonathan, here in kiev about the information that those russian troops are actually for the first time stepping on territory held by mainland ukraine. but it falls into concerns that we have been hearing for quite some time from kiev in the intelligence service here that the opinion is or the intelligence that they are gathering is that actually, the

russians have grander designs beyond just the crimean peninsula. they are deeply concerned about what they call 5th columnist or proce provocateur s that they say are stoking up the difficulties and the tensions between those who are pro-western and those who are pro-eastern. this news that came today is actually russian troops, but the ukrainians say this is a grander design. they are very concerned that the criminallin actually wants to take more territory than just the crimean. >> phil, considering that, is the ukrainian government doing anything to respond? are they deploying more soldiers to eastern ukraine? are they putting their forces on higher alert? >> reporter: absolutely, they are, jonathan. this is a very different scenario than crimea. nobody here likes the idea of losing the crimean peninsula, but there is a kind of

understanding that there is the russian military base there, and, also, just an acceptance of the defactor annexation of the peninsula. they've got so many russian boots on the ground. mistaken ukrainians say, it's better than going war. we can't dislodge those guys. we are going to have to cut off the leg to save the body, kind of a gangrene situation. but this is different. this, the ukrainians say is unacceptable. if the russians try and grab more territory, they clearly say the ukrainians here, we will fight. now, they have called up and they have decided to establish a 60,000-man strong national guard. they just decided that two days ago, and in those two days, they have already got 40,000 applican applicants. in addition to that, now, just today, the defense ministry has said that these phones can be used to send a text to the defense ministry pledging money to the ukrainian military. now, it's not a lot of money. it's only about $0.50 each time.

but it's, in essence, a war bond situation, and they are saying, basically, to their population, hey, we are under real threat here this -- these commercials, informing the people about this texting program real running in high rotation. they are clearly sending the message to ukraine and the ukrainian citizens that they are really under threat. jonathan? >> training to rally people at home but trying to rally people across the world. i am there is a delegation of united states senators in the region. what are they saying about all of this? >> reporter: yeah, there is a delegation that's been in town since yesterday, led guy senator john mccain. now, he tweeted yesterday that every single ukrainian official that he had met with theretoforever had been asking for military assistance. today, they came out and condemned the referendum that is planned for tomorrow as illegitimate. they also expressed grave concerns about this popsibility

that russian may have designs on east earn ukraine and as far as those designs, this is what senator mccain had to say. > . >> i can't say exactly what our response will be. but i think it will be a breach of such enormous consequence that the united states of america and our european allies will be contemplating action that we have not ever in our relations with russia >> reporter: senator mccain is a strong supporter of giving a lot of military aid to this country, very much aware of the threat that a ukraine, under threat from russia is not only for this country but for the larger world. jonathan. >> listen. >> phil itner life in kiev for us. thank you. in russia, tens of thousands of people took to the streets both in support of and against the intervention in crimea. peter sharp has the latest from

moscow >> reporter: the tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators who took to the streets to show their opposition to putin's move on crimean and students to the elderly, all shared one human emotion: fear of what lies ahead. they don't know where their president is leading their country, and russia's involvement in crimea and ukraine frightens them. >> i don't want war. i am afraid for the children and for the future. >> reporter: the banners and slogans sent a message to the highest levels of government. our enemy is not in the engineer. it's in the kremlin, one red. protesters shouting, putin is a thief. >> diplomacy appears to have run its course. this is the last chance for these anti-war protesters to get their message across. what they are saying is that any adventures in crimea carried out by president putin and the kremlin would leave russia

dangerously isolated in the international community. 60% or higher of people in russia support president putin's moves to skraenl. >> among the marchers, boris nemsov. >> people here don't want russia to be isolated. they want a prosperous country, not an aggressive poverty-strewn country with nuclear weapons. >> this was not the only demonstration in moscow saturday. only a few blocks away, a separate rally supporters of putin, there was a substantial police presence to ensure there were no clashes. >> this is the majority voice in russia today, an overwhelming endorsement for putin's involvement in the crimea and support for the russian people living on the black sea peninsula. >> we are for friendship of the russian and ukrainian peoples.

we want to say a firm know of the fascist junta and we want to support comrades in ukraine. >> voting, the outcome will delight these people convinced that the kremlin's move on ukraine is justified and standing ready to welcome crimea back to mother russia. in moscow. >> the son of the former soviet liter niki tive. a which yo khruschev says it wi better for stability. >> most say it will be better for them to be part of ukraine. now, when they are scared of the western ukrainians who took power, who became very brutal, they don't want to do this the. they don't want to fight with them. i agree today it will be better for them in russia, even in the shadow of the scandal, russia will invest human money on them.

>> kruschev says his father, seen here, signing the deal that would give crimea to ukraine back in 1954, that it was a business decision dealing with the construction of a damn that would irrigate ukraine's southern region. he said it was not a political move. >> mongolia, many people in its camtol are suffering because of coal-fired smog coming from a source you might not expect. margra ortiges. >> when temperatures drop, the sky over its capital city is heavy with smog. unlike more industrial places, here, it's not caused by factories or power plants. mogochi is not using a stove. the government subsidized this knew one to cut down on the city's pollution. >> translator: it's cheaper and

it is more fuel efficient. it generates less smoke. >> she is just one of over 700,000 people that live in her district named after the traditional tent home. these areas are unplanned settlement populated frby my grants. they could afford little else. there is no running water, no sewage system and no central heating. half of the city's population lives in these districts and the coal and wood they use in their homes is responsible for 60 to 70% of the city's pollution. >> on a cold day, the smell of burning coal is so strong here, it's difficult to breathe, and the smoke stings the eyes. the government is concerned about long-term effects of such pollution and has been work to go decrease it. >> getting everyone to use the clean stoves is expected to cut down pollution by 30% but this isn't a permanent solution. >> in the long-term, we have a

feasibility study. we are doing affordable housing study, and we are doing studies. >> it's a battle between progress and tradition. with the economy on the rise, more migrants are expected to come to the city. with no where else to live, it will mean more smoke stacks to heat up their homes. margo ortigas, mongolia. >> part 2 of our story on the church of wells. it's a parents' worst nightmare losing contact with your child and fearing the worse. heidi jo castro forllows the story of one family torn apart by that church. >> it seemed 27-year-old katherine grove had it all, a devout and loving christian family and a promising career in nursing but eight months ago, she accident happendisappeared northwest arkansas home. patty and andy grove worried she had been abducted. five days later, katherine finally, called from a town 380

miles away. >> she goes, hi, mom. i am with a group of people that are taking good care of me, but i can't listen to you and dad any more, mom. i am in wells, texas. >> population 800. a town of cattle and lumbarber. the groves came here looking for their daughter. instead, they found an even bigger mystery. >> katherine said she was with the church of wells. her parents asked locals for directions. >> they said, oh, you are 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 of wells. >> their first words were, mr. and mrs. grove, we fear you are going to kidnap your daughter from us. >> the groves say when they finally, saw katherine after four hours of pleading, she looked to have lost 10 pounds.

>> i couldn't help but ask: are you okay? do you have plenty to eat? and she didn't answer. she looked at the elders. >> katherine grove chose not to return home that day. she has remained in wells since. her parents believe the group uses sleep deposrivation which e groups' members deny. >> you are facing these allegations. you don't want to clear your name? >> the lord will justify me. >> are you guys keeping people hostage? >> of course not. >> a neighbor says she saw katherine grove last week? >> yes. she looked like she wanted to be here. i don't think they are holding her against her will. >> the groves disagree. they have 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, looked like, mini heat lamps and i don't know

50 to 100 small fans. and i said, what on earth is this? he said, andy, with a big grin on his face, 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 katherine 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 conta katherine. >> she goes, mom, katherine is dead. this is jesus, mom. >> the call left the groves chilled and wondering if this is a tent of faith, then what exactly happened to their daughter? heidi jo castro, al jazeera, wells, texas. >> federal regulators have filed a lawsuit against 16 of the

world's largest banks who are accused of manipulating libor rates, manage lating interest rates. they say the banks set rates through collusion rather than competition. it's the latest suit in a series related to libor that have forced big banks to pay $5,000,000,000 of settlement since 2008. when we come back on al jazeera america, can the nba's all-time winningest coach save one of the most storied fanchises? stay with us. pan am flight 103 exploded in the skys above lockerbie. only one man was convicted of the attack >> the major difficulty for the prosecution, that there was no 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 nd join thn

online @ajamstream. well, film jackson is coming to brad waifrmthsways. the new york nicks have tapped him to run their front office t ross? >> the circle of life because phil jackson is back where it

started. he was drafted by the new york knicks and won 2 nba titles as a player. can he lead them back to the promised land? howard beck, nba columnist is here to break it down. howard, what does the phil jackson hiring mean to the new york's knicks franchise? >> it means a to be symbolically because this is a franchise desperate for any new symbol of hope and stability and somebody who is smart enough to basically drag this franchise out of the dreingz again where they find themselvesgs again where they f themselv themselves. he represents winning and that's something that the knicks haven't had a lot of. >> that's the hope here. >> dpil jackson is 68. his fiance works for the lakers. what's the motivationphil jacks. his fiance works for the lakers. what's the motivation of him taking the job? >> he has been out of the game for a few years since he left the lakers in 2011. every time he left, whether the bulls, first time he left the lakers, he finds himself antsy.

he has accomplished everything you can many teams over but he is antsy to have an influence. he saw himself as someone who could give back to the game in a mentoring role. he thought maybe that would be' 1 to 1 with coaches but he is the inventor of a franchise that needs a better culture. >> can he turn around the franchise? what's the first thing on his to do list? >> he is coming in as a first-time executive. he has never done that before. he has to figure out who he is hiring. forget players. he has to decide who else is going to be in his front office because he is not going to be a day-to-day gm meeting with agents. he needs a solid front. he has to decide if that's already here, if he is hiring new people. he is probably going to hire a coach, mike woodson is probably gone at the end of the season. so there is a lot of work to do before we get to the roster. >> the roster, talk about the rost roster, their star player can be a free agent. phil jackson, what's the plan

there? >> everybody around phil jackson told me though phil has been critical of him in the past and because carmello is a ball stopper and phil jackson loves a flowing offense which he learned under red holtsman, he saws anthony as being him. if he hires a triangle coach and uses that system, carmello could fit that well. he has a say in this, too. he has to decide whether this is a place he wants to stick or whether he sees something brighter somewhere else. >> by taking this job in new york, what does that say about the family struggle in terms of the lakers after the passing of dr. jerry. >> he passed on essentially authority over the franchise, ownership to all of his kids. the two primary were jeany engaged to phil jackson, the top executive, her brother, jim bus top executive on the basketball side. that's how jerry bus set it up. whereas jeanne has wanted phil jackson back with the lakers in a basketball capacity, jim bus

has not. if that ever could have happened, it would have by now. so the lakers, in a sense, are kind of losing phil jackson for good now. but really, he's been gone for a few years because jim bus never wanted him back. >> great insight, howard, phil jackson won 11 nba titles as a coach. two as a player. it should be interesting to see how things develop knicks will hold a press conference on tuesday to what they are calling a major announcement. not a very good secret. >> new chapter. that i recognize, ross. paleontologists in texas may have discovered al speisesis of dinosaurs mark snyder has that story from dallas. >> pale entontologist ron shi ask. oski chips rocks for the peroit museum of nature and science.

every once in a while, he finds a big surprise. >> we thought this belonged to an already known pieces of tyrannosaur. what are the odds you will find something new? not good. >> fellow palentologists went looking in alaska in 2006. they found what they were looking for and some other remains they put off to the side. almost an afterthought, he started looking at them about a year ago. it looked like a t-rex but what they are calling the new saurosoglyndy. about a thousand pounds and roamed about two million years earlier. >> any time you can find something new like this that helps fill in the blanks, helps us paint a better picture of life in the past and how things change, how they have evolved. what was this world like in the distant past. and so any additional bit of information just makes that picture all that more clear to

us. the paleontologists found a partial brain casing, a partial out? he says it was the top predator of the northern slope of alaska in a region about the size of minnesota. >> it was doing what tyranosaurs do every where else: it ate everybody. >> he takes chunks out of thousands of pounds of 70 million-year-old rocks expecting to find more pieces of the latest discovery. he said he and his colleagues did everything they could to disprove their theory about a new dinosaur pieces and he knows other scientists will try. >> we can think maybe this was a new tyrranosaur but we have to find ways to show the world they were wrong. after you try to do that a bunch of times, if you can't proven your idea wrong, maybe it's right. >> casts of these bones will go on public display next month at the perot museum in dallas the

mark snyder, al jazeera, dallas. >> interesting find in texas but some severe weather in north texas? >> extending from central and southern portions of oklahoma down into northern texas, we are looking for chance of severe thunderstorms. we could see damaging winds, hail, even a chance for toranados, winds up to 60 miles per hour possible across texas, louisiana, oklahoma and, as i said, arkansas as well. now, i want to breivik explain to you the difference between a watch and a warning. if we have a severe thornl watch, that meansunderstorm watch, that means conditions are fafrpable. when we have warnings in effect, it is imminent or occurring. extending across texas. you can see a squall line really starting to develop here across north central portions of texas into oklahoma. >> that's indicative of damaging winds in this area here today. so if you are traveling along i-35, right around the dallas/fort worth area, the heating of the day is at its

greatest and that's when the instability also is the greatest. we could see storms develop, saturating rainfall around the dallas fort worth area toward houston. as i said, this is a severe thunderstorm watch that's out right now but we could see warnings issued later on the evening. i am sure rebecca will keep you updated on all of those. we have a steady stream of moisture and that storm continues to lift towards the north and actually towards the east. this is going to set us up for wintering weather as we track into sunday night and monday winter storm warnings, advisories extending across the ohio valley towards the mid atlantic. i think we have the chance to see a couple of inches of snow. this is the late official weakened of winter. spring arrives on thursday but again, we are going to have a little bit of wentyy weather here in terms of accumulating amounts. we have we will have a clear indication. it's going to be a tricky morning krools i-95 and certainly acrossacross i-95 and certainly across i-81 in west

virginia in the mountains. we could see several inches of snow. so we want to be careful for traveling there. this is a look at the high temperatures across the nation today. very comfortable in new york city but the cold air is pushing in out of canada. tomorrow, we are back in the 30s. back to you, jonathan. >> back in the 30s. okay. thanks, jalila. >> absolutely. a man who made history by marking the end of leach with a are 2 has died. the sailor snapped in a passionate ambrates with a nurse in 1945. he didn't actually know wthe woman. he said he was so caught up in the excitement of japan's surrender, he grabbed her and kissed her. seized the moment. he died in texas, 86 years old. >> a look at the day's top stories after this short break. >> scared as hell... >> as american troops prepare to leave afghanistan get a first hand look at what life is really like under the taliban. >> we're going to be taken to a place, where they're going to make plans for an attack. >> the only thing i know is, that they say they're not going

to withdraw. >> then, immediately after, an america tonight special edition for more inside and analysis. >> why did you decide to go... >> it's extremly important for the western audience to know why these people keep on fighting... ...it's so seldom you get that access to the other side. >> faultlines: on the front lines with the taliban then an america tonight: special edition, only on al jazeera america

this is al jazeera america live from new york. i am jonathan betz with today's top stories. less than 10 hours from now until the controversial referendum in crimea. russian forces tried to move

north into mainland ukraine. there have been clashes in the eastern part of the country. >> crimea is part of ukraine today. it will be part of ukraine tomorrow. it will be part of ukraine next week. >> strong words from the united states ambassador but russia vetoed the u.n. security council resolution that would have declared the referendumn invalid. the search for flight 370 has now turned into a criminal investigation. malaysia's prime prime minister says it appears the plane was deliberately diverted. >> this movement is consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane. in syria, fighting continues on the third anniversary of the war there. syrian government forces took back a rebel-held town north of damascus. it's a major loss for the rebels who used the city to move

weapons. federal regulators filed a lawsuit against 16 of the world's largest banks accused of manipulating libor rates, interest rates on everything from home loans to corporate debt. those are the headlines. "fault lines" starts right now on al jazeera america. >> we're driving to a crime scene in a suburb outside of columbia, south carolina... we've come because more women are killed by men here than any other state in the country... around 10:30 in the morning, a family of four, including two children, were found here.