bill cran, richard marquise. thank you. the decision continues, you can find us on twitter@aj consider this. see you next time. >> this is al jazeera america, i'm jonathan betz in new york. >> a vote from crimea to join rush a. >> the investigation into malaysia airlines flight 370 focuses on this man, the pilot. challenging the labour laws, is it long overdue or sure fire to send the economy into a tail

spin. that's our topic tonight on "the week ahead". >> on this sunday night there are celebrations on the streets across crimea. voters there overwhelmingly approved a referendum to rejoin russia. it was one of the largest election turn outs ever in a european nation. supporters danced in the street for hours, across crimea. here are the early results. more than 95% voting yes to becoming a subject of the russian federation. less than 4% approved the idea of staying with ukraine but having more independence. united nation, europe and the white house condemned the election. we have a team of reporters on the story. david brenner has reaction from kiev. jennifer glasse talks to people before and against the election. we start in the crimean capital.

that's where we find nick schifrin. good evening, it is pouring around me, and that is the only thing that could get the celebrators off the street. if you talk to international and domestic monitors that are critical, they list a long list of irregularities saying it was too quickly convened. the the voter poll was not active, and that were troops, pro-russian militia on the streets, and it boiled down to two questions, join russia now, or join russia later. the majority does not care. they feel like tonight is the first chance they got to decide their own destiny. >> for the majority of crimeans, march 16th will be known as independence day.

the day they voted to separate from a ukraine they never wanted to be a part of. the day they voted to join a russia they call the motherland. >> i'm happy to be in russia. it's my choice. i'm lucky to be in russia. >> they celebrated a lopsided vote. for 12 straight hours one after another after another ticked the same box. as this mother put it, it's never too early to vote for russia. this man feels loyal to his soviet army comrades and delivers orders to young soldiers, now to different kinds of battles. the former general votes in his old dress uniform. he's nostalgic for his old

identity. during an interview he showed off his long-expired soviet passport. i ask if he'll trade it in for a russian version? >> absolutely, i'm going home, i think they'll welcome me with open arms. >> as it trurns to moscow, they are turning their backs on the west and anything that ukraine says it fair. >> instead of police for election officials, pro-russian militia ran security. was there a problem with us filming here. >> they blocked our access to a room we were allowed to film. >> this allows to us go in. he tried to talk us out of filming. he tried to make us stop filming. excuse me, do you have a problem? he runs away, despite my efforts. do you have a problem with the media? do you not want us to

film? he wants no one to see him but his militia is seen here and 20 miles away, creating a gauntlet for prospective voters. voting booths were empty. in this area half the population is muslim tatar. they boycotted >> nothing could stop the celebrations. >> we are happy, we are back home >> they don't care the west calls the vote a fraud. all they care about is for moscow to welcome them home. >> the local government is expected to waste no time at all. they'll pass a resolution asking the russian federation to officially invite crimea into its orbit. they are expected to send a delegation to moscow and the deputy prime minister is talking

about replacing the local currency with the russian ruble. everyone here is not talking about what the west is condemning as a fraud, they talk about how excited they are to look east. >> that is the focus without question. nick schifrin there. >> in southern crimea russian flags are flying high, but not everyone is celebrating. al jazeera's jennifer glasse has more from sevastopol. >> in this village going to church is split -- political for this family. they have to navigate through a checkpoint and decided not to vote. >> how can we have free choice under the barrel of a gun. >> their church sits next to a ukrainian base, surrounded by russian troops who arrived two weeks ago. inside they are praying for a peaceful resolution to all this.

these are mostly ethnic ukrainians. they say they'll stay despite the referendum. this man says crimea is caught in ageo political mess. >> we are between the giant, russia, u.s., n.a.t.o. and the former warsaw-packed countries. a little pawn in the world of politics. >> in sevastopol, the scene is different. before the polls closed the atmosphere was jubilant. this is something the people have been waiting for for years. and they say life will be better under russia. crimea was deeply linked to russia, the song says. it's a crowd pleaser. the russian flag is the accessory of joys. today is the first day this man hassed voted for anything or

anyone. there was neither a leader nor issue that mattered to him, before now. >> i voted for russia, because it's the only choice. russia. >> my daughter, son, husband. we voted for russian. we were ukrainian. my husband was in the russian military for 26 years. my children went to russian schools. we love the city and can't live without it. >> there's deep mistrust of the west. when they learn i hope american i'm told off because barack obama and the u.s. orchestrated the change of government in kiev. most here don't care what the world things of the referendum or the future. they welcome the opportunity to chart their own course, and say now they are going home to mother russia.

>> meantime the government in kiev con -- condemned the vote, vowing to bring to justice anyone that had anything to do with crimea's independence. >> ukrainian government ministers in kiev huddled and conferred. what should the practical response be. the answer came from the prime minister. >> find the money, and fast. >> sunday's session at the cabinet office in central kiev was an emergency meeting and prime minister arseniy yatsenyuk emphasised why. there needs to be a tenfield increase in defense spending. the integrity of ukraine depends upon it. those calling for russian intervention, it was scathing. >> translation: let there be no doubt. ukrainian leaders will find leaders, shielded by the russian troops attempting to destroy

ukrainian independence. we'll find them all, if it takes a year, two years, we'll bring them to justice. the earth will burn beneath their feet. >> ukranian military preparations are under way. in donetsk, a convey of army and tanks have been moving into positions south of the town. should russian forces cross the border, ukraine will respond. that is happening on the crimean peninsula. russian forces that landed on a narrow strip of land outside the crimean border dug in around a gas supply station and show no sign of pulling back. local residents watch and worry. >> they say they are protecting us from terrorist acts, but don't explain what. >> for a second executive day in donetsk pro-russians staged

demonstrations. they replaced the ukrainian flag it with a russian one. the government in kiev believes the unrest is being stoked by prove okay tours. the crimean referendum has ended. the crisis in ukraine is ong. >> and a lot has changed suddenly in ukraine ahead of this historic day in crimea. more than three weeks ago the president fled the country. a few days after that russia seized bases and airports. the parliament demanded russia pull back. crimea's parliament declared a referendum to join russia, offering to let voter to decide. and today more than 90% voted to become part of the russian

federation. >> that vote asking the e.u., and the united states. now there'll be sanctions. >> president obama told vladimir putin that the u.s. would never recognise crimea assist part of russia. president obama spoke with vladimir putin by phone after results from announced. saying that the referendum violates the ukrainian constitution. vladimir putin, in sochi for the paralympics closure fired back: >> president obama was not the only world leader. the european union described the vote as iland illegitimate and refuses to recognise the outcome. it issued a statement:

>> e.u. has asked russia to pull back their soldiers. they'll meet on monday to discuss sanctions. secretary of state john kerry and the white house are prepared to work with the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov, but talks on friday between kaye and sergei lavrovnded in failure, and the kremlin wants to put the resolution with russia on the fast-track. moscow's response to the referendum will be fast. >> moving on to other news. a plea deal has been reached for the u.s. army general accused of assaulting a female satisfactory. brigadier general sinclair no longer faces sexual assault charges, and will not have to register as a sex offender or face life in prison. >> it appears that he'll escape

prison time. 27 year army veteran brigadier general sinclair over the weekend saw the most serious charges of sexual assault against him dropped. he'll be pleading to lesser charges instead. with army officers and adult which, which is a crime in the military. >> the serious charms were sexual assault. lodged against him. in 2011 both were on tour of duty in afghanistan. recently it was found that there was problems with her testimony and political taint among the upper echelons of army brass. this is an ongoing crisis. unwanted sexual encounters. the top branch called it a crisis, it's up 60%. there was a debate in the

senate, senator pearson of new york had a controversial proposal to remove the complaints and adjudication. that ultimately didn't happen. a different piece of legislation ended up winning the day in the senate. there was documentation where the matters were discussed, and how the case may impact the debate in the senate. it was found to be tainting in the trial. >> and still ahead on al jazeera america - with suspicion growing over that missing malaysian airline's flight, investigators are focussing on the pilot. and one had a flight simulator in their home. we here from the family of an american. president obama wants to extend overtime pay. on the "the week ahead", how it could affect the average worker.

>> authorities in malaysia are expanding their search for the missing jet, focussing on the pilot and a flight simulator one built in his home. sailors on the uss "kidd" are helping with the search. everything found in the water is reported and seen if it belongs to the missing plane. two seahawks are also looking. they have found nothing. >> the search area is, frankly, enormous. they are looking not just over sea, but parts of central asia. authorities suspect the plane was purply diverted before it disappeared. scott heidler is in kuala lumpur. what is the latest, and are they closer to understanding what happened to the missing jet? >> not really closer to

understanding that. the search continues. on sunday there was a pause. 25 nations are involved in the search. because there are two corridors, they needed time to coordinate them. it's a massive operation over land and sea. the northern part of the corridor goes over nations is sensitive air case, khazakhstan, afghanistan, so it will be difficult to get information from the government. the malaysian government has to ask for satellite and radar history. it's a touchy subject. the search continues on the water, and that's where the u.s. assets are being used. we are looking into the southern part of the indian ocean. it's a vast, vast area. the navy deployed one of its sophisticated and search and surveillance aircraft, the t 8

poseidon, that is in the sky and has been the last couple of days. it's focussing on new territory, and they hope it will provide a clue, but we are talking about a huge, huge area. >> it's incredible to think about how much ground they have yet to cover. there has been a lot of criticism. how are the authorities responding to that? >> well yes, the criticism mainly comes from cop institution earlier last week where instead of saying something couldn't be commented on - there was a lot of information from sources - in the united states and elsewhere, involved in the situation. where there was confusion, we had daily press conferences, sometimes more than once a day. the malaysian officials, instead of saying they can't comment on something because it's not verified, they say it wasn't

true, or it was false. but the next day they'd say it was true. we couldn't say anything, because it was part of an investigation. that's where there was a lot of confusion. they are better about that, but we saw a piece of information that was not clarified earlier in the week or on saturday where there was a bit announcement about information that had not been verified. and that's when a system monitoring and sending systems, a message sending systems was turned off. it came to light during questioning that it was switched off before the captain said his goodnight to malaysian air traffic controllers as they passed into vietnamese airspace. that came out. if it was verified, that should have been part of the statement. >> that is a key event and shouldn't be overlooked. scott heidler live in kuala lumpur. >> the loved ones of those on

board flight 370 love and wait for any word. philip wood, texas ibm was among those on board. his family believes that he is still alive and is not giving up hope. >> we believe he's alive, you know, in our hearts we believe he's alive. gods have control, you know. with all the twists and turps that have happened through the week, it's been - it's given us hope. >> philip woods girlfriend set up a facebook page entitled "finding philip wood." . >> we spoke to peter goelz earlier a former member. ntsb. i ask the how common it was for a pilot to have a simulator in

their home. >> aviation is addict difficult. i don't consider it at all to be an alarming point. >> let talk about the cockpit. we know the transponder was turned off, we don't know by whom. i'm curious to know, do pilots have the ability to turn off things like the voice data recorder or the flight data recorder? >> yes, they do. they can be turned off relatively easy by pulling a secret breaker on a panel, behind where they are sitting. those, two, could have been turned off. we have to consider that going forward, that this investigation could go on for months or years. if we are looking for a silver

bullet, it may not be realistic. >> changes need to be implemented so voice data recorders so they can hold more information for a longer period of time. >> now to sports. march madness has begun. >> let the madness begin, you can fill out the brackets. the n.c.a.a. tournament was unveiled on selection sunday. over the next three years the roller-coaster ride will take us from 68 teams down to the final four. the number one overall seed - billy donno von and the gaiters, they are riding a 26-game winning street. experts like steven austin is there. a first title, and the cavaliers have the number one seed.

the top dogs - or cats - the arizona wild cats, and how about the aztecs. the only undefeated team in the country, wichita state. the number one team in the midwest. the card analyse are playing unbelievable basketball. if you're looking for the cinderella story, you may want to keep an eye on mercer university. the bears have been in hibernation. the last time that mers -- mercer went dancing, coca-cola released an ad. the three point line in college basketball did not exist. the year 1985 - happy times are here again. jessica taff has the story.

>> it was a moment nearly 30 years in the making. >> we knew it would be a call, but it doesn't change your how anxious we were, we wanted to get up there and see who would play. >> finally ex-hailing. >> i was so nervous, we didn't know if we'd make it or not. i'm so excited. >> there was no game at the university center. it felt like it looking into the arena. there was no nervous tension. the team punched its ticket to the big dance. it was a matter of where they would be seated. having not been to the tournament since 1985, the team didn't care who the dancing partner would be, they were happy to have a date. >> up in lights, like it was, a great opportunity for the guys to continue their dreams. >> everyone was nervous, we felt

we were going to play. we had to get the work and work hard and be ready tore duty. >> the journey goes beyond basketball. the head coach made sure of that, they wear their heart on their sleeves. they have immersed themselves in the community, something that makes the residence feel that they have won. they have won the hearts of the community. people want to see them because they are great guys and play great basketball. >> makin is on the top. we have a fantastic team at mercer. >> they have gone far beyond what anyone expected. it's awesome to go out with a bang, going into a great season to say hey, we are on top. this is where sports involve. >> everyone pulls or david, no

one roots for goliath. the nature rallies. it doesn't matter where they come from or what the school's basketball history is, games are won on the court, not paper. >> mercer awarded the 14th scene. >> hopefully they get off to a good start. >> still ahead, president obama is tackling the issue of stagnant wages. it's setting up a battle between employers and employees. we'll bring you both sides of the debate in the week ahead. >> parents of a young woman claim the church of wells is not a church, but a cult and the leaders are brain washing their

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daughter. >> welcome back to al jazeera america. here are the top stories this

half hour. ukraine's parliament condemned crimea's decision to rejoin russia. earlier results showed 95% of voters favoured the referendum. the collection was compared to a circus by the ukraine prime minister. vladimir putin was told by the u.s. they would never recognise the vo. >> brigadier general sink -- sinclair will not face sexual assault charges. he will plead guilty to lesser charges. >> malaysia airlines flight is believed to have been steered off course. authorities are looking at the backgrounds of 239 people on board. >> time for "the week ahead." president obama's executive order plans to overhaul overtime pay. we start with courtney keeley.

>> on thursday president barack obama signed an executive order. >> if you work hard, you should be paid ore time, period. americans struggled through stag the wages for too long. the order requires the department of labour to look at employees eligible for overtime pay. strengthening over time pay gives workers bigger paychecks and spending power. the changes benefit millions of workers, like computer technicians, past food employs and managers. >> according to the latest figures. 59% of workers in of the u.s. are paid at hourly rates. among those paid by the hour. 3.6 million, or 5% earned the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour or

less. the fair labor standards act demands workerserb time and a half. most don't have to be if they earn more than $455, less than $24,000 a year, below the poverty level for a family of four. >> obvious time rules have not changing. some believing it has kept wages behind the economy. business groups say it's too expensive and will cost jobs. the national federation of independent business released this statement: >> if you don't have a job, you are not qualifying for overtime. what do you get out of it, you

get nothing. >> supporters think it's a fair way to raise wages. >> there's no reason people should not make enough money to support its family. >> the labor department is not expected to announce what changes it will make. >> the fair labor standards act of 1938 changed work in america and introduced a maximum 44 hour work week and a national minimum wage and ended child labour and guaranteed time and a half that we are talking about now for certain jobs. the last time the rules for overtime was changed. gw bush used executive powers to raise the cap for overtime, and he increased the limit to the present rate to $455 a week. critics have long said the rate is too low. >> this week's move to raise the cap is part of the president's push for greater income

equality. it includes health care for americans and raising the minimum wage. >> we discussed this with an employment attorney, and bryce covert, the economic policy editor, and i asked them who is affected by overtime policies and changes. >> so many people, about 90% of americans fall into the white collar exemption and it doesn't make sense. 90% of americans are not white collar workers. >> sounds like they can be fluid, the people that qualify for white colour jobs. >> an exemption is people who oversee a crew, a clean-up crew can be qualified an executive, which means they don't have to be paid time and a half when they go over 40 hours a week. >> back in 1975, 65% of workers

were guarantee overtime pay, 65% of workers. by 2004 that had shrunk to 18% of the population. inflation got a lot of blame. professional, administrative and executives could exclude some workers. they are more common. today, 12% of americans are guaranteed overtime. when you look at the numbers, do you think something is wrong? >> there is definitely something wrong. middle cla middle class people, they work hard. i'm glad to see president obama changing it. >> when you think about the changes that president obama proposed, when you look at the big picture, it could change your the american workweek. >> one of the other things it

does beside give workers money in the pocket is change your the work day. when the fair labor standards act was passed it was to make the 40 hour work week standard. when we think of eight hours a day, five days a week, nine to five. most of us put in more than that. >> americans have a culture who is overworked. i know people who have good jobs, make a lot of money - lawyers, accountants, doctors, who work far more than 40 hours a week. >> a survey of professionals, 90% put in over 60 hours. overtime rules don't apply to everyone, but, say, the secretary. if she goes home, that may change your the way you think about the day you put in. >> does it play into an overall

theme of americans working too hard. might this give the president leverage in trying to make the rules or changes happen? >> i think it will. there's income disparity as a result of the laws. people in middle class are working hard to make people broke out. they can't. people can keep the profits themselves. that's why i think you see the income disparity. >> what are the changes going to look like. the president said he wants to change your the overtime rules, but no one those in which direction we might go. what do you see happening in here? >> there has been a push for the people pushing us towards this order to make the threshold more like 50,000 a year. it sounds like what a professional white collar worker makes. it's twice as much. we lost all of that to inflation since 1975. there'll be a long rule, comment

period, and we are probably not going to see anything until the fall. we know that big business is against this. it's anyone's guess as to what we see happen. >> is it fair, do you think, to pursue this when a lot of small businesses and companies say this is a bad idea and will hurt the economy. >> you have to realise that employers don't have to respond to this. you don't have to pay overtime if you don't want to. you can cap hours at 40 hours a week and hire people to do the work at the base pay and that would be great for the economy because we could use more jobs and workers paid at the same rate. >> the concern is they may pay people work and the schedules, but it could lead to a lot of lay-offs because they are spending more on employees. is that a legitimate fear. >> we want to be clear that a lot of the companies that will be affected are large

corporations making record profits and have completely recoved from the recession, and that's where we'll see changes in pay. >> smaller companies treat their employees better. they have a closer work environment, know the people better and don't want to rip them off. it's more impersonal and they have large scale schemes in place to rip off the workers. >> you see more from the workers. the 40 hour work week is a good model for productivity. he knew you'd get the maximum out of employees. >> it's interesting when you look at the polls. there's some support. they had a poll saying 69% of americans support raising the middle age. it makes sense that a lot of americans raise of the the

minimum wage, shifting gears from overtime. the concern is if it leads to job losses. what does that fell you? >> i think what we see from the polls is americans understand that the promise that you to do to work, you put in a full day's work, and you take care of your family. a lot of people work full type of. americans across the board think it's not fair, and raising the minimum wage is a way to change your that. the research is undecided. there are some job lose, the congressional budget office warned there could be some, or none. it's a little uncertain and there's many ways in which a high minimum wage could be a bonus. >> there's a lot of people affected by this. do you think it will change your the life of a typical worker.

>> for them it makes a difference, but for the companies, it will help the worker and the economy. so much of the wealth is staying in the hands of the very few. if we share it with the middle class and workers, they'll have more money to spend. >> thank you both for coming in. it's a fascinating subject that affects so many people. here are some highlights in the week ahead. on tuesday, president obama awards the medal of honour to hispanic, jewish and african american veterans, passed over because of race or ethnicity. >> friday, twitter celebrates eight years since the tweet. it was sent reading "invitiing co-worker." >> and on saturday the major league baseball opens with a game in sydney australia, arizona diamond backsly the los angeles dodgers. >> boston's mayor boycotted the

st. patrick's day parade, angry that gay and lesbian activists were not allowed to march. they tried to make a deal with the council. it would have allowed a gay group to march. organizers allowed a float to have rain bows, but nothing overtly gay. it was similar in new york. bill de blasio is boycotting the parade because gay people cannot carry the gay pride sign. it's the first time in 20 years that a mayor has not been involved. >> we are talking about a group making a lot of the people nervous. >> in part two of our series. we spoke to a family. >> katherine grove had it all. a devout family and promising career in nursing.

8 months ago see disappeared from her arkansas home. patty and andy grove worried she was abducted. five days later katherine called from a down 3,800 miles away. she said, "i'm with a group of people taking care of me, but i can't listen to you and dad any more i'm in wells, texas." >> wells texas, population 800, an up to of cattle and lumber. the groves were looking for their daughter here, but they found a mystery. katherine was with the church of wells. the parent asked locals. they said, "you're here looking for the cult", three waco college students founded the church of wells in 2010. it's believed to be the only true christian. they knocked on the door of this house.

>> their words were "mr and mr"mr and mrs groves, we fear you'll kidnap your daughter from us." >> when they finally saw her, she looked like she lost 10 pounds. i said, "are you okay, do you have plenty to eat?", and she didn't answer. she has chosen to remain in wells. her parents believe the group uses sleep depravation to brainwash members. >> you don't want to clear your name? >> the lord will justify me. >> are you guys keeping people hostage. >> of course not. >> a neighbour said she saw katherine grove. >> the groves disappearing. they witnessed food brought to locked sheds and a church leader

showing them a meat locker in the back of the grocery store. inside was 50 to 100 small fans. i said, "what is this." he said, "this is our prayer room." police and the fbi received complaints, but said no criminal investigation exists. last november katherine was reported to have run away. >> search dogs found her in the woods, carrying a backpack full of clothes. police returned her to the church. then the last phone call from katherine. >> she says mum, katherine is dead. this is jesus, mum. >> the call left the groves chilled and wondering if this is a test of faith, then what exactly happened to their

daughter. >> and still ahead on al jazeera america. it's easy to recycle bottles and newspapers, but almost nobody recycles cell phones. it causes millions of tops of waste, and a group says it's by design. the official start of spring is four days away. the weather does not want to cooperate. details on the wintry blast and how it's affecting large parts of the country next.

>> it's been two years since some parts of australia last saw rain. it's causing physical problems for livestock and straining the

health of farmers. andrew thomas has part it of the series "drought." around the world. >> this is what charity looks like in rural australia. hay shouldn't be needed here, but a drought has tried the ground and killed the grass. farmers drive from far and wide. >> 70% of queensland is in drought. 50% of new south wales. today makes a psych logical difference, because these guys know others care. this is a small token of what we can do. >> in time, this farm land will be more green than orange. cows and sheep will feed on the grass. now it's hard to find any animals. all you see around here are bones. sally and tony bright are receiving seven bales of hay,

they have not yet had to shoot cattle, like some farmers had. only because they are taking preventative measures that will befinancially painful for years. >> we are selling some of these girls that are potential breeding stock. it's upsetting. it manifests physically. you walk around with a knot in your gut and look at the sky a lot. >> the flying doctors are more asserted with warming accidents than depression. the service describes treating mental health as an authority. >> the refurls we see my team sees as drought related. >> haven't seen suicides, but it's been something people are starting to talk about, that they have definitely been feeling thoughts. >> demands for fly in/fly out

mental clinics has never been higher. it's been dislard a natural disaster and promised money to help. this is what is needed. broken hill got its first substantial rain in two years. most farm land has not been touched. for the farmers, the skies remain blue. >> dusty, dry, grim scenes in australia. a lot of the people in the american west can relate to that. >> especially when it comes to the wind and dust. a lot of dust will below tomorrow. i wanted to show you off the bat how much wind you'll get tomorrow. when you look at the united states, over half will be hit by wind gusts tomorrow. they are pretty strong. as we look at southern idaho and nevada and utah, we'll get wind gusts 50 to 65 miles per hour. another wind tonight in hawaii. this is a warm place, but we are

getting high surf advisories. blustery winds and certainly hawaii is probably a place many folks in atlantic city wish they were. right now a list shot of snow in atlantic city. as you look at the radar over the course of the north-east, what you had move in is rain, snow, and know, sleet and ice with accumulation of ice and snow. northern virgin ya, many inches of snow. >> several numbers of of snow, and more on the way. we'll have seven to eight inches. it's a cold night. these storm warnings will continue. as we look at another spot with sthorms, these are tapering off.

>> spring is four days away. >> more than 20 million cons of mobile devices are tossed in the trash. consumers have little incentive to recycle. we look at the yackt. >> in texas, they'll re cycle because it's the law and they believe it is the right thing to do. >> we'll get a few people in, one or two a day. >> most want to repair it. it's not the case. most throw their cell phones out or upgrade to newer technology. worldwide 22 to 55 mobile devices are disposed of every year. the u.s. alone is responsible

for 3.4 million tonnes. discarded devices end up in india and china, where they stripped of levels, monetary value outweighing the consequences. upstream an environmental recycling advocacy group says manufacturers are to blame. >> i think the cell phones are not made to be repairable. in part of the technology is getting better and in part because the cell phone manufacturures would like to sell us phones. replacing a battery in an apple product is impossible. they want you to send it back at considerable expense, so it would subtract to buy a new device. the latest and greatest phones are not offering that much. >> all the different

generations. they are urging folks to keep their phones. that's better for the environment and your pocket book. >> finally it's a u.k. tradition celebrating the partnership of marriage. dozens of couples took part informain the wife-carrying race. they raced with wife's holding on. they dealt with hilly terrain, spectators throwing water and huge stacks of rain. >> the origins of this tradition is believed to go back to the vikings. i wonder when it's time for that tradition to end. that's it for in edition of al jazeera america, but headlines ahead.

>> you're watching america. i'm jonathan betz with the top stories. nearly 95% of crimea voted to rejoin russia. ukraine's parliament condemned the election.

president obama told russian president the u.s. would never recognise the vote. a plea deal has been reached with the u.s. army general accused of assaulting a female officer. brigadier general sinclair no longer faces sexual assault charges. he'll plead guilty to lesser crimes. they no longer face life in prison. the search has grown for the missing malaysia airlines flight. the plane steered off course. they are looking over two areas, including large parts of central asia, and they are looking at the backgrounds of 239 people on board. >> north korea launched 25 rockets into the sea of japan. it's been called restless. >> in mexico city hundreds chanted freedom, displaying a venezuela flag. >> a powerful 7.3 earthquake

struck off the coast of chile, there's no threat of tsunami. >> bill de blasio boycotted the st. patrick's day parade for not allowing gay and lesbians to march. >> "lockerbie - what happens next", is next. you're watching: lockerbie: what really happened >> three years ago al jazeera began investigating the conviction of abdelbaset al megrahi, the only man found guilty of the bombing of pan am flight 103 over lockerbie in scotland. in the run up to last december's twenty-fifth anniversary of the bombing, we repeated two films that cast grave doubts on megrahi's conviction. now, we can reveal the results