>> start with one issue ad guests on all sides of the debate. and a host willing to ask the tough questions and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5pm et / 2pm pt only on al jazeera america the foreign ministers meet in brussels with threats of more sanctions from moscow as in crimea they choose to join russia. ♪ hello, i'm sammy and this is al jazeera live from doha and they are surveying a large portion of the indian ocean and a leader is killed in the valley near the border with syria. >> i'm in the west bank and

coming up, as the president prepares to meet with u.s. president barack obama we will tell you what people here are hoping they will achieve. ♪ parliament in moscow is planning to rush through legislation so crimea can join russia, that is after people in the region overwhelmingly chose to break away from ukraine. celebrations in crimea as a result and showed over 96% of voters were in favor of joining russia. but many crimea loyal to kiev boycotted the referendum on sunday and u.s. and europe say it's illegal and threatening russia with more sanctions and eu foreign ministers are meeting in brussels to discuss this and parliament in ukraine is also meet ing this ing in the capital kiev and first this report from

barnabie phillips. >> reporter: they were celebrating before the results were announced and feel that a historical injustice has been corrected. in their hearts they always were russians. >> translator: he says the new ukraine government calls itself legitimate but do you think this is illegitimate? we are going home to russia. >> reporter: and she says now we will finally belong to a strong country with a strong president. for all the frustration in kiev and the west, russia has very successfully changed the facts on the ground and it's very difficult to see how the ukrainian government can regain control of crimea. earlier in the day we saw votes piling up in favor of crimea rejoining russia. the other option on the ballot

sheet was greater autonomy from ukraine and wasn't possible to keep it the way it was. they say the vote is illegal, what do you say? >> translator: no one can deprive crimea the right to determine their own future. many in europe and u.s. have double standards. without the approval of serbia and have no right to stall this referendum. >> reporter: on the nearby streets russian military muscle, the russians already control crimea but they hope this vote will give their occupation democratic legitimacy. but in muslim tartar neighbors this is when people stayed indoors and worried about the future. >> translator: we muslims believe this referendum does not take into account or interests and as a result the results are none. if we voted we would have

legitimized it so it was bitter not to take part. >> reporter: the yes to russia vote was carried by the enthese -- enthusiasm and the world waits to see if russia advances further into ukraine. barnabie phillips. >> reporter: and we are live from kiev now. what is parliament heading with now when it comes to measures as a result of this, paul? >> well, as you heard in barnabie's report there if ross cowill advance russian troops further into ukraine is very much at the forefront of the deputies in the parliament here in kiev this morning. on sunday the parliamentary cabinet met just the ministers and they heard that they need a ten fold increase in the budget to combat what they see is a

threat from russia. today the deputies convening at the first day of the week in ukraine and one of the first measures voted on will be partial mobilization of forces and military forces particularly towards the eastern provinces which border russia. the speaker of the parliament, alexander which is now the acting president in the administration was very scathing about the nature of what happened in crimea in the last 24-36 hours and described the referendum as the continued aggression in crimea that russia is trying to conceal with the referendum which will never been recognized either by ukraine or the civilized world and smarting in kiev at the fact the referendum went ahead despite the pressure and wonder if it sets an example of separatist in

ukraine who may see hopes for closer ties with russia bolstered by what is happening in crimea. >> reporter: i'm wondering when we hear firing words from the prime minister of ukraine of how he wants to bring crimea to justice as he put it how do people respond to allegations of people east of the country who say the process of overthrowing the last president of ukraine wasn't exactly following constitutional rules either? >> reporter: it's a very complex political picture here in ukraine. there are not that many absolute good guys. there is corruption. there is political nepitism. it's -- there is nobody who is absolutely whiter than white i don't think in the 2 1/2 weeks i have been in ukraine reporting on the troubles and unrest that is here. that said there are international standards. this crimea referendum was

cobbled together in ten days and minorities largely boycotted the pole and you can see the people who criticize it as legitimate and really do have a point. in the east of the ukraine or east of ukraine those ambitions and separatist ambitions are increasing and how kiev deals with ambitions and moving armor and troops to the border but ukraine has a rift in it now and it's going to be very difficult for the government here in kiev to keep a lid on two fronts if you like. >> thanks very much. and foreign policy they are meeting with european ministers in brushels and called the referendum illegal and wants

russia to back down. >> this morning not surprisingly top of the agenda will be the situation this ukraine to look at the results of the so called referendum. i don't have to remind any of you it's illegal under the constitutional of ukraine and under international law and i call upon russia to meet with ukraine leaders and to start dialog with them and to try and move to deescalation as quickly as possible. we see no evidence of that. today we will be continuing our discussions on the seriousness of the situation and also looking as you know at what we should further do. >> reporter: british secretary hague say the eu is likely to agree on more sanctions for russia and willing to talk with moscow. >> we propose to move to a further stage of the european response today with travel bans and asset freezes on individuals, that is one of the

things we will be discussing today, i'm confident we will each agreement on that. at the same time every diplomatic channel remains open to russia. and we continue to be in communication with russia about creating a diplomatic framework, about finding ways to deescalate this crisis. it's important that work goes on as well. over the coming days. >> reporter: and we are joined live from brussels so we understand simon it's very likely sanctions targeted to individuals are going to come down. how important are these individuals, how close are they to the russian president? >> well, that is the big question that the eu foreign ministers are trying to workout. they have been here with their assistants and teams over the weekend. we understand certainly meeting through sunday late into the evening trying to find tune this list there was a report last week, an eu official said that the starting list is about 120,

130 people long including some very big names and close to putin heads of the big russian companies and gas people and things like that, those people we understand are being warned will not be on the first list. this is going to be a gradual process of expanding the list. i think by the end of the day we will be looking at people implicated in setting up the crimea referendum, people in ukraine and people in crimea and a few people in russia. but i don't think the net will be closing around president putin's inner circle yet. >> reporter: how far are the europeans going when it comes to sanctions, are they going as far as the u.s. would like, are they on the same page? >> well, i think there has been some daylight between the two and the americans have a more aggressive approach like john mc-cane have been very critical of eu's position and i think some in the washington

administration would like to go further and faster and feel the referendum that was warnings about the referendum and it went ahead and they feel i think that some tighter, stricter sanctions should be imposed quicker on a wider range of people and their argument is unless you hit the people around putin and the political inner circle and security chiefs and senior people in the military, then he won't be effected and the sanctions really won't effect his policy. the eu clearly have a lot more to lose than the u.s. in terms of their trade with russia. that is a big consideration for many of the eu countries represented here and hearing from the german foreign minister for this morning for example language is much more measured and talking about a gradual escalation of the process and keeping the diplomatic door opened. so i do think there is a gap and i think they closed it last week but it will be interested to see if there is friction emerging

later on monday if this eu list is not that big or that significant. >> reporter: thanks so much mr. wood. the u.s. is also refusing to recognize the vote in crimea and the white house placed travel bans and acid freezes on russians and talk of further further sanctions. >> reporter: the result of the referendum was not a surprise and neither was the white house's position. >> we will not recognize the results of the referendum. >> reporter: the focus of democrats and republicans is future sanctions on russia, if the chairman drew a distinction on when senior officials may be forthcoming. >> if russia does not act with the congress to go ahead and accept annexation that is one thing, if they move towards that goal, then i think ultimately the sanctions need to be

enforced along with our european allies because that will have the biggest bite. >> reporter: consensus of both parties the key was europe. >> we have to wait for european friends if they are willing to move forward. no doubt if you cutoff gas it will heard and freeze assets in germany and great britain it will hurt them but this is a threat to the territorial integrity of europe. >> reporter: the forthright actions as they belittle their own president's foreign policy and they conceded mr. putin was in a strong position. >> putin has had the upper hand in this and even though he risks huge economic problems he has soared and not a lot of economic going on at home and his popularity is lower and those dynamics in putin's mind means

he is ahead walking into negotiation with kiev and we are playing catch up. >> reporter: the focus is on if the eu has tough measures against moscow on monday. i'm with al jazeera, washington. >> reporter: and we have a journalist with russia profile and say if eu doesn't have sanctions on russia it will not be crippling. >> the eu in a sense have already enforced so many restrictions on russia business abroad on the visa issue that now they haven't got much leeway to strike at russia. as for the russia oil and gas i'm not sure you can refuse using them because they would cripple the eu and not the russian economy in the first place. >> reporter: as the search continues for the malaysia plane the folk us of investigation is back on the lead pilot and we know the last verbal message from the cockpit to control tower happened after a system was cutoff and the plane carried

239 passengers disappeared nine days ago and we report from kaupal. >> reporter: we are now examined the flight simulator the pilot kept in his house but the captain's friends were quick to defend him. ♪ this is a tribute posted on youtube. most of the comments on the page say they don't believe he could have been involved in the plane's disappearance. >> i know him as a person who cares for people and who is responsible in his job. if anything were to happen to the plane he would make sure every one else, crew and passenger and welfare is taken care of. the captain and copilot did not

ask to fly together. he was on the flight and an aircraft engineer on his way to beijing for work. but his father says he has not been questioned by investigators and plead to an end to all the speculation about who might be behind the disappearance. >> translator: give time for the government to investigate all angles to bring back the passengers safe and sound. >> reporter: investigators are now waiting for other countries to furnish them with background check on non-malaysia passengers and they are looking closely at not just the crew and passengers on flight mh 370 but engineer whose may have had contact with the aircraft before it took off. this means the list of potential suspects has grown. and there is still no indication of who might have come for the plane and why. i'm lawrence with al jazeera. >> reporter: australia stepped up its role in the search for the missing flight and this is

the update from the investigation from sidney. >> the prime minister has been asked by malaysia prime minister to take control of the search along one of the two routes, the southern vector the plane may have taken and etwould have taken the plane over the indian ocean in an arc a thousand or so kilometers off the west australia coast and they can take charge if the plane went down along the southern route and most likely would be within what is australia search and rescue zone anyway and because of the size that search and rescue zone that australia is responsible for is huge, about 10% of the world's ocean's total. as for what we will be looking, australia has two planes which together have clocked up about 50 hours of search time. >> reporter: and they will be deployed along that southern vector and australia's prime

minister asked head of military to discuss with the malaysia chief what additional results should be provided and used and specifics and where they will go on the southern route is not clear yet. >> reporter: lots more ahead including u.s. navy seals boarded and taken over an oil tanker and the dispute between the two nations. and waiting for rain and now drought is effecting tea crops and drinking water. ♪

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

♪

welcome back, let's recap the headlines and eu meeting in brussels are expected to agree on sanctions for russia and william hague will discuss travel bans and acid freezes concerns individuals in the country and crimea parliament has formally applied to join russia and comes a day after people in the region overwhelmingly voted to break away from ukraine and australia is stepping up the search for the malaysia airline that went missing ten days ago, in surveying the southern arc which includes a large portion of the indian ocean. the lebanese army defused a car bomb after another car bomb killed more people including a hezbollah leader.

>> reporter: security sources say a suicide bomber ranked in a petrol station near syria and the leader sulaiman abu ghaith was killed as long with a husband and wife and the area is dominated by the group hezbollah and happening the president bashir al-assad and the front in lebanon says it carried out the attack. >> what is going on is the battle inside syria is paralleled by a battle in lebanon and groups who have now established themselves inside lebanon several of these groups are directly fighting against hezbollah and some of them like in lebanon are saying as long as hezbollah is fighting in seer

yeah, supporting the assad government they will fight against hezbollah in lebanon. >> reporter: and they have been deadly attacks since sending fighters to help the president assad. last month twin bomb ings killed at least 8 people and injured 120 others and civilians are caught up with a search of violence mirroring the war being fought next door and i'm carolyn malone, al jazeera. >> reporter: voicing anger over a meeting between the president and u.s. counterpart in washington on monday and discuss the draft peace deal between israelis and palestinians in the work since july and many areas of deep disagreement between the two sides as kimberly explains. >> reporter: this is a funeral for 18-year-old saji shot in the

back of the head by the israeli army and they say for throwing stones. one week later his mother is still in disbelief. >> translator: i think they could have arrested him, put him on trial, anything but not kill him. >> reporter: it's this continuing killing and conflict between israelis and palestinians, the u.s. believes can be resolved starting with a draft agreement u.s. president barack obama will deliver to palestinian president when they meet on washington on monday and hope to lead to a final peace deal. it's thought there is some consensus for a palestinian state on the west bank on gaza strip and territory occupied by israel in 1967 and through land swaps they can keep the settlements and palestinians are compensated with equal land elsewhere and there are questions if israel is bargaining in good faith.

complicating negotiations is the fact that israel continued building illegal settlements in the bank and 10,000 settlements since talks began in 2013. and the prime minister netanyahu wants the country recognized as a jewish state and they said they did recognize them in the asla accord and object to sharing the holy city and they want east jerusalem as a capitol. >> our own independent and sovereign state. >> reporter: international law mandates compensation and right of return of palestinian refugees, displaced in 1948. this is a sticking point for israel and netanyahu is insisting they keep a military presence in the valley between jordan and the west bank and prefers nato to take over security and the differences are

insurmountable and hopeless for palestinians like this man. >> negotiating for 20 years, since he was born and he was killed and today thousands were killed and tens of thousands arrested during the years of talks. >> reporter: there is little time left for peace making, the draft framework has a nine-month deadline and means differences over decades may have just a month to resolve, kimberly with al jazeera, in the occupied west bank. >> reporter: u.s. navy seals have boarded and taken control of the oil tanker morning glory in the waters and carrying a cargo of oil from the libyan port controlled by rebels fighting for a separate state. u.s. department of defense confirmed the raid on vessel and it will be sent under libyan government control. south korean defense ministry is warning north korea and they had

missiled that landed in the sea and fired missiles earlier in the month and coincides with exercises between south korea and the west and north korea views as a theft to it's secretary. >> translator: north korea lost 25 rockets directs to the east from the eastern coast. and south korean military considers to to be north korea demonstration as an arms protest responding to u.s. military exercises and analyzing the specific intention. >> reporter: delayed rains in shrelanka hit farmers hard, in the worst effected areas they lost all crops and facing mounting debt and their problems may yet get even worse, as we report from shrelanka. >> a failed harvest and he has worked this land for over half a

century but lack of rain since november of last year destroyed his entire crop. >> translator: the rains and we tilled the soil and the fills and it grow 6-8" but no rain and all of it was destroyed. >> reporter: it has been 30 years since he faced such a dry spell. his village in northeast shrelanka is one of the worst effected regions. normally these families would have been busy harvesting patty fields getting ready for the new year celebrations in april but that seems a world away now. >> translator: i couldn't even harvest a single stock of patty and to be honest we will not have enough to eat in a few days. >> reporter: and alternative crops like corn have not been spared. the lack of water stunting the few years of corn that survive

and villages scoured the fields to collect to get some money. they are struggling with mounting debts and have taken loans to get money for their fields and have no way of paying back. and the worst is not over. authorities say the lack of rain would badly effect the next planting season as well. government officials here estimate national patty production has fallen by 11% and it's too early to quantify they say the effects might be worse on the next planting cycle and some areas are also struggling for drinking water and rainwater tanks like this used by people in dry zones have been depleted and many people now have to travel a long distance to collect water or buy supplies. the department says rains are likely to begin by the end of march but for thousands of farmers it will be too late. and i'm with al jazeera,

northeast shrelanka. >> reporter: that brings us to the end of the show but if you want to keep up to date with the news around the clock go to al jazeera.com is the name of the game and see our front page with our lead story and the vote in crimea and its implications. >> trouble on the tracks and look at the explosionive danger of delivering oil by rail through your neighborhood and talking the a journalist turn politician about her homeland ukraine. this is "real money."