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 city. i'm tony harris is a look at today's top new sanctions. from the united states after crimea votes to join russia. and the a malaysia flight 370 search now spanning two hemisphere. and gmer recall recall sparks an

investigation. >> the united states and the european union impose sanctions on some russian individuals after residents of crimea voted to leave ukraine and join russia. president putin recognizing crimea as a sovereign and independent country. and president bush said the announced sanctions could be just the beginning. >> the international community will continue to stand together to oppose any vie rations of you cranayou ukrainian sovereignty and exacting a greater toll on the economy. >> mike viqueira at the house for us. issuing an executive order. >> the president said a number of things in the wake of this vote today.

the crimea referendum, he said he'll never recognize the results that have referendum and took steps to punish russia and to deter further aggression. in the wake of the vote president obama made good only consequences 6 what he you had called clea clear violation of international law. the measures sanctions on what senior officials term the personal wealth of cronies. there could be more to come. >> we stand ready to impose further sanctions.

>> mr. obama is sending vice president biden to countries bordering russia, and while russia stands to face more sanctions from the united states, there are other areas that it could jeopardize sinnerran's chemicalcal remove and iran nuclear program. vladimir putin not sanctioned, it would be a rare move to sanction the leader o. >> i haven't ruled out any individual who might be covered under the categories that are provided in the executive orders. >> reporter: senior officials say those who have been sanctioned are close to putin.

the president has a pre-scheduled visit to europe, for the e.u. summit. you can bet that this will overwhelm every topic that is going to be discussed. also the president stating today that he still hopes to resolve this diplomatically, but of course, tony, it's not looking very good right now. >> absolutely, mike viqueira for us at the white house. mike, thank you. john terrett takes a closer look at the people targeted. >> you can see what they're doing here. let's take a look at th those wo have been sanctions valenita

matviyenko who was born in the ukraine and said she is not afraid of sanctions. we'll see. and the big prize, dmitri. now here the serge y aksyonov. and the speaker of the crimean parliament, vladimir konstantinov, and thin this man,

viktor yanukovych, who called on president putin to bring in forces into the ukraine, and that's exactly what he did. now head one of the biggest countries in the world. >> thank you. crimea made a formal request to become part of russia. nick schifrin is in crimea. he is in the capitol city for us. nick, before we talk about crimea, tell us more about president putins most referendum moves here. >> this is president putin declaring crimea an independent

state which paves a way for crimea to become part of russia. and going one step further saying, a pathological unwillingness to acknowledge reality, and that reality is the crimean parliament no matter who thinks or what you think of it, whether it's fair or legal, that vote has passed. the parliament here declaring themselves an independent state. they said they'll adopt the russian rubble. move to moscow, ukrainian banks will leave or have to leave or will be reverted back to ukraine or consumed by a new crimean national bank. the parliament here taking steps to separate from ukraine putin embracing that with the help of 30,000 russian soldiers. and this process is going on regardless of everything that we've just been talking about in the west, in in washington

towards sanctions and threats towards putin as he continues to do this. >> nick in simferopol, how are people there reacting to yesterday's vote? >> reporter: well, it's been pretty calm today, actually, and despite the fact that this vote was not a surprise. that a lot of people expected a number perhaps not as high as 97%, but for the vote to pass there is a little sense of relief from some people who were dealing with a lot of tension, a lot of anxiety leading up to this vote, and of course, tony, as we've been talking, the majority of the peninsula embracing it. i spent a lot of time today with young people, many of whom remember soviet union history feel they are close for russia and look east to russia. we saw fireworks and

celebrations from those people. we get a sense that they're looking forward to looking east. of course there are minorities a and of course there are a minority population that continues to look towards kiev, but the majority of people look forward to the future. >> what is the interim government sayin saying sa sayis referendum. >> reporter: to a turn extent they haven't done anything or do anything, and they continue to say large rhetoric what they'll do to russia and not give away an inch of land. but they haven't done anything or basically silencing anyone. so that momentum continues. and the question is what ukrainian soldiers will do when they're shown the door. will the government allow them to come back and basically leading back to ukraine or will

they force them to stay here. if they do that there will be some confrontation with russia given the fact that that has not happened yet because russia has taken the peninsula without firing a shot. >> nick schifrin for us in simferol. we'll look at alibaba and who is involved in those sanctions and which ones might have the biggest impact. ten days after malaysian flight 370 has disappeared, there are still questions about what happened t. the tension is now turned to pilots. >> the last words from this aircraft, the last words spoken to air traffic control were spoken by the co-pilot, and just moments before this plane

disappeared from radar. >> reporter: as investigators in malaysia search the home of the plane's captain and the residence of the co-pilot authorities say an analysis of the air traffic controlling reveals who spoke the last words from the cockpit. it was the man in the right seat. >> this shows that division. >> the co-pilot spoke the last words. >> he calmly said, all right, good night when he was told to contact controllers in vietnam. that contact never happened. investigators revised their timeline saying the communication systems that switched off the jet may have been disabled in the few minutes after that final radio transmission. the police have interfered the families and are now examining the flight simulator the pilot

built in his home. >> the simulator, and we have dismantled it from the room, and we have assembled it in our office, and we are getting experts to look at it now. >> friends of the captain have been quick to defend him saying they do not believe he could have been involved in the flight's disappearance. >> if anything would have happened to the plane, he would have made sure that everyone else, crew and passengers, their welfare was taken care of before he would think of himself 2 several countries are involved in the hunt for the plane which could be anywhere between west of australia to th and deep in e indian ocean.

>> the fbi could have been called to help, interpol could have been called in. our intelligence agency, but my understanding is that malaysia is not cooperating at all. >> reporter: another frustration could lie in the flight's black boxes which ever recovered could yield little news. >> it only records for two hours and then over-writes itself. if this is a six-or seven-hour event then we've lost all the good stuff. >> the flight data recorder has 17 to 24 hours of information on it, so they could get more information from that. they really need to find those recorders and tony they've now asked for help from the french, three french investigators on their way because as you may remember they are the one who is helped find air france flight 447, which went down in the atlantic. >> lisa, another day of more

questions than answers. lisa stark in washington, d.c. for us. thank you. jonathan betz is here with more on the timeline of the events of the plane's disappearance and where the aircraft might actually have headed for. >> so many questions and the facts keep changing but we're slowly piecing together a better timeline of what we know about this plane. it took off from kuala lum pore headed to bay the beijing. at 1:07:12 minutes after this the co-pilot talks to air traffic control and says all right, good night as they leave malaysia air space. at this point everything seems normal. but two things later things change. the transponder shut off. the plane becomes very difficult to track. no one at the time notices but this is really the last time we hear from the plane.

nearly an hour later we now think that plane turned west head to the straight of ma lacca, and west of malaysia, and then the plane truly disappears. at 8:00 in the morning a satellite over the indian ocean picks up this missing jet. it's a huge revelation and it shows us that the plane flew longer, in fact, longer than the flight of beijing. it could have flown north over asia or south over the indian ocean, which is why it's such a big and confusing search. >> president obama tried to push the middle east peace process forward today meeting with palestinian president mahmood abbas at the white house. it comes two weeks after israel's president met with the president. they are still divided over many issues including settlements in the west bank.

randall pinkston joins us with more, what happen today. >> reporter: the goal is to get the palestinians to agree on a framework of peace deal. post sides still have huge issues, as you mentioned, not only about the occupied territories, but also about the rights of palestinian refugees and the statute of jerusalem. president obama acknowledged that the goal is elusive but he believes it is achievable. >> i believe that now is the time for not just the leaders of both sides, but the peoples of both sides to embrace this opportunities for peace. but we're going to have a lot of details that we'll have to discuss. it's very hard. it's very challenging. we're going to have to take some tough political decisions and risks if we're able to move it forward. and my hope is that we can continue to see progress in the coming days and weeks.

>> when secretary of state john kerry restarted peace talks last summer he set a deline of nine months. that deadline is fast approaching. even though president obama met with abbas on st. patrick's day, it's probably going to take a lot more than the luck of the irish to have a breakthrough by the deadline. >> a recognition of israel as a jewish state. we know that's one of the issues on the table here and we know that is a highly contentious issue for the palestinians. sort through that for us a bit, randall. >> well, the palestinians will tell that you they recognize israel as a state. but recognizing it as a jewish state could mean palestinians giving up the right, that would eye apply to palestinians who were evicted from the plan when israel became a state back in '48. palestinianthere are several sts that we have in the talks.

>> randall pinkston for us in washington dc. the ceo of gm said terrible things happen with their cars. and a scientific study that could help explain the creation of the entire universe.

>> general motors announced three new recalls today that could impact millions of drivers and it comes as the company is still feeling the backlash over recalling a million other vehicles due to an ignition problem. bisi onile-ere has our report. >> reporter: general motors is recalling more than 717 million vehicles word wil worldwide. this comes after a report for an innis switch problem being linked to a dozen deaths and multiple crashes. here's gm's latest list. the airbags need to be repaired in over 1 million vehicles.

from 2008 to 2009 and 2010 t to 2013. some 2009 and all 2010 to 2013 chevrolet traverse models and some 2008 to 2009, and all 2010 saturn outlook suvs. gm recalling 300,000 2009 to 2014 self lay expresses and have a savannahs. also on the list, all 2013 t to 2014 cadillac stf cars. they're being recalled to prevent brake problems that could result in overheating and fire. gm said no crashes or injuries have been link to the recenter recalls. ceo mary bar ra addressed employees saying it was part of

a safety review which she requested after the ignition recall. >> we're completely focused on the problem at the highest levels of the company, and we're putting the customer first, that is guiding every decision we make. that's how we want today's gm to be judged. how we handle the recall will be an important test of that commitment. >> reporter: all of these recalls is expected to cost general motors $300 million in the first quarter. right now gm is under investigation by the federal government for allegedly failing to publicly disclose and move to fix ignition switches in a number of vehicles over ten years which may have led to 12 deaths. two law firms out of texas filed a class action lawsuit against general motors in connection with these issues. bisi onile-ere, al jazeera detroit.

>> despite the ongoing political tensions surrounding ukraine, wall street has a strong day with the dow soaring, and snapping a five-day losing streak. after yesterday's votes and today's sanctions, ali velshi joins us with more now. we're talking about limited sanctions on individuals and their holdings and travel bans. how effective will those sanctions be on russia? >> limited. there are some asset freezes and travel freezes on highly specific individuals. the response from the west from the time being has been more bark than bite, almost a hopeful license that vladimir putin will not force the west's hands all that much. the european union announcing sanctions on individuals. and president obama followed suit by freezing assets of

officials of russia and crimea. and u.s. order targeting applications like the ousted president viktor yanukovych. one of the people targeted is rogazen. he mocked the move and tweeted to comrade obama suggesting that officials like him don't have accounts or property outside of russia. really wealthy russiaens have been smart about that. to your question, limited. >> i saw a line today that mentioned that the e.u. was going to start to look at other sources for russian energy. >> yes. >> i got to ask you if this escalates in that area, i'm wondering if at that point we start to see the sanctions have a little bite and what is needed more broadly. >> let's play that out a little bit. first of all natural gas needs infrastructure to get around. you put in pipelines and ships and you need ports for that.

it's not easy. you know, europe has been trying for some time to diversify it's supply of natural gas. america has lots of natural gas but we don't have the infrastructure to ship it all out to europe. analysts say if the west enacts wide ever sanctions that really bite the russian, you know, it could effect the russian economy to the extent that it goes into recession. that's serious because russia is a big and important economy. russian stocks are down 15% and to your point russia can retaliate with its own sanctions on the e.u. and then we would really feel that. if you think about the e.u. countries, germany, the powerhouse depends on russia for 40% of its natural gas supply. 6,000 germany firms do business with russia. so wider sanctions are not going to work if europe is not involved with them, and for the moment europe is hoping they don't have to get too much more

involved. >> i know you have a packed show at 7:00. thanks for being with us. ali velshi and "real money." tonight. astro physicists say that the earth expandeuniverse expanded g bang. jake ward joins with what this discovery could mean. jake, how did he do it? >> reporter: i know you have other news to cover, but this is the new for which there would be no other news. it's the foundation of the universe that we're talking about here. if you think of the big bang being the moment when someone dropped a pebble in the ocean long, long ago, what these scientists were able to do was build a very sophisticated piece of equipment that would detect the ripples that emanated out

from that. they had to build this out at the south pole where there is no noise at all. they would to watch and listen for three years and detect the ripples emanated from the big bang. here is the moment that one of the original theorists, someone who had been working on it 30 years ago, a stamford astro physicist, he heard the news on his door step. here is the news. >> what? >> .2. >> what? just a second. do you want to repeat it? >> as clear as day, are a .2. >> what i love about that, tony, is that his wife, who is also a physicist, she gets it first and reaches for the embrace, and andre, it took him hours to di jesus this news.

>> that's terrific. digesting the news is one thing. how significant is this discovery moving forward? >> well, this is a huge, huge deal. this basically confirms the first time we detected the bang of the big bang. and you know, physicists is a big rickety scaffolding on which theories are hung, and this is a pretty amazing thing. for anyone whose mind had not already been blown it may have confirmed the--all sorts of implications, but this will probably win the nobel prize. >> for those who didn't see us earlier today. yay could be said it's juan of those--pow--one of those things. >> this is just mind blowing our amazing this is. >> a look at the ukrainian crisis from the russian perspective. we'll find out how people in

crimea and moscow see things. and also u.s. navy seals take over a libyan tanker, we'll look at why the united states even got involved.

>> the u.s. has imposed sanctions on a number of return officials. the move comes after residents of crimea voted overwhelmingly to secede to join russia. and russian president vladimir putin declared it to be a sovereign and independent country. the u.s. and e.u. call the crimean vote illegal and don't recognize the outcome. anna, good to speak with you. from the russian perspective why annex crimea?

>> russians don't look at i it anneannexation. for them crimea was part of history, part of understanding the legacy of world war ii. they also look at crimea as being given to ukraine without any particular legal pretext or reason as a gift by kruschev in 1954. there are many generations who still remember that, both in crimea and russia. when the soviet union existed, it didn't matter much. when ukraine declared its independence in 1991 while crimea was still intact, many in crimea were looking for autonomy and looking to east always. in crimea many of them say,

we're coming home. fortunately or unfortunately, that's the way many russians look at it, crimea is coming home. >> is crimea all that president putin wants. vice president joe biden is headed to baltics with latvia and estonia, and the poles will be part of the discussion as well. there is concern expressed in moldova that it could be next. what is the end game here? >> well, putin's end game is not really the reconstruction of empire as we here in the west hear very often. he is very keen in showing to the west that from now on he's going to be securing and protecting russian interests in near and broad. it's always been a part of the agenda. the near and abroad is the

priority of russian foreign policy, and crimea has always been the thread line that putin warned time and time again not to cross. georgia was part of that same warning package. and we all remember what happened in 2008 when putin went in indecisively, and basically showed to the rest of the world that he's going to maintain his interests. so it's very interesting that right now for some reason expectations were that he would be standing back and watch what was transpiring in ukraine after the agreement of februar february 21st fell threw. so putin's actions are quite expected, and the end game is to insure that crimea is part of the russian federation. >> but the real question is what after crimea? there were protests over the weekend, and they were largely

peaceful, but they turned violent last week. the concern is will vladimir putin use any violence whatsoever in eastern ukraine as a pretext to send the forces in to eastern ukraine? >> well, anything is possible now, tony. the danger is really in the provocation. no one is interested in civil war, neither ukrainians nor russian-speaking ukrainians nor russians themselves. when you ask about the end game in this whole affair, putin wants to make sure that under the circumstances once crimea is secure there is ukraine. the only way to keep as he sees it, an to keep significant

autonomy. they want to speak russian language and maintain cultural and political values. but within the federation. and then the third condition, the third part of the end game for putin is to make sure that kiev does not go into n.a.t.o. so those are three goals. to secure crimea, federalization of ukraine. >> the e.u. is looking for other sources of energy and excluding russia in that mix. what are your thoughts about the possibilities of sanctions doing further damage to the russian economy? >> obviously sanctions will do the damage. and you know, it's very unfortunate, but the reality again is that putin is determined. his government is determined.

obviously the politicians are determined. whatever the sanctions are, they will force russia to regroup, to reorient it's economic priorities and strategy, but it's not going to stop this kind of a behavior. you know, it will touch and affect europe as well. >> absolutely. >> the way to deal with this is not to impose the stricter sanctions but to watch the situation in ukraine is going to be. ukraine is very fragile. we don't know how the ukrainian economy will do and how people will respond to austerity measures. you know, the effort should be going north towards impos--not s imposing more sanctions but figuring out on the highest level-- >> they have to speak to one another. >> exactly. and the government in kiev should be inclusive. that behavior of inclusiveness will hopefully prevent further

clashes and further disintegration of the country. >> which everyone believes would be the outcome of elections in may. but anna, i appreciate it. thank you. anna vassilieva. she heads up the russian department at russian studies. a two week saga began when ex-piles tried to profit by exporting libyan oil. >> reporter: u.s. officials reportedly had considered intervening in the case of the morning glory, the commercial tank that are docked in libya and set sell in the mediterranean with millions of dollars worth of oil attempted to be sold on the black market. however, an u.s. official told reporters on monday that this intervention could not have

happened without the express request of the libyan government. as it happens the ship was in international waters and the cypress government also made the request for the u.s. to intervene. president barack obama did give the order, and late tonight night eastern time, early morning middle of europe time, the navy seals did take control of the ship from their base on board the u.s.s. roosevelt. the ship is on its way back to libya under the control of navy seals and sailors, who had already been deployed in the eastern mediterranean. the case now is ostensibly going to be dealt with by libyan authorities, who had been struggling to maintain control of the oil industry which is centered in the eastern part of libya. >> reporting from washington.

the blockade of libya's major oil ports has cost the government more than $5 billion in lost revenue. brigadier general jeffrey sinclair avoided the serious charges against him. we're in fort bragg, north carolina, natasha, tell us what happened in court today. >> reporter: tony, the judge halted proceedings for a week due to concerns that the military rejected an earlier plea offer by the defense. general sinclair is thrilled that the sexual assault charges have been dropped. but an attorney for the accuser has professly argued by dropping the charges not only would harm her but have a far-reaching impact on cases going forward. for the first time in two years

brigadier general jeffrey sinclair left court without the threat of having to register as a sex offender weighing on his mind. his attorney said it's an outcome they had anticipated all along. >> these charges never should have been brought. so it's a big circle, but justice will be done. that's a wonderful thing. >> reporter: for the accuser and former mistress an army captain under his command it was an emotional day on the stand. during the sending hearing her voice shook and she cried recounting how she field trapped, suicidal and her career was held hostage by general sinclair's power. she said, i believe i couldn't talk dog the 82nd airborne was going to cover it up. they were going to protect him in anyway, shape or form i tried to come forward would mean the end of my career. sinclair pled guilty to disobeying a commanders orders, misusing a credit card, and mistreating the captain by causing her emotional distress.

the pair had an affair for three years, yet she testified, i would have left a long time ago if it was up to me. sinclair has pled guilty to adultery, posing pornography in a combat zone and having inappropriate relationships with three other subordinates. the unraveling of the prosecution case has been categorized as an embarrassment to the military. the case is being closely monitored by lawmakers. congress has expressed concerns that the military has not done enough to combat sexual assault within its ranks. >> i applaud the military for what they're doing. every institution should, sexual harassment, and sexual assault is wrong, no doubt about it. but it does not mean every case should come to court. this should never have been brought and we're glad it's

going to be over. >> well, it's almost over. the sentencing hearing is now under way more than 25 witnesses are expected to be called. >> natasha, in afghanistan the country's u.n. ambassador said he's certain the government will sign an agreement to allow u.s. soldiers to stay after this year. all ten presidential candidates said they would sign the deal if elected. the agreement has been a sore point between washington and kabul over the last few months. and islamic cleric at the center of turkey ace political unrest has broken his silence. prime minister's response to a recent corruption scandal is ten times worse than the military coup that ousted the government. it added fuel to the fire between supporters and prime

minister erdogan. erdogan has been under pressure since the scandals broke in september. daniel rubenstein will support the opposition and help negotiate an end to the conflict. meanwhile things are only getting worse on the ground in syria. and lebanese military has been deployed to the border as rebels flee fighting in yabroud. the latest stronghold to fall. we now have that report. >> reporter: in this video posted a missile destroys a tank near yabroud. rebels say the fight is far from over. but for the government the recapture of the city is just another sign rebels are losing the war. here syrian defense minister with top military commanders with what was for months the rebel's biggest stronghold in

western syria. but there is no time for celebration. he has shown a map of rebel positions and he gives orders to launch an attack. with the west secured and rebels losing ground in the center this is where the next big battle may take place. the west of the suburbs of damascus, these are major rebel strongholds, but this time armed groups may not get enough weapons and fighters to hold out. as rebel fighters ban to attack a base, a town northeast of the capitol of damascus. this commander is asking his men to shell the area and pave a way for the unit to storm the building. tanks join the fight but the government is amazing thousands of soldiers in the area. with unmatched firepower as the

army takes the suburbs the rebels would be left with few choices. open new front lines at the risk of war casualties or retreat north to aleppo and wait for the decisive battle that may decide their future. al jazeera. >> testimony the trial of osama bin laden's son-in-law from the self-proclaimed mastermind of the september 11th attacks. we have more on that and other stories across america. >> reporter: the top al-qaeda militant said osama bin laden's son-in-law had no role in planning attacks. he said that he was a spokesman for al-qaeda because he was an eloquent, spell-binding speaker. he faces charges of conspiring to kill americans. oklahoma does not have the

drugs needed to carry out an execution scheduled for this week. the state attorney general announced today the state is working to get replacement drugs. if it finds them the state plans to execute on sunday as scheduled. in boston prosecutors are asking to limit tsarnaev's access to photos. they say allowing him to see photos of the three people killed in last year's bomb attack of the marathon would violate the victim's privacy and subject them to needless harm and suffering. >> appreciate it. thank you. a new study shows evidence of something that was previously thought impossible. the northeast corner of green land's ice sheet is melting. researchers have always thought the area was immune to melting but they have discovered the area has lost more than

10 billion tons of ice. per year since 2003. we're talking about rising air and water temperatures causing the melt. kevin is here with more on this. >> reporter: it's an impressive study that just came out yesterday in the natural change journal. they knew that down here towards the south we had problems. of course, a lot ice melting in that area. but in the northeastern area they thought it was fairly immune from any of this climate change happening. let's take a look at some of the things that they did say in the study. in 2003 it ban to rapidly melt across the area. 10 billion tons of ice a year are melting. and in this particular area 12.4 124 miles have receded now, when you factor all of the ice shelves melting in green land there is consensus that between

11 to 38 inches of sea level change could happen by 2100. the other story is all the know in dc. this is what it looked like on the radar. some of those snow totals look like this. 13.5 inches in virginia, west virginia, and in the d.c. area they saw 8 inches, enough to close down the city. and temperatures, though, tony, we're looking at fairly cool temperatures. washington, 32, and new york as 33. >> seven inches in baltimore. i got to check on mama. i better do that. on al jazeera america, a st. patrick's day terror contro, why a sponsor pulled out. they say it's because they were ain't gay. and we look at the economic impact. that is next.

unrestrained and uncompromising. >> are you going to resign if you're indicted? >> first, real money with ali velshi brings the big-money

issues home where they effect you the most. >> household debt has been slashed. >> then, what real people are talking about in real-time with the stream. >> all of our communities lightin' up twitter tonight. >> and stay with us for live, breaking and in-depth news. real reporting, this is what we do. al jazeera america. al jazeera america gives you the total news experience anytime, anywhere. more on every screen. digital, mobile, social. visit aljazeera.com. follow @ajam on twitter. and like aljazeera america on facebook for more stories, more access, more conversations. so you don't just stay on top of the news, go deeper and get more perspectives on every issue. al jazeera america.

>> thousands of people watched the st. patrick parade in new york. this year's event was held amid controversy about gay rights. [ bagpipe music ] >> new york city mayor bill de blasio. he becomes the first city leader to sit out the parade, why? because organizers refused to let participants carry pro gay and lesbian signs. guinness beer dropped its sponsorship. maria is back with more. >> reporter: tony, lgbt activists said they would protest against the parade and in midtown they did. you see here some activists with this banner saying boycott. i'll show you the rest of it. it says boycott homophobia. this was put outbly glad, an

organization that supports gay and lesbian rights. now, the boston st. patrick's parade also saw similar controversy. the mayor there did not attend because gay and lesbians could not march openly. but there was this float that was called the diversity float that was able to get into the parade. and you'll see here that they have colored banners here. now as far as guinness dropping its sponsorship of the st. patrick's day parade, on their facebook page they have seen comments pro and against. thousands of people that have commented on this. susan writes, even though i seriously do not like beer, i think i'm going to go and have a guinness today to celebrate st. patrick's day. equality sure does taste good. ron writes i'm at a loss to see guinness allow social events to

dictate. >> march madness, many are filling out their brackets. and michael yves here to talk about bracket tips. >> it's three weeks. probably more money than a lot of people realize generated in more ways than one. one of the reasons march madness is so popular is the level of participation. not just from the 68 teams vying from the championship, but from the million of champions that wager on the event build it be from las vegas an estimated 50 million u.s. workers participate leading us to some staggering numbers. now 86% of fans say they will watch or check out scores from the game while they work which could cost employers up to $1.2 billion of loss productivity. and 3 billion will bet in office pools which are legal in every state.

it is the biggest sports gambl gambling event behind the super bowl. since the tournament expanded to 64 teams only one has all four number one seeds advanced to the final four. that was back in 2008. for the last five tournaments there have been 10 upsets in the round of 64. that's pretty good spot to look for your upset. not counting the first four games. number 12 seeds have won least one game in 23 of the last 25 years. anand it's a lottery. you have to pick the right one if you're going to win your bracket, legal or not. >> has there ever been a perfect practice? never? >> warren buffet and dan gilbert have a prize, whoever does it

will win $1 billion. but the odds of doing it is 1 in 9 quinn tillan. >> that is an opinio number, sua whicquintillion. >> coming up next we have "real money" with ali velshi. >> we'll look at the sanctions, if they're all bark and no bite. and a lot of americans still have not signed up for obamacare and don't plan to. i'll tell you all that and more on real money.

>> this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm tony harris with a look at today's top stories. president obama announced that the u.s. imposing sanctions on several russian officials. this as the european union

announced sanctions on several crimean officials. the focus on the missing malaysian flight 370 is now on the co-pilot. the co-pilot was the last one to talk to the control room, right after the control signaling was turned off. president obama met with palestine president mahmood abbas at the white house. and general motors has announced three new recalls, included a million suvs that could have defective side airbags. that includes the previously discovered defectiective ignitin switch issue which affected 1.6 million and tied to a number of deaths.

proving that the university grew after the big bang. scientists wen proved the theorf relativity. "real money with ali velshi" is next. >> vladimir putin defiant in the face of sanctions. we'll look at what it might take to counter russia in the ukraine crisis. l deadline be dammed. a big chunk of america would rather be fined than sign up with obamacare. >> 20 somethings living at home, i'll tell you not just why it's but for mum and dad, but bad for the economy. i'm ali velshi, and this is "real money".