there's a culture of silence going on, and when you have that, it's so difficult. >> thanks to all of our guests for joining us and we're out of time. until next time, we'll see you >> ukrainian off the cry mean naval base. >> information concerning th the missing flight.

♪ >> yesterday russian president vladimir putin told the world he put troops on the ground in crimea to keep the peace. and then there was this. one day later two people are dead and ukrainian naval base is taken by force. above it, the russian flag is now flying. all this in an effort to stem the violence, he said. the u.n. chief now headed to moscow. ban ki-moon scheduled to meet with vladimir putin tomorrow, and jennifer glasse is in sevastopol. things are spinning out o out of control. >> reporter: i wouldn't say spinning out of control, but things are very uncertain here.

president vladimir putin made very clear inbre yesterday thata is part of russia. >> reporter: ukrainian sailors leaving their base. go home, say the people, this is now russia. this naval headquarters now belongs to moscow. pro russian arms started the charge tearing down the gate and the ukrainian flag. they took down anything associated with ukraine. >> we had to go in, arseniy tivosov told me we had to go in and take the guns before they started shooting. they had been given an order to shoot. ukrainian forces were given permission to fire in self defense after ukrainian officer was killed on tuesday. but most of these men were

unarmed when the base was stormed. pavel shevchenko said they just ran out of patience. >> they came in and said, it's over. putin has declared this russian territory, and that's it. go away. i say we shouldn't do it like this. we should do it like civilized people the commanders should decide. the way military were withdrawn from afghanistan, for example. >> they were bringing in reinforcement. the commander of the black sea fleet tried and failed to find thinkhis counterpart. >> reporter: we don't know where people are going. they don't want to talk to us. where are you headed, i asked them. they're headed to freedom.

>> reporter: civilians in and out of uniform sharing a pro-russian agenda. >> reporter: apparently just found the ukrainian black sea fleet commander somewhere in the building here. they've taken him out in the car, and most of these guys are leaving. they demand that we leave, too. we had had wanted to speak to the russian commander. no one would tell us who or where he is. when we tried to leave the base, they stopped us at the gate. but it's clear that russia is taking over. >> reporter: and del, a lot shots fired in that base takeover this morning, but there are still sailors on ukrainian navy ships in the harbor around the peninsula. they are waiting for orders from kiev, kiev said they will not withdraw their forces. for them it's going to be a long night. >> as they wait and watch what can and what are they doing?

>> reporter: well, the sailors have basically hunkered down on their ships. they pulled the ships off of the docks so they can't be boarded by russian forces. they've been blockaded in for three weeks. when those russian sailors and ukrainian sailors got too friendly ten days ago the russians changed the sailors around. they don't want them too terribly friendly. i spoke to crimean civilian who is say those ships now belong to crimea and they should stay he here. kiev thinks differently. many sailors are torn. they signed up for the navy, and now they don't know what is happening. they have been waiting for orders for a long time and it's an uncertain situation here. as the base was taken over this morning, something could happen. the motivation this morning, the ukrainians had been authorized

to use force. >> while that stand off was taking place in crimea, two deputies sent in to de-escalate the situation there. phil ittner, jennifer said it does not appear to be spiraling out of control, but what is being said in kiev. >> reporter: del, it may not seem like it's spinning out of control in crimea but there are strong and potentially statements being made in kiev. this is late-breaking news we'll relate to you that on the presidential website, the acting president of ukraine made this statement. unless all provocations against ukrainian troops and the admirel out there cease in two hours, all other hostages, civilian and

military, are released they'll take steps technical and technology in nature. that coming on the presidential website. now interpreting the appropriate measures both technical and technologtechnological, perhapst indicates are those very important life lines that go to the peninsula. water and electricity coming to crimea, but surely this is a very strong statement. a deadline now of two hours that the ukrainian government is giving the crimean authorities out there in the peninsula to release the admiral, and also cease what they're saying all provocations or they will act. >> fascinating that he used the phrase hostages to describe the people who are in crimea that still support ukraine, but did they take soli solace in the stg words they god from vice

president biden. >> reporter: they're pleased to see the vice president in the region. he traveled first to poland and then onward to those countries in the baltic states to allay the the fear it's of the warsaw pact nations. he also said that there will be a response and consequences for russia's actions. this is what he had to say in the capitol of lithuania. >> i want to make it clear we stand resolutely with our baltic allies and support ukrainian people and against russian aggression. as long as russia continues on this dark path they will face increasing political and economic isolation. >> reporter: now, the ukrainians also said repeatedly that nobody knows better what it's like to live under the thumb of moscow

than those baltic states or the states part of warsaw. there is a feeling of solidarity. they're hoping for support from n.a.t.o. and also the united states. those statements coming from vice president biden will very much appreciated here tonight. >> and i'm curious about one thing. are there still people camped out at independent square waiting for a new government, or are they concerned about what was the old government in crimea? >> reporter: there are still people out on maidan square, right behind me. we see them every day. there have been talks to try to get them off of the square. they said they're going to stay there through may. they want to stay there through may until the elections. they are sending a clear message to the authorities. they ousted one president, they can do it again, and they shouldn't forget the power that led to those elections still lies out there on the square.

>> phil ittner out there in kiev. now to that other international mystery as the search for malaysian flight 370 stretches into its 12th day the relatives of the missing are losing patience and investigators are once again looking at the pilots. lisa stark has more from washington. >> reporter: 12 days into the disappearance of malaysian flight 370 investigators stay focused on the pilots. a "new york times" report was that the flight computer was reprogrammed to take the plane off course. >> as far as the aircraft was reprogrammed, that could be speculation. once in the aircraft anything is possible. >> reporter: but now new reports give that theory a sharp timeline. saying that it may have been programmed before the co-pilots last words of all right, good

night. that term was premeditated and not done manually at the controls. a maneuver like that aviation experts say would take expertise. many pilots would fall under a greater microscope. >> we have examined the pilot's simulator. some things have been deleted from the simulator and work to retrieve it is ongoing. [ yelling and screaming ] >> reporter: families of the missing remain devastated from malaysian investigators who now may have missed another piece of information. this time from thailand, which says that it's military radar may have detected the airliner and it's initial turns off course. thailand said it had not shared the information because it was never asked for it, and the plane was not a threat to its air space. the search is now 2.2 million square nautical miles,

two-thirds of the u.s continentl u.s. >> those are really, really treacherous, deep seas, winter is coming. the rescue effort just continues to get differ by the day. just not a needle in the haystack. it's a needle in thousands of fields of haystacks. >> reporter: lisa stark, al jazeera america washington. >> for the latest information on that missing malaysian airlines plane, and the rest of the day's headlines follow us on twitter, @a jam. toyota being told to settle games with the federal government. cooling a four-year criminal investigation whether toyota misled the public. what did they find. >> reporter: even though the

criminal investigation began four years ago what federal investigators found is that toyota really knew about the problems seven years ago back in 2007. they knew that some of their models had a problem with sticky accelerators, sticky gas pedals that could cause sudden acceleration. they did not inform the public when the investigation began by authorities. they misled them and really nothing was done until 2009 when people died. today the u.s. attorney general holder said the conduct was shameful. >> put simply, toyota's conduct was shameful. it showed a blatant disregard for systems and laws designed to look after the safety of consumers. by the company own admission it protected its brand ahead of its own customers. this futur constitutes rehencibe

the public trust. >> it promised to allow an independent investigators to review manufacturing practices and keeping an eye on any manufacturing defects. >> randall, does this mean now that tight a toyota is off the r does it face criminal charges. >> reporter: it does face criminal charges. prosecution will be held in abeyance for three years as long as toyota complies with the $1.2 million criminal penalty and allows those independent inspections to proceed. >> randall pinkston live for us at the white house, thank you very much. a case of child abuse so graphic it slipped through the cracks in florida and we'll tell you why a judge wants to make sure that it never ever happens

again.

>> welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. here are your headlines this hour. investigators now trying to recover files were the pilot's flight simulator, it was recovered at his home, but some of the files had been deleted. several ukrainian forces were forced to walk out of the base. and the stand down comes one day after russia's annexation of crimea. ban ki-moon is on his way to russia and then on to the ukraine. the white house calling for an emergency council fo to meet for the crisis happening there. what is the point of this meeting when russia seems to have written russian out of the

security council from the very beginning. >> reporter: it is a very fair question to ask at this time. a lot of people in this building field the need to defend the united nations and the security council for the work that it does, but sometimes it cannot make very much progress because of the vetoes by the five permanent members. but it's a question being asked right now by he many members of the security council itself. what is happening here is that mr. ban ki-moon, the secretary general is heading out to ukraine, as you said, and here at 3:00 eastern time this afternoon there will be an open meeting of the security council. now it's being called by the french, and the idea is to keep the pressure up, to keep talking about it, and keep hammering' at the situation. >> at 3:00, what will happen at that hour? >> reporter: the council will meet in open session today.

the telephon security cameras w. the west will condemn russia to what it has done to ukraine and the russian ambassador will depend himself. we'll hear from senior members of the secretary. they've come back from the ukraine and they'll come back and explain what they've seen there in the last couple of weeks. >> john, we've seen just about every world leader weigh in on this crisis. ban ki-moon, what is he up to. >> reporter: well, he is the world's leading diplomat. he represents every country in the world. when he travels or when he speaks he speaks on behalf of his more than 200 members. so he's heading out tonight from new york to moscow tomorrow, thursday, he'll meet with vladimir putin, and then on

friday he's going to go to kiev and meet with the interim president, the interim prime minister and meet with teams on the ground to discuss how to move the situation forward. when the secretary travels, he does travel with a big entoura entourage. he does have influence in the world, although to look at comments made by vladimir putin when he signed the crimea back to russia, it's difficult to know what mr. ban can actually say and do. but remember what russia has done is illegal under international law, which the u.n. is representative of. del? >> john terrett for us live, thank you very much. >> on wall street right now let's just call it loose change. right now the dow is in positive territory but just barely up. about .7 of a percent, investors

staying on the sidelines until they hear from fed chair janet yellen this afternoon. and we'll have the details all day on al jazeera america, and then again later tomorrow. the federal aviation administration said the boeing 787 dreamliner is safe. that announcement coming after a comprehensive review of the plane. coming following a flier with its lithium ion batteries. well, winter hurt fedex profits. the bad weather made it harder to deliver packages and increase their cost. and general mills, gm pointing to the weather for a 1.2% drop in sales, the company notes the entire company was hurt by the cold and the snow. and the food industry well. imagine a child being locked up like an animal.

now imagine the state knew about it and did nothing. that is the case in floor where they're looking at 900 cases of deaths related to child abuse over the last decade. sheila mcvictor investigates. >> this was cold, calculated and illegal. >> reporter: in a florida courtroom sharon glass faces sentencing for child abuse. el little boy boarded up, sleeping on the bear floor and starved. this was the department of children and families dcf knew about, in fact, had been warned about for years. teachers and principals from two schools called again and again. they reported bruises, black eyes, and he was always hungry. the boy was rescued 17 months later. only after a chance encounter results in the police being

called to his home in florida. the sharon glass case is not an isolated incident. florida's department of children and families dcf has been under fire for years for letting child abuse cases slip through the cracks often with deadly results. according to the agency's own figures in the past five and a half years to june 2013 there were 872 confirmed child abuse deaths, and in 437 of those cases the families were known to dcf. >> i don't want any child to die, whether they were seen by dcf or not. >> reporter: esther runs the department of children and families. >> many of these cases the people who stepped up whether they're teachers, somebody else who has some kind of access to that family say they were ignored, and that nothing was done. >> an investigation occurred. either they're isolated case where is they take allegations

seriously. those are dealt with individually, but it is certainly--especially a teacher who calls in, something that we should take very seriously always. >> when she took over last summer she inherited an agency that suffered deep budget cuts. $179 million in 2011 and troubling personnel problems. the dcf inspector general reported 99 slepters and supervisors were fired or resigned in 2012 most of them for falsifying reports. >> when you see this kind of thing it's an outrage. >> reporter: handling child abuse cases in miami. >> we should pay for their education, and you pay them better so there is not this constant turn over. >> all of this take money. >> well, the question is do you care about children? are these just throw-away children and throw-away families

that nobody cares about or do you understand that this is really important work, and that the state of florida has an obligation to take care of its most vulnerable children. >> reporter: sheila macvicar, al jazeera. >> part two of the investigation into florida's troubled child welfare system. they look at the practice of warehousing children inside nursing homes. that airs tonight at 9:00 eastern time. coming up on al jazeera america it is not for the faint of heart. two people on a two-week climb very little in the way of help.

>> the white house is taking steps to address climate change online. officials announcing a new website that they hope will give private companies bette better . they will address the cause and

effect of climate change. >> meteorologist: wellspring is just one day away and the snow is still coming down across portions of the midwest all the way from southern portions of ontario down into the ohio valley. snow coming down around traverse city. be careful if you're traveling across the u.p. of michigan. some of the snow will turn over to rain. we'll see a lot of that snow push across to the northeast. i think across the adirondack menusmountains, we'll see the sw coming down. across new hampshire and vermont for the most part the snow will stay to the rest as we track on into tomorrow. that's one reason why we have winter. generally speaking we'll see anywhere between three to six inches of snow. take a look at temperatures across the northeast here today. it will be a comfortable slightly below average.

50s when you make your way down. francisco coming in at a high of 70 right at 80 degrees. tomorrow the first day of gree spring. it will get cool as we track into the weekend with another arctic blast on the way. temperatures around 41 degrees. denver, 64. dc and our nation's capitol and new york city around 53 degrees. the cold air is on the way friday and saturday you'll be able to feel it across the midwest. it will make its way to the northeast. back to you guys. >> finally if you have a fear of heights, keep you're eyes closed. using just ropes. it took the pair 12 days.

by the way, as you look at dissent, thidescent, it's said e hardest in the world. i'm del walters, fault lines is next. >> it's christmas eve, and us soldiers are preparing for their last months in afghanistan. about forty thousand are still here - by the end of the year, there'll be just eight thousand. we traveled to afghanistan in the midst of this transition. but on the base we found a story