>> hello and welcome to the news hour. tightening it's grip on crimea, russia calling on their troops. south africa president slammed for reaching deep in the

public purse to pay for private payments. >> the first, russia has been tightening it's grip on crimea, a day after moscow signed off on annexing the cry mea crimean te. many activists, many of them armed, have stormed into the ukrainian naval base in the city of sevastopol. the commander was taken away in

handcuffs 1234 all the momentum is with russia now. militiamen heading into the base, it's overrun out a shot being fired. out with the old and in with the new. russia is in charge in crimea. it's forces on the ground increasingly bold. an ukrainian army base near simferopol, and ukrainians inside wondering how long the russians are waiting outside before forcing their way in. the ukrainians feel abandoned by its government. >> the soldiers here have been let down. no one from the high command or the defense ministry has come here to support them or encourage them. >> reporter: the russians have told the ukrainian soldiers they must leave the base or join the

russian army. but the government in kiev is telling the ukrainians to sit tight. >> our troops are based there legally and will stay there for as long as our government decides is necessary. if the russians start attacking them, our troops have every right to start firing back. >> reporter: the authorities here in crimea say they will not allow a delegation from the government in kiev to come and talk to the ukrainian soldiers. crimeas pro russian prime minister said the delegation is not welcome, and it will not be allowed entry into crimea. it's not only ukrainian soldiers who are worried. in simferopol, we find a bank manager trying to assure crowds who are trying to withdrawal savings. >> don't worry, he saidering everything is under control, but he admits that the bank struggling toed a adopt to the new legal reality.

in parliament they were putting up new letters in russian, saying crimea belongs to russia, not ukraine. with every passing day moscow consolidates its hold. >> ban ki-moon has announced he's due in moscow on thursday. meanwhile prime minister david cameron said if russia takes further military action against ukraine it could be expelled from the g-8. we speak now to paul brennan who is in kiev. it seems very much as if this is a done deal, and crimea is now set to be part of the russian federation. >> reporter: that's how many analysts see it, regardless of the opinion here in kiev which is they will never accept crimea as being lost to ukraine, and accept it as part of the russian federation. if you thought that relations

between ukraine and russia count get much worse than they have been in recent days, in the last hour they've taken to rock bottom. there were those two bases overrun today, and the prime minister plans to fly down to crimea, and was turned back. the national security council here in kiev has been meeting, and the outcome is fairly far reaching, and, well, let me read some of the details. the national defense secretary is talking about the introducing of a visa regime between ukraine and russia. it could happen within a matter of days. he's also talking about ukraine leaving the commonwealth of the independent state, the former soviet republics. he wants the u.n. to designate crimea as a demilitarized zone

and if that happens he would like to see russian troops pulled out of crimea and only then would ukrainian troops be pulled out of their bases and relocated to continental ukraine. the army is being put on full alert here. the secret service must be ready for anti-terrorist work. they're reinforcing the guarding of strategic sites things like nuclear power stations and halting the transfer of money of companies that he describes as so-called crimean government. he said we'll hold collaborators responsible and the evacuated troops, those troops who are currently in their bases in crimea when they come back eventually to continental ukraine, he described it, they would be housed properly. a number of far reaching proposals coming out of the national defense count meeting meet--council meeting this

evening. >> there is an element of ukrainians who feel let down by kiev. is that something that you've come across kiev itself in the capitol? >> reporter: well, there is some dismay about the way the soldiers down there have been basically told to sit tight, and it seems although they were ordered to--authorized to use their weapons should they feel that their lives are in danger we saw today that frankly faced with such overwhelming odds against russia, experienced russian soldiers and combined with these sort of pro russian militia, who overran these two bases today, it would be foolhardy in extreme from a realistic point of view to defend those bases with small number of weapons that they have. so they've been reluctantly forced to give up. >> for now, paul, thank you. paul brennan, correspondent in kiev. now at least one person has died during clashes between police

and protesters in egypt. they've taken places at university there they have been held in detention during a week of renewed campaigning against the military government. >> reporter: tear gas as egyptian security forces clash with protesters inside the university campus in cairo. these are scenes from an nationwide day of anger staged by students and other opponents of egypt's military backed government to back the anniversary of the announcement of egypt's firs oust of mubarak. >> we want our voice to be heard, and to let people know that egyptians and students are not satisfied.

there are thousands of students who express their opinions and exercise their rights. >> reporter: in 2012 mohamed morsi became the first democratically elected president of egypt. he was always skeptical of the military. the army never really was under mind. in july 2013 after weeks of demonstration, they suspended the constitution and the army was back in power. today egypt returned to square one after the fall of mubarak. a top general is practically in control and is expected to run

for high office. students are back in the streets and up against the future of egypt that is far from certain. al jazeera. >> well, the spokesperson for the foreign relation committee, he joins us from minneapolis in the united states. thank you for talking to us here at al jazeera. let's start with today's developments. what are the students particularly trying to achieve with their protests? >> i think it's not just the students but a large number of the egyptian population, and the egyptian students as the young leaders of the future are insistent on having a democratic egypt. ever there is no way for the majority of egyptian people to accept it, s.

>> what is the strategy of the muslim brotherhood or the freedom and justice party as one of the most popular parties in egypt today. what is your strategy for helping to tur return egypt to democracy. >> you see, it's very important to look at the situation in egypt now. the country is deteriorating terribly. on the political level there is no political life in egypt or freedom. there is no freedom of expression or freedom of assembly. even the people who wanted to hold this conference here said the police had to go in and disperse and arrest those who participated in this conference. this is military egypt. egypt will never accept dictatorship. it is not just the muslim brotherhood that is suffering this, it is a large section of egyptians and it's up to the egyptian people. if they want democracy they have to pay their price.

they all pay their price. people sa here used to say givee liberty or give me death. egyptians want freedom. they want democracy back. they want the military to be out of the political process because it is a political life. it is not the military life. the dictatorship military. we would like to bring political forces back together. >> i think egyptians have proved themselves willing to have the appetite to take to the streets, and demonstrate against any form of authoritarianism, it wasn't just military. they did it against mubarak, and they did it against morsi as

well. >> that is true. mubarak was never elected. he was a dictator for 30 years. president morsi was elected by the people of egypt, and it's the egyptians right, to go to the streets. the problem was not going to the streets during morsi. the problem was the military intervention kidnapping the president, number one. canceling the constitution. canceling the parliament. killing thousands of egyptians in the streets, and arresting over 23,000. the human rights situation is moving from ugly to uglier. >> abdul, i have to stop you there. thank you very much, indeed, for taking the time to speak to us here at al jazeera. >> thank you, thank you for having me. >> now we got a lot more to come here on al jazeera.

including osama bin laden son-in-law. he gives surprising testimony in a new york court. we'll get a live update. >> the conduct was shameful showing blatant disregard for systems and laws designed to look after safety of consumers. >> toyota misleading drivers about their faulty cars. coming up in sport we'll be inside old trafford as man united plans to lift the pressure off their manager. >> the relatives of passengers on missing malaysian airliner have lashed out. some were removed during a briefing where the malaysian government was trying to give an

update for the flight 370. the search is divided in two huge arcs stretching from kazakhstan to thailand, and the surgeon arc from indonesia down into the indian on or about. we report from the malaysian capitol. [ crying ] >> this woman protest but the security guards did not give her a chance. a small number of chinese tried to hold up a banner at the kuala lumpur news center where they were trying to give briefings. 154 people on the flight are from china. and in beijing families are frustrated. >> most family members have a lot of argue targeted at the malaysian side. they have constantly released

some information and then denied it and the information was not consistent. >> reporter: china and uzbekistan are in charge of the search over chinese territory. >> the relevant work is still i don't know going. >> reporter: in the southern sector, australia and indonesia are in charge. >> we are doing what we can in the very isolated desolate regions of the southern indian ocean. i know that other countries, united states, china, are doing what they can in the northern sectors. >> reporter: more than 20 countries are involved in this massive search up close to 8 million square kilometers. it's an area larger than the size of australia. officials say they have not heard back from all the countries of which had citizens

on board of whether they had links to terrorism. >> so far no information of significance on any passengers has been found. >> reporter: as for the commotion in the press center, the malaysian government said it regrets what happened, and will investigate it. with the search dragging on and with no new information to report the relatives of passengers are becoming impatient with answers. nicole johnson, al jazeera, can yokuala lumpur. >> the pro h prohibition of chel weapons overseaing the syrian chemical weapon said priorities one and priority two chemicals were delivered and loaded on cargo vessels in the past week.

the lebanese army has been sent into two towns which are in the grip of sectarian tensions related to the war. thpeople have become increasingy angry as many have fled south from yabroud. yabrod was a stronghold until it feel. stephanie decker. >> it's been tense here since sunday when the rebels stronghold of yabroud fell to the syrian army. >> we knew there would be retaliation. we knew the fighters would come and react against us.

we lost some to these car bombs and rockets, and we had to close the road. >> reporter: but the road closure has hit this makeshift clinic hard. the wounded often brought here and the with the roadblock those seriously injured could not be delivered to the hospital. >> we have 130 wounded since yabroud fell. unfortunately, the road was closed to humanitarian cases. we ran out of medical supplies. we hope the road will stay open so the most extreme cases can get treated. >> reporter: the role of the army now is to try to maintain calm, carrying out patrols. the government has made it clear that calming the security situation is it's top priority. the tomorrow alasl lies nestled in the mountains. it's a long porous border, a no

man's land and many fighters from syria have come into this area and carried out attacks on villages. but those who have lived their lives in arsal say they want no trouble with neighbors. >> they outnumber us, now there are all these car bombs. they come to the outskirts of our town and send rockets, and we're glad the army is here. >> reporter: but it faces an extremely difficult task. lebanon's valley has 70 kilometers of boards are syria, and with groups vowing to avenge their losses, everyone is on edge. stephanie decker, al jazeera. >> inside syria itself in the south prisoners have been freed after rebel fighters stormed their jail. anita mcnaught has the story.

>> reporter: the campaign to take control of the prison took a week, according to opposition sources. rebels targeted the jail because it was believed to hold political prisoners and was an army base. silver videos were released by a fighting grouped calling itself the brigade of the sunni lions. outside of the jail they acknowledge they worked with other brigades. they are set up where 400 prisoners were freed, including women. the videos only showed men. the prison is the main jail in the region with separate areas for men, women, and young people. al jazeera understands the fighting groups are trying to sort the political prisoners from the other inmates. they told the prisoners with criminal convictions they'll be judged again in a rebel sharia

court. as gunfire broke out again one family came to the jail for an emotional reunion. the brigade has called for a fair process and has asked oth others for pay tension. anita mcnaught, al jazeera. >> the government in damascus meanwhile is saying that attacks by the israeli ministry has killed one person, seven others from injured very close to the golan heights area. just a day earlier four israeli troops were wounded by a roadside bomb in an attack that is blamed on the assad regime. >> the attack targets they're syrian elements. they were not only allowed but collaborated in attacks on armed forces. we hurt those who hurt

us, and we thwart as much as we can, the transfer of arms at sea and land. from time to time we're required to carry out aggressive operations as we've just done in order to assure the calm. >> an anti-corruption reporter found that south african president spent an excessive amount of taxpayer money to renovate his home. he spent $23 million what he said from security upgrades including a swimming pool, visitor's lounge, cattle enclosures and amphitheater. they want the president to repay some of those costs. we have this report. >> reporter: this report is really an encyclopedia of ammunition for the opposition six weeks out from a general election. it details security upgrades that should have cost $3 million

ballooned to finally costs of $23 million. largely because the president's private architect got involved and no one was keeping check of how much money was being spent. the president has broken the executive code of ethics, and they said he should pay some of the money back for unnecessary work. >> a number of the measures in the installing of security at the president's private residents went beyond private security. some of these measures can be classified as unlawful, and improper conduct. >> reporter: is it going to affect the congress going into this election? while the president has west has

weathered such storms in the past, but the anc is the only party in south africa that enjoyel mass appeal, and most of the voters will not be put off by this report because they perceive the anc being the party of freedom and democracy. >> soosama bin laden's son-in-lw recalls being called to a meeting after the september 11th attacks. sulaiman abu ghaith has been placed on trial for conspiring to kill americans and aiding al-qaeda. we can go live to the court in new york. bring us to date. >> well, the defense in this case took everyone by sprays sue

today when they called the defendant to testify on his behalf. afternoon an unusual move in a high row file case. but take the stand he did. we heard from the defendant about why he went to afghanistan and the speeches that he made in 2001 when planes leveled the world trade centerworld trade cw blocks from the courthouse here. sulaiman abu ghaith said it was when the first time he had met osama bin laden, and learned that--al-qaeda was hyped those attacks. he said that he made speeches to recruit of a religious nature, but bin laden fed him the lines for those speeches, including a line that has come up in testimony here that storms of airplanes would continue against americans. he said that that line came

directly from osama bin laden, and he had no direct knowledge of any specific plots to kill americans. that's an important point. the charge here is that he conspired to kill americans. now there is the cross-examination expected later today from the government. as i said, this is very unusual for the department to take the stand in such a high profile case. he's been cool and collected in responding to questions so far, but you can count on prosecutors drilling him when they get their chance at cross-examination, which should be happening just moments from now. >> live in new york. coming up in the next half hour. where in cuba are car ownership rules are relaxed, but locals are not finding any cheap deals on these wheels. and in sport, andy murray on

the hunt for a new coach. we'll have all the details. that they say they're not going to withdraw. >> then, immediately after, an america tonight special edition for more inside and analysis. >> why did you decide to go... >> it's extremly important for the western audience to know why these people keep on fighting... ...it's so seldom you get that access to the other side. >> faultlines: on the front lines with the taliban then an america tonight: special edition,

>> 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.

oh. >> ukraine's plans to pull troops from crimea that is being annexed by russia. activists some of them armed storm the base in crimea. >> in egyptian students demonstrate against the interim government. >> distraught families of missing passenger o passengers n 370 missing their loved ones.

felicity in our european news center. >> reporter: having to serve three years in jail for losing the banks nearly $7 million in unauthorized trade. we have more from paris. >> reporter: he was not in court to hear he would be going to jail. instead, he was hundreds of kilometers away in the italian countryside partway through his pilgrimage from paris to rome. he was the authorized trader who went rogue making billions of dollars of unauthorized transactions while working at one of france's biggest banks. in 2010 he was found guilty of forgery, breach of trust and unauthorized use of computers and sentenced to five years in

prison with two suspended. on wednesday his appeal against his sentence failed but significantly the court counseled the billions of dollars he had been due to pay back. a new trial will take place to decide on the damages. >> it's been six years that he has been saying that this loss does not exist, that it wasn't established. today it's been recognized by the highest french court, so today is an amazing victory for us. >> his reputation was tarnished by the affair. the bank always insisted that their former employee acted alone. >> we will go in front of the appeal court to explain what we always said. we knew when the effects were unveiled there were failures that were since dealt with, failures of which we've sent hundreds of millions of euros.

>> some have dismissed this as just a mere p.r. stunt. the kerviel case is one of the biggest scandals to ever hit the french banking industry. how can one man cause so much damage. that's what people here wanted to know. kerviel always insisted he was being made a scapegoat. he continues to divide opinion here in france. for some he's the symbol of excess that fueled the financial crisis. for others he is the victim of the system that created him. al jazeera in paris. >> another court in paris has been questioning about the corruption investigate which also involved chief executive of

the french tell come giant. now the u.k. government will stick to its austerity plan despite expectation the economy will grow at a faster rate this year and in 2015. the chancellor holding the box containing his budget before delivering it. economic growth is expected to hit 2.7% this year. also some welfare payments would be capped while the threshold for reaching the top tax rate would be eased. >> i can report today that the economy is continue to go recover, and recovering faster than forecast. [ cheering ] we set out our plan, and together with the british people we held on nerve. after the mess we were left with putting britain right. the job is far from done. our country still borrows too

much. we still don't invest enough. export enough, or save enough. so today we do more to put that right. >> greece has just passed a law abolishing 23 state organizations as it tries to cut 15,000 jobs this year. the country's commitment towards creditors has sparked more strike action. we have this report. >> the hunt has left no corner of the state unturned. it's reached this quiet valley northwest of athens. the organization that irrigates it will close and hand over its duties to local government. the man who runs it says it loses half a billion of dollars a year, but says payroll is not the problem. >> in the days of easier money, mps would tell farmers not to worry about their payments. in

years past they would find ways to subsidizing us under the table. >> bigger payrolls are being axed. also to go, a body of workers who worked during the athens olympics but hasn't done much since then. >> many people here think there are too many on public payroll given they make up a five of the 3.5 million people of peopl wor. >> a significant number of jobs will be lost as a result of accelerating disciplinary procedures durin. this is the first time we are

systematically attacking along those lines. we do discover quite a few skeletons in our closets, and quite a few people are losing their jobs either because they had submitted fake certificates or their contracts had been converted from temporary contracts to permanent contrac contracts. >> it is expensive but inaction has proven to be even more so. >> after talks in vienna concluded, the two day discussion with ticks nuclear sr nations. am during those talks catherine ashton remains positive. >> we've had substantive discussions including enrichment, the iraq reactor,

civil nuclear cooperation and sanctions. we will meet again from the 7th to 9th of april in vienna, and we will continue our work on the substantial areas, which we intend to cover in a comprehensive agreement. >> the latest from europe, back to doha now and martine. >> thank you. let's get back to events surrounding the ukraine and crimea. vice president gee bide joe bids been speaking in an attempt to reassure the rage after crimea voted to join russia. well, moldova is another former soviet republic that is really worried. like ukraine it has a region

within its borders that are russian. moldova's ambassador to the u.n. he joins us live from the u.n. thank you very much, indeed, for talking to us here at al jazeera. how worried are you, then, about this vote that is taking place, about the local politicians desire to join with the russian federation? >> well, thank you for inviting me. first of all, let's remember that this is not the first time that they are speaking about the fact that they want to become independent. this is by the way not a predominantly russian-speaking area. it's about 40% monthly do vans. 26% ukrainian, and 23 percent 2.

we are concerned that the recent events in ukraine may impact the original security situation. in order to join russia. it is merely political statements in favor of the current leadership, which the separatist leadership values very much, and they depend very much on russian financial support for their lives. so therefore i would rather treat this statements from this perspective, from the perspective of making themselves known to russia, showing that they like russian attitude in one type of the--in the sort of respect. however, at the same time this is in my opinion not feasible.

>> how much comfort do you derive from president putin's speech the other day in which he made it quite clear that he doesn't have further territorial ambitions. he doesn't see that he's going to be strike outside in any territory at all. that's pretty much what he said in his speech on monday. >> this is correct. this speech was where he said he'll stop. it is important to maintain a working relationship with the government of the russian federation because the russian federation is a mediator in conflicts. therefore the relationship between the government of moldova and the government federation on one hand, but also the governments of the european union, the

united states also are very important. >> ambassador. we're running out of time. i'm afraid. i need to jump in. i wanted to get your response to a question. is there any understanding in moldova or in your region the irritation moscow must be experiences as the impingement of the european union and n.a.t.o. in their backyard? >> well, first of all, i wouldn't treat that as a backyard. i certainly would not consider calling an innocent country of moldova as somebody's backyard. this is a decision that belongs to the people of the countries, and not to somebody else. however, there is certainly a feeling that russia understands the messages that have been sent to russia by the european union

and united states, and i think mr. putin's response, his speech was a clear response to that as well. and if i may add also-- >> ambassador to the u.n. thank you, indeed. i'm jumping in again, i've been doing that a lot today. thank you for joining us live from new york. toyota has reached a $1.2 billion settlement with the u.s. government after being accused of caring more about savings than safety. the four-year investigation prompting a series of recalled vehicles that totaled 10 billion.

>> reporter: for years the compancompany admitted it had cd up problems, and refused to recall that led to accidents and deaths. the company will pay a record fine. >> toyota's conduct was shameful, showing a blatant disregard for systems and laws designed for the safety of consumers. it would protect its brand ahead of its own customers. this constitutes a reprehensible abuse of the public trust. >> reporter: it claimed at one point the issue was caused by floor mats. it ordered a massive recall of vehicles mainly in the u.s. evidence gathered by the fbi revealed the company knew the

problem was getting worse but lied about it lying to regulators is a federal crime. the investigation was led by lawyers from new york. >> toyota went about saying loudly and force ply in press releases and on their website and at every juncture to reassure the public and protect its brand don't worry about it. we've got it cover. that was false. >> reporter: the u.s. justice department said there could be charges. they'll review the safety issues to the public and regulators for the next three years. one fail, and it could be back in court. the u.s. justice departments will is investigating general motors for its slow response to mechanical problems that will bring more legal action. but this fine will go into a government fund. it's about what toyota made in profits for not recalling the

vehicles that made them dangerous and even deadly. al jazeera. >> we'll have all the sports news, and as the lights go out on one teams' chances arrest the world twenty2 twenty20 cricket. that's coming up. real reporting that brings you

the world. >> this is a pretty dangerous trip. >> security in beirut is tight. >> more reporters. >> they don't have the resources to take the fight to al shabaab. >> more bureaus, more stories. >> this is where the typhoon came ashore. giving you a real global perspective like no other can. >> al jazeera, nairobi. >> on the turkey-syria border. >> venezuela. >> beijing. >> kabul. >> hong kong. >> ukraine. >> the artic. real reporting from around the world. this is what we do. al jazeera america. >> hundreds of ti taiwanese students are in stand off with police. protesting against a proposed trade pact with china. the deal would allow much closer business ties with taiwan and

china especially in service industries like health. it threatens hundreds of taiwanese jobs because small businesses won't be able to compete with big chinese companies. martine, thank you so much. the final chance this season will go on the line in the next hour. and following sunday's 3-0 loss to liverpool, david moyes has been forced to defend his position. we're at old trafford for us ahead of that game.

they won every game here at old trafford this year. or will it be the team that was beaten so comprehensively on sunday. by the likes of newcastle, everton and west brom. david moyes has used language like hopefully we'll get through, we'll do our best but it's not what fans are used to, and it's not good reading for them either. once previously have they lost the first leg of a two-legged tie and gone through. boosted by finally wrapping up the league title, their form of late has not been the best. boosted tonight by the return of their star striker, although they are record here in england is not the best. it reads played 11, lost 11. they'll need to improve on that

tonight. losing by three goal 3-0, and 4. they need united to go through, maybe even to save his job. >> final round of 16 will see the 4-2 lead into the second leg. beijing stormed to the top of their group. japanese outfit back in that group after a 2-1 defeat fc seoul. andy murray has split with his coach of two years. under his guidance murray won

his first grand slam at the u.s. open. an olympic gold medal and wimbledon success followed. he returned from a back injure , and he said he'll take his time making his next move. downing the united arab emirates, the eua were restricted from their victories. they would go top of their group while the uae are out of contention. there was a tense finish between zimbabwe and the netherlands mostly thanks to tom cooper. the wickets, and came down to

the final ball. both sides must now win their final game. they have a chance at making it through the super stage. oh posting an imposing total of 178-4, england fell shy of their target. they opened their campaign against new zealand saturday. champions west indians hitting a total of 172, and then bowled sri lanka. they will lay south africa in their opener west indies will take on india. the break into new markets we'll see star names playing on

australia's most famous cricket grounds. it's been a hundred years since baseball has played at the cricket ground. the la dodgers and the arizona diamondbacks do have a local within their ranks, and smith will be starting season saturd saturday. >> the greats of cricket have played here from way back in the day. they haven't changed the building behind us. it was pretty special, walking out on that pitch knowing that so many greats have played here, it's a special thing. >> miami beat cleveland for a 10 consecutive occasion, coring 43, a career high for lebron. the league mvp also put his hands up in defense of blocking helping the heat preserve their lead in a 100-96 win.

well, there is much more sport on our website. check out www.aljazeera.co www.aljazeera.com/sport. also details of how to get in touch with our team using twitter and facebook. that's it for me, martine. back to you. >> thank you so much. egypt's interim president is promising to spare no effort in his efforts to secure the release of al jazeera journalists who have been held in prison. they're accused of having links with terrorist organization and spreading false news. the interim president made his pledge in a letter to peter grest's parents. he continues to demand their immediate release. the next court appearance is on march 24th. cuba has relaxed the rules

for locals to buy foreign cars if they want, but for most of them it's still an unattainable dream as we have reports from havana. >> reporter: cubans will do anything to keep their beloved cars on the road. since the revolution car ownership has been restricted. cubans have had to be resourceful to keep their old cars chugging along. restrictions on car ownership has been lifted. many were hoping to get a new set of wheels but prices seen here have shocked cubans. a peugeot is listed at 212, 40: these two men were afraid to speak on camera, but they said it would take a lifetime for cubans who earn an average of $20 a month to buy cars. many say they're angry with the government.

>> i think it's enormously disrespecttive. our salaries are not enough to cover our personal needs. we've done the numbers, and it is so expensive. >> driving a car on the streets of havana is no big deal, really, but for most cubans it's an unattainable dream. >> reporter: just the latest of series of economic reforms meant to spark economic growth. but cars will most likely sit on car lots. and cubans will get around as they have done for decades, with a lot of patience. >> have a look at this. this is one of the first ever produced. it's price is $250,000. we have lots more to come here

on al jazeera.

>> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm tony harris with a look at the top stories at this hour. the international community is trying to de-escalate the crisis in ukraine. forces stormed an ukrainian base in crimea forcing several ukrainian soldiers to walk out of the base. the russian flag now flies over that compound. the stand off comes one day after the russian ey annexationf crimea. on missing flight 370, t