. >>. >> four aircraft have been reoriented to locate the objects, approximately 2,500km south-west of perth as a result of this information. >> welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm thomas drayton, in new york city. our top story at this hour - breaking news out of australia

in the search for flight mh370. early thursday the australian prime minister tony abbott announced satellite images appear to show a pair of objects in the southern indian ocean that may have been a part of flight mh370. that has not been confirmed. for a breakdown of what we know, we want to bring in erica pitzi. >> we know that one of the object measures nearly 80 feet. australia is not releasing any of the images of what the satellite picked up just yet. the maritime safety authority held a press conference. here is how he described what they saw. >> the objects are relatively indistinct. i don't profess to be an expert, but those who are expert indicate that they are credible sightings. the indication to me is of objects of a reasonable size,

and are probably awash with water, bobbing up and down out of the surface. the largest image i have seen is assessed at 24 metres, and another smaller, and a number of other images in the general area. >> australian maritime authorityies dispatched ships to the area and have an aircraft surveying a scene, where the satellite picked up images of debris. poor visibility has been reported, and that does not help with air and satellite effort. some are calling this a promising lead, 13 days after the plane disappeared. 25 countries are trying to help out with the search. u.s. navy and new zealand air force particularly in the search of this area. >> here we are, 13 days. you can only imagine what family members are going through.

>> hopefully this gives them hope to know what happened. >> erica pitzi, thank you. >> joining us on the phone from albuquerque is alan diehl, forker accident investigator with the national transportation safety board. how do you view the announcement by the australian prime minister. >> erica put it well - it's promising but tentative. we'll have to wait until we get our hands on the debris, and make sure that it is, in fact, part of a 777, and then we'll know where to start looking a bit better. >> and we've had a lot of conflicting information. is this one of the best leads yet? >> yes, it's - it looks good, okay. i should mention that i used to work for the navy and train p3 crews, and todd was talking about them. they are capable aircraft, but we may need a lot more of them. because we found a piece of the airplane, if that's what it is,

we have to study the tides, we have to study the currents, the wind. this - people say this is a needle in a haystack. i have said it's a needle in a heyfield. now we seem to have found the haystack. if this holds up, we'll have a lot of tough searching and we have to find the black boxes. the pingers are the key. >> they could give off symbols, the black boxes. >> this is day 13, as erica said, and they are supposed to be guaranteed for 30 days. we have maybe 17 days, sometimes they last longer, but you have to be fairly close to them in general. they guarantee two mile radius, the manufacturer, but that means you have to have a lot much p3s out there. it's a big area of the open.

i'd like to see a lot of new equipment, and the p8, the poseiden, a 737, faster than the p3s, but the p3s are the aircraft that are available in large numbers. we have 150 of them, the australians have about 12, if i remember, and the japanese have 100. we may see an ahmada of p3s converging. >> i want to tap into your knowledge working with the navy, what can we expect in the next several hours here as far as the search? >> clearly they'll be out there - there's three p3s, and a c130 initially on the scene. they have radar, infrared, and that can't see through fog. the australian authorities were saying the weather is, you know, hazy or foggy. so i'm not sure if they'll be

able to get any photographs just yet. i know there's a ship headed that way, a merchant ship and an australian warship headed that way. i suspect we won't know anything for several hours and i would think after 10 or 12 - i think it's night as we speak. it will be a while. >> dealing with a number of challenges. alan diehl, former investigator with the national transportation safety board joining us from albuquerque. appreciate your time and knowledge this morning. >> you are welcome. >> as soon as we get additional word, we'll bring it to you. we do want to turn to other news. russia's military might in crimea took its toll on ukraine. kiev says it will evacuate military perm -- personnel from the region, 25,000 members and their family will be relocated

back to ukraine. they have been facing increased aftermath. >> also in kiev, a violent backlash against the head of ukraine's state television. at least three members of ukraine's parliament attacked the leader of the network and forced the tv boss to resign. they were angry the broadcaster aired the treaty signing between russia and crimea. the latest development after pro-russian forces seized a naval base in sevastopol. >> jennifer glasse is in the ukraine city. >> ukrainian sailors leaving their base "go home" say the people, "this is russia", and this naval headquarters now belongs to russia. >> pro-russian people tore down the flag and flooded the gate. "we had to go in, we were afraid

they'd give out guns and god forbid someone would shoot", they haven't done anything, i said, "thank god they didn't. they could have. they were given an order to shoot." >> ukrainian forces were given the okay to fire in self-defence. most of the men were unarmed. the russians told one man they had run out of patience. >> they said "it's over. putin declared the territory. i said "we shouldn't do it like this, the commander should decide itself. >> russian forces wasted no time consolidating their position. the commander of the russian black sea fleet tried and failed to find a counterpart for some talks. >> as russian soldiers arrived, ukrainian forces are getting

ready to leave. we don't know where they are going and they haven't wanted to talk to us. where are you headed, i asked them, "we are headed to freedom." >> taking over the base was collaborative. civilians in and out sharing a pro-russian agenda. >> they have found the ukrainian black sea fleet commander in the building and now they say it's all over. they have taken him out in the car and most of the guys are leaving. >> they demand this we leave. we had wanted to speak to the russian commander. no one would tell us who or where he is. when we tried to leave, they stopped us at the gate. it's not clear who is in charge. but amid the chaos, it's clear russia is taking offer. >> there are several people in crimea that welcome the annexation. nick schifrin reports on how they are getting used to a new

way of life. >> irina sedova lives for her family and her work. thanks to her work the world saw the mile-long line of russian troops and tanks that first arrived in crimea. thanks to her the world saw when russian troops first drove through the crimean city of kerch, and when they set up checkpoints. >> for exposing the russian invasion, she received the scorn of pro-russian activists. i met irina sedova two weeks ago in her home town. today, is it safe to object to the russian presence? >> irina sedova kept documenting russia's stranglehold. she kept getting threats. i spoke to her today.

this time when she was on the run. >> on that day, irina sedova decided it was too dangerous to stay. >> do you hope to come back is this

>> to save her family, she felt she had to leave them. her work had made them a target. >> irina sedova is continuing bearing witness, but for now the invasion, the annexation left her silenced. >> stilla head this morning, toyota paying a fine for a fatal flaw in its cars. the company will hand over more than a billion to the federal government. some say general motors could be next. people in cuba are finally allowed to buy cars. but it's a luxury that a

majority of them can't afford.

>> thursday is the official beginning of spring across the united states, so that means it's the evernal equo nox. a few minutes off in some locations, but we'll see about half and half there. also, we are goings to be seeing, unfortunately though, more snow across the north-east. it won't feel like spring in weekend as the snow makes its way to the north-east. in some locations we expect to see 12-14 inches of snow in vermont, you hamp shire and main. >> if you plan on doing spring skiing, it will be great. >> to the south, there's a lot of rain, ending as we go about sunrise tomorrow. we'll watch that carefully. the temperatures across the

area, unfortunately, as we go through the weekend will be getting cooler, especially up here to the north. i want you to watch the temperatures and as we go from thursday to friday and then to saturday as the temperatures go down to the single digits. the area, the cold air that makes its way across the great lakes, and we'll see an influence across the north-east. not looking too bad for saturday, a high in new york of 60 degrees. as we go towards monday, unfortunately the temperatures coming down to the freezing level. here across atlanta, beautiful conditions. we are looking at 74 on saturday. >> it is the largest financial penalty ever imposed on a car company in the u.s. it is a big one. toyota will pay $1.2 billion for lying about acceleration problems with their cars.

general motors could face the same fate. bisi onile-ere has the story from detroit. >> today, toyota , the top selling automaker agreed to pay the largest criminal penalty imposed on a car company in u.s. history. they'll pay 1.2 billion for misleading federal regulators and consumers over complaints of unintended acceleration in the vehicles. attorney general eric holder said toyota intentionally concealed the safety issues behind the recalls. >> 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's own admissions, it protected its brand ahead of its own customers. this constitutes a clear and repry helpsible abuse of the -- reprehensible abuse of the

public trust. >> there has been five deaths since 2006, among them one that claimed the life of a highway patrol officer and members of his family. the settlement cams as general motors grapples with massive recalls, and whether gm waited too long to report a faulty switch problem, linked to 12 deaths and multiple crashes. the c.e.o. apologised admitting it should have acted sooner. >> as a member of the gm family and a mum with a family of my own, this has hit home. we have apologised. that is one step in the journey to resolve this. >> federal investigators want to find out what gm knew and when. toyota's settlement that needs to be approved by a federal judge may search as a model for future cases.

>> the justice department will be viewed critically if they don't say what is good for the goose will be good for the ganda. they'll look at two issues. one is the degree of culpability. to what extent d general motors like toyota deliberately conceal the problem here. >> gm appointed a company-wide safety chief to make sure nothing like this happens again. with the participation for legal liabilities looming, new c.e.o. is preparing to testify before congress. toyota faces hundreds of private lawsuits over their vehicle problems. >> we should point out the settlement comes after a 4-year long criminal investigation. an emotional apology from an army general facing sentencing.

brigadier general jeffrey sinclair cleeded guilty to -- pleaded guilty to mistreating a junior officer. he could face gaol time. he gave a tear-filled statement to the judge saying: >> his attorney hopes he doesn't have to spend time behind bars. >> he should be permitted to walk out of court, retire, and deal with the harm caused to him and his family. >> he will retire at a reduced rank, instead of losing his military and potential. >> there has been allegations that he forced a younger officer to perform a sex act when she

wanted to break off the affair. >> police busted a suspected smuggling act. 100 people were crammed in a house, windows and doors locked. many are from central america. almost all were taken into custody for entering the country illegally. five men suspected of rubbing the operation were arrested. >> people in cuba are able to by cars. still ahead the government freeing up restrictions that have been in place for 50 years. most cuban will not be racing to get behind a wheel.

>> when it comes to the n.c.a.a. men's basketball championship, there's nothing like a cinderella story, as michael eaves shows us, they are the

teams that bring the most excitement. >> san francisco international airport -- cinderella is the afterthought ending up with a reward. teams like dayton, tulsa and st. joe's shooting for a prize, leading to drama field upset. we know upsets are coming. we don't know which teams are going to pull them off. as he has each year he's been in office, pam re revealed his annual bracket. he's not a fan of cinderella. all final four are four seeds for better. the president goes with the spartans to bin -- to win it all. >> earlier i spoke to jordan cornette, and asked what makes the perfect cinderella team. >> for cinderella - have you to

specialise. you look at the b.c.u.s, they did it with defense, and florida with uptemp jo style. the main ingredient is intangible. you go out there and play free-flowing bafght ball. the squariest teams are the ones without a conscience. which team should fans watch for this year. >> i have a couple of teams. >> there's three that come to mind. mexico is part of the. they are a seventh seed. they have two big guys and alex kirk and cameron bearstow. and new mexico - they have a guy that is 7 foot 5. i can put you on my shoulders and we won't be his height. the san diego team - they loved outside shot. they'll be - who doesn't. they'll be forced to go inside. it will le a problem.

>> and my last team is north dakota, 12 seats out of the west. they are physical. they have n.b.a. talent. taylor braun, a 6 foot 7 wing and an endangered species, a pivot man down low in marshall. >> have you the same four teams that president obama had. >> i'll finding that out. great minds think alike, i guess. if i'm following the nation's leader, i must be doing something right. >> with the first four games in the book, the round of 64, the real march madness tips off on thursday and should be a flood of games throughout the weekend. those upsets we'll find out. >> michael eaves, it will be exciting. >> for the first time the cuban government is allowing the sale of new and used cars. it's a luxury many cannot

afford. >> cubans will do anything to keep their beloved cars on the road. since the revolution car ownership has been restricted. cubans have to be resourceful to keep their cars chucking along. restrictions on car ownership have been lifted. many hoped to get wheels. prices here shocked cubans. a peujot 508 is listed at $262,000. it's 10 times what it costs in most countries. every day people visit dealerships to see the unbelievable prices. these two men were afraid to speak on camera, but said it takes a lifetime for a kooub jp, who arms an -- cubans who earn $20 a month, to pay for a car. >> it's enormously disrespectful. our sol ris are not enough to cover personal needs. we have done the numbers.

>> driving a small car like this on the streets of savannah is no big deal. >> for most, it's an unattainable dream. >> it is the latest in a series of reforms to spark growth and get cubans off the state payroll. with prices so high, cars will sit unsold. despite the freedoms, cubans will be getting around as they have done for decades, with a lot of patience. >> as for the press, the cuban government says the profits from selling new cars will fuel funds for public transportation. >> as we take a break, a reminder to stay with al jazeera america for continuing coverage of the jet. the australian prime minister said two pieces of debris have been spotted in the southern

indian ocean 2, 500km from perth. more news at the top of the hour, and more news at al jazeera america. i'm thomas drayton, thanks for watching. >> a possible clue, australia says it has found two objects in the indian ocean that may be related to the missing malaysian airliner. this is al jazeera live from doha. also ahead - gunfire and explosions. a suicide bomber's attacking police headquarters. >> what russia has done is wrong. >> a heated exchange at the u.n.