>> happening right now - the search for missing malaysia airlines flight mh370. president obama enacting more sanctions on russia following its annexation of crimea. russia firing back by going after tough u.s. lawmakers. >> a voting time and expulsion from the military over sexual assault allegations. brigadier general jeffrey sinclair will only pay a fine.

>> carr sinno gens like chromium, leg, arsenic and, you know the list, it's a quarter of the periodic table. >> toxic by-products of cold plants dumped into the water. the company doing it admitting and writing that the problem needs to be fixed. >> hi there. welcome to al jazeera america. good to have you with us. i'm thomas drayton, live in new york. assets from tu.s., australia an china are on their way to the i don'ts -- indian ocean to look for signs of missing malaysia airlines. it will be hard, it's described as a trash can where cargo can disappear off ships. >> five military aircraft, two

cargo ships, a warship and an icebreaker were expected to zero in on the. bad weather made it difficult for the crews so far. >> in the satellite images are a few days old so the objects may have drifted away. family members of the missing passengers and crew are more anxious than ever for any information. authorities are trying to make sure no one is jumping to conclusions. >> there are sophisticated assets, the safe and recovery planes. they have people on board looking out the window, and radar looking for either side of the plane. on top of that there areships. there's a commercial ship in the zone. there was a norwegian car carrier. it doesn't have much sophisticated equipment, but it may be the first one. it's at water level. on route is an australian naval

vessel, and that should arrive some time on saturday. if there is debris to be found, that is the boat to bring on board and to shore. australia assets, tony abbott, the prime minister said are directed at the relatively narrow area. 23,000km, but compared to the 600,000 square kilometres that was searched a few days ago, it's a relatively small search zone that they are looking at now. they are using more satellite imagery, higher speck focus the on the area, accounting down at that part of the o. if anything is found, if the plane is down there, and it's a big if. the objects may have nothing to do with nh370, if it's down there, it is deep water. it will be a difficult task to find the main parts of the plane if, and i caution if they are down in the southern indian ocean. >> al jazeera's andrew thomas in sydney. this has been an unimaginably

long and agonising weight for those with loved ones on the plane. for the father of one of the passengers, he's trying to stay calm in light of the costs. >> translation: we cannot expect much because it has not been confirmed. we do not yet know for sure whether this is indeed flight mh370, or something else. therefore, we are waiting for further notice from the australian government. >> flight mh370 was carrying 239 on board, headed from kuala lumpur to beijing. it's been missing for two weeks. >> turning to ukraine, the country continues to be powerless againts russian forces in crimea. a day after overtaking a ukraine naval base, pro-russian groups seized two warships in sevastopol. the defence ministry says the vessels were attacked with stun grenades.

>> jennifer glasse is in the port city of sevastopol. >> the ukrainian military has been under pressure since being barricaded in bases. after the naval hours were stormed on wednesday, the ukrainian navy is wondering what might happen next. something is going on aboard the ship "donblass." there is movement for the first time. sailors are unloading their belongings. they say it doesn't mean they are leaving their ship. the russian blockade is continuing. it's an aggressive stance, an armed warship at the mouth of the harbour. russia believes the end is in sight. olga's husband is on board the "donblass." he and others refused to attend a russian flag raising and they won't surrender or leave. "there are only two choices - resign from the military and have ukraine consider you are a deserter or join - it's not

clear what army. this is not an option. to change your allegiance you can't do it. to stay here is to lie and live with that. i can't do that. her husband calls, she tells him not to leave anything for the russians. she says the basis is off. i can't tell you what that means. it's nothing good." >> since the break-up of the soviet union ukrainian and russian ships work side by side. >> the sailor overlooking the main bay celebrates the unity of forces. for the ukrainian fleet all they can think about is derision. kiril was one of a doze in officers thrown out of headquarters on wednesday. he says there's no military honour in russia's actions. >> clearly we have seen in the last two weeks you can't leave

russia. putin says his troops are not here. i see perfectly that these are military men. >> every deal the ukrainians made with the russians force, they have broken. including the promise not to take the bait. >> in my opinion, blockaded ships should be sunk or blown up. it's a war. no one is shooting at each other. >> ukraine's demand ship flies the ukrainian flag. it has new neighbours. two russian ships sit across its bow. there are armed russian marines blocking the entrance to its port - keeping up the pressure on ukrainian sailors on board. >> we are hearing that some of those sailors might be in trouble. they are being boarded by pro-russian armed groups, and some of the ships, the ukrainian navy might have the flag flying over them. >> the white house is increasing sanctions against russia for its

actions in ukraine. as mike viqueira reports, president obama says there could be more to come. >> warning that russia may have plans to invade more of ukraine, which russia denies. >> i signed an executive order giving us the authority to impose sanctions not just on individuals, but key sectors. >> among the individuals some of vladimir putin's closest associates. 20 were named. among them: >> and the personal bank for senior russian officials. all with u.s. assets frozen. this is on top of the 11 russians named days ago, mocked by many targeted. this time u.s. officials predict the sanctions will have a

financial bite. russia targeted back, targetting nine, including john boehner, senate democratic leader scott riddell, and john kerry. all defiant with mccain tweeting: >> now, there are ominous signs of another land grab. russian forces are gathered near the eastern border. at the pentagon, a spokesman said chuck hagel raised the issue with his russian counterpart. >> he gave three assurances which i outlined. it's an exercise. no intention of crossing the border to ukraine, not going to take aggressive action. >> if russia moves, president obama said hoo would widen sanctions to include energy, finance and defensism. >> they would not only have a significant impact, but be

disruptive to the global economy. russia must know that further escalation will isolate it further. >> late thursday the european announced 12 more individuals will be sanctioned, coming on the eve of big meetings in europe on monday and tuesday of next week. president obama travelling to meet with allies to discuss further actions to turn back the russian aggression. >> russia is paying the price for recent moves in ukraine, with its credit, citing the possibility of more sanctions. standard&poor doup raided -- downgraded russia from stable. >> four men attacked others in the serena hotel. three women, two children and four others were killed. all four shooters were killed in

the restaurant. the luxury hotel is normally a safe haven for u.n. staff and foreign delegations. the attack coming two weeks before the afghanistan elections. >> well we saw a bit of snow across parts of new england over the last couple of days. unfortunately we'll see more as we exit the weekend. i'll tell you about that in a moment. let's look closer in. there's the snow. we this some rain showers passing through connecticut. over the next day things will look nice in terms of temperature. on friday, 50 degrees will be the high. we expect to see the temperatures rising on saturday. maybe a rain shower or two coming into play. temperatures will drop, unfortunately, and as we go towards tuesday, we could see a mix of rain and snow,

temperatures dropping below freezing. things are looking nice, coming across south carolina, not bringing rain. we don't expect rain on friday. textures are looking spring like, and for atlanta, 72 degrees as we end the week. things will get nicer. on sunday, a little bit of rain coming through, dropping temperatures. it will stay that way was we go all the way through parts of tuesday. across much of the south-west, we'll see dry conditions. we have a rain shower or two to talk about. possibly towards los angeles. you don't see on the forecast ma'am, but we see it as we go towards the five day forecast. we'll see a few showers coming in and out, no accumulation. we'll see better, improving conditions in terms of sun as we go towards sunday and the temperature of 70 degrees. >> army brigadier general

jeffrey sinclair will be able to stay in the military. we'll tell you more about the outcome of the sexual assault case against him. coal is a filthy dirty business. >> toxins pumped out of coal plants into rivers. the effort to make energy companies clean up their acts. >> in california, going from toilet to tap. the way one community is turning flushed water into drinking

water. institute authorities in houston texas are investigating one of their biggest cases of human smuggling. over 100 were locked in a house. >> they were kept hungry, thirsty and barefoot to prevent their escape. 115 migrants from hondures, el

salvador, guatemala and new mexico. they entrusted others to bring them to a land of opportunity and instead ended up prisoners in this house. they'd been held for two to 15 days. >> bodies upon bodies, people sitting on top of one another. squalid conditions, dirty, filthy conditions. >> a family told police about the house after coyotes failed to bring her sister and two children. they were among a sea of people inside. 99 males and 15 females, 19 were children. >> the largest number of individuals in a stash house that we have encountered in the past five or six years. >> the house had one parkly working bath room and no hot

water. >> it is classic signs of a smuggling and coyote provision in which people were treated like animals, more so than human being. >> the migrants are in the custody of immigration. each will be interviewed, fed and medically screened. it's a story dallas human right advocate says he's seen too many times. >> for many people coming to the united states regardless of the conditions that they know they'll suffer through their journey. i ask many people why are you willing to cross the borders, and many would rather do it than see children die of hunger. >> coyotes charge migrants from transportation and hold them for ransom. in the worst cases the migrants are sold into prostitution or forced labour. >> there's people looking for cheap labour.

this is a multi-million air business. >> five suspected human smugglers were arrested in the houston's case. more arrests my follow. >> human trafficking - a major problem, according to the state department as many as 17,000 people are smuggled into the u.s. each year. >> a military judge gave army brigadier general jeffrey sinclair a reprimand for his mistreatment of a subordinate in an army sex case. he was fined 20,000, but avoids gaol time. he admitted to inappropriate relationships with fully women, in a plea deal. he could have faced 20 years in gaol. a military jum allowed him to remain in the army and did not reduce his rank. >> the system worked. i have been proud. army. all i want to do now is go up north, hug my kids and see my life. thank you for treating me with

dignity and respect. i appreciate it. >> at this point sinclair is asking to retire. we should point out the disciplinary board can reduce his rank and pension. >> the dispute between the senate and the c.i.a. is heading to a knew stage. majority leader harry reid is ordering an investigation into a breach of computers used by staffers. his move comes a week after committee chair dianne feinstein i accused the c.i.a. of searching the computers. the staffers have been accused of illegally copying c.i.a. files. >> cracking down on the largest electric company. north carolina environmental regulators issued notices to duke energy for dumping 61 million gallons of toxic waste in the waterways. . >> the company says it was in line with its permit. duke has been citedate times in the past fewer weeks.

robert ray reports. >> on the yakin river dean works to keep the waters wealthy. the nonprofit yakin river keeper eyes the environment in a place where coal ash sits upstream. >> we have coal ash ponds all over the country. it is just - it's contaminating, it's toxic material. >> on february 2nd, a coal-ash field highlights a complex problem - how to clean up ash, a dirty by-product. goal is the dominant source. coal ash resides in a slushy regulatory landscape. >> the levels of toxins, carcinogens, chromium, leg, arsenic and, you know the list, it's like a quarter of the periodic table. they are all extremely toxic to

humans. so the accumulative effect in the environment is, i think, understudied. >> the environmental protection agency has no federal standard requiring that ponds be lined or no pit for structures or monitoring. >> if you look at the history of disposal for a long time the cheapest way to dispose of the material was to slews it into the ash ponds. >> up this hill is duke energy's buck stephen station. there are three coal ash ponds making up some of the largest in the state of north carolina. the water coming down is discharged from the coal ash ponds. duke number has a permit. this is actually legal, even though there are toxic substances like arsenic flowing into the water system here. >> that permit states that there is no discharge limit for arsenic, sellenium.

three pollutants. in a response to al jazeera, duke energy told us with few historic exceptions, we meet all the requirements designed to ensure the lake or river is well protected. >> what we are talking about is people unknowingly drinking contaminated well water. duke energy pledged to clean up the spill. work had started. no one from the company would sit for an interview. in a letter to the governor, duke pledged to convert its plants to coal ash, which: >> duke estimates the work could take 2-3 years. state regulators categorise the letter as an inadequate

response. it said: coal is a filthy dirty business, energy source, that we need to move past. environmental groups say time could be running out. and they are testing water on nearby farms. when they find out. groups like duke will be forced to clean up what they left behind. >> duke energy could face up to nearly $3 million in fines for the violations if confirmed. >> still ahead - investigating a security breach at the world trade center in new york city. a teenage boy was able to climb

all the way to the top of the skyscraper. >> it tastes good - from toilet to tap - how one part of california is turning flushed water into drinking water.

>> welcome back. first lady michelle obama is in china. she along with her daughters and mother arrived in beijing on thursday. it's designed to focus on education. she's expected to spend time with the wife of chinese president ping. >> police are investigating why a 16-year-old boy sneaked past security and climbed to the top of the new york city world trade center. he slipped on to the site early saturday morning. he passed a guard, unnoticed, who has been fired. he made his way to the roof and to the antenna. he reportedly took these

pictures before being caught by police. the teen from new jersey has been charged with trespassing. >> new jersey has been asked to conserve more water. we go to orange county which turns toilet water into drinking without. >> what if this water can be turned into this water. as they suffer through what the governor called the worst drought, recycling waste water has taken on a sense of urgency. every day californians are flushing literally hundreds of millions of gallons of water out to sea. >> in orange county, california, the water district decided in 2008 that no water, even waste water, should be, well wasted. >> through the application of science and technology we manufacture drinking water. water for 2.4 million residents

comes from purified waste water. and we are not talking about grey water, this is black water. straight from the toilet. put the yuk factor aside, and oc water district's president says "this is the future." every drop we create trees up another drop to do things like irrigate crops, and grow the food. >> before going from the toilet to the tap, the water takes a long arduous journey that starts here, at the recycling facility. they were filled with soapy smelly waste water. then it travels through a mike i don't processing plant. then hours later you have water safe to drink. >> it tastes very bur. >> every day 300 tonnes of purified water is produced in

orange county by recycling waste water. >> it's equal to filling 4500 swimming pools at a cost that is 35% water. >> the idea that we use it once, or flush it out and let it drain, and we can no longer afford the luxury of one-time water use. >> long-time residents, and their two daughters usually drink bottled water. on this night they were willing to put their water to tap water to the test. >> i think it's - for me, it's just - i'm looking at it, coming out, and i'm like - i don't know if i'm wondering where is it coming from. >> psych: icily there are hurdles to overcome, but as the drought persists, perhaps the lack of

water will become more offensive than turning toilet water into drinking water. >> every bit happies. the filtered waste water provides 20% of orange county's water semi. that will do it for this edition of aljazeera.com. home schooling is on the rise and expected to be a continued trend, is that better educated kids or keeping them unprepared for the world? waj is bringing in the live feedback and waj, this is a very