>> dave zyron, thank you for being with us. the show may be over but the conversation continues. on our facebook or google plus pages. you can find it on twitter @ajconsiderthis. we'll see you next time. >> hello and welcome to al jazeera america. i'm richelle carey in new york. john siegenthaler has the night off. 54 minutes, the full and final communication he of flight 370 from the cockpit to ground control. tonight what the transcripts reveal about that missing plane. putin's men. a closer look at the russian president's inner circle and the oligarchs being called out by president obama. fracking facts. how dangerous is it? our science and technology

expert jacob ward sets us straight. plus the power of music. the extraordinary story of how rhythm and blue is being used to bring peace to a war torn country. we begin with the fate of malaysia airlines flight 370. two weeks ago tonight the plane with 239 people aboard vanished without a drais. -- trace. the focus is on a remote patch of the indian ocean 1500 miles off the australian coach where satellite images showed two objects floating in the water. it's the second day in a row, malaysia is now asking the u.s. to provide undersea surveillance equipment to help. the pentagon says the u.s. has spent $2.5 million on search

efforts. so far, nothing connected to flight 370 has been found. at the same time, officials are pouring over the transcripts of the final 54 minutes of recordings between the pilots and ground control. joining us to discuss these transcripts is former american airlines pilot jay raulins. we know you have looked over these transcripts. what jumps out to you? >> richelle, in a short answer, nothing. these are transcripts of a normal flight. yes, there's some nonstandard terminology that's used but in general this is something that appears to me to be routine. >> explain to us the handoff between are malaysian air traft controllers and -- traffic

controllers and vietnamese aish traft controllers. >> when the plane is approaching the boundary there is a handoff. the first controller will give the pilot the new frequency and tell him to go ahead and switch over once the controllers agree that they are looking at the same aircraft or they are aware. the second controller will then come on and the captain will then check in with that second air controller. if you you look at this as a sinister plot, that would be the moment that's probably most appropriate to make your run. because one country is now figuring that you're talking to the other. so if you make a turn or something, they figure that the other controller told you that. and the second controller may be distracted with something else, particularly in a nonradar environment, where they are just waiting for you to check in.

>> okay. >> so it's a -- they're not in the same room, they're not in the same country, those two controllers and that might be the time to make your get away. having said that, i don't necessarily think this was a sinister thing. it could have been that there was a slow moving mechanical problem going, a slow moving tire, a tire fire or possibly the lithium batteries that were in the cargo hold that began ooverheat the avionics and worse, cause ed the various devices to fail, they may not have been aware that the acars and other devices were turning off. maybe after they had made their final good night transmission, they became totally engaged once they got the aircraft turned onto the anothe autopilot and tg

back to the airport. >> there was a statement that was just released from malaysia airlines to talk about the batteries that said basically these batteries were in compliance with the international civil aviation organization and the international air transport association requirements. where it is classified as nondangerous goods. does that make you feel any better about what risks these batteries may have posed? >> not entirely. because those batteries were implicated in a ups crash, and they also are the reason that the boeing 787 has had such a rocky start because there are instances where those batteries have caught afire. i don't know completely about that. it's going otake battery experts to figure that out. but i'm not why completely convince they'd they are all

that safe. they maybe. but again there are other ways of getting heat and overheating situation without creating enough heat to bring the airplane down allowing it to completely fly on the autopilot. >> you said reading the transcripts from what you have read, everything seems to read okay on paper. but i would imagine you would want to hear their voices to hear how it actually plays out. what would you be listening for? >> tone and to get the cadence of that discussion, whether there was any signs of irritation. one of the things people bring up is the flight level 350 was mentioned a couple of times. there are reasons a pilot might have said it again, he might have been hinting to the controller they wanted to go higher. i don't know what altitude they were looking for but sometimes you'll repeat it just to nudge the controller to say, i'm still waiting for you to give me a

higher clearance. >> jay raulins, thank you so much. >> you're very welcome. thank you richelle. >> absolutely. now to our other top story, the crisis in ukraine. russian. vladimir putin signs a declaration making crimea a part of russia. ukraine signs an association agreement with the eu, a former package that viktor yanukovych rejected in november. about making the country better. >> maidan was not about russia. maidan was not about the european union, maidan was about ukraine. we would like to build a better country. >> removing all traces of ukrainian authority. our correspondent jennifer glasse is in sevastopol.

jennifer glasse, how are ukrainian forces happening all this? >> that's right, richelle, everything has moved at such a fast pace this week, in the last 36 hours or so we have seen russian forces really consolidate their forces here, moving out of their bases and out of their boats and over the last 24 hours no one has been under more pressure than the ukrainian navy. >> a ship that wasn't until yesterday ukrainian. this is the chernobyl, she is now sitting among other ships in sevastopol. the ukrainian navy has also changed hands. a flag raising ceremony where russian soldiers took it over by

decree of the russian president. thereto not much glory for departing ukrainian navy. the united states has described what's happening to crimea right now as a land grab. what's happening to the ukrainian navy could be the credit credit sea grab. the slivutich still flying the ukrainian flag. a passing citizen says it's not good that's the last ukrainian ship in the bay. the takeover is complete. once, ships of both fleets sat side by side, now only the russian flag flies here. many in the ukrainian military are unhappy about how it's all handed. kora can is one of the officers thrown out on wednesday. he says there's no military honor in russia's actions. >> we have clearly seen in the

past two weeks you can't believe russia. putin says his troots aren't trt here. i'm a military man. i see these are military men. >> the every deal the russians have broken including a promise not to take the base. >> in my opinion our blockaded ships should be sunk or blown up. because it's a war now, just not anyone shooting at each other and god forbid they start shooting. >> a last slow of independence, the ukrainian officers singing their anthem. trying to drown out the russians. the ones who have been driven out and the ones who still remain on their becauses at least on one boat here they're getting mixed messages from kiev. the military men are told to stand their ground, but evacuation for their family,

25,000 people military personnel and ethnic ukrainians who want to leave crimea. >> jennifer glasse, thank you so much. we turn to turkey where the prime minister is block access to twitter. this move comes after allegations of government corruption have been spreading on the site. the censorship has been condemned by turkish citizens and the white house. turkey's ban on free speech is nothing new. turkey ranks number one when it comes to jailing its journalists. anita mcnaught reports from are istanbul. >> in 2008, alert to the world of the number of journalists behind bars in turkey. when he found out himself he was facing an 11 year sentence he sought asylum in germany.

>> to prevent this the state uses violence, intimidation. >> around 63 journalists in turkish jails. the committee to protects journalists and reporters without borders cite lower numbers but turkey still tops their list. the largest number reflects the long drug for kurdish rights. the political culture in turkey needs off conflict, used to limit free speech. >> it's not only the kurds, we see journalists who are writing for secret press or the pro kamalists. they are getting arrested as well. >> 2013 credit gezi protests, exposed fault lines, did not report the clashes when they first happened an journalists lr

lost their jobs. climate of political and commercial pressure, they explained the big media owners have more important interests than just their lb publi public. >> the government pointed to a new hidden enemy, a movement led by islam ick cleric, the internet filled with rumors and allegations and the government passed new laws to control them. >> there is a war going on. this a panel state which is in the hands are illegal but they are also very difficult to fight. so the government needs extreme measures. >> reporter: turkey's locked in a vicious cycle.

an independent free and professional media could break the cycle but it's more under pressure dha than ever. anita mc(inaudible) nawt, can amcnaught, al jazeera,istanbul. >> the fact that there have been so many joirnts jaile journalisn tirk. >> i don't think they would be surprised that the prime minister blocked twitter. prime minister has them besieged with a lot of political troubles. one of those troubles is as the segment began, corruption charges that came out on

december 17th. and then tapes that were leaked with allegedly him talking to his son about money in -- that needed to be -- that needed to go away from their apartment. in istanbul. and so i think that what he's reacting to right now is this political situation where he is up for elections on march 30th, and a lot of people are coming -- coming what he feels is, people are coming after him. >> what is he hoping to accomplish? because clearly it is not going to make it go away. >> i think we are seeing that his tactics are actually back firing on him. but what is playing well for prime minister erduwan is he has always taken this very offensive, this very aggressive stance.

ever since he first got elected in 2002. and that plays actually very well with a lot of his base constituents in the rural -- in the anatolian heart land. >> tell us more where his support comes from. >> from the anatolian heartland. the analogy would be, the midwest of the united states, much more conservative people, much more religions people, the prime minister is an observant muslim. he has come to power with, he is going to defend these people. he has actually made their livesful better. more middle class have moved into turkey in the last decade than ever previously. >> so what does this mean with regard to the are relationship

between toir turkey and the unid states? >> i think this puts the white house in a bind. they in 2009, president obama when he first got elected one of the first trips he made was to turkey. he addressed the turkish parliament and he talked about turkey and the united states having a model partnership. part of that came from the fact that prime minister erduwan, turkey has catapulted to be in the g-20 and is the 16th largest economy in the world. lots of trade and commerce going on in turkey. lots of investments going into turkey. and when the arab springs came up in 2011, you know once again, i think the west turned to prime minister erduwan and everybody talked about the turkish model.

you can have supposedly democracy and islam exist, and you can have a very islamic leader leading the country from the middle east. for the white house, i think prime minister erduwan dynamic and ambitious foreign policy has been problematic but because turkey is in a geostrategic position between the middle east russia and north africa they have depend he on turkey which is a key nato ally. turkey has contributed enormously to afghanistan, to iraq and there are key bases that the united states relies on. but with prime minister erduwan coming down hard on free expression it makes the white house a little more difficult to actually work with prime minister erduwan. >> we'll have to see if the pressure continues on the prime

minister. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> now to the weather it's spring but winter will soon be making a big come back. kevin corriveau is here with the details. hi kevin. >> yes, winter is making a come back. let me explain what's going to happen by showing you the jetstream right now. west to east jetstream, fair conditions north and south, actually let me go back here. let me show you what's going to be happening over the next couple of days and how it's going to be changing. we have weather coming east of the united states. what it's going odo is drop those temperatures, those spring like temperatures are going to be gone. 62 for new york, 71 to washington, and as we go through the next couple of days those temperatures drop. they drop some more as we go towards monday and then what we need to be working as we go

towards tuesday, we have a lot of cold air in place. temperatures are going to remain cool then we think we have another winter time like system, that's going up the eastern seaboard. it may be more inland or to the atlantic. cape hatteras and parts of massachusetts, do not put your winter coats away just yet. >> yay, thanks kevin. the search for 370, we'll have new video and the hunt for that missing jet. plus putin's men, what you need to know about the russian ol garks facing sanctions from president obama.

>> malaysia airlines 370 vanished two weeks ago tonight. intense searches are taking place, in the indian ocean where

the search has been conducted for three days now. 2500 miles south of perth. andrew, what else can you tell us? >> well, as you say, two weeks ago today that mh 370 flight from kuala lumpur to beijing went missing. who would have thought in two weeks i and most of the world's media will be here in southeast are australia, 2500 miles away from here, the wreck is thought to be. five planes flew out over the search zone on friday, crucially, four of those were military aircraft, it took four hours to get there, only could search for two hours. friday 13 hours of search time. on saturday there were two of

those jets involved as well as the four military aircraft, 18 hours of search time rather than 13 hours. so more search time. the weather on saturday as well is better than it was on friday and better crucially than it was on saturday as well. if there is debris spotted, if that is what these objects are then saturday could be the day for them to be scene. there is a news conference due to begin any moment. that may give us more information. the first aircraft that left about four hours ago now, they should have arrived on site about now. >> andrew you may get this answer in the news conference you're about to go to. but has there been any idea how long this search is supposed to go on? is it just a day by day thing? >> it is a day by day thing. because of course the objects that were spotted by the satellite last sunday, the 16th of march, they'll have

moved by now. these are rough seas. the swell could be over three meters, well over 20 foot up and down. if there are objects there, they could have sunk, 24 meters in length, the sizable chunk there, whatever it was, australia's deputy prime minister, that size of object might have sunk by now. they are looking potentially for smaller objects. we should caution they may be nothing to do with mh 370, they may be random sea debris. this may be news that they dread. this could be the worst possible news. we shouldn't get too excited, the news if it comes will probably be sad news or the news that it could be a false lead.

>> andrew thomas, thank you so much from perth, australia. thank you. ways to boost education spending in poor districts but not in choice. the state supreme court found that can can it violated regulations. >> cuts to education. >> educators have been cut. nurses have been cut. some of the classes have 27 kids in there. >> the tug of war over school funding in kansas city has come to a head. as the state supreme court ordered the republican controlled legislature to spend more on schools. four kansas school districts sued the state in 2010. claiming the schools were underfunded. kansas now spends $900 less per

student. >> at fulton elementary, 90% of the children receive free or reduced lunch. even with increasing enrollment there's no money to hire more teachers. overcrowding is such a big issue at this school, students are taking music on the stage while cafeteria workers are finishing lunch. >> lead to disparities between wealthy and disadvantaged districts like hers. >> it's easier in a more affluent community to increase taxes. but in a poor or rural area you may not have that tax base to draw from. >> the kansas supreme court agreed, at risk funding cuts by july 1st. that could equal more than $130 million. but that decision isn't a total victory for some education advocates. because the supreme court left

it to the lower court to decide how much is adequate. >> it puts us back in the court and appeals and lengthy process. >> the issue is especially contentious because with while lawmakers have not increased funding, led by lieutenant governor sam brownback, did pass the largest education cuts in history, defending the current education spending factoring in state local and federal help. >> we do spend a significant amount of money, add all three sources together, 12 thousand plus, almost $13,000 per student. >> josie gutierrez hopes to see changes in her school soon but the big picture issue of overall education spending is still unresolved. jonathan martin, credit al

jazeera, kansas city, kansas. >> the unexpected surge in north dakota's oil boom. our science and technology expert jake ward with the facts you need to know.

>> welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm richelle carey. a lot to cover this half hour. president obama has sanctions against one of the world's richest oligarchs. plus this: music once outlawed in a war-torn country. you will witness a powerful return engagement. first though a look at the day's top headlines. a federal judge struck down michigan's band against same sex marriage. the ban was put in force with 67% support.

search efforts are taking place in the southern indian ocean, so far nothing has been found of the malaysia air 370. transcripts between the final conversations between the pilots of the plane and air traffic controllers. they show the last 54 minutes of air to ground transmissions, messages appear to be routine but are examining two potentially odd areas of conversation. now crews are starting their third day in the indian ocean. after two days of looking there's been no luck finding anything linked to this missing plane. alan diehl is the author of air safety investigators using science to save lives, one crash

at a time. mr. diehl, thank you for your time. transcripts of the pilot's transmission to the ground, you've had a chance to look at that. what do you are notice? >> things slowed down like they were distracted, that could mean they had a minor problem, they were troubleshooting or could be some other nefarious situation in the cockpit. we know over those minutes they didn't get credit distracted, perhaps over ordering dinner or what, to me that's unusual. but the key thing and the thing that happens in the state after ten days the ntsb releases not the transcripts but the actual recordings to the public. that's critical because you can hear voice inflections. the human performance group at the ntsb can make a lot out of the recordings.

the transcripts are valuable, the recordings are invaluable. >> at what point do you think we'll actually hear their voices? >> the malaysiaians have been awfully guard he with their transcripts. that person should have been there on day 1 so your guess is as good as mine on that. but we'll just have to wait and see. and of course the real key is, finding those black boxes, the so-called recorders with the pingers and i know they're putting more assets into the search. but to my way of thinking, these are still pretty peace meal efforts to -- two airplanes from japan, a couple from america, one from australia, we've got a big ocean to search through and if we don't find those recorders it could be a long long look. >> thank you for your perspective, we certainly appreciate it. and we continue our coverage now

on the development crisis in ukraine. president vladimir putin signs a decree making crimea part of russia. while ukrainian flags change to russian in sevastopol, similar to the one rejected by ousted yanukovych. it is targeting people close to president putin. i is the ceed dardin to tell us about them. >> these are the big names that jump out are yuri kavalchuk, he is what people refer to as putin's banker, he is the chief financeer of the bank rusia, the

rottenberg brothers, also jump out. these are putin's form he jude o partners. they are big mag necessitates in construction. they are the -- ma magnates in construction. there is not a common denominator other than that. >> what is the strategy, is the strategy to make it personal, is the strategy to get to these people's money and make them feel it? what is the strategy? >> i think that's right. i think the strategy is to make vladimir putin feel it personally. these aren't going to get the russian government to walk back from crimea. they are not likely to impede any further incursions into

ukraine. a wider set of sanctions might do that. part of the executive order is that it threatens action against anyone who deals with the russian economy. it is a broad executive order with a short list of names associated with it but the list of names and companies could certainly be lengthened. and i think president obama is can withholding in case the russians move further into ukrainian territory. >> do you think that will happen? >> i think it's if a 50-50 chance. part of what's impeding it is the eastern and southern ukraine is not like crimea. crimea was majority russian and they were closely tied to russia historically. it wasn't like are crimea had ties that were not easily

broken. russian speaking and have close ties to russia are also closely tied to ukraine and want to be part of the ukrainian state. it's been a long time since the soviet union broke apart. i think they have some reasons to do it, in fact if they do it, they might do it big going tall way to the nepa river and ousting the government from kiev but it's also as likely they won't take a step, it's that radical. >> meanwhile other secession movements in europe have been heartened by the the situation in crimea. the venice situation, 89% of the

vevenetians want independence fm italy. >> franco chooses to fly the flag of the former maritime republic of venice rather than the italian colors. >> our city used to be the capitol of an empire. now it's underdeveloped because all wealth is in the hands of the state and is distributeunequally. >> he's one of hundreds of thousands of residents of venice and the surrounding neighborhood of veneto, breaking away from italy and going back to being an independent state. venice was the heart of a powerful republic that lasted a thousands years. since it became part of italy in 1866 resentment towards rome has

grown credit consistently. >> the network of independent movements that organized the vote say they are tired of seeing their taxpayers' money being watche washed away. >> we are victims of an open air robbery, 70 billion in taxes, 20 billion are stolen by italian state because they don't come back in any way shape or form. >> not everyone wants to break away. >> it's senseless, we live in the european union. why would we want to break away? >> my family tells me to vote for independence but i'm not sure ttys right thing to do. >> the vote is not recognized 50 italian government but organizers say they will appeal for the right of self determination and keep the lion's share of their wealth. claudio lavanga, al jazeera,

venice. continuing series, can visits one district facing overcrowding and also a dwindling budget. >> peapam mowen has credit watcd a steady stream of children, most of which, mowen each new addition brings an element of chaos. >> we get to a certain point in our learning and we have to kind of back democratic depending on where they're coming in from different areas. >> in watford elementary and high schools, from 200 to almost a thousand. suspect steve hollen says that hasn't helped much because more

and more new kids keep coming. >> we moved the can classes around, we reconfigured, and these buildings are truly maxed out. >> the best solution he says is turning high school into a middle school and building another high school but that will cost $50 million and stretch the district's budget. while sales tax has increased, the property tax hasn't. still voters overwhelmingly approved a $27 million bond referendum to help fund the new high school. >> in order for us to continue to and attract new people, we need a school system. >> you are still $27 million or so short. where is that money going to come from? >> we indebted ourselves to the max. we are going to have to pull

from loan opportunities and we're really asking the state for maybe some help. >> that help could come, if the state decides to send more oil tax revenues, it's become a major bone of contention in western north dakota and maybe addressed in a special legislative session later this year. >> boys and girls let's quickly get ready. >> if watford city doesn't get additional funding it may have to go further into debt or find a way to squeeze more students into its school. diane eastabrook, al jazeera, watford city, north dakota. >> despite the oil discovery in north dakota, it's different in cacalifornia. occidental proposal wants to

build new wells there, the ban runs for 45 days but could be extended for up to two years. across the u.s. regulations on fracking are limited and the consequence uncertain. we turn to our science and technology exon correspondent jb ward. >> there's a fair amount of controversy around fracking, fracking is used in plac placese a company wants to pull oil, inside a layer of rock, that's too pressurized to pull it out using conventional methods. fracking involves drilling down through the groundwater layer, like a mile, sometimes three miles below the surface and then the well changes direction and becomes horizontal. so at that point small cracks are broken in the surrounding rock with what's called a

perforating gun. and a mixture of water sand and chemicals are pumped at high pressure along the rock, the water is pumped again and then eventually the area around the well is basically forced to become porous and ready to give up gas or oil. the water comes back out and the oil or gas then follows after it until the horizontal pipe has a steady supply of oil or gas flowing into the well. it's a pretty nifty process but critics site a number of problems. 1 to 5 million gallons of water per well, as many as 8 million gallons for the life of the well. chemicals tend to involve known carcinogens. the theory is that a frak operation should remain -- fracking operation should remain sealed off, the earth is a pretty unstable place and current regulations don't force

frafracking operations to revea, we don't know all the chemicals to test for and finally the incredible force of fracking can trigger tiny seismic events and perhaps bigger earthquakes. in december 2010 a fracking operation began outside youngs town, ohio, and it experienced 109 earthquakes, one as big as 3 much 9 ton richter scale. it's that type of seismic connection that has scientists worried. >> we look at both sides of this ongoing debate. an environmental disaster is can credit developing in iran, rivers running dry from the north to the south.

sor-aya leni reports. >> iran's great lake, now a great desert. ththe waters of arumia used to draw vacationers in the thousands. now the lake is almost empty. the tourists gone. around the lake the bungalows are gone. the once colorful resort, a ghost town. in the village opposite, the same. hadar used to be in the tourivittouristbusiness. >> there was enough income, we even had no water shortage for agriculture. if the water doesn't exist would you come here? of course not. the lake dried, people stopped coming and we lost our income.

>> iran's government says there is a reason this place is are can disappearing. this bridge which has effectively divided the lake in two. there's 5% of the lake left and it's eight times saltier than the ocean. what's happened here is nothing short than an environmental disaster but they warn it could get even worse. one of the reasons is the surface. when the water dried up it left behind all of this salt. when the wind blows it creates salt storms and it's exactly what's blowing into neighboring villages and towns. and that's put the region's agriculture and economy at stake. then there are the ecological effects on native wildlife. they're already obvious. the lake used to be full of

migratory birds. now it's not. the government is desperately trying the save arumia. it has brought in japanese experts to help. >> the situation in oromea did not happen in one day and is not something that could be reversed in one day or even a year. even if we stop now it is very optimistic to think we could see an improvement in the next three to five years. in my opinion, one of the keys of saving the lake are the people who lift in the vicinity. >> back in the village the kids have turned the abandoned boats into toys. he wants the lake to come back to find out what it's like to play in there. soraya linne, al jazeera.

iran. >> coming up. the road to timbuktu. how music is making a profound difference. radio oare .

>> as we ended the week here across the eastern seaboard, let's show you what those is temperatures were, as the high today, new york saw 50, and chicago saw 57, above average for this time of year. what can we expect as we go towards tomorrow? we did see rain pass towards the south. tomorrow we do expect a light rain shower. but temperatures on saturday are even better than they were on friday. new york 62°. washington about 71. above average well for new york that is 11° above average for you. philadelphia is going to be about 15°, enjoy it now, get out

there and enjoy your saturday because as you go towards the rest of the weekend and into next week those temperatures are really dropping. watch what happens. 62 new york on saturday dropping to 44 as we go towards tuesday, 38 overnight lows, 45, we are going obe seeing another blast of cold air coming into the area, not only coming into new york but we are seeing temperatures all the way towards atlanta, there's a look at your national weather, your news with richelle, coming up next.

oo. >> in our friday art segment, music this marts. music and rhythm in the country of malli. michael meredith fresh off the trip to malli. since you just got back, tell us what the environment is like there? >> it's an amazing thing to witness and film. the country has been through a horrible few years, the crisis has affected everybody. and music, the angle of our film is bringing people back together, the peace and reconciliation process, to witness that and see the environment changing is a very special thing. >> do you feel it's change

lives? >> definitely changing be lives. mending conflict, the neighbors and different towns and different cultures that have clashed throughout the process are now coming back together and music is doing it. in timbuktu last week they played music for the first time, the huge part of the process. to see the people in the can streets and sandwich shops, is amazing. >> something we take for granted but it is truly part of the people there. talk about history there and how it relates to us. >> well, when i first heard mali music, i thought, that was john lee hooker and muddy waters, they ripped it off but it was the other way around.

it's sort of the birth place of music as we know it and it was outlawed. that is what drew me over there, the music and to hear it come back is sort of the aim and the goal and a beautiful thing to see happen. >> how is it affecting the children there? >> well, they pick up on things so fast, kids everywhere. i was a couple of weeks ago walking through the treats of timbuktu, and these basically homeless kids were playing on coffee cans or whatever they could make. the kids are affected by the music as well and they are bouncing back too. you know so -- >> what is the story that you want to tell? >> hmm, the focus i'm taking, and everyone working on the film is that the power of music can complement all these other efforts be they diplomatic or foreign money ngos and -- >> music was taken away for a

reason because it is so powerful. >> yes, and mali has a literacy problem too, people can listen and respond to it when they can't read a newspaper and stuff. silence was a very tough thing but to witness it come back is special. >> how far along are you in the project and tell me what help you need to get this -- >> yeah, with a documentary it's always tricky, you don't know exactly when it's going to end. but i feel like we're about halfway through. we're in the process of doing a postproduction as we shoot, we are editing here in new york as i'm raising funds in malicious, we are in a go go campaign to bring in extra funds to help. i think we'll wrap it up hopefully this summer, finish shooting. >> is there one something that you're missing that you're waiting on? >> they have something called

the festival in the desert, the original woodstock-burning man thing, they play music for three or four or five days and that has been missing for the last couple of years. that will be the crown jewel of this reconciliation effort that's been pushed forward by the musicians, so that's that one thing we're waiting for. if it doesn't happen something else will take its place. >> michael meredith, do keep us posted. >> thank you very much. >> now to our picture of the day, celebrating the spring equinox in mexico. that's gorgeous. keep it here. the headlines are next.

>> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm ricialg. richelle carey. here are the top stories.

ships in sevastopol took down their ukrainian are flags and replaced them with russian ones. malaysia airlines flight 370, communications between the crew and the ground appeared to be routine. twitter is blocked in turkey. after critics used the social network to talk against the prime minister. a federal judge strikes dowj michigan's ban on same sex marriage. the pan was put down in 2004 with 60% voter support. michigan intends to appeal that ruling. racial inquality, begins in preschool. students of color are three times more likely to be suspended or expelled than their white peers.

attorney general eric holder says united states important to disrupt the school to suspension pipeline. get up to the minute news at aljazeera.com. i need them to stitch it up. it needs to be closed. a botched execution. >> when you strap somebody to a board, deprive them of oxygen for 25 minutes as they slowly die in front of their family. it wou t