>> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these are the stories that we're following for. >> you if russia continues on its current course, isolation will deepen. >> president obama saying diplomacy is the answer to the problem in crimea. washington waiting for word as rescue efforts continue in that deadly man slide.

osama bin laden's son-in-law sulaiman abu ghaith is now facing life in prison. >> in just a few minutes president obama expected to deliver a major foreign policy speech. all eyes on brussels, belgium. he is there for a meaning with american applies, and the talks are dominated by the crisis i in ukraine. mike viqueira at the white house, mike, what will the president say today. >> reporter: well, according to briefing reporters, this crisis symbolized by everything that is around me and brought to life by

many of these buildings behind me the european union and council, all of these accomplished over the decades and post world war ii era now jeopardized by russia's land grab, invading another country. this is a 19th century action in the 21st century. there is no place for it in the world. the president has been traveling in europe over the course of the last three days, and in each stop the white house has tried to portray a picture of unity between the united states and the european union. they'll be talking about a need for an unified stance against russia. >> he's talking in belgium but he might be talking to moscow and people in washington. >> you're absolutely right.

there are a number of fronts. first and foremost the point of this trip to europe, all of these events the president has attended has been pre-scheduled but it has taken on a new urgency since russia and that referendum in crimea that is ostensibly part of russia. we heard him at a press conference talking about the need for european unity and thisish of dependence, the dependence that europe has as you travel from west to east, an increasing dependence on russian resource, a two-way trade where $300 billion with the european union and russia. concerns that the european economy could suffer if sanctions were to go forward. sanctions, the president has extracted a promise from g-7, formerly known as the g-8 with russia, stricter sanctions on

the russian economy. that's his first and foremost audience. yes, they're imposing sanctions on russia. first as an response to the invasion of crimea, and the sanctions on those who are close to vladimir putin. and impose sanctions if russia were to go forward as many believe they will do and invade eastern and southern ukraine. >> mike viqueira, thank you very much. as for the situation on the ground in crimea the takeover now almost complete. forces at the borders but there is till work to be done. jennifer glasse from sevastopol. >> igor spent eight months renovating his apartment.

how much will it be? sadly right now i can't really put a price on it, he says, because of the change between russia and ukraine, he says, the rules just aren't clear yet. and that could mean a difference of $25,000 or more on his asking price which is around $200,000. real estate agent said the changes mean all she can do right now is to look for properties to sell and then wait for things to become clear. >> we still don't know what the russian rules are yet, sadly, but i think we will know soon. she doesn't even know what interest rates will be. her firm is selling dozens of apartments all over the city. now it's just a waiting game. russia wasted no time in taking control of crimea. on the streets of sevastopol signs say we're one russia. >> reporter: it does not feel

like much has changed since crimea has come under russian control. people have gone on with their daily lives but much work needs to be done for the change to become complete. people ask about pension, properties and new passports. >> no one, she said, not one person from sevatopol or crimea who wants to stay will be thrown off the peninsula or called an outcast. everyone belongs here. she has defined sanctions imposed on russia. >> i thank them for the sanctions. you know why? it will force us to take care of ourselves faster. >> reporter: yvonne is also working to make the transition to russian rules smoother. ukraine, he says, isn't helping. >> we're being sabotaged by the ukrainian government because they won't give us access to

registries including private property and real estate documents. they just won't give them to us. he says ukrainians also are withholding health and court records, proof ukraine doesn't care about the people of crimea. as officials work to bring sevatopol in line with russia, a new generation is practicing old traditions here. jennifer glasse, al jazeera, sevatopol, crimea. >> egyptian generallalcic geners expected to resign. he is expected to run for president. he's wildly expected to win that re-election. jury in new york found sulaiman abu ghaith, the son-in-law of osama bin laden, guilty of supporting terrorism as his role as al-qaeda spokesman.

john terrett is live with us by phone in new york. the jury came back with a very quick verdict. what are the details. >> reporter: good afternoon from the federal courthouse why sulaiman abu ghaith has been found guilty on all charges against him. in the end it turned out to be a three-week trial. the prosecution alleging that he was an al-qaeda spokesman who used videos immediately after 9/11 to urge muslim-americans not to fly in commercial aircraft because there would be a storm of aircraft storming into the united states used as bombs. but defense said they've got the wrong man and that they were used for religious purposes. in the end the jury disagreed and they out for five hours.

>> the reason for the trial being held in new york was that the justice department, washington, wanted to show the world how a trial in the united states was conducted, yet he was convicted in new york just a few blocks away from the world trade center site. >> the arguments have been raging at all levels, at the white house level congressional level and further down about whether it's right to try them at guantanamo bay or to bring them i in the federal arena as what happened with sulaiman abu ghaith. the question was would he get a fair trial. the trial lasted far less time than predicted. it was predicted to go into april. there were things that did not happen. there were no evidence given for

the maste mastermind of 911. there was no evidence of bin laden's driver. there were videos, and abu gaith was calm and said a lot of things that he didn't need to say because it probably hurt his case. the prosecution released a statement saying they hope thes were cushion brought comfort to the victims of 9/11. stanley cohen, the lead attorney for sulaiman abu ghaith said that there will be an appeal, and this trial was effectively conducted in secret. >> john terrett by phone concerning the guilty verdict in the case of sulaiman abu ghaith. the death toll from that washington state mudslide now stands at 16 but that number is expected to rise. eight more bodies have been

found. al jazeera is in washington. >> reporter: we just finished hearing from emergency response officials. good news, the river level has dropped, which eases fears that we were going to see flooding later this week. and the survivors who have been found are now improving at the hospital. great news. but day five in this search there are 200 search and rescue people on the ground trying to find anyone that is still alive. they're also seeing federal assistance from the national guard and fema. now on tuesday they were able to locate eight bodies, and they should recover those today. that is what they're hoping to be done as we speak. they say that 176 people are still missing. this is a methodical search mostly by hands and cadaver dogs. they're still calling this a search and rescue, that they

continue to hope that they'll be able to find someone alive today. >> that is abby gibbs in washington state. also it's been three weeks since the malaysian flight 370 disappeared from radar signs. today more hope that debris might be found. spotting objects in indian ocean, that could, and we rety rate we could be from the flight. >> photographing 120 objects strewn over a large area in the indian ocean. they are 115 miles southwest of perth, australia. they have found roughly in the same area where satellites have spotted other possible debris from the missing plane. satellites from china, france and australia.

unfortunately, so far they have not managed to retrieve any of the debris from the ocean so they cannot say conclusively that there is a match with mh 370. australia is in charge of the search in the southern indian ocean in a multi national search. and the prime minister of australia said notwithstanding the failure to find the plane so far they will continue to search. 12 planes went up today, found nothing, they'll try again tomorrow. >> randall pinkston for us in washington, d.c. there were tense moments when an apartment complex in houston caught fire. when the fire grew to five-alarm a construction workers trapped on a ledge outside of the building, and it was all caught on camera. >> oh, jesus--ooh! oh, god, oh god.

>> get closer to him. >> he could jump from there, good grief. they need to move that truck up, oh my god. i think that we probably should be going. >> oh, thank jesus, thank you god. >> oh, my god. oh, no, my god! >> as incredible as those images are, the man escaped unharmed. this is laura hamadi, live in brussels, belgium, she's introducing the president of the united states. >> inspiring these already talented young women to at last

view themselves at leaders. today we have the historic honor of welcoming a great leader and a devoted father. an ardent servant of his country, and a tireless champion of unity and justice. i am inspired by the patience and dignity with which he shoulders the great responsibility of leadership. i'm sure the people whom he inspires most are his own family. i believe his daughters, through his encouragement and example, through his love and devotion, will surely one day move the

world as talented leaders in their own right, and inspire a sometimes lost generation to find itself. my father also has two daughters for whom he would move heaven and earth. it is his constant guidance and assistance that has taught me to grasp for the very things i'd always considered out of reach. it is my hope that all the fathers of this world will one day propel their daughters into an era of dreams fulfilled and wonderous opportunities. it is my hope that one day all young women will take their places as the leading lights of

their communities. it is my hope that one day soon all young women will move the world with a great insight to match that of the man we have the honor of hearing from today. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome president of the united states of america barack obama. [applause] [applause]

>> president obama: thank you, thank you, thank you very much. please have a seat. good evening. thank you, laura, for that remarkable introduction. before she came out she told me not to be nervous, and i can only imagine i think her father is in the audience, and i can only imagine how proud of her, and grateful for her work, but she's reminding us that our future will be defined by young people like her. your majesties, mr. prime minister, and the people of

belgium, on behalf of the american people we are grateful for your friendship. we stand together as inseparable allies, and i thank you for your wonderful hospitality. i have to admit it is easy to love a country famous for chocolate and beer. [laughter] leaders and dignitaries of the european union, representatives of our n.a.t.o. alliance, distinguished guests, we meet here at a moment of testing for europe and the united states, and for the international order that we have worked for generations to build. throughout history, the best

means to resolve inevitable conflicts between states. it was here in europe through centuries of struggle, through war and enlightenment, repression, and revolution that a particular set of ideals began to emerge. the belief that through conscience and free well, each of us have a right to live as we choose. the believe that power is derived from the consent of the government, and laws and institutions should be established to protect that understanding. those ideas inspired a clan of colonists to cross an ocean, and

they wrote them into the founding documents that still guide america today, including the simple truth that all men and women are created equal. those ideals have also been tested here in europe and around the world. those ideals have often been threatened by an older, more traditional view of power. this alternative vision argues that ordinary men and women are too small-minded to governor their own affairs, that order and progress can only come when individuals surrender their rights to an all-powerful sovereign. often this alternative vision roots itself in the notion that by virtue of race or faith or ethnicity some are inherently superior to others. and that individual identity

must be defined by us versus them, or that national greatness must flow not by what people stand for, but what they are against. in so many ways, in the history of europe in the 20th century represented the ongoing clash of these two sets of ideas both within nations and among nations. the advance of industry and technology outpaced our ability to resolve our differences peacefully. even among the most civilized of societies on the surface we saw a descent into barbarism. i was reminded how war between people sent people to their deaths in the trenches by gas in

the first world war. two decades later extreme nationalism plunged in continent into war once again with populations enslaved and great cities reduced to rubble, and tens of millions slaughtered, including those lost i in the holocaust. it is in response to this tragic history that in the aftermath of world war ii america joined with europe to reject the darker forces of the past, and built a newark texture of peace. workers and engineers gave life to the marshall plan, sentinels seed vigilant in the n.a.t.o. alliance that would become the strongest the world ever known. and across the atlantic we shared a vision of europe, a vision based on representative

democracy, individual rights, and a belief that nations could meet the interests of their citizens through trade and open markets. a social safety net, respect for those of different faiths and backgrounds. for decades this vision stood in sharp contrast to life on the other side of an iron curtain. for decades a contest was waged, and ultimately that contest was won, not by tanks or missiles, but because our ideals stirred the hearts of the hungarians who sparked a revolution. poles in their shipyards who stood in solidarity. czechs who waved the revolution without firing a shot, and east berliners who marched past the

guards and finally tore down that wall. today, what would have seemed impossible in the frenches of flanders, the rubble in berlin, a prison cell, that create is taken for granted. a germany unified. the nation's of central and eastern europe welcomed int into democracy. here once the battleground of europe we meet at a hub in union in peace and cooperation. the people of europe, hundreds of millions of citizens east, west, north, south, are more secure and more prosperous because we stood together for the ideals we share.

this story of human progress was by no means limited to europe. indeed, the ideals that came to define our alliance also inspired movements across the globe. among those very people ironically who too often had been denied their full rights by western powers. after the second world war people from africa to india threw off colonialism to secure their independence. in the united states citizens took freedom rallies and endured beatings to secure their civil rights. as the iron curtain fell in europe, the iron fist of apartheid was unclenched, and nelson mandela emerged up right, proud from prison to meet a multi racial democracy.

latin american nations rejected dictatorships and built new democracies and asian nations showed that development and democracy could go hand in hand. the young people in the audience today, young people like laura were born in a place, in a time where there is less conflict, more prosperity, and more freedom than any time in human history. but that's not because man's darkest impulses have vanished. even here in europe we've seen ethnic cleansing in the balkans that shocked the conscience. the difficulties of integration and globalization, the reason it's amplified by the worth economic crisis of our lifetimes strained the european project and stirred the rise of politics that too often targets

immigrants, gays, or those who seem some how different. well, technology has opened vast opportunities for trade and innovation and cultural understanding, it has also allowed terrorists to kill on a horrifying skill. around the world sectarian warfare and ethnic conflicts continue to claim thousands of lives, and once again we are confronted with the belief among some that bigger nations can bully smaller ones to get their way. that recycled maxim that might some how makes right. i come here today to insist that we must never take for granted the progress that has been won here in europe and advanced around the world. because the contest of ideas continues for your generation.

that's what's at stake in ukraine today. russia's leadership is challenging truths that only a few weeks ago seemed self-evident. in the 21st century the borders of europe cannot be redrawn with force. that international law matters, that people and nations make their own decisions about their future. to be honest, if we define our interests narrowly, if we appl applied a cold-hearted calculous we might decide to look the other way. our economy is not deeply integrated with ukraine's. our people and our homeland face no direct threat from the invasion of crimea. our own borders are not threatened by russia's

annexation. but that kind of casual indifference would ignore the lessons that are written in the cemeteries of this caught tenant. the message would be heard not just in europe but in asia, the americas, africa and the middle east. the consequences that would arise from complacency are not abstractions. the impact that they have on the lives of real people, men and women just like us have to enter into our imaginations. just look at the young people of ukraine who were determined to take back their