>> jordan says it won't go ahead with a prisoner swap with isil until it has proof that its captured pilot is alive. you're watching al jazeera. i'm david foster. coming up in the next 30 minutes, malaysian authorities declare officially that the missing makes airlines flight mh370 crashed because of an accident. >> an in quest into the australian calf fee sage reveals what happened as police moved in. >> on the tracks to recovery, thailand's ancient train getting

an upgrade from china. >> definiteliments after a slow day on negotiations to free two hostages held by the islamic state of iraq and the levant. jordan will not be going ahead with a prisoner swap, isil wanting a woman on death row in jordan unless they know a jordanian pilot is still alive who was captured some months ago. within the last hour, jordan's information minister spoke to journalists. >> jordan is willing to exchange the prisoner with the captured pilot. at this point we want to emphasize that we have asked for proof of life from daish and we

have not received anything as of yet. we need a proof of life so we can proceed with what we announced yesterday rewarding the exchange. >> let's go to andrew simmons in jordan. i don't know whether you heard what the demand said, but it seems the jordanians are talking tougher than they had earlier on. >> that's right david the information minister there making it quite clear they need proof of life. that is what we all expected was going on, that the jordanians wanted to find out whether isil could prove that the hostage was alive. really the situation is mired in confusion in the sense that there is no confirmation from the isil side that they are prepared to negotiate with the jordanians over the pilot.

what they say they want to negotiate about and want to do a deal on is over the prisoner's life the japanese journalist. time is running out. the timing is really an indicator of how tense things are now. when sundown comes if they stand by this audio recording it will kill the hostage with no doubt at all unless they see the release of the iraqi on death row. her whereabouts are still within the jail, although there are unconfirmed reports that something has been going on and there could be some sort of

exchange underway. there's no confirmation of that. the statement from the information minister shows it is pretty much a situation where there has not been a breakthrough. >> thank you very much. andrew simmons reporting there from jordan. we'll bring you nor just as soon as we know it, thank you. >> malaysia's civil aviation authorities confirmed a flight was an accident. it has said it's impossible to any survived. 239 were onboard when mh370 went down somewhere in the southern indian ocean in march of last year. it was traveling from kuala lampur to beijing. >> the aircraft exhausted its fuel over a defined area of the southern indian ocean and that

the aircraft is located on the sea floor close to that defined area. this is a remote location, far from any possible landing site. it is also an area with the worst sea conditions, with known depths of more than 6,000 meters. >> let's get more from our correspondent in kuala lampur. >> periodic statements have been made by the civil aviational author of malaysia and today on thursday, was no different. we were expecting a technical statement to be made, an update on what they knew about the technical information they've managed to gather from the search scenario, but this unprecedented statement made by the c.a.a. really did come out

of the blue, stating now that the malaysian government and the c.a.a. agree that the flight mh370, with 239 passengers onboard, passengers and crew is now officially missing. it leaves the door open for negotiations between the airline and the families who have lost their loved ones to start. compensation deals will be negotiated on a case by case scenario. it allows the families to be able to gain a death certificate, or the paperwork allowing them to get a death certificate in their respective countries and try to progress with their lives. the families in malaysia have been silent, very quiet about what's gone on. some may not want to recognize or admit their loved ones are dead. we wait for the coming hours and days to their reaction to the statement being made. however, malaysia airlines and the government say the search continues for the plane, 18,000

square kilometers of the indian ocean have already been searched in some cases to a depth have 6,000 meters. authorities say they will not give up the search to find the missing plane. >> let us turn now to another fatal aircraft, arab asia flight 8501. the investigation said the co pilot was at the controls when it went down. indonesia's national safety transportation committee said the flight data recorder gave a clear picture of what happened, saying the pilot asked to increase altitude to avoid dangerous clouds, and then eventually, the plane crashed into the i can't have in a sea killing all 162 onboard. we have developments from jakarta. >> one month after the air asia crash is a preliminary report sent to seven countries around the world. there is no conclusions yet in this report about human error or

technical error or what is exactly the cause of the crash. we do know that the co pilot was flying the plane during the crash and also that the plane was in good physical condition when it took off. the pilot asked to increase his altitude, because he was trying to avoid dangerous clouds. what happened and that's what we gottors showed to us is that the plane basically climbed quite steep and there was a stall alarm, meaning the wings of the plane can't carry the plane any higher and it comes down. that came across from the data from the flight data recorder. the plane went down and it took three minutes for this process to happen, very, very squarey minutes for the 162 people onboard. the data basically stopped from those two recorders just before the plane hit the water.

that's all that the investigators have told us so far about the cause of the accident. >> details are emerging about how two hostages died in a gun attack on a cafe in sydney. one pepper was killed by fragments of a police bullet, the other killed point blank by the gunman. from sydney, andrew thomas. >> it was the dramatic end to a siege that had lasted more than 16 hours in just a few minutes. three people, a hostage taker and two hostages were dead. on thursday, an in quest began into how and why they died. >> i want to assure everyone that we'll do all within our power a undertake a comprehensive investigation that is rigorous, independent and searching. it will strive to establish what happened why it happened and whether it could have been prevented or responded to more

effectively. >> the seen began mid morning on december 15. the man pulled a gun on customers and staff at a cafe. police surrounded the shop, part of the city center went into lockdown. >> rarely have such horrifying events unfolded so publicly. >> even as the first flowers were laid, police began their investigation. forty officers have been working on it ever since. the coroner will question them, the police who were on the scene, and hostages who survived. but even on its opening day the coroner was able to say how the gunman and two of his hostages died. one man was made to kneel by the gunman and shot understand head. police stormed the shop and the gunman was shot and killed instantly, a hostage was hit.

>> the bullet ricocheted from hard surfaces into her body. i'll not detail the damage done to ms. dawson other than to say one fragment struck a major blood vessel. she lost consciousness quickly and died shortly afterwards. >> today the cafe where the siege took place is boarded up. the flowers that covered the square have been cleared away, but the memories are still here. >> the events here will be looked at in meticulous detail. every but the let will be accounted for. the in quest will be broader. a convicted criminal, he was facing charges. why was he free on bail. were the police actions pretrial? was it terrorism? al jazeera sydney. >> iraq's government is investigating an alleged massacre by its forces.

witnesses say iraqi troops and shia fighters rounded up member during a search for isil members and then shot them. we have the details from baghdad. >> it is a microcosm of ires with should not knee's, shias and kurds. as militias and other irregular security forces fight alongside the iraqi government forces against isil, in the village survivors tell that you say after days of fierce fighting, iraqi security forces, primarily the army with interior ministry swat teams moved through the towns. they took the men after marching them for almost a clam at her they took away some men and shot them behind a wall. one survivor tells us he saw 13

members, 13 of his neighbors lying dead, including school teachers and shop owners. the united nations point out it's the responsibility of the iraqi government to maintain control of all of the forces under its command. the interior minister said that he's launched an investigation but he stood before parliament today and said it was too soon to tell what happened. he promise that had there would be changes at the interior ministry. meanwhile, other villages have received warning letters telling them the same thing could happen to them and more people, sunni families from those villages are on the move, looking for safety. >> stay with us here if you can on al jazeera. we have some tough talk from raul castro warning washington not to meddle in cuba said internal affairs. >> we look at the massive project that will map the entire planet's water every three days.

there's more to finical news than the ups and downs of the dow. for instance, could striking workers in greece delay your retirement? i'm here to make the connections to your money real. >> here's roundup of the global headlines. jordan won't be going ahead with a prisoner swap unless islamic state of iraq and the levant can guarantee the jordanian hostage is still alive. this is the woman that the members of isil want in exchange for the jordanian pilot. isil says the pilot will be killed if the iraqi woman is not released from death row. >> malaysia's civil aviational

authorities declared that the missile flight 370 died because of an accident. all 239 people onboard are now presumed to have died, clearing the way for compensation claims. >> an invest into the australian cafe siege shows one person was killed by a fragment of a police bullet. another hostage was killed by a shot point blank from the gunman. >> the nigerian government said that it repeatedly ignored warnings of an impending boko haram attack are inaccurate. the armed group recently reportedly killed hundreds of people. amnesty international said the government did not send reinforcements there. they said they had warnings of

an impending attack that took place sunday. let's hear from in my necessary city international. >> you look at the underlying reasons, it's long term exclusion causing tension it is in the northeast. more immediately, it is the failure of the nigerian government to protect civilians. this massive corruption, lack of accountability attack after attack and no investigation and no action being taken. there's no question that the people in the front line of struggling the military struggling but nigeria has one of the largest armies in africa. the leadership is not really leading. that's the biggest issue. there's no political will, no action on the ground. >> let us hear from our correspondent about what the nigerians have said about what amnesty says.

>> the nigerian government has responded through its military spokesperson and basically say that amnesty allegations that's what they call them are unfair, inaccurate and unverified. they say amnesty doesn't check or verify sources. they say the premise of amnesty allegations that they had warnings to make sure these attacks didn't happen. amnesty say that a local resident says that boko haram is said to have gone door to door warn that go they were going to attack the military that in area and what the military is saying is that is a departure from the way boko haram and its operates. they don't go door to door warning, they just attack. the impending insecurity in this region of the upcoming election is differ. the people are affected in this area many displaced many were

never registered to vote, so those people are unhappy about the fact that many people will miss out on the vote. what the electoral authorities are basically saying that is won't affect the overall credibility of the elections that the result will still stand, even with the on going insecurity even with the difficulty of holding elections in that region. >> the word from the world health organization is that the number of ebola cases is falling. the three most affected countries, liberia and sierra leone reported fewer than 100 cases in the last week, the first time there's been a slide in confirmed elections since last year. they are now shifting focus to ending the outbreak rather than slowing the spread. >> at least seven houthi rebels have been killed in yemen. al-qaeda fighters stormed the house of a tribal leader in the

city and opened fire. members of the shia group were meeting in the building at the time. >> israel received a message from the u.n. peacekeeping force in lebanon that hezbollah isn't interested in an escalation of violence. two israeli soldiers and a u.n. peace keeper that killed in the occupied sheba farms area wednesday. anti tank missiles were fired as the israeli military. israel responded with airstrikes. >> latin america leaders were meeting in costa rica. normalizing relations is said to be impossible while an embargo is still in place. we have a report from san jose. >> he hasn't spoken publicly since the agreement to restore

u.s. cuba relations was announced. cuban president castro had a lot to say. >> initiating diplomatic ties is a first step, but they are impossible while the blockade exists. until the legally occupied territory of guantanamo is returned until radio and transmission is received. >> addressing leaders in the 33 members of the community of latin american and caribbean nations, castro used harsh language to make clear his government would not alter its one party system to please washington.

he went further suggesting the beyond has changed its methods but not objective to provoke the overthrow of his communist government. >> everything indicates that the objective is to foment an artificial opposition, using economic political and communicational methods. >> here in van jose, castro has received the overwhelming support of regional pierce, also urging president obama to use executive powers to further weaken the u.s. economic embargo against cuba, bypassing congress. >> not even president obama's plea to the republican controlled congress to lift the embargo has softened president castes position. the cuban leader is playing hard ball ahead of april's summit of the americas where for the first time in half a century the united states and cuba will sit at the same hemispheric table.

>> he expects more concessions from the white house without offering anything in exchange. this, he said would be unethical. al jazeera san jose, costa rica. >> a friend of the argentinean prosecutor said he lent him a gun because he feared for his safety and didn't trust the police with protecting him. he was found shot dead a day before he was due to testify in an investigation into the bombing of a jewish center in 1994. gathering outside his funeral circumstances around his death still mysterious. prosecutors say they are trying to work out whether he schmidt suicide or was killed. the president believed he died violently at someone else's hand. >> thousands of factory workers in turkey having on strike,

getting together asking for better wages. there's an awful lot of worry about conditions on building sites there. >> china's going to build a 3,000-kilometer high speed rail line to southeast asia. it will be built in four stages, first from the city in china to the capitol of laos and southern bangkok. carrying on the line to kuala lampur ending in singapore. we are in bangkok. >> thailand's railway industry is one of seich is that's oldest and showing its age. the network has received little funding with no major investment in more than half a century. >> it is so old it's unseen. when the train moves i'm afraid i will fall off. >> with an average speed of

50 kilometers an hour, practically all trains run late and at a loss. compare that to china's super high speed fleet. in a couple of decades the country has transformed its rail system to one of the most technically advanced in the world. it is offering to do the same for southeast asia. the government has agreed to start construction in thailand by the end of the year. >> the rail project is expected to cost around $12 billion. beijing and boink cock have yet to work out how it will be financed. the plan is to play around 873 kilometers of new track and 106 brand new shiny modern trains. >> some question china's motives. the existing trains and track gauges in southeast asia aren't compatible with china's real network, so it means thailand will have two rail systems with one just to connect to china.

logistics and transport experts believe the new train network and route is designed to benefit china. >> from a chinese perspective it makes sense for them to have their system put in the neighboring countries. from a historical perspective it was a different system. that enables connectivity to support china but then also access to resources. >> for this grandmother who's been taking the train for 30 years to see her family in southern thailand, any attempt to shorten her 16 hour journey is welcome. >> it's too long. sometimes it breaks down and we have to change trains and it takes hours. we need a new system. >> people may still have to rely on these old trains. experts say the high speed rail routes have been designed with trade in mind rather than

passengers. al jazeera bangkok. >> we're off live to a rather dark part of california, it's only 6:30 in the morning there. this is the air force base. what you see on the launch pad will be carrying a satellite that is going to go up into the atmosphere pretty soon. it will be used to measure the moisture on earth. >> water is life, and on planet earth, it's scarcity or abundance affects almost all living things. our planet's water system in large part remains a mystery to scientists. now nasa's launch ago satellite that will measure the moisture of the earth's soils. it will do this with unprecedented accuracy and give scientists a detailed understanding of the role water plays. >> required in applications like agriculture, like water shed winning ment, health, drought

and landslide flooding, so that requires a high resolution going from one to 10-kilometer, based on the application. >> the satellite achieves this high resolution by deploy ago six-meter white antenna. this or bits 680 kilometers above the earth using radar and microwave sensing for every part of the planet every three days. >> it allows us to observe the surface of the earth regardless of weather condition or day or night conditions. that's unique. with apartmentical sensors, we have problems whenever there's clouds. >> the satellite will produce a lot of data, used to create global sale moisture maps. these are expected to improve our bat to manage water

resources for agriculture. it also provides potentially life saving information during emergencies like floods or droughts. al jazeera. >> you will get more on aljazeera.com. aljazeera.com. >> hello and well come. i'm phil tore eses and we are here to talk about technology. let's check out our team of hard-core nerds. maria is a biologist specializing in ecool ecology and evolution. scientists hunt down a bacterial killer. bi