this is bbc america. and now, live from london, "bbc world news". hello. i'm geeta guru-murthy with "bbc world news". our top stories. mass celebrations in crimea after a landslide vote to break away from ukraine and join russia. eu minister thes vote to discuss possible sanctions against russia, saying the vote was illegal. moscow says it complied with international law. the search for the missing airliners in kuaula lumpur. just why is the smallest

planet in our solar system shrinking even further? hello. the parliament in crimea has declared independence from ukraine following sunday's referendum. the defacto prime minister is traveling to formally request that it does become part of russia. they have announced all ukrainian property is to be nationalized so ukrainian law is no longer valid in the region. it has approved partial mobilization of its troops. let's get the very latest from my colleague ben brown with all the very latest developments.

>> reporter: yes. hello and welcome from the crimean par lament in simferopol. to formally ask the russian federation to annex crimea to absorb crimea into the russian federation. i spoke to one deputy a short time ago who said he expected that process to take about a month. within that time he said crimea would officially adopt the russian raoubl as its currency and would switch to the moscow time zone as well. all of that follows the resounding victory for the russian speaking majority here in crimea. in yesterday's referendum the vote in favor of joining russia was 97% it's been announced by election officials and a turnout of 83%. let's get the latest developments from daniel

sanford, our moscow correspondent. >> the scenes in simferopol last night. >> we are come back to russia. we happy. we all happy. >> reporter: for the people here in the center of simferopol got what they wanted. but how it came about is going to have a lasting impact on international relations. the referendum produced an overwhelming vote in favor of leaving ukraine and joining russia. although the russian president insists it was consistent with international law it remains hugely controversial. it was organized in less than a fortnight while russian troops were already in effective

military control of crimea. and it's not recognized by the fledgeling government who this is or the international community. if president putin now joins crimea to russia, it will face sanctions of the european union. with pro-russian protesters in eastern cities in mainland, also agitating for their own referendums relations between russia and the west could go from bad to disastrous. daniel sanford, bbc news, simferopol. >> reporter: let's show you what's happening here. a couple of coaches just gathered behind me. they're going to fly off to moscow today with talks with the russian parliament and the russian leadership there about

the legal technicalities of crimea becoming part of the russian federation. for the first time in 60 years, crimea was part of russia until 1954 when the president gave crimea to ukraine. now in the wake of the referendum, it looks very likely indeed that they will impose sanctions on named russian individuals. there's a meeting in brussels. let's hear from the eu foreign policy chief catherine ashton. >> not surprisingly the top of our agenda will be a look at the ukraine. it is illegal in the constitution of ukraine and under international law. i call upon russia yet again to meet with ukrainian leaders and to start dialogue with them and to try and move to de-escalation

as quickly as possible. we have seen no evidence of that. today we'll be continuing our discussions on the seriousness of the situation and also looking as you know at what we should further do on this question ahead of the european council, which will be meeting later in the week. >> so that's baroness catherine ashton. let's go to matthew price there some brussells. matthew, just tell us what sort of sanctions we expect to be announced today. >> it looks as though they will up the ante against russia and certainly coming out with a list of dozens, scores of names individuals. whether they will be public or not, we don't know. they are whittling it down from

120 to 130 to several dozens of named individuals who it is believed to have had a direct impact in terms of threatening, as the eu sees of the sovereignty of ukraine. whether that is going to be individuals simply based in crimea, pro-russian politicians and military, we don't know. it might also extend to individuals in russia itself. although it's become pretty clear at this stage it's not going to be key russian businessmen like, for instance, the leaders of the russian gas company. so targeted sanctions against dozens of individuals, possibly starting as early as today. although the instinct is that it wouldn't be started today. they will face a visa ban. and also asset freeze. assets in the eu. this is being coordinated with

the united states. so expect similar moves today as well. >> it is tabout what kind of sanctions should be imposed. >> when the leaders met recently several days ago at the beginning of the meeting there wasn't unanimity. events are driving the politics in brussells very much. you heard heard catherine ashton with barely disguised discontent. she clearly is very determined to get una punanimity here.

there are other countries, germa germany, the netherlands. the german foreign minister spoke at the weekend of having a step-by-step approach so you could get out if russia showed signs of pulling back and backing down in terms of crimea and its troops there. nevertheless, there is far more unanimity than there was just a couple weeks ago. that is because of what's happening on the ground where you are, ben. >> thanks very few. to richard galpin in moscow. how worried do you think president putin and the russians will be on this threat of sanctions by the eu and the u.s.? >> reporter: i think certainly they will be concerned. it depends exactly what the

sanctions are and who they will be targeted. we saw the list which the eu was considering last week. obviously that's the full list. we don't know who will be included and who excluded. the big list included very senior government ministers and people who are extremely close to vladimir putin. as the russians have said all along, whatever you do, we'll do back. we have spoken to senior mps who say the sanctions, whatever the eu does there will be symmetrical sanctions imposed by russia on the eu and the united states. a couple of weeks ago mps were talking about, well, if it comes to it and our business is our hit in the sanctions from the west, then they talked about the possibility of drawing up legislation to confiscate the

assets and freeze the bank accounts of american and european businesses based here in russia. >> okay. richard, many thanks indeed. richard galpin and richard galpga matthew price. they expect to be absorbed into russia a month or so. the ruble will be the currency, amongst other things. and also they will switch to the moscow time zone. events moving very, very past in crimea. i'll hand you back to the studio in london. >> ben brown there. thanks very much indeed. we will keep you right across any developments. let's move on to other main news today.

26 countries are now involved in a vast search over a widened area fort missing ma hraegz airlines plane which disappeared a week ago. in a news conference it has emerged that malaysian airlines believes it was the co-pilot that spoke the final words to ground controllers. of course the suspicion turns to the crew, friends and relatives of the two pilots have said it's impossible they could have been involved in the plane's disappearance. jonah fischer reports from kuala lumpur. >> reporter: the shallow seas have now been discounted. based on satellite data, two new regions are being explored. the first stretches south into the indian ocean, where a remote location and deep rough waters make only the most sophisticated

of planes and ships useful. the second option, a wide band across central asia is more accessible. and the 11 countries along the possible flight path are being asked whether they might have missed a boeing 777 flying overhead. it's not an easy thing to own up to if you have invested in expensive military surveillance. here in malaysia, the investigation team is trying to work out why the plane was diverted west. whoever was in control clearly knew what they were doing. so the two pilots have come under renewed scrutiny. this pilot had a flight simulator in his own house. it's now been taken away by police. >> translator: he is very friendly and actively involved in community outreach. he comes from a good family.

>> reporter: despite a huge multinational effort pulling in experts and companies from around the world, this investigation appears to be making little progress. the fate of mh 370 may be remembered as one of the great aviation mysteries on of our time. jonah fischer, bbc news, kuala lumpur. >> we heard from the trance fort minister who said malaysia is working closely on investigations. >> the pilot and co-pilot, as well as all grouped stop handling the aircraft. on sunday night police visited the homes of the pilot and the co-pilot and spoke to family members of the pilot and the co-pilot. police visited the families

again on saturday. the flight simulator was taken from the house with assistance from the family and reassembled at police headquarters. they have been cooperating with the fbi, interpol and authoriti authorities. >> some of the questions in malaysia of course. he spoke those last words. everyone now asking who were the cue crew here. any motive for them wanting to take this plane in a different direction? >> indeed. unfortunately the revelation doesn't necessarily answer those questions. but what it does place is that the co-pilot was in fact, in the cockpit after the first set of

communications systems was turned off. certainly after his message of all right, good night, the tr transponder was turned off. it went all the way to the west in the sea, west of malaysia and then suddenly took another sharp turn in the northwest. at this point in time in malaysian officials are looking for the whereabouts of this aircraft. it turns the attention back on the two pilots. you heard that the acting transport minister was trying to defend themselves saying they had already been investigating the crew members. this is a clarification. they have been criticized before. they're not really giving up the information. perhaps too slow in catching up. they are clarifying they have been ahead of the curve. it certainly does not seem that way. you could tell there's a push

and pull. journalists are trying so hard to get every little bit of information from then. all we are certain right now is that malaysian officials still have no idea where the aircraft is. they are trying to narrow the search. we are in week two. they are looking at fast tracks from land and the indian ocean. family members are waiting to hear back on what happened to their loved ones. >> we are getting increasing levels of speculation. former secretary of state said malaysian plane mystery, maybe there were planning an attack on an indian city. to call this massive seven across so well countries, is malaysia capable of doing that. do people even feel up to doing

this job? >> that's not the sense that we are getting from the investigating team. there is a sense of frustration how the information flow coming out. for a while they were holding back on information simply because they had already said early on they believed the plane could possibly been trying to turn back. they did not give any other indication exactly where it was trying to go. and so these -- the information trickling out was coming from unnamed u.s. officials who were trying to tell journalists who were very hungry for information. then it was only days later that the malaysian government says, yes, we believe it went all the way out west. it seems as if they are trying to catch up on this information. all they are trying to do is double, triple confirm before they give out any information that could give false hope to the family members. as i point out, it leaves a lot

of rooms for rumors speculation, especially on social media, the internet. that's where a lot of people are getting their information. as you can see, malaysian officials are caught every single time in press conferences trying to defend themselves and saying whether they are being transparent with the information, even with the revelation that it has taken a traffic turn. they are saying that the search effort is under way in the two new areas. this is now working on information 10 days old on the last day. it must be extremely excruciating for the family members who are waiting. also because now everyone on board is also suspect. malaysian officials have not ruled out investigating anyone else on the aircraft or anyone who had contact with the aircraft before it left.

>> jennifer pak in kuala lumpur thank you. >> stay with us on "bbc world news". much more to come. we have a special report on the opposition media's attempts to get the message across the syrian border. humans. even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems. namely, other humans. which is why, at liberty mutual insurance, auto policies come with new car replacement and accident forgiveness if you qualify. see what else comes standard at libertymutual.com. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? reckless seeding. a backyard invasion. enter homeowner, and ortho weed b gon max. kills weeds without harming innocent lawns. guaranteed. ortho weed b gon max. get order. get ortho®.

there's a magic herb blend. the swiss call it: chrüterchraft. but what does it do? chrüterchraft. effective against coughs and sore throats. riiiiicooolaaaa this is "bbc world news". i'm geeta guru-murthy with the latest headlines. crimea breaking away from the ukraine. 25 countries now involved in the search for the missing malaysian airplanes plane. they check into the backgrounds of the pilots, crew, and ground staff. >> despair for david moyes and manchester united. a defeat at home to liverpool.

a thrilling tie break at the end yann wells. more of that to come. and charlie hall wins her first ladies title a few days before her 18th birthday. that's all coming up in "sport today". >> jamie robinson is here looking at ali baba. >> thanks very much indeed. this is the e-commerce giant ali baba. the move had been widely predicted by analysts. they are predicting the listing will raise $15 billion. however, alibaba did not reveal when the ipo would take place or which change. it is initially planned to list in hong kong but talks broke down last year.

vodafone will buy ono. the initial public offering which was approved last week was not going to go ahead in madrid. the deal is the second takeover in the past six months. we're going to have more on those stories in about 15 minutes's time on "world business report". in the meantime, i will hand it back to geeta. geeta? >> thank, jamie. three years into the war, syrians are trying to reach back into their own country. u.s.-backed radio broadcast two in the city of istanbul. they spent a day at the station. >> reporter: from a rooftop in istanbul, rowa presents "good morning my country."

she reads the news on syrian state tv. but she got fed up with being told what to say so she went into exile. >> syria now changed. people in syria changed. not the same last time. now we want to speak and speak -- we want to say what we want. >> the station sent radios to syria. and it asks its listeners to phone in. >> some of them are very tired. they just want to finish at any price. some of them they don't want to come back. they want to finish up and to bring him to the prison and to the court and to get the right from him. and the others want to make a deal with al assad to stop destroying the country.

>> yusef a ranges the music. at the start of the war inside syria he did the same thing for the government.

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crimea votes to join russia. markets await international reaction, including potential sanctions from europe and the u.s. and the caye niece e-commerce giant alibaba lists

its share in an effort to become a more global company. hello. welcome to "world business report". i'm jamie robertson. in a moment we will look at the impact of st. patrick's day. they will decide what kind of sanctions to impose on russia. at the moment the sanctions discussed only target individuals through asset freezes and travel bans. but the west could eventually move to sanction russian companies themselves. who will be most disadvantaged? europe ranks as the biggest trading partner and accounts for around 41% there of all trade. exports to europe dominated by crude oil and gas. european countries import 84% of russia's oil expert. in 2012, goods and services

totaled $317 billion. in return, european companies sell back $210 billion of goods and services to russia. that was figures from 2012. it is a little bit out of date. can either side really afford to lose the other as a trading partner? earlier one expert said what markets should be focusing on. >> the universal approval have been expected. what the markets will be focusing on. it could be a short covering. what i will be focused on is when putin raises the game further and increases the frequency occurrence in eastern ukraine. we have seen the notes come through that focused on the position of ukraine. they focused on the approval of the oac service coming in

eastern ukraine. if we see conciliatory moves in absence of these steps we will see a very good market reaction. now on to the uk. vodafone reached a deal to buy spanish cable operator ono. it is worth about $10 billion. it means an initial public offering approved last week is not going ahead in madrid. it is the second biggest provider of broadband, internet and pay television. it is the second take joseph in the past six months. it bought a stake in cable deutscheland. it is all about content. >> if vodafone is to survive in the future, it needs to take on fixed line communications and content. and this acquisition is part of

that strategy. they have been looking at places like italy. there has been talk about some sort of look at sky b perhaps. in the biggest sale of shares since facebook, alibaba has plans to list in the u.s. our chief business correspondent reports on why alibaba has turned its back on hong kong, the home of chinese investors. >> reporter: in a blow to hong kong, chinese e-commerce company alibaba has chosen new york to sell its shares for the first time and list on the new york stock change. alibaba, amazon, ebay, groupon all rolled into one. it could be the biggest ipo

since facebook raised $16 billion last may. >> reporter: how can the stock exchange lose the most exciting ipo since facebook to the americans? the issue is over retaining control of the company. the new york stock exchange allows founders to retain control of their companies even if they don't own a majority of the shares. >> from a business and board point of view it sounds quite acceptable. from a regulator point of view and exchanges point of view and the foundations we have out here in hong kong, it's about corporate governance and control of the rights and respects of shareholders. >> reporter: hong kong has begun to reconsider. alibaba will watch future developments in the chinese

stock markets. they value it up to $200 billion, which would make it the second biggest internet company in the world after google. but then again, this principal has served hong kong well as an international financial center that protects ordinary shareholders. given the scale of the deal, this is unlikely to be the final word on hong kong and alibaba. linda yu, bbc, world news. >> st. patrick's day is an international celebration of irish culture not just in ireland. it stretches from britain, u.s., canada and way beyond. irish companies with go about the business of promoting their brands, bailey's, guinness to not so traditional mcdonald's and walmart. companies are all key to tap into the luck of the irish to

boost shares. with me is ian quinn. it's odd, isn't it? this is free for everybody. i could dress up in a bit of green and borrow a little bit of irish luck. anyone can do it really. >> i have my green tie on today. happy st. patrick's day. and it is available for anyone to use. but there lies the danger. >> yes. what kind of brand is it? what do you say when you dress up in green or wear a shamrock. >> you are trying to associate with the fun that the irish can be. you can associate with the irish products. you can associate with a wide number of irish people around the globe. look at the american presidents. they call came to be of irish decent.

>> it doesn't do them any good? >> i think so. >> does it actually benefit them? >> if you are an irish brand you can probably use more humor than if you are a nonirish brand. respect to the irish is very important. if you produce things for st. patrick's day which the irish would be upset about you will probably get negative publicity. >> i was just thinking about mcdonald's. it manages to do it. if it's going to have any kind of affiliation. you can recognize the green color of st. patrick's day. the irish celebrations. a green milkshake. very identifiable. it's a special day. it's only one day a year. therefore a little bit of change in the retail market, in the corporate market. slightly different audience.

you're refreshing yourself. >> and it goes way, way beyond these shores, doesn't it? >> yes. >> australia and back again. >> in brussells, the irish pubs will do very well today. >> thanks very much indeed for that. that's it. happy st. patrick's day for everybody. back with more business news at the top of the hour. i'm jamie robertson. co: i've always found you don't know you need a hotel room until you're sure you do. bartender: thanks, captain obvious. co: which is what makes using the hotels.com mobile app so useful. i can book a nearby hotel room from wherever i am. or, i could not book a hotel room and put my cellphone back into my pocket as if nothing happened. hotels.com. i don't need it right now. reckless seeding... ...failure to disappear.

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hello. i'm jim watson. this is "sport today". here's what's coming up on the program. despair for david moyes and manchester city. a defeat at home to liverpool. djokovic to win the indian wells masters. england's charlie hall wins her first title just a few days before her 18th birthday. hello and welcome to the program. liverpool captain steven gerrard called himself general kwraoeupb title contenders. wayne rooney called it one of his worst days in football. the result moves liverpool second in the table, four off chelsea with a game in hand. liverpool's first two goals came courtesy of the captain from the penalty spot.

he hit the post with his sides. manchester united lie in seventh. 18 points of the leaders chelsea. does manager david moyes think they will play in the elite conversation next season? >> it will be very difficult. it's not over yet. we have to keep going towards trying to do it. i've been saying for a while i'm giving myself a long task to try to get back in it. i have to take my seat. it made it very difficult for us. half-time wasn't a great deal. we conceded a penalty kick. and there was a handball from johnson. that wasn't given. but nevertheless i have no equals with it.

>> problems then for david moyes. what of brendan rogers? does he follow the opinion of steven gerrard that his side are title contend senators. >> listen, we will just folks on the next game. as cardiff. if you think we have a chance then, right it. it's obviously a big win against two of the biggest british clubs. but to dominate the game like that was pleasing. >> he knows just how big that was. contesting the premier league title are arsenal, who beat tottenham 1-0, to move third in the table. they are four points off the leaders and have a game in hand. thunderbolt from rosicky after 22 seconds. it was the only goal in the game and proved diseasie i decisive

second half. the first victory at white hart lane since 2007. news of a lionel messi hat trick in a moment. but first real madrid remain league leaders. elche and real betis goalless. barcelona 7-0 over osasuna. and it was messi who got three goals making him the club's all time top scorer in all forms of the game. the record stood at 369. his second goal 370. his third taking his tally to 371 barcelona goals. before showing signs of getting back to his best after losing two months to injury, they are one point behind madrid.

to italy now. a free kick from pirlo before full time. roma and napoli both play on monday. well, things still tight at the top of the argentine league. cologne and estudientes 15 points from 8 games now. they missed the chance to go two points behind. they had to settle for a draw. the goal coming in the first half from giglioti. they barely created any real clear-cut chances. what a goal it was. have a look at this. that goal coming with just four minutes remaining of normal time. leonardo with that vital goal. what a finish it was. 1-1. novak joe sroebg beat roger fedor in the indian wells

masters. it was his 33rd meeting. what a match it turned out to be. federer at the bottom of your screen now. looked like the federer of old. taking the first set. this was in the third set tie break. and that was before federer played into the net. match for djokovic. the pair renewing their rivalry. 17-16 in the head-to-head record. >> much better than he did in the last 13, 14 months. i needed to really be on the top of my fame. and very concentrated to win. that's what i've done. very proud of my achievements during this tournament. i've played three, four matches. three sets. a couple of matches came from a set down. mentally this definitely helps my confidence.

>> panetta won in the final beating radwanska. she needed treatment on a knee problem. she called for a medical time-out early in the second set. it really made no difference. panetta chalked up 20 winners. saved both break points to win her 10th singles of her career. 6-2, 6-1. on to cricket now. the second day of the world 2020 in bangladesh two groups of four teams play a series of round robin matches. the top side from each will progress to play against the established cricketing sides. that's in the second round which begins on friday. on sunday, wins for the hosts and the group a. the netherlands faced the united arab emirates.

ireland taking on zimbabwe. they won the toss. zimbabwe, 163 from 5. charlie hall has won in morocco. what a birthday present it was. this was her seventh with an impressive bird y. career best 632. great scenes on the 18. caddy getting a soaking as she did. not a bad 18th birthday present. that brings you up to date on this edition of "sport today". thanks for watching us. bye-bye. (vo) you are a business pro.

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how many contacts you can reach with a platform. and smart voice mail service libon added open chats. it allows you to send pictures, audio, location data and more to any of their contacts no matter what messaging service they use. this open system has the big bonus that your contacts won't be plagued by sign-up requests in order for you to message them. they can see in a web browser if they don't have a smartphone. you'll get free hd voice calls on 3g, 4g and wireless. your service provider might charge you for data when not on wyoming. there are so many other options in this space we could be here all day, so i'll just pick out the highlights. with facebook forking out $19 billion for it recently,

whatsapp has to get a mention. as with all of these app-to-app services it will draw through your contacts to identify people you can connect with when you first install it. the king of the multimedia chats in asia is wechat with 250 million users. with similar features to whatsapp. it adds qr codes, which is an important feature for those writing in chinese style languages which use thousands of characters rather than the latin alphabet the western qwerty keyboard is customized for. another popular platform service

is kik with features similar to whatsa and wechat. you don't need to send personal details like phone number or e-mail address. instead, you create a user name. so it's perfect for connecting with people you might not want to be in contact with forever, like on holiday or through a dating site. for an alternative in the private messaging leanup, it is available on blackberry. you show a p.i.n. rather than your personal information. as well as privacy benefits, you might find a lot of your friends are using this app, as it had over 75 million users before blackberry ran into troubles a few years ago. if you are a total privacy freak, then telegram messenger

is one app gaining a lot of traction lately. messages between users are free and private. because of the distributed service setup, they're fast too. it's only days for this app. only the ios and android versions are official. as it is an open api project, meaning the source code to built compatible apps is freely available for other developers, there are a lot of unofficial builds coming on line for other smartphones and even a desktop client. you can also initiate a secret chat which heavily encrypts messages. it prevents the other chatter from forwarding messages.

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hello. i'm geeta guru-murthy with "bbc world news". our top stories. after mass celebrations following sunday's referendum the parliament in crimea declares independence from ukraine. eu ministers meet to discuss possible sanctions against russia saying the vote was illegal. the search widens for malaysia's missing airliner. in kuala lumpur it has become a truly global operatio