>> welcome to the journal coming to you live from dw in berlin. your headlines this hour, race against the clock. investigators look for clues to what caused the malaysian jet airline to vanish. plus tensions rise with rival demonstrations for russia and ukraine. we will go live to the correspondents for the latest. and a dutchman to the rescue.

>> it has been more than 36 hours since a jet carrying 239 people vanished in midair on route to beijing. a massive multinational air and sea search has failed so far to find any confirmed wreckage from the plane. investigators are baffled as to what could have caused flight 370 to abruptly disappear without a may day call. some of the focus turned to two passengers on board traveling with stolen passports. there is no evidence of sabotage or terrorism but the air force says the plane may have turned around before it disappeared from the radar. >> naffy planes spent 24 hours searching the sea in the gulf of thailand and at one point reported sighting objects that might be part of the missing plane but there is no way to

confirm that sighting. all that is certain is that aviation authorities lost contact with the boeing 737 airliner less than an hour after it took off. the flight left shortly after midnight local time bound for beijing where conditions were optimal. but somewhere over the sea it disappeared. it is still unclear what happened. asia's air force chief indicated the aircraft might have changed course. >> you look back at the recording and there is an dication that the aircraft may have turned. we are trying to make sense of this. >> including the possibility of terrorism. the passenger list shows the names of at least two people whose passports were reported stolen. one of them an italian told us how he made sure his lost

passport was cancelled. >> when they come back to italy and talk with police, italian olice. it can't be used. >> but the statement from interpol said nobody checked the validity of the stolen document. prayers were held at the airport for the 239 people that are missing. friends and family only can hope for the best but have been told to prepare for the worst. >> for the latest on this developing story let's bring in chris johnson who is on an island off of the coast of thailand. chris, more questions than answers at this stage. what do we know? >> still not very much. what we know is that more than 30 aircraft and 40 ships from the u.s., china and southeast asian nations are joining the search. the deputy army chief says

their low flying plane saw two objects in the water 80 kilometers southwest around sunset and it was getting too dark to move closer. they sent three boats there and they are hoping for a better look in the morning, a few hours from now. a journalist said he saw what appeared to be two oil slicks but officials said there is no hard evidence. >> and chris, potential game-changer here is that news of people that were not supposed to be on that plane in the first place. are authorities investigating this as an accident or something more sinister? >> well, they are not investigating it as something more sinister. at least two stolen passports were used to board the flight and they are examining other passports as well. the transport minister said they see the two imposters on

security camera footage and are trying to find out their real identities. but there is no hard evidence of any foul play. it is possible that those imposters were trying to immigrate to europe illegally as thousands do with fake pass porlts. >> we will just have to wait to see. chris, thank you so much for your update. let's turn now to the ongoing crisis in ukraine where tensions continue to amount ahead of a referendum on joining russia. people have been demonstrating in pro and anti-russian rallies. oscow tightens its grip by reenforcing its troop. so far no amount of international pressure made any impact on the kremlin. >> chants of russia filled the

air as thousands of people gathered. there is no doubt about which way these people will vote on leaving ukraine. around 60% are ethnic russians, identifying with the culture, language and traditions of their eastern neighbors. many believe their lives will improve if they join russia. it will be better off with russia economically and politically. russia means stability, peace, cheap energy and jobs. russian president putin made it clear he supports their bid to leave ukraine. but not all welcome that. at a much smaller pro ukrainian rally urged those to make their voices heard. it is an uphill battle.

we need to speak out in the run-up to the referendum otherwise there is no way back. once we are part of russia it will be too late. as many people as possible have to come out and protest now. addressing a rally to the ukrainian poet you are proud not to give up. >> this is our country. our fathers and grandfathers spilled their blood for this country. we won't give up a single sent meter of ukrainian land. let russia and their president know this. >> diplomatic efforts to find a solution to the crisis have been intensifying. due to meet barack obama for talks in washington next week. >> for more let's go live to our correspondent is standing by.

tensions are reaching fever pitch in the region ahead of this referendum taking place on march 16. will all ethnic russians vote yes? >> i think that majority will vote yes. they stand under the influence of very aggressive pro russian propaganda on russian state tv. they are the role that nationalists played in the revolution. so people here believe that a facist queue has taken place in central ukraine. they are not all ethnic russians that will vote yes. the other day the ukrainian fleet, i met a woman that told me while she was gazing at one of the ukrainian votes that her ukrainian husband a sailor was trapped on that boat for over a

week. he is there with all of the other sailors because they refuse to swear an oath to the russian army because they say they are ukrainian and want to stay that way and fight for ukraine if that is necessary. she said although she was russian and all of her friends and relatives were only now she discovered how much she loved ukraine and she was ukraine but she is as she is the minority. >> so far any international pressure in the amount of sanctions that have been imposed on russia had little impact. is this a done deal? >> well, having been here for days now you certainly get the impression like a done deal. people here are convinced that it is really happening. the pro ones and the critics also of this referendum. we hear news of russian troops

taking over bases or airfields by the hour. i think at the moment ukraine can't really admit they have to let go because they can't set a precedent here but it seems at the moment all they have to worry about is not to let the troops push further into continental ukraine. that is a critic of the movement. however this is a lost battle but not a lost war. the ukrainians taught us they not want to give up ukraine to russia. >> tell us how it is like working as a journalist there right now? not perceived here as neutral observers by the group or by many pro russian people. here again as i said they stay under that influence there of state tv. they portray that revolution as western organized so they think

that western journalists are covering up the fact that facists are in power calling from great britain and from the u.s. they have been beaten up and robbed. eggs are thrown at them. journalists from the west are not welcome. the only journalists welcomed here by the government by the pro russian people are those from russian state tv. >> all right. thank you very much. 1-0 victory. the game's only goal was scored in the 58th minutes denying vital points. n sunday's league kickoff --

now another coach is out of a job. stuttgart has fired thomas schneider. they were 2-2 at home on saturday after eight successive defeats. >> this was the moment that cost thomas schneider his job. leading 2-1 in the 82nd minute his team allowed a scrapy goal from the corner. for the sixth time in eight games stuttgart dropped point in the final minutes of a match. before that the game going to plan. stuttgart fought their way back from a 1-0 deficit and played with spirit and pace. evel after half an hour. five minutes later they were in front thanks to this fine piece

of skill. the thread came loose as the penalty shot was blocked and things unwraveled in the 82nd minute. the 2-2 draw felt like a loss for fans and coach. the new man at the helm parted ways with the greek side last week. he is no stranger. stuttgart will be his sixth job in the german top flight. 6-1 win was bayern munich's sixth in a row. they made things look easy in the second half. >> they appear unstoppable even when they give their opponents the head start. it was only the second time away from home they have been behind all season. how would they react? with an equalizer nine minutes

later. pounced on a rebound to make it 1-1. it was after the break they turned up the heat. a pass from tiago to make it 2-1. they wasted no time making it 3-1. this indeed four after a month out being injured. 5-1. >> now here is a round up of this weekend's results in full. back to winning ways with a 4-0 victory.

that is all for us for now. we will have more news for you in 45 minutes. goodbye. >> on monday pro russian troops surrounded all ukrainian military bases and it was clear that moscow had complete operational control. eu foreign ministers held an emergency meeting and condemned what they called active aggression on ukrainian territory. this is very delicate situation. and as we have already seen the gravest risk is that one side loses its nerve and makes a

rash decision that sends everything spinning out of control. the eu's foreign policy chief warned russia to withdraw its troops and to hold talks with ukraine's interim leaders otherwise she said moscow would face sanctions. >> the trial of sporting icon opened up in south africa on monday. the athlete is accused of murdering his girlfriend at his home last year. he claims he thought an intruder was in the house and that he was acting in self-defense. >> how do you plead? >> not guilty my lady. >> thank you. a double-a mputee he ran on pro setic legs. nicknamed the blade runner he made sporting history by competing against able-bodied athletes at the london olympics. the case generated global

headlines and the judge must decide whether her death was a tragic accident or murder. and the oscar goes to "12 years a slave." >> the historical drama "1 years a slave" won the best picture awards when the oscars ere handed out in los angeles. >> sit down. you are too old to be standing. >> matthew mccon hay picked up best actor as an h.i.v. positive homophobic cowboy in "dallas buyers club." and the most oscars, seven in all, went to the sci fi blockbuster "gravity." including the best directors award. cities in western germany celebrated the high point of the carnival season with street parties and floats strong on political satire. the nsa spying scandal was one

of the big themes at the parades this year and thousands oined the festivities. russian president vladimir putin said he saw no reason to use military force on tuesday but was not ruling it out. speaking for the first time since the removal of the ukrainian president putin said the west was backing an illegal government in kiev. what motivates the behavior of our partners? they supported an anti-constitutional and armed seizeure of power and declared these people legitimate and tried to support them. putin said that moscow still recognized him as the legitimate president of ukraine and denied russia sent troops there saying the soldiers there were local defense forces.

the unicef photo of the year cast light on syria's civil war on tuesday. the work of a swedish photographer captures the innocence and suffering of oungsters caught conflict. >> together with other injured people. the boy was badly burned and in shock. >> very few journalists are able to gain access to syria and the war remains largely unseen. but the conflict rages on. this week it was announced domascus would miss a major deadline to eliminate the stockpile of chemical weapons. >> a new study showed the extent of violence against women in europe. the survey found that 1 in 3 women in the eu suffered some

form of physical abuse. it was based on interviews with 42,000 women across the eu's 28 member states. the report revealed much of the abuse goes unreported and undetected by authorities. wednesday saw high level diplomatic efforts in pair toys nd the ukraine crisis. the western powers tried and failed to persuade moscow to begin direct talks with ukraine's new government. >> it is very difficult to talk about fair agreements to help the ukrainian people in the midst of threats and ultimatums. >> hours of diplomatic discussions brought no break through. >> i am not happy with the overall result.

at best i am satisfied the parties involve instead conflict that we spoke to do not want to escalate things further but there are pivotal days ahead. >> the u.n. special envoy was surrounded by armed men and forced to seek refuge in a cafe. he had been sent to assess the situation on the ground for the u.n. outside a crowd chanted russia. he cut his trip short and flew to instan bull directly after the incident. the national's people congress opened up in china bringing together the country's government leaders. the chinese premiere gave his first policy speech and announced the biggest increase in defense spending in years and promised to intensify measures to tackle pollution. a small group of demonstrators outside the event was quickly

removed by security. >> corruption allegations continue to dog the turkish prime minister and on wednesday he admitted some of the audiotapes were genuine. he appears to interfere and discuss fixing a bid for a public contract. newspapers, television networks and the internet post recordings like these every day. sometimes they are reedited or simply faked. some of it may be legal but the newest releases are clearly against the law. >> he says the leaks are part of a campaign to discredit his government ahead of local elections planned for the end of march. he has threatened to ban youtube and facebook. saying that they are being abused by his political enemies. >> political stakes were raised in the region on thursday unanimously voting the

territory would break away from ukraine and be part of russia. we decided to set a referendum for the 16th of march, 2014. more than 60% of the population are ethnic russian and it is regions has status within ukraine but home to several other ethnic groups who fear separatism and closer ties with moscow. the u.s. president obama balm joined a chorus of western leaders condemning the referendum as illegal announcing the first sanctions aimed at moscow. eu leaders announced measures to punish russia agreeing to suspend visa and investments talks after an emergency meeting in brussels and said tougher economic sanctions would follow if moscow did not reverse their course. they want putin's government to sit down and hammer out a

political solution with the interim government in kiev. >> what we want is a diplomatic process. we will be directing all of our efforts towards achieving that in the next few days but we must also make it clear that we have been disappointed several times in that area and we are ready to act and we are prepared to meet at any time. >> the eu is standing behind ukraine's new leaders and will support them with a financial aid package. >> the german president was on a three-day visit to greece this week. he met his greek counterpart in athens on thursday and the issue of wartime reparations again reared its head. he rejected greek calls for germany to pay compensation for crimes during world war ii and said the matter was settled by a 1960's agreement. he later visited the village where the nazis massacred more

than 80 people in 1943 in reprisal for an attack by the greek resistance. it was one of the dark chapters in german history and he acknowledged germany would always carry a moral debt for its actions. >> what happened here was a beastly injustice. and with a sense of pain and shame i apologize to the families of those killed. >> anti-german sentiment has rizz then greece since athens received an international bail out. many blame germany. >> european conservatives picked their candidate for the eu's top job as european commission president. delegates chose him at a european people's party congress in dublin ahead of

elections in may. he is a veteran of eu politicals and international cr court in the hague convicted a former militia commander of war crimes on friday. he was found guilty of involvement in a 2003 massacre of more than 200 civilians in a village in congo. he was cleared of other offenses, including rape, deploying child soldiers and keeping women and girls as sex slaves. >> the winter paraolympics kicked off. they are a landmark in russia. russian president vladimir putin officially opened the games as the tense stand off continued. the dispute played out in the stadium and ukraine sent out just a lone flag carrier to

protest against russian actions. ukraine's other athletes all boycotted the ceremony. the german team refused to carry the russian flag. and that concludes our revc