first to lawrence lee at the airport. he's on the line from there. now, lawrence, what is the situation there right now. do we have any idea who the men are, the interior minister says that they are russian force, but they are in unmarked uniform? >> yes, the interior ministry has said that, and the ukrainian security services told us several hours ago that categorically they were sure that they were russian forces from the russian bases. if that's the case, given that the russian agency said the russian forces are surrounding the military airport an hour away from here, you'd have a situation where the returnan forces are outside the perimeter of the civilian and military airports in crimea. i've been here for five hours this morning. nothing has changed and nothing is changing either. there were a load of rumours swirling around, some of the pro-russian civilians claiming that a pro-russian politician from moscow is flying in, and they were here to protect him. others suggested the interior ministry from kiev were flying in and they were here to kee

but first, lawrence lee is in crimea. >> there are attempts to turn the capital into a source of kiev but the reverse. the parliament building in the hands of heavily armed men protecting it from what they see as undemocratic forces. their support is not so many but eager to tell you they would like nothing more than russian tanks on the streets to protect them. >> american army was supported in different countries. today we support russian army because everyone of us has relatives in russia. >> the police line staffed by just a handful of uncertain looking men didn't look very impressive. the small group proves just how unimpressive it was. the point being that they wanted to tell the armed group in charge of parliament that they were with them and that they were in control. >> so it is pretty obvious who is in charge here. the police line simply melted away as these people obviously said they wanted to hold the protest right in front of the building which is under control of this apparently armed militia. but the moment, there is nobody to stop them doing more or less what they feel

lawrence lee reports when europe's new proxy war. >> the premier capital.nto a source of kiev but in reverse. the building known as dozens of apparently heavily armed men, protect thing fit what they see as profoundly to protect them. >> because american armies was supported in different countries today we support russian army, because every one of us has relatives in russia. >> the police line started by just a hand full of uncertain men. the small group proved just how unimpressive it was. >> the the misline, such as it was, simply melted away, as these people obviously said they too hold the protest right in front of the building but the moment here, there's nobody to stop them doing more or less what they feel like. >> now a daily protest as well outside the administrative building, today surprise guests, hard line russian nationalist, and member of the russian parliaments. he went to talks with the russian mayor in this supposedly ukrainian city. this woman could barely hide her fury. we educated them, they could barely read before we taught them. they

lawrence lee reports.gainst ongoing concerns that the precious metal has been going through, and trading floors without proper checks demanded by the united nations and others to ensure it hasn't come from war zones in africa. >> and that's why this man's testimony matters. he was in charge of an audit team, whose client is one of dubai's largest gold refiners. >> my team was getting the job to audit the gold refineries in dubai. again, the dubai based regulatedded guidance and u.k. based regulated guidance, to ensure that they dot no process or trade conflict gold. >> he claims they were told large quantities were being traded in cash, that set off one alarm bell. >> one of the refiners was dealing with cash transactions of over 5.2 billion u.s. dollars in one year. >> that struck you as odd? >> it is very odd. you are dealing with a circumstance that the whole world is saying we need traceability. and once you use cash, just cut that traceability. in a city like dubai, where you find a lot of bags and it

lawrence lee is at that airport for us to tell us what the situation is. >> as night falls here, theussian or pro russian forces who have been in control of the perimeter of these buildings for more than 12 hours now are absolutely still in control. they're very relaxed. there's no sense of tension here at all. in the last few hours, some have tried to suggest it is not pro russian forces who are in fact in charge of security here. i have to say that is either disingenuous or at worst a complete lie. for the whole time that we've been here, there's been absolutely no attempt by anybody to budge these people from their positions and what it appears to be is yet another expression of which the expense of which kiev is losing its grip on crimea. >> on thursday, people in the pro russian block in crimea have told us they would welcome russian troops. by first light on friday, it seems they may have got their wish. at the civilian airport, they didn't remain being filmed. a man came forward to explain in a manner of speaking. >> we want to prevent the arrival of fascists and radicals from

lawrence lee al jazeera on the uk irish border. >> and thousands of students march through the streetson thursday. and demanding justice for two students killed during antigovernment demonstrations the previous day, three people have died, 66 others injured and 69 people have been arrested during protests across the country. parliament in india had to be evacuated on thursday after an mp pepper sprayed the chamber and chaos broke out as politicians came to blow over a bill to create a new state. and gerald reports. >> reporter: debates in parliament often heat up but this session in india got hot, then spicy when an mp resorted to pepper spray and chili powder causing mayhem. >> translator: the politicians fought with each other and came to blows and after that a kind of gas was released and they started coughing and the eyes started watering. >> reporter: the mp was protesting against a contentious plan to create the new south earn state and carved from poor districts and also include a wealthy it hub. several mps tried to stop the bill from being voted on during their scuffle the pep

lawrence lee takes a look at the rising tensions in crimea. >> there's attempts made to turn the crimea capital into a kiev, but in reverse. the parliament building in the hands of dozens of heavily armed men, protecting it from what they see as undemocratic forces. the support is not so many, but eager to tell you that they'd like nothing more than russian tanks on the streets to protect them them. >> the american army was supported in different countries. we support russian army because every one of us has relatives in russia. >> the police lines served by a handful of men. it didn't look impressive. the point being that they wanted to tell the armed group that they were with them, and that they were in control. >> so it's pretty obvious exactly who is in charge, the police line as it was, simply melting away as these people said they wanted to hold their protest in front of the building, which is under the control of this armed militia. at the moment there's no one to stop them doing more or less what they feel like. >> today's surprise guest sergie milarnav, hard line nationalist an

lawrence lee reports. >> reporter: northwestern ireland, the farther reach of the united kingdom.e, pretty, but nobody is much so why not frac for gas? but there are people here, and they rely on the land for tourism and air and water for life. when the g8 met this year, all of the security people got furious anti-frac-ers. >> it is going to spoil everything. it will completely change. it's also irreversible which is a huge worry for humans. >> reporter: so they are planning something here which hasn't been tried before in the uk, asking the people in a referendum if they want frac-ing or not. >> it's very, very important that we have an informed, we reach a conclusion, if the conclusion is that the people don't want it, then i expect everything would respect that. >> reporter: environmental groups which are trying everything from blocking roads to legal actions against it, say local referenda could be taken throughout the country. >> the government is really trying to circumvent what local people really think. so a series of referenda would be something we would be keen to look a

. >>> oppositions in the uk proposals over frac-ing appear to be growing lawrence lee reports from northernland about the growing concerns about what frac-ing might do. >> reporter: this is the farther reach of the united kingdom. nobody is here much so why not frac for gas? but there are people here, and they rely on the land for farming and tour and air and water for life. when the g-8 held its annual meeting here all of the security people who feared antiglobalization protesters instead got furious anti-frac-ers. >> it will completely change the environment. and it is irreversible. if it goes wrong then there's nothing you can do. >> reporter: so they are planning something here, asking the people in a referendum if they want frac-ing or not. >> it's very, very important that we are informed and reach a conclusion. if that conclusion is that the people don't want it, then i would expect that everybody would respect that. >> reporter: academic studies are suggesting that public opinion are looking increasingly uncertain about frac-ing. environmental groups say local referenda could be tak

lawrence lee, al jazerra, london. >>> it's a blow to bit coin one of the biggest players in the virtualsuddenly goes off line putting millions of dollars at risk, kilmeny duchardt has the reports. >> reporter: he takes all major credit cards here and cash, but he really prefers bit count. >> credit card processes takes a couple of days for them to do it. with the bit count processing, we get a debt i object th it's e than. >> reporter: bit coin, investors manage them through exchange, but the industry was turned on its head on tuesday when the company abruptly stop trading. it's like a bank suddenly closing its doors without warning. if you log onto their website you'll see this statement saying it's shutdown to protect its users. but that hasn't satisfied some of its customers who traveled to the headquarters in tokyo to find out where their money was. >> i trade in bit coins which at the time before they started which was worth about $300,000. so it looks like that's disappeared. >> reporter: reports say nearly 750,000 bit coins are missing. potentially worth $350 million. all of this

lawrence lee reports from northern ireland.ay find some of the details in his report disturbing. >> reporter: it's long closed now, but for years and years this place was home to little girls who's parents couldn't hope and who were advised by the catholic church that it was the best place for them. little girls like this. made to eat her own vomit if she refused food. >> translator: if a toilet blocked, rather than pay a plumber, i had to go out of my classroom, and she made my kneel beside the toilet, and put my hand in and carry the excrement and carried it with my hands to the next toilet. the priests used to take me in the back and tell me god was happy with me. and i don't have to say any hail marys because he was very happy with me, and he would make me do things. sometimes he would make me kneel between his knees. >> reporter: south of the border is the catholic republic of ireland who has already had to come to terms with organized abuse. but the united kingdom is not a catholic country and this is a small town, so how

lawrence lee reports from london. so it seepings it might have come down to this. the pound or more specifically, what currency might or might not be able to rely on. three major political parties put up their key spokes men to sky that an independent scottman would with not be able to join acornsy union with the rest of the u.k. the evidence shows it would work, if scotland walked away from the u.k., it walked away from the pound. >> the argument runs like this. and can therefore set interest rates that suit them all. the argument in london is that the euro -- if scotland goes down next, the rest of the u.k. shouldn't have to prop it up. on the scottish question, not so much an appeal to stay within the union, but a direct threat as to who might happen to them if they decided to break away. bear in mind, the very large number of undecided voters this in an attempt too it appears to make people's minds up for them. >> the scottish nationalists are well, unimpressed with the idea that they like greece and the u.k. is like germany. >> the reason greece -- has nothing

lawrence lee reports. >> reporter: northwestern island, the farther reach of the yuted kingdom.retty, but nobody is here much so why not frac for? but there are people here and they rely on the land for farming and tourism, and air and water for life. when the g8 held its annual meet here last year, all of the security got furious anti-frac-ers. >> it is going to spoil everything. the environment will completely change to a state we have never seen before. it is also irreversible. which is a huge worry. if it goes wrong there is nothing you can do. >> reporter: so they are planning something here, asking the people in a referendum if they want frac-ing or not. >> it's very, very important that we be informed and reach a conclusion. if that conclusion is that the don't want it, then i expect everybody would respect that. >> reporter: environmental groups which are trying everything from blocking roads to legal actions against it, say local referenda could be taken throughout the country. >> the government is really trying to circumvent what local people really think. >> reporter:

. >> reporter: thank you, lawrence lee at the airport and we will cross to walker outside of the airport robin bring us up to date on the situation there. >> we understand that the armed malitia took over the parliament building and the regional government here in simferopol and holding positions in the buildings and no sign of them. the police are keeping guard outside. meanwhile pro-russian supporters are gathering outside of the government and playing crimea russian music and a since very much here that things have fallen very much into the hands of those pro-russian forces with a new government being formed, a regional government here that is pro-russian, that has asked for russia financial support and assistance and also referendum tables for later this year in which crimea will be choosing what future it wants to have, whether it will remain an automous region and they are in control and backed up it seems by military forces on the ground. they want to seize crimea away from ukraine or looking to have a completely independent crimea or a crimea back in russian territorial control.

lawrence lee, aljazeera, london. >> that's all from london. back to jane in doha. >> thanks for that. mexican police seized rocket launchers and guns in western state made in the city that vigilantes recently liberated from the powerful nights templar drug cartel. hundreds joined a rural police force as part of a government initiative to drive out gangs across the state. >> one of mexico's top vigilante leaders claiming victory. he and his men say they with the security forces liberated the area from the cartel. over a vehicle are a atory lunch, he tells me. >> the government should worry about doing its job. if not, there's going to be an uprise that go they won't be able to control. >> the this is the only area the father-in-laws cancel their crops and cartel has controlled it. there are signs business is picking up. this man says things were slow when the gainings extorted shop keepers. >> things are looking up, but just. >> things ever changed in this market town. all the shops here last month were closed under threats from the cartel, but

. >> our thanks to tramon lee and wayne lawrence for their work on that story. watch a longer version by logging on to our website, msnbc.com. >>> and for something very different, tomorrow on "ronan farrow daily" we are taking a look at the people affected by the controversy raging around young miley cyrus and the consequences are far more serious than twerking. does the pop sensation exploit little people? one who performed in that notorious vma performance last year offers a harrowing answer. we have a firsthand account from her and a take from miss cyrus herself. here's a sneak peek. >> they are making us all sexual and beautiful. if you met brit knee, who is one of our amazing little people with us, she's like, we all were about lifting her up and making her feel so sexy all the time. >> we'll have the whole conversation on tomorrow's show. >>> but up next today, the clock is ticking for arizona's governor to decide on the state's controversial anti-gay bill. so why is she waiting to announce her decision? our daily panel weighs in. stay with us. let me tal

want to personally thank brian lawrence and bruce am as -- armstrong for their incredible assistance to getting us to this point and lastly my partner and brother-in-law lee for his tireless work for nearly 4 years in bringing all of the pieces of this amazing puzzle together. thank you everyone and everyone i did not mention. before i bring up the mayor, i would like to discuss something. we also install a time capsule. we want to make the time capsule more meaningful. in addition to burying it on the sight, -- site, we plan to have a display of it. most likely and most obviously it will be how dumb our smartphones are for that time. i guess i should show you what it looks like. we are actually not going to bury it today. we are going to take some suggestions. anybody ha has any interesting ideas, please be sure to let one of us know. so far our partners at kennedy are contributing aerial photos of the before version of this area surrounding the transbay center and to make this local and timely we also couldn't resist including a picture of the bat kid who put so many smiles on san franciscans around the world this year. next, we'll hear from mayor edwin

lee? if he just asked her that one question before firing her. >> well, look, i think obviously, lawrence,governor had asked that question and she had been forth coming in her information, that would be information that the governor's office would be able to share with us. and obviously just fundamentally we'd be farther along. but trying to go back and play monday morning quarterback as to would should have asked what and when, why didn't they have the curiosity or what curiosity did they have, is not going to help us move the ball forward from where we are today. it's why we took the extraordinary step, much like the governor did, we hired a nationally recognized firm with a very well-respected former u.s. attorney, who is very active in this case. >> new jersey assembly majority leader louis greenwald, thank you very much for joining us on this breaking news night. >> lawrence, thank you. >>> coming up, where all this leaves governor christie in terms of a political future. i've said already it's over, he has no real chance of running for president. tonight he made it even worse. that's

lawrence. well, hard to believe but facebook is now 10 years old today. and i think it's safe to say it's not a flash in the pan either. >> cnet editor at large brian coo lee-- cooley joans us now. >> all in the same breath but if you like at the traffic of the different social networks out there, facebook is actually larger by most measurements than the rest combined and often by a significant amount. this is a major thing can it's no longer something you can consider the internet fad or a trend. some of the reasons are, facebook is interestingly primarily a platform. and what the value that it's created there had is brought to them by us users. >> a lot of other companies actually have or build something. >> facebook is primarily a place where we come and build the traffic. that's where we're engaged in it. they figged out mobile and about 85% of the 1.2 billion geysers are using it on the mobile device and they found the way to sell them ads on mobile. most of the sites are struggling with that very hard and they have a rot of mobile -- lot of mobile users but not as much money on them when they're on the phone. facebook has figured that out. also the l