Tense moments at the u. N. This afternoon as the Security Council debates the growing crisis in ukraine and it is coming hours after russia denied the reports issuing an ult mate yum to crimea. Nick schifrin is live in the capitol of crimea and nick, you said there is a russian siege going on in crimea and describe what you mean by that. Tony, the russian ouk pags is expanding and the crimeian people are letting that happen. The bases here, the russian flags are flying on those bases and trenches are being dug by the russian soldiers, but the russians and inside of the biases, if there ukrainian soldiers, some of the bases they are negotiateing and they are talking to the russians and urging them not to come in and others ukrainians are battening down the hatches and going inside and they are out a numbered and out gunned by land and by sea as well. Two ships are surrounded and stopped from leaving by Russian Naval ships and those ships who we believe according to the local reporters there are given the ult mate yum to the ukrainian ships. Thats whats happening now. This is increasing and not necessarily here but major installations and outposts more russians and not less, more russians are coming in and the ukrainians are doing little about it. These moves are being greeted and welcomed by some on the anyones la. Yes, it is very interesting. We are outside of the base where the russian flag is flying and i talked to a mother and she said we want these people for protection and we are fearing what happened in kiev and the protests that run out of the prorussian president , that the protests will come here. Tony, there is little protests here. This is a majority pro russian peninsula and the notion that the protests are coming here are from the Russian Media and the people here are watching the russian tv and that is feeding the notion and they are believing that. Not all of the people are believing that but most of the people here are pro russian and for the intervention. Thank you, nick schifrin. There is a lot of at stake and ukraine has a number of military bases there. With russia in control of crimea, they are going to push out ukraine all together. It is based at the port and home of submarines and five warships are based there and 25,000 russian soldiers are stationed there and last week putin sent 6,000 more and thousands more are coming on top of that and seized the airports in crimea and a northern top and surrounded the ukraine bases in a number of the towns and those bases are cut off, but ukraines troops are remaining inside. And russian taking over the earn tip of crimea, it is 12 miles from russia and a way of bringing in more soldiers. The larger consider is that putin wont stop with crimea. Many speak russian there. And the supporters are raising the russian flags across the east there. Today pro russian demonstrators stormed a government building there and demanding the region split from kiev and that is stoking the fears as conflict could escalate and if it does it is not going to be a fair fight because of the numbers, russia with four times the number of soldiers as ukraine. The u. N. Holding a special session today and the back and forth centered on the presence of the Russian Troops in crimea and russia is responding by a formal request by the ousted president Viktor Yanukovich. John, the russians are saying it is this request by the must call him the former president of ukraine that provided the rational for the actions that russia is taking in crimea . Well, it is an excuse for it. The meeting was called for this afternoon at around about 3 15 and this is the third time in four days that the u. N. Security council charged after looking at the peace and body of the world is summoned to discussion the situations in crimea, the previous two summoned by the ukrainians and this is summoned by the russians. We said what are you going to talk about and he said wait and see, it was called by the russians to explain to the rest of the world to us, what the situation is. The new bit to come out of this he read a letter from the former president Viktor Yanukovich that was russians man in ukraine in which Viktor Yanukovich asked for the Russian Forces to come to the aid of ukraine. Take a listen to the long standing Russian Ambassador to the u. N. Reading the letter. The country is in outright terror and driven by the west and people are persecuted on political and language grounds and i appeal to president of russia putin to use the Russian Federation to protect the people of ukraine. So the reading of the letter is new, and that is very interesting, but the russian position, tony, has not changed, the russians they are coming to aid of the people in the ukraine, particularly in crimea because they are seeing the opposing of Viktor Yanukovich, the removing of him from power as a coup by the European Union and the United States. Well, harsh words in response a to russias justification for moving the forces into the ukraine, what did the u. S. Ambassador have to say. Yes, shes the u. S. Ambassador to the u. N. And saying what are you kidding me, when did moscow suddenly care about human rights. What might think that moscow is a Rapid Response of the arm of the human rights and so many of the assertions made by the Russian Federation are without basis and reality. Lets begin with the facts. It is a fact that Russian Military forces have taken over the Ukraine Border costs and the Ferry Terminal and russian ships are moving in and around, and it is a fact that Russian Forces are blocking the Telephone Services and it is fact that russia surrounded or taken over a the Ukraine Military military facilities and journalists are continuing to report no evidence against russian or pro russian communities. It is also a fact that the five permanent members of the Security Council have a veto, including russia, and whatever they come up with is likely to be vetoed by russia and now inching forward in mediating the crisis. Thank you, john. During the address to the u. N. Security council the Ukraine Ambassador accused russia of under mining the tactics. Persons are planning to attack and possibly kill russian soldiers presented as if the attacks were by ukrainians. That is used for an excuse against ukraine. Russia and the United States and ukraine is calling for a Fact Finding Mission if they are at risk of attacks. President obama is saying that the russian movements are violating International Law as this consider the sanctions to end the crisis, mike is at the white house for us, what did the president have to say about the crisis today . Now is the time to decide about russia and the actions. Two paths, it can continue on the current course and over time that is costly proposition and referencing are sanctions that are in the works. Or it can take the off ramp, and proposal to put monitors in crimea and monitor the concerns and the persecution we heard about that the russian government is alleging being perpetrated against the russian speakers in crimea. Tony, on any other a day when the Prime Minister appears at the white house, Iranian Nuclear program and peace talks, those would be the topics being discussed, instead it was this emerging crisis in ukraine, the president sat down with Prime Minister in the oval office and in photo op this is what president obama had to say. What can be be done is russia with inpunty to put the soldiers on the ground and violate basic principles that are recognized around the world and i think the strong condemnation that it received from the countries around the world indicates that russia is on the wrong side of history on this. Secretary kerry has a speech coming out this evening and getting on a plane and headed to kiev and might be meeting with the russian counter parts along the line, per happens in rome before or after the meeting, but going to ukraine and talking about what the United States can do to provide economic help. Mike, thank you. Joining us from washington to talk us through some of the knew yanss of all of this, william miller, a former ambassador, president obama is saying that the steps that russia has taken are violating the sovereignty of ukraine and integrity and violating the International Law, is the president correct in all of the points . Yes, he is. Russia undertook in 1994, in return for ukraine giving up the Third Largest Nuclear Arsenal in the world to guarantee to ukraine that it would be free from any political, military, or economic pressures or coercion, this was reaffirmed again at the end of 1994, and repeatedly since. Its very clear what is taking place now in crimea is a violation of treaty obligations that russia itself made in concert with the United States , ukraine, france Great Britain and china. And so why is this happening . It is a huge political mistake. The notion that ukraine is a part of greater russia is very strongly held among many russians. This for his historical reasons. Russian was founded by kievian princesses and it is a much younger state than ukraine. And the close Cultural Heritage of the peoples in the slovak world is behind this unfortunate mistake. All right. One last question for, what is at stake for the United States, we like to be able to share with those who are watching us, why this particular story matters to them, so what is at stake here for the United States with what is going on right now in ukraine . Well, i think it is peace in the world. This is a tender box that could ignite a catastrophic war. No question that ukrainians will defend their homeland. Theres no question that ukraine up to this point has been restrained and asking for the help of the peace loving nations of the world, and i think as a member of the United Nations as russia is a member of the United Nations, that we should Work Together to preserve the peace and the territorial integrity and sovereign of ukraine. Thank you so much for your time. Former ambassador from ukraine. The crisis is sending real tremors throughout the financial markets. Real money is joining us with that side of the money. How negative are the reactions . Depending on where you are. In america it is less than earlier in the morning, than wen the flashing was that the russians were telling the ukrainians to surrender or the war is upon them. The market has pulled back. The dow is 154 and the s p and nasdaq less than that. They are big losses, not t terrible and the russian stock market down a lot. The ruble fell. Gold us up 2 . Oil was up as well. So there definitely a market reaction. I would say that in 2014 more than the potential war than the ambassador is speaking about, we are just very worried about economies, sort of crumbling and coming apart and the effect that has around the world. Ali, shock wave to the Energy Prices . Yes, oil prices, that is global, that rose 2 , 105s a barrel now and we are going to feel that at the pumps and the price natural gas in germany and uk jumped 10 . Germany is an Industrial Power house and depends on natural gas for electricity and call coming from russia, 40 of the the natural gas coming from russia through the ukraine and that is not good news. This is not affecting u. S. Natural gas. We dont want to see russia pushing europe back into a recession because we all know that hitting us all. What other aspects are you looking at . I am looking at a guy that bidding plumbing and manufacturing parts and he exports them and invests in a factory operation in crimea, and hes doing this for a while and i am going to talk to him about affecting his business so we are connected. Thank you, ali and thank you. We have a response to the ukrainian crisis on social media. Ukrainians are going online and expressing their feelings on what is happening in their crime. A woman is saying she wants peace, not war and take a look at this, this is a video going up on youtube yesterday and three little boys in ukraine who are speaking directly to the russian president putin and getting 13 views already and the kids are saying they live in the ukraine and have relatives in russia and visit and the father has to report to military and they are worried for him and mr. Putin i heard on tv you want to protect us, you dont need to protect us, we are safe and living well here. Some people are using illustrations to express them and pray for ukraine, this is a woman with a traditional flower and the colors here and a woman with the gas mask in her hands in prayer. Just as nick was saying, there are people supporting the Russian Troops and many of them putting the pictures of themselves with the Russian Troops behind them. Finally the people of crimea expressing their opinion without fear of consequences and here you have got actually been in contact with her, and shes russian and born and live in crimea and we are grateful to the Russian Troops along with them came our peace, we bring them food, hot tea and coffee. We are not in support of the coup government and seized power. Thank you so much. Coming up, israels prim minister visits the white house and president obama is saying it is possible to create two states. The u. S. Supreme court is taking on executing people even if they are mentally disabled. Still ahead. President obama is saying he and the israeli Prime Minister are committed to reaching a lasti lasting peace. Libby, talk about what came out of the meeting with the president and the Prime Minister. It lasted nearly three hours. At the beginning both of them talked to the media, one is negotiations over a nuclear iran and the other are the peace talks that secretary of state john kerry is sheparding the talks, and president obama directly addressed that in the oval house and commended the pri prim minister with seriousness and commitment. What they want is peace. We all want peace. Not a piece of paper, all though that too, a real peace, a peace that is neutral recognition of the two nation states and recognize and respect one another and solid security arrangements on the ground. You hear the Prime Minister talking about the perspective and saying one of the deal breakers that the palestinians have to recognize the state. Hes trying to emphasize the friendly shape between israel and United States. We are hearing from other speakers related to israel later on today. I can tell you more about that in a moment. Libby, you are at the apac summit and curious to what you have heard from the summit today. Yeah, it is interesting, we have heard from the members of congress and talking the relationships between israel and the United States, and we heard from senator mccain republican from arizona. Big critic of how president obama is handling a lot of International Hot spot po s in the world and about talks over a Nuclear Weapon free in iran. What senator mccain is sanctioned that kick in iran fails on one one of the tenants. We heard some firy words from senator mccain including the term sekless to explain the Foreign Policy plan of president obama. Senator kerry addressed apac and president obama is not speaking at the summit. He was here a couple of years ago. We are hearing from secretary kerry, expect him to address the question of iran and hell use a phrase hes used before, that the u. S. Is not trusting iran but testing iran. Thank you, libby. Russia is one of the Biggest Energy supplies in the world and the conflict in ukraine is throwing a monkey where you k w know wrench in the markets. Ukraine in crisis from violent clashes, to an uneasy calm. Really reminisent of cold war brinksmanship as International Tensions rise, stay with Al Jazeera America for complete global coverage. Dont miss a special america tonight, whats next for ukraine, and what it all means for u. S. Russia relations we are now deeply concerned stay with Al Jazeera America for continuing coverage america tonights exclusive on depth look at the ukraine crisis welcome back to Al Jazeera America. Russia is calling for a National Unity deal as it is tightening the grip on crimea. The new government is urging russia to get out and at the same time it is focussed on fixing the countrys deeply troubled economy. Phil itner has the report from kiev. Here in the ukraines capital, a fledging government is urning the russians leave and at the same time suring up the damaged economy. The new Prime Minister spoke to Business Leaders in kiev. The economy has become a hostage of the security situation that we have in ukraine. You know that the russians neighbors are aggressions toward ukraine. While ukraine is hoping to rebuild the economy, a skiddish market is dealing a blow the russians economy, their stock market losing 58 billion in a day. The western leaders are looking at economic leverage as the best response to russians actions. Still the russians have the boots on the ground and seem to be calling the shots. President putin inspected the russian boots by therd border. The russians are saying that the war games were planned months ago. Ukraine is beefing up the security along the borders of the country away from crimea and the eastern areas also pap ewe lated with many of the ethnic russians and that is why the Russian Foreign minister is moscows concern. This is a question of defending the citizens and ensuring humidity rights, and the right to life, those interpreting the situation and threatening us with sanctions and bow cots they have been encouraging the powers to declare ult mate yums. The consequences are eu and the u. N. Call calling emergency meetings to discuss ukraine and secretary of state kerry will be arriving in tuesday. The crisis is impacting the world economy, the stock markets around the world fell and the oil prices rose, more than 2 , since russia is one of the Biggest Energy suppliers. We have more on that part of the story. Yes, oil and Gas Resources are putting putin in a good position to uses the resources the try and strong the ukraine if he wants to. In fact, hes cut off the gas supplies to ukraine twice in the past 8 years. It is not hard to see why the goto weapon is the oil and gas and providing ukraine with half of the natural gas needs and russia is the biggest gas supplier to europe and what makes ukraine important is the location. It is a massive net work of pipelines and carrying 25 of the natural gas used in europe and any disruption is going to hit germany hard. Years ago, worldwide prices jumped sharply with the crisis. Winter is nearing an end and analysts are saying that ukraine has four or five months of gas in storage. Crimea is not on the transit route, however, the east of ukraine a lot of russian speakers there and if the kremlin seeks to broaden into those regions are that are on the transit routes we could see increases in the prices. Europe could rely on norway, which stepped up their production, but with all the pipelines they are disrupt the markets. Mainly in the form of rises gas prices in the u. S. And that doesnt help americas struggling economy. Thats for sure. Thank you. As World Leaders react, many of the residents are coming out in support of the Russian Forces. Russian and ukrainian troops are locked in a standoff. We are there and has more on the story. They arrived and blocked the access to the naval base in eastern crimea and inside the ukrainian servicemen refused to surrender and the residents of the village turned up to support the russians and the russian soldiers are leading up to the people to convince the ukrainians inside to switch sides. The soldiers pledge to be loyal to ukraine. If they put the guns down and join the people we are going to protect them and be grateful the to them. I hope they make the right choice. People are angry and suspicious by the prowestern government in kiev. America, we will not let you through they shout. Kiev accuses the russianing of inproviding crimea, to the russians living here they are saviors. They have been taking over parts of the region. Further to the north, we find an airfield under russian control. The soldiers dont talk much and one is saying he was deployed from russia two days ago and doesnt know how long hes going to be here. The border and ukraines mainland the soldiers are building a camp. We were prevented from filming. But the commander identified himself as from southern russia. Russians didnt come to invade, we came here and well return home after that the crimea people will determine the status and legitimate in front of all of the countries in the world. The referendum is coming up march 30th. We will never become one nation with the person part of ukraine because we have different mentalities. Their heroes are our enemies. Many here feel that the russian soldiers here is a necessary while they cant to quest for greater atonmy from ukraine. Earlier today i spoke with a director of the russian think tank. I asked him whether president obama was correct on the statements he made about ukraine today. Unfortunately president was misled by his advisers. Misled . Absolutely. Is nato mislead and u. N. Mislead . Sure, sure. They didnt violate sovereignty of the government. Explain that. The problem is though john kerry claimed that Russian Troops are invading ukraine, nothing happening. They are putting out the propaganda and no clue on what is happening, the problem in crimea, russia doesnt need to send troops accord to agreement between ukraine and russia, russia has unlimited bases and opportunity to locate over there 25,000 troops but russia has now a bit more than ten thousand. Why step up now and why send in the troops now . Nobody is sending troops. The problem is we are video of troops movement. These troops are the troops who are going to black sea forces deployed in peninsula. Russia has a lot of troops, but they can increase the number of them, according to the treaty they can send 25,000 troops and it is much less than 25,000. Another thing that is important, of course, crimea authorities are afraid that from kiev this tough arm will come and take and seize and capture the governmental buildings and airports and different kind of vandalism which they were doing the kiev, they blocked the bases where the you dont see that as provocation . Well, not invasion from russia. No, no. This is preempted actions because we have pictures when mobs seizing governmental buildings, killing the people, kicking out of government buildings and all legitimate authority. You are talking about the demonstration in kiev . And western shore. All these mobsters, listen, looking from our dont you see as internal ukrainian conflict to be managed by the ukrainians . Kiev has nothing to do with moscow and internal conflict, ukraine deeply divided country and deeply divided nation. So the coverages continues tonight. You will hear from arizona senator john mccain and real life stories of the People Living through the crisis in crimea and how life is changing there. Join us at 9 00 p. M. The conflict is a major issue at the u. N. Human rights council. A hundred ministers and officials address the council. Trying to ease International Concerns over their governments actions and in south africa, witness testimony began in the murder trial against oscar pistorius. The neighbor said he heard a womans screams on the morning that os core pistorius killed his girlfriend. In china three more arrests after a deadly stabbing ram panelling. It happened in the south western part of the county. The attackers were from a far western province. The trial for the al qaeda member in the United States started today. We have details on that and other stories making the news across america today. Tony, jury selection began in new york of the soninlaw of osama bin laden. Hes akiesed of conspiring to kill americans after the september 11th terror attacks and the highest ranking al qaeda leader to face a trial in the United States. Hes mistaken for a detainee for the same name he claims. In washington, there is a case of a florida inmate on death row and saying that florida cant execute him because hes mentally disabled but scoring over 70 on the iq tests and the state is not considering him mentally disabled and they are questioning the testing. In texas a Police Department is taking a new approach to repeat offenders. Officers are creating relationships with the people they keep cuffing. As a father of 7, mike is stretched thin. Like a referee at times. His 15 as aspergers and needs extra attention. Lack of understanding of other people. With the exception of a police officer, monique met him a year ago after running away from home. Hes part of the victimization unit and breaking the pattern of arresting the same people for the same crimes. Hall makes visits to mikes home becoming a familiar face to the troubled teen. He talks to her and hes excited to see her. After reviewing the data t police chief noticed a trend, most of the repeat activity came v coming from two groups vick tips and offenders that suffer from Mental Illness or violence. They are attempting to build relationships and stop crime before it starts. Becoming personally involved in their lives and establishing a relationship of trust and confidence. Ken bennett an officer for mental health, accompanies them on the house calls and checking up on the individuals with medication and treatment and reducing the amount of people going to jail and hospitals. Without repore, we dont have intervention and the one thing to say about this unit is when they go out and follow up with clients, they are building a repore. But us establishing the relationship and interacting with them and learning more about them we are seeing some things that may be an officer that gets the 911 call is not going to know or pick up on. They hope that the extra care is fewer calls for help. The efforts are working 79 of those tracked were no longer victimized in 2013. Hes been inpatient and taken medicine from a doctor and none of those things worked, this is a single factor that had a major affect on his life. A change which mike says positivively inspired the younger siblings. That is good news for the Bedford Police that are seeing far fewer arrests since the unit has been around. In new jersey, a High School Student is suing her parents, 18yearold honor student says her parents threw her out of the house and cut her off financely and asking the court to declare her dependent and have the parents give her financial sport and pay for the college education. The parents are saying she left voluntarily because of not wanting to follow the rules. I need you out of the house now. Well, we appreciate that. A winter storm making a mess across a large portion of the country today. More than 3,000 flights cancelled, icy roads and traffic jams like in texas. Same storm dumped several inches and dropped on some areas of pennsylvania and bringing washington to a stand still. Rebecca . Yes, being a meteorologist is a very interesting job. We have a pattern with the cold air from the west and the dry and warm conditions from the west and now to the old familiar. As we see whats happening to the west, we have had a sere ris of storms and rain and staying from San Francisco the the north. To the east the ice and snow is coming down. North carolina very difficult travel conditions. Raleigh National Weather Service Office showing the amount of ice on the trees here. This ice is coming on the roads and on decks and porches and difficult to get around. Nashville, tennessee and parts of st. Louis with the ice. The temperatures are cold, so cold this is the whole story is temperatures. So lets look at the records. Chicago here, this is impressive. Chicago for the winter third colder on record and third snowiest as well. All time cold for cities in nebraska. 40 degrees below the average. Minneapolis the coldest winter in 35 years. These records are continuing for the midwest and the east coast, tony. That is enough winter for the next three years. Thank you, we appreciate it. Despite the efforts from the venezuela protests going on for a month, the president is blaming the protestor for the 17 People Killed in the street violence. Paul is in venezuela where the demonstrations began and describe the mood there. Good evening, the mood is quite tense. This is the place where it began a month ago and starting with a Sexual Assault case and a student protest and crack down on the student protests snowballed into a series of protests, protests about shortage and lack of security and protests about the lack of freedom of speech and the failing economy, just the overall disorder and sense that something needs to change. You are seeing here, tony, that is a barricade here. The town is in a sense of lock down. They built the barricades the keep out the thugs and the military and the police. I have two of the people from the neighborhood with me. Tell me about what is the mood here like. O well, here people are very like, really mad because we want justice. We want to government the hear us because theres no food at the super markets, no medicines. Theres criminals out. The guardians are killing us because we want to protest in a free way. Because you are asking for free speech . Exactly. Tell me about the mood as well and the shortages, tell me more about what you are experiencing here . It is hard. We need to make long line, everybody we have no time. We go to work. Sometimes it is very hard. It takes so much time to buy the gas and the groceries that you cant get to work on time . Yes, very hard. We are all working and we have to buy the elements and we go and we go get gas, lines. Lines are very long . Yes. Life is becoming so inconvenient and Difficult People are fed up and the question is whats going to resolve this . The two sides are not talking and no end in sight. Those kinds of shortages in a country that is top ten, if not top five oil producer. Paul for us in venezuela. Paul, nice to see you. Coming up next, disney is not supporting the boy scouts because of the policy on gay scout leaders. Back in a moment. President from power, theyve torn down a state. Whats clear is that people dont just need protection, they need assistance. This is the real deal man. A real blow to the boy scouts today. Disney company is stopping donating to the organization because of its policy banning gay scout leaders. Nice to see you. Nice to see you. Disney is cutting the funding to the boy scouts of america starting next year and that means that disney is no longer giving the grants to troops or packs. Disz is ending the support because of the scouts bar gay adults from serving as leaders. Last year the scouts allowed gay boys and girls to join. They believe every person has the opportunity to be part of the scouting experience and this impacting the ability to serve the kids. I talked to a scout leader that was kicked out because she is gay. We hate to see the boys suffer financely, unfortunately these need to happen to make the boy scouts realize that they have to understand that the world is moving forward and if if they are not willing to move forward they are eliminate their importance in society. We reached out to disney and it referred us to the charity guidelines and not supporting groups that discriminate on race, religion or sexual orientation. Other companies that have taken a similar action because of this policy . Yes, there are organizations Like Major League soccer and martin that cut the fund for now. Thank you. And update on the top stories and then it is real money at the top of the hour. Theres more to Financial News than the ups and downs of the dow. For instance, can fracking change what you pay for water each month . Have you thought about how Climate Change can affect your grocery bill . Can Rare Minerals in china affect your cell phone bill . Or how a hospital in texas could drive up your healthcare premium . Ill make the connections from the news to your money real. This is Al Jazeera America, we have a look at the top stories, russia denies the rofrt reports of issuing an ultimatum to ukraine. The Russian Ambassador is saying it is there at the request of the former president of ukraine and it is making investors nerving outstanding. Russia is a big Energy Producer and fear of reducing the supplies the driving the prices higher. President obama is pushing for the Prime Ministers to meet. He blamed the palestinians for holding up the process and not recognizing israel as a state. North korea fired short range missiles and in response to milita military exercises and they were fired earlier today. Today was day one of oscar pistoriuss murder case in south africa. The blade runner pled not guilty this the escalating political crisis in ukraine threatens to spill beyond boarders, its effecting oil, gas, bonds, and wheat. And ill head to americas heartland in a family farm with a big stake in russia. Im