Transcripts For CNNW Early Start 20140317

Ukraine. Crimea voting to secede from the country and join russia. This morning the world refusing to recognize the landslide vote. Whats next for the people of ukraine, and will russia fight to create an addition to its country . We are live with what youve missed overnight. Good morning and welcome to early start. Im rosa flores. And im john berman. It is monday, march 17th, 5 00 a. M. In the east. First to the breaking, new developments in the search for Malaysia Airlines flight 370. This weekend the mystery, it deepened, as malaysian officials finally admitted this jet with 239 people on board was flying for many hours after its crew last spoke with air traffic controllers. And they believe it was turned deliberately off course. The search area has expanded again deep into kazakhstan and south into the southern indian ocean. Authorities are now looking into every passenger on the plane and the flight crew, a 53yearold captain and his 27yearold 1st officer. This weekend, both of their homes were searched. Investigators removing a Flight Simulator from the captains home. There are so many questions this morning. It is ten days after that jet first disappeared. Were going to talk to jim clancy right now in kuala lumpur. Jim, whats the latest . Reporter well, the latest right here is were expecting to get a briefing by malaysian authorities while investigators continue their probe of the pilots, their probe of all of the passengers as you describe. Some people beginning to wonder how it is that the flight crew would have allowed the pilot to veer that far off course, if it indeed was the pilot and not some other problem on board the aircraft. So, there are a lot of questions here today. There are questions coming from the families, mostly the chinese family members who are searching for their loved ones, hoping to see them again, blaming malaysias government as well as the airlines for not being forthcoming with the details, for leaving the search last week focused for so long on the South China Sea, when radar records by the malaysians themselves clearly showed that the plane had left the South China Sea on route to the indian ocean. So, all of these things add up. While the search continues to expand, new zealand, australia, south korea, japan, the United States and other countries all offering up aerial resources for reconnaissan reconnaissance, trying to cover much of that southern quadrant there, the countries like india and pakistan saying that we have searched our radar records, we have no trace of this aircraft. Were still waiting to hear from a number of countries as they try to eliminate the possibilities here. Were not in a position to pinpoint the plane, to look for the positive. Many times in this investigation, at least at this point, john, theyre going to have to settle just to eliminate some of the possibilities that did not happen. No, rule things out. That can be crucial in any investigation. Jim, there is a new report in the new strait times suggesting that these pilots were doing something called terrainmasking, flying below 5,000 feet. Explain to me what that means and what youre hearing about these possibilities. Reporter all right, possibilities. There is the correct word. We have talked with at least one of the investigators very close to this probe who has told us he, too, is pursuing possibilities, but these are theories about the flight. Could it have lowered its altitude in order to avoid radar . Did it rise above 40,000 feet in order to incapacitate the crew and the passengers, to render them unconscious . Theres all kinds of questions and theories that are being probed right now as they try to determine what possibly could have happened. What can we eliminate as a possibility . What is physically possible . What is physically impossible . Some of these theories about the altitude are based on radar records that everyone knows can be notoriously inaccurate, inaccurate because the plane was so far from the source of the radar, getting an accurate reading on altitude simply isnt that good. John . All right, so as of now, that report from the new strait times, no confirmation of that whatsoever. Just one of the many things right now that investigators are considering as they try to piece together what limited facts there are in this investigation. Our thanks to jim clancy in kuala lumpur. And as we mentioned, investigators are taking a very close look at the two men who were flying this jet, searching their home over the weekend and asking, why did that captain have a Flight Simulator for his own personal use . Saima mohsin has been looking into that part of the story, and saima, can you hear me . Are you with us . Oh, there she is. Reporter yes, i can hear you. Tell us whats the latest this morning regarding the pilots. We know that their homes were scoured over the weekend, that Flight Simulator was found. What are you hearing . Reporter yeah, that happened right across the weekend. What we know is that patrol cars were visiting both the pilot and copilot, the 1st officers house, for the past week since the disappearance of the flight, mh370. They were visiting every day, but they hadnt gone inside the house. Now, saturday was when things changed, when we first heard that the investigators are going ba back, they are reviewing every Single Person on board. Of course, that would be the crew and the passengers. And of course, the two crucial people who were flying the plane that night it disappeared, the pilot and copilot. We caught them just as they were leaving the copilots home. They were holding shopping bags, actually. Were not sure what was inside. I questioned them, why are you here, what were you looking for, are these people under some kind of particular investigation . They wouldnt answer us. They would simply say no comment. That was saturday. We understand they went back again sunday, and we know that sunday police rebuilt this Flight Simulator. This crucially was found in the pilot, captain zaharies home. They have rebuilt this Flight Simulator. They are now taking a look through it. They are still taking a look through it today. Theyve been doing that for the past two days. Were not sure what theyre looking for, were not sure what theyre finding so far, but they are trying to piece together, if there is, indeed, anything on that Flight Simulator that might give anything away. Heres what i know about it. Ive spoken to a friend of captain zaharie, peter chong. He told me that, look, this is something very normal, you know, dont worry about it. This is a Flight Simulator thats been built by an aviation enthusiast. Captain zaharie loved his job, he wanted to bring it home. He invited friends over to have a go on this Flight Simulator. It was nothing he was hiding. And in fact, he used to practice different scenarios and talk about them with his friends, trying them out in snowstorms, landing in difficult terrain. So, one poignant piece, rosa, is that he said that apparently, captain zaharie said i love setting myself these challenges, but in real life, its never that tough. Rosa . You know, we know little of the evidence, like you mentioned, the other evidence that was recovered from that home, other than the simulator. What about interviews with family or friends or acquaintances of these two people, of the pilot and the copilot . Reporter yeah, theyve both had their families sorry, investigators have spoken to both their families. We understand both on saturday and sunday police have spoken to them both. We havent seen anything of the two families since the disappearance of the flight. Obviously, you can imagine, they must be incredibly distraught and disturbed by the disappearance, not knowing whats happened to them. Ive been speaking to friends, family, next of kin of all the passengers here at various hotels that theyve been put up in here in kuala lumpur, and you can just imagine the psychological trauma they are going through. Some of them describe it as an emotional roller coaster. What we do know about the families is that captain zaharie was married to his wife, fisa. They had three children, two sons and a daughter in her 20s who still lived at home. The sons lived away from home. One of them was married and he had a grandchild, who apparently he doted on, according to his friend, peter. Now, the other 1st officer, the copilot, we know much less about him, but we do know that he still lived at home, he was in his late 20s. He lived at home with his parents, which is not uncommon in malaysian culture and society here. And that he was also just starting out in his career, really. But what i learned is that the neighborhood was incredibly proud of him. They said, you know, we had a pilot amidst us, and we all hope that that he comes back home safely. In fact, theyve been holding regular prayers every night. Rosa . Saima mohsin live for us in kuala lumpur. We appreciate the perspective. Thank you. Want to get more perspective on the investigation from steve moore. Hes a former supervisory special agent with the fbi. He oversaw investigations into al qaeda. Hes also a pilot. He joins us from los angeles. Steve, i want to start with the malaysian investigation right now, the fact that it took them a week to take possession of that Flight Simulator and go through it, the fact that they didnt scramble jets to trace those radar pings that was passing over Malaysian Air space one week ago when that flight disappeared. How confident are you right now in the quality of this investigation . Im not very confident at all about the quality of the malaysian investigation. Ive done investigations in that region years ago on al qaeda cases, and there is a tendency to jump to conclusions and to ignore the obvious. What im seeing here is a lot of speculation on their part that theyre coming out with as fact. You know, it was possibly terrain masking, or it went to 45,000 feet to incapacitate passengers. Its conclusitory and inaccurate. You mentioned the terrain masking. There is a report this morning in the new strait times suggesting whoever was flying that plane was flying below 5,000 feet, something called terrain masking. Explain to me what exactly that means, why someone would do it, and whether you think thats a credible lead to be following right now. Well, the reason you would terrain mask is you can fly down low enough to where the radar horizontally cant see you. Its kind of like losing your cell phone signal. But theres really no way that im aware of that they can pick up the altitude on that plane once the transponders turned off. So, its wild speculation, i believe. One of the other things thats developed over the last few days is this notion that the acars system, one of the flight tracking systems, the Data Transmission systems, was shut down before the last vocal contact, before the pilot said, all right, goodnight. What does that tell you . Again, its speculation, because what theyre saying is, theyre giving an intent, a motive, a conclusion to an act that theyve seen. Something turns off, something ceases to work, and they dont say it ceases to work. They say it was intentionally turned off. Well, i dont know that you have any way of knowing whether power was disrupted to that equipment or whether a hand came up and turned the knob. So, i think theyre making a lot of conclusatory statements that are confusing the issue and leading people off into different tangents. You spent a lot of time with the fbi. What are the concerns of the fbi, if you were working on the investigation, what would you be trying to do to go through the investigation and to break through to malaysians to get them to accept more help . Ive lived this before during the bombing of the the investigation of the bombing of the Jw Marriott Hotel in jakarta, indonesia, just across the street. We couldnt get permission to bring as many fbi agents as we needed to properly investigate. The malaysian im sorry, the indonesians couldnt process the crime scene. We had to depend on the australians. And then we find out that they were Holding Information back from us. So, i cant describe the level of frustration and how it really makes it almost impossible to conduct an efficient investigation. Youre a pilot as well. You know, what strikes you right now about what were hearing . What strikes me is that it seems to me to be hard to i mean, theres no explanation as to why an emergency locator transmitter hasnt gone off in the plane crashed. And at the same time, there is no explanation for me on how you can land a plane with 239 people on board, a 777, and not have somebody notice or see something. So, one of the two things is an anomaly. You either have a bad elt or you have some kind of weird situation where its on the ground and people have been able to hide it. I personally dont believe that its safely on the ground. I believe the other scenario is more likely. Steve moore, thank you so much for being with us, helping us to dissect this a little bit and understand the investigation and the frustrations involved with this investigation right now. Hopefully, well check back with him in a little bit. Appreciate it. Any time. There is a lot, of course, that we dont know, but we do know there were 239 people on that plane, including three americans, but most were chinese nationals, and their anger at the airline and the malaysian government is growing by the day. Pauline chiou is live in beijing with that part of the story. Pauline, good morning. Reporter good morning to you, rosa. There is so much frustration among these family members here in this hotel behind me. Were going into the second week of this mystery, and to be perfectly frank, they are just dumbfounded at the way this investigation has gone and the many directions its gone. Now, earlier today, we were in this hotel, and the video that youre looking at is of tempers flaring yesterday as relatives are trying to get answers and as also they were responding to a suggestion by Malaysia Airlines that they might be able to go home and that Malaysia Airlines would pay their return journey home. That was taken as an insult by these family members. Now, today, the relatives are going to be attending another briefing this evening, so were waiting to see what happens there. But earlier, one father of a passenger spoke with journalists. His name is mr. Wen, and he was very critical of the malaysian government. He said malaysia talked nonsense and lied, which delayed the search. We want an explanation for this. This is totally different from a plane crashing or having some sort of a problem, he says. Theyve cheated us and made the disaster worse. That is a sentiment that many of these families feel today on this monday in the second week. And keep in mind, rosa, many of these families are not only from beijing, theyre from all corners of china. They had to fly in from two, three hours away, and their lives are in limbo. They have no idea when theyre going to check out of this hotel and find out what exactly happened to that plane. Rosa . So many things in limbo, including their emotions because of their loved ones, because they dont know where their loved ones are at this point. Thank you so much. Pauline chiou live in beijing for us. So sad. So incredibly sad. How do you start to pick up the pieces when you dont know anything . Still ahead, much more on the mysterious disappearance of malaysian jetliner flight 370. But first, breaking news out of ukraine. Crimea voting to leave the country and join russia. Right now crimeas leader is heading to moscow, an emergency legislative session being held, and of course, the world is watching. We are live next. Dad, why are you getting that . Is there a prize in there . Oh, theres a prize, all right. [ male announcer ] inside every box of cheerios are those greattasting little os made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. Is it a superhero . Kinda. What if it were more than something to share . 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This provoked a strong response from president obama, calling russian president Vladimir Putin and promising the vote will not be recognized, at least not by the United States. Michael holmes is live in simferopol this morning. Michael, whats the feeling there today . Reporter yeah, its the morning after the night before, john, i think you can say. The square behind me, lenin square was heaving with people celebrating a referendum result that was also predictable. Its very quiet here today, cold and blustery and a Public Holiday and virtually no one down there now, probably digesting what comes next. The Crimean Parliament has been meeting in emergency session. Theyre trying to work out what theyre going to do. Theyre going to send a delegation to moscow. Meanwhile, eu Foreign Ministers are meeting in brussels, the u. S. , too, considering its options when it comes to sanctions. One of the big things, of course, is how do you do this . Youve got to combine two places, really. 80 of crimeas border comes from ukraine. All of the electricity, the gas, the banking, the education system. All of this is going to take a long time to sort out. It will also be very expensive. And the russians are going to have to pay for it, and their economy has its own pressures. As for the people, john, well, theyre just waiting and seeing, too. They had their party, now theyre going to have to see the reality of what its like to be russian. I was talking to an older gentleman earlier whos lived through a lot of changes here. He said living in this part of the world is like being on a street car. He said theres one driver and the rest of us bounce along behind. John . Thats one way to look at it. Today a new round of diplomacy or sanctions will begin. Michael holmes from crimea, thanks for being there. Appreciate it. Of course, the disappearance of flight 370 is not the first time that an airliner disappears, and there are many conspiracy theories brewing. More on some of the conspiracy theories, next. When its donut friday at the office i use my Citi Thankyou card to get two times the points at the coffee shop. Which will help me get to miami. And theyll be stuck at the cube farm. The Citi Thankyou preferred card. Now earn two times the points on dining out with no annual fee. Go to citi. Com thankyoucards. Predibut, manufacturings a prettin the United States do. Means advanced technology. We learned that Technology Allows us to be craft oriented. No ones losing their job. Theres no beer robot that has suddenly chased them out. The technology is actually creating new jobs. Siemens designed and built the right tools and resources to get the job done. Is really what makes it slike two deals in one. 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And of course, its hard to remember a time when a huge passenger jet simply disappeared with seeming no indication of what happened, zero, zilch, nada. Thats fueling a lot of conspiracy theories and very few answers. Its almost like the pilot episode of lost, and thats the scary question, right . How does it vanish . We have to remember, that makes it a mystery, and mysteries, like any stories a story isnt what did happen, its what could happen. And of course, we all know the facts are all not there yet, but you know, when i talk to our investigators who we use and my favorite one who we work with she pointed out two things to me, which i think bear repeating here, which is, you know, one of two things happens. Its not just how did it vanish, but how did it stay quiet this long . One of two things has happened. Of course, either the plane has crashed in the ocean and everyone on board is gone, or if theyre still alive, how do you keep it quiet . I think thats the scariest part to me, which is what happens to these people that its not just that theyve vanished, but we havent heard anything in all this time, because we all know how impossible it is, and its where every conspiracy falls apart, how do you keep everyone quiet . A lot of new questions and we will have more on the mystery of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370. The new developments overnight, the search intensifying. Were back right after this. Everything your mouth does in a day is building up layer, upon layer, of bacteria. And to destroy those layers . You need listerine®. Its unique formula penetrates these layers deeper than other mouthwashes, killing bacteria all the way down to the bottom layer. So for a cleaner, healthier mouth, go with 1 dentist recommended listerine®. Power to your mouth™. Also try new listerine® naturals. The only mouthwash that combines the power of listerine® with naturally sourced ingredients. 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Get the it card at discover. Com. All right, breaking news overnight. The search expanding for a missing malaysian jetliner, missing for more than a week, hundreds of passengers on board. It simply vanished without a trace. This morning the search for the wreckage, for survivors, for any sign of anything, it intensifies. This mystery just deepens by the second. We are live with every angle in just a moment. Welcome back to early start, everyone. Im john berman. And im rosa flores. Its 31 minutes past the hour. Were going to go live to kuala lumpur, where there is a press conference right now with the latest on this investigation. As we were saying, weve been getting bits and pieces, john, of this investigation, and were going to listen in to see whats new this morning. The minister who also works as the transportation minister, hes been doling out information about this investigation day by day. Hopefully, any second now, we will get a sense of what is new, what has developed overnight. The search area expanded. 26 countries now involved. Theyre searching an area all the way north from kazakhstan in central asia down to the South China Sea. I believe hes starting. Minister of defense, acting minister of transport. [ inaudible ] to start our session for the day, i hereby call upon the honorable minister of transport to give a statement, if you please. During the last 24 hours, the Prime Minister has spoken to the Prime Minister of australia and the premier of china. Malaysias ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent diplomatic notes to all countries involved in the searchandrescue operation. This includes two groups first, countries in the search corridors, and second, countries from which we are seeking assistance and expertise. For countries in the search corridors, we are requesting radar and satellite information as well as specific assets for the searchandrescue operation. We are asking them to share their land, sea and aerial search, also action plans, rescue action plans, with the rescue Coordination Center here in malaysia so we can coordinate the search efforts. We have asked for regular updates, including daily reports on both search activities and details of any information required from malaysia. We are not at liberty to reveal information from specific countri countries, as the coordinator authority, we are gathering all information as part of the ongoing searchandrescue operation. Ladies and gentlemen, over the past 48 hours, malaysia has been working on the diplomatic, technical and logistical requirements of the search for mh370. The number of countries involved in the searchandrescue operation has increased to 26. Malaysia continues to lead the overall coordination of the search effort. The southern corridor has been divided into two sections, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization demarcation. These demarcations were agreed by the ico, of which malaysia is a Council Member before and after 370 went missing. Australia and malaysia have agreed to lead searchandrescue operations in the specified regions. Today i can confirm that searchandrescue operations in the northern and southern corridors have already begun. Countries, including malaysia, australia, china, indonesia, kazakhstan have already initiated searchandrescue operations. The royal nation air force and the royal nation navy have deployed assets to the southern corridor. Two malaysian ships have been deployed, the offshore vessels. This deployment also includes a helicopter which can operate from either ship. Australia has already moved a p3 orion aircraft to the region to the christmas islands, and today the Prime Minister of australia confirmed that australia was sent an additional two p3 orion and a c130 hercules. A u. S. P8 poseidon aircraft will be traveling to perth today to help with the search. Malaysia has been working with International Investigators and aviation authorities since day one. Yesterday, experts from Civil Aviation administration of china joined the investigation team. Today, officials from the French Office of investigations and analysis for the safety of Civil Aviation also joined the team. These authorities are working with Malaysian Airlines and the dca to refine data that can help with the search. On saturday, eighth of march, they started investigations into all crew members on board mh370, including the pilot and copilot, as well as all ground staff handling the aircraft. On sunday, ninth of march, Police Officers visited the homes of the pilot and the copilot. Officers also spoke to the family members of the pilot and the copilot. Police visited the homes of the pilot and copilot again on saturday, the 15th of march. The pilots Flight Simulator was taken from his house with assistance of his family. The simulator was reassembled at police headquarters. At this point, i would like to stress that malaysia has been cooperating with the fbi, interpol and other Relevant International Law Enforcement authorities since day one. I would also like to address the speculation that malaysia has held back information about mh370 movements. For the families, i understand that every day prolongs their anguish. I understand, because malaysia, too, is missing its sons and daughters. There were 50 malaysians aboard the plane. Our priority has always been to find the aircraft. We would not withhold any information that could help, but we also have a responsibility not to release information until verified by the International Investigation teams. This responsibility is not only to the families and to the investigation, but also to the searchandrescue operations. It would be irresponsible to deploy substantial assets merely on the basis of unverified and uncorroborated information. As soon as the possibility emerged that the plane had carried out an air turnback to the straits of malacca, we expanded our search to that area. I would like to reiterate, the u. S. Investigating teams statement about that decision. Based on the information and data given by the malaysian authorities, the u. S. Team was of the view that there were reasonable grounds for the malaysian authorities to deploy resources to conduct search on the western side of peninsula malaysia. As soon as we verified and corroborated the new satellite information as to the possible last known whereabouts of the aircraft, we recalibrated our search efforts to the northern and southern corridors as announced by the Prime Minister. After my statement, we will release a more detailed map of the northern and southern corridor, which looks Something Like this. Malaysia airlines has set up Operation Centers in both kuala lumpur and beijing to care for the families of the crew members and passengers. They have allocated each family a caregiver who will be on 24hour duty. They have sent more than 100 staff and caregivers to beijing. The airline gives daily briefings to the families. They provide counseling sessions and they contact families that have elected not to come to malaysia two or three times a day. Ladies and gentlemen, over the past two days, we have been recalibrating the search for mh370. It remains a significant diplomatic, technical and logistical challenge. Malaysia is encouraged by the progress made during such a short period of time, and we are grateful for the response by the heads of governments that we have spoken to, all of whom have expressed a commitment of assistance. With support from our Many International partners, this new phase of the search is under way. Assets are being deployed and searchandrescue operations have begun, and i wish to thank our partners from around the world for their continued support. Thank you. Q a session will start from this corner. Please. [ inaudible question ] i have two questions here. First question is [ speaking Foreign Language ] we look at the diplomatic notes [ speaking Foreign Language ] this News Conference right now coming from kuala lumpur. Obviously, theyre answering questions not in english right now, but the minister of transportation and defense did brief in english, revealing some new information, really confirming a lot of the things we knew already. Some 26 nations now involved with this search. It is an enormous search. He confirmed that the area stretches all the way north from kazakhstan south into the southern indian ocean. He made note of the fact that planes departing from perth in australia are now involved in this search. He called it a searchandrescue operation. And he mentioned that theyre both by land and by ocean, so theres a lot of resources that are being pumped into this area. He also mentioned that the Prime Minister spoke to all of the families, and i believe theyre speaking in english again, so were going to listen in. From countries, northern doctor and the southern corridor, especially is there any radar received [ inaudible ] and rampup costs for china [ inaudible ] [ speaking Foreign Language ] again, theyre not speaking in english right now, again. One of the other remarkable things in this News Conference so far, the minister of defense right there, also the minister of transportation very, very defensive about criticism that has been levied toward the malaysians over the course of this investigation. Hes saying that the malaysians did not hold back information. He claims that their priority has been to find the aircraft from the very beginning, but they said that they would only give out information when its verified. That was his justification for the sometimes piecemeal or delayed release of some of this information over time. And that was a quote, because i wrote it down. He said, we would not withhold information. One of the other criticisms is that the Prime Minister going and talking to these families, and he mentioned there in the past 24 hours that the Prime Minister had talked to some of those families. And ill quote again, he said, every day prolonged is anguish as they talk about perhaps sharing some of that anguish with the families. Now, he did confirm that investigators have visited the home of both the pilot and the copilot, going back on the 15th, this saturday, and removing the Flight Simulator from the home of the pilot. That is still in the possession of investigators right now who are presumably still going through it to learn what they can from whatever information is still on it. So many questions, so many moving pieces, and were going to be back right after this with more. Up. A short word thats a tall order. Up your game. Up the ante. And if you stumble, you get back up. 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Tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. You should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. Take the next step. Talk to your doctor. This is humira at work. All right, we have more breaking news this morning. This morning the west preparing sanctions now that crimea has voted overwhelmingly to split from ukraine and join russia. The preliminary result, 96 of voters saying they want to become part of russian territory, but president obama, he had a message for Vladimir Putin, calling the russian president to warn him that the u. S. Thinks that vote is illegal. The president continues to insist there will be consequences if russia accepts these results. The stakes are really high, and joining us right now, cnn political commentator and contributing editor for atlantic media, peter binart. I know one of the things people are saying is how does it happen . How does crimea disconnect from ukraine, when the things we take for granted on a daytoday basis, power, water, communications, come from ukraine . Iright. I think this is where attention will focus. First of all, you have ukrainian troops hold up in their barracks for a couple weeks now. Is the Ukrainian Government simply going to bring them out of there . Can they be brought out peacefully . That would be a humiliation for the government in kiev, who does not recognize this. Secondly, i think one thing people will start to recognize in the next few days is crimea is not connected to russia by land. That is part of the reason why khrushchev moved it to ukraine in the 1950s to begin with. So, dislodging it from ukraine logistically and connecting it to russia there is not even a bridge that connects it to russia is a very serious logistical issue in an environment of extreme tension and i think thats what people will have to watch in the next few days. We keep hearing from the white house and president obama that there will be costs to this referendum, costs for russia. When do you expect that we will see more of these costs, as soon as today . And how high will those costs be . Well, i think the u. S. And the europeans have to come up with something in the next day or two. Otherwise, they look very weak. The problem is, first of all, the europeans are divided. Secondly, that i think there is still some effort to use the threat of this to try to prevent further incursions into Eastern Ukraine. And also, russia is a superpower. Not a superpower, but at least a significant power. Its a big country, very economically intertwined with europe in terms of oil and gas, and its not easy to isolate it economically. You cant isolate it economically. Plus, we need it on issues like syria and iran. So, the balance is, try to make russia pay some price, but were still going to need to work with russia, for better or for worse, on other global issues. One of the other questions is, does this stop at crimea . I know that a lot of ukrainian americans are worried about this continuing on to Eastern Ukraine. Right. Theres been a lot of unrest in some of the cities in Eastern Ukraine recently. The question is, what is russias end game here . Do they want to topple the government in kiev . Do they actually want to bring about secession in Eastern Ukraine . Again, that would be a mixed pill for the russians. On the one hand, you weaken the government of ukraine. On the other hand, do you really want to control Eastern Ukraine . Very, very economically debilitated area. So, i think we know what russia has already achieved is that ukraine is never going to become part of nato. The question is, do they really want to go further and actually make sure you have a prorussian government in kiev . So, the United States, president obama has said the United States will not recognize this referendum in crimea. Does that matter in any way . Does it have any effective use . I dont think it matters very much. I mean, there are countries that go decades, places that go decades calling themselves countries and are not countries, considered countries by most of the world, right . So, you could have an indefinite period in which we dont recognize this and the russians consider it a part of crimea. I think the more important question is, what actually happens on the ground in crimea and what happens on the ground in Eastern Ukraine, and can this government in kiev, a weak government, under tremendous military and economic pressure, assert itself, legitimize itself so as to be able to hold control over the areas of ukraine it still controls . And is russia just testing the waters as to what it can achieve . Right. We know that Vladimir Putins big goal is to reconstitute a kind of eurasian sphere under russian control. It wont be the old borders of the soviet empire, but to reverse the russian decline that weve seen since 1989, and he seems well on his way to doing that. Peter beinert, an historic morning for people of the United States, but especially for people waking up in crimea, ukraine and russia. Appreciate it. All morning weve been following the mystery into the disappearance of flight 370. There have been developments overnight. We will tell you what they are right after this. Salesperson 1 so again, throwing in the 1,000 fuel reward card is really what makes it like two deals in one. Salesperson 2 actually, getting a great car with 42 highway miles per gallon makes it like two deals in one. Salesperson 1 point is theres never been a better time to buy a jetta tdi clean diesel. 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Wants israel and the palestinians to agree to a framework for new talks. Abbas has made clear he objects to some of the provisions, including recognizing israel as a jewish state. At ft. Bragg today, a former top army general expected to admit to some charges in his Sexual Assault courtmartial. Defense lawyers say that Brigadier General Jeffrey Sinclair has agreed to a plea deal with the army dropping the most serious counts against him and will not require him to register as a sex offender. Sinclair had been accused by a female captain of forcing her to commit sex acts, but there were questions over whether there was enough evidence to prosecute. Pakistas military may be the beneficiary of u. S. Troops leaving afghanistan at the end of the year. The Washington Post says military planners are considering giving pakistan some 7 billion of Armored Vehicles and other equipment, giving pakistan additional tools as it fights the taliban. Its apparently too expensive to ship them out to ship all of that equipment back to the u. S. Other news happening now at the Oscar Pistorius trial in south africa, a gun dealer on the stand talking about his dealings with pistorius as the mother of Reeva Steenkamp makes an appearance in court for the first time in two weeks. She and pistorius reportedly spoke briefly, despite his facing murder charges for shooting and killing her daughter. This days after a former Police Commander admitted to the mistakes made during the initial investigation, including the theft of a watch from the pistorius home. Scary moments on a flight from canada to mexico, leaving two flight attendants hurt and the plane diverted to montana. The Sunwing Airlines 737 had to touch down early because of turbulence. No passengers, we should add, were injured, but the two flight attendants were thrown and had to be treated for minor injuries. And take a look at this picture right now. Delta this morning is investigating what caused this panel to come off the wing of a jet flying from atlanta to orlando. The 757 was able to land normally. Airline Officials Say the loss of the panel did not impact the jets ability to fly. Still awfully scary picture. Crews today plan to inspect that plane, give it a thorough going over, you can imagine. It certainly needs it. Good to hear everyone on that flight is safe, though. Definitely so. And our time is up. Thank you so much for joining us. Us. New day starts right now. Captions by vitac www. Vitac. Com we would not withhold information that could help. Breaking news, new information on the missing plane. Could it have flown too low to be picked up by radar if. And searching the homes of the pilots. We have new pictures that may be them the day they boarded the plane as families wait desperately for answers. And the votes are in and ukraine residents saying they want to join russia. Will the u. S. Sanction top russian officials . And a libyan ship carrying illegal cargo. Your new day starts right now. This is new day with chris cuomo, kate bolduan and michaela pereira. Im chris cuomo in new york. There was just a press conference moments ago with malaysian officials. Theyre pushing back that theyve been withHolding Information. Lets get right to kate in malaysia. Reporter and here is the very latest, chris. This morning a new report citing unnamed sources saying the plane could have been flying as low as 5,000 feet across three