Transcripts For CNNW Early Start 20140318

Since this jet went missing, and this morning, malaysian officials are admitting theyre simply not sure what happened in the cockpit. It is not clear, they now say, if the final word spoken to air Traffic Controllers came before or after the planes data reporting system was shut down. That is a reversal from malaysian officials. This morning there are new reports that the planes turn off course was preprogrammed in to the flight computer. One of the key questions was, were those coordinates entered before takeoff or after the jet was already in the air . The other question, who entered those new coordinates . This morning the search has extended to the waters off australia. A United States ship is pulling out, being replaced by u. S. Air resources. Our jim clancy is live in kuala lumpur with the latest this morning. Good morning, jim. Reporter good morning, john. Weve got a massive search under way, and it is an air search in the indian ocean right now. You know, on that northern part of the arc, we have heard back from so many governments saying we didnt see a trace of flight 370 on our radar screens, either civilian or military. As a result and the u. S. Has said this for some time they think its much more likely that this plane may have taken the southerly route there, and the last satellite handshake contact put it someplace over the indian ocean or possibly indonesia. Now, the indonesians and the australians have divided up the search quadrants. The indonesians are going to be looking in the tropical areas, the australians in others. The u. S. Is moving more air assets in. The australians are bringing in air assets. All of this to come together and try to search as much of that water area as possible. As you noted there, now theres uncertainty. We had thought that there was evidence that pointed to the pilots. Well, now they say nobody can be sure about that. Theres no motive for the pilots. China reporting that none of its passengers and that was the majority of passengers, more than 150 out of 239 people aboard the flight they say nobodys got a link to terrorism. This list has been cleared. This manifest has been cleared in the past by intelligence agencies. Where does that leave us . It leaves us right back at catastrophic failure, and the question, did the Pilot Program the onboard Navigation System to take him closer to an airport where he could have brought that plane down after some kind of catastrophic failure . Why didnt he do it . We dont know. Fire in the cockpit, any other kinds of problems that might have happened on board there. Those are still Unanswered Questions that cant be answered until we retrieve the flight data recorder. Back to you, john. All right, jim clancy in kuala lumpur. Jim mentioned right there this new report that the flights computer, the navigation computer, was programmed to take it off that course from beijing. The question is, why was it programmed and by whom . Former fbi agent jeff beaty says, if its true, that it was programmed to take it off course, it could actually remove one possibility from the list of what could have happened to the jet. I see some encouragement here, because if youve programmed if youre the pilot and you program something into the computer and the aircraft begins a turn, you dont need to fly another four or five hours to commit pilot suicide. This kind of takes off the table a little bit in my mind one of those scenarios that probably families were most fearful of. So, some good news there. One can make an inference of some possible good news. All right, everyone on board that jet is now being closely scrutinized, including the pilots. Both were experienced. So far, nothing has emerged to definitively point the finger at them, other, of course, than the fact that whoever flew this plane off course had to have known how to operate a boeing 777. Our saima mohsin is live in kuala lumpur with more on this investigation, more on this official search into the backgrounds of these pilots. Saima, what do we know this morning . Reporter well, you know, john, ive spent the last few days trying to take a look at the two main people that were inside that cockpit when this plane disappeared. Who are they . What were they doing . What are their interests . And of course, the police have been into their homes over the weekend, one week after the flight disappeared, finally searching through, speaking to their families, questioning them and going away with evidence from the copilots home. They walked away with small shopping bags, really, i can describe them as. Dont know what was inside them. From the pilots home, they took away a flight air simulator. Now, a simulator that his friend, peter chong, told me a friend he met through social activism, working in the community, for example that he was simply a man enthusiastic about flying, that liked to take it home, set himself challenges. And of course, as jim says, if that course was reset trying to save the plane, should it have been catastrophic failure, it would lend itself. Here is a man who would have practiced these scenarios and sadly, then, he would have faced that in real life. Let me tell you about the pilot, captain zaharie. A lot of questions being raised about his political affiliations. Was he a thripolitical activist . Weve been going through the checklist, trying to tick off what we know about that. Ive spoken to a member of the peoples justice party, a party that he was affiliated with. His friends told me he was a silent member of that party. Earlier today i spoke to a politician who says, look, yes, he was a member of the party. He would come to our events, our rallies sometimes i spotted him there, mostly social events, but he was an activist in the sense that he was a citizen of malaysia, of kuala lumpur, who wanted to contribute, who wanted to make a change, and my party represents change in malaysia within a democratic system. There is simply nothing sinister about captain zaharie, what this politician told me. He also said, when i asked him straight up, is he an extremist, did he hold extreme political views, he said no, not at all. Please dont go down there. This is not what our party stands for. We are not extremists, and he certainly wasnt. And of course, his friend also told me that, you know, this was a guy who was a family man, committed to his career, committed to his family. He had three children, a grandchild, a doting father and grandfather. And also, in his community work, by the way, he used to work with underprivileged children in kuala lumpur, taking them out, taking them on day trips, and i saw a photograph of him setting up a goal post for one of the groups he contributed to. So, no motive and, seemingly, two very normal men at the helm of that plane. John . Saima mohsin for us in kuala lumpur. Of course, this look into the pilots is key, if only to rule them out as a possibility for what went wrong with this plane. Many of those who had family members on board, theyre Still Holding out hope that theres some explanation that would allow for their family members to still be alive. Still, theyre not happy at the slow pace of the search and the lack of information theyre getting from malaysian officials. Our Pauline Chiou is live in beijing. Shes been following that part of the story. Good morning, pauline. Reporter good morning, john. And these families are frustrated because there is no one here to answer their questions. Theres no one from the malaysian government, no one from the embassy, no one from the chinese government, and just legal representatives from Malaysian Airlines that come here every day to give them some briefings or to try to answer their questions. So, thats part of the frustration for the families. And at this briefing early this morning, one woman stood up and made this passionate plea. [ speaking Foreign Language ] shes saying, we have only one child. We are respectful chinese people. Its hard to control your emotions when you might have lost your loved ones. We just need the truth. Dont use them as political pawns. Now, many of these families only have one child, because there is that onechild policy in china, so the sons and daughters on this Malaysia Airlines flight, for many of these families, their only children. Also, john, we noticed that the family members were asking very technical questions to Malaysia Airlines, and they were asking questions like what would a passenger have experienced on this flight, if, indeed, it had been flying at 35,000 feet and gone up to 45,000 feet and down to 5,000 feet . What would that have done to your body . What would that have done to a passenger . What if they stayed conscious . These are the kinds of questions theyre trying to get answers to, but these legal representatives cant answer it, answer these questions, but it also gives you an indication, john, that these family members just want to know if their loved ones felt any pain or discomfort during this experience. In the absence of any actual information from the airline or malaysia, you can tell these families are grasping for whatever they can. Pauline, this morning were learning that china is stepping up its search now for the jet, both on land and in the air. What can you tell us about what chinas now doing . Reporter yeah, china has beefed up its resources as its looking through that northern corridor. You might remember, weve been talking about that. That goes from the border of turkmenistan, kazakhstan and all the way down to northern thailand. Well, much of that arc goes through western china. And the Chinese Foreign Ministry Announced today that they have beefed up their resources. Now theyve deployed ten ships, several airplanes as well as 21 satellites. Thats up from ten satellites earlier this week. And part of that is to try to enhance any sort of imaging that they get, any sort of sign of this plane and where it might be along that corridor. So, an intensified chinese participation in this investigation joining the many other nations now involved with the search. Our Pauline Chiou in beijing for us this morning. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Of course, we will continue to follow the mystery of flight 370, all the new developments this morning. But first, there are new developments in the crisis in ukraine. New developments that put the United States and russia even more at odds, even in more direct confrontation. Russian president Vladimir Putin set to speak in just a little bit. Were live with the breaking news right after the break. Okay, listen up im reworkin the menu. Mayo . Corn dogs . You are so outta here aah [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of greattasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. Nutrition in charge™. Ive quit for 75 days. 15 days, but not in a row. For the first time, you can use nicorette. Even if you slip up. So you can reach your goal. [ male announcer ] now, quit on your own terms with nicorette or nicoderm cq. [ male announcer ] now, quit on your own terms so ally bank really has no hthats right, no hidden fees. S . 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All right, Important News this morning happening today in moscow. Vladimir putin, the russian president , set to address the Russian Parliament to explain his decision to recognize crimea as an independent nation. This comes just hours after the United States and European Union sanctioned some of his top advisers over crimeas referendum vote to secede from ukraine and join the russian federation. Now, ukraine calling up troops, preparing for possible conflict. Our Michael Holmes is live in simferopol, which is in crimea, this morning. Michael, whats the latest . Reporter yeah, well, the crimean application, of course, john, to join the russian federation, is in. Vladimir putin signing a decree accepting that. The procedure, if you like, moves along. The duma votes, the parliament, in the days ahead on that. And as you mentioned, Vladimir Putin set to speak to the duma in less than four hours from now. Sanctions announced yesterday by the European Union and the u. S. Are starting to sink in, although it was curious, yesterday at least one of the targets of those sanctions said he was proud to be on the list, said he saw it as pretty much a badge of his service to russia. Those sanctions, of course, do take time to bite, and they are to be done in stages. The more this goes along, the more stages russia takes, the more sanctions will be put in place against individuals and assets and visas and the like. Sanctions here, too, among the crimean leadership, the Prime Minister, the deputy Prime Minister, the speaker are all on that list. Those leaders, of course, grappling with some realities now. Their water, their gas, their electricity all comes from ukraine. And when you look at the map, crimea, of course, is a peninsula. The only way to connect with russia is via water at the moment. Theyre talking about building a bridge. Thats going to take some time, but there is no land access from crimea to what will be mother russia, if this all goes ahead. And importantly, too, crimean leaders have nationalized state facilities, including some crucial and very, very valuable oil and gas reserves in the black sea that are ukrainian, but crimea says not anymore, and were going to hand them over to gazprom, the Russian Energy giant. Youre talking billions and billions of dollars of reserves there. So, thats going to be a real Sticking Point going forward. You know, you mentioned the moving of troops, the ukrainian military, of course, no match for the russian military, but they are making some partial mobilizations. Theyre worried about those 8,500 Russian Troops on the eastern Ukrainian Border and whether they want to have a little bit more of ukraine than just crimea. John . All right, Michael Holmes in simferopol in crimea this morning. The situation between russia, ukraine, the United States, the European Union showing no sign of thawing this morning. Our thanks to michael for that report. All right, at the Oscar Pistorius trial in south africa this morning, a crime scene photographer is on the stand answering questions about what he saw at the home where pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend. He testified that there was blood on the walls near pistoriuss bed, some distance smooting took place. An alleged wanna be al qaeda terrorist in custody after being arrested near the canadian border. 20yearold Nicholas Toussaint appeared in a courtroom on monday, accused of trying to get to syria to join an Al Qaedalinked terror group. He is now charged with attempting to provide Material Support to foreign terrorists, and if convicted, he could face 15 years in prison. Federal prosecutors say selfdescribed 9 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh mohammed should not be allowed to testify at the trial of osama bin ladens soninlaw. Sulaiman abu ghaith is charged with conspiring to kill americans and acting as the spokesman for al qaeda. Mohammed, who is in prison in guantanamo bay, says that abu ghaith has had no role he had no role in planning military operations. Arguments on that issue are scheduled for today. Another very big recall for general motors, this time involving faulty airbags. The automaker is recalling more than 1. 2 million suvs that may have a wiring problem that could cause their sidemounted airbags to not deploy. This comes at the same time that gm is recalling more than 300,000 fullsized vans to make the Instrument Panel more safe and 64,000 cadillac xts sedans for overheating brakes. All right, Global Stock Markets mixed right now. Asia closed higher, taking a cue from wall street, which saw big gains yesterday. Europe, though, seeing some losses in the early going. Futures also slightly lower here. Worries over the crisis in crimea still weighing in on investors. If the west does decide to ramp up sanctions, it is russia that has the most to lose. Investors pulled 33 billion out of russias economy in january and february. That number could grow as high as 55 billion by the end of this month. Beyond that, russias exports to the eu account for a full 15 of its gdp. It will be interesting to see if the europeans stop buying what russia is selling. Lrkall right, 19 minutes af the hour. New developments on missing flight 370. Were the pilots planning to take that plan off course before they even took off . Who reprogrammed those Flight Computers . We have live, Team Coverage ahead. Plus, trees ripped from the ground, severe storms battering parts of the country. Indra petersons tracking the very latest. Thats coming up next. Thats a man interviewino. For a job. Not that one. That one. The one who seems like hes already got the job cause he studied all the right courses from the getgo. And thats an accountant, a mom, a university of phoenix scholarship recipient, who used our unique scratch that awesome careerplanning tool. 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Or, i could not book a hotel room and put my cellphone back into my pocket as if nothing happened. Hotels. Com. I dont need it right now. But when we put something in the ground, feed it, and care for it, dont we grow something more . We grow big celebrations, and personal victories. We grow new beginnings, and better endings. Grand gestures, and perfect quiet. We grow escape, bragging rights, happier happy hours. So lets gro something greater with miraclegro. What will you grow . Share your story at miraclegro. Com. All right, we are following the very latest on the search for Malaysia Airlines flight 370, now missing for 11 days. A News Conference scheduled for just minutes from now. We will bring that to you live. In the meantime, the search is focused on the waters off australia, amid reports that the planes turn off course may have been preprogrammed into the flight computer. Again, well bring you the very latest on that and whether officials comment on that development in just a few minutes. First, this morning, North Carolina is waking up under a layer of ice after serious storms dragged down trees and left roads in really bad shape. There were some very big accidents on a lot of the interstates near greensboro and officials are warning drivers, stay home this morning, if you can. One person who never gets to stay home, indra petersons. She has a look at the forecast. Good morning, indra. Good morning. Once again, were still talking about a lot of that cold air making its way farther down south. D. C. About 32, atlanta going down to about 36 this morning, so definitely that cold start. And that low that really brought all the trouble is still in place this morning. You can actually tell, a little bit of icing is still out there. But the good news is this guy is expected to make its way offshore by early afternoon. Unfortunately, there is another system out there. So, here bego again. You guys, this is supposed to be spring, right, just a few days away . But there comes another winter storm. Were talking about cold air behind this as it tracks across the country. Heres the piece of good news, though, it is moisturestarved. Were not looking for a lot out of this, but the bulk of it will be rain as it makes its way across. What are we looking at . Behind the low, cold and windy conditions, but ahead of it, a warm front, so milder conditions, not the big type of storm we have been seeing, unless youre farther to the north. Thats where youll see heavier snow, parts of minnesota, wisconsin, but generally, everyone else just looking for light rain, cruising in tomorrow night into the day thereafter. John . Wisconsin will be snowed in while youre watching the badgers play in the tournament. Youll be okay, though. All right. Thank you, indra. We have breaking news on the search for missing flight 370. The search has intensified. We are expecting a News Conference, a briefing from the leaders of this investigation just minutes from now. What will they say . What have been the developments over the course of this day . Well take you there live next. [ intercom ] drivers, to your marks. Go [ male announcer ] its chaos out there. But the mclass sees in your blind spot. Pulls you back into your lane. Even brakes all by itself. Its almost like it couldnt crash. Even if it tried. The 2014 mclass. See your authorized dealer for exceptional offers through mercedesbenz financial services. [ female announcer ] with five perfectly sweetened whole grains. You cant help but see the good. Whole grains. Maestro of project management. Baron of the buildout. You need a permit. To be this awesome. And you. Rent from national. Because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. And go. And only national is ranked highest in car rental Customer Satisfaction by j. D. Power. aaron purrrfect. vo meeeow, business pro. Meeeow. Go national. Go like a pro. All right, breaking news overnight. The search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 taking to new waters. The plane vanished 11 days ago. This morning, new clues on how the plane may have steered so far off course. Who preprogrammed the inFlight Computers . We have live, Team Coverage, just ahead. Also, russia ready to defy the world, recognizing part of ukraine as an independent nation, facing sanctions, facing warnings from the United States and other countries. What will president Vladimir Putin say this morning . Whats in store for the people of crimea . We are live with the breaking developments. Welcome back to early start, everyone. Great to see you this morning. Im john berman. 30 minutes past the hour right now. This morning, the questions continue to mount 11 days after Malaysia Airlines flight 370 disappeared with 239 people on board. This morning there are new reports that the planes turn off course was preprogrammed into the flight computer. Malaysian officials now say its not clear if the final words spoken to air Traffic Controllers came before or after the planes data reporting system was shut down. The malaysian officials changing the timeline there. The focus of the search is now in the waters off australia. That is just one of the places theyre looking. There is news that the United States has stopped searching by water. Now u. S. Assets are primarily from the air. These are live pictures from kuala lumpur, where authorities plan to update the media in just moments. These briefings have been key. This is where we find out what has been new over the course of the day in the investigation over there. We will bring that to you the minute it happens. Our jim clancy is on the phone right now in kuala lumpur. Jim, what can you tell us about the latest developments today . Reporter well, the search is being pressed, as you well know. The chinese are searching their land areas, because part of the possible flight path, the northern arc passes through china. They have already cleared all of their passengers, saying none of them have any known ties to any terrorism, this after a second background check on all of the chinese passengers. As the air and sea search continues and more assets continue to come in, there are always hiccups in the process. Indonesia denied a japanese plane permission to fly through its air space today, although the indonesian president s office telling cnn that it wants to cooperate fully. This is an administrative snafu and it will probably be corrected, but it gives you an idea of how complex it is. There are states involved. Theres a lot of work to be done. So, this is all pressing forward as quickly as possible, john, because they know that every minute counts. Were 11 days into this. If they hope to find debris, they have to move quickly. Back to you. And jim, this morning the word that the flight computer may have been preprogrammed to take this flight off the course it was set to go on to get to beijing. That doesnt necessarily mean it was taken off course, though, for nefarious purposes, though, does it . Reporter no, it doesnt. I mean, theres been an assumption that the plane was hijacked or that the pilots have something to do with it for political or other purposes, but those kinds of motives have never been proven, and i think with the change in the timeline that youve discussed there, with malaysian officials hear about the shutdown of communications, Key Communications systems, i think questions are going to be raised anew about the possibility of a mechanical problem and the pilot, really only an experienced pilot would be able to punch in the numbers, the automated pilot system, in order to reach a waypoint whats called a waypoint, a designated area that is near something that he wants to reach. He might have been trying to get the plane to an airport and get the passengers safe on the ground. All right, thats our jim clancy on the phone from kuala lumpur. At this moment we are about to hear any second now from malaysian officials right now leading this investigation. That man in the suit, the black suit and the tie there, is the defense minister, also the acting transportation minister. He has been delivering all the updates over the last few days. Lets listen. We have entered a new phase, which brings new diplomatic, technical and logistical challenges. Today i would like to give you an update on the logistical and diplomatic aspects of this search. The searchandrescue operations have taken on a new international dimension. The search is still coordinated by malaysia, but our partners have taken an increasing role in organizing and carrying out operations, both within their own territory and also within agreed search sectors. My colleague, the foreign minister, will give a more detailed statement on our diplomatic efforts in a moment. On the logistical front, over the past 24 hours, we have been working hard with other countries to narrow the search corridors. Our focus is on four tasks gathering information from satellite surveillance, analysis of surveillance radar data, increasing air and surface assets, and increasing the number of technical and subject matter experts. On satellite surveillance, i cannot disclose who has what satellite capability, but i can confirm we have contacted every relevant country that has access to satellite data. On analysis of data in the southern corridor, australia and indonesia have agreed to take the lead of their respective parts of the search corridor. In the northern corridor, china and kazakhstan have agreed to lead in the search areas closest to their countries. On air and surface assets, ive spoken to almost all asean leaders to request further support, including assets with deep ocean surveillance detection capabilities. We also asked our International Partners who have assisted as before to take another look at their primary radar data. In the northern corridor, we have divided the search area into seven quadrants. Each of the seven quadrants is 400 nautical miles by 400 nautical miles, or 160,000 square nautical miles in total. We have also divided up the southern corridor into seven quadrants. Just like in the north, each quadrant covers an area of 160,000 square nautical miles. The entire search area is now 2. 24 million square nautical miles. This is an enormous search area, and it is something that malaysia cannot possiby search on its own. I am, therefore, very pleased that so many countries have come forward to offer assistance and also support to the search and rescue operation. In terms of the deploymentspecific assets, today the Royal Malaysian Navy deployed two more ships to the southern corridor. This deployment includes a helicopter which can operate from either ship. This brings the total number of Mission Ships deployed to the southern corridor to two with two superlynx helicopters. Today, malaysia also deployed two c130 aircraft in the indonesian sector of the southern search corridor. Other countries are also contributing the following assets. The United States has deployed one p8 poseidon and will redeploy the p3 orion aircraft. Australia, as i mentioned yesterday, has deployed three p3 orions and one c3 hercules. New zealand is redeploying a p3 orion to support australian search efforts. The republic of korea has committed one p3 orion and one c130 hercules. Japan has committed two p3 orions, two c130s and one gulf stream jet. The uae committed one c17 aircraft and another aircraft. They are set from korea, japan and uae are in malaysia awaiting orders from their respective governments. Aside from deploying its assets to the northern corridor, china has made arrangements with australia to deploy an aircraft to the southern corridor. I would like to clarify what has been said about acars and the sequence of events before the air turnback. On saturday, we said that based on new satellite information, we can say to high degree of certainty that the aircraft communication addressing reporting system, acars, was disabled just after the aircraft reached the east coast of peninsula malaysia. Shortly afterwards, near the border between malaysian Vietnamese Air Traffic Control, the air transponder stopped. These were drafted together with representatives from the lead international investigators, based on the Information Available at that time. Yesterday, Malaysian Airlines clarified that we cannot determine exactly what acars has been disabled, only that it occurred within a specific time range from 1 07, approximately when the aircraft reached the east coast of peninsula malaysia and the last acars transmission occurred to 1 37, which was the next scheduled reporting time. This is indeed the case. It does not change our belief as stated that up until the point at which it left military primary radar coverage, the aircrafts movements were consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane. That remains the position of the investigating team. It is also important to recognize that the precise time acars was disabled has no bearing on the searchandrescue operation. We know that the last known position of the plane as confirmed by the International Investigation teams was in either the northern or the southern corridor, which is where our searchandrescue efforts are focused. Our priority has always been to find the aircraft. I am aware there is also a lot of interest in the Royal Malaysian Police investigation into the passengers and crew of mh370. I hope you understand that i cannot comment on the specifics of the investigation, which is still ongoing. I would also like to state that the search for mh370 is bigger than politics. I urge all malaysians to put our differences aside and unite during this difficult time, as we focus on finding the aircraft and the 239 people on board. The search for mh370 remains our top priority. We will continue to provide you with operational updates, including further information about assets being deployed, as soon as they are available. In the last few days, we have been intensively contacting our friends across the search regions. The cooperation we saw in the first phase continues in this new phase. In fact, theres even more commitment to assist us in this much larger and more complex multinational operation. In the meantime, our thoughts remain with the families and friends of those on board. And now, i express the pleasure of the minister of Foreign Affairs to deliver his statement. I just wanted to give you briefly what the foreign minister has attested to us. First is to seek the assistance from the searchandrescue operations, and there are 25 countries thats involved, and we have sent 12 diplomatic notes to the northern corridor and 2 to southern corridor. Now, the response has been excellent, and this is due to the good relations that we have with all countries, and especially the Prime Minister who had called many of president s to seek their assistance. And there are nine other countries that does not fall under the two corridors, which the minister has explained, that has come forward to assist, namely, the u. S. , south korea, japan and others. Now, this is a very complex issue. We are talking about 25 countries, and how to coordinate these 25 countries with different technologies and systems of government. But two main reasons one is, of course, i said we have excellent relationship with those countries thats involved. Two, because this is something that is of concern to all of us on a humanitarian aspect. Now, i have been calling the Foreign Ministers, all those that are involved, and the Prime Minister has spoken to many president s of the countries and the Prime Ministers. And as i said earlier, where and when that these assistance that are required, where a country cannot mobilize their assets, then we will come and assist them from the Operations Center here. Now, let me tell you that during our conversations, its, as i said earlier, it is a very, very complex issue which covers a very wide area, and therefore, we fully appreciate all the cooperation that has been given to us. And those Foreign Ministers that has been constantly calling me to offer assistance. And i just came back from europe, and all those countries that have met, they have expressed sympathies on what has happened and also offered whatever assistance that is required of them in order to locate this aircraft. Now, whatever it takes, i think its very, very clear, the minister has made it very clear, our Main Objective is to look at where the aircraft is. Politics is not involved here, and i do not think anybody should seek publicity of what happened now. This is an issue of major catastrophic, and therefore, all efforts should be focused on finding the plane. Thank you. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, we will open for q a. We will start with a precession with the local media. So start on this corner, please. Okay. Identify yourself, sir. From tv 3. [ inaudible ] sorry, one moment. [ speaking Foreign Language ] [ speaking Foreign Language ] all right, were going to keep following this News Conference for you, bring you any new details that come out of it. Let me summarize what weve learned. The search area for flight 370 has expanded to 2. 24 million square nautical miles. That is a very, very large search area. They outlined how so many countries are now involved with that search, both on land, on sea, and now under water. Theyve called in some deep ocean surveillance resources to look into what may have happened and where that flight may have gone. Another key statement from the Malaysian Defense minister, they still believe the facts point to a deliberate action by someone on board that plane. Now, that could mean a whole range of different things. There are so many questions about what that might mean. I want to bring in a guest right now, Steve Wallace is with us. Steve is an aviation expert. He has looked into this kind of thing before. Steve, let me ask you this. Youre former director of the faa office of investigations. Steve joins us from washington. Steve, one of the things weve been discussing all morning is the flight computer. There are reports this morning that it was programmed on this course that took it away from beijing. The question is, was it programmed on the ground . Was it programmed in the air . And who did program it . I want to ask you this, could a pilot is that something that a pilot could program in the air quickly to take it off its current course . And why would a pilot do that . It is absolutely something that a pilot could program quickly, and very often, particularly to, say, if youre flying in a busy corridor in the United States, youre reprogramming those things any time the controller, for whatever reason, has to change your route. So, its really very, very simple. And in fact, any pilot flying the airplane could do it easily. And even for aine trn intruder unauthorized person, it would not be difficult to learn how to do that. But if it did happen in this case, it would indicate that someone did, in fact, do it, someone did point this plane in a different direction. The reason for that, were not quite sure, but a pilot could do that, as you said, to avoid heavy traffic. Could it also to be, perhaps, as some have speculated, get to a point where they could land safely . Absolutely. I think, still, this is incredible that this far into the investigation everything is still on the table. I mean, it is clearly shifting from, you know, this combined civilian, kind of my area, and criminal investigation, but the emphasis seems to be shifting based on the evidence towards some unauthorized criminal act. Now, we did speak to an aviation expert earlier who suggested that maybe there was something wrong with the flight. If there is some kind of mechanical issue, could you program in those waypoints quickly enough to try to help you address that mechanical issue . You could, but there really wouldnt be any reason to, and there are multiple means with this very modern, sophisticated airplane, to make a distress call. They clearly were between air Traffic Control facilities, but they were in a position where they could have called the one they were just talking to or the one they were supposed to talk to. They can immediately program an emergency code into the transponder. Its universally known to pilots. And yet, instead, the transponder, apparently, was turned off. Now, these waypoints, this computer programming, would that indicate anything about altitude . Because one of the things weve been hearing over the last few days is this plane may have flown as high as 45,000 feet, going down quickly to 20,000 feet. Is that something that would be programmed into the computer as well . Well, its separate from the waypoints, but you could just dial in another altitude, and the modern flight Management System like this, you could say go to this altitude at this point. That is a bit more complicated. That requires real familiarity with the flight Management System. But i dont put a lot of stock in these altitude reports, because if they are measured by military radar thats designed to detect the position and altitude of an intruder out near the end of its range, im not sure how much confidence we can have in those altitude reports. This airplane is certified only to fly to 43,000 feet, but it clearly has the capability to fly a bit higher than that. Now, we just heard from the Malaysian Defense minister, sort of defensively defending his nations reordering of the timeline that happened there. He said they now can no longer say that the acars system was turned off before the last point of vocal contact. They simply dont know if it was before or after, but its very possible there was voice contact between the copilot before the acars system thats a Data Transmission system was somehow disabled, before the radar was somehow disabled. But this defense official went on to say that in no way affects where they are now searching for this flight, because that doesnt impact this satellite system that detected it flying for five to seven hours afterwards on one of these two giant arcs. Does that make sense to you . Well, i think that there isnt a huge amount of significance of whether the acars was switched off and the transponder was switched off and the airplane turned. The sequence of events to me is really not so important. What it does reflect is a pattern we have seen from the beginning of this investigation, which is that the evidence seems to keep changing. And the other thing that is very difficult for kind of a western world accident investigator to grasp is the notion that the defense minister is leading this, his acting transportation minister what really is lacking here is an independent Investigation Agency that takes charge on day one and runs an investigation with, you know, the best International Experts and a high level of transparency. Quickly, steven, can you recover from that . Can you recover from that lack of coordination, since it did not appear to be existent in the first few days . Well, i think thats the good news. As with every press report, press conference, i think theyre Getting Better at that, and i think theyre Getting Better at doing what they should have done on day one, which is get the most vetted evidence before the best experts in the world. And you know, theres more to this investigation than searching for the aircraft. That may be priority number one, but you know, as we see now, theres a focus on these other things, the pilots history and that sort of thing. All right, Steve Wallace. Thank you so much for being with us, shedding light on this situation. Thank you. Former head of faa investigations. Really appreciate you being with us. Thank you. There have been many developments this morning. Weve been listening to the Malaysian Defense minister outlining the developments overnight in the investigation into the mystery of flight 370. Well tell you all these breaking developments right after this. [ male announcer ] this is jim. A man who doesnt stand still. But jim has afib, atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat not caused by a heart valve problem. That puts jim at a greater risk of stroke. For years, jims medicine tied him to a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. But now, with onceaday xarelto jims on the move. Jims doctor recommended xarelto. Like warfarin, xarelto is proven effective to reduce afibrelated stroke risk. But xarelto is the first and only onceaday prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem that doesnt require routine blood monitoring. So jims not tied to that monitoring routine. [ gps ] proceed to the designated route. Not today. [ male announcer ] for patients currently well managed on warfarin there is limited information on how xarelto and warfarin compare in reducing the risk of stroke. Xarelto is just one pill a day taken with the evening meal. Plus, with no known dietary restrictions, jim can eat the Healthy Foods he likes. Do not stop taking xarelto, rivaroxaban, without talking to the doctor who prescribes it as this may increase the risk of having a stroke. Get help right away if you develop any symptoms like bleeding, unusual bruising, or tingling. You may have a higher risk of bleeding if you take xarelto with aspirin products, nsaids, or blood thinners. Talk to your doctor before taking xarelto if you have abnormal bleeding. Xarelto can cause bleeding, which can be serious and rarely may lead to death. You are likely to bruise more easily on xarelto and it may take longer for bleeding to stop. Tell your doctors you are taking xarelto before any planned medical or dental procedures. Before starting xarelto, tell your doctor about any conditions such as kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. Xarelto is not for patients with artificial heart valves. Jim changed his routine. Ask your doctor about xarelto. Onceaday xarelto means no regular blood monitoring no known dietary restrictions. For more information and savings options, call 1888xarelto or visit goxarelto. Com. All the developments in the investigation into missing flight 370. The mystery continues this morning. Well get back to the developments in a moment. First, in other news, at the Oscar Pistorius trial in south africa this morning, a crime scene photographer is on the stand, answering questions about what he saw at pistoriuss house the night that pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend. Hes testified that there was blood on the walls near pistoriuss bed some distance from the bathroom where the shooting took place. A california man now in custody, accused of being an alleged wanna be al qaeda terrorist. 20yearold Nicholas Toussaint was picked up near the canadian border. He is accused of trying to get to syria to join an Al Qaedalinked terror group. Hes charged with attempting to provide Material Support to terrorists. If convicted, he could face 15 years in prison. Happening today, in a new york court, federal prosecutors are expected to argue that selfdescribed 9 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh mohammed should not an allowed to testify at the trial of osama bin ladens soninlaw. Sulaiman abu ghaith is charged with conspiring to kill americans and acting as the spokesperson for al qaeda. Mohammed, who is in prison in guantana guantanamo, said abu ghaith had no role in planning military operations. Additional testing is set for today at the site of that deadly gas explosion in east harlem, in new york, as authorities try to figure out what led to the blast that killed eight people. Most of the rubble has now been removed and arson investigators plan to begin pressure testing gas lines. Autopsy results show that most of the victims died from smoke inhalation or from blunt force trauma. A third person has now died from injuries suffered in that awful crash at the south by southwest festival in austin, texas, when a car plowed into a crowd outside a music venue. 21yearold rashad owens is facing murder charges. Police say he was driving drunk and fled from them, leading to the crash. Right now, at least seven of those injured remain hospitalized. General motors recalling more than 1. 5 million more vehicles this morning, this time for airbag, brake and design issues. 1. 2 million suvs are being recalled over a wiring problem that could cause their sidemounted airbags not to deploy. At the same time, gm is recalling more than 300,000 fullsized vans to make the Instrument Panel more safe. And 64,000 cadillac xts sedans for overheating brakes. Thats a quick look at the headlines. The big story this morning, were of course, following all the developments into the investigation into missing flight 370. The mystery continues. We have just heard a briefing from malaysian officials about the latest developments today. New day begins with all that new day begins with all that right now. Captions by vitac www. Vitac. Com the first diversion that the plane made was done by a Computer System on the plane. Breaking overnight, a new report that the missing malaysian planes course was changed in the computer, not manually. What this means to investigators and to the search. We work through all the new information with our experts. Here in malaysia, that new report adding even more focus on the pilots. We talk exclusively to a man who knew the copilot well. Does he think his neighbor could have done this intentionally . Happening now, Vladimir Putin set to address his nation as he officially begins to tighten his grip on crimea. In a few twist, he may now be leveling sanctions against u. S. Senators. Your new day starts right now. Good morning. Welcome to new day. Im chris cuomo authorities there holding a press conference. The headline, they have expanded the search area. Theres a new search saying the pilot used the planes computer to alter the course. Thanks chris. Malaysian Officials Say the search area is 2. 24, two and a quarter million nautical square miles, bigger than the size of australia. The u. S. Will scale back the role in the search as other countries pick up the slack. Meantime, emotions from the bathroom where the