australian ship detected a second ping today in the indian ocean. the vessel picked up noise consistent with that of a black box and held contact for a full 13 minutes. clearly this is the most promising lead and probably in the search so far, it's the -- it's probably the best information that we have had. >> the pings are in a northern part of the search zone with waters up to 15,000 feet deep. remember, black boxes have an average shelf life of 30 days give or take a few and today marks day 31 since the flight vanished. so isolating the source of these pings is quite literally a race against time. to give us the latest on the search effort, we turn to nbc news correspondent ian williams in perth, australia. >> reporter: it is being described as a most promising lead, the best information in a month of fruitless searching, but the search coordinator is urging caution. a u.s. navy device called a ping locater towed behind an australian ship twice picked up under water sounds consistent with the pings of an aircraft's black box. they are working around the clock to reacquire that signal and better pinpoint its source. the plan then is to send down an unmanned submersible vehicle in such of a black box or aircraft wreckage. at a depth of 2.8 miles, the vehicle will be working at its level, the complete lack of any wreckage that might confirm that location as the flight where flight 370 hit the water. officials warn it could take days to verify if the signal is coming from a black bok, which in theory has already reached the limits of its 30 day battery life. ian williams, nbc news, perth. >> thanks to nbc's ian williams for that. now an inside look at the highest profile trial in the world, which reached a very emotional crescendo today in a courtroom in south africa. oscar pistorius testified in the first day of his defense. he began with a wrenching apology to the family of the woman that he has admitted to killing, his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp. >> not a moment and hasn't been a moment since this tragedy happened that i haven't thought about your family, i wake up every morning and you're the first people i think of and first people i pray for. i can't imagine the pain and sorrow and emptiness i've caused you and your family. i was simply trying to protect reeva. >> nbc news correspondent mike taibbi has been in the courtroom in pretoria. we of course can't hear -- we can't see him but we did hear him there. tell us, what was his demeanor like during that apology? >> reporter: yeah, hi, ronan, everybody in the courtroom was absolutely riveted. the emotion was raw and drama was high and question was whether or not he would be able to keep his compose you're and continue to testify after that emotional apology at the beginning. he had been sick several times throughout the four weeks of this trial and this was during the testimony of one of his witnesses, a pathologist describing his interpretation of the death scene where reeva steenkamp had died. pistorius covered his ears and eyes and became sick again. he lasted a little less than two hours after the apology, calmed down a little bit, his lawyer brought him through the story of his own life, his own character witness talking about the charity work he had done and vn been given an honorary doctorate for charity woman and role model for those who lost limbs due to land mines and taking in rescue dogs and saving a friend who having his car carjacked because he learned they were targeting that particular make of car. his struggle with disability growing up and talking about how unstable he felt when he didn't have his prosthetic legs on, maybe keying up testimony about the night that pistorius called a tragic accident. he lasted a little less than two hours before the judge even conceded, he was clearly exhausted, he's suffering from insomnia, nightmares and the judge allowed his testimony to conclude a half hour sooner than it would have. the only person who knows exactly what happened that night, trying to convince the judge his version of what happened is the truth. ronan. >> seems like oscar pistorius seeming very vulnerable, whether strategic or not. oscar pistorius spoke about what his life has been like since that agonizing night of reeva steenkamp's death. >> i have terrible nightmares about things that happened that night where i wake up and i smell -- i can smell -- i can smell blood and i wake up to being terrified. if i hear a noise, i wake up just in a complete state of terror to the point that i would rather not sleep. >> to dissect the legal stakes is tom mesero who has represented many. he wasn't obl galted by law to testify today. why do you think he decided to? >> he had to do. this is not a who done it but why he did it. he had to explain who he is and the experiences that shaped his perceptions and fears and concerns in life. they want to paint a subjective picture of someone because of his disability and celebrity is especially vulnerable and want to explain he's not just the nars sisist that he's a caring person and grew up with hardships and vulnerable to home invasion robberies and had to put him on and explain the subjective state of mind. >> pistorius cried in court, thrown up, covered his head. how important is his demeanor while on the stand? >> demeanor is as important as what you say. the judge is examining him very carefully. she knows the defense lawyers will often talk to their client that sometimes rehear-hearst kps sometimes too much. she want to see if this is who he is or whether con trifed for the courtroom. it's not over until it's over. you have to see what happens on cross-examination. i think this prosecutor is very skilled and he's going to examine him on whether or not he was reckless with guns or shotguns in restaurants and out of cars, whether he asked people to take the fall for him. his credibility can be really tested on cross-examination and his demeanor will be equally important then. >> to that note about seeming sincere, did he strike you as sincere? >> yes, he did strike me as sincere. i think he's extremely troubled and devastated by this whole thing. his life is on the line, looking at the possibility of 25 years to life in prison if the judge determines this was premeditated murder. so he has to explain i'm a human being, sensitive, never intended this, i'm vulnerable and disabled. if an intruder gets to me, what can i do. grew up in fear. my father was never there. all of this is very important for the defense. >> essentially the substance of what he has to establish, that he shot through the door four times and wasn't a premeditated attack on her, he thought it was an intruder and could have reasonably thought that. how do you establish that? four times in the house, no other evidence of a break-in. what is his argument going to rest on? >> there's a subjective component, who he is, what fears he grew up with and also an objective component, crime in the neighborhood. how many break-ins do you have on average? do people on average own guns and fire guns quickly? are there a lot of saults? he's not only disabled but a celebrity, he's a target. he knows that. the objective facts about the neighborhood, about crime, how people react to crime and as well as his subjective paranoias and fears will factor into whether or not this judge decides it was premeditated murder or something to a lesser degree. >> you mentioned that surrounding context of crime in this community and in this country, south africa does have a tremendous rate of violent crime, really big struggle in this particular neighborhood where he even lived. how big a part of this story is the surrounding context of growing up in such a violent country where people do have such a fear of street crime? >> well, it certainly factors into how many people own guns, why they own gun, how best you protect yourself. if there are people who experience enormous injury or death because of break-ins in the neighborhood, that will all factor into his perceptions that night. he heard noise he says, someone was coming into the house, he thought. was that a reasonable fear or perception? given his subjective upbringing and factors surrounding that neighborhood. let's wait and see. he's going to be on the stand for a long time. >> you mentioned his upbringing in particular and talked about being afraid of crime, having weapons around because of that. it will be interesting to see if that's a theme he continues to hit. speaking of what he continues to do, he will be back on stand tomorrow perhaps for cross-examination. how risky is that part of this process for his case? >> it's very risky because i've seen people do very well on direct examination and then good cross examiner completely turns them around and makes them angry. this cross examiner is not just looking for particular answers but looking to change his demeanor to show he's a narcissist and and has a sense of entitlement and reckless and thought he could do things that other people aren't supposed to do. we have to see what happens on cross. he's going to be sitting in that witness box very vulnerable, vulnerable to attack, he's not used to that situation. he's a national hero. let's see how he holds up. >> he seemed pointedly vulnerable today and will be legally vulnerable in the days to come. thanks for that assessment, tom messer roe. >> what is this pop star have to do with today's brutal street violence in ukraine? 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[ male announcer ] troubleshoot, manage appointments, and bill pay from your phone. introducing the xfinity my account app. welcome back, we take you now to explosive developments on the international stage, 7 million afghans risked their lives to vote in a presidential election that could alter the fru future of thur their country forever. roadside bombs killed 26 people, although many feared the toll would be much worse and turnout was so high that officials were forced to extend voting for an extra hour. they sent more ballots to polls and had to mobilize all of the country's security forces to protect the polls. joining me now from kabul is nbc chief foreign correspondent richard engel keeping us updated on this situation. first i want to ask about the voting process. back in 2009 as many as 20% of the ballots had to be thrown out. how do you think the fraud level was this time around? >> reporter: the voting that we saw looked like it was going quite smoothly but judging from the number of complaints, this is not a comparable situation to 2009. the process isn't over yet and there could be surprises, but compared to where we were right now, a few days after the election in 2009, it was a totally different scenario, i was here in 2009 and tonight if it were 2009 we would be working on a story about fraud. we had video of people stuffing ballot boxes. they were complaints coming in from all over the country. we're not hearing those kind of complaints right now. we don't have those kind of pictures. we're not out of this yet but it doesn't seem to have been anywhere near this situation that we had in 2009. >> early good news, so much hangs in the balance for afgs and actually for the united states. tell us what difference for the future of that relationship with afghanistan and the united states this election will make? the two front-runners are relatively moderate compared to what we had now with karzai, both support the deal to keep american troops there. tell us what the main difference -- >> reporter: i think the biggest difference is no more karzai. karzai has been the face of international relations coming out of afghanistan for over a decade. he initially had very good relations with washington. and then those relations became very ak moan yus, karzai is finished as president of this country and two other players are coming in. working closely with the international community, might be a little harder to deal with because of his explosive person knelt. he has a bad temper but someone who is reasonable. he has an economic plan for the country and organized person with a folder for each different crisis this country is facing, that's the way he approaches the world. academic, briefly taught at columbia university. abdullah abdullah wants to have very close relation with the united states, smoother politician, very polished, he's gotten more polished since the last run in 2009, the election he thought was stolen from him by karzai. there's an opportunity for either of these candidates to establish a brand-new relationship with the united states which over the last several years has been tainted by karzai's personality and his american nalt clashes not just with president obama but many leaders in washington. >> i was in afghanistan in 2009 and remember vividly how many hopes within the obama administration rode on someone other than karzai getting in. richard, thank you for this update and all you've been doing to keep us briefed up to this election. it's been an interesting take from the ground from you. all right, now, we move to another country in crisis, ukraine. pro-russian demonstrators seized government buildings in three cities over the weekend in the country's more ethnically russian eastern region. protesters are clashing with police in riot gear and eventually overtook buildings and hoisted the russian flag in the stiz. they have accused vladimir putin of stoking unrust and yat sen yuk said they are part of a plan to destabilize the country and bring in nor russian troops. will the protests tear ukraine apart. it is the singer and former parliamentarian, thank you so much for being here. >> i'm so happy -- >> it's a pleasure. >> really important moment to inform you with hot news from these region because i call to my friend and really ask people over the world, pay attention for this information. >> let's talk about the latest beat in the story. violence and people claiming they are pro-russian demonstrators. what do you think of that claim? >> believe me, when i call to my friend who is ukrainian citizen of my country, i'm ukrainian. and these guys, my friend ukrainian. we ask these guys, you watch right now on the future, these guys not ukrainian citizen. >> you think these are plants? >> absolutely. >> from vladimir putin? >> i can use a picture from my music video that is why i understand putin because he organized that picture to inform everybody that it's true but putin lies every day. you have to understand it. these guys is russia radicals who come to ukraine, organize this really bad things and nobody can stop these guys because these guys have weapons and so aggressive. and i talked to -- sometimes they don't know exactly what building is for government. >> because they are not from there, out of towners. >> yes, these guys tried -- and everybody knows that you have to understand it's second aggressive plan step of putin. don't sleep, don't wait, act. when i met with michelle obama and met with mr. biden, mccain, senator murphy, i informed these people you are really strong politicians, you are really strong people of the world. please, if you see that it's not enough to just promise sanction, you have to -- you have to be stronger and more concretely act, please act, economic sanction, more deeper, longer. with military mission, we need it. we don't have power. we can't -- it's about our budapest agreement. >> you want action from the world and want them to honor their commitment to protect ukraine. i heard you sing the ukrainian national anthem incredibly beautifully at tina brown's women in the world conference the other night. everyone in that audience stood up and flashed lights as they did in independence square, i think you brought one now because they were gripped by that spirit of revolution you brought to the table and we have them here. i will treasure mine. >> it means if you switch with me this light, it means we are really speak about truth. we have a lot of propaganda, it's bad weapon of putin. we switch on these lights to show truth, truth about ukraine, about -- >> you were something of a beacon of truth during the initial rounds of revolution, you told a story on that stage of standing in the line of snipers, singing to mobilize the crowds. what would you say to the crowds that are in ukraine right now? >> in ukraine right now, we have to mobilize. we have to understand that we don't have enough power -- i mean, with new government. you know, it's young team. we don't have any possibility to organize everything right for this region, which have a lot of problem right now with russia radicals but we have power. we have people power. we have people movement, against putin, unite, united for ukraine, unite for to -- to give politicians, you know, to do everything but not sleep, not do nothing. please, it's really, really bad moment. it's not about ukraine, which have really -- you know, putin destroyed my country. putin kill my country. please, don't like watch the news and do nothing. it's very, very bad situation. >> it's an important message for the world. thank you so much for everything you bring to the table emotionally, i really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> up next on "rfd" we're going to ask for your votes on the week's most underreported story. stay with us for that. when folks in the lower 48 think about what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. thousands of people here in alaska are working to safely produce more energy. but that's just the start. to produce more from existing wells, we need advanced technology. that means hi-tech jobs in california and colorado. the oil moves through one of the world's largest pipelines. maintaining it means manufacturing jobs in the midwest. then we transport it with 4 state-of-the-art, double-hull tankers. some of the safest, most advanced ships in the world: built in san diego with a $1 billion investment. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. and no energy company invests more in the u.s. than bp. when we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. that's not a coincidence. it's one more part of our commitment to america. thank you. thank you. i got this. oh, no, i'll get it! let me get it. uh-uh-uh. i don't want you to pay for this. it's not happening, honey. let her get it. she got her safe driving bonus check from allstate last week. and it's her treat. what about a tip? 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