>> things could easily get out of control >> will crimea break away? what's russia's next move? and how will th u.s. respond? >> we're making it clear that there are consequences for their actions... >> for continuing coverage stay with al jazeera america your global news leader. >> this is a lead. it is probably the best lead we have right now. we need to get will, find them, see them, assess them to know whether it's meaningful or not. >> breaking news in the search for malaysia airlines flight mh370. australian officials spotting what may be debris in the south indian ocean.

>> thanks for joining us and welcome to al jazeera america. i'm thomas drayton, live in new york city. we begin this morning with breaking news out of australia. early thursday, australian prime minister tony abbott announced that satellite images appear to show two objects in the southern indian ocean, that may have been a part of flight mh370. no solid firmation. abbott told the australian parliament that an orion search aircraft has been sent to an area 1550 miles south of perth. >> i would like to inform the house that new and credible information has come to light in relation to the search for malaysia airlines flight mh370 in the southern indian ocean. the australian maritime safety authority has received information based on satellite imagery of objects possibly related to the search. following specialist analysis of

this satellite imagery, two possible objects related to the search have been identified. >> abbott said he notified malaysia's prime minister of the development, but warns the objects may not be related to flight mh370. >> this marks day 13 of the search. we have seen the images here. distraught relatives have been disrupting press briefings, begging for answers. >> here is more of what we know about the search for flight mh370. >> 13 days after malaysia airlines flight mh370 disappeared on its way to beijing, a potential break in the investigation. >> the australian maritime safety authority received information based on satellite imagery of objects possibly related to the search. following specialist analysis of this satellite imagery, two possible objects ret -- related

to the search have been identified. >> australian ships and aircraft are on the way. >> the poseiden should be on the scene now. the ships and aircraft are searching for any signs of the missing aircraft. weather conditions are moderate in the southern indian ocean where the search is taking place. poor visibility has been reported, and this will hamper air and satellite efforts. >> it's the first sign of hope from the loved ones of the 239 missing on board, after another day of anguish and uncertainty. >> while the lead is promising caution is urged, in a case that baffled everyone, wanting to know how could flight mh370 possibly be found so far from its original destination. >> once again australia's prime

minister told parliament that he informed his malaysian counterpart of they say developments. we want to go to nicole johnson in kuala lumpur. i acknowledge the news is difficult for family members. >> that's right. we saw that on wednesday, when two chinese women, two relatives of the passengers came into the media center, and tried to protest, open a banner complaining about the information that they had been receiving, and they were bundled by security guards into a room. they were not allowed to speak to the media, and were dragged out of the room in the middle of a huge media scrum. it goes to show the amount of pressure that the al-asian authorities are under. -- malaysian authorities are under. later they said they re great the scment, and they will screght it. people are hoping for good news

out of the find in the indian ocean. it was a measured press conference. no official word from malaysian authorities here commenting about the find. we will expect to hear from them in about four hours time. they give an annual press briefing in the afternoon. at this stage they have not said anything officially. >> with that said, do some feel that the press conference out of australia came too soon? >> no. certainly from a relative's perspective, most say they want more information, they don't feel that they are getting enough information. the reports are credible from australia. we know that they've been searching two arcs. first of all, to remind people there's the northern corridor, and that is led by china. it's a vast area to search over

countries, including nepal and other areas. australia and new zealand have been focussing on this arc, and the further extremities of it, down in the south. the information that we had, as you heard, is that four aircraft will be searching that area. one is already there, three are on the way. there's a merchant ship on the way, as well as a naval vessel, but that will sake a couple of days to get that. they are being careful about not raising hopes too far. they don't know whether the items in the sea are related to the missing plane at all, and they emphasise how difficult it will be to pinpoint them. visibility is poor, conditions difficult. it's a vast area. >> can you tell us, once again, how coordinated the effort is between malaysian and australian

authorities. >> there are some 25 countries involved in the search operation. it's more than malaysia and australia. on monday, it was announced, as i was explaining, that certain countries will look after the northern corridor. australia and indonesia are looking after the south. and that is how it's been carried out and coordinated at the moment. from the australian perspective those aircraft will fly out of perth. it's around about a four hour trip to get into the search area. they then had about two hours there to search, and four hours back. so the time is limited, that they can spend in that area. >> nicole johnson joining us from kuala lumpur. >> i want to go to al jazeera's andrew thomas, joining us via phone from sydney. australian authorities, they are confident they have something credible here.

how is the search progressing? >> well, i think on that note it's important to say that what is happened about this is the way the information was revealed. it hasn't been a little detail. the prime minister of australia stood up in parliament, to a hushed house of representatives and told them he had an important statement to make, and said it had been a credible development. everyone around the world, of course heard about it, and got of the heads up that something important was coming. >> it's been huge. australia's part in that search, when they took control, when they took control of the southern vek tore. it was a vast area that australia was charged with searching in. topping off a 600,000km. a huge area. that was reduced to 300,000

yesterday, pretty huge, but more precise. and now potentially this breakthrough. the images taken via satellite showing two objects. planes and boats on their way looking in this much more narrow area. one plane is already on site, circling the area where the two objects have been seen and more planes will be on the way over the next three or four hours. an australian naval vessel is heading there, a commercial ship, that should get there in the next couple of hours. there has been a big press conference. they described in more detail, the maritime safety authority, a little of what they think they have seen in terms of the object on the water. i think we have some of that press conference for you.

. >> good afternoon, everyone. my name is john young from the australian maritime safety authority. my colleague is air commodore john mc-garry from defence. i'll make an opening statement before we open up for questions. all times i use will be expressed in australian eastern daylight savings time or canberra time. the australian maritime safety authority is coordinating the southern corridor search for the missing malaysia airlines aircraft. with assistance in the australian defence force, the royal new zealand air force and the united states navy. a.m.s.a.'s rescue coordination centre australia received satellite imagery of objects possibility related to the search for the missing aircraft flight mh370. rcc australia received an... >> andrew, how coordinated was

the announcement with malaysian authorities and families waiting on word here. >> well, australia's prime minister said in parliament about four hours ago that he had, before talking to parliament, talking to the malaysian prime minister. at this stage no information came out from malaysia. the first we knew was from australia, from prime minister tony abbott. there's a press conference in malaysia due soon and we'll have more information there. it's fair to say that the search of the southern ocean area has been an australian search so far, and it's an australian satellite that zoomed in on the area and identified the two objects. in the press conference, there was a description of the expected size of those two objects. the spokesperson for the australian maritime safety authority was asked whether they were objects the size of a

basketball. they are bigger than that. one expected to be 24 metres long. i realise you use imperial measures, but it is a big object, much, much bigger than anything so far. >> we'll talk about those objects. andrew thomas joining us from sydney. i want to bring in scott hamilton, an aviation consultan with lee-han consultant. what do you make of this discovery coming out of australia? >> it's hopeful, but we have to be cautious. we have been down this road before when the chinese issued satellite imagery of objects of a similar size and they turned out to be false leads. something that is 24 metres or 80 feet long is a very big piece of whatever. if it's part of a winning, where the fuel within exhausted, i

could see where that could be floating. but i would be surprised if it were a part of the fuselage. i would have expected that to sink. >> i know it's pure speculation here, but these two large objects, you say possibly it could be the winning, if anything. >> yes. if the plane flew to fuel commust exhaustion and then glided into the ocean, the wing tanks are within the winning. it's conceivable when the wing broke off in a water landing that you might have an attack portion of the wing where the empty fuel tank would allow that to float. that's speculation. >> here we have the satellite images. how difficult is this operation

moving forward. clearly the satellite images may be providing an important clue, but you have to get eyeball confirmation of that of what is being attempted by the australian authorities with the p8 poseiden. they have p3 orions going up and seeing the ships but you need to get eye ball confirmation, and, as the prime minister described, it's indistinct. the weather will play a factor as well. >> well of course, and you get choppy seas, and that was described as a challenge, and you could get white caps, making it difficult to find objects, particularly if you are in another boat or ship. the easier part is to see that from a low-flying airplane with aircraft ability, which is what

the poseiden and the orion is about. >> you talk about the seas. do we know the depth of the water? >> i've seen the depth can be anything from 3,000 to 23,000 feet. there's a plateau in the general area, but nobody knows precisely, yet, where the debris or debris field is, so no one knows how deep it is. even when they find the debris field, if it is from the aeroplane, you have to mathematically compute the origin, because it's been 12 days, and the debris could have been quite a distance from where the impact would have been. >> the aircraft, itself, will obviously give off no signals at its point. >> well, one would hope the flight data recorder and the flight recorder are giving off signals, because there's what they are designed to do, and the battery life is supposed to be about 30 days, from 12-13 days

into the event. but the audible distance for the flight data reporters are a couple of miles to about 10 miles, and then you have to worry about the water destorsion and all that. >> what more can you tell us about the orion, the search aircraft and the technology involved. >> you have two aircraft, the boeing p8 poseiden, which is based on the boeing 737. that is just entered -- that has just entered service with the u.s. navy in the last year. the indian navy took some delivery. the australian navy - i wasn't aware of that one - but they have. it's new into the seniors. the appointment -- p 3 poseiden

is to replace the p3 orion. the p3 orion would have state of the art equipment. the p8 poseiden would have more state of the art equipment. >> scott hamilton from lee ham company. i want to go to lisa stark, joining us from washington. we talked about china and the satellite images that turned out to be nothing. how significant do you think the announcement is, coming this morning? >> if you remember, there was a lot of confusion about the chinese images, and china said they never released them and at some point it seemed it may have been a hoax. this is more credible, according the to australians. they have had experts look at the satellite images. they didn't show the media what the images looked like or

describe them particularly, except to say there were at least two objects. and during the news conference, the maritime authority in australia indicated that - seemed to indicate there may be additional objects seen, but the two main ones, one about 79 feet long, so a good size, actually. but, again. they are being cautious. they say this is the best lead they have had so far. they have been very clear that they've been down this road before with other investigations, and unfortunately you get to a point where you think you'll find something, and it's not what they were hoping to find. until they do get a close are look at these objects, they can't be certain they are from the aircraft. that is the hope, this they find a clue after 13 days of looking. >> you bring up an interesting point. >> do you get the sense that authorities may have been holding back a little?

>> i think they are trying to be as forthcoming as they can. there has been a lot of concern that it hasn't been the case and family members have been upset with malaysian officials. they are being as forth coming as they can. they don't want to raise hopes unnecessarily, and don't want to dash hopes. it's an open question. john young, the briefer, did say it's credible, and we think it's significant that we are diverting a lot of assets, and putting a lot of efforts into finding the objects. they have four planes on a staggered basis, going out to take a look at the merchant ship that they are bringing to the area. they'll bring a naval vessel. they are really hoping that they have found something of gans. >> it's a large effort. >> the news comes as the u.s.

takes a larger role. the u.s. and australia have a close relationship. >> they do. the malaysians are in charge, but they ceded to the countries that are closer and can do the search. the southern area, where hopefully the promising pieces of debris has been found. it is being led by australia, capable and a lot of experience doing this sort of thing. they are taking the lead in this region. this is the area where they think it is likely that the plane did go down. they plotted a northern ark and a southern ark. all of the officials i was talking to felt that this southern area was likely route that the plane would have taken as it went to the north over a

number of countries. the ntsd took a close look and did analysis of the satellite pinging from the aircraft, trying to narrow down the search area, and the ntsd effort allowed them to cut the search area in half. still a huge area, allowing them to focus. and the objects found on the satellite imagery are a little to the south, a little below where the ntsb indicated they should search. you have 12, 13 days after the plane disappeared. you have currents, tides, you have wind currents. obviously whatever they do find, if it's from the aircraft, it's come some distance from where the plane went down. >> a lot of elements and changes. >> lisa stark in washington this morning. thank you. >> stay with al jazeera america

for continuing coverage on the search for missing flight mh370. we'll bring you the latest from australia and malaysia, that and the other day's news ahead. as we go to break, here is rehabilitation from malaysian officials to the news out of australia. stay with us. >> i'm meeting the australian delegation now. as i have been doing from day one, we have been following every single lead. and this time i just hope that it is a positive development.

>> welcome back to al jazeera america. breaking new us overnight in the search for missing malaysia airlines flight mh370. australian officials say satellite images have floated something that may be debris in the south indian ocean. crews are on the way to the search area. i want to bring in todd curtis,

joining us via skype and is a transportation al jazeera coordinator. what do you make of the location of the objects and the flight path of the plane. >> the location makes sense, given it's been about 13 days since the event, and the currents and the wind could have pushed them outside the search area. these debris - debris was spotted south of the recommended search area from the ntsb. also, what strikes me is that during the conference, the australians basically mentioned that one of the organizations that was providing the information was a military organization, the australian geospacial military organization, is basically the equivalent to the united states

equif lent. it will be interesting to see the role that will play. they weren't used by the malaysian. >> how much intelligence sharing do you think is going on between australia, u.s. and malaysia? >> i think there's substantial sharing between the united states and australia, because there's a decade-long close relationship between the two government. not so much with malaysia, they don't have the strategic assets that australia has, that the united states has been using in australia. really, there's not been any military need to share that level of data with the malaysian government in the past. i have to mention that earlier today president obama had an interview where he stated that the united states was sharing with the malaysians all the assets they typically share with a nation when there's an airline accident. that turn of phrase, the typical assets that are used, implied there are other assets that

maybe the u.s. had and was not sharing with the malaysians. i believe the announcements today in australia add a little more credence to that. >> with that said, how confident do you think the australian prime minister whereas to hold the commence. >> given the high level announced by the prime minister, and not a lower person in the government, says to me that the australian government is very, very confident in the level of the data, and the strength of the analysis of that data. >> let's talk more about the search here. what can you tell us about the search planes that are being sent there? >> well, there are two types mentioned - the p3 orion, part of the u.s. naval inventory and in the inventory of allied nations, ipped cluing, as -- including, as mentioned, australia and new zealand. they are used primarily for hunting submarines. they have cameras, magnetic

detectors and such, designed to detect submarines that are trying to hide from them. spotting debris on the surface of the ocean, even if visited outside a range, infrared et cetera, should be a straight forward operation. also, one of the assets deployed, the p8 orion is basically the 21st century version of the p3 orion, capable, can stay on satisfaction for longer and has more advanced electronic and detection systems. >> when e with talk about the search -- when we talk about the search, we are talking about in the middle of indian ocean. what could the objects be? >> as mentioned before, when objects were spotted in the south china sea, they were sea trash, flot sam and jet sam from

passing ships, confused for airport parts. that's a problem around the world. debris falling off ships, sunkan vessels. some can float on the surface for years. it's possible that the objects could, from a distance, look like aircraft parts. as the prime minister pointed out. it could be that this is not a part of an airplane. again. these p3 and p8 aircraft will give a better, clearer picture, detailed picture than a satellite. >> we are certainly waiting on word. todd curtis, al jazeera transportation contributor. stay with us for the latest in the search for miss ing flight mh370. and the latest on the crisis in ukraine coming up straight ahead. stay with us.