>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. breaking news this morning. new signals detected in the search for missing malaysia airlines flight 370. overnight, investigators revealing two new transmissions heard from man made devices that they could be could be from the black boxes. the batteries on those black boxes could be going dead any day now. we have a team of reporters covering every ainge of this story. and another huge story happening right now, the olympic hero accused of murder on the

witness stand right now for a second day. can oscar pistorius convince a judge he did not mean to kill his model girlfriend? we're live with the latest developments from south africa as they happen. good morning, everyone. april lot going on right now. welcome to "early start." i'm john berman. >> and i'm christine romans. it's wednesday, april 9th, 4x a.m. on the nose in the east. breaking news overnight. once again, the crews have heard signals, signals possibly from the plane's black boxes. two signals were detected. and the signals were weaker than before but it's being called a positive sign and likely the best chance to find flight 370 perhaps in a number of days. cnn's erin mclaughlin is live in perth. erin, after hearing yesterday, the signals had been lost, this

was a huge development for investigators and rescuers overnight. >> reporter: that's right, christine. the bottom line is they are now more confident that they are looking in the right place than they have ever been before. angus houston is the chief coordinator behind this multinational search operation. he gave a press conference earlier today in which he talked about these new detections. take a listen to what he had to say. >> i can now tell you that "ocean shield" has been able to reacquire the signals on two more occasions. like yesterday afternoon, and like last her time. a detection team yesterday afternoon was held for approximately 5 minutes and 32 seconds. the detection late last night was held for approximately 7 minutes. >> houston saying that those

detections noticeably weaker than the signals detected on saturday. and he says that's most likely because the batteries on the black box pinger likely to expire. they have a shelf life of 30 day. we are now on day 33. he said the priority right now is for the australian vessel, the ocean shield, to continue combing those waters, with the american towed ping locator to try and get more information to narrow down that potential search field so they then can deploy the bluefin 21, the u.s.-provided autonomous underwater vehicle that will be able to go down and try and find the actual wreckage. only then will we know for sure that these signals are in fact from the missing plane, christine. >> so if they think they can pinpoint where this is, how long might this search take?

days, weeks? what are the investigators saying? >> reporter: well, right now, they want to be certain that the batteries of that black box pinger have died. they want to be absolute certain. and until they are certain, they're going to continue to comb the waters trying to detect that signal again. only then, will they deploy this under water autonomous vehicle, as i mentioned, the bluefin 21. just to give you a sense of that process, it takes the bluefin 21 about two hours to get to the ocean floor. and it can search around 16. and then another two hours to come up to the surface. before they evaluate all that information before sending it down again. it can only search 11 square miles in a given day. you can see why it's paramount for them to be able to collect as much information about that signal location before sending that underwater drone down there, christine. >> erin mclaughlin in for us

from perth, australia. >> what they hope they can do is get any information about what caused this plane to make a dramatic turn to the southern indian ocean. what caused the flight to end to the indian ocean if that is indeed what happened. of course, it's been days now since we heard from investigators themselves about what might have gone on in that cockpit, what they think happened to that jet. we're joined by nic robertson in kuala lumpur. nic, right now, this investigation does turn on finding the data recorders? >> reporter: it does, most certainly. the most senior official here tweeted, the acting transport minister, he's cautiously more optimistic, he says that he prays that this information will help move everyone forward. he's also -- he prays on the lead of the investigation there, in the search in australia. angus houston describing him as a professional for the malaysian officials here.

they won't say about any of the developments they're making on the investigation because they say that really the black box information is going to be critical to their investigation, to filling out some of the unknowns that they don't have at the moment. if we think about it, the malaysians have organized their investigation to sort of three separate areas. one of those areas deals with the voice data. and the data recorders. but there's another -- another group within the investigation, the medical group, which will also look at the pathology, so that there are other things on board, potentially, that are vital for this investigation. so the black box is a critical, but, of course, if there's any medical information that can be derived from where people are in the aircraft if these sort of things can be known and other medical information, that's going to be important as well, john. >> analysis that will happen to any debris they might find, nic.

of course, the caulk hit voice recorder only records the last two hours so that might not yield the data they're looking for. the flight data could indicate, nic, if there was any kind of mechanical failure on board, isn't that correct? >> reporter: that is correct. and this is why they believe that these data recorders will be only able to provide part of the information from the investigators, as much as they can get from the aircraft, which would be an aircraft that can be recovered or searched somewhat intact. we understand, that the seabed it is on contains deep silt, that may make it harder for this underwater vehicle to perhaps look through the windows. but critical for this investigation has been all along, who was at the controls of the aircraft, if anyone. and a view into that cockpit if it is still impact, for those investigators here is going to

be absolutely important information. so the data recorders important, as you say, to a limited degree. but again, there's a lot of physical information. and perhaps some of that coming from the pathology that they may be able to do with sort of the medical side of the investigation that will be important, john. >> absolutely right, nic robertson off the coast perth. there was one american adult on flight 370, philip wood, an ibm employee heading home to beijing. his partner sara bajc said she thinks philip wood may still be alive and doesn't feel we're hearing the jet truth. >> i do believe there's some sort of cover-up, whether malaysia, united states, china, i don't know. but it's impossible to me that all of those governments' radars were so silent and so quiet when a 777 was flying over their

airspace. there's clearly something we don't know. >> most of the people on that flight were chinese, and they want answers, too. but they're saying there's so much false information, they just don't know what to believe. pauline chew is live in beijing. pauline there was a meeting with the americans and the families, what happened? >> that's right, these americans lost loved ones. and the chinese met with the three americans early this morning, they asked them a lot of questions and the americans advised them and they guide them. they said you need to keep asking questions, keep pushing for answers from the government involved, from the investigators, from the searchers. and i asked one of the americans what they tells some of these families and also families like sarah bajc that we just heard

from, who truly believe that this plane is not in the indian ocean and that there may be survivors. >> i respect every single family member and what they personally believe. and the questions that they have. i think it's a very good question. there's -- we have no proof that this plane has crashed at this point. and we have satellites that can read the license plate on a car. don't tell me that after a month, we can't find an airplane? >> reporter: now, gale dunham and the two other americans here are from an organization, a nonprofit called planesafety.org. it's an advocacy group pushing for better security and better safety. one of the other woman lost her husband on 9/11. he was working on the world trade center that day. and another american said she lost her parents in an airplane

crash when she was only 5 years old. and this incident happened more than 50 years ago. she said it took more than 20 years to get answers so she's telling the relatives here that it can take a long time and it requires patience. and i'll tell you, christine, it was very helpful for these chinese families to hear from these women, because these women can sincerely say, i know what you're going through. >> unbelievable. we certainly feel for them as this process dralgs on. pauline chiou, thank you. we're following the latest breaking news. the new twists and turns. first, happening right now, dramatic testimony from oscar pistorius. accused of murdering his girlfriend. he broke down. they cancelled testimony yesterday. he's back on the stand right now. we'll tell you what he's saying live right after this. not that one. that one. the one who seems like he's already got the job 'cause he studied all the right courses from the get-go.

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breaking news this morning

from australia where officials say they are once again hearing signals in the indian ocean that could be coming from flight 370's black box. the signals did not last long, just five minutes and seven minutes. they're weaker than a couple days ago but that could be a sign that they're on to something and the batteries are just dying. the new find, the new pings, does give new hope that searchers could be closer to finding the missing jet which, of course, has now been gone for 33 days. it's another emotional day for oscar pistorius on the stand again in his murder trial in south africa. he's recounting just what happened in the moments after he shot and killed his girlfriend reeva steenkamp. testimony has just resumed a few minutes ago. pistorius was asked about walking into the bathroom where her body lay and what he did, once he realized she was gravely injured. >> i checked to see if they was

breathe, and she wasn't. i put my arms underneath her shoulders and i put her weight on to me, and i sat there crying for some time. and i had her head on my left shoulder, and i could -- i could feel the blood was running down on me. >> cnn legal analyst kelly phelps is outside the courthouse in pretoria. it's just sad and emotional. yesterday, the judge had to sort of adjourn for the day, he was so emotional on the stand. does it surprise you at all just how emotional he is in recounting this horrific scene? >> reporter: no, it doesn't surprise me, really. i think it's very common when a person's been involved in a very gruesome and traumatic event that they would have certain

elements of post traumaic stress, be very emotional about it. you do see that in cases that involve particularly gory details. i think it's important to remember, though, that that doesn't tell us anything about his potential guilt or innocence. because the only thing that it shows is that he's been traumatized by the events of that evening. it doesn't speak to what his state of mind was when he actually fired the shots. >> the late reeva steenkamp, that's one thing, people say this is such a -- he's getting emotional support from people who say he's been broken up from this. but only one person walked away from that night. talk about the drama mat eck reenactment of the shooting. shooting reenactment. he stood in the courtroom showing what he did on the night of the shooting. what kind of risk was that for the defense? >> reporter: well, in a sense, he has to do that.

because a lot of his story, his version of events rest around allegations that his team have made in response to allegations that the state have made about what he is and isn't physically capable of doing. so in order to try and poke doubt at the state's version and support their own version of events, essentially, they do need to demonstrate what he is physically capable of doing. in fact, right now in court, we're seeing a continuation of that kind of evidence. so we're just hearing about certain demonstrations that mr. pistorius at the moment is being asked to do. we know that he's going to be asked to demonstrate how high he can kick with his prosthetic leg on. and that refers to this third mark on the door that the state never investigated. that they have always alleged had markings from the sock on his prosthetic foot and supported his version of events that he was wearing his

prosthetic after the shooting to kick the door down. he's also going to be demonstrations wielding the cricket bats. to show his height and his ability when he's on his legs. theyal include practical demonstrations. >> practical demonstrations but they're so emotional because he's basically reliving that night, including reeva steenkamp's parents. >> reporter: well, it's not her parents. it's her mother. sitting next to the family lawyer. it's got to be absolutely gruesome for her to be sitting through this. in fact, she must be a very strong woman because oftentimes, family members can't sit through this testimony. the emotional nature of the testimony in a sense is likely to have less impact on the outcome of this trial because we don't have a jury in this trial. because it's a judge-led system. it's been focused on the events.

the specific details, is it tall enough to reach there without his legs on? can he balance when he's on his stumps? that's really what she'll be focusing on rather than the drama on the demonstration itself. >> thank you so much. the testimony resuming right now. it's fascinating to listen to him on the stand, giving his version of the events. the prosecution will test that version when he get to cross examine him. toyota is recalling more than 6 million cars worldwide. now, this is toyota from problems with steering columning breaking, seats not locking in position. there are a total of five different issues affecting 27 different models. 2 million of the cars involved are in north america. this is a very big recall throughout unusually wide range of issues. >> there have been 11 recalls so far this year, in general, from

a bunch of different carmakers. we're on track for about half of last year. >> i wonder if toyota is like get this in now while focused on gm. happening now, crisis in ukraine, pro-russian protesters taking over buildings demanding independence. could civil war soon break out? we're live next.

. welcome back, everyone. more developing news this

morning in ukraine. protesters remain holed up in government buildings done yet and elsewhere demanding independence and asking for a referendum so they can become part of russia at this point. united states is warning it could be a pretext for a russian invasion, moscow for its part urging caution. our cnn international correspondent nick paton walsh is live this morning in ukraine. nick, this morning, what's the feeling on the ground? give us a sense of the situation. >> reporter: well, i'm in donetsx, the tension is very much powerful in eastern ukraine. ukrainian minister said he gives the situation 48 hours to resolve itself. the real part of this speech saying either this comes out for goals or they have force ready to implement did they require. now, tension was very tense in

the city east of where i'm standing because a number of russian protesters armed inside the securities building they're occupying. and ukrainian officials say they had hostages, 60 of them, and they wired the building with explosives. now, that was denied by the protesters inside. we law little independent evidence, we do know from social media there they are armed inside that build aeg armory. that seems to have been resolved. ukraine officials say over 50 people were released. we simply don't know what happened there. it's just causing the fears here to ratchet up. whatever small step people take towards tension for bloodshed, it's amplified. there are 40,000 russian troops miles from where i'm standing, and nato and u.s. say they're potentially there to intervene if moscow wants, john. >> our nick paton walsh this

morning. it might seem like a small situation, but exactly the situation that u.s. officials fear could be some type of pretense for russian troops to get involved. breaking news, new signals detected. new signals in the search for missing malaysia airlines flight 370. live team coverage on that next. bulldog: [yawn]

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♪ mattress discounters >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. and the breaking news this morning, new clues in the search for the missing malaysian jetliner. two new signals detected under water from what