♪ 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 investigators

believe could be the plane's black boxes. right now, an intense search to find those recorders before the batteries run out. and they do appear to be running out. search leaders now saying it could take days, or they could find flight 370 within days. we have live team coverage breaking down the very latest this morning. also breaking this morning -- happening right now. emotional testimony from an olympic hero accused of murdering his model girlfriend. can he convince a judge this was all just a tragic accident? we're live with what oscar pistorius is saying this morning. welcome back to "early start." i'm christine romans. and i'm john berman. a lot going on this morning. 30 minutes paflt the hour. we want to get right to the breaking news for the search for flight 370. overnight, word that search crews have heard two new signals, possibly from the jet's missing black boxes. now, the signals were weaker than they had been days earlier.

and they only lasted for a few minutes. at this point, the search is optimistic that this could be the information they need to track down the wreckage really within a matter of days. cnn's erin mclaughlin live in perth with the latest on this search and the discovery of these new pings. erin. >> reporter: hi, john, well, news of these new detections certainly encouraging. angus houston, the man responsible for coordinating this multinational search gave a press conference earlier today in which he expressed his optimism. take a listen. >> but if you had asked me, let's say, when i arrived last sunday night, i would have been probably more pessimistic than i think now. i'm now optimistic that we will find the aircraft, or what is left of the aircraft.

in the not too distant future. >> reporter: houston went on to say that the signal detected was weaker than the detections on saturday. and he said that was most likely because the battery of the black box pinger was likely expiring. has a shelf life of some 30 days. we're now on day 33. so the focus of this mission very much on the australian vessel, the "ocean shield" equipped with the american-operated towed ping locator, which is still out there scouring the waters trying to reacquire those signals. and that's really key to this effort right now. the more detections they have, the more information they have about the source, the location of the signal source. and that allowed them to narrow down a potential search field. and deploy the bluefin 21 which

is the u.s.-provided underwater autonomous vehicle which is able to search the ocean seafloor for any signs of wreckage. and only then will they know for sure if this has anything to do with the missing plane, john. >> they need that for pure confirmation, erin. of course, all the body language in this news conference of angus houston seems to indicate they think they have it. they think they now know the general area where it is. and they're just trying to narrow it down to the most specific location, so that when they do deploy the bluefin, it has the greatest chance of finding it quickly. any sense when that bluefin might get in the water? >> reporter: well, first, houston's saying they want to make sure that the batteries of the black box pinger have in fact completely expired. that they can drive no further information from the pinger. once they have done that, then they will deploy the bluefin 21.

which to give you a sense of that process it takes the underwater autonomous vehicle some two hours to be lowered on the seafloor. it can then search for another 16. and then another two hours to come back up to the surface. they then need to download the information from that. and then read it. take the bluefin 21 again. and then put it back down on the seabed. it can only search some some 11 square miles in a given day. so it gives you a sense of why they want to get as much information from this towed pinger locator beforing to that, john. >> great point, erin mclaughlin live for us in perth. you get the sense what they want to do here, there's no rush anymore in the sense if they have this general area, they want to get all the data from the batteries while they might be pinging. at this point, it's just waiting that out. >> you're totally right about that body language of angus houston. they're more confident than ever

before. >> it doesn't mean it's going to be easy. >> no it's not going to be easy. but let's talk about the investigation and the new optimism from malaysia now that the search appears to be narrowing in on the possible location of the plane, nic robertson live in kuala lumpur for us. you know, two new pings, very important. a little weaker signal. not a surprise, given the lifespan of those batteries. and now, just this feeling that they really are narrowing in, that they are going to find this plane. what has been the reaction of this latest news? >> reporter: well, cautiously more optimistic is what we've heard from the most senior government official who's in essence the face of the investigation here. the interim transport minister. he's also said that he prays that this new development will help move everyone forward. he also prays that angus houston who's leading that search mission off the coast of

australia, describing him and all the work being done as very professional. but we continue to hear from officials here that they cannot talk more about the investigation without the information from the onboard black box recorders. the voice recorder, the data recorder. those are going to be vital to their investigation here. they don't want to give away any details that they have so far. and, of course, as we've heard that the aircraft is believed, if it is the aircraft, the location is believed to be above about 30 feet of silt on the seabed. so, of course, the malaysians here hoping that -- that the search will actually get the aircraft. that they will be able to retrieve these device from the aircraft. they recognize that that silt on the bottom of the sea can potentially cause visibility issues. could cause location issues. in trying to identify the location. and of course, recovery issues. and what they would really like

for their investigation would be to have as complete a picture as possible of everything what happened aboard the aircraft. where people were sitting. pathology reports, we know part of the investigation team here is dedicated to the medical side of what they can glean from the aircraft, if this is the aircraft, once it's found and whatever is recovered from it, christine. >> nic robertson in kuala lumpur. >> of course, there was one adult american on the plane, philip wood. his partner sarah bajc tells cnn's jake tapper on "ed lead" that she doesn't believe we're hearing the truth about what happened to the jet. and she's holding out hope that wood may have survived. >> i'm convinced that he's still alive because i still feel him and because there's absolutely no evidence to tell me contrary to that. i mean, we really don't know anything except the circumstantial things that's different from the day it went

missing. so that tells me that all of the supposed pieces of data have all been wrong so far. that means the plane can still be impact and the people can still be alive. so both my heart and my head are telling me that that is a very real possibility. >> both her heart and her head. many families of those on board have similar feelings saying they will not believe those pingers are neglected to the plane until they see wreckage for themselves. pauline chiou is live in beijing. pauline, it really does seem like this has entered a new phase of this search in this investigation. they're closing in on these pings right now. so how is this information sitting with the families in beijing? >> reporter: yeah, the chinese families are well aware of the latest developments about these two new ping events. but again, they're saying the same thing they've said for the past couple of weeks. they're very cautious because they just want to see more information. they want to see an image of the

plane. or they want to see markings. they want to seat black box. they want to see what's on that floor before they see anything else. but they do say it could lead to an answer. now, there was a meeting today between the chinese families and three americans who came over on their own to speak with the families. and they have personal experience from past airplane accidents. and this was the kind of insight that's very valuable to these family members. one american woman lost her parents in an airplane crash over north carolina. she was only 5 years old at the time. another woman lost her husband on september 11th in the word trade center. and they encouraged the chinese families to push for more answers. and also they talk about their experiences and how they tried to get over the grief. one relative, steve weng, who you know now, talked about what was the most valuable piece of advice he got from the

americans. >> it's hard, 20 years to know what happens to the plane. and she told us that the truth will come. keep strong. >> reporter: is that difficult to hear for you? >> yes, of course. but we will wait. and we will do what we can could do. >> reporter: very difficult. and they are understand that this could be a very long process. one of the american women said that she lost her parents when she was only 5. and it took her 20 years to actually get some sort of answer. and, john, this might be an interesting telling detail to the mind-set of the families right now. because chinese government officials are in the lido hotel behind me now giving a counseling session to the chinese relatives, trying to prepare them for that and giving them psychological advice. only a handful of relatives are sitting in that room listening to them. there's a lot of activity, a lot of relatives going in and out.

not a lot of people listening to them so this may kind of indicate that some of these relative, not quite prepared to receive that news. >> it's interesting they do not want to hear the news that may be coming. pauline chiou reporting. >> i have to say pauline's reporting has been so wonderful in the last days. >> really difficult. >> she's had incredible issues trying to tell their side of the story. we're following the latest breaking developments in the search for flight 370. but first, olympic hero oscar pistorius on the witness stand for a third difficult day. trying to convince a judge he didn't mean to kill her. he didn't mean to kill his model girlfriend. we're live with what he's saying next.

all right. happening right now in south africa, dramatic testimony, oscar pistorius on the stand. talking about why he shot and killed his girlfriend reeva

steenkamp. breaking down his side of the story. what he says he went through that day. calling a neighbor for help also an ambulance. listen to a part of his testimony. >> that -- that reeva had already died. i was holding her before the ambulance arrived so i knew there was nothing they could do for her. >> just moments ago, crucially, the cross-examination began. this is the prosecution's chance now to test the oscar pistorius version of events that night. let's go to kelly -- let's go to kelly phelps for us in pretoria right now. kelly, what does the prosecution now need to do to poke holes in the pistorius version of events? >> reporter: well, they essentially need to either show some evidence of inconsistency in his version of events. that he's changing his version of events.

or they need to try and show that he's lying. or they need to try and show that certain parts of his story are deeply implausible. so we expect them to go after him very aggressively. in fact in just the first few minutes of cross-examination that has just started we already see that confident aggression of the prosecutor gerrie nel. and he's with the barry roux. >> in some respect, i'm surprise they had didn't get involved. it's interesting to see the defense sparring. i'm very interested with oscar pistorius on the stand because he's been so meek and so emotional as he's testified. that, of course, with a friendly attorney doing the questioning. how now do you expect his behavior to change, as he faces the prosecution? >> reporter: well, first of all,

i expect that he has been prepared for this moment. for a very long type. and at this point, he and his team will have to hope that all of the hours of preparation are going to pay off in terms of him managing to maintain his composure. it is very likely, if we look back at his testimony in chief which is in a sense was on friendly terms for him and he is still that emotional, it is very likely he will become emotional when he gets drawn to that night in question. but the crucial thing will be for him not to be aggressive. i suspect that's what gerrie nel will be trying to get at. he'll be essentially try to be unnerved and so some aggression that they have claimed within oscar pistorius. >> it's fascinating to see, kelly, because the emotion can be controlled with his own attorney doing the questioning.

kelly phelps in pretoria. thanks, kelly. also breaking news in the search for missing malaysia flight 370. crews detected new signals in the indian ocean. new audio signals that could be from the black boxes. now, account wreckage be found before the batteries run out? and could we finally learn why this plane vanished midair without a trace? investigators have a very good hope that they're narrowing in on this jet. we're live next. he conversation. she didn't tell him that her college expenses were going up. or that she maxed out her card during spring break. when the satellite provider checked his credit, he found out his daughter didn't pay her bills. but he's not worried. now he checks his credit report and score at experian.com, allowing him to keep track of his credit and take a break of his own. experian. live credit confident.

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the latest now in the breaking news overnight in the search for flight 370. officials in australia say a ship has again heard signals that could be from the jet's black boxes. two sounds were heard in the indian ocean lasting just five and seven minutes. and the signals were weaker than they have been. a possible sign the batteries on those flight recorders are starting to run out.

i want to bring in jeffrey thomas. he's an aviation expert and editor in chief of airlinerating.com. he joins us via skype from perth. so nice to see you this morning. do you think investigators are confident they know where that plane is? >> christine, i think they're very confident indeed, although they're tampering that by saying they weed to find some debris before they're absolutely certain. but there are a number of factors here, first of all, the search line that they're examining that the "ocean shield" has been dragged the towed pinger locators which has been loaned to us from the u.s. navy, that's only on calculation they've done on the inmarsat satellite handshakes that we've heard about all over the last few weeks. they've recalculated that line seven times, as new information has come from various countries in asia with some military radar data coming to bear.

and they recalculated it. and this is the line that the "ocean shield" has been searching on. also, its exact location now and the location of these pings is also where inmarsat, the british telecommunications company, says the last handshake, they feel like the last ping from the plane was recorded. was at this location. so there's a number of corroborating part of this jigsaw puzzle that give them a very high degree of certainty that they've got the location. >> geoffrey, it seems to me now that the discovery of these two new pings, it changes the time line in a way in the investigation. it gives them a general sense, more than a general sense, a fairly specific sense, of where they need to search on the bottom of the ocean. and now, what they're trying to do is really hone in on as exact a location as possible. soap where before, they were in a race against time to find these pings -- >> yep. >> -- now they have the pings,

now, they want to get as many pings as possible before the batteries run out before they put that bluefin submersible in the water. >> indeed, john. the factory life as we've heard many, many times is certified for 30 days. that's the certification, faa standard 30 days. however, the reality is with many things in aviation, these items are overengineered including the batteries. the experience has been 40 days is what we can expect. so, yes, indeed, they want to do more towing of this pinger locator. because it's six times faster to locate it doing this than it is to launch the bluefin 21. which is also on loan from the u.s. navy which will go down to the bottom and use its side-scan sonar and/or camera to actually identify the wreck amount which we believe is on the bottom of the ocean here. >> geoffrey thomas,

airlineratin airlineratings.com. thank you so much. overengineered like so many things, certified for 30 days, those batteries but maybe they can lost 40 days. >> excellent research. more live coverage in the breaking developments right after the break.

this is cnn breaking news. >> the breaking news this morning, new signals detected in the search for missing malaysian airlines flight 370. overnight, investigators revealing two new transmissions heard from manmade devices they believe could be the vanished jetliner's black boxes. now the batteries on those black boxes could go dead any day. really any minute now. so this morning, the search is intensifying as crews scour the ocean hoping to pick up more clues on where the plane's wreckage could be. we have a team of reporters covering every angle of this story this morning. >> happening right now. an example hero accused of murder on the witness stand for a third emotional day. can oscar pistorius convince this judge he didn't mean to kill his model girlfriend? we're live with the latest developments as they happen. good mornin