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you're watching cnn's breaking news coverage in the search for missing malaysia flight 370. i'm errol barnett. >> i'm isha sesay. we welcome our viewers in the united states and around the

world. >> oaustralia's prime minister says they're confident about where the missing plane is within a few kilometers. these are the strongest word yet from the prime minister. >> reporter: that's right. he was at a lunch in shanghai expressing that confidence. he also talked about information that he was not -- that he was withholding, wasn't saying. he said he wanted to withhold information ahead of his meeting with the chinese president later today. take a listen to what he had to say about that. >> we have very much narrowed down the search area. and we are very confident that the signals that we are detecting are from the black box on mh 370. i don't want to say any more than that because i want to get the most up-to-date briefing between now and my meeting with president xi later today.

as a sign of respect, to china and its people in particular the 154 chinese victims and their family, i would like to save any more detail for the briefing with president xi later today. >> reporter: abbot went on to say that -- expressing that confidence. authorities here in australia have long said that they are going to withhold information that they have found the missing malaysian plane until they see actual signs of wreckage. as for the search, it's still ongoing off the coast of perth, australia. angus houston, the man responsible for coordinating the efforts, releasing a statement in which he said the "old shield" equipped with the american towed pinger is searching for signals. the statement did not go into

great deal in the arrival of the "hms echo." we were looking at a website called marinetraffic.com. a website this monitors vessels on the water in reel -- in almost real time. the website indicates the "old shield" has actually moved out of the search area and the hms echo" is in the center of the search area. we don't know why. authorities aren't saying. the "hms ecoecho" is equipped with highly sensitive detection equipment and is capable of mapping the ocean floor. we'll bring you any further updates that we get on the search as we get them, errol. >> no confirmation yet. but it seems there's every reason to be confident that improvements are taking place, and they are close. erin mclaughlin live for us in perth. thank you. we also have new developments on another front of investigation. who uttered those last words from the cockpit, good night

malaysian 370. joe johns reports. >> reporter: it has been one of the lingering mysteries of flight 370. what happened in those first few hours after it went off course. now we're learning the plane disappeared from military radar for 120 nautical miles after it made the left turn and crossed over the peninsula. and new details about what happened in the predawn hours. a senior malaysian government official and a source involved in the investigation tells cnn the plane must have dipped in altitude to between 4,000 and 5,000 feet. a possible sign the pilots were at the controls. but it's still unclear if the plane was in some sort of trouble. whether they were purposely evading detection or whether the malaysian radar system failed somehow. >> it's not telling us much other than they may have been switching pilot responsibilities at the time. so whatever event happened, whatever was planned whether it

was nefarious or mechanical, it happened as a result of the transponder and that getting shut off. >> reporter: what is clear, mh 370's captain, not his co-pilot, was the last person on the jet to speak to air traffic controllers telling them "good night malaysian 370." sources tell cnn the sources said there was nothing unusual about his voice which betrayed no indication he was under stress and no third voice is heard. and just today, more than a month after the flight disappeared, we're learning malaysian air force search aircraft were dispatched soon after the airline reported its plane missing. malaysian sources told cnn, headed for the strait of malaca and the south china sea. officials had initially focused the search on the south china sea. there were indications that the

plane suddenly turned westward from its original course. the malaysian government denied in a tweet that any malaysian air force aircraft were scrambled. >> i'm suspicious of the information that they've provided. i think the most likely scenario is that they detected them on military radar. they scrambled the jets. and either couldn't locate it or some other problem developed. >> reporter: our source says the air force did not inform the rest of the malaysian government until three days later, march 11st. a source involved in the investigation told cnn. joe johns, cnn, kuala lumpur, malaysia. over the past month the weather in the many search areas has gone from treacherous and difficult to quite serene. let's brick in meteorologist samantha mohr on the weather continues now. >> this is the time of year we see plenty of cyclone activity

across the indian ocean. a couple of close calls may have cluttered the search a bit. here's the current search area. as we take it further off here off of queensland, you see we have a very powerful cyclone making landfall right now. in fact, we'll be talking about it throughout the night and into tomorrow because this could be one of the most powerful cyclones to ever hit this area. but about two weeks ago, there was another cyclone here. and it made tracks right across the north territory. stretching to the indian ocean. that was jillian. and jillian came right into this new search area right into the northern portion of it. likely could have had an impact on any debris that may have been floating here as it would have moved on in and just like a blender blended any type of debris that could have been on top of the water. we had another tropical storm, ivan hoe, that came close to the search dwlar whipped waves up quite a bit, as well.

the wave heights were up around eight to ten meter was both of these systems. so that made it more difficult to see thing over the horizon when you get those big waves. of course we have had a lot of air traffic taking off off the west coast of australia. and you see the conditions are really ideal right now with great visibility. clear skies and warm temperatures. so condition are good right now. the -- conditions are good right now. the search area has shrunk. in the main area, it's 2,200 kilometers off the coast. here's the search area, around 1,600 kilometers off the coast. and high fresh pressure in char. just a few clouds and showers. conditions overall could be a whole lot worse. so the tropics quiet in this part of the indian ocean. >> and that visibility is key. >> absolutely. >> no debris picked up even today. certainly they will continue to work around the clock. thank you very much. >> you bet. now the chief coordinator of

the search effort says there's been no major breakthrough to report at this moment. investigators are already planning what their role will be when that changes. investigators in the united states. barbara starr bring you details. >> reporter: as searchers potentially close in on finding malaysia airlines flight 370, u.s. government intelligence, law enforcement, and aviation experts are quietly talking about what comes next and at what point they'll take a bigger role in the investigation. if new pings are found from the plane's black boxes. it could still take weeks to locate the voice record cher investigators hope will tell them what was happening in the cockpit. but it's the data recorder that may tell them the most about how the plane went down. >> it's going to tell you what switches were moved, when they were moved. what your air speed was, what your altitudes were, what your heading was. it's going to give you an entire

picture of what that airplane was doing. when it was doing. it. >> reporter: if debris is salvaged, more clues for the u.s. to follow. if part of the frame is bent outwards, it could indicate an explosion. if investigators find a punched in nose cone, an indication the plane hit the water nose first. but still the question -- what brought the plane down, and if it was a deliberate act, what was the motive. there's been no motive found by the cia. fbi experts found no evidence of wrongdoing on the pilot and first officer's computers. malasian sources say the plane may have deliberately dropped to a low altitude, attempting to avoid radar. that low altitude could be one of the biggest indications flight 370 was not having mechanical trouble and trying to avoid other aircraft for safety reasons. >> did you hear anybody say that

was there any emergency call? why would you tush turn off a trans-- you turn off a transpond transponder? >> reporter: officials fear that someone deliberately steered flight 3 0 away from land -- 370 away from land and into the indian ocean, leaving the vital questions who and why. barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. >> so there's the u.s. perspective on all of this. while numerous countries are involved in the hunt for flight 370 and its black boxes, officials acknowledging they'll need help finding the black boxes. >> we will be leading the investigation, all right. but of course we don't have the ability to open up the black box and analyze what are the contents of the voice data and the flight data.

we have to get experts to do it for us. >> malaysia's police chief also said that his officers are questioning everyone they need to. coming up, the latest on the royal' tour of new zealand. the duke and duchess of cambridge showed no mercy to each other while racing in rival yachts. who ruled the waves after the break.

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visit floodsmart.gov/pretend to learn your risk. welcome back. the leader of the u.s. and germany discussed the ukraine crisis by phone thursday. president barack obama told chancellor angela merkel the west must prepare to impose more sanctions on moscow if russian actions in the region escalate. >> this as satellite images appear to show large numbers of russian forces massed near ukraine's border. nato's chief says russian troops near the border are not training as moscow claims but are ready for combat. rasmussen and the u.s. estimate up to 40,000 russian troops are

there. now with russia threatening to cut off ukraine's natural gas and with thousands of russian forces massed on its border, ukraine has another problem. heavily armed official offing two cities. >> ukraine is offering amnesty if they'll walk away, but they have other demand. nick paton walsh takes us inside the barricade. >> reporter: outside the security services building, you don't see much people power. that's because the people in charge here, dozens of armed men, some army veterans, well dug in aren't using crowds to make their point. fearing an attack by police, they limit what we can film. but there are gunmen lining every corridor. two nights ago, ukrainian officials said they'd taken hostages. we saw no evidence of that now. >> translator: when we learned they wanted to storm, we tried to get the women to leave, but they stayed. cried and stayed.

if something happened, they would have died with us. >> reporter: they show the different medicines being brought in, they say, from locals around. what is absolutely clear when you look out the window, there simply aren't that many local people standing in the street. they say the flet of far right sniper -- threat of far right snipers have kept people away, but elsewhere the city is calm. they rail against the kiev hunter and watch its tv station. someone has written "the door is mined" hopefully as a joke. but one veteran is deadly serious about the far right they think will attack. "i can officially say to the right sector," he says, "that if they think they're better fighters, name the time and place for a fight.

and we can settle this cleanly." their leader gives us a press conference, the demand softening. a referendum on federalizing ukraine. also an amnesty for protesters which the government's already offering. "they can offer amnesty," he says, "but the most important thing is a referendum." his deputy adding, "they didn't come here to take up arms and put them down just for the sake of it." outside, the anger against nato in europe is palpable. milla, whose name means sweetness, calls me a criminal from poland, says kiev wants a deal with america and europe to store nuclear waste nearby. and that they'll all die from cancer. they say it will fill up at the weekend, but even now this fury, although often incoherent and

isolated, is backed up with ak-47s and overshadowed by russia's 40,000 troops just miles across the border. nick paton walsh, cnn. do stay with cnn for continuing coverage of the crisis in ukraine. moving on from that for a moment, we want to bring a little of the royal competiti competitiveness to you now. >> not us, not royals, of course. >> no, we'll -- the duke and duchess of cambridge are halfway through their tour of new zealand. >> that's right. they are royals. today this was a bit more exciting than usual. this is a competitive couple, and we saw this emerge. william and catherine went head to head around auckland harbor. many came out to cheer them out. >> cnn has more details on their race, and max fosters can tell us who emerged victorious. he joins us live from auckland. max, i'm rooting for catherine. tell me it was a win for the women.

>> reporter: well, exactly. there's some -- a history to this. remember after the royal wedding, they went to canada, they raced in canoes. william won that race. you saw this for the first time, this real sort of competitive side to them. it came out again today. we had two enormous 80-foot america's cup yachts. it's been raining throughout the tour up to this point. suddenly it was all sunshine. there they were out in this open harbor in auckland. just absolutely stunning. as they go on the boats, they both brief their teams saying, "i have to win." she wanted to win. he wanted to win. and there were two races. skate an experienced sailor. she had experience -- kate is an experienced sailor. she had experience on her side. she won the first race. then this was this moment when william's sail had a problem. and it was pushed up against some rocks. but she showed no mercy whatsoever. and managed to push him into position and basically went for

the finish line and won. she was thrilled. she shook his hand afterwards -- >> very polite. >> reporter: she said "i won." >> like a typical married couple. a little competition. max, for how much longer will they be there in new zealand? and when are they off to australia? >> reporter: well, they're here over the weekend. tomorrow they're going to a town called cambridge, appropriately. and i must say they spend huge amounts of excitement there. we saw the images on tv today. almost the previsit, almost as much of a story there. huge flags out. everyone very excited. they've got a few more events in new zealand, then they head to sydney where the huge anticipation -- i think we've had pretty big crowds today. in auckland, very big crowds. in sydney, there expects to be enormous. there's a lot of anticipation there. you know, this hasn't slowed down at all, this tour. there have been a few questions about prince george. people haven't seen enough of him. also why prince william is never

holding him. so the george thing keeps coming up. also, you know, they want to keep him quiet and private, they don't want to take him out all the time. they wanted to have a would go old fight today and managed to get it out. >> yes, they needed to put the baby safely in the corner. max foster joining us from auckland. you get all the fun gigs. appreciate it. thank you very much. >> thanks. we are tracking another developing story for you. we're expecting oscar pistorius to arrived at the south african high court any moment now. the blade runner, as he's called, is known to -- he's been emotional this week. you're seeing live pictures from outside the courthouse. his blistering cross-examination is expected to continue in about 40 minutes. [ male announcer ] how can power consumption in china, impact wool exports from new zealand, textile production in spain, and the use of medical technology in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections

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welcome back. we're about 30 minutes or so away from the start of proceeding in the oscar pistorius murder trial today. we'll take you to the courtroom

when things get underway. you're seeing proceedings from the high court. >> indeed. this is day three of the cross-examination. the previous two days we have seen some starts -- startling, contentious times, the prosecutor accusing him to be a liar. accusing him of being overly emotional. no letup as they press the case that oscar pistorius deliberately shot and killed his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp. >> we're watching him arrive shortly. if you look closely, i think you see his defense attorney approaching. as soon as oscar pistorius arrives, we'll bring you testimony live. i believe that is the attorney heading to the high court. they've been prompt this past week. they've been on schedule

arriving and beginning on time. as soon as that begin we'll bring it to you. >> there are no jury trials in south africa. the judge issue the final verdict. there is a virtual jury of sorts. that's of course we're talking about the court of public opinion. >> the panel, that is made up of people from all over the world. we have a report on social media reaction to the trial. >> reporter: the oscar pistorius trial is not just taking place in the courtroom in pretoria. it's also being played out on social media where it seems a virtual jury is already deciding pistorius' fate. now take a look at this trend map. it really shows where the conversation is happening around the world. and as you can see, the heaviest is in south africa where the trial is taking place. the fascination with this trial stretches right around the world. now, instant verdicts are also being posted on twitter. the biggest reaction has come the last few days when we've seen fierce cross-examination from the prosecution. many have picked on the fact that pistorius doesn't recall much of what happened that

night. take a look at this tweet that we've got here for you -- "oscar just remembers what he wants and forgets what he wants to forget. in this case, you can't kill and choose what you forget." another, "outlook is not good for oscar pistorius. brutal cross-examination." and some ask why pistorius keeps repeating "my lady" when being cross-examined. look at this tweet. "i don't know if oscar pistorius is guilty or not, but him calling everyone "my lady" is starting to get disturbing. we know he's calling my lady because he's not facing the prosecutor but the judge. and even the judge has not been immune to the stream of comments. many on twitter have been trying to detect a hint of which way she may be leaning. take a look at this tweet. "i think the judge secretly admires a fan of oscar pistorius. she's so caring and lenient to him." and this lady tweets, have a

"judge is too lenient on oscar. there are too many "i don't knows." she's giving the idea she has decided the verdict already." there are millions around the world who know what happened on that tragic night. cnn, london. you are watching cnn, i'm errol barnett. >> i'm isha sesay. the latest developments on the search for malaysia airlines flight 370. and live coverage of the oscar pistorius trial coming up for you after a very short break. [ male announcer ] at his current pace, bob will retire when he's 153, which would be fine if bob were a vampire. but he's not. ♪ he's an architect with two kids and a mortgage. luckily, he found someone who gave him a fresh perspective on his portfolio. and with some planning and effort,

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stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use and a 30-tablet free trial. hello, everyone, you're watching "cnn newsroom." i'm isha sesay. >> i'm errol barnett. a big warm welcome to our