>> i am filling out my bracket tomorrow. we have to roll. "happening now" starts now. and right now, today's top headlines you will see here. >> a new clue for the malaysian plane and trying to restore files deleted from the pilot's home flight simulator. what could have happened to flight mh370? russian officials storm crimea and raise their flag spiking a new warning. and seven years after disappearing, investigators might have a break in the case of madeleine mccain. the information they share and it is all happening n"happening" there are new developments in the search for malaysian

airlines flight 370. investigators are trying to recover files deleted from the pilot's home simulator and the fbi has been asked to help. i am jon scott. >> and i am jenna lee. this is coming 11 days after the bowing 777 disappeared in the middle of the night. the national search is zeroing in on the southern part of the indian ocean and someone erased files from the captain's flight simulator and they could help explain what happened to the jetliner and the people on board. angry relatives dragged away from a briefing after storming in and demanding answers. our chief correspondant is live.

>> reporter: the fbi has been asked to do forensic on the hard drive to retrieve the deleted files. this is an area they are an expert at. it was recovered from the 53-year-old pilot's home and they reviewed the files with a focus on evidence that points to pre-meditation. the data records were cleared on february 3rd, a month and five days before the disappearance. an investigative source told us deleted files would be a red flag. reporters were being told about the finding this morning. >> some data had been deleted from the simulator and we are working to achieve this data.

i would like to take the opportunity to say the passenger, pilot, and crew remain innocent until proven otherwise. >> reporter: an investigative source says the data is being evaluated in the context of the pil pilot's other communication and looking for rehearsals that are similar to this path. >> why in ongoing conversations about how we can help and we can make available whatever resources we might be able to be used. >> reporter: fox news was told separately a review of the pilot and co-pilot's e-mail didn't turn up any evidence.

>> let's bring in chad wolf who is a former assistant administrator for the tsa. chad, so much attention on the pilot of the jet. he had his own bowing 777 flight simulator at home. and the last communication from the plane, after making his turn, the voice was that of the copilot. there are questions about where the attention should focus. >> it is another piece of the puzzle. nothing definitive, but it is suspicious. as we look at erasing hard drives or memory, we have all done that. so the question is as the fbi looks at that, what are they able to recover? it is another piece of the

puzz puzzle, nothing definitive, but could lead us in a new direction. >> is this possible if it landed on a dry runway, is it possible to hide a bplane like this? >> there is a variety of different scenario and landing on an isolated airstrip is going to be difficult, i think, for them. the question is what do you do with the passenger and there is a variety of different things you have to look at. my experience tells me the most complex conspiracy or plots are the most difficult to undertake. so we have to look at a variety of different steps that have to be take to know pull that off. >> right. but crews are randomly assigned cock pit crews. so it isn't like they were

working together day in and day out for months. if a copilot and pilot were in on a plot, it would be difficult to pull that off, wouldn't it? and we are not saying that is true. >> i think it would be very difficult unless they had help outside of these two individuals. that is where officials should be spending time; looking at other members of the ground crew, passengers on board. outside of the pilot and copilot, are there other interesting facts that need to be looked at when we talk about other individuals with access to the aircraft. >> and you have concerns about the behaviors of the copilot in the past >> the cockpit of theator -- the

airplane is an area the pilots and pilots alone should have access to. and what we have seen in the past, going back to 2011, the copilot has let passenger inside the cockpit during the flight and was seen smoking. so you have open flames and ignition sources. that is problematic to me when trying to secure the aircraft >> but the malaysian say the background checks have been done on everybody in the flight minus three people a russian and two ukrai ukraini

ukrainians. everybody else came up clear >> background checks are a good start. now you have to interview relati relatives, family, friends, and see if anything turns up. that is a good start with background checks, but it is time to put folks out in the field and start looking particularly with the crew, the other members of the crew, and the ground crew. >> chad wolf, a former administrator at the transportation center. thank you. mass russian troops storm ukraine's head quarters and take control. the united states is saying they will respond to aggression against our nato allies. russia is blaming the west for the trouble in ukraine. they are saying he helped oust their president and violated an agreement for their

independence. tell us about what is going on in crimea? >> reporter: we have been tracking developments on the ukrainian head quarters here. pro-russian thugs broke through the gate and troops entered and seized it, kicking the ukrainian solders out, except their commander who is in their hand now. this is being labelled a war crime and gave orders to use guns if necessary. the ukrainian defense manager flew down there but no one would see him and he had to turn around. >> what about russia? what is their next move?

>> reporter: it is full steam ahead for annexation of crimea. a day after hearing putin saying crimea is a part of russia now. the russia parliament is giving their rubber stamp approval. putin claims he is not interested in invading any other part of ukraine, but the military is taking no chances. we have new pictures and scenes of ukrainian tanks and troops digging in along the boarder in eastern ukraine. the second of state is in the region. he is trying to make the natu nature -- nato -- allies -- know

they will step in should they need to. >> vladimer putin said two weeks ago he wasn't interested in crimea. so where will be two weeks from now? john mccain is here to talk about what we should do next. >> fears about the sticker shock when the apparent premium hikes are expected to be announced. and what witnesses heard and saw just before a news chopper crashed steps away from the space needle and how that could impact the investigation into the deadly accident. live with more on that story.

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new information and concern about obamacare now with word that premiums will skyrocket in some places, doubling or trib tripling in some parts. this is coming a week after the kathleen sebelius tried to downplay the fears telling people premiums would increase in 2015, they would grow slower in the past. some are saying that is running counter to what they kne. bob cusack is here. we did work on this and found some health insurance executivs a saying we will have to triple

our rate for the coverage. why are we not hearing more? >> the insurance guys are frustrated with what kathleen sebelius said. this is going to vary from some state rules. democrats could be getting nervous in the variety of states if their premiums go up. only 25% of the young people they need to sign up have signed up. that is why they are going are out and using the march madness brackets. the insurance is saying this is from the rocky rollout. >> and there are a lot of mandatory coverage. the president is fond of saying people had sub-standard plans

but they were sats factortory t the people that owned them. this cost money. and there is no free lunch >> the president promised he would sabe the average family $2500. part of the problem is these promises are hard to implement. they had trouble passing the bill and barely got to to the desk. that is the problem. you are right. these plans, some people like them, some people have been forced it leave on them. the insurance guys say they want some of the guys in the new exchanges. but those exchanges are more expensive. >> politically, how does it translate? are people going to get the

bigger bills ahead of the november election? >> they are. they will not have to pay for this until next year. but the rates are being submitted to the various states. we are hearing from the experts in this that they are going to be submitting higher rates. they want to be competitive, but they have been to be realisicti. and if the premiums go up big time, that is a huge lift for the gop. >> and because the folks on the low lower end of the economic scale are signing up, they are getting subsidies so this is going to hammer the middle class? >> it is going to present winners and losers. people that signed up this year

might look at the price increase for next year and might not be able to afford it. the losers are louder than the winners and that is the problem from a the white house. >> it is going to be fascinating to watch as the bills come in. earch for a suspect in a dozen attacks. investigators think they could be brought closer to solving the mystery of madeleine mccan. and senator john mccain is here live coming up. madeleine mccd madeleine mccann

mccann mccann a

right now, russia and the west are take thiing the crisis

new level. mass troops are taking over crimea and speaking russian and raised the russian flag on the military base and two ukrainian officials headed to ease turmoil were turned away. the vice president is responding and says the united states will respond to aggression against any fanato allies >> russia cannot escape the fact the world is changing and rejecting outright their behavior. global markets and international community will and should bet in the long run on countries that reject aggression and corruption. >> senator mccain is here.

the vice president said there is a price to pay for naked aggression. what price should russia pay? >> i think there should be a lot of prices and many we could enact very quickly. so far, the weakness of the president's initial response. this is the first time since world war ii that another country has been invaded and annexed and the sanctions on 11 people is hard for me to express. in result to how weak the response, the russian stock market is going up. we have to be careful about all of the threats and not fulfilling significant puni

punishment. the first is to recognize what his ambitions are. the guy who said the greatest disaster of the 20th century was breaking up the russian empire. muldova is a country to watch next. >> why is that? >> it isn't a part of nato and russian troops already occupy an area and there are demands for russian help and the provocations we saw in eastern ukraine. and two other points, one is i am not sure putin will not move into the eastern ukraine. i predicted he would move to crimea because of the important

thems there, but he has forces masked around eastern ukraine. and second of all, there is still thousands of ukrainian troops and bases in crimea and we could see further violence. >> two weeks ago, vladimer putin said he had no interest in crimea. >> can i comment on that? he flat out lied. >> the vice president is trying to make our allie whose are a part of nato -- do you think the american people need to fear that russia will make inroads trying to get into the territory our of foreign allies?

>> the nato member calls for an attack on one is an attack on all. in latvia, 30% of the population are russian. i don't know how far he goes. but i think a lot has to do with the kind of response that the europeans and the united states together give to vladimer putin and so far it has been unbelievablely weak and it may encourage encourage him. >> there is legislation in the senate, but an issue about the imf. marco rubio calls it flawed and divisive. so it is congress adding to the

weakness by not passing legislation? does congress have a role? >> they have a role and are showing a lack of appreciation on what is going on by placing a priority on an imf fix, which isn't a big deal, compared with the unified response to what has taken place in the ukraine. i am embarrassed by there attitude of placing the imf reform over sending a signal and assistance that ukraine needs including military assistance. and we provide military assistance to many countries and ukrainians need it short-term and long-term. but i am disappointed with the congress and i hope when we are back next monday the sentate

passes and we can get agreement with the house and move forward. >> thanks, senator mccain, for being here >> the fbi is on the ground in malaysia trying to investigate new clues in the disappearance of flight mh370. can the borough recover data erased from the pilot's flight simulator? will it help solve the mystery? and the crash in done downtown seattle. >> a helicopter just literally came falling out of the sky when i looked up. i didn't even process it all until i started seeing the cars on fire and the guy coming out of the car with his body on fire. fire. check it out.

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>> areas of the world for display some advances in technology, radar and satellite systems still cannot pick up anything in the sky. that sounds are not the only problem. peter ducey in washington with that. reporter: many countries in south east asia are hesitant to reveal where any military assets that could help the search are located.

ultimately they may not be much help anyway because of a big chunk of the search area typically very quiet. >> out in this part of the world and especially the indian ocean radar coverage is very, very spotty. there is not a lot out there. there is not a lot of radar there. reporter: normal ground-based radar has a range of 200 miles offshore, but beyond that a lot of dead zones. the further a plane is away from a radar system, the easier it is to avoid detection by flying low since the earth curves but radar uses straight lines. an expert in the "wall street journal" says the flight probably did not fly under the radar. you would have to fly well below 100 meters. it is not designed to fly that low, you would exceed the aircraft stress levels.

if you're wondering why air-traffic controllers are still relying on radar, it is pretty simple, new technology costs a lot. >> we will transition from radar-based navigation system to a satellite-based navigation system. there's a lot of cost involved in carriers. airlines have been slow to adopt that because they are not sure the federal government has that commitment to serve them. until we get that done, we will continue to have these dead zones out there. >> when air-traffic controllers cannot see an ai error crash because of the dead zone they have to rely on the word over radio to figure out where the plane is. jon: mystery continues, thank you. jenna: we will get you updated on the latest twist around flight 370. somebody recently deleted files from the home flight simulator.

they're trying to recover the lost data to see if it holds any clues of what happened. coming a day after a report of a crucial detail in the timeline apparently the jet made a sharp turn off course to the west. 12 minutes before the last munication with the ground. we are considering everything at this point. retired airline captain and aviation consultant. would that change your thought on what happened here if it was made before the final communication? >> no. it would not. it is so simple to turn the airplane with the autopilot or radio. if they had a plan to take the aircraft someplace else, they could have done it 12 minutes before, 12 minutes after, doesn't make any difference. jenna: you think that is what happened? >> yeah, to do with the airplane did to make these turns had to

be somebody in the cockpit a regular crew or one of the regular cruise or somebody who knew the airplane was up there made these turns and repositioning had to be somebody that was experienced, somebody who did not really know the airplane couldn't do all that. jenna: what peter just told us was interesting where the zones with not a lot of radar or a way to find the plane. if you are a transponder in her system turned off, the communication back to navigation, the navigation communication, what about the pilot reaching out through radio calling for help if something went wrong. can you walk us through what happened? >> that is one of the things that bothers me, we get a lot of information. how much of it is true and accurate?

the one thing that is true is if you are a pilot, you have a problem of some kind and you can do it, you will make a radio call whether you have a fire, hijackers, some kind of mechanical malfunction with an engine, you will call on the radio and say i need help, i have a problem. they did not do that. even if the airplane was on fire and they are isolating the electrical systems to figure out where the fire was, each electrical system has the capability of powering at least one radio. they did not call for help. jenna: are the pilots the only ones who have access to that? could a flight attendant call for help if a pilot was incapacitated? >> if they knew how to do it. you pick up the microphone and

you push a button and say help, or the transponder will not be very good, the radio will. you probably have high frequency radio bouncing off the satellite. a flight attendant coming up front. jenna: what do you think about the simulator, whether or not it raises questions about the pilot. >> i don't see it is of any value. there are programs you can put on your computer that supposedly simulate flying these airplanes, which is ridiculous. the fact he had a simulator and

it was erased or the input was erased, i don't see where that means much, really. he could sit down with a piece of paper and a pencil to do that. jenna: thank you very much. >> thank you. jon: another mystery that has baffled police. investigation it could answer questions about what happened to little madeleine mccann. she disappeared on vacation with her parents. an unbelievable wreck caught on -dash cam, what sent a truck flying pass police. so ally bank has a raise your rate cd that wothat's correct.a rate. cause i'm really nervous about getting trapped. why's that? uh, mark? go get help! i have my reasons.

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jon: a settlement's just announced between the justice department and toyota over safety issues. the japanese automaker paying the largest penalty of its kind. we are live with details. also live on capitol hill were

control over congress is up for grabs the midterms. former presidential advisor on what could pose trouble for democrats in november and says it is not the botched rollout of obamacare. plus, russia's annexation of crimea. could a spark a new jihad? impact not only the region, but the west as well. we will tell you more about that coming up. jenna: and new search for serial sexual predator. and it could be linked to the disappearance of madeleine mccann. the british girl who was three years old when she vanished from a hotel in portugal back in 2007. her parents have never given up hope that she is still alive. reporter: that is right. today in london detectives have issued a new appeal for information. they want to identify a suspect who may have been involved in sexual assault against young

girls during a series of break-ins at holiday resorts in portugal. there can be some similarity between these break-ins and those of madeleine mccann's disappearance. some happened in the same timeframe. police are keen to identify this suspect and investigate any possible connection in the madeleine mccann case. >> it sits among other inquiries, all of which are focused on us. >> to have uncovered new information to say they saw a man carrying a towel the night madeleine mccann disappeared. they have compiled a list of 38

persons of interest. none of those have been eliminated from the increase so far. this case is still very active and police have no solid leads since she disappeared from the resort when she was three years old back in 2007. of course her parents are very desperate to find any information that might tell them what happened to their daughter. jenna: thank you. jon: some amazing dash cam video shows iowa stat state troopers responding to one accident, and finding themselves in the path of another. a tractor-trailer rig rear ends the smaller truck sending it flying through the scene of another crash. it hit one of the patrol cars injuring a trooper, but things could have been much worse. 13 seconds earlier a deputy moved out of the way of the path where that truck went off the road. jenna: an invasion in colorado,

one community getting overtaken by tumbleweeds piling up along fences and blocking driveways. the problem isn't so bad, some folks cannot leave their homes. strong wind is blowing the tumbleweed into the area and they're hoping another wind blows them all away. did you ever have that when you lived in colorado? jon: never had that problem. a be because it is a dry year. tensions between israel and syria higher than they have an in years. why israel is now hitting syrian military posts. and to people, $200 million richer today. at least before uncle sam gets his cut. how much does the latest mega millions winners can walk away with after taxes. ♪ [ male announcer ] this m has an accomplished

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jon: right now, tension the rapidly escalating in the middle east syria and israel. israel today unleashing airstrikes on syrian military posts in retaliation for a roadside bomb that injured four soldiers history. it is the border region that serves as a buffer of sorts between the two nations. they joined now from the golan heights with new information. reporter: jon, all debris have been hearing the syrian artillery pound away. they 500 yards away from syrian is really borderline. machine guns going off as sunset is approaching. the israelis have largely let them duke it out amongst themselves assuming so long as the enemies were fighting each other they would not be fighting

israel. out is clear israel is getting brought into this conflict. israeli cannons fire volley after volley into syrian territory aiming for army headquarter buildings and ammunition dumps. it is the first major cross-border skirmish since 1973 yom kippur war. with the civil war waging on the once quiet fence line is now patrolled regularly by infantry. medevac choppers had to evacuate four wounded by a bomb, the third such incident along the northern border in the past 10 days. putting forces here along the fence line. two tanks able to fire them at a moments notice. battling against people who might put a bomb along the fence line but as they try to make their way here into the israeli line.

now soldiers are moving into position once again. in the past year is replaced the syrian border fence with what was touted as an impenetrable barrier. that claim is now in serious question. i'm not sure if you can hear it right now, but the firefighting going back and forth, it is on the border, they can hear that. you can hear one of the villages inside that we know is going back between rebel control and the syrian government. one of the big fears is the type of weaponry the rebels are getting inside syria especially service to air missiles, those kind of things that can be used for the population very part of the border. jon: are they regularly doing

the drills and so forth? >> for 40 years this has been the quietest, but so far they know the war is any moment away. you definitely get a sense a lot of agricultural area. folks are getting ready. you hear about civilians talking about where they would go, what they would do in terms of moving out. they are not talking about rocket fire, but more getting out of town in case there are the cross-border attacks. the other fear is cross-border kidnappings. trying to kidnap israeli soldiers or israeli civilians, and hold them as hostages. jon: reporting live from the golan heights, thank you. jenna: dramatic the details emerging in the news chopper crash in seattle steps away from

the space needle. it broke during the show yesterday and we have an update with harris. reporter: perhaps the biggest detail is the human toll. two people died. there were witnesses to this. that is where the investigation is going now. people say they could hear noises coming from the chopper before it crashed. even more importantly, what they saw that they did not feel was important, but now they know the chopper seemed to rotate in a very odd fashion before it crashed. the ntsb is looking at whether the weather may have played a part. every possibility is on the table. eyewitness accounts of whatever kind of noise described in uniform way as being something you could not miss. seeing that rotation point. they are hoping it can take a

few months, but they're hoping to have it faster than that, these investigations can take up to a full year before they know exactly what happened. back to you. jenna: hopefully they find what they need. thank you. jon: "happening now," couple of people hit the jackpot. two winning tickets from the mega millions drawing sold in florida and maryland. the jackpot is the sixth largest in history. the winners go with the popular lump sum option, each walks away with about $110 million after taxes. jenna: does not sound bad at all. and missing passenger jet, what passengers are doing to retrieve deleted files from the homes and later. it'd be the break they are looking for? and dramatic testimony as a ballistics expert takes the stand at the blade runner murder trial. does the testimony help or hurt

oscar pistorius who claims he shot his girlfriend by mistake thinking she was an intruder. the latest from south africa just ahead.

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♪ jon: some stunning developments in the search for malaysian airlines flight 370. hello to you. i am jon scott. jenna: i am jenna lee. welcome to the second hour of "happening now." malaysian officials say flies recently deleted from the pilot's home. as the search expands to roughly the size of australia. this is where the investigation appears to be going right now. authorities are going to retrieve any information they can on this missing files from the computer and other clues from the simulator. fbi agents are on the ground helping with that. and looking over new radar information recently turned over by neighboring countries. authorities say all the passengers, except those from

russia and ukraine, have passed various background checks. more with this. david, what is the latest on the search? reporter: hi, jenna. more planes, more ships involved in the search. china is moving nine ships to the indian ocean. a plane did go south just in case. they have new radar data which shows the plane moving. ththey do not release any detais about it. the government has not made clearance yet but it could be the radar trace shows the plane going back west, that is the nearest airport. that could be a good clue because if they can adjust to find the speed and the height of the plane, they can see it had an emergency. they are looking at the flight simulator from the chief pilot's

home. the data was deleted in february trying to retrieve it now, jenna. jenna: david, why are the people so unhappy with the malaysian search for the plane so far? >reporter: there's a lot of frustration of the pace and the information coming out about the search from china it must be said they have over 150 people on board the plane so it is understandable. three people trying to get in for the daily news conference, they were manhandled and carried out by security guards. we have regretted the incident since, but it will go down very badly in china. jonjenna: thank you. jon: moron what authorities may be looking for, let's turn to international security expert at the mit security studies

program. people are hearing the pilot pleaded files even though they say innocent until proven guilty. what does that say to you, is it automatically a red flag? >> it is a red flag, but like every other detail, it is somewhat suggestive but far from a smoking gun. that is what is so frustrating about this story. it points a possible direction, there are also several different explanations that can point in another direction. yes, he deleted files and of course all of us delete files off the computer as a hard drive maxes out. did he delete these files because he had too much storage on his hard drive or because he was trying to hide something? that is an answer we cannot tell right now. jon: usually the simplest expiration prove this to be the best. there was a plot to steal the jetliner and carried off to some other country, there would have

been an awful lot of cooperation from the ultimate destination country, right? >> jon, think you're absolutely right. everydaevery day we are hangingw details. we get lost in the trees from the forest. let's pull back and think about this for a second. what kind of a puzzle is this? puzzles, different shapes and sizes, sometimes you're trying to explain something that happens pretty regularly like russia invading a neighboring country but this isn't like that. there are millions of flights every year. it is small as a percentage. if you take the flights that go down, this is unique compared to all those other flights. the rarest of the rarest things. our tendency is to say in the past x means this or why means this. this is a black swan, a rare event and probably will be something whether it is

mechanical or directed by person. it will be a complicated unexpected series of events and that is why it is so rare. jon: in your estimation the plane is in the water somewhere? >> there is more ocean then there is land out there. it looks like it was turning south. the chances of it being detected are higher than having been detected over the water. since most of these things end up eating mechanical rather than other sorts of causes, i would bet it is somewhere in the ocean, unfortunately. jon: emergency locator beacon transmits underwater and good for a month to six months, the experts say. wouldn't they be able to pick up the paying if they had a general idea of where to search? >> the key is that last little phrase, if they knew where to

search because it is not reaching out across hundreds and thousands of square miles. it is generated by the energy by the battery pack associated with it. it ha had a certain level of intensity. you have to be close enough to it to detect that ping and if it is the southern part of the indian ocean, that can get pretty deep as compared to the alternative course. we have to get close enough to it to be able to hear that ping. the first order of business is to shrink the search area. it has grown each day rather than shrunk. jon: a lot of misinformation or information that gets changed as the information goes along. tough to know what to make of this. thank you for your expertise. jenna: another one of our big stories, tensions growing in the crimea region. they did not put up a fight,

vice president joe biden says u.s. will move onto any aggression against the nato allies. here is john mccain earlier in the hour. >> so far the weakness of the president's initial response, this is the first time since the end of world war ii a european country has been invaded and annexed by another country that left sanctioning 11 people, it is hard, i run out of verbs and adverbs. we are dealing with a very aggressive kgb colonel that wants to restore the russian empire. jenna: chief white house correspondent live with the latest. reporter: vice president biden is still in eastern europe, in lithuania now. yesterday he was talking about u.s. support because of what senator mccain just laid out.

sending about a dozen fighter jets to show poland and other allies the u.s. is there for them but perhaps a single to russia as well. the vice president had said vladimir putin's rule was a land grab and then had this. russia cannot escape the fact the world is changing. rejecting the outright behavior. there are growing costs that come with aggression. reporter: also important to note yesterday we had the first fatalities since russian forces had moved into crimea. there was a second person who died. the facts on that are kind of murky but ukrainian prime minister charged the military had fired on ukrainian military and this has now moved from a political conflict a military one.

jenna: despite all of that, we're getting this reaction from russian officials that it is almost mocking the sanctions. >> you had a deputy prime minister in russia going on twitter of all places to attack president obama on social media and vladimir putin saying this. >> i am proud of the so-called political oscar from american the best actor in a supporting role. reporter: the white house is trying to downplay the u.s. stations against russia. jay carney said more sanctions against russia are coming. jenna: we will see when. thank you. if the white house with more as the news warrants. the annexation worrying other countries of a possible incursions. lithuania along with poland particularly concerned about it.

could be on the next jumping off point, his next place on the list. according to one report, but we wanted to mention it because it borders both countries and part of the russian federation still to this day and home to the russian naval base and two airbases. one of the areas we are watching. several others to watch as well. what this will all really mean as we look at our priorities. jon: a lot of tensions all over the world, that is certain. dramatic testimony in the murder trial of oscar pistorius, what a ballistics expert had to say and how soon the blade runner's trial could wrap up. and the justice department announcing a massive settlement with toyota. with the automaker will be avoiding by paying a huge penalty.

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you feel that in your muscles? i do... drink water. it's a long story. well, not having branches let's us give you great rates and service. i'd like that. a new way to bank. a better way to save. ally bank. your money needs an ally. jenna: 39 states in russia over a standoff with ukraine. two people were killed, this happened just hours after russian president vladimir putin signed a treaty. they have to go through the russian parliament. russian president saying we are not close neighbors, but as i have said, many times already we are one people. key have's and mother russian cities. we cannot live without each other. for more what is happening in

ukraine, let's bring in kt mcfarland. vladimir putin has made several speeches and some of these speeches amongst other officials. people openly weeping with the thought of pride of nationalism. interesting to hear those reports and wonder why we don't have that here. >> i thought that speech was very chilling. the mask is off, the gloves are back on. he did not just talk about mother russia, he talked about humiliation. or people talking about america and the speech than he did about crimea or russia. jenna: look at what they did in afghanistan and iraq and libya. they are the occupiers. really put global disorder on the united states.

>> it is now personal to vladimir putin. he thinks united states made mother russia the union collapse. he said it was the greatest strategic plan of the century. his plan is rebuilding greater russia. i don't think he will stop anytime soon. i think in the end he has this deniability thing. says i am not invading, i am just protecting ethnic russian. that is what east ukraine. he is not thinking he is invading, he is writing the wrongs done. he was in his 20s thinking the

great soviet union, the great patriarch. all the time in his 30s. >> interesting to think he made it very clear in an address after a meeting with his russian counterparts to vladimir putin said this is not personal. should we be making this more personal? >> it is personal. he has calculated the west isn't going to respond in any way that makes them pay a big price for this. like a schoolyard bully that takes the lunch money, he will keep going. he is now talking about things two weeks ago and never would have talked about. nato allies, lithuania, those are our nato allies. the three musketeers article. all for one, one for all.

an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. if putin does something that looks like it is military force, united states is by treaty bound to defend. jenna: if we can focus on the united states, an article that said really we are in a post-iraq, post-afghanistan moment. we have to decide what is our role in the world. what is our identity coming out of these two conflicts. >> it was in the carter administration. it was the same notion united states after vietnam, we kind of hubble back home. we have american diplomats take the constitution and we could not even rescue them. i think we are in another of those moments now. america is more weary, rebuild

at home. >> that was a terrible situati situation. one things about those moments, sometimes there at the worst of times. >> and then they become the best of times and it rallies the country. he would not have had ronald reagan unless you had jimmy carter and what was as being a very weak presidency. it could be a very strong presidency, but the problem is putin will grab everything he can now figuring i better hurry, i will keep going until i get stopped. i think it gets much worse before it gets better. jon: police witnesses trying to re-create the scene on the night oscar pistorius' girlfriend was shot to death. what a ballistics expert testified as he shot her through a locked door.

as prosecutors get set to wrap up their case against the olympic star.

jon: prosecutors may wrap up their case as early as next week in the oscar pistorius murder trial. a ballistics expert testified athlete hubble be did not have on his prosthetic leg when he shot her. our producer joins us live by phone where he has been in the courtroom. >> i please listed expert told the court he was standing face the toilet door when she was hit first in the hip falling onto

magazine rack and then a delay before she was hit twice more. the cap and used evidence from autopsy findings to put her hands defensively around her head after the first shot and was hit in the arm, the hand and the head. >> the defensive position, the wounded on the left would have perforated. a bit facing down. >> oscar pistorius' defense said he was leaning against a wall when he fired. the ballistics expert believe this was possible. a blood spattered experts said he could find no evidence in the house or in the autopsy results he had been hit by blunt object

such as a cricket bat in the blood on the bottom was caused by dragging the bat across the bathroom floor through pools of blood after the shooting. details of exotic cars while his girlfriend was in the house on the night he shot her according to records obtained by the police for run of hi one of his. he searched sites on that night. they have footage confirmed his girlfriend arrived at the home a full half hour before saying the website use is not that of a person in a loving relationship. prosecution called for the trial to break to prepare their last four or five witnesses and hope to wrap up their side of the case next week. >> they will be no case

tomorrow? >> they need more time, the prosecution asks for more time. they need more time to speak to some of the businesses and they may go back to some of the neighbors. jon: in the courtroom right behind oscar pistorius in this dramatic trial. jenna: we have former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney. that is a lot going on. during the report, by donna start out with your general reaction, why the head shake? >> when you're sitting in the courtroom and you have a witness really detailing how they went in to the woman's body. it is just too much to handle for the defense and all they keep saying is an intruder

coming in with evidence she fell onto magazine rack. why did he continue shooting? he knew he had hit something, what happened in his mind? that is where the problem arises. jenna: she was standing facing the door, that is one of the questions that came up. she gets shot, and asked rebecca described, they were moments before she was shot again. what does this tell us? >> she is really using the room to go to the bathroom, it is unlikely she will be standing facing the door at the time he is shooting multiple times. she probably also had time to scream for help. you think h think you would knos girlfriend was in the bathroom, not a burglar. it undermines his whole argument it was a mistake.

>> there is that little bit of wonder it starts in the middle of the night. he doesn't know what anybody would open fire in the bathroom is a good question. is the intent really there? has a proven intention he had to kill her like they say? >> intent, first degree murder, or a lesser charge which we really don't have. wi have a right to give what evr consent. did he intend to kill the girlfriend or not. it sounds very hard for the defense to overcome that time in between the shots will be a very difficult understanding explanation. why did he not stop, why did he not turn and look. if somebody is coming in the

room, aren't you worried where is my girlfriend, is she safe in the bed, what is happening? where is the explanation of that, that is the problem. >> what do you think that is about? >> prosecution has been a little haphazard. i have some residents of the crime scene. now they have come back the crime scene, that has not been a very fluid production of evidence. however because it is in front of a judge, not a jury. the judge should be able to understand what is important and what is not. >> there were some questions did he is the cricket bat first, we will take that and put that aside. what about the computer searches? does that matter? i don't know what to make of that.

>> they don't need to go this far saying he wasn't in a good relationship. i don't know the will determine he was in a good relationship. they're trying to influence a judge negatively anyway they can. jenna: do they go back to the neighbors? are they thinking about returning to where they started? >> they feel this more information, they can call them. they should have had the evidence may testified before. maybe that is the way to finish, they heard screams before the shots inconsistent with his argument it was a mistaken identity situation. speaker that is a strong emotional plea. from what they claim is a woman. a strong point to and on. jenna: thank you very much, appreciate it. jon: does the democratic party have a turnout problem?

coming up, why the midterm cycle, voters are not expected to turn out in droves. plus latest developments in the search for flight 3700. motions of family members of the missing passengers beginning to boil over. @e@8ñúñ÷@@@0@ú

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jon: "happening now," serious concerns for democrats ahead of november's midterm elections. after republican win in a key

congressional race in florida, highlighted a record drop-off among democratic voters especially young people and women. former obama campaign senior advisor david plouffe saying quote, we have a turnout issue and i think this is a screaming siren that the same problems that afflicted us in 2010, and traditionally we've had tougher off years than presidential years, that could face us again. talk about with chairmanly hirt. he is a columnist for "the washington times." so from the democratic perspective, charlie, what's the problem here? >> the problem as david plouffe pointed out, they have a massive turnout drop. anyway democrats try to spin the florida 13 election, there is no way of getting around the fact that what they saw was turnout of much, much lower than we saw in 2008 and in 2012. the two juggernaut obama campaigns, that turned out, people at record levels. the turnout model we saw was

much more like the 2010 turnout where republicans did very, very well and if republicans repeat that in the 2014 elections, which historically speaking is perfectly within the realm of possibility, they're going to take over the senate, they will broaden their majority in the house and effectively the obama again do will sees to exist at that moment. -- cease to exist. jon: why the turnout problem in off years? described it as a juggernaut. there was no campaign operation in history that was as good as the obama campaign at getting people to go out to the polls and vote. >> well, of course, every off year, you know, the party that is in the white house has problems because of the significant drop-off between presidential years and non-presidential years but this is, this is particularly stark. i would actually make the argument, jon, it is largely because of the extraordinary success of president obama, of david plouffe, to at getting people out, getting voters

motivated to go to the polls. you know, we hear a lot about these low information voters, low motivation voters, whatever, president obama, david plouffe got them to the polls and they voted. the problem is that off of that extraordinary success, many of those voters are not better off, i would argue, the majority of those voters are not better off today than they were when they voted for obama. in fact, many of them are considerably worse off today than they were when they voted for them and so, what you have is, an extraordinary malaise that is sort of sets in, a very deep frustration that sets in with them, hey, wait a minute, we were made all these extraordinary promises and we really worked hard and things haven't worked out for us. when you get that dispointment in voters, especially low motivated voters to begin with, it is a recipe for a real, a real electoral disaster and president obama is lucky he is not, he is not the one on the

ballot going into november. jon: he won't be running again obviously but think back about six months ago, the government shutdown, the blame was cast on the republicans. democrats were licking their chops saying, ah-ha, this is going to be the election in which we win back the house of representatives because republicans were so unpopular at the time. how things have changed in six short months, charlie. >> yeah. and i think that a lot of them were buoyed, their spirits were buoyed by the arguments that the president was making that obamacare was going to be this wonderful thing. people were going to love it. even after we had some of the computer problems at the beginning where people had trouble signing up, republicans, you know, they stuck to their guns. they really thought this was going to work out and this was going to shift the american electorate for decades to come. and same with their arguments about immigration. but boy, when, when the obama,

when people start losing their doctors, start losing their insurance coverage, people wound up much worse off, all the, all those equations changed dramatically. i think that, i think that is the biggest driver of that. jon: all right. so you personally, are you going to vote in november or are you staying home? >> i try to vote every time. if i'm not on the road. jon: i figured as much. charlie hirt. thank you. >> thanks, jon. jenna: we're back to the latest on the search for malaysian airlines flight 370 as investigators scramble to locate the missing plane. there is some new technology that could prevent this kind of ordeal in the future. dan springer live in seattle with details on that. >> reporter: jenna, there is no good reason for authorities not to know where this plane is right now. the technology exists now. in fact more than 350 planes already have the systems on board. it is called afirs. automated flit information reporting system.

it was developed in canada. 40 airlines or flight services bought it even though not required. it sends all the information recorded in the aircraft's black box to a controller on the ground. it allows the airline to know all the critical functions of the engines and exactly where the plane is even if there is a power failure or the plane's other communications system is shut down. >> there's literally no further investment in infrastructure that would be required to do this. obviously more is better but the infrastructure in place now which is the constellation and internet are really the major piece that is you need to do this job. >> reporter: additionally boeing and airbus are equiping all the new planes with an advanced transponder designed to broadcast out to the world where that plane is every second. they will be mandatory in 2020. but as far as streaming all that black box data, there is some skepticism. a spokesman for the international air transportation association says with almost

100,000 flights a day, we're talking about an enormous amount of data that would be difficult to monitor and analyze but company says the streaming only takes place when something unusual is occurred, like deviating from a flight plan. the system just adds under $100,000 to cost of planes, planes that run well over $100 million and the search for the flight 370 could easily top hundreds of millions of dollars when it is all said and done. jenna. jenna: interesting stuff, dan. thank you very much. thousands of california farmers are dealing with a severe drought rallying today and the court is ruling, the court ruling they're protesting and how it could have an impact across the country. we'll get you caught up on that story coming up. >> just having a chat among ourselves here. we are. what is coming up top of the hour? >> why some tax experts are saying that obamacare could create some massive confusion

attacks time. just what we all need when doing our taxes. >> we'll have that. there is big trouble with the nominee to be surgeon general on why it is causing and suggesting a big riff among democrats on the hill and democrats. we'll shake that down for you. >> top of the hour. join us. ♪

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you want a way to help minimize blood sugar spikes. support heart health. and your immune system. now there's new glucerna advance with three benefits in one. [ male announcer ] new glucerna advance. from the brand doctors recommend most. jenna: crimea sparking serious new concerns. some question russia will fight new jihad with major implications for the west. why are people thinking about this? jonathan hunt from the newsroom. >> crimea is home to quarter of a million ethnic tatars. with what they see long history of russian persecution. there is fear among that group that history may be about to repeat itself. hundreds turned out yesterday for the funeral after tartar man kidnapped, toward you ared and murder ad the hands of russians

after he took part in peaceful protest there is growing call on social media for islamist fighters to travel to crimea to fight for the tartar population, to take part, essentially in a new jihad. >> there will be sympathizers around the world who take severe umbrage with the way this situation developed and sort of illegal referendum if you like. and want to come and fight on batch of the crimean tatars, not because they may be necessarily inviting them in, they feel that is where the jihad is taking them. >> those fighters could move easily from syria where some crimean tartars are believed to be fighting and north caucasus like chechnya where russia fought a long war against islamist militants. this is nightmare scenario for president putin it is also a frightening thought for the west, given ukraine's proximity to western europe.

>> the fear from the western perspective is that the tartars will turn not just against russia but infiltrate theaters where the united states is also a potential target. >> and jenna, it certainly would not be hard for islamist fighters if they get to crimea and ukraine to slip across ukraine's long border you just saw with poland. then, they're in the european union. no real border checks. easy access to cities like berlin, paris, london. full of attractive terrorist targets and full of american tourists. jenna? jenna: interesting look for us today, jonathan. thank you. jon: back to the mystery of what happened to air malaysia flight 370. that plane took off as you know, from kuala lumpur right around here in malaysia and simply flew off into the night and vanished.

look at the original search quadrant. this is the 2530-mile radius in which authorities originally thought that this plane would have to be located. then as of march 17th, they expanded it. they decided that because of the fuel on poured and so forth, they would, that plane could have gone perhaps 3200 miles. where did it go? that's what everybody wants to know. the boeing 777 is amazingly robust aircraft. it is roughly two thirds the size of a football field,hundred feet long. how could that 250-ton jetliner fly off into the night and simply disappear? there is one tantalizing possibility that somehow the pilot or some hijacker on board was able to disable the transponders that allowed the plane to be monitored from the

ground and somehow landed it on one of the airway, i'm sorry airports on the ground. believe it or not there are 634 airports within that range at which that plane potentially could have landed. that is an awful lot of places to look for a 250-ton jetliner. is it possible? perhaps. but it isn't maybe the most likely explanation. we've also just gotten word, and perhaps our producers can put that map back up, we have just gotten word from the u.s. navy, that they have asked that the australian government has asked the navy, we'll go to that world map in a second. the australian government asked the u.s. navy to search an area off the west coast of australia. there are two search zones right down here, off the west coast of australia, that the u.s. navy is

officially searching and apparently they have some indication that that plane may be in the water in that area. robert mark is a fox news aviation analyst, a commercial pilot and publisher of jetwhine.com. robert, you and i talked about this thing before. what do you think happened? >> i'll tell you, with the facts coming out of malaysia which we finally got to the point we don't believe, is hard to completely disavow anything. is it absolutely clear that this was not a mechanical failure? no, it's not. are we absolutely clear a hijacker took it somewhere? no, we're not. do we know it is down in the water? not really. do we know where it might be down in the water? as you just mentioned australia, no, we really don't know that either. jon: it is obviously a mystery

consuming the aviation community and the rest of the world. robert marks stay with us. wee be back with more on the search for malaysian flight 370. what happened to the plane and the people on board. i must begin my journey,

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jon: let's get back to our conversation with robert mark, fox news aviation analyst, commercial pilot and publisher of jetwhine.com. we know the plane took off. started in kuala lumpur, bound for beijing. that is where they first got the 2500-mile range first thought to have been this plane's possible range. could the pilot have gone to the ground crew and said, we got some headwinds tonight, put on another thousand gallons?

>> sure. absolutely they could have. the report that is we have received from malaysian airlines is that that was not the case though. they took the recommended amount of fuel and didn't add anything else? jon: all right. another question, the, the turn, there was apparently a turn, the plane was on that route, toward china, headed up in this general direction and then somewhere in here it made a turn. now there is disagreement about whether it was a sharp turn or a more gradual sweeping turn. but could one pilot have initiated that turn without the other pilot really being aware? >> that would be very difficult because even though someone asked last night about them putting a different computer code in the flight management system to take the airplane off in a different direction and could one of the pilots done that without the other noticing? when we fly, even though we're essentially looking straight

ahead, you still have peripheral vision and if someone is typing on the keypad, sort of down and lower to my right where i'm sitting now it is impossible not to see that. and unless they did it while one of the other pilots was, perhaps in the lavatory or something like that. jon: it is such a strange, strange mystery. robert mark, we have a lot of other questions to ask you. we'll get them another time. thanks very much for being with us today. >> you're welcome, jon. jon: we're also just getting news on another aviation story in the headlines. the faa has made a decision on the fate of the troubled boeing dreamliner. good news for the american aviation industry. that is coming up right after the break.

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fa a, said the dream liner 787 is basically okay. design and manufacture okay according to the fa a. there were fires on board of the aircraft that led many people to question the design. the fa a and boeing cleared it for now. gena. >> thanks for joining us everybody. america's news headquarters starts right now. >> fox news alert. malaysia calling on the fbi and its expertise to crack a new clue in the missing jet case. i am bill hemmer. sdmshgs i am sandra smith. foils on the personal flight simulator were deleted and if it is possible to get it back the fbi is one of the few aemgss to do it. cathrein has more on the new developments. >> reporter: a source not author otherwised to