good monday morning to you. coming up on "early today," in his own words. former olympic runner oscar pistorius takes the stand in the murder case of his girlfriend. most promising lead yet. a report just hours ago of ships hearing another sound in the search for malaysia flight 370. cancer breakthrough. an experimental drug shows promising results in the fight against advanced breast cancer. plus, american acting legend mickey rooney has died after an 80-year career. uconn's men and women will each play for a national championship. and the royals embark on an excursion down under. it is "early today," monday, april 7th.

good morning to you as we start a new week. i'm richard lui. oscar pistorius is on the stand now, testifying in his own murder trial. the 27-year-old olympic athlete shot his girlfriend to death at his home on valentine's day last year. moments ago on the witness stand, he told her family he was sorry and he was only trying to keep her safe. >> i'd like to apologize and say there hasn't been a moment since this tragedy happened that i haven't thought about your family. i wake up every morning and people i think of, people i pray for. i can't mention it at the time and the sorrow that i caused you and your family. i was simply trying to protect reeva. >> pistorius says he thought reeva steenkamp was an intruder

when he shot her through a bathroom door. pistorius is charged with premed traded murder. hours ago, australian officials reporting yet another sound detected in the search for malaysia flight 370. they are cautious but calling search prospects encouraging at the moment. an australian navy ship in the indian ocean picked up so-called pulse signals that are consistent with pings from an aircraft black box. >> clearly this is a most promising lead. and probably in the search so far it's the -- it's probably the best information that we have had. and, again, i would ask all of you to treat this information cautiously and responsibly until such time as we can provide an unequivocal determination. i need to be honest with you, it could take some days before the information is available to

establish whether these detections can be confirmed as being from mh-370. in very deep oceanic water, nothing happens fast. >> nbc's ian williams joins us in perth, australia. good morning, ian. you and i have been following the developments over the weekend in the search here. does the latest pulse signal now make it four in as many days, meaning one each on friday, saturday, sunday and -- >> reporter: we have now got four different sounds detected, but in two different areas. the first two were on friday and saturday, and they were from a chinese ship. now, a british ship outfitted with sophisticated underwater listening equipment is now in that area, trying to verify what it was that the chinese heard. now, latest two soundings were on saturday and sunday. and these are from the u.s. ping

locater being dragged by an australian ship, about 300 miles to the north of where the chinese detected sounds. so it is not very likely that these can be from the same source. now, the challenge is, and one reason why houston was being cautious is that this is very deep water, and for the moment the ping locater has lost that signal. it is busy there, trying, working around the clock, trying to reacquire it. if it can reacquire it and this is the signal that is being described as the most promising yet, it will help them further pinpoint where it is coming from. then they'll be able to send down an underwater vehicle to take a closer look to see whether there is a black box, whether there is wreckage down there. but another reason for caution is the depth there is 2.8 miles. that vehicle that is being carried on board the australian ship will be working at its limits. also today, the search

coordinator pointing out that there has still been after four months of fruitless searching, sorry, one month of fruitless searching, there still has been no sightings of any wreckage. and he said, you know, if we could find some wreckage clearly that would help us to confirm that the aircraft went down there. and, of course, at the same time, undermining the urgency here is the fact that the batteries in the black box recorder are fast coming to the end of their life, richard. >> right, ian, 30 days the average. houston did say it could be eight or ten days past that average. one would hope that would be the case here. thank you so much, live there in perth, australia, ian william. it is called a potential breakthrough in advance breast cancer treatment. researchers saying the new drug called pablo cycleb helps. the pfizer drug stopped tumors from growing for an average 206 months. that's about twice as long as

current treatments. studies found that it did not significantly extend survival rates, though. the fda granted what will be a blockbuster drug the breakthrough priority status. a 1-year-old girl and her family heading to dry ground after a dramatic rescue in theed my of tmiddle of the pacific. their boat broke down and their location, nearly a thousand miles off the coast of mexico. then their little girl got seriously ill. nbc's miguel almaguer pick up the story from there. >> reporter: the family's rescue played out like a hollywood movie, a team plunging out of the plane into the pacific to reach their doomed sailboat and bring them to safety. the kaufmans had long dreamed of sailing the world. >> and i think some people like to be all alone, some people don't. >> reporter: this was their trip of a lifetime. documenting their journey with 3-year-old cora and baby lyra.

it started when the "rebel heart" departed from san diego for the sea of cortez two years ago. on the latest leg, the family left puerto vallarta two weeks ago. the sailboat hit rough waters, losing power and the ability to steer, 900 nautical miles off the coast. april 3rd, an s os, the boat is crippled, lyra is seriously ill. within hours, a california national guard pararescue team boards the boat. three days later, the "uss vander grist" reaches the family. >> we were all concerned, especially for the little ones. >> reporter: the kaufmans' extended family said just before their journey across the pacific, lyra had salmonella poisoning but say doctors cleared her to sail. >> when i first heard the plans, there wasn't two small children in mind, there was one and i didn't agree. >> the family issued a statement saying baby lyra is being well cared for. they're expected to be

helicoptered off the ship on tuesday. oscar winner mickey rooney known for his comedic timing and dramatic acting has died at the age of 93. nbc's bruce hall has more on mickey rooney's extraordinary life. >> reporter: what mickey rooney lacked in stature, he made up in talent. he had one of the longest careers in hollywood. the 5'3" actor became famous in the andy hardy series in the 1930s and musicals with judy garland. the young star received an academy award at the age of 19 for his role in "boys town." although his popularity declined after world war ii, he never stopped acting. he was nominated four more times and received an honorary oscar in 1983 for his versatility in 50 years of film. >> it is always a thrill to be on stage. the ham bone in me just doesn't exist unless i'm on the stage. that's where i live because my family is the audience.

>> reporter: his off screen life sometimes overshadowed his career. he was married eight times, including to actress ava gardner. in his later years, he spoke out against age bias in hollywood. he remained active, writing, producing, and acting until the end. bruce hall, nbc news. bill karins, we were watching that package, i loved his gumption. 5'2", strong as all can be. >> he said he felt he was like 6'6 ". >> if not 7 feet. >> what a life. good morning, everyone. down in alabama this morning, they have been dealing with a really rough weather conditions because of heavy rain. this weekend they got soaked down there in the southeast. now, they're dealing with a lot of flash flooding. 4 inches of rain in the birmingham area. this picture came in from bailey collins. that's the birmingham fire department making rescues. those are cars that are submerged.

the whole apartment complex, they had to rescue everyone out of the apartment, everyone is safe, but all the bottom floors are flooded out. we wish them the best in their slow recovery as the waters recede. out in the west, as quiet can be. light showers over the weekend. a tenth to two ten. of an inch of rain. a warm weather pattern through this week with high pressure system centered right over the west. your forecast for your monday, 88 in phoenix. we're starting to head towards 90. vegas, 81. 86 in l.a. san francisco, 71. medford, 78. the west is best. that's your national forecast. as you know, once the warm

season usually sets up, it is very difficult to get any additional rain in there. so we may be done. >> all right, thank you, bill karins. secretary of defense hagel preparing to view china's first military aircraft carrier. plus, new details on the spring break party that had over 100 arrests and dozens taken to the hospital. "early today" is back in two. . at hillshire farm spice is the spice of life. that's why our craftsmen seasoned every sausage perfectly. so you can coax out great flavor effortlessly. hillshire farm beacuse it's worth doing right. there's a reason our slow roasted turkey taste so fresh. seconds after carving, we not only seal every slice, we double seal it. the results are something to savor. hillshire farm beacuse it's worth doing right. revlon photoready primer and shadow. add sparkle, or use wet, so you can create

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move past pain. advil. make today yours. but do you really? [ female announcer ] neutrogena® makeup remover erases 99% of your most stubborn makeup with one towelette. can your makeup remover do that? [ female announcer ] neutrogena® makeup remover. welcome back. a huge spring break street party quickly turning to chaos saturday night in santa barbara. more than 100 people were arrested at the spring break party. it drew a crowd of about 15,000 revelers. that was just some of them. several police were injured, including one who was hit in the face with a brick. defense secretary chuck hagel will become the first visitor from outside china to tour the country's first aircraft carrier, according to u.s. officials. hagel has been on a ten-day trip in the asia pacific region, most recently visiting with officials

in japan. the duke and duchess of cambridge arrived in new zealand this morning. in tow, 8-month-old prince george, who looked happy to be down under. at least he wasn't crying. hiring over the past 12 months has outpaced population growth. more workers in the prime, 25 to 54-year-old age group, are finding jobs. prices at the pump continue to edge up during the annual spring break climb, up about 5 cents in the past two weeks. and 44 cents higher than 2013's low. a recent gallup survey found america's leanest and most obese cities. here they are. wonder where you are? among the top five, huntington hitch ashland, ohio, mccallen, texas, haguers town, maryland, yakima. among the least obese, boulder, colorado, a favorite, one time have they not been at the top of the list.

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it is a week of guinness world record attempts on "today." this morning, an attempt to set the record for heaviest vehicle

pulled in high heels by a female. there is actually a category called that. that would be a whopping 15,000 pounds that attempt will be. in sports, it was destruction in the leadup to the ncaa women's basketball final. undefeated notre dame dominating maryland 87-61. it is their third time in four years. they outrebounded maryland 50-21. unbeaten uconn destroying stanford, 75-56. where was stanford? tuesday's final will be first ever between two undefeateds. if uconn wins here, it would be the most ever. get used to hearing uconn. the men face kentucky tonight for the championship. i think they're, like, two brackets in the entire world now with a horse in the race tonight. i'm still going to watch. let's talk baseball. the last unbeaten team went down. baltimore had batting practice against detroit. justin verlander, they beat detroit 3-1.

new york ending their road trip on two high notes. derek jeter notching his 3,320th hit. he's now eighth on the all time hit list. and cc sabathia bouncing back from an ugly loss earlier, striking out six toronto batters. new york takes it there, 6-4. this is a special world cup i wanted to show you. all street children playing, from 19 countries, gathering in the leadup to the fifa world cup in brazil. 230 street kids using soccer to bring attention to the problem. lift those trophies high. the tanzania boys and brazil girls winning the title there. michael jordan, he might be retired, but he still is dropping 50s. the hall of famer chipping this 50-foot shot. in it goes. must be the shoes. "early today" is brought you to by touch of gray mustache and beard. get the look you want. >> you know those air jordans. i bought one back in '90. are you ready for more

gooneys? captain america ruling the weekend box office. and the singers that voters like the most at the country music awards. much more ahead on "early today." you have time to shop for car insurance today? yeah. i heard about progressive's "name your price" tool? i guess you can tell them how much you want to pay and it gives you a range of options to choose from. huh? i'm looking at it right now. oh, yeah? yeah. what's the... guest room situation? the "name your price" tool, making the world a little more progressive. [ female announcer ] we eased your back pain, you turned up the fun.

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-hit the beach in florida.tables -and a reunion in seattle. we can afford to take more trips this year. [man] when hotels have unsold rooms, they use hotwire to fill them. [woman] so we got our 4-star hotels... for half price. ♪ h-o-t-w-i-r-e ♪ hotwire.com welcome back. we're going to see the heat turned up. looks like a lot of us will start testing our air conditioners in the west, especially the southwest. not the pacific northwest. today is warm. no ac needed today. 81 in vegas. 8 8 in phoenix.

as we go throughout this week, we turn the heat up. 94 in phoenix on tuesday. we'll see showers in the northwest. toward the middle of this week, the forecast for phoenix, 80 to 94 to 97 possibly wednesday. so this is starting to feel like summer. >> yeah, it is. i'll get a lot of hate tweets for this. i called thor the superhero with the big hammer and now i'm going to talk about the superhero with a garbage can cover. >> you're not a fan? >> i'm not. i'm an ironman fan. "captain america" proved super at the box office this weekend despite my misdirected opinions, hauling in $96 million. "captain america: the winter soldier" broke april box office records and proved the comic book film isn't going anywhere any time soon. people say even if you don't like captain america, you'll like this film. because of the story line. who's that? mir yand la

miranda lambert cleaning up at the academy of country music awards last night, claiming her fifth straight female vocalist of the year award. jason aldean took home award for male vocalist of the year. and the man, country legend george strait won entertainer of the year. saying he's going to hang up his guitar. this is it for him. the long-rumored sequel to the 1986 classic "the goonies" may finally be happening. i was waiting for that. talking to tmz, director richard donner says they're doing a second film and plan to bring back the original cast that includes sean astin, josh brolin and corey feldman. lui. this is "early today." we hope this is your first stop of the day on nbc. [ male announcer ] this is kevin. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol.

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leading in the news in the "washington post," afghanistan's presidential election got high turnout, but many still voted along ethnic lines. ballots are still being tallied, but early report or returns in kabul pointed to continued ethnic politics because of that data. in "usa today," price tag for childhood obesity -- $19,000 per kid. those are the medical costs estimated with childhood obesity over a lifetime, according to a new analysis. the costs are about $12,900 for children of normal weight who become overweight or obese in adulthood. also in the news this morning, nasa has released image of powerful solar flares from our sun. the intense burst of radiation are from wednesday. look at that.

they can disturb the earth's atmosphere where gps and communication signals travel. in massachusetts, just moments after a couple said i do, the entire lakeview pavilion engulfed in flames. firefighters said all 150 guests escaped the massive fire unharmed. talk about a wedding. clashes between pro-russian protesters and riot police broke out across eastern ukraine. reports said the protesters wanted a referendum to join russia similar to the one carried out in crimea. and a daredevil in paris foregoes a bridge while crossing the seine river. dennis jocelyn amazed locals and tourists too by traversing the historic river on a tight rope. a lack of safety gear and an 80-foot drop to the water below didn't bother the walker in the slightest. he was so confident. you saw that there. midway through, he put on a blindfold and walked on touch alone. tempting fate.

look at that. >> not a young man either. >> no. he's done this a couple of times. that tends to be the tight rope walkers, though, they keep doing it, one handed, red blouse, that's probably the key there. time for a look ahead and a look back. thousands of items from the boston marathon bombing memorial are going on display at the boston public library. it will include teddy bears, also some signs, and 150 pairs of shoes from the makeshift memorial that emerged at copley square shortly after last year's bombing. on this day in 1927, first successful long distance demonstration of television. the image and voice of then commerce secretary herbert hoover were transmitted live from washington to new york. and look what happened since then. happy birthday to actor russell crow, 50. jackie chan, 60, and legendary director francis ford coppola, 65. thanks for watching "early today." have a great start to your week on this monday.

nbc bay area news begins with breaking news. -- well, good morning, everyone. i'm scott mcgrew. the breaking news in the south bay, right now police are following an overnight shooting on snow drive and highway 101. >> bob just got to the scene, what can you tell us? >> a residential area. a mix of apartments and homes, houses. you can see down the street where the officers are standing, that's where the shooting took place just over an hour ago, according to one officer we just spoke with on the scene. one man has been taken to the hospital. this was the person who was shot. from