sn senate floor. and new information on the men who used fake passports and the hunt to find the plane. this is "way too early". good morning. i'm bill karins in for thomas roberts. it's tuesday, march 11. welcome to the show that would talk weather for a half hour straight if only we had a weatherman to do it. but we begin with the latest on the missing jet and uncertainty surrounding its 239 passengers and crew. the search for the plane and any survivors has entered its fourth day after several leads turned out to be false. 34 aircraft and 48 ships in a total of ten nations are involved in the search which has expanded to the south china sea and areas west of malaise kra. officials say they are skeptical of foul play, but they can't rule anything out including a bombing or hijacking. cnbc's senior correspondent

joining us from malaysia. sri, what's the latest? >> reporter: the attention today and the story today does not concern the hunt for mp370, although it is ongoing. they haven't given up. it's important to stress that for the families involved here. but it concerns the issue of the stolen passports. what the malaysian police authorities told us today is that they have identified the holder of one of these passports as a 19-year-old iranian man who was ultimately trying to get to frankfurt, germany. they have ruled him out as a terror suspect, though. he was probably just trying to my gre migrate there. the second passport holder was using a stolen italian passport. one of the four areas they are

focusing on include a hijacking, sabotage and possibly what they call psychological and personal problems relating to the family and crew on board mh 370. just want to make this clear and stress to you that the support that the search efforts are continuing day and night around the clock. there is nothing short of a small armada of naval vessels including two destroyers that are still out in the waters off the coast of peninsula malaysia to the west and to the east combing the oceans for any sign, any remnants of mh 370. back to you. >> thanks so much. russia appears to be systemically taking over ukranian military installations in crimea. some 200 troops carrying machine guns and sniper rifles scaled walls on a naval base and took

control without firing so much of a shot. they also took over an air base, military hospital and occupied another military base firing shots in the air. but any move toward a breakthrough between the two sides suffer from a bout of television diplomacy. russian tv showed an exchange saying john kerry rejected an invitation to dialogue. in response, the u.s. said it was the russians who weren't ready to address basic questions. russia's legislature is expected to approve the annexation of crimea. sources say the u.s. is working to develop sanctions in response to that move. now to politics. this is a live look at the senate the floor. more than two sdwdozen democrat being senators are pulling an all nighter to talk about climate change. the senators say it's time to act on the issue before it's too late. brian schatz organized the marathon session. harry reid kicked off the series of speeches and launched another

attack against the koch brothers. >> climate change is real. it's here. it's time to stop acting like those who ignore the crisis. for example, the oil barren koch brothers and their allies in congress have a valid point of view. they don't. >> four democratic senators up for re-election this year in republican leaning states declined to sign up for the event. republicans say the all nighter is just a political stunt since democrats have no plans to introduce climate change legislation. in a recent nbc news/"wall street journal" poll on 13 different issues, found that climate change was at the bottom. the lowest priority for americans. without opposition, the senate has passed a bill to reform the way the military hams sexual assault cases. the vote, 97-0. the victims protection act will establish new rules on how victims of sexual assault are treated. giving them more power during the legal process.

co-sponsor kelly ayotte says the bill will create zero toll lance and make commanders take full accountability for their units. later this morning, the bill's author will talk about the reforms here on "morning joe". a new poll shows deepening political toll of the george washington bridge scandal for chris christie. his approval ratings has evaporated by 20 points. while 54% still call him a strong leader, that's his lowest score since taking office. there are also reverberations if iowa where christie's potential presidential bid would begin. a poll shows 57% of iowans disapprove of how he's hammndle the scandal. today it will be determined whether former staffers have as to hand over documents under subpoena. in a "new york times" piece, it

claims christie wielded port authority for his own gain. the paper reports pieces of the september 11th wreckage were used as politically motivated gifts to 20 new jersey mayors whose endorsements he wanted to secure. quote, the authority became a means to reward or higher friends, punish adversaries and a bank to be used mr. christie south to avoid raising taxes. and there is new trouble. the "wall street journal" reports federal prosecutors have subpoenaed records belonging to chairman and close christie ally david sampson. according to the journal, they're looking into conflicts of interest between his law firm, one of the most prominent in the state, and his role at the port authority. a stunning guilty plea in court yesterday shaking up the mayor's race in washington and exposing what prosecutors call widespread political corruption in the city. businessman jeffrey thompson pleaded guilty to running a shadow campaign in 2010 for current mayor vincent gray.

prosecutors say he illegally pushed more than $600,000 to gray's election bid and gray knew all about the scheme. gray says he's shocked by the allegations and accuses thompson of lying. prosecutors say thompson funneled more than $2 million to various candidates including hillary clinton's presidential campaign in 2008. officials say there is no evidence that clinton was aware of these illegal donations. it's a race being hailed as a test case for democrats and republicans alike in 2014. today a special election in set in clearwater area to replace long time republican congressman bill young who served 43 years before passing away in october. with polls opening at 7:00 a.m., it's still considered a toss-up. slate calls it obamacare's ground zero. the president's controversial health plan is one of the main focuses of the debate in the

race. outside money has poured in. $9 million has been spent on tv ads and tv spots that have aired 200 times daily in the market. jolly has been targeted for his days as a washington lobbyist and former aide to congressman young. sink ran unsuccessfully against rick scott the in 2010. her record as former state cpo has come under question. she moved into the district just to run for this seat. oscar pistorius murder trial is back in session. defense is trying to cast doubt about the doctor who performed the autopsy on reeva steenkamp. pistorius became violently ill during the testimony. he became pale and threw up as he heard gruesome details including how a bullet went through steenkamp's skull. the judge temporarily stopped the trial three times to let pistorius regain his composure.

pistorius does not deny shooting steenkamp, but says he thought she was a burglar. the judge banned live reporting during the pathologist's testimony out of respect to steenkamp's family. surprising drop in china markets had the markets reeling. good morning, geoff. >> yeah, you know what, that chinese export data, drop of 18%, it really rattled the traders yesterday. they were looking for something stronger clearly. and it meant that we saw the u.s. session weaker. and we had some negative closers here in europe, as well. it's a different day. we kick off from a fresh, but it is mixed here in european trade and it looks like you'll get a flat start to your trading session and some of the traders talking to us saying they're just a little nervous about the fact that john kerry has said he will not speak to mr. lavrov, the russian foreign minister,

because there is nothing new to discuss here on the ukraine story. so just a little worry in the trading rooms about that story. let me move you on to the yogurt maker. sources saying they have recruited bank of america to look at potentially selling 20% of that business at the praises that are being discussed, potentially it would value the company at about $2.5 billion. back to you. >> and what is this about a banana merger worth more than a billion bucks? >> be nice to say the markets are going bananas over this one, but to be quite honest with you, there's probably not a great trading opportunity here. a lot of the stock price movement has already taken place ahead of this announcement. chiquita and fyffes are to tie up this deal. chiquita will take the upper hand, 50.7% ownership to the chiquita shareholders here. it will mean ultimately a banana

giant in this space. >> so to be clear, what's the label on my banana going to say now? >> well, i think it will say chiquita fyffes to be honest and gradually over time possibly fyffe schls will disappear. $4.6 billion total sales on this deal. >> all right. we wouldn't want to change that name. thank you so much geoff cutmore. now to today's twitter question. apple is releasing an update to its iphone operating system. what features would you like to see? tweet your most creative answers to you using #way too early. now, personally, i want something -- everyone is taking the selfies. i want the phone to say like you look beautiful today. or, hey, take another. that's great. i think that would be a great addition to my phone. would have worked better if jen

was involved. still ahead, we're getting close to tournament time and that means the biggest lives of their lives for college basketball players. three exciting finishes that pufr punch tickets to the big dance. and the video of justin bieber's deposition. can't get any worse. still shaking my head. that story and a check of your forecast. mine was earned in korea in 1953. afghanistan, in 2009.

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and five simple whole grains, new multigrain cheerios dark chocolate crunch is breakfast... with benefits. start your day with a delicious new crunch. healthy never tasted so good. and a hotel is the perfect place to talk to you about hotels. all-you-can-eat is a hotel policy that allows you to eat all that you can. the hotel gym is short for gymnasium. the hotel pool is usually filled with water. and the best dot com for booking hotels, is hotels.com. it's on the internet, but you probably knew that. or maybe not, i don't really know you. bellman: welcome back, captain obvious. captain obvious: yes i am. all those words are spelled correctly. glass on floors. daily chores.

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to baseball for the first time since his last game in the majors all the way back in 2007. this time as a special hitting instructor for the san francisco giants. bonds looking a little slimmer asked whether he thought the instructional rule might help his chances of getting into the hall of fame. >> i think you guys are all adults. i have no advice for you. >> should you be in the hall of fame, though? >> without a doubt. >> what is he supposed to say, no way, i did steroids? he's been on the hall of fame ballot twice but yet to punch his ticket. now to the nba. potential western playoff preview between the suns and clippers. in the fourth quarter, things get a little ugly. clippers with a 14 point lead when blik griffin and p.j. tucker wrestling patch. that looked like a right hook by tucker on the suns. he's called for the flagrant foul. griffin gets away scott the free. here is a replay.

they went down. the push off and the hook to the cheek. clippers do win it 112-105. now to college hoops. three teams punched their tickets to the ncaa tournament last night. >> only three seconds to go. and the skras pers win the mac championship. they're going dancing. >> the three. fires the three. and for the third time in the last five years, they're headed to the ncaa tournament. >> finds a cutting back. and he lays it in. four seconds. can he do it. no. it's over. they win their first ever caa championship and their first conference title in 15 years. >> there is nothing like it.

you can feel the energy. manhattan, delaware headed to the big dance in that. >> to spring training baseball. mets and marlins. chris young drills one deep right center. bounces over the wall for the ground rule double. not the a bad start for the mets, but more importantly, check out what happens to that wagon. >> check this out. >> look at the cart. he left the kid in the cart. there he goes. dad -- >> hey, pick him up. >> oh, daddy, hopefully -- is that the mom in the background? he doesn't even get the foul ball. he leaves his kid going down the hail. thankfully still had some of his speed left and saved the kid before crashing into the wall. that could have been ugly. all right. let's get to your forecast. washington, d.c., what a beautiful day it was yesterday. today we'll do it again. we could be in the mid-60s today in many areas. remember it snowed last week? i guess we're all done with that. let me take you through the next

storm. we've already been warnedicle t from him. buffalo, detroit, syracuse, northern new england, this one is heading for you. tonight it will be a large storm growing in size. here's how the timing shapes up. nothing really bad today, but as we go through tonight, especially the chicago area overnight, by the time we get to 6:00 p.m., heavy rain throughout so you were half of new england. northern half, like whiteout type snow. really intense snow maybe as much as a foot in a few areas. maybe 1 to 2 feet at the ski resort. and by 6:00 a.m. thursday, the storm intensifies off the coast. nor'easter type storm with wrap around snow on the back side. and this is how much snow we're looking at here. we have the potential that purple of 1 to 2 feet of snow. we have to watch you closely detroit, buffalo all the way through northern new england. not going to be pretty thursday morning. thankfully, it does avoid areas along i-95. coming up on "morning joe," tough times for governor chris

christie. we'll go over some new poll numbers and look ahead toen a pofrpt court showdown that may impact some subpoenas at the center of the grnormg washingto bridge scandal. and when we come back here, thomas roberts on "the view". the moment that had the ladies gasping and the crowd laughing. dad, why are you getting that? is there a prize in there?

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at the top of the show we talked about the ongoing search for the the missing airlines flight 370. if you want to sound smart, tell your friends the deadliest airline accident in high schooler to occurred on march 27, 1977. that's when two planes collided on thecamnary islands. enough of the real news. let's go to lewouis with the war cooler. >> bill, you're doing a fine job. when it comes to the music business, one young performer is on top when it comes to raking in the dough and i knew she was trouble when she walked in. ♪ >> she tops this year's money makers list earning more than $40 million in both sales a

concert revenue. rest of the top five is nowhere near swift. chesney with nearly $33 million, followed by justin timberlake, bon jovi and the rolling stones. hits just keep on coming in for justin bieber. he's being sued after allegedly ordering one of his bodyguards to attack a photographer in a deposition before the trial, bieber was exactly excited about answering some questions about his personal life. while he managed to keep his shirt on, this was his response when he was asked if usher discovered him. >> i was found on youtube. i think that i was december detrimental to my own career. >> i'm sorry, i can't hear you. i'm sitting right next to you -- >> he said i think i was instrumental to my own career.

detrimental, instrumental, seems like the course is paying off. listen, he was under stress there, so we won't, you know, criticize him too much. i have yet to have children, but this video makes me very eager to do so. >> just a disaster. >> what? first of all, louis, i'm putting out the text alert that you're eager to have children. so just alerting to everybody. >> sarcasm, bill. but you never know what's going to happen. >> i got you. >> i got a couple years which is a good thing. now, our fearless leader, thomas robert, stopped by "the view"

yesterday to talk over a variety of topics. but one chept aboomment about k kardashian getting paid $500,000 to escort a man to a ball caught our attention. >> got peed on and that made her famous. sorry, but that's the truth. >> look at thomas holding court there. so safe to say thomas' appearance was a hit and he left the ladies "the view" know how much he appreciated their attention before he left. >> our thanks to the adore thomas roberts. >> i get to kiss four women. >> we are really enjoying "the view" today. >> look at that, laying smacks on everyone there. i love it. >> he's the man. >> when are you going to get invited to the man? >> next time i'll carry his bag. probably best way i'm getting there. your best and most creative tweets are still coming up and

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we asked you best way to upgrade my iphone. >> david said he want as you wa? you could set it and i could hand it to you. thanks! thanks for holding my hand in here, everyone. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ >> let's look back now at other cpac straw poll winners over the years. watch this. ♪ ♪