know what? i'll drive! and i have no feet... i really didn't think this through. trust the midas touch. for brakes, tires, oil, everything. (whistling) seven deaths now confirmed after that gas explosion collapsed two buildings here in new york city. that on top of dozens injured, and today the ongoing search for people who are still missile. president obama making a big announcement this afternoon that could mean more money in the pockets of millions of americans. another way he's focused on helping the middle class. and the pope at one. he's changing the conversation in washington and the world about caring for the poor, reinvigorating catholics, making the papacy cool. is this a modern miracle? before we go to washington, we have to get you caught up on what's happening with that missing plane. good morning.

i'm chris jansing. we are six days in. the desperate search for answers is getting even more complicated this morning, because just when there seems to be a tantalizing clue, it gets discounted. take the blockbuster report this morning, citing unnamed u.s. investigators, reports malaysia airlines plane kept flying for four hours after it goss to the last confirmed location over the china sea. if true, it could have traveled another 2500 miles. imagine what that does for the search area. the malaysian government at the news conference insisted that scenario is not accurate, but they've been far from reliable. in fact sometimes what they said is contradictory. there were also they photos circulating. originally it was thought they showed some type of debris in the ocean that was part of the plane, but now that theory is also getting smacked down by malaysian officials.

>> we have contacted the chinese agency who notified us that images were released by mistake and did not throw any debris from mh-370. >> so where does that leave us? tom costillo has been covering it from the beginning. boy, tom, it seems to the outside observer like we're back at square one. is that a fair assessment? >> i think it is a fair assessment. i would, however, be not so quick to discount the reporting in "wall street journal." we'll see where it pans out and where it plays out. you know, you're right when you pointed out that the ma laze have been contradicting themselves over the course of the past five to six days, saying something one day, seeming to backtrack the next day. but if that "wall street journal" report is true and we have certainly been efforting our own confirmation of it, then in fact this plane was flying for sometime. >> when can we put that graphic back up in 2200 nautical miles,

that's about 2500 miles for people to understand. that's just -- it almost seems impossible to search that area. >> well, it is impossible. keep the map up. you recall that the last known -- if the military radar tape is true, and again this is another thing that seems wishy-washy. if it is true that the plane was last headed for the indians ocean from the strait of malacca, that's the indian ocean. that's a vast area. if you. >> you a jet into the indian ocean and it took off for another three, four hours, that plane could be anywhere and candidly there's not much in the indian ocean. there certainly are not any inhabitable islands, not many of them. there's not a love the naval assets. so it could be a situation to wait for something to wash ashore if the plane went down in the indian ocean. what would be the motivation for somebody to take that plane in a

different path? everybody has a hypothesis, and frankly i don't think that you necessarily can discount anything at this point if this "wall street journal" report is accurate, that would suggest that -- and we've been discussing this possibility, that somebody intentional flew this plane after turning off the transponders, flew it some distance, yet the plane is nowhere to be found. so the theories go on. >> let me go back to the "wall street journal" report. we've reemphasized that it's based on conversations with unnamed u.s. officials, but malaysia is leading this investigation. so obviously other folks have been reluctant to weigh in on the record. does there seem to be a growing sense, maybe incompetent is too broad a word, but they're not people who have dealt with this in a way that perhaps some other investigative teams have, and is

everything being doen that can be done at this point? >> the ma laze have brought in and asked for the assistance of both of faa and ntsb. we're toll they're going over the actual raw data tapes from both the malaysian military and civilian authorities and trying to lay them over each other to get a broader and hopefully more accurate sense of what was the plane's last path. did it do the u-turn? did it come back and go over the strait of malacca? it's thursday morning and we're still unsure the direction of plane was headed. so the faa and ntsb was brought into the discussion. in the last 48 hours, we have heard very little about the two individuals on the stolen european passports as the ma laze really discounted them, the two iranian teenagers and suggested they were simply trying to get to europe, one of

them to immigrate with his mom. this is a missing plane, we still adopt have a confirmed route of where it was headed, and if in fact it was headed -- if it continued to fly with several hours of fuel you're talking about a vast area of the earth, and it could be anywhere. >> tom costello, thank you, tom. always good to get an update from you. >> okay. although big story off washington, a bold announcement from the president this afternoon, frustrated by the lack of action in congress, he's changing the rules so more people will get overtime pay. this is part of his fight to focus on the middle class. this could mean more money for millions of workers. in the last hour as well, attorney general eric holder spoke publicly about a plan -- another idea that the president thinks makes sense on a lot of levels, including saving money. the justice department estimates it would lower the federal prison population by 6500

inmates within five years. both of these plans, part of the president's promise to not let congress or any real or perceived lame duck status stop him from getting things accomplished. >> but american does not stand still. neither will i. so wherever and whenever i can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more american families, that's what i'm going to do. >> and fair to say these moves are no small thing on a morning when cabinet members are spread out across the capital answering to congress about the budget. i want to bring in, and good morning to both of you. ken, let's go back, the white house calling this a year of action. the president seems confident, is this sort of a new way of measuring second-term success? maybe a lot of little these add

up to something bigger? >> it's actually not dissimilar to some of the scope of the initiatives that president bill clinton pursued in his second term. bill clinton did work with congress for obviously the operative sort of unifying themes of both of these initiatives. that obviously is a recognition that president obama has very few opportunities to advance things through congress, so he's taking it into his own hands through executive action. he's not getting the sort of whole enchilada, but he's getting a bit of it, and it could be any of to excite democrats headed into the midterm eek selections. >> we've also seen his approval numbers, amanda, at 41%. does that make what he's trying to do in some ways more important. he's trying to get people back either on his side, so he can get people to pay -- but also to ken's point help outy with the

upcoming mid terms? >> first of all, many of these things are popular with the american public, a majority of the public supports raising the minimum wage, which hasn't been raised since 2009. changing our criminal justice sentencing and criminal justice system is popular not only with democrats, but also with republicans. it attracts people in congress like senator rand paul and senator mike lee, note people who usually stand with president obama. second of all, president obama really needs to excite his base in van advance of the mitt termed election. midterm elections tend to draw out more republican supporters, so doing this, showing that there are things he's doing and why it's important that democrats are elected i think will help excite the base. >> it's not like the president can focus on the -- obviously yesterday he met with the ukrainian prime minister, talks with the russians, nuclear talks

with iran, so there are a few things going on. you do wonder if he manages these things well, and by well i mean if he's able to have some success based on, you know, diplomacy as opposed to taking more serious actions, we meeting see his numbers affected by that as well? >> sure, there's a possibility, but going back to the analogy you mentioned from his first term of getting osama bin laden, that's a very clear win in a lot of these situations that are really embroiling the state department, there aren't really those same clear metrics of success. in fact polls show that a lot of americans are hesitant to see additional involvement in any of those places there was a pew poll recently that showed only 29% of respondents supported a strong stands against russia?

the issues with the ukraine, and so it will be difficult for him to really bring along the american public that's kind of war weary and doesn't want to see a whole lot of intervention. i think that's a tough one to hang your hat on. >> so if we look at this as sort of the year of getting things done, as the president wants to make this not a throwaway, will we see more things? there are already rumblings about some actions he might take ulaterally. >> we absolutely will see more, not only in this area of inequality, but he's already been doing some of on the environment. he recently designated a wilderness area, a national monument, because congress really hasn't been taking action in this area. so we're going to see a lot more i think economically on civil rights, criminal justice, the environmental, and president obama doesn't simply want to be a lame duck.

he wants things to happen. you know what he's doing right now with overtime pay, raising the minimum wage for federal contractors, that's actually putting money in people's pockets and making a difference, and what he's hoping is it will stimulate the economy. good to talk with both of you. thank. >> thanks. next hour we do expect an update on the alleged drunk driver that plowed thus a crowd of people at the south bid southwest festival. officers were trying to top him when he took off. a woman and man were pronounced dead at the scene. 23 others were hurt, some of them in critical condition. >> i just saw all these people just like flying. it was terrifying. >> rolled over some people all the way down. i just remember seeing people bouncing off the street. >> you cannot stop a person who

decides that, rather than face potential drunk driving charges, decides to flee at a high rate of speed, go around a uniformed officer and at a high rate of speed show total disregard for the sanctity of human life. >> austin police used a taser on the suspect after a short chase on foot. and they did arrest him. they plan to arrest him on charges of capital murder. we'll go to harlem where an explosion leveled two building. the mayor just a moment ago toured the scene. that's coming up next. ♪ [ female announcer ] with five perfectly sweetened whole grains... you can't help but see the good.

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this latest update, seven people are now confirmed dead after yesterday's suspected gas leak sparked an explosion,

flattening two billing, but several people are unaccounted for. we have new video from the mayor touring the blast site with new york city firefighters. ka katy tur is live, and obviously the priorities is to figure out what's happened to the people who are missing. what's the latest from the scene? >> reporter: there is still an active search going on. unfortunately as time passes and the temperature drops, not to mention the fire that was burning under the rubble, hope is very slim. there's still steam and smoke rising. officials now believe it was a gas leak. the explosion was so strong you could feel the earth shake for blocks. it shattered windows. there are at least seven dead so far, more than 70 injured, many more that are unaccounted for. there is some hope that some unaccounted for may have been

just been out of town or not answering their phones or somewhere else, but hope is certainly dwindling at this time. firefighters are now able to get into the rubble to search. investigators are also able to get in to search to try to figure out exactly what went wrong. they do believe it was a gas leak. i'm sorry. it's so cold, your mouth starts freezing. 15 minutes before, coned was called with a smell of gas. now, if you speak to people in the neighborhood, they've smelled gas for some time, even smelled it the day before, a month earlier, so there's a lot of questions on whether or not they actually did smell it, but whether it was reported and whether coned could have responded sooner. >> it is miserably cold out there. a difficult situation. there were prayers for the victims at st. patrick's cathedral led by cardinal

timothy dolan. it was actually a long planned mass, marking the one-year anniversary of the election of pope francis, whose popularity has grown dramatically in his first year, a new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll gives him a 55% favorable rateling. here as cardinal dolan. >> i think we knew what we were getting, but he's done it so effectively and expeditiously that's an extraordinary pleasant surprise. >> he's won the people over, the need to address income inequality emphasizing a commitment to the needy. how is he influencing the church as well as the national political discussion? father john bem bp brook is in new jersey and on the steering committee for catholic

whistle-blowers.org. e.j. dionne is a columnist for "the washington post" and msnbc contributor. kate charles graham is a columnist for the young reporters series, and good morning to all of you. >> good morning. you have a magazine that's actually called the fan-zine. this is unbelievable. the viewership on vatican tv is up 40%. what's going on here, father? >> what a difference a year makes. his wonderful personality, the sense of his jesuit heritage, faith doing justice. this is a momentous time for the church. it's a new springtime. i wasn't born in vanity cal ii, but i feel like when the doors were opened, the windows were opened and the church welcomed and greeted the world. it seems like we're doing that

again. it's an exciting time to be catholic. >> there are some hard questions too, and i think that was emphasized by cardinal dolan this morning. the message, the way he's delivering his message is different, but the rules of the church don't change. here areas cardinal dolan. >> the way it's presented and the discipline of the church, as a lot of things catholics do that are doctrinal, that are disciplinary, part of our style, our strategy, part of our methodology. that he can and will change. >> so as a gay woman, kate, two groups that have felt disenfranchised, what is your take on francis after year one? >> well, i agree, what a difference a year makes. i agree with father john. you know, a year ago i would tell folks that i'm a devout catholic and there would be an awkward silence by, wait, aren't you gale? now folks are like, don't you love this new pope? i dos. i love pope francis.

he's pouring water on the seeds of transformation. catholics in the pews have been planting for years. before this pope we were going through a bit of a drought. it's an exciting time. to respond to cardinal dolan, tone is really important here, and we're seeing the tonal shift impact policies, maybe not church policy, but political and other policies across the world. >> well, e.j., you wrote about this, and your description was he has not altered church doctrine, but shift in emphasis has been breathtaking. really, you think it's been breathtaking? >> i do think it is. first of all, did you ever expect to begin this show as you did today by saying one was making the papacy cool? cool is not a term you usually associate with the papacy. >> not maybe since pope john paul went hiking in the rockies.

it's been a long time. >> all the way back to pope john xxiii when i was a kid. i think one of the things he's made cool is simplicity. the name francis, he's gotten rid of a lot of the regalacy. there were jokes that the lacy tunics are not on sale on steep discounts on ebay, because he has set a simple tone. i think that's important, but i also think the shift in priorities are important. he has pulled the church back from culture war issues. head said for the church to -- was wrong, and he has clearly shifted the focus of the papacy, and i think the attention of a lot of catholics to issues of social and economic justice, particularly care for the needy. >> let me just interrupt you, because i thought it was notable that today he began his second year the way he started his

first. he tweeted this morning and said simply diagnose pray for me. this is what he did, and a lot of people were touched by his mu milt. not just his words, but hi actions. so i guess the question becomes -- this is so much a part of the political discussion that we're having here about how do we address income inequality. what do we do about the poor and working poor, e.j.? is he having an impact on that beyond the church? is this pope making a difference? >> i do think ''s affected the debate. first of all there are some conservative catholics resisting him, saying it's all tone but no substantive change, but i'm hearing conservatives say we are supposed to care more about the poor and the needy. i think ear seeing some shift in their dialogue. i think a lot of other catholics, including progressives is let's see the

church in the u.s. in other countries shift its emphasis away in politics from a very narrow focus to this much broader focus on economic justice. i think what's going to be important is the message that comes out of his meeting with president obama. what is the pope going to say? what is the vatican going to put out about that meeting? is that going to reduce some of the tension between the white house and the catholic church in the united states? those are among the things i'm going to be looking for. >> to the point of that broader conversation, kate, and because you work with a lot of young people in the church, what are you looking for in that meeting between the president and the pope? how do you see already he is or is not affecting the conversation? >> well, i think we're all excited to see these two men meet, just as we were excited when pope benedict and president obama met. i think we are looking forward to them having a deep

conversation about economic justice. looking towards 2014, i'm excited about the october meeting of bishops. you know, pope francis has decried trickle down economics. what we need is a little bit of trickle down transformation. here in the u.s. bishops are still firing church workers and catholic schoolteachers for being gay or being pregnant. they're still wasting political capital, to go to e.j.'s point on abortion and contraception, anti-gay advocacy. they're still living kind of these extraordinarily lavish lifestyles as we saw in newark recently. so there's a lot of change still to come. so i think young catholics are still waiting patiently and eagerly for that change. >> criticism as well, father, about priest sex abuse in the

statements he made which some thought were insensitive or didn't go far enough. as you look to 2014, what are you looking for from this pope? >> i think that is the biggest thing, but i think catholics across the world, how do you deal with the sex abuse crisis all over the world? he's promised to establish a commission to study this, and we have written him and asked him to make victims of clergy sexual abuse are put on the committee, because the u.s. conference had promised the same thing? >> so we're asking him to put clergy sex abuse victims on the commission he's establishing. if he does that and meets with victims, that will go a long wade. he's also made zero-tolerance the policy for the universal church and encouraged the gregorian university to continue their work there.

he has done more thing. there's more he could do and more we're looking forward to him doing. thanks to all of you. eight senators are leaving today for ukraine, but congress still hasn't settled on one consistent plant to help and probably won't before they recess. just last hour the ukrainian prime minister was back at the white house talking to vice president biden. at this point what will help? and was it a stroke of marketing genius or unpresidential? everybody it seems to have a funny or die video. we'll check in on how it's plays outside the beltway, later in "the reputation report." hello? hey, i notice your car is not in the driveway. yeah. it's in the shop. it's going to cost me an arm and a leg. that's hilarious. sorry. you shoulda taken it to midas. get some of that midas touch. they tell you what stuff needs fixing, and what stuff can wait. next time i'm going to midas.

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the ad war laurgeed today in arkansas. americans for prosperity take on the state's -- 700,000 dollars for a new batch of 30-second spots. now when somebody says if you like it, you can keep them, you believe them, but that's not show. what's a 2014 democrat to do? joining me robert traynham.

good morning. >> good morning. guess who are talking about this a few machines ago, harry reid who think -- one strategy is to go after the koch brothers. the koch brothers are willing to do anything, even exploit americans suffering from cancer. >> we're heard that from him before. is it a good strategy? >> i think it's a good strategy, but i think a better strategy is to focus on the -- like the minimum wage and the economy and jobs. then also focusing on started voter outreach adopt you have to answer them? >> no, i don't think so. i think that you need to make sure that your majority inclusion shows up at the polls in november, and they need to

change the electoral. the conventional -- what they did was they changed the electoral. >> democrats have been trying to downplay this lot in florida. steve israel is the dccc chair, and what he had to say about that. >> in other competitive districts far more competitive than this one, the message been will work. the turnout models will be good. you don't hide from the climate, you fight through it. that's what we're going to do. >> robert, is there a danger in reading too much into the results of one congressional district. >> not at all. i think those are the tea leaves. first and foremost, a bloomberg poll out there says 73% of americans, 73% are saying they're going to vote this coming november november, and obamacare is the number one issue. you can't run from it. the only thing you can do is --

the talking points when i looked at a few moments ago, there's some on the hard-core left say we have to embrace this. then you have folks in the middle say there's no question about it that the individual man dade is a bit flawed. and you have some democrats out there, joe bhanching and others running again obamacare. first and foremost you have to figure out your messages, and have to -- that an overwhelming majority will vote been and the number one issue is obamacare. >> the middle ground was don't repeal it, fix it. if you want to read into one race, that obviously didn't work. >> i think it's wrong to read into just one race. i think it's wrong to overstate the importance of this result in order to project out how we're going to -- i think going back to targeted voters mobilization.

that's the key, getting our majority to the polls on election day. getting more votes, that's what matters. >> really quick, robert. >> historically midterm records are election lows. >> we can change that. it hasn't happened yet. >> well, time will tell. we'll talk about that more when we get closer. robert traynham, zerlina maxwell, thank you. >> thank you. chances are you've seen this move to add new domain names. well, senator jay rockefeller is very unhappy with one of the proposals. it's dot-sucks. he calls it a predatory shakedown scheme. should it be approved in let me know what you think.

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age 70 is the new 65, accordinga new record. that's how long you'll knee to work mainstream.com means delaying retirement be -- cnbc's mandy drury is here with what's moving your money. mandy, on the one hand it might seem depressing, but on the other hand we're living longer, so 70 isn't what it used to be, i suppose. >> my parents would definitely say 70 isn't old. they still feel very, very young, they're active and working. as we're living longer, you really have a much longer time to support yourself, right? which means either a much larger pot of retirement assets or keep working well into your 60s and beyond. a lot of people wouldn't say that's palatable, but some say if you retire at 65, and live to

85, that's 20 years of leisure time. maybe the average retiree watched 49 hours of tv a week last year just to kill time. >> the other reality, as we plan for our own retirements, we also have to have have been conversation. you've spoken with experts on your show, and i guess -- >> the seven a difficult thing, the conversation. it is really tricky, very sensitive. a lot of parents don't want to do it, but you know what? it should not be put off. having the conversation once your parents are either in retirement or really stressed out financially or perhaps mentally muddled is absolutely too late. you need to show you're there to help and support. the worst thing you request do is badger then into doing something. you need to show that you're just there to support them, and they also probably don't want to feel like they're helpless and they have to turn to you.

that for them would be losing control. also around the conversation, you probably want to review the asset allocation, make sure it's sufficiently safe, a bit of lead time before the real crunch time hits. cnbc's mandy drierry, thank you so much. >> thank you. we'll be right back.

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a conservative uproar over the president's appearance? a individual for led to a surge in traffic at the website. >> it must tink that you can't run a third time. >> no, i think it's a good time. it's kind of like doing a third "hangover" movie.

that didn't really work out well. our exclusive analysis with howard bragman, chairman of 15 minutes public relations. hi, howard, clean shaven howard. critic is say this spoof interview and i love the way zach was looking at the president, some says it was un-presidential, and the white house says it was a good way to promote it to young people. the president is slightly up on social media, with a lot of criticism along the way, but from a pure marketing point of view, one has to understand the success of the affordable care act depends on getting healthy young people signed up. this was a direct marketing ploy. it wasn't a social media ploy. it's gotten more than 10 million views on funny or die. it's it has the website's traffic up over 40%, reportedly

the last numbers are 54,000 young people signed up. by that measure, it's a big win for getting the president to get young people to sign up. the south by southwest festival had that terrible accident yesterday, but it's been a haven for techies, music lovers, and there was a lot of buzz around edward snowden making a video appearance from an undisclosed location. >> the sort of global mass surveillance, not just the use, and it's important to remember this is a global issue. they're setting fire to the future of the internet. >> so how is south by southwest trending? >> it's going through the roof, well into the 80% positive, but didn't edward snowden look a bit like max headroom there. >> no comment. >> for all the sophistication of this digital conference. >> and the sound.

>> but it's a huge place where people go for music, for conversation, for panels, for films. we'll see lady gaga tonight. even our favorite justin bieber made an appearance there. >> oh, boy. >> so people love south by southwest. our thoughts do go out to the people who were killed and injured in that tragic accident last night. >> howard bragman, always good to see you. thank you. >> thanks, chris. something else getting a lot of twitter today, amazon hiking the price for its prime membership. the tweet of the day comes from zach seward, senior editor of the website quartz. hiked to $99 a year in the u.s. they couldn't have made it $97 or $101? it's still a prime number in the uk, though at 79 pounds. ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] with five perfectly sweetened whole grains... you can't help but see the good.

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senator john mccain leading a group of eight u.s. senators headed to ukraine today for diplomatic talks. just an hour ago the ukrainian

prime minister was back at the white house meeting with vice president biden. that came after a meeting with president obama yesterday to discuss ukraine's future. what might come of this diplomatic movement? joining me is el onengle, the ranking member on the house foreign air fares committee who just wrapped up a meeting with the ukrainian prime minister. good morning. >> good morning. >> what can you tell us about the conversation with the prime minister? >> it was very upbeat, positive, he relies a lot on the united states. he's looking to us for support. he said no country can give the kind of support that the united states could give, and feels as i do, that it's very important to stand up to putin and let him know this kind of aggression will notice be rewarded or tolerated. >> that's one part. are these diplomatic moves, symbolic moves, meeting with the president yesterday, but so far the congress has failed to approve an aid package, because there's competing bills in the house and senate.

with one tricking point there is, reforming to the international monetary fund. will they be reconciled? >> think better be, and i expect they will be. aid to ukraine needs to come quickly. we cannot let it get bogged down in a fight between the house and senate. we have a lot of aid to provide, the european union has lots of aid to provide. i'm very concerned that we send an unequivocal message that we are willing to put our money where our mouth is. >> let me play what senator kerrly said in his testimony to congress yesterday. you. >> it can get ugly fast in the wrong decisions are made and it can get ugly in multiple directions. >> what are your concerns now, your rover riding concerns?

one of the questions i've had is about urgency, how quickly, for example, did these competing bills need to be reconciled. how urgent do you feel that action is? >> well, it's urgent and secretary kerry is coming before our house foreign affairs committee later this afternoon. of course we'll be asking lots of questions about ukraine. it's important we do this quickly. i suspect we will, but it's very important. what's also important is that the european union extends a hand to ukraine so ukraine will continue to look westward rather than eastward. i think that's very important. the problem we've had in the past is the european union has its eastern partnership. while it's made overtures to the ukraine, they basically said, okay, we'd like you to join us, but you have to jump through the ten hoops. putin says billions of dollars,

no hoops to jump through and we'll give you cheap energy as well. so we weren't competing on equal footing. maybe we have learned a lesson from that and i think quick passage of this money from the u.s. congress will help so that the u.s. has learned the lesson and tell our european friends to do the same. >> let me ask you quickly about the referendum sunday on crimea, and how concerned are you if crimea votes to join russia? >> well, that's a done deal. crimea will vote that way. we reject the vote. putin better watch his step. there are lots of parts of russia, chechnya, and some of the parts of russia where you have the radical muslims there. you know, once you can start annexing different parts, then there's no end to it. so putin may find out that he's, you know, unleashed a wave that may come back and bite him in the end.

we reject this referendum in crimea. it's a phony referendum. it doesn't matter how it comes out. we now how it would come out. it would come out people will want to be attached to russia, but it's a fraud and we should reject it. >> elliott engle just out of a meeting with the ukrainian prime minister. that wraps us up. next, a deadly crash that authorities believe was caused by a drunk driver. ac=u'lt'01wlñ [ female announcer ] charmin ultra soft is so soft you don't even have to squeeze it to believe it. you can actually see the softness with our comfort cushions. plus charmin ultra soft is so much softer and more absorbent you can use up to four times less. but what if you can't help but squeeze it? that's been happening to people for years. [ female announcer ] used by more plumbers than any other brand. try charmin. it's clog-free or it's free.

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overnight in the "wall street journal." also said, quote -- u.s. counterterrorism officials are pursuing the possibility that a pilot or someone else on board the plane may have diverted it toward an undisclosed location after intentionally turning off the jetliner's transponders to avoid radar die tex. malaysia's transport minister called the report, quote, unaccurate, but acknowledged it is the possible the plane could have continued flying for some period of time. >> i would like to refer to the news report suggesting that the aircraft may have continued flying for some time after last contact. those reports are inaccurate. the last report from the aircraft indicated everything was normal. yesterday china