>>. >> breaking news this thursday morning, in the search for the missing malaysian airlines flight 370. march 20th, 2014. this is "the daily rundown." investigators now have what they call their best, most credible lead since that plane vanished 13 days ago. an australian satellite took these images about 1,500 miles off the coast of perth. that's off the southwest corner of australia. one of the objects is approximately 79 feet across. the other is 60 feet wide. just hours ago, malaysia's

defense minister said these images give him hope. >> must stress that these sightings, while credible, are still to be confirmed. what i am comfortable with saying is i think they're a credible lead, and that credible lead requires us to verify -- >> what was unprecedented about this announcement, it was australia's prime minister tony abbott who made the announcement, and it added weight to the satellite evidence by announcing the discovery to parliament early this morning. >> i would like to inform the house that new and credible information has come to light in relation to the search for malaysia airlines flight mh-370 in the southern indian ocean. >> now, a specialized p-8a u.s. naval plane spent the night searching the area where these images were taken, but it had to land to refuel. the crew did not report finding

any debris this morning. the australians are sending this ship to the location where the debris was spotted, but malaysia's minister said the ship could be several days away. meanwhile, the families of the passengers and crew on flight 370 are anxiously awaiting in kuala lumpur and beijing. some have been asked to be flown to perth. asia's defense minister would not address that request specifically, but he did promise to keep searching. >> it gives us hope. as long as there's hope, we will continue, and that is why i said it is a priority to find the aircraft and possibly the black box. but to be clear, we must also show we will never, ever give up hope. >> 18 ships and 29 aircraft are still combing the nearly 2 million square nautical mile search area. malaysian officials say china has dedicated 21 satellites to the search.

nbc's tom costello has been following the developments overnight, and he has the latest on the satellite images and the search there. so, tom, tell me this, these images are a few days old. explain. >> reporter: yeah. yeah, they were taken four days ago, and just now we're told once they weeded through them and tried to decipher what exactly they're looking at, they got the impression that this is something significant here in the waters, as you mentioned, off of the coast of perth, australia. what's interesting, also, here is the remoteness of this location. we're talking about 10,000 to 16,000 feet of water is what those images will be floating on top of. so potentially the wreckage would be below that somewhere. hundreds -- within hundreds of miles range of that. let me go back to the main map here and show you how this plays into the overall scheme. here's malaysian down here. that flight, therefore, took one very long detour to the very end, we believe, exhausted its fuel and quite literally, under

this scenario -- which, by the way, american -- american and malaysian authorities have come to think was the most likely scenario -- somehow this flight was literally flown to the exhaustion with its fuel and into the deep southern indian ocean. this is nearly exactly where the ntsb said that authorities shall look. right down there. 1,460 miles southwest of perth, australia. that is about a three to four-hour flight from perth. so what does that mean? that means that of these aircraft flying in and out of perth, just to get to the search zone, that's taking them three to four hours, and then they search, and then three to four hours' flight back, that's like flying from new york to denver, searching all over denver for something for three, four hours, and then flying back and never landing. >> right. >> reporter: so this is a massive search area. now, it's been dramatically scaled down with the identity, they hope, of some debris. >> all right. tom costello, thank you very

much. let me go to keir simmons, in kuala lumpur, watching the families, been in the room with the families. >> reporter: hey, chuck, good morning. we are hearing here that the families are in meetings -- that's right, chuck, we're hearing the families are in meetings here now, discussing whether or not to -- well, the news, and whether or not they might make that move to australia. it is incredibly difficult for them. what i've been hearing from various relatives is that some are crossing their fingers that this is something to do with flight 370, because they just want to know what's happened. others are saying that they are hoping that it's not, because while they want news, they don't want the bad news that would represent. so we're told that the families were given the information early in the morning here, perhaps even 5:00 a.m. they are trying to give them the information first, perhaps if they move them to australia, that might make it easier.

the trouble with that decision, of course, would be if this doesn't turn out to be related to flight 370, well, then, they'd have made that move for all of the wrong reasons. >> right. >> reporter: the painful thing about this, chuck, they've been waiting through all these days. now, they have to wait again. >> yeah, and wait and wait and wait. all right, keir simmons in kuala lumpur, thank you very much. i want to bring in aviation expert and former airline captain john cox along with nbc justice correspondent pete williams. john, let me start with you. if this is where the plane went down, that's a massive detour, and that indicates basically it went down when it ran out of fuel, doesn't it? >> it indicates that as a strong possibility. we've been looking from the last-known position of what's known as the acars system, and they've been able to triangulate that, and this is the most likely scenario, and now what

the australians are saying, it's increased the likelihood they found the debris field. >> pete, why is the most likely scenario they came up with? what was it about it? >> well, you look at where it was last known to have flown, and then you say, you know, draw a straight line from there. >> the curvature of the earth? >> right. when it would have run out of fuel. >> and explain what role the fbi has been playing. >> the fbi's role has been limited here, because obviously they have no jurisdiction to go into a foreign country and start knocking on doors. they have to be invited in. the malaysian government she hasn't done that yet. the malaysians have asked the fbi to use their forensic ability to analyze hard drives that were taken from the computers of the pilot and the co-pilot's homes. so what the malaysians have done is given the fbi not the original hard drives but copies. and the fbi does this every day. they analyze computers all the time. they can go back and see whether files were deleted. when you press delete on your computer, it doesn't erase the file. >> sure. >> it just takes off the

directions that say, oh, you want that document? okay, you start here, and then you go there and you put those pieces together. that's the document. they can go back and find those pieces and try to reassemble them. now, these hard drives, the malaysians say, were changed in february. >> right. >> if a computer is used a lot after that, it overwrites those old files, and they may be hard to recover, but the fbi will see what it can do. >> we should point out, there's been no other evidence to suggest that the pilots were -- there's been no evidence to suggest the pilots were on some sort of suicide mission. >> no. >> terror mission or anything like that. >> no. >> john, when you look at this, i know there've been a lot of other pilots i've seen can't help but wonder if there was something with their mental state. >> the question we need to ask and be very careful of is not overrun the evidence. so we can see what the transponder did. we don't know if that was an electrical anomaly, component failure, or deliberately turned off. the acar system is different. it does indicate a higher likelihood of involvement by a

very knowledgeable individual. but that's really about all we know. and so, everything beyond that gets to be more speculative, and as an accident investigator, i'm real hesitant to go there. i want the evidence to lead us. >> do you think, could the black box tell us that information? >> i think the recorders will tell us the tale of malaysian flight 370. i think they will clearly tell us what happened on the airplane, because of all the sensors that -- particularly the digital flight data recorder record. so i think the answer will be there. >> the answer will be there if they can find it. all right, john cox, pete williams, thank you very much. we've got this bulletin from australia. according to the associated press, the search tonight is now over, and there's a simple reason for that. it's now dark in australia and in that part of the world. it's after 9:00. so the search will continue when daylight happens in about 10 hours. we'll be right back with much more on this breaking news,

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of course, we're following the developing news taking place in the indian ocean this morning. the associated press is reporting that australian officials say today's searching effort has just ended for that missing malaysia airlines. simple reason, it's now dark this hour in that part of the world. investigators say this australian satellite photo is the first credible sighting of potential debris that could be connected to the missing passenger jet. we have to say potential, because they're four-day-old satellite photos. there hasn't been confirmation from other satellites, but this is the lead everybody is pursuing. a u.s. navy p-8a poseidon

happened to be in the area when the photos were released. they searched the area, but had to refuel. an australian p-3 aircraft searched the site but said clouds and rain were limiting their search, and now there's darkness. we'll have more on the weather situation. it will get better. so tomorrow morning, australian time, they should have a better shot at this thing. an australian navy ship, by the way, is headed to the site where the debris was spotted, and again, it was 1,500 miles southwest of australia, southwest of perth. but it's not expected to get there until this weekend. we'll have much more on this coming up throughout the hour. but, of course, we still have a little politics we want to deal with here. i'll turn to some politics and the tdr look this week has been at the state of illinois. you can't do the state of illinois without talking about chicago. it's the third largest city in the u.s. and it's become the second city of american politics. the adopted hometown of president obama.

an outside the beltway hub for some of the president's closest advisors. president obama's 2008 election was celebrated in chicago's front yard of grant park. his 2012 data-driven campaign was headquartered out of a 50,000-square-foot space out of the prudential building, once the city's tallest, and the city is in the clear front-runner for the presidential library. and with hillary clinton next in line, expect the city to stay relevant. chicago is a mimicrocosm of the political fights. three years after he was elected the city's mayor, rahm emanuel is knee deep in all of them now. and the mayor of chicago joins me now live on this front. mr. mayor, good morning to you, sir. >> hey, good morning, chuck. >> i want to start with this issue of school reform and the issue of charter schools. and you've been -- last year, you closed 47 of them, and at

the same time also reopened some. it angered some folks. in this debate over charter schools, what is the role of a charter school in a public -- in a public school program as far as you're concerned? >> well, chuck, we have a goal in the city of chicago, we're going to be 100% college ready, 100% college bound. we'll adopt whatever reforms are necessary to make sure every child is ready to go to college and has the education level. the good news, according to the university of chicago, we're well on our way to an 80% graduation rate. when i ran and announced i would run for mayor, we were in the mid-50s for the graduation rate. it means instilling and giving parents choice and high-quality choice. let me walk you through that. instilling in our neighborhood schools s.t.e.m. education. "time" magazine four weeks ago had five schools on the cover of it, given that new educational model. we now have the largest international baccalaureate program in the country of which

18 new schools are offering that type of education and training. every branch of the armed service runs a high school in the city of chicago where we have a 80% graduation rate and 90% attendance. we also offer high-quality choices. my key word is choice and making sure it's high quality. we have expanded -- wait a second, chuck. you asked the question. let me finish. i think the debate in washington is all wrong. and your question indicates a backward look to it. and that view is i want to make sure there's all the high-quality choices. we were stuck in the mid-50s on our graduation rate. ever since we've infused the schools with different education models as well as giving parents the high-quality choices, we're seeing the graduation rate climb. charters are part of it. i've closed charters. i've expanded ones that are high quality and proven to have a good report at getting us towards our education goal, which is 100% college attendance.

parents will make the choice. my responsibility is to make sure they're high quality. and we have a whole menu -- >> my question on the charter is, a charter school can pick and choose their students. you know, you see these ratings of charter schools. they don't have to deal with special needs students. they can say no to students if they're potentially on the spectrum of autism and some things, and a regular public school cannot. so when resources get pulled away, how do you -- i guess, how do you deal with this to make sure a falling school doesn't lose students that can make it a better school? >> see, again, chuck, i really do think you're kind of looking at this in the old debate. this is not about a charter versus neighborhood. it's about high-quality choices for parents. we have the largest military-run high schools in which there are six applicants for every seat, 80% graduation rate, 90% college attendance. of the five best high schools in the state, four are in the city of chicago. of the ten best elementary schools in the state, eight are in the city of chicago.

we now have expanded to the largest international baccalaureate program, and according to the university of chicago, it's the best for college training -- >> is this where public school is going, everything application-based? you have to apply to whatever school you want to go to? >> no. you know, chuck, i'm going to get you a one-way ticket out of washington. you need to get out of the thin air. it's affecting your brain. >> wow. >> no, i mean, your debate reflects what happens in washington, which is you really miss what's going on in the ground. we need high-quality choices for parents and then they will choose the best education model. ever since we've infused our neighborhood schools with either a s.t.e.m. based education, which "time" magazine put on the cover and said this is the new model to the international baccalaureate, to selective enrollment, to high-quality charter and high-quality neighborhood schools, you're seeing our graduation rate climb. because it's quality we're for, not the brand. it's high quality, and then parents have a choice that works for their child. with one goal in mind, for every

child. college or career ready. >> let me move to a couple of political questions, since i'm in the thin air of charter schools. >> no, no, you're in the thin air of washington. >> fair enough. you have a longtime relationship with bruce rauner. democrats are attacking him as a mitt romney. is that a fair attack on bruce as a mitt romney clone? >> i am strong for our governor. i want to see him re-elected, because there's a clear choice that's going to be faced here in illinois. i'm proud to have that choice. i think it's important to have that choice. in this sense. the democrats, from senator durbin to governor pat quinn, myself, we're setting in place a set of policies to reinsure and help the middle class hold onto their standard of living but make sure their children have a shot at that. owning a home. jobs. the training that goes with it. good schools so their kids can

get to college. and making sure our parks, libraries are there. >> right. >> so they have a great neighborhood. now, that said, the republicans in my view are offering a set of policies that pull the rug from underneath the middle class. it will be a clear choice. it won't be, well, there's no difference. totally different philosophy. do you support and back up the middle class and the ability of their children to have the american dream? or will you pull the rug from underneath them and let them go on their own and have forces that are overwhelming as it relates to jobs and education and health care and a good neighborhood, like with good parks and libraries? >> do you think your friendship with bruce rauner will survive this campaign? >> when we were friend, and we still are friends, we had vigorous disagreements. and you and i have had vigorous disagreements. i put the friendships aside, because we have clear differences. we've had differences in the past and in the future. i've always had, and i believe this, you can have differences without being disagreeable. >> and let me ask you about 2014

versus 2010. is it the same for democrats nationally when you look at the landscape? how do they prevent it from being the same? >> my view is making it a clear choice of where you stand versus where the other party stands as it relates to helping the middle class. let me say -- bring this back to which is the goal you wanted me on the show, which is talking about where cities are today. we started on education. the clear choice of what we're trying to do in the cities is invest in our infrastructure to build our roads, our airports, and make sure that we are the most competitive economy. making sure that our education system, because 35% of the workforce in the city of chicago has a four-year college degree or better, and i want to keep increasing it, because in the united states, it's only 27%. you made sure you have a modern infrastructure, you can get companies that can get anywhere, to the world or the country, and you have the best trained workforce, you will win. which is why "sight" magazine picked chicago as the number-one city last year for new corporate headquarters, new corporate

expansion, as the best place. because we are focusing on the fundamentals to make us the most competitive economy in north america. >> well, you brought up -- you brought up "site selection" magazine, so my last question, will you bid for the democratic convention in 2016? >> you know, it's interesting, you wanted to talk about where urban america goes -- >> well, is chicago going to be the host to put on -- >> you know what my view is? the democratic party will see what i see in chicago. this is the most american of american cities because we're doing the right things. i'm focusing on education, investments in the infrastructure, the libraries, neighborhood libraries in the city, rated number one in america and rated three worldwide. they'll see a city investing in its future, making the tough decisions to reform things that aren't working today, to get better results for the residents of the city of chicago, which is why for the last two years -- >> there it is. >> -- more companies expanded here than any other city, and people are reversing the decade they left. that's the type of character

where if you face up to the challenges, deal with them, you can actually build a future for the entire city. >> i think you made your pitch for the democratic convention. >> no, i made my pitch for the city of chicago. >> rahm emanuel, mayor of chicago, it's good to talk to you. thanks for coming on this morning. we'll have a lot more on the breaking news, on the plane search, coming up, including the weather. it's had an impact today on the search so far for the new possible debris, which, of course, the search is no longer, called off due to darkness. we'll hear from the white house and what the u.s. is doing to help with the search. stick around for more tdr. if i can impart one lesson to a

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from phillips. we, of course, continue to follow the breaking news this morning. military planes have finished scouring an area of the indian ocean where they're hoping to find two large pieces of debris that showed up on some satellite photos. the debris, of course, was picked up by an australian satellite, and it was the australian government that released the images very early this morning our time.

now, one of the pieces of debris is believed to be about 79 feet wide, and the other is believed to be 60 feet -- i say believed to be, because there's not been confirmation -- physical confirmation of this debris, nor new satellite photos confirming it. an australian naval ship is on the way to the search zone now, but it will take a few days to get there. malaysian officials say china has pledged to focus 21 of its own satellites on this search area as well. but that means we need to have decent weather in order to complete this. so right now, we're looking -- right now, we're learning that the search for the 79-foot-piece of debreis in the world's third largest ocean could be complicated by the weather. let me go to meteorologist veronica johnson, and she joins me for that part of the story. the weather could be bad today? >> exactly. they have a lot of cloud cover down there. the other thing, of course, are the wave heights. the waves are about ten feet right now, pushing out of the southwest to the northeast, and they're expected to maybe

decrease a bit. but then they'll be back up, i think, by the tail end of the weekend and early part of next week. so they'll have a short window tomorrow, i think, to operate and to get anything really accomplished. the other thing are just the overall winds, and those right now are at about 25 miles per hour. what i've done here is i've taken a look at the forecast for the area. we're talking about this area, of course, of the indian ocean. there's africa. there's australia. it's closest to the australian coast right now. the debris field. as i put this in motion, one of the things that you're going to notice very easily on this is that the winds are going from west to east. we've got two areas of high pressure down here in the southern portion of the indian ocean. so that debris field is going to start moving closer and closer to the coast of australia, and as they take a look at where perhaps this came in, i think it'll be closer to africa than australia. one thing is for sure, those folks, they'll get a little bit of a break tomorrow.

and then i think the weather will deteriorate for the tail end of the weekend. todd? >> of cowurse, the weekend is when more ships will show up. veronica, thank you. greg feith is a former investigator with the ntsb. greg joins me now from colorado. greg, all right, so the scenario, this is where your former colleagues at ntsb said the best -- their best guess of where the search should begin, and voila, the first satellite appears, and what does this tell us? >> it tells us we should be cautiously optimistic. what they did was they actually went out and planned what the fuel burn would be, if the airplane maintained what was the last ground speed, which was about 450 knots at an altitude of 30,000 feet. and they looked for the latest or the furtherest out that that airplane could fly before going fuel exhaustion, and then they tried to narrow that area down based on the best trajectory of

that arc, if you will, the last pings, to get it down to the area that they're in. and then, of course, four days previous to this, there was those satellite photos. so we have some cautious optimism here that maybe we finally hit the gold mine that we were looking for. but again, it's far off, and like you said in the weather reports, you're going to have to have visual confirmation of this. the satellite images just don't have the fidelity to do that. >> what is the scenario now if ntsb -- what is the scenario of why they think the plane crashed there, that it was purposefully done, simply run out of fuel, suicide mission, what would be the scenarios that you would be outlining at ntsb? >> well, right now, you got -- you got two parts of this investigation, because we're now looking at it as an intentional act. but there's still a technical aspect. because we're not really going to know for sure until we have parts of this airplane, whether

or not there was any kind of device on the airplane that could have rendered it incapacitated, or if it was flown into the water at a high rate of speed, or somebody tried to make a controlled landing, if you will. so they're going -- they're just sitting there watching what's going to take place with the recovery, or at least the search. but they're also waiting for the fbi to finish its work to see if there's anything that's starting to make sense with a backstory, with the pilots. because that could then lead as to what kind of landing or what kind of impact this airplane may have gone through. >> all right. greg feith, former aviation investigator for ntsb. greg, thanks very much. >> you're welcome. turning back to the world of politics, we have sad news to report. former democratic national chairman and all-around super operative, bob strauss, has died. strauss was a larger-than-life washington figure. during the '70s and '80s, if you

looked up washington mover and shaker, you would have found a picture of bob strauss. he was the first modern political operative. more than anything else, was his ability to work with anyone regardless of party. he was a longtime reveered democratic power house, but strauss walked the halls of the reagan and bush white houses as comfortably as he did during the carter administration, and had a bunch of friends during the clinton years. strauss managed both of jimmy carter's presidential campaigns. he advised president reagan on iran-contra. he was ambassador to the soviet union under president george h.w. bush, during the fall of communism. president bush said in a statement last night that strauss' lifelong devotion to the democratic party never precluded his ability to work across the aisle on matters of national importance. strauss founded the d.c. power house law firm of aiken, gunth, strauss, and he became a lobbyist without becoming a caricature of the job. he will be remembered as a political giant with a great

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phillips'. as we've been doing throughout the year, we've been following the best most credible lead in the search for the missing malaysia air passenger jet. australia released these satellite images to the world overnight. from a key search spot about 1,500 miles off the coast of perth, australia. nbc's tom costello has more on the pictures and, of course, now what happens next. tom, what have you got? >> chuck, good morning. i think a lot of us feel the australians would not be focusing the world's attention on this area here if they didn't have credible reasons to believe that this may well be the wreckage. a u.s. p-8 aircraft was in that zone already, an australian plane, as well. they found nothing. but the search continues. the australian prime minister made the dramatic announcement in parliament. >> i would like to inform the house that new and credible information has come to light in

relation to the search for malaysia airlines flight mh-370 in the southern indian ocean. >> reporter: images captured by satellite may be pieces of malaysian flight 370, missing since the early morning hours of march 8th when it disappeared from radar screens with 239 people on board. military radar later suggested it made a u-turn back over malaysia, turning right up the straight of malacca, and out into the indian ocean. and then the mysterious pings telling us it might have travelled thousands of miles. now, evidence the plane may have flown as far south as possible. the australian maritime safety authorities john young. >> it is a lead, probably the best lead we have now. we need to get there, find them, see them, assess them, to know whether it's really meaningful or not. >> reporter: military search planes have now been sent to an area about 1,550 miles southwest of perth.

the australian prime minister contacted his malaysian counterparts with the news. >> yes, i have been doing from day one, we have been following every single lead. and this time, i just hope that it is a positive development. every lead is a hope. and we have been very consistent. we want to verify, we want to corroborate. >> reporter: if the wreckage is found, searchers hope to find the black boxes. one of the two men who found the air france black boxes after two years in the atlantic says it won't be easy. >> on paper, it may seem fairly straightforward. when you get out there on board the ship, the world becomes very large, that ocean does, and a plane becomes very small. and so, when you're actually in the thick of it, you can see how easy it can be to miss something. >> reporter: time is slipping away. [ pings ] they've got only 17 days until the batteries on those underwater locating pingers run out. if the plane is in this area down here, it could be in very

deep water, indeed. we're talking 10,000 to 16,000 feet of water. >> yeah. >> chuck? >> tom, very quick, those pings, can you hear them from 16,000 feet under the ocean if you had a ship -- >> that's a problem. >> i figured it might be. >> no, the problem is that the thermal layers, and the colder it gets the more difficult, because the less the sound travels through the water. if it's in 16,000 feet of water, you could literally, in theory, be right on top of it and not hear it right away. recall air france. there were ships and subs literally traversing right over that area. they never picked up the pings. >> it was about the same depth there, i think 13,000 feet, where they found air france. anyway, tom costello, thank you very much. white house officials are monitoring the -- this developing story in the indian ocean where the president -- while the president himself prepares for his own trip today. he's headed to orlando. he'll be doing an event that focusing on expanding economic opportunity for women and working families. white house communications

director jennifer palmieri joins me from the white house. very quickly, jen, before we move to what the president is doing today. what can you tell me about what the president's -- the updates that the president's been getting and whether more resources will be dispatched by the u.s. government? >> well, the president is obviously getting updated regularly on the situation with malaysian airlines. we obviously have seen the reports coming out of australia and have been in contact with them. all of our federal resources, as the president said yesterday, we're making available to those working in the search, so that's from ntsb to faa, dod, as well. and so, we'll continue to provide those resources. you know, as you have also noted, we don't have any -- you know, we don't have any news or confirmation at this point. >> and are we working to confirm this ourselves from the federal government's end, the satellite images? >> i mean, we're working with --

you know, we're working with the australians. we're working with the malaysians. we're working with everyone that's involved with this. it's something we're doing with them. >> i want to move to the event that the president's doing today. it's focused on women. there's been a lot of these events. you guys announced a working women and working family summit for june, and i know you guys have a lot of these events. the cynic in me says this fits right in with what democrats want to make a key part of the 2014 campaign. >> we have -- the president has an economic agenda that -- that is particularly focused on women. as leader pelosi says, when women succeeds, america succeeds. the truth is, the economy is changing. women continue to do better, but there are -- there are gaps where women are lagging behind. and there's gaps in education and also the way the workplaces operate. and the president has an agenda to address that. so it's not surprising that

women find that attractive. we're addressing problems they have identified in their own lives, that they see. it happens to be politically popular, but we think it's politically popular because it's the right thing to do. but it's an extraordinarily important economic issue that is -- you know, that people -- men and women both are struggling, particularly in terms of having the right skills they need to get good jobs. >> right. >> but it's affecting women more so. and that's part of what we're going to talk about today, particularly in how women get the skills and education they need, because a lot of women who are -- more women are going to college. that's great. a lot of them are older, more than 30% of them are over 25 now, and a lot of them have children. it's a much different situation than i think how we have traditionally thought of, you know, a young woman going off to college when she's 18. that's what the president wants to hear about, the kinds of challenges that women face. >> i want to talk about the one aspect of it, and the issue of child care. when you compare the united states to some other western world countries, western

economies, one of the lagging issues for the united states, and it may be one of the explanations why women may lag in some of the -- in pay and in some of the jobs, is that there isn't a culture of child care in corporate america that makes it very easy, and there isn't a very easy government programs to help with child care. is the president going to be calling for something like this? does he want corporate america to bring back sort of child care as one of a more mandatory benefits or close to being mandatory? >> there's a lot of problems in the workplace that are -- you know, are of -- that particularly hit women. child care has been cited as one. family, medical leave. taking care of sick parents, sick children is another one. and the lead-up to the summit, you know, today, we're focused on skills. doing different forums across the country that will focus on these different issues. child care is something that, you know, it's a problem we would like to see addressed.

the president has put a big proposal for pre-k, that would assist with this, as well, but child care and family medical leave are policies you'll see us talking more about leading up to -- >> before i let you go, on ukraine quickly, the president said no military option. military option off the table. >> right. >> at this point, i know the united states will never recognize the annexation of crimea to russia, but it sounds like there's -- that at this point the nato, the united states, g7 countries, any group there that we're talking about, basically is throwing up their hands. is that fair to say? >> no, i don't think it's fair to say. the european leaders are meeting tonight to talk about potential more action. as we have said, obviously, we need to monitor the situation and work with the european allies. we have said there's more action from our end that will be coming, as well. and we're going to -- we feel

good about the alliance we've formed with our -- with the europeans. -- continue to work towards. but you'll see, and as you know, the president is going to brussels, as well. a very fluid situation. >> all right. jennifer palmieri from the white house briefing room. thank you. >> thank you, chuck. when we come back, a more detailed update on what's going on in ukraine, and you'll hear what president obama said abo about -- in response to a question about military -- whether a military option was on the table. we'll also hear from nbc's jim miklaszewski on what the pentagon can do to help in the search for the missing malaysian plane. so stick around. in the nation, we reward safe driving.

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them, see them, assess them to know whether it's really meaningful or not. >> well, it's now dark off australia's coast, and the air search is over for the night for flight 370. crews are trying to confirm -- best lead yet, but visibility is limited. the search teams so far have come up empty. we have to give you a quick update on the latest. the u.n. secretary-general is traveling to kiev and moscow over the next days urgesing leaders to engage in discussion. and today russia's foreign minister lavrov said the legal process will be completed this

week. meanwhile, president obama took questions from a round robin of local interviews they did at the white house on wednesday. here's a sample. >> russia right now is violaten international law, the sovereignty of another country. might doesn't make right. you know, we are going to continue to ratchet up the pressure on russia, as it continues down its current coarse for. >> message to troops about whether use of force is possible in ukraine. >> we are not going to get getting into military excursion into ukraine. >> taking it off the table completely. by the way, ukraine is announcing they are moving their military out of crimea. we'll be right back with nbc's jim miklaszewski live from the pentagon about how the u.s. military is getting involved in the search for the missing plane. you outlive your money?

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well, the u.s. has been coordinating with other nations since the jet vanished. now we have a search area to focus on, at least for now. mick, so i assume now we now have a new base we had started in australia. i we are i was there for the unveiling of it. >> they can be, but at this point the u.s. navy -- the u.s. military is only relies on the p-8 antisubmarine warfare search planes. they're temporarily based in perth. it takes them about three hours to fly to the search area, three hours on station and three hours to get back to land. everybody is emphasizing nothing is conclusive about these

australian satellite images. the size does appear to be something that would come off an airplane if it were to dive into the water. they're encouraged by that, but quite frankly it's frustratingly tantalizing, because nobody knows for sure, chuck. >> that's for sure. i know that as soon as you have more information about what new military resource is being dispatched, i know you will share it with us. jim miklaszewski, thank you very much. that's it for this hour. chris jansing is up next. we'll have more on that breaking news. plus also breaking news on the criminal vaccinatiinvestiga what the fbi may be looking for on the hard drives taken from the home of one of the pilots. re my vacation photos, i'm saving a ton of time by posting them to my wall. oh, i like that one. it's so quick! it's just like my car insurance. i saved 15% in just 15 minutes.

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lead they have had in 13 days in the disappearance of malaysian airlines flight 370, even though the day search has been ended for the day. the australian prime minister made a dramatic announcement that these satellite imaging show two pieces of debris that may be from the missing plane. though just released today, they're from an australian satellite. images that touched off the most intense period of focused activity since this plane vanished. here's what happened, likely while you were sleeping. so all of it starts just around midnight eastern tame when the australian prime minister announces those findings.