wolf blitzer starts now. >> hello. i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. i'd hike to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world watching right now on cnn international. >> we begin with breaking news with malaysia. for the first time in three weeks dollar talking about the search of flight 370 sitting down with a reporter from kuala lumpur. the malaysian government has got an lot of heat as all our viewers know, not releasing more information on the flight. what did the prime minister tell you today? >> it's a broadcast exclusive interview. so far, the prime minister has not sat down with any interviewers to answer questi s questions, direct questions on what he knew, what malaysia knew and what they now believe happened to nh 370. we learned yesterday, when i asked at a press conference that a preliminary report has been sent to the u.n. body and tonight, the prime minister pledged that that report would be released next week, after it's been reviewed by a committee. he has confirmed the report. wolf, the most extraordinary thing tonigh

if thereld reuters, " is a dang wolf in your corral attacking your cow, shoot that wolf. >> the mediais guilty of keeping it polarized. > >> animal lovers, this is a call to action. our tax dollars are being turned against innocent animals during this time, the state of wyoming can declare war on wolves. >> killing wolves, whether hunting, trapping, or removing the problem wolf periodically, it really shouldn't be news anymore. we don't announce everyone -- every time someone shoots a coyote or someone kills a mountain lion or a bear. wolves are not weapons of mass destruction. they are just another critter on the landscape trying to make a living and doing what god put him there for. >> why the middleground voices aren't heard is a good question. there has been a lot of drama associated with the conflict. [gunfire] trying to live with a wolf is rathere complicated, than a story about don't kill the wolves or kill all the wolves. all you really read about in the newspapers is what the mouthpieces say to the media. i think it is a gross oversimplification of what is happening on the la

wolf? >> i assume if they don't find anything in this new area they'll keep searching other adjacent areas? is that the game plan at least for now? >> that is the game plan. when i was up on the p-8, you can see it very clearly, the way they spread it out every single day is they create a rectangle. then each country has its own little section of that rectangle. they basically mow across it at a very low altitude, back and forth across that rectangle. once that's cleared they draw a new square and mow across that. they'll keep doing that until there's a decision of the long-term plan of this entire search or they actually find something. >> kyung lah, we'll stay in very close touch with you. relatives are desperate for any scrap of new information about the fate of their loved ones. some chinese families got a private briefing from some high level malaysian officials. our senior international correspondent sara sidner has more on that. how did it go, sara? >> look, the families' frustration

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> right now, planes are preparing to take off to scour the surface of the indian ocean while an underwater drone maps the ocean floor searching for any scrap of flight 370. we're standing by for an update on the third mission of the bluefin-21 and at any time could get the results of an investigation also into an oil slick that was found near the search area. this as flight 370 families are making new demands of the malaysian authorities. our correspondents are following all the new developments around the world. along with our team of experts here in "the situation room." get the very latest now from our aviation correspondent, rene marsh. >> wolf, as much as we've focused on the search at the heart of all of this are the families of the people onboard who 40 days in know nothing other than the plane that's carrying their loved one is missing. some of those families are now at an emotional boiling point. >> you're all bloody liars and you're lying to

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> we begin with new clues in the search for flight 370, new details about its final moments. here are the latest developments. a search plane has recorded a possible ping from the airliner's black boxes. the signal was detected by sonobuoys that were dropped by the plane. analysts are studying the acoustic da acoustic data. sources say that flight 370 disappeared from military data after it shade the sharp turn back over the malay peninsula. they say this plane must have dropped in altitude between 4,000 and 5,000 feet. and as aircraft continues to go on another search for debris, our analysts and reporters are standing by here in the united states as well as around the world with the kind of special coverage that only cnn can deliver. michael holmes is in perth, australia. let's go there first for the very latest. michael? >> reporter: wolf, a dozen of these sonobuoys have been spread around the search area, sort of an added tool, more electronic ear

wolf? >> what about something practical, like u.s.-russian cooperation in the elimination, the destruction of syria's chemical weapons? there was extensive cooperation. how does that fit into this? >> reporter: i think that's a great question. because, of course, for the u.s., the cooperation with russia on the tess trucks of syria's chemical weapons, the cooperation on trying to get russia to get assad out of power, the russian cooperation on -- to try and get iran to give up its nuclear program. you know, this -- these are the fundamental issues at stake, where the u.s. and moscow, everyone, will tell you, still really need to cooperate. but unless they can get some resolution on the ukraine situation, which is fundamentally getting vladimir putin to agree to pull back and assure the world once and for all he has no designs to have his forces march into ukraine, until they can do that, many officials will tell you, they just can't make progress on the other. and wolf, i think it's really

wolf? >> miguel marquez, from perth with the latest. let's get now to the fallout with cnnthe malaysia and the pr minister spoke about said putting the best foot forward and many say why didn't you put this into the national arena sooner? i think on the family's question, wolf, there's still quite a lot of people who don't quite understand how this relationship has deteriorated so badly, so quickly. and those are those who simply say the families will never be satisfied and those who say actually what the families are asking for is legitimate and malaysia needs to step up to the plate. >> the preliminary report that was provided to the international u.n. body, that that report would be made public. are you getting any indication when it will be made public, what day? >> reporter: no, i haven't. and i've asked several times and obviously i've asked before then. and it will be impossible. note the word. impossible for the malaysians not to release that report next week. even if the committee

it's still very early on, wolf. but at this point we're hearing from sources they don't believe that terrorism was a factor here. but again they're still trying to sort of investigate, identify who this person was. i was talking to sources, wolf, oftentimes in a situation like this when you have a shooting, the person is mentally unstable. there are pre-event indicators. so are going to be scouring this person's social media commentary, that kind of thing, to see if there were any signs. so again it's still very early, too early to jump to conclusions. it's all under investigation. but at this early preliminary stage, sources telling us that it doesn't appear to be terrorism but of course that's not being ruled out as a possibility. >> this investigation only just beginning. they certainly will check all those social media sites as they did with major nidal hasan. he was certainly certainly had a political motivation for the murders that he committed on that base. michelle kosinski is our white house correspondent.

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in the "situation room." >> this is cnn breaking news. >>> right now flight 370 search teams have four separate signals to guide them as they try to zero in on the missing plane. they're combing the deep waters of the indian ocean hoping to detect even more pings that may be coming from those two black boxes. after a month of false leads, search officials sound a lot more confident right now that they're finally, finally in the right spot and that at least some of this mystery will soon be solved. our correspondents in the united states and around the world, they're covering the breaking news. along with our team of experts here in "situation room." first, let's bring in aviation correspondent rene marsh for the very latest. >> well, wolf, the manufacturers of the pingers, they believe this is it. the sound from the black boxes. australian authorities have gone as far as they can without actually saying they found it. 34 days since flight 370 went missing, and crews now finally

wolf? >> that's correct. stand by, rene. i want go to perth, australia, the base of the operation of the search. michael holmes is on the scene with more. what's the latest there, michael? >> reporter: yeah, we're going to have the search planes out again. more than a dozen of them, wolf. they'll be leaving in the sectithefection few hours. also, those ships, again, are going to be scouring the ocean today. something rene mentioned is really interesting. ocean shield joined now, we reported this to you yesterday, that it was headed to the ocean shield area. the search area where they've been getting these pings. now, hms echo, it's a british naval ship. now, what it is, it has the ability, it's an oceanography ship. it has the ability to scour the ocean using echo sonar. scouring the floor obviously trying to find evidence of wreckage below. now, as rene said, this bluefin submersible, it's a tedious operation with that. it goes literally at walking pace, takes a full day to go down, cover

my colleague, wolf blitzer, starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> hello, i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. the search for malaysia airlines flight 370 has gone under water and it's now a race against time. crews are trying to locate the plane's black boxes before battery-powered pingers go silent. here are the latest developments. the australian ship "ocean shield," equipped with a u.s. pinger detector, is scouring 150-mile track beneath the indian ocean right now. the british royal ship, hmsecho is also scanning the ocean. the search above the water is moving full speed ahead. 14 aircraft and 11 ships were involved in today's search. and more frustration for the families of the 239 people on board the plane. malaysian officials won't let them listen to the audio recording of the last communication between the pilots and air traffic controllers. they say it's still part of the ongoing investigation. as we mentioned, the certain for flight 370 is a race against time. the batteries on the pingers from the missing plane were only expected to last about 30 da

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> this is cnn breaking news. >> and we're following two major breaking news stories this hour. the investigation into the shooting rampage at ft. hood. the dead gunman's service record is just released soon after the base commander shared new details about ivan lopez and his, quote, unstable mental condition. we're also told there will be a major announcement at a news conference involving the search for flight 370. we could get some kind of announcement very, very soon. planes in the meantime, they're getting ready to return to the search area right now. we have a full team of correspondents and analysts covering both stories. they're here in the "situation room." they're across the united states and around the world. first, let's go to ft. hood, texas, for the very latest. cnn's miguel marquez is standing by. >> that service record was just released. there's lots of commendations and medals in there for mr. lopez, but it is very clear that hindsight

wolf? >> the air search is going to begin in the next couple of hours or so. any idea how long the air search will go on? >> reporter: look, there has been discussion about this air search ending all week. and we are only surmising but we guess that it will probably end about the time that this initial several of the bluefin ends. it would make sense. it's been 40 days that this thing has gone missing. the storms have blown through here and it's a heck of a lot of work for the crews and their planes. wolf? >> miguel marquez, thank you. >>> flight 370 relatives say they are being kept in the dark by malaysian authorities over a preliminary report on the investigation. the families are angry. they are frustrated. they are ready to take action. brian todd is here. he's got new information. brian? >> wolf, the families say this preliminary report to be released next week should have been shared with them already. they've gotten no explanation why it hasn't been and the families now say they are

wolf? >> going to be a difficult, difficult process, rene, stand by. >>> i want to go to perth, australia, right now where the air search is getting under way. maybe for one of the last times today. michael holmes is on the scene for us with the very latest. what's going on over there, michael? >> reporter: yeah, wolf, according to angus houston, they're going to wind down the air and sea search in the next few days. in fact, we've been looking at a marine tracking website. you can see from looking at it that the ships that were in that search area, which is several hundred miles to the west of where the ocean shield has just launched that submersible, those ships have left that area. it all seemed to be steaming to the south at the moment. so we're keeping an eye on them. now, when it comes to that submersible, as rene was saying there, it is a tedious process. in that 24 hour operation, if you like, each time to goes down, that 24-hour cycle. it will cover only about 15 1/2 square miles o

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in the "situation room." >>> right now, search planes are ready to take off from australia hours of the country's prime minister gave a surprisingly upbeat account of the hunt for flight 370. to hear him tell it, crews have a very good idea where the plane's black boxes are even as they keep scrambling to pick up some more locator signals. our correspondents are following all the new developments around the world. we also have our team of experts here in the "situation room." to explain where the search and the investigation stand right now. let's go to aviation correspondent rene marsh for the very latest. >> wolf, as you said, to hear him tell it, prime minister of australia, you'd think a breakthrough is right around the corner. tony abbott is in china to update china's president on the search for flight 370, but it's his tone about how things are progressing that's receiving a lot of attention. forget cautious optimism. australian prime minister tony abbott is oozing confid

wolf? >>> jake, thanks very much. happening now, ukraine says these pictures show russian forces operating inside ukraine provoking unrest. has moscow conducted a covert invasion? >>> the bomb maker. is this man the target of an unprecedented target of al qaeda? drones have taken out dozens of militants. >>> and searchers are talking about long-term efforts to find malaysia flight 370. will it include new equipment? i'm wolf blitzer. you you're in "the situation room." >>> we're following critical developing stories on four couldn't ne continents at this hour. we'll get to malaysia airline flight 370. first, dramatic new details in the escalating ukraine crisis. officials are saying that they have photographic proof, proof they say that russian forces are operating in the eastern part of their country, something russia has denied from the start. all of this as vice president joe biden touched down in kiev earlier today. we'll get straight to our senior international correspondent arwa damon

wolf blitzer in "the situation room." >>> the hunt for malaysia flight 370 goes underwater. an urgent race against time to find the plane's black boxes and even as the air search is about to resume. why are officials keeping secret the audio recording of the conversations between the cockpit and ground controllers? even the families aren't allowed to listen. >>> and new details on the bloody rampage at ft. hood as investigators are scrambling to learn why the shooter attacked fellow soldiers. we have new information on the hunt for a motive. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> there's now a major turn in the search. here's the latest developments. the search is now going underwater. an australian vessel is towing an american pinger locator looking for the black box signals thousands of feet below the surface. a british ship is using the device in the same area. without knowing where to listen, it's a big roll of the dice and there's another huge problem. the batteries powe

wolf?you're talking to officials over there in perth, matthew. take us a little behind the scenes. are they giving you an upbeat assessment privately that they think they've located these two black boxes? are they very, very cautious ? what kind of sense are you getting from your private conversations with these folks? >> reporter: well, i think, you know, angus houston, the australian air chief marshal that's heading up this multinational effort, he's a very measured character. you know, he doesn't say things that he feels he may have to retract in a few days' time or few weeks' time. there's been a shift in the level of clarity since he started doing those press conferences. so he said he's much more optimistic this week, yesterday, than he was last week. and i don't think he'd be saying that if he didn't have a pretty good indication that what they located -- remember, they were listening to those regular second interval pings for more than two hours. 2 hours, 20 minutes on one occasion.

wolf? >> all right. thanks very much, miguel marquez in perth, australia. here in our situation room is peter goelz and tom fuentes. the fact that it went up in vietnamese air space as it was crossing back over the malaysian air force, the 39,000 feet from its 35,000, what does that tell us? >> it's more realistic than originally they said it could have climbed to 45,000 feet, which we were all skeptical about. but i think it just confirms a little more that this plane was under human direction and, you know, the mystery is still there but it's under human direction and that's troubling. >> but we don't know if it was bad intentions or because of some sort of mechanical problem. >> right. we can't tell that yet because we don't have the data. >> if it was in the vietnamese air space for 15 or 20 minutes or so, as far as i know we haven't heard that they picked it up or heard it. what kind of relationship does the west have with the vietnamese? would they have shared that with malaysia? with

wolf? >> i take it the weather has improved the aerial search on this day at least will continue? >> reporter: yeah, we believe the aerial search will be back up. the cyclone has now turned into a low pressure system and it's rainy out there and there's lots of waves, so that tends to make the surface search very, very difficult. they've flown in worse conditions, but it is so many days on since that plane went down, it would be difficult in perfect conditions for them to find something, so they may let it go for another day. wolf? >> miguel marquez in perth, australia. thank you. if and when the plane's black boxes are found, experts in australia, they say they are ready to help analyze the data, a job that's a lot more complicated than you might think. michael holmes gives us an exclusive look into a lab where that investigation might play out. >> reporter: in a nondiscrypt government building, the secrets of malaysia flight 370 might one day be unlocked. what's this room, neil? >> well,

wolf? >> nick paton walsh, thank you. we'll talk about this with our chief national correspondent. now a senior fellow at the ucla center. joining us from little rock. julia, first to you about that pamphlet that was distributed. we don't know how. at the synagogue. that one synagogue in donetsk during passover. living on territories of donetsk peoples republic have to register. in case of noncompliance, the following will lose privileges of citizenship and will be deported. now, that sounds like a nazi kind of statement. what are you hearing about this? >> what i'm hearing, this was circulating in the russian language and ukrainian language internet for the last few days and it sounds like a few guys went to kinko and were distributing it. some people are connecting it to the pro-kiev forces in other parts of the region because the russian government has been accusing of har aboring neo-naz and it's got a lot of that historically. this seems like an attempt to smear the other side as havin

i'm wolf bliter. you're in "the situation room." >> this is cnn breaking news. >> following multiple breaking news stories right now. fire and floods in california. flames are burning out of control, near los angeles threatening homes, forcing residents to flee. in florida, deadly flooding, unlike anything most of the residents have seen in their lifetimes. hundreds of people have been trapped by fast-rising water, leading to very, very dramatic rescues. cnn correspondents covering all angle of the breaking stories. start with paul vercammen in rancho cucamonga in california. what's the latest on that fire, paul? >> reporter: well, wolf, the fire has burned 800 acres. a short time ago, fire roared through the canyon. we saw ten acres burn up there, we've had 1600 homes evacuated. no homes burned down yet. the good news for these firefighters, there is what they call defensible space. you can see the asphalt the fire burning in the vast national forest, absolutely so much smoke kind of blotting out the

wolf? >> all right, michelle, thank you.'s dig a little bit deeper right now with richard myers. general, thank you very much for coming in. how explosive is this situation right now? >> i think it's pretty explosive. it seems russia's doing several things that are very dangerous, overflight of the ship multiple times is provocative. >> effectively buzzing a u.s. destroyer that's in the black sea. >> right. that's provocative. >> that stuff doesn't happen accidently. >> no, it doesn't, but you don't know how high a level the orders were given. >> i assume that's a high level. it was a dozen times, right? >> it should be if somebody in the united states navy or air force did something like that, a foreign vessel, they'd probably come up for some sort of reprimand. so we don't know that, but that's one of the things, i think, is dangerous. having so many forces outside ukraine right on the border, that's dangerous. saying that these aren't taking over these towns are not instigated by russians is ridiculous and dangerous. so a

wolf, u.s. officials tell me that there could have been other passengers' cell phones that hit the tower but malaysians have only shared information, indicating it was the co-pilot's phone. keep this in perspective here. this is one tiny piece of the puzzle. and without more information, it's tough to know what exactly this means. >> hold on for i moment. i want to bring in our aviation analyst, former ntsb manager director, peter goulds and former fbi assistant dwikt dire. one tower may have discovered this, sounds ridiculous one cell phone, for example, was on. we know that people in planes don't turn off their cell phones, a lot don't. >> exactly, people don't turn them off. i think we've got to put it under suspicious. i don't think the malaysians have released all of the information that they have on this. >> why wouldn't they? what's holding them back? >> it has been a criminal investigation that they have let out pieces of information, so some of accurate from the beginning. it hasn't hel

i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room".n burnett "outfront" starts right now. >>> next breaks news on flight 370 search planes heading over the indian ocean a desperate search under water. a biggest search day so far. four weeks ago this hour we found out plals flight 370 was missing. families are demanding answers why nobody has searched the remote island of diego garcia. let's go "outfront". >>d

and now we'll head to wolf blitzer in "the situation room." wolf? >>> breaking news, tornado emergency, a potentially deadly line of severe thunderstorms battering multiple states and at least one twister has now touched down. new images of the devastation are coming in at a very frightening evening as millions of americans are in the storm's path. out of control, violently escalating tornadoes. peaceful protests suddenly turn violent. soldiers have been bombed and how close is the city going over the brink. >>> shaking up the search. new equipment and outside crews are coming in to help find flight 370. will this new effort finally succeed in finding the missing jumbo jet? >>> nba scandal. corporate sponsors are fleeing the los angeles clippers after racist remarks attributed to the team's owner. >> if you don't feel it, don't come to my games. don't bring black people and don't come. >> can donald sterling survive the scandal rocking one of the best teams in the league? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." and we're following the brea

wolf? >> let's bring in our panel.ard quest as well as our aviation analyst, former ntsb analyst, peter goelz and director tom fuentes. the new search guidelines, the agreements between malaysia and australia to deal with various things if in fact they would be necessary whether debris handling, care of human remains, investigation area changes, asset deployment, what does that say to you that they are thinking along these lines? >> i think we saw this coming a few weeks ago. there's very difficult decisions if and when they found the wreckage on how to treat the remains at that depth. secondly, they are getting ready for the long haul. this search is going to go on for months, if not years. and the australians i think have the capability and the commitment to oversee that search. the malaysians want it done in a way that maintains their privacy. so it's a good deal i think being worked out. a wise one. >> let's go to the malaysian capital. richard quest is our man on the scene there. richard, what is the latest that y

wolf?ennifer, don't go too far away. our reporters there in some of the areas already under a tornado threat right now. look at these pictures just coming in, plus the other breaking news story we're following. the owner of the l.a. clippers banned from the nba for life over racist remarks. dear sun, you created light. you are loved. celebrated. but things have changed since you got into this business. at philips, we're creating led light that people can color... adjust... even make beautiful sunsets. dear sun, you might be number one, but we're getting closer. innovation and you philips [ banker ] sydney needed some financial guidance so she could take her dream to the next level. so we talked about her options. her valuable assets were staying. and selling her car wouldn't fly. we helped sydney manage her debt and prioritize her goals, so she could really turn up the volume on her dreams today...and tomorrow. so let's see what we can do about that... remodel. motorcycle. [ female announce

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." take a look at a massive cloud wall closing in on kansas city. part of a very severe weather system. it's one of three major stories that we're following this hour. there's breaks news in the deadly shooting rampage in ft. hood, texas, and a major turn, potentially in the search for flight 370. as officials say they are about to hold -- and i'm quoting them now -- a big news conference. that's coming up. our reporters are standing by with the kind of special coverage that only cnn can deliver. let's begin in ft. hood, texas, where pamela brown is on the scene for us with the very latest. pamela? >> wolf, at this hour, we're learning that sources from the fbi and army investigators are being looking at lopez's cell phone and computer and interviewing witnesses. investigators are still trying to figure out the why, why did lopez open fire on his fellow soldiers? he talked about the fact that investigators are looking into a verbal altercation between lope

wolf? >> pamela brown, stay with us. i want to bring in the rest of our panel. our aviation analyst, former ntsb managing director peter goelz and tom fuentes. so peter, what does it say to you that one cell phone was on, this one belonging to the co-pilot in the cockpit but apparently no other signals were picked up by any other cell phones? >> it really is intriguing. what was going on? if the co-pilot had followed the check list and turned off his phone as the plane taxied out, why did he turn it back on? i think, boy, this is intriguing but it does confirm further that there was something going on in that cockpit. >> because it's very, very strange. you've got to admit, tom, that they pick up one cell phone out of 239 people on that plane, one cell phone is turned on? >> right. that's true, wolf. i just learned about 20 minutes ago from a malaysian source that the police obtained the phone records of both pilots the very first week right away when the plane went missing and the record s

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." right now there's new optimism in the search for flight 370. five weeks after the airliner disappeared, australian's prime minister says that the search area has been cut down significantly and he is very confident that searchers are closing in on one of the two black boxes. more confusion, though, from malaysian authorities a week after the prime minister said that all of the passengers have been cleared. the defense minister said, quote, everyone on board remains under suspicion. air crews are et going ready to resume their hunt for flight 370 which may have drifted hundreds of miles since the plane went down. our analysts and supporters are standing by here in the united states as well as around the world with the special coverage that only cnn can deliver. michael holmes is joining us from perth, australia. what's the latest there, michael? >> reporter: wolf, predawn here off the coast of perth and soon the aircraft will join them as they do every d

wolf?ch a sad, sad story, indeed. david mckenzie in beijing, thanks very much. >>> let's bring in our aviation correspondent, richard quest. richard, the chinese families, all the families, they want answers. it's a month later. they are not getting a whole lot of answers. you can't really blame them for being so frustrated, being so disappointed in what the leadership of these various countries are saying. >> absolutely, and i think by now, we should have been having a proper statement of facts from the investigation authorities. normally, if you look back, british airways 32 had a statement of facts within a couple of days, quantis had a statement of facts within a month or so. normally after a month, wolf, you do get -- it doesn't often tell you much, but it does pull all the strands together of what the investigators know. it sort of pats it up quite nicely, and it allows you to know what's known and what's not known. so, for instance, we should have known more details about what they d

i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington.t least 87 bodies have now been recovered so far from the sunken ferry off the coast of south korea. another 215 people are missing, most of them high school teenagers who had been on a class trip. the captain and six crew members now face serious criminal charges in the disaster. the captain ignited public fury by being among the 174 people rescued before, yes, before the ship sank. even south korea's president lashed out. basically calling them killers. >> translator: first and foremost, the actions of the captain and some of the crew are absolutely unacceptable, unforgivable actions that are akin to murder. >> trial attorney jack hickey is joining us now. he's an expert in the laws of the seas. joining us from miami. thanks very much for coming in. is it premature to charge the captain and crew members with these crimes, effectively charging them of murder, based on what we know? >> well, you know, wolf, i don't know if it's premature. certainly we see here a series, not just one la

wolf? >> kyung, there were sobering words coming from officials today. share some of them with us. >> reporter: sobering and quite blunt. basically, the men leading the operation saying, look, we are not going to find this very quickly. he is saying this is based on inexact science off of those blurry satellite images that we've been showing. he says, we need to look at this as a long game. here's what he said. >> we need to pursue the search and continue to do that for some time to come. but inevitably if we don't find wreckage on the surface, we are eventually going to have to probably in consultation that has a stake in this review what we do next. >> reporter: he's saying this is not going to take two weeks. this could potentially take longer. the local paper here, wolf, did say that perth should expect to be the command post for years. wolf? >> that's sobering, indeed. kyung lah, thank you. one of the key operations figures behind the search, wind commander out of the royal new zealand

but at this point, wolf, he's not backing down. how we went from talking about land rights to black slavery is a mystery. and he really put his foot in his mouth and he's paying the price. >> what's the status of the federal government's case against him? >> well, in terms of the background, we know that federal authorities had two court orders to come to the nevada desert and take his cattle because he hadn't been paying his fees for 20 years. when that happened, you had these armed marshals come in to enforce this order. that's when you saw his supporters go nuts. you saw omilitia members come i from across the country to help mr. bundy. in the wake of that facedown, federal authorities, to got perfectly honest, they got spooked. they didn't want a bloody confrontati confrontation. they backed down. they're saying they're still going to continue to press these charges against mr. bundy through other means. they haven't made that very clear inner it er i terms of wh mean, they just say administratistly and judicially they'll try t

wolf?all know. barbara, thanks very much. is there more that the united states could be doing right now or should be doing? let's take a closer look right now at cnn's richard quest, who is joining us. so, this defense minister, he's also the acting transport minister and let's say right now that transport ministry portfolio is a little more important than the defense ministry portfolio. but what do you think is going to emerge if anything from this conversation between these two defense ministers? >> i think what will emerge from them is a very strong level of support by the united states for what malaysia is doing and the commitment that they will do whatever they can. certainly when it comes to the numbers out there, 3.3 million out of a 4 million budget so, the u.s. will obviously pay what is necessary from the u.s.' contributions and that will continue. but they're going to have to come up with more than just -- the malaysians will have to say what it is they want rather than just, her

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." a potential lead in the search for flight 370. latest developments. australian authorities are looking into what they call an object of interest, a piece of sheet metal studded with rivets picked up on the coast about 1,000 miles from the search zone. stormy weather slows the aerial search for debris but the underwater hunt continues. bluefin-21 surveyed 80% of the search area and authority are considering bringing in more assets to expand that search. our analysts are standing by here in "the situation room." our correspondents are standing by around the world bringing you the kind of coverage only cnn can deliver on the hunt for flight 370. the ukrain crisis and the south korean ferry disaster. let's begin, though, with michael holmes, the very latest in perth, australia. michael? >> reporter: wolf, after weeks of frustration, a development, but we're being cautious on this. could be a development that proves to be nothing. a piece of debris found on

i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. nba board of governor suspected to vote on the fate of the los angeles clippers owner donald sterling. he's already been banned for life by the commissioner adam silver. now his fellow owners could force him out. force him to sell the team. as we've talked about over the last few days. this isn't the first time sterling has been accused of racial discrimination. take the case of his former longtime general manager elgin baylor. the nba hall of famer filed a lawsuit in '09 when he was terminated. his attorney in that case was carl douglas. carl's joining us now from los angeles. adam silver pointed out yesterday that elgin lost that case to sterling in 2009. what happened there? >> well, that was a case where we alleged race and age discrimination. but because the judge had limited the quality of our proof, we could only go back two years to present evidence of race discrimination. we made a tactical choice to dismiss the race claim right before trial and to proceed only on the age cla

>> yes, good afternoon, wolf. on the evidence that we have to date, it appears safety was not a high priority at any time in the operation of this ferry, from training, drilling, and most importantly, the attitude of safety. safety starts from the top down. in times of an emergency like this, the most important thing for the captain or the person in command would be to instill that confidence not only in the crew but in the passengers that, one, he knew the right thing to do and that his crew had been trained in doing it. two, that he was going to do the right thing. neither one of those two qualities came through in this situation, clearly. >> certainly looks like that. there are now some reports the ship may have had some serious steering issues a couple of weeks ago before obviously the incident. that would be a red flag, right? >> well, yes, in several areas. ships operate today under a three-tier safety oversight. and the third tier would be international safety management. a report -- i looked today in the k

i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington.ent six weeks ago when malaysia airlines flight 370 disappeared. here are the latest developments as far as the search is concerned. the bluefin-21 underwater drone is scouring the ocean floor now for a fifth time. first floor searches turned up no debris or wreckage from the missing plane. the search above the water continued today with as many as 11 planes and 12 ships involved. in beijing, relatives of those on board the plane held a prayer vigil. they're demanding answers to more than two dozen questions when they meet with malaysian officials next week. we're heading into day 43 with no sign of the missing plane. now officials are talking about bringing in more underwater drones, even widening the search area. let's get some perspective from our experts. peter goles is with the ntsb. tom fuentes is a former fbi assistant director. it's the fifth mission right now, peter. is it time for more underwater drones? >> if they're starting to get nervous, i think it probably is. if they'r

my colleague, wolf, is in the chair. starts now. >>> right now, fast moving developments in ukraine. tensions rise now. now a disturbing report jews are being asked to register in at least one city. citizen jake tapper just spoke to the u.s. ambassador of ukraine. he will speak to us in a moment and we're going live to ukraine as well. >>> 500 divers, 170 search boats and nearly 30 helicopters all racing against the clock. they're trying to find any survivors that could still be aboard the sinking ferry. we'll take you to south korea. >>> crews are waiting anxiously for the underwater vehicle that completed its first full mission searching for signs of flight 370. we'll go live to perth, australia. >>> we also go live to nigeria where families are desperate for news of about 100 girls abducted from their boarding school by islamic militants. hello. i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. developments are unfolding quickly in the crisis in ukraine while diplomats are discussing ways to try to ease military tensions, r

i'm wolf blitzer.cnn breaking news. >>> right now flight 370 search teams have four separate signals to guide them as they try to zero in on the missing plane. they're combing the deep waters of the indian ocean hoping to detect even more pings that may be coming from those

>> reporter: hi, wolf.ration back off a bit from what sounded at least something like a deadline from secretary of state kerry yesterday saying if russia didn't live up to the agreement it just signed and disarm militants, give back government buildings across eastern ukraine that it seized through the weekend, there would be tougher u.s. sanctions. today, national security adviser susan rice didn't want to put a time frame on it saying the u.s. watching and waiting in coming d days. she said getting russia to sign that agreement was in progress in and of itself. when asked, though, okay, one full day now after the signing of that agreement, have we seen any visible sign at all that russia is making a move toward deescalation? here's what she said. >> we'll continue to watch very carefully how they proceed. what they say, what they do and how, indeed, the monitors are allowed to operate when they deploy which we believe will begin over the weekend. >> reporter: in other words, apparently, no, no visible pro

i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room."burnett outfront" starts right now. . >>> violent, extremely dangerous, we are live at the scene. >>> plus, president obama punishing russia with more sanctions, but is he hitting putin where it hurts? >>> and a billionaire accused of a racial rant caught on tape. we'll play you the racy audio recording. let's go "outfront." >>> good evening, everyone, i'm erin burnett, "outfront" tonight, millions of americans on alert, warned to take shelter right now as violent tornados ripped through the southwest and southeastern united states. at this moment we are watching four deadly stormst

for now i turn you over to wolf. wolf? >>> a u.s. navy pinger locator tries to relocate the signals that may have came from the airliner's two black boxes. >>> and you're going to hear those pings for yourself in a new audio just released from search authorities. but until searchers are able to hear those pings again or determine that the battery's powering them are dead, an unmanned submarine will remain on stand by. >>> ukraine uses force. as the war of war escalates right here at home. >> on the issue of ukraine, my hero, teddy roosevelt used to say, talk softly and carry a big stick. what you're doing is talking strongly and carrying a very small stick. in fact, a twig. >> wait until you hear how secretary state john kerry fires back. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." we begin this hour with new details on the hunt for flight 370. here are the latest developments. searchers are now scouring a much smaller area of the indian ocean trying, once again, to hear those pinging sounds which may have come from the airline

my colleague wolf starts right now. >>> hello. i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. two major stories developing this hour, the deadly shooting at ft. hood, texas, we're now learning new details about the soldier who killed three people, wounded 16 before turning the gun on himself. that's coming up. also, the hunt for malaysia airlines flight 370. we're learning new information at this hour. here's what we know right now. officials coordinating the search in the southern indian ocean will have what they describe as a major announcement in a few hours. so far officials aren't revealing the nature of the announcement, but they describe it as "big." we've also learned that a british ship will be conducting a specific -- a specific search when daylight comes in a few hours. it's not clear what they're zeroing in on right now. the search zone has shifted again. this time a little bit to the north. officials say they're refining the zone based on continuing analysis of satellite communications and the plane's capabilities. just a few hours search crews will get some high-

wolf. >> when they hear the u.s. say these words that they are cautiously optimistic that they may have found the two black boxes, the flight data, the cockpit voice recorders, what are they saying to you about that? >> well, they're saying pretty much what sarah has been saying as well, you know, to the person that i've spoken to, wolf, the family members say that they really want concrete evidence before they believe or they know they can have some closure. they've had so many leads over this time. the satellite leads. the data analysis. and now the word that there might be this ping response from the bottom of the ocean. for people who want to know where their loved ones are, what happened to them, these are very kind of nonconcrete things. they want to grasp hold of something or see something. a bit of wreckage. and that reflects also what the searchers are saying in perth. until that point happens, i don't think these people can have any kind of closure and they've been stuck in this limbo for days and days and

my colleague wolf blitzer is going to take over from here. thanks for watching. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> right now, the war of words other ukraine is heating up dramatically. lashing out against russia's, quote, illegal illegitimate actions. russia saying any use of force could lead to civil war. also right now, tuesday's black box search comes up empty, at least so far. no more pings detected. as we approach 33 days since malaysia airlines flight 370 went missing. >>> and right now, president obama signed two measures to help ensure equal pay for equal work. critic, say it's all part of a democratic party push to win the women's vote in november. the white house says it's all about fairness. >>> hello, i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. russia is is now warning that ukraine could be on the brink of civil war. that warning comes as ukrainian troops began cracking down on pro-russian demonstrators in eastern ukraine. as many as 70 people were arrested in an anti-terrorism operation. demonstrators had taken control of

wolf? >> arwa damon, thanks very much. the europeans sent observers to eastern ukraine, only to see some of them captured by pro-russian demonstrators. let's discuss this very dangerous situation in ukraine. right now, joining us, daniel bayer, the united states ambassador for cooperation in europe. also joining us, julia yaffi of "the new republic" magazine, josh rogin from "newsweek" and "the daily beast." ambassador, first you. what's the latest on those international monitors that have been taken hostage, if you will, or being held captive by pro-russian demonstrators in eastern ukraine? >> that's right, wolf, last week in slovyansk k, the self declared mayor took the eight international observers sent out on the vienna document, one of the arms control and transparency building measures and has been holding them, along with their ukrainian escorts, in a dungeon in slovyansk. obviously, one was released last week on medical grounds, but we remain deeply concerned about the remaining hostages and this terrorist tactic.

wolf? >> joe johns live in kuala lumpur, thank you. >>> let's go live to peter goelz and law enforcement analyst tom fuentes. peter, what do you make of this -- what are the malaysians suggesting here? >> well, i think they think that there was a double standard, that this was an extraordinary event. any country would have been pushed back on their heels and that maybe the criticism in the first ten days was a little too aggressive. >> is he suggesting -- making comparisons to 9/11 that there was in fact some sort of terror connection that happened to that malaysian airliner? >> i don't think he's saying that so much as we're not prepared compared to what the u.s. was prepared. to say that all this time later, you know, seems kind of ridiculous that they didn't get the message that everybody needs to be more defensive and upgrade and secondly to say that this is unprecedented, well, how much of this being unprecedented is because of their own failure the night the plane went off, the trans