navy seventh fleet told me yesterday. this is yesterday late in the afternoon, early evening washington time. he said we're developing plans to move both our destroyers west. the u.s.s. kid, the u.s.s. pickny to head south and west to the strait of malacca in that direction. so why would the u.s. navy, the seventh fleet, be moving these ships west of malaysia if there's no indication, no solid evidence that the plane for whatever reason left that spot where the transponder stopped sending messages, stopped sending signals and moving it -- moving all these ships now rest of malaysia? >> because they're going on the strength of these radar blips that we've been talking about over the last few days. and obviously now the ntsb and the faa and those who are enormously experienced looking at this telemetry and this raw data, they obviously now feel that there is something in this. there's also reports of ships going as far into the indian ocean, which frankly if it is that far, then it's a completely different search operation.

navy's fleet and ruckusing how weary that the crews are becoming. >> ahead, a look at the top stories. >> and camp site full of food and campers and putting a popular attraction to work in a powerful demonstration. >> good afternoon. welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm morgan radford. polls in crimea are closing in 30 minutes and people are voting on whether that part of ukraine should be joining russia. russian president putin told the german chancellor that he's not backing down, however the white house is warning russia they are going to face sanctions in a few days. ukraine's interim government is calling the vote illegal. >> the lebanese army said that syria is conducting air strikes where the syrian government is going of rebels. that is the town where the last major rebel held town exists. >> muslims and christians in africa is torn apart by violence. but that is different in the democratic republic of congo. they are brought together by the hardship. >> this cam in the republic of the congo. all these people getting away from the violence. they'll do whatever they can to f

the uprising happens during the assault upon the former chief commander in chief of ukraine's the navy fleet. he was supported by the new authorities the inky a fact of the uprising he now says that the only cole porter's will take will come from also local authorities here in the crimea. but i can use the results case clearly just the people of the economist republic of kenya and the key to the city of seven still full. i swear to strictly comply with the orders of the supreme commander of crimea on the commander's minute units approved by him as well as with requirements and regulations. i swear to only perform my duty to take the life and piquant the residence of kenya and associates of a skillful meanwhile it seems support to within the nosy alston your stories in kiev says declining even in western parts of the crunchy there are reports that several special force of brigade so every few still fulfilling orders to march on the twenty eighth year on the peninsula um also feel local military bases and arsenals are now under the complete control of local authorities those servicemen who ref

but part of the royal navy fleet is going to take them a couple of days just to get there. the technology to be able to look under the water, and see if there is any further debris, but it could be a couple of days before they even get to that remote area, that new search area. >> yeah, couple of days, couple of excruciating days, especially for the families with the up and down of the information they have been getting. tracie, thank you. >>> keep it here for more news, weather and sports. i'm frances rivera. thank you for watching "early today." have a great one. >>> breaking news at 4:30 a. possible break in the search for the missing malaysian plane. right now military planes are scouring the ocean west of australia looking for any sight of two large pieces of debris. those scene in these satellite images, that could belong to missing malaysia airlines flight 370. >>> good morning to you. it's 4:30. i'm peggy bunker. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. we're going to get you caught up on the latest surrounding the missing jet but first we want to check the forecast. it's the fi

at my level, the fleet level, u.s. navy 7 fleet, my concern is the tactical deconfliction of the water space and airspace. so safety of navigation, communication, altitudes, things like that. so in that respect, it's good coordination from the tactical fleet level where i am. >> there are reports today, and they started coming in yesterday and there are more reports today that the emphasis of the search has shifted west to the indian ocean. can you confirm that at this time? >> yes. so we have an early bird class destroyer, u.s.s. kidd. we shiftshift ed that to malacc. they have the u.s.s. kidd helicopters, a version of a search and rescue helicopter. their range, they can fly out 100 or so miles. so you have that circle, that radius there of search capability. and then really what's a game changer is today we have a mission with our latest technology in mixed-wing search aircraft. the most advanced search aircraft in the world. that range is into the thousands of miles. so that's land-based. going to take off from kuala lu

those who are stationed here before the uprising there the former commander in chief of ukraine's navy fleet now also says that he's got a full fall strickly the orders of crimean authorities. i didn't experience of ski swear allegiance to the autonomy's republic of crimea in the city of sevastopol ice with the strict he complied with the orders of the supreme commander of crimea and commanders of military units approved by him as well as the requirements of military regulations i swear to honorably perform my duty to protect the lives and freedom of the residents of crimea and the city of sevastopol support for here within the military in the western part of ukraine seems to be declining as well there are reports that several special forces troops refused to obey the orders to march on the crimea here on the peninsula and military bases in arsenals are now under the complete control of local authorities taken over without a single shot fired servicemen who refused to swear allegiance to the crimea have submitted their letters of resignation or left the peninsula altogether so now all the lo

the seaside city in crimea where russian warships continue to block the support and the ukrainian navy fleet. what are sunday's expectations for the vote? >> many believe that sunday's referendum will correct a mistake made 60 years ago when then satisfactory jet leader gave crimea to ukraine. many here have believed that it should have always remained a part of russia and the vote will correct that. there's suspicion here. the train station this morning, when the train came in from a kiev there were members of the people's defense force, local crimea thats loyal to moscow watching to see who would get off the train. we've also seen check points around the city, checking to see who's coming in and out of the country and of course crimea's airport has been closed to all flights exempt those from moscow. while many here believe that the referendum is a done deal, the majority ethnic russian population will vote to head towards moscow. there are those worried what it might mean, not least the sailors of the black sea fleet blockaded on their ships for 10 days now. >> ahead in our final thoughts

navy's seventh fleet. commander welcome. >> thank you. thank you for having me. >> you're in hong kong i understand. can you tell us what sort of navy teams have by dispatched and where they are? >> yes, we have two navy early bird class destroyers in the gulf of thailand right now. most importantly for this search they carry with them each two mh 60 search and rescue helicopters and in addition to that, we have a p 3 orion, that's our fixed wing aircraft. >> what can those helicopters do with that equipment? >> so what we do is, they have unique capabilities. the p-3, that can fly for about nine hours at a time, has a very advanced radar system. and so for example, from and up to the five or even 10,000 feet, the radar can see something the size of a basketball on the surface of the water. so that's our fixed wing aircraft. we have our helicopters up almost all day. they are much lower so, for example, at an altitude of 500 or a thousand feet they are used to get visual identification. what can you do in a situation like this where you do

it is home to the kremlin's back sea navy fleet, smallest of their fleet, but it's very important becauset allows mosc moscow swift access to the mediterranean sea and they get flew he knew over the bal cans. what does being a semi autonomous region within ukraine actually mean? for almost 20 years, crimea has been holding elections for its own legislative body, only parliament if you like. 100 members in total and called the supreme council of. it has an executive power held by a small group of ministers and there is a chairman or president on top of that. and he serves with a nod and a wink from the crainiukraineians the part of the judicial system have no autonomous authority whatsoever. >> brings us up to speed where we are today. >> john terret there. z 's prime minister visited fukushima today. harry fossel says more needs to be done for the city that's devastated. >> a journey into the heart of japan's nuclear disaster has become an almost daily routine. he and his colleague, are former counselors in the once thriving town that ajoins fukushima power plant. >> just because we are r

water port now says it is with russia, but the key thing, is it is home to the kremlin back sea navy fleetwhich is the smallest of all four. however, it allows them to have swift access, and offers influence over the ball kins and also the middle east. what does that mean? for almost 20 years they have held elections for their own called the 100 member supreme council, and it has executive power held by a hand full, and a chairman who serves with a nod and a wing, from the ukrainians. knew, the course, however, are part of the judicial system. they do not have autonomous authority. so bring you straight up to today. they have voted in favor of a referendum, offering the people the option by the siding with kiev or with moscow. as you heard, they are bringing it up to the next couple of days. whether this vote will be legal, negotiating mind under international law, which according to bodies like the u.n., it may well not be, but local law, because remember the courts down there, worked with ukraine. >> wow. >> so tony, a very complicated situation, i think just got a little more complicate

navy's seventh fleet speaking with me just a little while ago.anted to make a plane disappear while no one was watching, there would be some ways of trying to do that. let's bring in rene marsh. >> we have our 777 here. jets like this, they are flying very long distances they're passed from one air traffic control center to the next and sometimes it takes minutes before a plane makes radio contact with the next set of controllers. so could someone on board flight 370 have taken advantage of this gap in responsibility and disappear when no one was looking? 1:19 a.m. malaysian authorities say the co-pilot signs off with malaysian air traffic control. all right, good night, he says. it's a common sign-off as one plane is being handed off to the next controller. this time in vietnam. >> all i could tell was it was a routine operation from the time that they said good-bye to the last controller. >> reporter: here's how a similar handoff sounds in the united states. >> >> but what's different with malaysian flight 370 is the pilot never contacted the n

navy seventh fleet. what are you hearing?r the malaysians to actually give some more information. and it's ten past 6:00 in the morning in kuala lumpur, but the shear breadth and depth and turn, wolf, this has taken in the last hour, the suggestions that are now flying around that you've been reporting, of what this plane did, where it went, how it behaved, what was happening in the cockpit, it clearly suggests we're not being told very much about what the situation is. and i'm guessing in the next hour or two, as that press conference gets under way in malaysia, it's going to be a very raucous affair. >> it will be a tense moment. fran townsend, you're on the advisory board of the cia. to a lot of folks, it's increasingly looking like this was not some sort of mechanical failure, this was looking like it was man made. >> i think that's right, wolf. but we have to make a distinction even among a man-made event, that doesn't necessarily mean terror. it may mean that somebody took control of the cockpit, but that could be a pil

navy's seventh fleet joins me by phone. >> commander marks, the u.s. p 8 poseidon it's not searching tomorrow or today due to routine maintenance. when is it expected to return to the search? >> usually we take a day or two for the planned maintenance. it's a regular thing. we watch the fatigue level of both the air crew and the plane very carefully. so you can't run people 24 hours a day. you also can't run equipment 24 hours a day. but we're in rotation with the australian forces. it's a very coordinated effort. so the search is covered for that day. >> australian officials are also saying that their search is now more focused on visual sightings as opposed to radar. i assume they're still using radar especially when something like the p 8 poseidon is part of the search. can you explain the idea behind really focusing on visual search as opposed to radar? >> sure. and really that came about because two days ago the weather was really bad. very low ceilings, a lot of fog. yesterday a lot better. but our philosophy is we take a balanced approach to use

the former chief commander in chief of ukraine's navy fleet who was appointed by the new in kiev after the uprising you know says that the only all orders will take will come from also the local authorities here in the crimea. in the spirit of swear allegiance to the people of the autonomous republic of crimea and the city of sevastopol i swear to strictly comply with the orders of the supreme commander of crimea and the commanders of military units approved by him as well as with the requirements of military regulations i swear to honorably perform my duty and protect the life and freedom of the residents of crimea and the city of sevastopol. meanwhile it seems support within the military in your thirty's in kiev is declining even in western parts of the country there are reports that several special force brigades have refused to fulfill your orders to march on the crimea here on the peninsula most of the local military bases in arsenals are now under the complete control of local authorities those servicemen who refused to pledge their allegiance to the autonomous republic of crimea

navy 7th fleet how concerned he was that they may never find this plane. >> i am very concerned. first and foremost for our sailors out there. we have about 700 u.s. navy sailors and we have to watch very carefully the fatigue level. we sent out grief counselors and chaplains to make sure that mentally, they are doing okay and physically, too. you can't operate equipment 24 hours a day. and you can't push people to work 24 hours a day. so we are very concerned about the fatigue level. we are watching it closely. and that's where we are right now. >> the loved ones of those on board flight 370 are emotionally torn waiting on word of the whereabouts of the plane. while they wait, it may have been deliberately devoted rather than just crashed has given them some hope that their loved ones are still alive. still, they are worried about conditions they may be facing. >> it does raise your hopes becau because you think the potential was there that my brother is still alive. but then, i think i find that very scary as well because if someone has deliberately taken this plane, then they h

poseidon is joining this one in japan, assisting the american and international ships, including the navy fleete ago, i spoke with a commander, william marks. what can you tell us what you know about this latest news that the search area is shifting some 684 miles to the northeast? >> there were a couple of point that is come to my mind. first, it looks to me to be closer, a lot closer for the aircraft. so instead of traveling 13, 1400 miles just to get three or three and a half hours search time they said to get a little more search time. that is how it looks from my initial communication. the second thing is, our oceanographers now have to rehapreha re--map how they may have affected the debris, to the area where we find the debris, to where we think the plane crashed. we work closely with the oceanography experts, and we're waiting for the confirmation on the debris field. and the satellite imagery is helpful, but i have to caution not to be too optimistic until we actual get visual confirmation. once you do, our oceanographers re-plot and it will help us determine a much more specific point

navy's seventh fleet which has planes and vessels in the area. later we'll dig deeper into the possibility of a fire on board and parralels to the crash of swiss air flight 15 years ago. what can we learn from that flight that might be applicable to this. we'll be right back. ameriprise asked people a simple question: in retirement, will you outlive your money? uhhh. no, that can't happen. that's the thing, you don't know how long it has to last. everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive.. confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor can get the real answers you need. well, knowing gives you confidence. start building your confident retirement today. more than a new interior lighting system. ♪ it is more than a hot stone massage. and more than your favorite scent infused into the cabin. it is a completely new era of innovation. and the highest expression of mercedes-benz. introducing the 2014 s-class. the best or nothing. >>> president obama weighed in today on the search for flight 370 and the un

navy's fleet to kuala lumpur. this is obviously a very very difficult operation. but how hopeful are you and the others involved in this that they will actually find this wreckage if it exists in the area they now believe it is? >> piers, good evening and thanks for having me. we're very hopeful. we've got a lot of high technology aircraft assets that are out there as your previous guests had alluded to the weather has been a bit of a hatcher recently. but if there's something out there we will eventually find >> it you've got very high tech stuff including the p 8 poseidon. tell me about that and the significance of being able to use that in this search. >> it's extremely significant. both the p 3 and p 8 are maritime patrol aircraft really designed to patrol the seas for a variety of things including search and rescue missions. usually we'll start with the larger area search with our radar and try to narrow it down, identifying anything that the radar picks up with our optical cameras. as well as just getting eyes on a lot of times observer looking out the windo

navy seventh fleet confirmed to me just a little while ago that the "uss kidd" has moved into the entrance of the indian ocean searching for the missing plane. >> when you have such a huge area, we're focusing on the surface here and the radar we use for the surface search. so it's essentially still going to be the surface of the water, but really if you think about this, it's a completely new game now. before they described the box in the gulf of thailand kind of like moving chess pieces around. now a completely new game. now it's like we're on a football field. so we went from a chessboard to a football field. so now we have to come up with new strategies, new tactics. that's developing right now as i speak. >> strong words. let's bring in david gallo. he's director of special projects at the woods hole oceanographic institution. he's part of the team that found air france flight 447 in the atlantic ocean off the coast of brazil. how difficult is it? the waters of the indian ocean, specifically, from those waters are very deep. what, about ten times the height of the empire state buildin

we boarded a p3 orion, with the grey knight squadron from the navy's 7th fleet out of washington state. a ten-hour journey over the turquoise blue waters. this mission, taking us west of indonesia, covering 54,000-square nautical miles. the plane, dropping below 500 feet, close to the ocean's surface, any time the pilot sees something to investigate. the aircraft can detect sound 1,000 feet down in the ocean. even the faint beep from a black box. but today, the p3 focused on finding physical signs of flight 370. at night, using infrared to scan the ocean surface. during light, powerful cameras. this is one example of the kind of technology that makes this aircraft able to do such an exhaustive search. cameras around the plane, acting like eyes. but they have the ability to do an extreme zoom in on anything that might be part of flight 370. that could be anything, from luggage, to plane debris, even oil. tonight, above the water, it feels like an inch-by-inch search. gloria riviera, abc news, above the indian ocean. >> and we thank you, gloria. >>> from your search on the ocean, we turn

navy seventh fleet about changes in the search where the u.s. is looking now. they have very highly sophisticated information. we'll run through some of the scenarios that investigators have been looking at in a 777 simulator. it's pretty much -- pretty much 100% identical to the real thing. and later investigating not just the captain and first officer, really the entire crew and the people on the ground to see if anyone, and the passengers, had a motive to any kind of foul play. when does your work end? does it end after you've expanded your business? after your company's gone public? and the capital's been invested? or when your company's bought another? is it over after you've given back? you never stop achieving. that's why, at barclays, our ambition is to always realize yours. [ female announcer ] some people like to pretend a flood could never happen to them. and that their homeowners insurance protects them. [ thunder crashes ] it doesn't. stop pretending. only flood insurance covers floods. ♪ visit floodsmart.gov/pretend to learn your risk. sunny or bu

. >> commander marks from the uss navy fleet. we'll stay in close touch. >>> let's get more now from the former managing director from the national transportation safety board. he helped various investigations help coordinate responses to several airline disasters. you and i have spoken after these kinds of incidents. how unusual is this one? >> it's a very unusual accident. it obviously reflects air france 447 but this is a very solid aircraft with a great safety record and that it just disappeared from the radar screen is very perplexing. >> how does that happen? a plane -- a 777, boeing 777 flying 35,000 feet simply disappeared? what are the possible scenarios? >> you start with a catastrophic event but apparently that has not been picked up by any satellites in the area. you go back to egypt air flight 990 and the co-pilot actually flew the plane into the water during a suicide mission. so you have a range of really unusual events. right now, it's a needle in a haystack would be an easy assignment. >> let's say if the pilot w

navy 7th fleet aboard the "uss blue ridge." you've been helpful to us in the past few days.w chinese imagery, the specific coordinates of these pieces of debris, has that altered your effort? where are you guys searching now? >> yes, i do not have specific information about that satellite image. i can tell you we are shifting some of our search priorities. a couple developments there. one right now as i speak we're developing plans to move both our destroyers westings, "uss kidd" and "uss pinckney" to head south and west to the strait of malacca, that direction. the second thing is we're developing a plan to bring a poseidon into the area and that plan actually is the next technological advancement above the p-3. that will give us a second plane. i have to tell you that doesn't mean we'll be flying dual simultaneous migs but it will allow us to alternate or rotate those. the p-3 we're looking at flying a night mission which can use its radar, infrared and even night vision goggles there. >> hold for a moment, commander, because general myers is with us, former chairman of th

before the giant navy fleet, the president displayed his thin skin as well.e was really upset at the narrative that vladimir putin won, wasn't going to give up and the president lost. this is his quote. not a sign of strength. everyone in the world phil vladimir putin is not afraid, flexing his muscles, he wrestles tigers when the president where's mom pants. he had to get it out there. stuart: what about the supply of energy? you know about this. western europe is heated during the winter in large amount by natural gas from russia which passes some of it through ukraine. what is the energy situation? sandra: russia supplies 70% and natural gas to europe. what i have been observing listening to john kerry and president obama is there has been absolutely no mention of any discontinuing of national gas or boil for those pipelines but we have to start looking at the neighbors of ukraine and russia. we are looking at belarus' which carries a lot of pipelines. there is more to the store. stuart: one thing you can keep away from this is why doesn't america increase

navy seventh fleet aboard the "uss blue ridge." your ships are moving into the indian ocean.ssume the "uss kidd" is there now. how is the search going? >> good morning. we're starting out our day on saturday morning here in the pacific, about 5:00 in the morning here. so we do have "uss kidd" that moved into the northwest part of the strait of malacca. last night it moved a little west. now it's about as far west as you can go into the entrance to the strait of malacca or a little bit northwest. so you have the "uss kidd" from my perspective here, as you look west and you transition west to the indian ocean, ships alone are really not quite much of a solution as they were in the gulf of thailand just because of the ex pans of the water. so you have to look at what other assets you have. the "kidd" has helicopters but those patrol aircraft in one flight may fly about an nine-hour chunk at a time. they will cover 10, 11 square miles. when you look at it, that's going to be the best asset. >> do you have enough aircraft in the region together with other international partners, s

navy fleet is joining them.ks is here and can you give us an update of what you were able to see or not able to see today? >> sure. hi. our g8 landed from the flight about four hours ago from it's daily flights. it was one of the 12 planes up today. it sees anything on the surface of the water. but no debris associated with an aircraft directed. we were optimistic because of the satellite mimages but nothig concrete was found. we want to get out there with the control aircraft is because we need the exact location we can before we move the advanced equipment in the water. that is why we need a better lotion. >> we have been talking about the toad pinger locaters and you are saying you need to get a better idea where a debris field could potentially be before we put them out there having them troll along the find a ping? >> that is correct. the toad locater epl is a highly sensitive microphone and it will be put in the water and it will listen for the ping from a black box. these block boxes are not very strong.

has not exceeded the twenty five thousand troop limit that it has the support of the black sea navy fleet he's also talking about. i commented on the accusations about military intervention saying that there is no example in history of a military intervention to another country without a single shot fired. we all remember these cases the attacks on. afghanistan and libya. what do we hear from our colleagues in the west and europe they say that we are violating the norms of international law it's good that they remember that international law exists it's better late than never. cry means used to call civil is a precedent and western partners have said this precedent themselves with their own hands. in a situation which is completely the same. situation in crimea. recognized. and they proved you don't actually need permission from central authorities to declare your country a sovereign one. the president is saying that course of was an enormously important precedent which was created by the west and he said that what we're seeing now the western approach to the situation in the crimea is no

fact crime enough tories are now putting together an independent defense ministry and in bennett's navy fleet while kiev has been calling up reserve servicemen to bolster the forces of its military but so far we're getting reports that only around one point five percent of those people showed up. cities across the east and south of ukraine have been rising up against the self-proclaimed kiev authorities in a wave that started over the weekend people in ten regions which are home to over half of the country's population have been rallying in their thousands the city of lugansk is the latest to officially declare it no longer trusts kiev they're like in several other cities before ukrainian flags were lowered from local administrative buildings and russian ones raised in their place that says residents called on russia to help protect them from what they say are the radical authorities in the capital. well moscow did answer that call with a decision to allow its troops in ukraine if indeed there's a direct threat to the russians there russia has been under a barrel of criticism ever since the l

navy, we have a poisodeon fleet. that's the most advanced patrol aircraft.our or so flight time. that range is upwards of 1,000 miles out. >> and that -- obviously i know you're hoping that will make a significant difference here, but let me ask you. this is the tough question but i have to ask it. it's been a week. people are saying the only things that really would be floating would be make seats, maybe life jackets for now. how long do you keep looking? >> great question. you know, at first the way you look at it in that navy is that first 72 hours is critical for survivors. they can go without food and water that long, pretty much on sheer will power. after that it's anyone's guess so very close coordination, every day we look at what we can do. we have to watch very closely. we have 700 sailors out here, young men and women of the u.s. navy we have to watch the fatigue level. >> right. >> we also have to watch the fatigue on our equipment. so it's hard to -- a person can't operate continuously for 24 hours. neither can a piece of equipment. we have a ch

only take orders from a local authorities including the now former commander in chief of ukraine's navy fleet what we're seeing in the rest of the country is perhaps the trust or the support within the military also in your government in kiev is declining as well since there are reports that several special forces units rejected the orders to march on the crimea also kiev is now trying to recruit reserve servicemen but apparently that's not been going very well since and by monday morning only around one point five percent of these reserves short showed up actually it or can you go ahead and walk us through some of the developments that played out over the weekend . well the biggest news over the weekend was definitely russia's upper house of parliament giving the illegal green light for the deployment of a limited amount of russian troops here in the crimea after being asked for assistance from local authorities who were. being worried about. threats coming from the new authorities many of whom are right wing radicals and this news i must say here on the ground was greeted with applause by t

navy's 7th fleet how concerned he was they may never find the plane. >> i'm very concerned. first and foremost for our sailors. we have about 700 u.s. navy sailors. we have to watch carefully the fatigue level. we sent out grief counsellors and chaplains to make sure that they are doing okay. and physically too. you kapt operate equipment 24 -- can't operate equipment 24 hours a day or push people to work 24 hours a day. we are concerned about the fatigue level and that's where we are now. >> still no sign of the plane. >> it's been three years since the fighting began in syria. on the grim anversy we look at the -- anniversary we look at the events that escalated it into war. plus the children left without family. more on the growing refugee crisis. president nicolas maduro issues a warning for protesters in venezuela. >> in washington remembrance for those killed in syria's war. the names. last 100,000 people killed this that conflict were read outside the white house. today marks three years since the uprising began. >> the war in syria is bloody and complex. three years o

navy seventh fleet on the u.s.s. blue ridge.n the fact that you have now been deployed to the indian ocean, what do you know that we don't know? >> i can tell you now it's a completely different scenario. if you look at the gulf of thailand, we had a relatively defined search area, started out about 50 nautical miles by 50 nautical miles. it did expand about 100 miles. now, we've shifted over to the northwest part of the straight of malaca, the entrance to the indian ocean, we have a p and p3 on station. those take off from kuala lampur and can fly upwards of 1,000 miles if they need to into the indian ocean. then the u.s.s. kidd has two helicopters. we are prepared to search from the strait westward. it's a completely different scenario -- to an area where there is an expansive entire ocean out there. >> my point is when you talk about repositioning that amount of man power, that amount of money that it takes to really maintain these vessels, these crews, these aircraft, that type of decision is not made in a vacuum. is it your

navy seventh fleet and currently on the uss "blue ridge." commander, welcome. n you tell us what teams the u.s. navy has dispatched in the search for the plane. >> right now we have two fixed wing safe and rescue control craft. those are the long-range control craft in the area. one is called the p 3. owrion flying the north sector into the bay of bengal, and the other is a p3 poseiden, our most advanced patrol craft. the most advanced search aircraft of its kind in the world. that's flowing out of perth australia, in the southern sector. also long-range aircraft... >> how do the planes work, and why are they your best? >> all right. glad you asked. i about to go into this. please forgive me, there's a slight delay on board the uss "blue ridge," our commandship. i'm on a satellite boat. there's a slight delay. i will walk you through that. the planes are long range surveillance plane. they'll fly a continuous 9 hour mission. they fly upwards of 1,000, 1200 miles out. reach the search area and have another three to four hours before they have to fly back. we are

in 1945, five navy bombers, a fleet known as flight 19 vanish off the coast of florida in the bermudae. a search aircraft sent to find bombers also disappear but the plane and the bodies have never been found. and in 2003 a boeing 727 was stolen from an airport in ang a angola. the plane thought to be carrying three people took off and made no communication with the control tower and had tracking tr transponder turned off. the disappearance of amelia earhart remains the mystery. >> international mystery as the search grows for the malaysian jetliner. we will talk to a former fbi agent as authorities try to figure out who wanted to possibly harm any of the 239 people on board. stay with us. i dunno, i just ah woke up today and i said i need something sportier. annnd done. ok maxwell, just need to ah contact your insurance company with the vin number. oh, i just did it. with my geico app. vin # is up to the loaded. ok well then jerry here will take you through all of the features then. why don't weeeeeeeeeeee go out to the car. ok, i'll just be outside... ok, yeah. his dad is my boss. y

for russia it's home to the black sea navy fleet.ked pro russian troops surrounded three bases yesterday demanding ukrainian soldiers lay down their weapons. ukraine's acting prime minister calling it an act of war and calling up the country's reserves. all men under the age of 40 to prepare for combat. so far, russian president vladmir putin is defiant in the face of growing calls from around the world to respect ukraine's sovereignty, including calls from president obama who said vladmir putin is violating international law. eric is live at the united nations in new york, a busy weekend at the u.n. eric? >> that it is. russia and the ukraine on the brink. an emergency united nations security council meeting has been called for just over three hours from now. the russians have called that to try to deal with this conflict. this as the ukrainian ambassador to the united nations tells us that there is the threat of war. we sat down with the ukrainian ambassador and he says that the ukraine will successfully defend itself, though he sa

and counted on in our budget there will be little choice but to further reduce the size of the navy's fleet. finally i also know the various reviews and resulting proposals of recent years have been criticized as budget drills, math, not strategy and when confronted with major spending cuts, especially on the scale and schedule of sequestration, there's no avoiding the imperative to seek savings and fast. yet, i would suggest that the notion of crafting a strategy totally destroyed of risk and totally disencumbered from resources is a logical fallacy and historical fiction. for startersing, a relevant strategy is not a set of goals and preferences put together on the assumption and hope that the money would just follow. in reality, strategy requires a symbiotic relationship between resources, outcomes and courses of action. in the real world, our military is provided with a certain level of funding as was the case in each of america's major conflicts and during the riskiest periods of the cold war as well. as analysts and yes, strategists, we do an assessment what this will buy and what the

you've been talkinging every day with the us navy's seven fleet. where are they now? what kind of resources? >> they have ariel surveillance, the newer version. and it was really shocking because all day, that u.s. p3 was in malaysia, getting ready to fly over the southern part of the indian ocean, but the indonesian government would not let this american naval plane fly over indonesian air space. finally, they had to cancel that mission. crew was ready, they were on the tarmac. atika went inside, she was ready to fly with them. they would not let this plane take off. it's pretty shock. shocking. we're going to speak with the commander. we'll get the latest on this latest, very irritating development. >> up next, other planes have it. sophisticated technology that can track a jet in real time. reporting technical emergencies immediately, so why was that machinery not on the boeing 777? ♪ [ male announcer ] this man has an accomplished research and analytical group at his disposal. ♪ but even more impressive is how he puts it to work for his clients. ♪ morning. morning

reserve forces to russian ships patrolling around military alpine c penney and the russian navy's black sea fleet is based at an ethnic russians make up the majority of the population took a few ukraine's new government wants to establish stronger ties with the blasts in the presence of an eeg and innocent when the central city and simmer for a whole and place their lead to too much and he demonstrated in support of president reagan's decision to deploy troops in their country. several thousand people gathered in the ukrainian capital kiev that they protested against oppression they say they want to keep ukraine. in fact. one eu ambassadors held an emergency meeting at their headquarters in brussels secretary general anders for listening since as in russia is threatening the peace in europe. we call on russia. he estimates tensions. we call upon russia. tool on our board is international commitments. to withdraw its forces to its bases. and to reframe from any interference at its way. in ukraine. umass has released a statement condemning the military escalation in crimea and they debated whether

navy seventh fleet about changes in the search where the u.s. is looking now. they have very highly sophisticated information. we'll run through some of the scenarios that investigators have been looking at in a 777 simulator. it's pretty much -- pretty much 100% identical to the real thing. and later investigating not just the captain and first officer, really the entire crew and the people on the ground to see if anyone, and the passengers, had a motive to any kind of foul play. peace of mind is important when you're running a successful business. so we provide it services you can rely on. with centurylink as your trusted it partner, you'll experience reliable uptime for the network and services you depend on. multi-layered security solutions keep your information safe, and secure. and responsive dedicated support meets your needs, and eases your mind. centurylink. your link to what's next. afghanistan, in 2009. orbiting the moon in 1971. [ male announcer ] once it's earned, usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it of

coalition of the ships and the aircraft from around the world are searching including the navy's seventh fleet. coming up at 6:00, nbc's tom costello will join us live on the desk to talk about the missing flight from malaysia flight 373. >> thank you, barbara. metro riders will find out this week how much the transit agency plans to raise fares. metro's board meets thursday to make the decision. the transit agency is looking to increase the average train trips by 3%, and bus trips would increase $1.75 with a smartcard and $2 in cash, and parking up a quarter in all metro lots. they say that the money is needed to keep pace with the inflation, and if approved, the change take place in july. >> and if you are paying more for metro, you should expect more, correct? and metro is looking to upgrade the services it provides namely making the commute more comfortable. and adam tuss is live outside of the red line in d.c. with the details of the improvements. adam? >> we are here at the tinley town station, and if you are paying more for the metro ride, you want a more comfortable ride. metro making

navy's seventh fleet in the pacific, and he told me that the search was expanding dramatic going, from his words, from a chessboard to a football field. give us an update on how extensive this u.s. and international search operation has now become. >> you know, wolf, it started on the east side of the malay peninsula, if you look at the map in the gulf of thailand. relatively speaking, that's a fairly constrained piece of water. they had a lot of ships in there, a lot of aircraft and within days the expression you heard is it's saturated with searchers. they were able to look very quickly at every bit of that water, they say, and didn't find anything. some of the data now pointing them to the west side of the malay peninsula, into the indian ocean. that is thousands of square miles of ocean. i think it's safe to say they won't be looking at all of it. they're able to calculate how much fuel might have been left on board, the range of the aircraft, the data they got making them focus in on a much more specific area. it's still very large. it's going to take a lot of time, but perhaps, p

navy's 7th fleet, thank you for your time tonight. >> get ready to fill out your docket for march madness>> well have how someone is putting up a billion dollars in you can pick the perfect bracket. >> all righty. we are hear back with ross with more on march madness, have you filled out your bracket. >> not yet. all 68 teams we'll find it tomorrow. it's big business and money. especially when the n.c.a.a. signed an agreement with c.b.s. to televise the games in 2010. everyone wants a peace of the pie. people in los angeles will be catching in, and so will the bars and restaurants around the country. >> it's finally here, tournament time in college basketball. for bars and restaurants it moons the post-holiday drought is over and the crowds filling streets to enjoy the excitement of the dance. >> 75% of the business, we double, triple based on when the games are and what we are anticipating before, after and during the game. >> the madness of march is no better personified than in crowded bars, with tip offs as rly at 7am. >> business wise it's very good. everyone can watch. constantly bu

crimea is where the russian navy's black sea fleet is based. it's a strategic and a military prize, so when the recently appointed prime minister of crimea, sergei askyonov, appealed to president vladimir putin to, in his words, assist in providing peace and calm, putin didn't hesitate. a tame parliament in moscow rubber stamped his request to send in the troops. so president putin has sharply raised the stakes here in ukraine, especially after the warning from president obama yesterday that there would be costs if russia intervened militarily. well, that is exactly what it's done. so the question is now what? >> axelrod: elizabeth palmer reporting tonight from southern ukraine. thank you very much. ukraine is asking the european union, nato, and the u.s. for help. let's bring in our statement correspondent meg now. margaret what, is the administration saying to that request? >> reporter: well, president obama had a tense 90-minute-long call with russian president vladimir putin and told him step back. the u.s. considers russia's action to be a

fleet's records. he serve lead the years as a radar man, no purple hearts, bronze stars or navy seal. >> those are notht, correct? >> if you wish, you can expose me. go ahead. am i telling the truth or not? yes. >> reporter: van fleet told me he figured this day would come eventually and he would simply stop wearing the medals. >> this would not have happened on my part if i like other vets had received the respect due for the job they had done. >> reporter: that's no excuse for these five retired navy seals who paid a heavy price during a combined 100 years of military service. some of their injuries are apparent and some are not. the experts believe there are as many as one thousand phonies for every living navy seals. >> i would like to turn their birthdays off. but it's against the law. >> reporter: the current version of the stolen valor act makes it a federal crime to lie about former military awards. his website said he was trained by the cia during three years in vietnam. after our have view he removed the picture with all the medals and replacing it with this. he had a hard time apologizing t