Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
On this Saturday night vanished 239 people are feared dead after a jetliner
bound for Beijing disappears
as anguished family members wait for answers word that two other passengers
were traveling was stolen passport
deepens the mystery over the fate Malaysia flight
370 shred handed why some cities are putting the brakes on those cameras that
catch drivers running red lights
white others can't wait to install them she and
epic battle two finalists square off in america *** spelling bee
that lasted so long a random words
tonight the 8 little letters lol and eat it all
from NBC news world headquarters in new york
various cities NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt
good evening it is now Sunday in southeast asia were in the light of a
new day a massive multinational search is in full swing
from Malaysian jetliner that vanished not quite 36 hours ago
with 239 people on board including three Americans
Malaysia Airlines Boeing triple seven was traveling from call on board a
Beijing
what all contact was lost over open water
roughly halfway between Malaysia and the southern tip a vietnam
the air and sea search now includes an American Navy warship
the hunt for wreckage now centered on feel slicks
spot on the surface of the sea while the hunt for a cause
including the possibility of foul play is now partly focused on two mystery
passengers
traveling on stolen passports there are a lot of angles to cover here we began
with tom costello in our washington newsroom
Tom what's the latest high luster Malaysia Airlines says this plane was
last inspected just ten days ago and it was in proper condition
their words at this hour those naval units from several countries are
listening for the pinging sound that
should be coming from the plane's emergency transmitters in an area where
the vietnamese military believes it has found an important clue
off the coast of Vietnam
to fuel slicks on the water may provide the best hope for finding Malaysia
Airlines flight 370
the plane left Kuala Lumpur at 12:40 a.m. Saturday the red-eye flight to
Beijing
with 239 passengers and crew on board among them
American Philip toward an IBM executive but one to two hours into the flight at
35,000 feet
air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane somewhere over the Gulf
of Thailand
veteran crash investigators say it all points to an abrupt end to a routine
flight
whatever happened was catastrophic and incapacitated the airplane
such that the crew couldn't get a mayday call of the plane a Boeing triple 7 200
series nearly 12 years old
middle age for planes in August 2012 it lost the tip of a wing after club in
another plane on the ground in Shanghai
the wing was fixed but did that contribute to the accident
NBC News aviation analyst Captain John ***
wanted the early things that is already underway
use 28 thorough review of all the maintenance records
up the airplane and if the airplane has sustained damage
is it getting this team is proud incident that is something that
certainly the investigators are going to look at we do know the captain was
experienced as a Hari Ahmad Shah was 53 years old with eighteen thousand hours
of flying time
when he wasn't in a real *** but you could find him in the best simulator he
built at home
on a website pursue me later in 2002 time to take to the next level
simulation motion
looking for bodies to share this passion the first officer was 27-year-old furry
come meet with twenty eight hundred hours of experience
adding to the mystery to europeans on a passenger manifest
an Austrian and Italian are actually safe and sound on the ground
both reported their passport stolen in Thailand
one to two years ago US a Malaysian authorities are now looking into who use
those stolen passports to board the plane
and what were they up to have to people traveling on false passports when a
plane disappeared from radar
really gets people's attention as it should the plane itself has a very
strong safety record
the crash easy on a 214 in San Francisco last july
was the triple sevens first fatal accident investigators believe that was
pilot error
the immediate challenge now finding the wreckage Malaysia 370
in the waters of vietnam this is
eerily similar to the crash of Air France flight 447 which disappeared you
may recall over the Atlantic in 2009
it took two years to find the wreckage at the bottom of the ocean
while search teams will be looking for those black boxes we hear so much about
they're also going to be examining
the size up the debris field if they find one if its wide that would suggest
the plane broke up in flight
what's more condensed that could mean the plane remained intact
until impact to the water or perhaps the ground buster
I Tom *** and two-thirds of those on board the missing plane are from China
tonight in Beijing distraught families and friends have gathered at a hotel
to wait for answers CNBC's Eunice Yoon
is there and joins us with more units Leicester patience here in beijing is
wearing thin about 36 hours after flight and age 370 went missing
hundreds of family members and friends of the passengers have been holed up in
the hotel behind me
where Malaysia Airlines has set up a makeshift crisis center
about 100 airline staffers have arrived to assist the families
court desperately waiting for any information
about their loved ones and many here feel that they've been left in the dark
in are demanding more frequent updates from the airline
a people are starting to lose hope they might not see their family members
alive again airline authorities have said that the rescue operation
in the South China Sea is still ongoing the US has dispatched a ship
and aircraft to the area and China
has also sent in naval vessels and with the Sun
now rising the air mission which has been suspended
overnight has now resumed as governments and people continue to hope
to find any signs up the missing plane Leicester
units you know the ground force in Beijing thank you i'm joined now by NBC
News aviation expert and former airline pilot John ***
an NBC News counterterrorism analyst Michael Leiter
John let me start with you we keep hearing about this possibility of a
catastrophic breakup is there anything short
up an explosion or the plane coming apart that could explain
a sudden and complete loss of communications
Leicester there several possibilities is something simple
as a major electrical problem could mean that the airplane could not transmit
I and couldn't be seen on radar so it's very early at this stage to draw any
conclusions
the debris field could very well tell us a lot
the size up the debris field and how it has interacted with the women's
with the wider the components papers and things for example
in comparison to the heavier objects such as the landing gear or engines
Michael let me turn to you I'm having trouble getting my head wrapped around
the idea that
in a post-9/11 world you can get on an airplane with a stolen passport one
stolen one or even two years ago
but that's sad what kinda roll arm bells
has that started ringing it at intelligence agencies around the world
lester definitely changed how intelligence organizations in the US and
globally look at this
prior to the stolen passport issue this was a tragedy but
folks mostly said probably something mechanical with the plane
with this there's at least one element which makes them very concerned
they know that people were on that plane who shouldn't have been using newspapers
what they don't know is what they were up to where they simply criminals are
using stolen passports or were they on that plane to do something nefarious and
that's where the intelligence community's
are digging in now John this wasn't overnight flight
it's a pretty heavy traffic grew to up and down
Asia 35,000 feet presumably clear wouldn't you expect that another
crew would have seen some kind of a flash had there been an explosion
at my cluster if there were an explosion there would be did Bri
that could be seen by potentially some long-range radar
they would be other reports have ships or
I or other aircraft so I'm I'm not convinced that all that we've got an
inflight explosion here
I think we're going to learn more as the course of the day
goes on and the the aerial search begins to put together this debris field
i John *** Michael Leiter general thanks for spending time with this evening we
appreciate it
wanna turn now to the crisis in Ukraine where tensions reached a new level today
as Russia send even more troops into the Crimean Peninsula
NBC's Ian Williams now with the latest in Kiev
no anger on Kiev's Independence Square today
demanding Russia leave crimea I the moscow appears to be reinforcing
unmarked con always on the move hours of the russian soldiers briefly seized
control of the ukrainian base
they're still blocking others pro moscow authorities ordering all remaining
ukrainian soldiers in Crimea
to disarm and surrender but many refuse
and European security monitors are being prevented from entering the peninsula
armed men firing warning shots into the air with automatic weapons
in russian-speaking East ukraine pro moscow protesters chanted
glory to Russia the fear is that Russia's staring up trouble to justify
intervention in this region to the mood here is very volatile there is deep
concern about events in Kiev
but that doesn't mean everybody would welcome intervention by moscow
on this hockey if trolley bus there was plenty of fear and uncertainty
Olga told me that everybody's worried but she said
we should stick together and there should be no bloodshed
nasty Alexander was plain angry at what he calls extremists
seizing control in Kiev but he told me his learn independent country
Russia for now should stay away with people's was bored
people in the East watch russian television which depicts ukraine's
revolution is a neo-fascist COO
in Kiev militant right-wing groups are a minority
but they do have seats in the new government they've also played an
outsize role at the barricades
and they're still there the flowers here a fresh but
so are the tires a while much of this barricades been turned into a memorial
the fortifications aren't going to be taken away anytime soon
petrol bombs remain at the ready and this leader of one far-right militia
told me it's not over on the barricades few people appear to trust the interim
government
anatomia close to a spot visited by John Kerry says absolutely
the barricades are going to stay well vladislav methodically feeding the
collected works several leading into his furnace
told me ultimately we control the government anyway
William the interim government has real challenges ahead
as it calls for unity in the face a Russian aggression
yet Williams NBC News Kiev
President Obama made phone calls today to a number of European leaders
on the crisis in Ukraine NBC's Kristen Welker is traveling with the president
in florida where the first family is spending the weekend Chris
lesser with tensions mounting in ukraine the White House is taking great pains to
show the president Obama
is still engaged in the diplomatic efforts to get russian forces to retreat
to their bases
in Crimea late this afternoon the White House released a photo of President
Obama
who reached out to several up his counterparts overseas
among them the Prime Minister of the UK as well as the leaders of France
Italy and the baltics with the way a lot bien desde only a
mister Obama is trying to build a strong international coalition
aimed at pressuring mister put into retreat efforts which right now are
falling on deaf ears in Russia
in a statement White House officials reiterated the president's insistence
that Russia allow international observers
and human rights monitors into crimea
now better ambassador dennis ross says President Obama is playing the long game
here he knows it's going to be top
to get food into retreat in Crimea but the idea is to build up
another international pressure to prevent him from going into other parts
of ukraine
lester today the program South Carolina mother accused of trying to kill her
three children by driving them into the ocean in Daytona Beach Florida
made her first court appearance bail for ebony Welker scene was set at one point
two million dollars
she is charged with three counts of attempted *** and child abuse
when NBC Nightly News continues on this Saturday raging debate over
red light cameras white for our growing up in some places while
others pulling the plug and later the word that finally ended a marathon
spelling bee after nearly a hundred rounds
in town cities and states across america a debate is now raging over those
cameras that snap a picture when you run a red light
you then get a ticket in the mail usually with a hefty fine
but while some places have decided to turn them off others are buying more of
them
a report from NBC's Kristen Dahlgren running a red light
nobody argues it is in danger is but they're is now a huge debate about
whether cameras to catch offenders
have a place in america intersections I want to get them out as quickly as
possible
Brick Township New Jersey one of the first places to get the cameras
just ban them and police told the new mayor they were at making
intersection safer T-bone crashes actually increased four hundred percent
briquetting alone on Thursday Saint Petersburg Florida pulled the plug on
if cameras after three years think they didn't make this cool sent
on Wednesday Ellisville Missouri voted to terminate its contract after public
outcry
critics say the cameras are unconstitutional
and create a driving hazard it puts people in a really tough spot
between making a choice to perhaps getting to rear-end accident or force
themselves
to run that intersection and get a ticket nationwide the number of
communities using red-light cameras is down about 6 percent since 2012
and more twenty-four states and Washington DC allow them
nine states have banned them so we're coming up to this first one right now
day-lewis police chief Sam Dotson said in his city he's noticed
no increase in crashes his officers tortured some 500 violations
a day and there we have another violence no stop
no stop dotson says without the cameras
his force would be stretched too thin it would take over 200 police officers
to do what the cameras are doing today he agrees with the camera providers
statistics it's a citation
are working more than ninety percent of the people that run red lights
don't get another ticket they don't do it again driver reaction is mixed
I mean a dare for public safety this is simple
honest to god many Graham so the debate like these drivers
isn't likely to stop Kristen Dahlgren NBC News
Saint Louis Missouri frankly moments aboard an
Indian jetliner as a real wheel cart fire after landing in Nepal
all 176 passengers and six crew members on the flight from New Delhi were
evacuated the emergency doors
and are safe no injuries reported the cause of the fire
is under investigation coming up a war hero receives an
honor it's long overdue
the going home
you gonna stay here and face the fellas outpatient
actress sheila macrae starred on Broadway and in films but was best known
for playing
alice kramden opposite Jackie Gleason's Ralph in the nineteen sixties recreation
at the honeymooners TV show
her family confirm she died Thursday at 92 years old
and Carmen Barahona died she was the wife of New York Yankees legend Yogi
Berra
they just celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary in January
and their marriage was central to the Broadway play Bronx Bombers that just
closed
they had three sons eleven grandchildren and a great-grandson
Carmen Vera was 85 years old meantime an 89-year-old world war two veteran from
upstate New York finally receive the medal he deserved today richard Foster
was awarded the Purple Heart
seventy years after being wounded in battle he was the lone survivor when his
B-seventeen bomber collided in mid-air with another allied plane
and crash in nazi-occupied France after 29 days behind enemy lines he made it to
safety
and was offered the Purple Heart but he declined at that time saying he felt
awkward receiving an award when others had died
now he says he wants his grandchildren have something to remember
his military service and this reminder to spring forward make sure you turn
your clocks ahead one hour before you go to bed tonight
daylight saving time officially begins at 2am
still had after a marathon spell of Champions
finally crowned County Championship
finally tonight it lasted two weeks in took nearly a hundred rounds but we
finally have a winner
it all went down at a regional Spelling Bee in Kansas City
and now that winter goes on to the National Spelling Bee
I Ron Mott as the final showdown in Kansas City Missouri it took
ninety five rounds and 261 words to finally spell
W I in in the ER beachhead be.
this year's County Spelling Bee became a heavyweight showdown I'm so I
see overflow crowd on hand between 5th graders to be a Half Men
and seventh-grader Kush Sharma who battled back and forth word-for-word
26 letters their only weapons the dual started two weeks ago
went sixty six rounds and had to be postponed because officials ran out of
approve words to challenge them
prompting calls to just send them both to Nationals the rules don't allow
last year we had 21 rounds in the championship be
so this is what a more than we anticipated their legend despite their
stature
and their friendship quickly grew and unlike Pott West
like President of the United States one recovers told us
white ours pect
meant to her could be a good Kush
sailed through the competition gaff free they breezed through increasingly harder
words
like way wiser eek mia's Pontian in
moo moo not to be confused with sounds heard on the farm
but then came a stumble and key
he II
at Leen Sephia misspelled the word
stifling which perfectly describe the dramatic eat at the moment
with the championship and a trip to Washington DC now his for the taking
20 thirteen-year-old Kush sized up the test de and then a state
d be have I and I
tier 0 and definition I was going to be sad when
she got that word incorrect and you know its its or a messed up
that you know that it came to that you know but I mean it was gonna come to
that either way
unusually excited that I gotten spy and
every kid I just paid in the east and
op fierce competition
victory was from NDP accepted being friends
better than you know trash-talking each other national with tears
and grace run amok in BC btws
that NBC Nightly News for this Saturday
I'm Lester Holt reporting from New York to see you tomorrow morning on today
for all of us here at NBC News have a good night