Signals: Australian authorities are focusing on underwater signals that have been picked up three times by ships looking for the missing Malaysian Airlines jet. A Chinese ship detected a signal twice and an Australian ship picked up a signal once in a different location. The pulse is described as being on the same frequency as an aircraft’s black box.

 Angus Houston the Australian in charge of the search cautioned that, “This is an important and encouraging lead, but one which I urge you to treat carefully.”

World:  Russia has raised the price of vital natural gas in Ukraine by nearly 80 percent in the past week, threatening the country’s economic stability. Ukraine gets half its natural gas from Russia. The head of Russia’s gas monopoly, Gazprom, said the price hike was the result of a new export duty, but European countries that buy Russian gas are not getting the same bill. Ukraine Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, said he expects Russia to use gas as a political weapon and the situation could get worse.

> A roadside bomb killed an Afghan election worker and destroyed dozens of ballots today. High numbers of voters turned out yesterday in Afghanistan in spite of a two-month Taliban suicide-bombing campaign to hinder the national elections. Roughly 3.5 million people voted, although threats of violence forced the closure of 1,000 polling places. No attacks were carried out. With eight candidates running for president, and none likely to win the required 50 percent, a runoff is expected.

Nation: Students at the University of California Santa Barbara clashed with police last night at the annual street party known as “Deltopia.” Thousands of partying students had filled the streets of Isla Vista all day. Police say one of their officers was hit with a backpack loaded with bottles and the cops ended up using teargas and rubber bullets to bring the streets under control.

>Funerals began yesterday for the 30 people killed in the Washington State mudslide two weeks ago. Continuing rain has hampered efforts to find 13 people still missing.

The Obit Page: Peter Matthiessen, a novelist, journalist, screenwriter and naturalist, died yesterday at age 86. Matthiessen had a craggy, weathered face that looked like a topographical map. He was a co-founder of the literary magazine, The Paris Review, but he did it as an undercover agent for the CIA spying on Americans in France. His book “The Snow Leopard,” about searching for the elusive Himalayan snow leopard, won the 1979 National Book Award. The writer stirred a pot of controversy with “In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,” an account of the American Indian Movement and the 1975 killing of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Matthiessen questioned the fairness of the trial for Leonard Peltier, now 69, who was sentenced to life in prison for the murders.

Sports Page: With just 5.7 seconds left on the clock, Kentucky upset Wisconsin 74-73 on a 3-point shot to advance to the NCAA final basketball match. In yesterday’s first game, UConn beat the number one seed Florida Gators 63-53. This makes Barack Obama the worst president ever because none of his picks made it to the final game.

Fore!: Possibly the most interesting thing to happen in Golf since Tiger Woods’ wife chased him out of the house is the appearance of Paulina Gretzky on the cover of Golf Digest. She shows a lot of midriff and some of the women golfers are asking why a non-golfer is featured. Paulina, daughter of “The Great One”, hockey player Wayne, is engaged to PGA Tour star Dustin Johnson.  In its defense the magazine published a column saying Paulina “is a certified celebrity within the golf world, as much a subject of fascination at tournaments as the guy she’s there watching.”  In other words, her cover sells magazines.

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