Flight 370: Confusing and conflicting reports continue to leak from the investigation into the missing Malaysian airlines jet. Reports that a Chinese satellite spotted debris off Vietnam, and that the plane flew for hours after it went silent, both are being denied. Forty-three ships and 40 aircraft are still searching.

Ukraine:  President Obama met yesterday at The White House with Ukraine Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and later said, “The interests of the United States are solely in making sure that the people of Ukraine are able to determine their own destiny.”

The US is still trying to defuse the situation with Russia. Secy. of State John Kerry is scheduled to meet tomorrow in London with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in an effort to head off a Crimean vote to secede from Ukraine and join Russia. “Our job is to try to present them with a series of options that are appropriate in order to try to respect the people of Ukraine, international law, and the interests of all concerned,” Kerry said to a House committee.

Explosion: Seven  people were killed and more than two dozen injured in the apparent gas explosion that leveled two buildings in New York’s East Harlem yesterday morning. A team from the utility company ConEd was responding to a complaint about a gas odor on the street but the explosion occurred before they arrived. Some residents said they had smelled gas for weeks.

Nation: Two people were killed and 27 injured when a car evading the police plowed into the crowd early this morning at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin. Five of the injured are in serious condition.

>Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who famously wagged her finger in President Obama’s face, announced she will not run for a third term. Republican Brewer was appointed to her first term when Janet Napolitano left to run Homeland Security. Arizona has a two-term limit, but Brewer had considered appealing to the courts for a third term because she was elected only once.

The Obit Page: Roger Hilsman, an advisor to President Kennedy and a veteran of the famed Merrill’s Marauders during WWII, died at age 94 late last month in Ithaca, NY. Hilsman was one of the advisors who advised Kennedy to overthrow Vietnam President Ngo Dinh Diem, who was killed in a 1963 coup. Hilsman was an advocate of the controversial policy of moving the rural population into “strategic hamlets” and stripping the jungle cover with defoliants to expose the Vietcong. During the WWII with the Marauders in Burma, Hilsman was wounded in the stomach by machine gun fire.

>Former Florida Gov. Reuben Askew, a “New South” Democrat who promoted racial equality, has died at 85.

Tech World: Ageless rocker Neil Young introduced his own MP3 player “Pono” at the South by Southwest festival yesterday. Young is on a personal quest to improve the quality of digital music. His $400 device is shaped like a Toblerone chocolate bar and takes its name from the Hawaiian word for “righteous”. At 128 Gigs it has room for more music than you have time to listen to for the rest of your life, bra.

>A runner-up for best new game at last nights Bafta video game awards in London was a smash hit called “Papers Please.” It’s not about killing aliens or zombies. It’s a game in which you play the part of a border inspector vetting people trying to get into the country. The game’s creator told the BBC, “It’s hard to describe the game and make it sound fun.”

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