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U.S. Assessment Suggests MH370 Deliberately Steered Off Course; Found Debris Part of Boeing 777; Trump Tops Polls; Fired BBC TV Host Gets New Car Show. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired July 30, 2015 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:08] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN HOST: A U.S. intelligence report says the missing Malaysian airliner was steered off course. This as more debris is washing up on Reunion Island that may be from a passenger plane. We are covering all angles of this story this hour.
From CNN world headquarters here in Atlanta, I'm George Howell. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Good day. And welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. We start this hour with the breaking news in the disappearance of Malaysia airlines flight 370. A preliminary assess by U.S. intelligence agencies suggests that someone in the cockpit deliberately steered that plane off course. It's important to point out this assessment was prepared months ago. It does not come to any firm conclusions about what eventually happened to that plane.
Here's CNN's U.S. justice correspondent Evan Perez.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: This assessment is based on satellite and other available evidence and analysts looked at multiple course changes the aircraft made after it deviated from the scheduled course from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Now, analysts determined that it is most likely someone in the cockpit deliberately moved the aircraft to specific way points crossing Indonesian territory and eventually towards the Indian Ocean.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: That assessment was done for internal government purposes. It was not meant to be made public. A Malaysian government report from March said there is no proof of wrongdoing in the airplane's crew.
No, on to Reunion Island in the far western Indian Ocean, investigators there are taking a very close look at a piece of the airplane debris that could possibly be from MH370.
CNN senior international correspondent Nema Elbagir reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NEMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Search helicopters pass overhead scouring the (INAUDIBLE). This is where the plane debris washed ashore. And this is why it was found by the beach cleaner crews who dragged it across the pebbles and it land it over there against that stone wall cleaning much of the evidence off of it in the process. It was only when the police and the special investigation unit turned out that it began to dawn on them that perhaps they discovered something pretty crucial.
Johnny has been working on this stretch of beach for years. As soon as he saw the debris, he said he shouted to the rest of the crew to stop what they were doing. Somehow, he says he knew what it was.
JOHNNY BEQUE, REUNION ISLAND RESIDENT (through translator): I thought perhaps it was from a plane crash so I said don't touch it anymore. Because if it is a plane crash people have died and you have to have respect for them.
ELBAGIR: Johnny was right. Local officials told us the barnacles you see in the picture will be vital in establishing where the debris sank and how long it has been underwater.
This morning, more debris washed ashore. It appears to resemble the remnants of a passenger carry case but of course until further investigations are carried out, no one knows for certain.
Since then, police helicopters have been patrolling this stretch of sea, trying to get a better line of sight on anything and everything that is headed to the shore. For many of the families of those that disappeared on that plane, this is the first time in a very long time they are beginning to feel some faint glimmer of hope. Hope they might finally know what happened.
CNN, Nema Elbagir, Reunion Island.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Just a short time ago, Australia's deputy prime minister said it looked very likely the debris found on Reunion Island maybe from a Boeing 777.
CNN's David Molko has been listening to that news conference and is joins us live from Hong Kong.
David, good to have you with us. The deputy prime minister is urging caution, waiting for French investigators to give the final word on the piece of debris. But he said the simple fact it washed ashore on Reunion Island is consistent with regards to their current modeling of where debris could have traveled.
DAVID MOLKO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: George, that's right. He is using words like, very confident, very likely. We have heard that from Malaysia's prime minister. And we heard that from the top investigator in Australia as well.
But Warren Truss also said something else. And that is we have to be sure of the facts. George, there's no room for error here. They have to be 100 percent sure of where this piece of debris is coming from. At the very least for the 239 families involved and of course the entire world watching us.
Remember, 500 days of searching, more than 500 days since the plane disappeared. This is all they have to go on. This is the first piece of physical evidence. Now, Truss who has been the face of Australia through this dealing with Malaysia, dealing with China, which had the most number of passengers onboard, kind of tied in the evidence this piece of debris and explained how that fits in to the bigger priority, which is the search for the plane itself. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[01:05:22] WARREN TRUSS, AUSTRALIAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: We remain confident we are searching in the right place. And if, in fact, the plane parts found on Reunion Island are linked to MH370 that would rather strengthen the case that we are in the right area, but it doesn't prove it conclusively.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOLKO: It doesn't prove it conclusively. And that has been the thing about this search all along over the last 16 months. Nothing has been conclusive. Even the satellite data that led them to that search area was a new kind of analysis that never had been done in that way.
Though, George, as you mention, this, the finding of this debris, if proven to be from MH370 dies fits by backtracking through the ocean currents does fit and is consistent with the current search zone, of course the search for the plane and the passengers continuing this very day. There's one search vessel out in the southern Indian Ocean continuing to scour the bottom for any signs of that plane.
HOWELL: So a cautious optimism about that piece of debris. But it was interesting to hear the deputy prime minister take a very different assessment of this bag that was discovered. So it seems to be luggage. Talk to us about that.
MOLKO: Potential suitcase discovered by the same man who actually found the piece of wreckage, the flaperon. You saw it in Nema's piece there.
Truss said it has to be taken seriously, as well. And of course, they are going to take everything seriously. But the thing is there have been so many false alarms in this, George, so many false leads. We saw very early in the search from the South China Sea to the Bay of Bengal down to the southern Indian Ocean, things that were spotted that were thought to be debris from the plane, some turned out to be just garbage floating around.
So of course, they want to take a very close look at this. The French say this is officially part of their investigation as well. The bigger question here, George, though, is whether there ought to be a second search area now. We have one off Australia, about 1500 miles off of the coast of Australia where they are looking underwater. Should they begin to searching in the waters around the island of (INAUDIBLE) off the coast of Madagascar in hopes that they could cover more debris? That is difficult to say. It's a decision that would have to be driven by the Malaysians and the French as well. It would be expensive. What results could they find? Of course, everybody watching just very, very closely about this piece of debris, this piece of an aircraft wing seeing if they can conclusively say one way or another whether it is part of MH370.
George, it's expected that this piece could be flown to Paris in the coming days. It is a long flight, more than 12 hours, I should say into France and the DEA office in Toulouse. Investigators including the American say they want to take a closer look. They want to get their hands on it, see it with their own eyes because, George, they want to be absolutely sure.
HOWELL: That's right. Waiting for that absolute certainty.
David Molko, thank you so much for your insights live from Hong Kong.
And David also speaking about those families. The families of those on board MH370, they are reacting cautiously to the latest developments.
Let's turn to you, CNN's Kristie Lu Stout who joins us now from Kuala Lumpur covering that angle of the story.
Kristie, good to have you with us. Look, I mean it has been an agonizing time for these families. It has been a year and a half. There have been so many false alarms. How are they coping with the latest discoveries?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: George, it's been a very long, agonizing week for the family members of the 239 passengers who were on board this missing Malaysia airlines flight 370. And just imagine their perspective right now following these developments as a piece of debris, a clue has watched up on the shore of this Reunion Island half world away. And if confirmed, if verified as part the MH370 it would be the first piece of physical evidence of that missing plane that had their loved ones on board.
But, agonizing weight this last 500 days is going to last even longer. This this is the front page of Malaysia's dominant the news daily, "the Star." It says answer will come in to two days. That coming from the prime minister of Malaysia, saying that any sort of confirmation or verification of the origin of the piece of suspected debris will come in two days.
So the wait just drives on for the family members of MH370. They are treating this with a mixture of caution. There have been so many false leads before and also a mixture of hope and fear.
Earlier CNN's Lynda Kinkade was able to speak with K.S. Narendran whose wife was onboard the flight. And this is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[01:10:22] K.S. NARENDRAN, HUSBAND OF MH370 PASSENGER: This just tells me that a small fragment of the aircraft has been found and perhaps indicates that there was an inevitable end on the (INAUDIBLE). But beyond that it just doesn't tell me where the passengers might be, where my wife might be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: And K.S. Narendran whose wife was on board MH370. And what he is saying echoes what the Chinese family members have been saying and they have been gathering together as a group. They issued a statement, it came out on Thursday, saying they want 100 percent confirmation of certainty that the piece of debris is in fact from MH370. They want to know the whereabouts of their loved ones and above all they want the search to go on.
Back to you, George.
HOWELL: Kristie, you bring up the interview. I was beside Lynda when she read his writings to his wife. Those writings were just heart breaking to imagine the pain, the agony he goes through just not knowing and hoping for some answers.
Kristie Lu Stout, thank you so much for your insights, live from Kuala Lumpur.
Two hundred thirty nine people were onboard that flight when it disappeared more than one year ago. Our Anderson Cooper remembers the lives of those who are missing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, AC 360 (voice-over): Paul Weeks is a husband and father of two. He was on his way to start a new job in Mongolia, his dream job. Before he left his home in Australia, he gave his wedding ring and his watch to his wife, Danica.
DANICA WEEKS, WIFE OF MH370 PASSENGER: He said I'm going to leave me wedding ring here. Should anything happen to me, I want the ring to go to the first son that's married and the watch to the second. And I said something to him like don't be stupid. Just come back. And I'll give it back to you and you can give it to me.
COOPER: (INAUDIBLE) had been on vacation. They were on their way home to their two sons in Beijing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As parents nothing was more important to them than those kids. Everything they did was surrounded those kids. You go to their house and it was covered with pictures of their boys.
COOPER: 30-year-old Wang Yi was also on her way home to her 5-year- old daughter. She works for a semiconductor company based in Austin, Texas and was onboard with 19 of here colleagues.
Rodney and Mary Burrows from Australia are looking forward to becoming first-time grandparents after they returned home. They were beginning a long planned trip with their good friends Catherine and Robert Lauden. The Laudens were known as doting grandparents. A friend described them as passionate travelers.
This group of artists from China were in Malaysia to display their work. Most of them were on the flight back to Beijing. Among them the oldest passenger on board, 76-year-old Lui (INAUDIBLE), a renowned calligrapher who is traveling with his wife.
The love ones of these passengers have waited with prayers and with hope. Strangers, mostly children have left pictures at the airport in Malaysia. This one reads "we miss you, we love you." This one simply says "please come back."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: CNN's Anderson Cooper reporting about the families, families who have missing loved ones. We'll be right back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:17:39] HOWELL: We will take a moment to update you on the breaking news story we are following. This growing confidence that airplane debris found in the western Indian Ocean is from a Boeing 777. That's the same kind of plane as Malaysian airlines flight 370 which as you all remember vanished in a March of last year. The debris is apparently part of a plane's wing.
Meanwhile, a preliminary assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies suggest that someone in the cockpit of MH370 deliberately steered that plane off course. It does not come to any further conclusions about what eventually happened to that plane.
We are also following breaking news out of Israel right now. Police there say a house fire suspected to have been set by Jewish extremists has killed a Palestinian toddler and injured several other people. It happened earlier today in the West Bank city of Nablus.
Our Erin McLaughlin joins us now on the phone from Jerusalem.
Erin, what can you tell us about the investigation in to this?
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on the phone): Well George, Israeli military spokesperson is calling this a barbaric act of terrorism. Two homes set on fire in village of Duma (ph) in the west bank near Nablus overnight. Preliminary investigation shows that the suspects entered the village early hours of this morning, set homes a blazing wrote graffiti in Hebrew on homes.
Israeli police said that the word price tag was found on the walls of the house according to Palestinian officials a one-and-a-half year old infant died in the house fire. Family members have been evacuated to the hospital. Multiple fire bombs according to Palestinian officials were fired at the homes overnight.
HOWELL: Erin McLaughlin covering the story out of Jerusalem.
Erin, we will stay in touch with you as we get more information on what happened there. Thank you.
Now on to this controversial shooting, the shooting death of an unarmed man in the U.S. state of Ohio. A former officer is out of jail after posting bond. Ray Tensing pleaded not guilty to murdering an African-American driver during a traffic stop earlier this month.
Our Jason Carroll has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The bond is one million any way.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ladies and gentlemen, this is a courtroom. You will conduct yourselves at all times appropriately.
[01:20:00] JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Judge Megan Shanahan admonishing the courted as observers cheered after setting former university of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing's bail at $1 million.
Charges murder and voluntary manslaughter for the shooting of Samuel Dubose during a routine traffic stop that turned deadly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go ahead and take a seat belt off.
JOE DETERS, PROSECUTOR: Good afternoon.
CARROLL: Prosecutor Joe Deters called the shooting senseless, saying Tensing has no business being an officer.
DETERS: This is the most asinine act I have ever seen a police officer make. Totally unwarranted.
CARROLL: Video from Tensing's body camera shows him pulling Dubose over for a missing front license plate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Front plate is supposed to go.
CARROLL: The tension elevates quickly as Tensing repeatedly asked Dubose for his driver's license which he does not have.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to ask you again. Do you have your license on you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have license. You can run my name.
CARROLL: Dubose was driving with a suspended license.
On separate body cameras attached two other university officers on the scene, Tensing repeatedly explained why he shot Dubose.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was dragging me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I saw that.
CARROLL: Tensing's attorney said his client feared for his life.
STEW MATTHEWS, RAY TENSING'S ATTORNEY: He said he was dragged and I think that is accurate. I think the video bears that out. CARROLL: The prosecutor disputes tensing's claim.
DETERS: This doesn't happen in the United States. He was simply, slowly rolling away. That's all he did.
CARROLL: As does Dubose's sister.
TERINA DUBOSE ALLEN, SAM DUBOSE'S SISTER: Camera angle. Not going to show Sam not putting his hands up and saying what are you doing I would ask his attorney to get those angles and show me the angles that show where my brother did not basically beg for his life.
CARROLL: Jason Carroll, CNN, Cincinnati, Ohio.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Two other police officers who responded to the shooting have been put on paid administrative leave and we're learning those officers, Phillip Kid and Eric Weibel were implicated in the death of a mentally ill African-American man five years ago. Documents show that the man, Kelly Branson, die after being tasered and restrained at the hospital. Branson's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against all the officers involved. The case was then settled out of court.
Now to the state of Colorado. Jury deliberations resumed on Monday in the second phase of sentencing in the James Holmes murder trial. Jurors must decide if they should continue death penalty proceedings against the man who was convicted of murdering 12 people inside the movie theater in Colorado. (INAUDIBLE) in to life in prison bringing the month-long trial to an end. Thursday's closing arguments were interrupted when an unidentified woman began to ranting loudly before quickly being removed from the courtroom.
Second round of peace talks between Taliban and government officials in Afghanistan has been postponed. Now that the Taliban has confirmed the death of their long-time leader. The militant group says Mullah Mohammed Omar died of an illness but they don't say exactly when. The Afghan government said that he died in 2013.
The Taliban now say their new leader is Mullah Mohammad Mansour. He has been the Taliban's second in command and the deputy leader of the militant groups since 2010. This is according to IHS James. Mansour has been prominent in pushing for peace talks with the Afghan government and confronting all the challenges of ISIS essentially telling the rival group to stay out of the country.
But Mansour was not the unanimous choice of Taliban leaders. According to some Pakistani analyst, he faces resistance from Omar's eldest son and some military commanders.
Over a dozen wildfires are raging in northern California threatening homes and forcing evacuations there. The largest blaze called the rocky fire is five percent contained and has already burned over 10,000 acres. More than 600 people have been evacuated from that area, 8,000 firefighters are working to put this fire out. With the state in its fourth year of record drought, dry conditions
are allowing these fires to spread fast. You see the flames there. The National Guard has been called in to help local and state authorities to help continue to fight these fires.
After two days of dangling below the St. John's Bridge in Portland, Oregon, a group of Greenpeace activists were forced down in to waiting police boats. The protesters were trying to prevent a shell oil ice breaker vessel from leaving for a drilling operation in the arctic. The U.S. coast guard worked with firefighters and police eventually clearing the protesters from the bridge and allowing the ship to pass.
Right now there are at least two petitions to the White House calling for the U.S. to extradite a dentist to Zimbabwe for killing a beloved lion there. The petitions have more than 220,000 signatures at this point. The White House is required to respond to all petitions, approximately 100,000 signature threshold.
Meanwhile, the U.S. fish and wildlife service said it is investigating the lion Cecil's death but it hasn't been able to find the hunter, Walter Palmer. Zimbabwe officials say the lion was lured out of the sanctuary and then killed. Palmer said he thought the hunt was legal and that he regrets killing Cecil.
We are following new developments in the search for a Malaysia airlines flight370. What U.S. intelligence agencies are saying about the plane's disappearance last year as this broadcast continues worldwide on CNN international and CNN USA.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:29:46] HOWELL: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. Good to have you with us. I'm George Howell.
[01:30:00] We are following the breaking news on the search for Malaysia Airlines flight 370. A preliminary assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies suggests that someone in the cockpit deliberately steered that plane off course. This assessment was prepared months ago, based on satellite data and other evidence. It does not come to any firm conclusions about what eventually happened to MH370. A report by the Malaysian government in March said there was no proof of any wrongdoing by the crew of MH370, but this U.S. assessment is renewing focus on the captain and first officer.
Randi Kaye has a closer look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: "Good night, Malaysian 370," the last words from the cockpit of the doomed flight, spoken by Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah. The captain was 53, married with three children. He and his wife lived in a gated community in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur. He had been flying with Malaysia Airlines for 24 years and a flight instructor.
Zaharie was so passionate about flying that he had a flight simulator at home. He posted it on YouTube. He built it himself.
ZAHARIE AHMAD SHAH, CAPTAIN, MALAYSIA AIRLINES: Hi, everyone.
KAYE: Friends told CNN he built it so he could practice in case the unthinkable happened. Zaharie, who had more than 18,000 hours flying and also gave tips on YouTube about tinkering with a refrigerator and air conditioner.
SHAH: Household air conditioning unit --
KAYE: At Zaharie's home, no suicide note was found by police to suggest he had ever planned to take MH370 down, nor did a preliminary review of his flight simulator hard drive turn up anything suspicious, though some files were deleted in the month before the flight.
SHAWN HENRY, FORMER EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, FBI: If you were deleting files off the hard drive to provide more room, you would delete it once. You wouldn't go through the extra effort to completely destroy the file and make it irretrievable.
KAYE: It did not appear to officials then that the pilot had tried to scrub his hard drive when he deleted files.
Co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid's hard drive was also found not to be suspicious.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) inside the house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like to take this opportunity to state that the passengers and the pilots and the crew remain innocent until proven otherwise.
KAYE: Fariq was 27 and lived with his family. He joined the airline in 2007 and transitioned to fly the 777 after wrapping up his simulator training.
MH370 was his first unsupervised flight in the jumbo jet's cockpit. A month before the plane disappeared, CNN's aviation correspondent, Richard Quest, visited Fariq in another cockpit when he was still training. That day, his captain described Fariq's landing as text- book perfect.
And it turns out the first officer had entertained other guests in the cockpit, too.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
KAYE: This woman took photos while she was in the cockpit with him where he and his colleague smoked cigarettes.
After the crash, Malaysia Airlines said they were shocked by the allegations.
By the time those final words were spoken from MH370s cockpit to air traffic control, the airline said someone had already started to alter the flight plan. So was it the pilot? Did he disable communications systems and turn off the transponder? The transponder helps those on the ground locate the plane.
If this wasn't just a terrible accident, whoever did this never wanted to be found.
Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: So many questions about this new little piece of evidence that could bring many answers potentially.
For more on this investigation, let's bring in Geoffrey Thomas, the editor-in-chief and managing director at airlineratings.com. He is joining us live from Perth, Australia.
Good to have you with us, sir.
Given the singular piece of wreckage, what can investigators determine from it?
GEOFFREY THOMAS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & MANAGING DIRECTOR, AIRLINERATINGS.COM: George, it's probably a little early to say precisely other than the fact that this piece of wreckage has turned up where they expected it to drift to. The University of Western Australia did a drift analysis that we discussed on CNN over 12 months ago that showed after 12, 13 months' time the debris would with, whatever debris there was from this crash, would turn up in this particular part of the world. That's based on the fact that the plane crashed where we believe it did in the Southern Indian Ocean. This is confirmation we are on the right track.
HOWELL: We heard from the deputy prime minister of Australia, making the point that, you know, this is consistent with regards to modeling that they did, that it could have washed up ashore on that part of the world. But it was also interesting to hear from that news conference that happened just over an hour ago, to hear that there is concern about not jumping to conclusions. They want to make sure that -- they want to hear from French and Malaysian authorities first to determine whether, first of all, it is part of a 777 and, secondly, whether it is part of MH370.
[01:35:26] THOMAS: Indeed. We obviously have to be sensitive to the relatives of the passengers and crew that have apparently been lost. We must also remember the Malaysian government itself said over -- well, going to eight months ago now, they officially said that MH370 ended its flight in the Southern Indian Ocean. That's the official statement. And that's then and the plane is lost. This debris simply confirms what the Malaysian government stated way back last year. And the University of Western Australia is now working on a reverse drift analysis of this piece of debris and they are hoping that's going to give some guidance to the searchers of a tighter area to look where this may have come from.
HOWELL: Geoffrey, so a cautious optimism about this piece of debris. Again, pointing back to the news conference we heard a short while ago, the deputy prime minister making the point that we -- if it is determined this piece of plane wreckage is from MH370, it certainly closes the argument that this plane landed, went down in the Indian Ocean, and shoots down many of these theories that the plane could have landed somewhere else.
THOMAS: Indeed. It puts paid any theory that relates to the plane being in Afghanistan or Russia or in what was called the northern corridor. It has to be in the south. However, of course, we still have a long way to go, first of all, to find the wreckage, recover the black boxes, and then understand what on earth went on that airplane to cause it to end its flight in the Southern Indian Ocean. It's a long way to go. And it must be a terrible time for the relatives of those who have -- those who are on board that aircraft.
HOWELL: Relatives who have -- you know, it's been a trying time for them, a trying 16 months, and many false alarms.
Geoffrey Thomas, thank you so much for your insights. And we'll watch and wait to see what is determined with this piece of wreckage.
For more on the debris found off the coast of Reunion Island, our Meteorologist Derek Van Dam is joining us.
Derek, I want to ask you the same question. Is it feasible this debris could have traveled this far across the Indian Ocean?
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: George, it's a reasonable question but it's imperative that we dig deep in to this flaperon. It is made of a composite material that is highly buoyant, well sealed and relatively flight. There are air pockets in the device. That means it can float and for a listening time. That is the answer to that question. But when it gets stuck within these large ocean currents, known as gyres, as we are looking here. Just below me. This is the Indian Ocean gyre. It wraps from the West coast of Australia in a counterclockwise direction. Eventually impacting and meeting the east coast of Africa, Reunion Island, Mauritius, Tanzania. That is large and small-scale circulations this item may have undergone over the last 16 months. We have these drift analysis that we are going to monitor closely. Let's quickly use an analogy. Say we drop this plastic bottle into the ocean and it floats like the device they found on the coast of Reunion but it stops floating until it reaches an immoveable object like the coast of Reunion, coast of Madagascar. This is where it becomes crucial to see where the debris can go. We have a high resolution and intellectual computer model from adrift.org.au. You can look it up on the internet yourself. If we were to place that device in the purported crash site, all computer models conclude it will drift westward, make that 4,000 kilometer trek just to the West, eventually ending up on the shores of east Africa, or like Reunion Island, for instance. And that is crucial in the next phase of the investigation. Not to mention the barnacles that they found on this particular flaperon device. This will help to indicate how long this device has been floating in the Indian Ocean. Crucial information as they go forward with their investigation -- George?
[01:40:33] HOWELL: And we could hear back on the results of that investigation, it could be a couple of days. We will have to wait and see as people want, you know, a definitive answer on this. Derek Van Dam, thank you so much.
You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. U.S. Presidential Candidate Donald Trump takes a political tour to Scotland. It comes as new poll numbers are released and the poll numbers are in his favor.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOWELL: Welcome back. Let's get you up to speed on the breaking news, the top stories we are covering.
Australia's deputy prime minister says it looks very likely that debris found in the Western Indian Ocean is from a Boeing 777. That is the same model as Malaysia Airlines flight 370, which vanished back in March of last year. What appears to be a piece of the plane's wing was recovered off the coast of Reunion Island on Tuesday. Authorities are sending that piece of the plane to France for closer inspection.
A new poll shows U.S. Presidential Candidate Donald Trump remains ahead of his Republican challengers. Trump tops a field of 16 candidates with 20 percent in Thursday's Quinnipiac University poll. Right now, the business tycoon is visiting Scotland for the women's British Open.
CNN's Dana Bash has more on his trip and reaction to the new poll.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[01:45:09] DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): One week before the first Republican presidential debate, the GOP front runner landed his helicopter at his golf course in Scotland. This is not your father's primary season.
DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP GROUP: We'll have an amazing day and a half at Turnberry.
BASH: He is in Europe for the women's British Open taking place at his Turnberry Trump Golf Course.
TRUMP: The world is going to being looking at Turnberry so I have a big stake in the land.
BASH: Trump's newest investment in his own campaign is paying dividends. Another new national poll shows him with a significant lead in the Republican presidential race, 20 percent, with Wisconsin governor Scott Walker trailing at 13 percent and Jeb Bush at just 10 percent, half of Trump's support.
One GOP candidate called the reason for Trump's rise simple, outside attention.
SEN. RAND PAUL, (R), KENTUCKY & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have offered a tax code. You can fill out your tax return on one page, 14.5 percent. So if I have a billion and a half dollars in advertising on every network going gaga over that, you know what, I think we could get ours to rise also. But there's going to be time for that. I think this is a temporary sort of loss of sanity.
BASH: But it isn't all good news for Trump. He has the worst favorability rating of any candidate in any party. And the bombastic billionaire tops the list of candidates GOP voters say they would never vote for.
TRUMP: We are diplomatic in our country and everybody hates us all over the world.
BASH: Although early state polls are the best test in the early primary season, national polls will determine which 10 of the 17 candidates will participate in next week's first debate.
According to CNN's poll of polls, on the stage will almost certainly be Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, and Senators Rand Paul and Marco Rubio. Likely to make the cut, Neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Senator Ted Cruz, and former Governor Mike Huckabee, all at 5 percent. That leaves just two more slots for the next three candidates, Governor Chris Christie, John Kasich and former Governor Rick Perry.
And with Trump on the stage, it will be must-see TV.
TRUMP: I'm not a debater. I get things done, whether it is this or whatever. I build. I create jobs. Nobody does better. That's what I do. I'm a big job producer. I'm a big builder. I do beautiful work.
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HOWELL: That was CNN's Dana Bash reporting for us.
You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. Still ahead on this broadcast, Jeremy Clarkson is switching gears after setting up a big return where the former host of "Top Gear" will premiere his new show.
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[01:51:35] HOWELL: We are following the breaking news developments in the search for Malaysia Airlines flight 370. Investigators are sending a piece of airplane debris found in the Western Indian Ocean to France for a closer examination. Australia's deputy prime minister says there's strong evidence that it is part of a Boeing 777. That's the same kind of plane as MH370, which disappeared in March of last year. Experts say it is possible ocean currents carried that debris across the ocean over the past 17 months.
You know the expression, once in a blue moon. Now most of the world will get a chance to see one later tonight. The blue moon is defined as the second full moon within the same calendar month. The last time it happened is in 2012, and the next time won't be until 2018. Don't let the name fool you. A blue moon rarely has a bluish hue. In fact, it is usually a typical gray or red color. However, a truly blue, blue moon has occurred after some volcanic eruptions due to smoke and dust that was left in the air.
The fired host of a hit TV series called "Top Gear" is getting back behind the wheel on-line. Amazon has signed up Jeremy Clarkson and his former co-host for a new car show. You'll remember the trio parted ways with the BBC after Clarkson got into a physical altercation with the producer.
Our Samuel Burke has more on Amazon's big get.
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SAMUEL BURKE, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You can now buy granola bars, pet food and watch a car show with Jeremy Clarkson all on the same platform. And in Amazon's announcement, Clarkson didn't miss a second to take a swipe at his former employer, the BBC. Quote, "I feel I climbed out of a biplane into a spaceship," Clarkson said. The BBC fired him as host of "Top Gear" in March after a physical altercation left a colleague seeking treatment in an emergency room.
Now with was Clarkson in the driver's seat, "Top Gear" drove its way to the Guinness World Records as one of the most-watched programs in the world. The new show is set to debut in 2016, but will likely start with a smaller audience, just Amazon.com Prime customers. That's the $99 per year service, which you gives you free shipping, online music as well as the streaming video service where the new show will appear. There are no advertisers to worry about on Amazon. Unlike the BBC, Amazon doesn't have to answer to the taxpayer public.
This is yet another sign of how serious Amazon is about investing big bucks in its streaming business and competing against services like Netflix. It's already found critical acclaim with its original series about a transgender senior citizen transitioning to become a woman in "Transparent." And by signing with the on-line platform, Clarkson may have gotten around the clause that, according to British media, for a time, prevents him from working with other U.K. broadcasters.
Reporting in New York, I'm Samuel Burke.
Back to you.
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HOWELL: The saying goes "there is no crying in baseball," unless, of course, you think you are about to be traded. That's exactly what happened to New York Mets shortstop, Wilmer Flores, on Wednesday. Reports were swirling of a deal that would have sent him to Milwaukee. The news spread through the home crowd, most likely through social media. He got a standing ovation and was later seen openly weeping.
That's when Mets manager, Terry Collins, jumped in.
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[01:55:14] TERRY COLLINS, MANAGER, NEW YORK METS: Somebody came to me and said, so why? Why he got traded. To who? For what? Everybody in the ballpark thinks he is traded but him, because I didn't say anything to him. How would you react? So, you know, you guys think these guys are stone-cold robots. They are not. They are human beings who have emotions. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: Wow. It turns out the deal fell through. Flores remains with the New York Mets, the team he signed with almost eight years ago on his 16th birthday.
We thank you for watching this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm George Howell at the CNN Center in Atlanta.
My colleague, Lynda Kinkade, is on deck next with another hour of news around the world.
You are watching CNN, the world's news leader.
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