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• Exactly how the plane hit the water makes a big difference to the teams undertaking the painstaking search for the wreckage. Investigators have frustratingly little hard data to work out how Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 came down in the Indian Ocean on March 8 with 239 people on board.
• Here are some possible scenarios:
• A STEEP DIVE:
• If the plane ran out of fuel at its normal cruising altitude and the pilots were incapacitated, the autopilot would stop working and the aircraft could dip into an increasingly steep and rapid dive, aviation experts said. Under this scenario, the plane could hit the water nose-first and close to perpendicular with the surface, piercing the ocean like an arrow.
• ___
Pentagon chief Hagel, China defense leader air differences over disputed island
• BEIJING (AP) -- The defense chiefs of China and the U.S. are facing off over Beijing's escalating territorial disputes in the region, with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel wagging his finger and telling China it doesn't have the right to unilaterally establish an air defense zone over disputed islands with no consultation.
• And he said on Tuesday America will protect Japan in a dispute with China, as laid out in U.S. treaty obligations.
• Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan said his country will not take the initiative to stir up troubles with Japan, but Beijing is ready to use its military if needed to safeguard its territory. And he warned that the U.S. must "stay vigilant" against Japan's actions and "not be permissive and supportive" of Tokyo.
• The U.S. has criticized Beijing's recent declaration of an air defense zone over a large swath of the East China Sea, including disputed islands controlled by Japan.
• In their remarks, the two men aired their countries' well-known positions about the territorial disputes, although doing it for the first time in China, shoulder to shoulder after nearly two hours of meetings here.
• ___
Pistorius describes troubled relationship with slain girlfriend at his murder trial
• PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) -- Testifying in his murder trial on Tuesday, Oscar Pistorius said he and girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp sometimes had troubles in their relationship but that they sorted them out, were in love and were planning a life to (Continued on page 26)
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