Overnight to begin his First Official tour as a royal. And a legend lost. Looks like we both agree on what to do Mickey Rooney, one of hollywoods iconic stars, dead at the age of 93. The highs and lows of his remarkable life and career today. Monday, april 7th, 2014. Announcer from nbc news, this is today. With matt lauer and savannah guthrie. Live from studio 1a in Rockefeller Plaza. And good morning. Welcome to today on a monday morning. Its a good monday morning, because mr. Roker is back. I love how youre sporting the arm sling casual business look. Very nice. How you feeling . Feeling good. Thanks to all the well wishes and all the nice folks who sent the nice thoughts and prayers. Were going to have much more on that. Good to have you back, buddy. Thanks. We want to get back to our top story. Those signals that are consistent with pings from the planes black boxes have been detected in the indian ocean. Nbcs katy tur is in kuala lumpur with the latest on the investigation. Katy, good morning to you. Reporter hey there, matt. We told you on friday that this would be a critical weekend. And in fact, it was. A number of acoustic signals were reported, two of which coming from ocean shield and its pinger locator. This being the most Significant Development yet. Taking off one by one, as they have been doing for a month, search planes headed to scour the indian ocean. But now, with a renewed sense of urgency and optimism from ships on the water. Today, i can report some very encouraging information, which has unfolded over the last 24 hours. Reporter ocean shield first heard an acoustic signal sunday, lasting for two hours and 20 minutes. But lost it as the ship made a turn. Then another signal, this time on the return leg, lasting for 13 minutes. Two distinct sets of pings that could be consistent with two black boxes, the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder. Clearly, this is the most promising lead. Reporter the australian ship is using a u. S. Naval pinger locator, one of the most sophisticated pieces of equipment out there for detecting black boxes. Right now, ocean shield is searching a small corridor off the australian coast between the signals it picked up and ones a chinese ship using much less Sophisticated Technology detected over the weekend. Today is day 31 of the search for mh370. Critical timing, as the black box beacons only last around 30 days. Still, no confirmation that any of the pings are connected to mh370. If they gain another acoustic event on that towed pinger locator, that will be the trigger at the moment for mapping and visually looking at the ocean floor. Reporter basically, they are waiting for another ping so they can triangulate the position and then put the unmanned submarine into the water so it can scan the ocean floor. This could take hours, this could take days, this could take weeks. Theres just no telling how long it will take. But again, the most hopeful sign that weve had yet, matt. Katy tur in kuala lumpur. Katy, thanks very much. Greg feith is a former investigator with the ntsb. Bob hager was a longtime aviation correspondent for nbc news. Good morning to both of you and bob, ill start with you. This ship was in contact with this pinger for two hours, 20 minutes in one direction. It turned around, caught it for 13 minutes in the other direction. Its a huge development. Yeah, i think so, too. Weve had a lot of ups and downs in this. But this looks like the beginnings of a breakthrough. I mean, at least it gets them in the right area, you know . So thats very important, as opposed to searching this huge area of the ocean. So as katy just mentioned, they mark this location with a gps right now. They go back, try to triangulate this. What are we talking about realistically in terms of time . I think shes right. You know, could be days, weeks, months. It can take a long time. This is very, very slow work. T. This is very, very slow work. But the point is, now, even if the pinger eventually quits, at least theyre in the general area and they might even be able to find it without a pinger. They can get an autonomous underwater device in there and start to map the bottom of the ocean. They do it with side scan radar, side scan sonar, which is like an underwater radar, and then finally you start taking still pictures down there, see if you can see it. Greg, obviously this comes in the nick of time. Weve been talking about the battery life on those devices, and it has to be nearing the end. Absolutely, matt. Thats the critical thing. We have the pings. The bad thing is for the second pass, they didnt have it for the same duration. They had to go deeper to get it. The signal itself may be fading. So theyre really going to have to work hard to try and triangulate and get a position for the underwater rov. And now we need to know what happened. If they locate the black boxes and the wreckage, we want to know what happened on that flight. Just real quickly, if you will, remind me what the cockpit voice recorder might tell them and the flight data recorder. If the cockpit voice recorder has survivsurvived, it probably have a lot of information on it because it only records for two hours. This is a six to sevenhour flight, its already overwritten itself, unless, of course, the pilot may have pulled the circuit breaker. The flight data recorder is going to tell us what happened as far as what the airplane was doing, but its not going to tell us why or how it happened. But it will give us some parameters to tell us whether the automation was flying, that is the auto pilot, or whether there were physical inputs made by the captain and or first officer. Once again, a promising todays National Investigative correspondent jeff rossen is at the courthouse this morning. Jeff, good morning. Reporter hey, savannah, good morning to you. This surprised everybody when he got up there and began everything by saying im sorry and going into a very tearful explanation about how he feels about it all. Legal experts say it all comes down to this now. No experts, no neighbors, just pistorius. All alone trying to convince the judge this was selfdefense. An honest mistake when he shot and killed his girlfriend reeva steenkamp. This morning, for the first time, Oscar Pistorius in his own words. As he walked to the witness box today, the courtroom silent, Oscar Pistorius started his testimony with a tearful apology to reeva steenkamps family, the girlfriend he shot and killed in his bathroom. Id like to apologize and say theres not a moment and there hasnt been a moment since this tragedy happened that i havent thought about your family. I wake up every morning and youre the first people i think of, the first people i pray for. I cant imagine the pain and the sorrow and the emptiness that ive caused you and your family. I was simply trying to protect reeva. I can promise that when she went to bed that night, she felt loved. Ive tried to put my words on paper many, many times to write to you, but no words would ever suffice. Reporter reevas family looking on just feet away. Pistorius chose to testify off camera, audio only, telling the court hes on antidepressants. Im scared to sleep. For several reasons. But i have terrible nightmares about things that happened that night, i wake up and i smell can smell can smell blood and i wake up to being terrified. If i hear a noise, i wake up just in a complete state of terror. To the point that id rather not sleep. Reporter pistorius delved into his disability, how he doesnt have legs and how that impacts his life. Its a difficulty when i dont have my legs on. I dont have balance. Very limited mobility. Reporter pistorius told the court when he thinks about the shooting that night and the death of reeva, he has panic attacks and depends on his family for help. Obviously, if i want to handle a firearm again, ive got a Security Guard that stands outside of my front door at night. But i wake up terrified. For some reason i cant calm myself down. I phone my sister and she comes and sits by me a while, which she did. Reporter spend a lot of time on the stand talking about his disability. He is more vulnerable than most people because he cannot move around as fast and trying to explain why he shot through the bathroom door. Pistorius is back on the stand tomorrow. We will watch it all four you. Savannah. Jeff rossen at the courthouse. Thank you very much. We are joined for the first time by cynthia mcfadden. Nbcs new investigative correspondent. Cynthia, good morning, and welcome to nbc. Its a pleasure to be here, savannah. We have a lot to talk about. Before we get into the specifics of what weve heard from pistorius this morning, theres a distinction in the South African legal system when you look at what we do in this country. He really had no choice but to take the stand. Effectively, he had no choice. In the u. S. , defendants have a right against selfincrimination and many choose not to take the stand. But in south africa, the judge would be permitted to enter a finding that he didnt have a defense at all if he didnt take the stand. So effectively, he had to get up there. Basically an adverse inference against him. Correct. Now, as far as this testimony, weve heard a lot from Oscar Pistorius this morning about his background, his childhood. Certainly how he feels about his prosthetics. I can understand why you would do that before a jury. This is a case being heard by a judge. Do those kinds of facts matter as much . Sure. I mean, look, the factfinders, the judge and the two assessors, or two assistants, who by the way, if they agree with her, they can overrule her, theyre judging demeanor as well. Theyre looking for credibility. Credibility is the persons life story now. His life is essentially in his own hands. And they want to create a case i mean, the most critical issue is did he reasonably fire into a door behind which he did not know who was there . Did he reasonably take that action . Was he reasonably afraid . And so theyre trying to create a life story that would make it credible. Of course, south africa, the death rate is very high in south africa, its one of the highest in the world. But theyre saying not only was he afraid because hes a South African, he was afraid because hes a man with a disability. He was afraid because he grew up with a single mother who had a gun under her bed, as he just testified. Nbcs cynthia mcfadden, welcome, and thank you very much. What a pleasure to be here, savannah. We are glad to have you. Well be seeing you a lot more, im sure. I hope so. Well take a turn. Natalie has other stories, including renewed violence in ukraine. Good morning, everyone. Violence is erupting once again in Eastern Ukraine this morning as armed gunmen stormed government buildings in three different cities. In donetsk, prorussian activists clashed with police, demanding a referendum to join russia. Ethnic russians in the city have been protesting to secede from ukraine since russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula last month. A 1yearold girl is improving this morning after a dramatic rescue at sea. The navy and California AirNational Guard rescued a family, including their sick baby, from a disabled sailboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The 36foot sailboat hit rough waters, losing power and the ability to steer. At the same time, the 1yearold developed a fever and a rash, so the family sent out a distress signal. Were going to have much more on this incredible rescue coming up in our next hour. More than 100 people were arrested and dozens were injured when a street party turned into a riot in Southern California this weekend. About 15,000 people attended the annual del topia Spring Break Party near the Uc Santa Barbara campus. Police say some people began throwing rocks, bottles and bricks at officers. Police then used tear gas, pepper spray, and foam projectiles to break it up. Some scary moments in indiana this weekend when a hot air balloon crashed into some power lines. The dramatic incident caught on camera. Take a look. Seven people were in the balloons basket at the time. It was trying to land when it floated into the power lines, causing that small explosion you saw there. The balloon then fell to the ground. Thankfully, no one onboard was seriously hurt. And in massachusetts this weekend, a wedding venue goes up in flames just minutes after the couple said i do. The justice of the peace captured this video of the fire. As you can see, the entire building completely engulfed in flames. Everyone inside, including the approximately 150 guests got out safely. Investigators say a carelessly discarded cigarette was likely to blame. It is no surprise when a fight breaks out at a hockey game, but you probably wouldnt expect to see this as a charity game. And especially between firefighters and policemen. Take a look. This is the scene on long island on sunday. New York Fire Department facing off with the Police Department in an annual charity game. The benches then cleared. The brawl went on for 20 minutes before order was finally restored. All in the name of a good cause. By the way, if youre keeping score, the nypd went on to win 85. They were able to arrest the other players. Who brought order to that disorder . Theyll have some serious discussions about what happened there this morning. Natalie, thanks very much. Welcome back, bud. Thanks, guys. Weve got a lot of Severe Weather going on through the south. In fact, weve got flooding to talk about. This is near birmingham, alabama. People driving into these underpasses and getting flooded out, and then swift water rescues have to be made. And as we look right now on the radar, you can see weve got a lot going on. The heavy rain has moved through birmingham, but you can see what is left. These are parking lots in Apartment Buildings. Theyve had to rescue folks from the first floor using rafts. So theyre continuing to track that. And in fact, you can see on the live radar, the heaviest showers and thunderstorms now moving into mobile just to the south of atlanta. It is making its way through, and so with this rain, were seeing anywhere from two to five inches of rain, so we have flash flood warnings from mobile up into birmingham, flash flood watches into parts of georgia, including atlanta. And tornado watches today until later this morning from new orleans all the way into central alabama. Were going to get to your local forecast coming up in the next 30 seconds. Lets do a brandnew. Lets step away from the bland and let the color fly. Lets get to the one store with more numberone choices and match this or this without using too much of this. Then lets crack open a can and get to it. Paint . No. Lets do pow. Lets do this. More saving. More doing. Thats the power of the home depot. Right now get 5 off cans and 20 off buckets of behr ultra interior. Nbc bay yare eye microclimate forecast is brought to you by probiattic drink. Im meteorologist christina loren. Temperatures mostly in the 50s to start the day. Crystal clear from the coast to the inland valleys. As a result of that clear start in San Francisco, nice and north bay at 82 degrees and 84 degrees here in the south bay and those warm spring temps stay with us for most of the week and then well drop the temperatures off, bringing some showers by friday. Al, thank you very much. His career spanned a lifetime. A veteran of more than 300 films, Mickey Rooney loved to act, and he loved the limelight. You never get tired of hearing applause. For rooney, the accolades came early. Born joseph yule jr. , he began performing at just 17 months old. By the time he could walk, he was a star. His stage name became permanent, as did his place in hollywood history. A young rooney was box office gold. I was the number one star of the world over such greats as the late king gabel and Spencer Tracy and errol flynn. I was playing in a pretty big ball game at 20, 21 years of age. Standing just 53, rooney said he felt like a man 66. Excuse me for running away, betsy. Its all right. His popular andy hardy series ran for almost 20 years. Get off as fast as you can and jump sure and clean. In National Velvet he taylor. In the adventures of the black stallion. Rooney shined in what may have been his most memorable role. But he also had his critics. Some called this performance in breakfast at tiffanys racist. Once again, i must protest through it all, rooney won golden globes, emmys, and later in life, an Honorary Academy award. If anybody tells you that they arent thrilled to be nominated for an academy award, you tell them that theyre just full of baloney, because its the greatest thrill that can come to a performer in our business. He was what they used to call in show business a triple threat. He could sing, he could dance, he could act. And do them all equally well. Married eight times with 11 children, rooneys life wasnt pictureperfect. He made and also lost millions. My name is Mickey Rooney. He told congress in 2011 he had been a victim of elder abuse. Ive been abused, financially, medically. My wife and i have hungered for food at our house. I want success so. But the showman will always be remembered for his long body of work. A legacy that lives on today. That is sad news. He was on this show many times. Did some really memorable interviews. For the older among us, he was clearly an icon. I was just thinking, he really crosses many, many generations. Because of that longevity. 80year career in hollywood. Coming up, did he help his case . Were going to go back to south africa and get more on this mornings emotional testimony from Oscar Pistorius, unfolding right now. And the duke and duchess of cambridge, along with Prince George arrive in new zealand overnight. Were live on the first leg of the young royals first trip overseas. Carson, welcome back. Thank you very much. Plus, the professor that got pranked bigtime by his own class. If you havent seen the video, its priceless. All that coming up. But first, this is today on ope