The main theory New Hampshire researches are pursuing is that the massive moose dieoff is caused primarily by a devastating par sight, the winter tick. Woodruff those are just some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by ive been around long enough to recognize the people who are out there owning it. The ones getting involved, staying engaged. They are not afraid to question the path theyre on. Because the one question they never want to ask is, how did i end up here . I started schwab with those people. People who want to take ownership of their investments, like they do in every other aspect of their lives. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff hopes of finding that missing malaysian airliner were cautiously on the rise today. That followed a flurry of reports that searchers may have picked up signals from the planes black boxes. Lucy watson of independent Television News reports from beijing, where the search is being closely watched because most of those on board were chinese. Reporter an australian crew lower the key american device that could end uncertainty surrounding flight 370. Its been trawling the ocean for underwater sounds like those emitted from flight data recorders and on board they my have detected but not located them. Clearly this is a most promising lead. And probably in the search so far, its the, its probably the best information that weve had. We havent found the aircraft yet, we need further confirmation. Reporter the latest signals, or pings ,were heard here, by an australian vessel. 370 miles from where a chinese ship picked up brief sounds on saturday. The ocean shield has been circling the area and towing a pinger locator. And detections were heard on two separate occasions. The first time for two hours and 20 minutes and later another, received for around 13 minutes. If the ship picks up more pings, an underwater drone will then be sent to investigate the sea bed, some three miles down. And deep beneath that surface, it is hostile, with mountainous terrain, so any recovery will be testing. But like every other lead over the last month, its met with expectant attention. Despite all this, we are cautiously hopeful that there will be a positive development in the next few days if not hours. Wed like to tell the families weve found the location, but until we can re confirm, you know, we should not be too optimistic. We should be very measured. Because the worst thing we want to do is put the families through the Emotional Turmoil of possible but maybe false detections. Reporter so they are treading carefully. But whether its through effort, skill, or sheer good fortune, they could soon unravel this mystery. Woodruff the death toll in the Washington State mudslide rose again today, to 33. The Snohomish County medical Examiners Office confirmed three more victims, including a 30yearold naval officer. The number of missing dropped to ten. In rwanda, wails of grief punctuated a ceremony marking the genocide that ravaged the african nation 20 years ago. Its estimated more than a Million People died as ethnic hutus slaughtered minority tutsis. Some in the crowd today were so overcome, they had to be carried out. Rwandan president paul kagame told the crowd that colonial rule set the stage for the violence. The people who planned and carried out the genocide were rwandans but the history and root causes go beyond this beautiful country. This is why rwandans continue to seek the most complete explanation possible. Woodruff kagame has accused france of directly taking part in the killing. Paris was allied with the Rwandan Government that ruled before the genocide, but it denies training hutu militias to carry out the attacks. The first phase of the Worlds Largest democratic election has begun in india. Lines were long but orderly, with turnout today estimated at 74 . In all, 814 million indians are eligible to vote over the next five weeks for the lower house of parliament. The opposition Hindu Nationalist Party is expected to win big on a promise to rejuvenate the economy, but it may still fall short of a majority. The doubleamputee olympian Oscar Pistorius took the stand in his murder trial in south africa today. Hes accused of murdering his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp, but he says he thought she was an intruder. Before taking the stand, pistorius wept and covered his ears as he listened to forensic evidence. Then, out of view of the cameras, he apologized to the steenkamp 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 i have caused you and your family. I was simply trying to protect reeva. I can promise you that when she went to bed that night, she felt loved. Woodruff later, the judge adjourned the proceedings, saying pistorius looked exhausted. He returns to the stand tomorrow. The u. S. Senate moved this evening to approve a bill that restores jobless benefits for the longterm unemployed. It would cost 9. 6 billion dollars and be paid for by offsetting spending cuts elsewhere. The bill is given little chance of passing the house, but supporters said theyre willing to consider changes. As many as 2. 7 Million People have lost jobless benefits since december. Ford is the latest automaker to announce a major recall campaign. The company said today its calling back nearly 435,000 vehicles. Most are ford escapes from the model years 2001 through 2004. They could develop rust that interferes with the steering. Wall street had another losing day, as Financial Firms and tech stocks slumped. The Dow Jones Industrial average fell nearly 167 points to close below 16,246. The nasdaq was down almost 48 points to close at 4,079. And the sandp 500 gave up 20 to finish at 1,845. Still to come on the newshour prorussian protesters call for another region of ukraine to break away; whats next for afghanistan, after a calm weekend of voting; rethinking the way governments handle welfare; the alarming decline of the wild moose in parts of north america; plus, we look back at the nearly 90year career of mickey rooney; and remember literary giant, Peter Matthiessen. Woodruff ukraine is back in the spotlight again as pro russian activists have taken over government buildings in at least three cities in the countrys east. The Prime Minister claims moscow is behind this latest unrest. Woodruff they chanted the russian president s name in the ukrainian city of donetsk today, where protesters proclaimed independence, and called for a referendum to join russia. translated we are addressing you, vladimir putin, as our last hope for our future and for the future of our children. Only in russia do we see the last remaining defender of our culture of the russian world. Without the support of russia, we will find it difficult alone. Woodruff the protesters stormed the Regional Government offices in donetsk yesterday, pushing their way through a Police Cordon and into the building, and cutting down the ukrainian flag. In the hours that followed, crowds also stormed Ukrainian Government buildings in the cities of kharkiv and luhansk. Later today, the Russian News Agency interfax reported the protesters in kharkiv also declared an independent republic. The action took place in mainly russianspeaking parts of Eastern Ukraine where support for ousted, prorussian president Viktor Yanukovich had been strongest. It recalled events in crimea, several weeks ago, when russian speaking men occupied military and government sites. The region held a quick referendum and was promptly annexed by moscow. Now, there are signs that more of the country may be about to slip away. This has prompted ukrainian Prime MinisterArseny Yatseniuk to warn this new trouble is nothing less than a russian attempt at the destruction of ukraine. translated it is absolutely clear that an anti ukrainian, antidonetsk, anti luhansk and antikharkiv plan is being realized. That is a plan to destabilize the situation, a plan for foreign troops to cross the borders and seize the territory of the country which we will not allow to happen. I am sure that citizens of luhansk, donetsk and kharkiv want to live in a united country. Woodruff indeed, yatsenyuk said, as many as 10,000 Russian Forces are massed just across the border, no more than 20 miles away. In washington, the white house said any russian moves overtly or covertly into Eastern Ukraine would be a very serious escalation and likely trigger new sanctions. The kremlin rejected allegations that its fomenting the unrest in Eastern Ukraine. But secretary of state john kerry spoke with Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in a phone call. Spokesman jen psaki he called on russia to publicly disavow the activities of separatists, saboteurs and provocateurs, calling for de escalation and dialogue, and called on all parties to refrain from agitation in ukraine. He made clear that any further russian effort to destabilize ukraine will incur further costs for russia. Woodruff the Department Also announced kerry plans to meet with top diplomats from russia, ukraine and the European Union in the next ten days. Woodruff David Herszenhorn is covering this story for the New York Times from moscow. I spoke to him a short time ago. David hertz enhorn, thank you for talking herszenhorn, thank you for talk with us what is the latest you are hearing from Eastern Ukraine. We know now the government there kiev faces a critical choice to make, whether to try to move in on these protestors who have occupied government buildings throughout Eastern Ukraine or take more of a waitandsee position and not risk provoking the russian authorities. Woodruff how much is known about who these people are who have taken over the buildings and who are participating in these protests . Well, not a lot is known. There is a lot of controversy an discussion. We know in past protest like this theres been evidence of demonstrators being bused in across the russian border. There is some indication that we are seeing a repeat of that where some of these folks are from out of town. Theyre not necessarily locals. On the other hand we do know there is some genuine pro russian sentiment throughout Eastern Ukraine so we imagine its a combination of those two elements. And how is it known that some are not ukrainian . I mean are people on the ground there been talking to them . Well there have been some reports today, again, unconfirmed by us at the New York Times, but that there were some demonstrators who wrongly stormed an operahouse thinking it was the city hall that would be a clear sign that the folks arent local going into the opera and demanding to speak to the mayor there. We have seen in the past evidence of buses bringing in people, cases where the crowds were quite smaller for several days and all of a sudden magically become large are. This really begun unfolding on sunday evening. S thiss not uncommon where the weekends bring out a little bit of a, laer crowd, give more of an opportunity to bring people out to the streets. And so what he with saw were what appeared to be coordinated efforts in at least 3 cities, done etqs where people were storming government buildings, making clear that in many cases they would like to follow in the footsteps of crimea, kre creed there ukraine and join cecede from ukraine and join russia. I saw one report where people were being allegedly offered money to join prot test. There are always rumors and reports of these things throughout the former soviet space. Sometimes it is conspiracy theory, estimates it is legitimate it is hard to know. What we suspect is this is a combination of folks who have a genuine sentiment in favor of russia tlechl very apprehensive about the provisional government in kiev and folks who are supporting what is clearly an of the being supported if not orchestrated by the kremlin to stir up unrest to keep the pressure on as su sur the foreign minister tries to negotiate with john kerry about the future of ukraine what the government will look like going forward. Woodruff we know the rush arne government officially is denying this. Theyre saying theyre not responsible. What are you hearing, though, in moscow . What are you picking up . Well, what we heard from the Foreign Ministry tow was a very clear reiteration of their position. They would like to see ukraine federallized. Essentially the Central Government weaken substantially, the regons empowered in a way that makes them almost autonomous what this suggests is the kremlin realizes it doesnt have a pro russia candidate that can win in the may 25th president ial elections in ukraine. Right now there was a strong pro european sentiment coming off more than three months of civic unrest in kiev, in the ousting of former president yanukovych so, the kremlin which has many serious interests in ukraine has always looked to have a strong hand of influence over the country. A they are seeing it doesnt have a candidate it can count on as an ally that can win. So the next step seems to be a strategy by which essentially the government in kiev without become very weak. The region was become much stronger. We also know that by an exing crimea one of the side effects was that russia lost a million and a half or more pro russia voters from any National Election in ukraine. Woodruff you have been mentioning the sentiment of, pro russian sentiment in Eastern Ukraine. Is it known how deep that was, how wide spread it is . I mean are there surveys . Is there any kind of an authoritative sense in that. No, there really isnt. We understand that there are quite a large number of people who identify themselves as ethnic russians, russians that predominant language in the east of ukraine. At the same time ukrainians are proud of their country. And we find that there are many people as we interview them on the streets who would prefer to see ukraine as an independent country. We know they are a powerful businessman, business interests including the richest machine in ukraine, who said that ukraine should remain a strong and independent country that this is important. His base of operations in the east of ukraine. So there really is a division of opinion, much different than the situation on the Crimean Peninsula where Public Opinion was overwhelmingly in support of russia, in support of becoming a part of the russian federation. Here we think it would be a much different situation on the ground if they were to hold the kind of public referendum that some of these demonstrators are demanding. Its not clear it would be the absolute overwhelming support in favor of moving away from ukraine toward russia that we saw in crimea. Finally, david, what is known about how many Russian Troops are massed on the border there of ukraine . Well, this is an interesting question. The pentagon has put out numbers in the tens of thousands. Intelligence reports showing that maybe 30 to 40,000 troops have amassed on the border. Reporters who have been on the ground there including my colleagues havent seen that big a presence. They have seen some equipment. They have seen helicopters, there is no question that russia can move a large number of troops quite quickly into the Western Region of russia acrosstheboard or into ukraine if 2 choose to do that. One thing we learned is this is a new russian military, especially the special forces, the more elite units have been upgraded substantially. Theyve got new equip, new training, theyre positioned to do quite a rapid mobilization if necessary. What we think the west is most concerned about is if would be a dramatic invasion, mobilization of tanks rolling into the east of ukraine, really making a demonstration of Russian Force there. And while there have been some reports of a pullback, some of the troops that president putin said were engaged in military exercises, that they have left the region, we do believe there is enough of a presence there that if they wanted to move forward they could do that rather quickly and the white house has certainly been warning about that. And that certainly would change the picture dramatically if they did. David, herszenhorn in moscow, thank you very much. Woodruff to afghanistan now, where, in a blow to the taliban, a majority of eligible voters came out publicly over the weekend to cast ballots in an historic election. Chief Foreign Affairs correspondent Margaret Warner reports. Warner ballots by the truckload were brought to kabul from the far reaches of afghanistan, as the painstaking process of tabulating the saturday vote totals began in earnest. translated the sensitive and nonsensitive material including the results from districts of almost 15 provinc