:00:20. > :00:24.Good afternoon. 239 passengers and crew are feared dead after a plane
:00:25. > :00:30.travelling between Malaysia and China vanished over the Pacific
:00:31. > :00:33.Ocean. Officials in Vietnam said two large oil slicks have been spotted
:00:34. > :00:39.in the sea off the country's southern coast. No distress signals
:00:40. > :00:42.were received. The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was travelling between
:00:43. > :00:49.Kuala Lumpur and Beijing when it disappeared from the radar, two
:00:50. > :00:52.hours into its journey. It was flying over the South China Sea at
:00:53. > :01:04.the time. Jonathan Head is in Kuala Lumpur.
:01:05. > :01:10.It has been 24 hours almost exact to lease its flight MH370 departed from
:01:11. > :01:14.here at Kuala Lumpur airport, 22 hours since it vanished from radar
:01:15. > :01:18.screens. Despite news of that oil slick and an extensive search effort
:01:19. > :01:21.by the Malaysian authorities, together with Vietnamese ships and
:01:22. > :01:24.an aircraft from Singapore, we are still no closer to knowing what
:01:25. > :01:29.happened to that missing plane. There is some flash photography in
:01:30. > :01:33.my report. What caused one of the safest airliners in the skies to
:01:34. > :01:37.disappear somewhere over the South China Sea?
:01:38. > :01:41.That is the formidable challenge now confronting the Malaysian
:01:42. > :01:47.authorities. So far, they are struggling to find even a trace of
:01:48. > :01:50.the missing Boeing 777. Fat hour after hour, family members were
:01:51. > :01:54.ushered in and out of the area set aside for them here at Kuala Lumpur
:01:55. > :01:59.airport, but there was nothing anyone could tell them. This has
:02:00. > :02:04.chilling echoes of an Air France flight that vanished at night over
:02:05. > :02:09.the Atlantic in 2009. It took three years, and a gruelling investigation
:02:10. > :02:14.to pinpoint the cause of that accident, a faulty speed indicator.
:02:15. > :02:23.It could be a long time before what happened to MH370 is known. Today's
:02:24. > :02:27.aeroplanes are credibly reliable, and you do not get some sudden
:02:28. > :02:32.structural failure in flight. It's just doesn't happen. It won't
:02:33. > :02:36.happen. The Malaysian prime minister came to talk to the families and let
:02:37. > :02:40.them know what his government is doing. The search will continue
:02:41. > :02:47.overnight and into tomorrow, in the hope of finding the first vital
:02:48. > :02:54.clues. Given the fact that this airline is
:02:55. > :02:57.the pride of this country, it is of enormous importance to Malaysia to
:02:58. > :03:02.find out what happened. It is also important to Boeing. There are
:03:03. > :03:05.something like 1000 aircraft of this kind in service. It has an
:03:06. > :03:09.impressive safety record, so everybody is pinning their hopes on
:03:10. > :03:11.some clues being found soon, and perhaps some of the causes behind
:03:12. > :03:14.the missing plane. International observers have been
:03:15. > :03:18.turned away from Crimea for the third day running. Warning shots
:03:19. > :03:21.were fired as the team approached. The interim government in Kiev has
:03:22. > :03:27.insisted that the observers must be allowed into Crimea, which Russian
:03:28. > :03:38.forces currently control. My colleague, Ben Brown, is in
:03:39. > :03:42.Sevastopol. Tell us more? Yes, this is a team of about 50 international
:03:43. > :03:46.observers from the OSCE, representing 28 countries including
:03:47. > :03:50.Britain. They have been trying for three days running to get into
:03:51. > :03:55.Crimea. Every day, armed groups of pro-Russians have stopped them. But
:03:56. > :04:00.today, there was an additional air of menace because warning shots were
:04:01. > :04:05.fired. Three bursts of automatic gunfire were fired. That is really
:04:06. > :04:10.alarming. It will be seen as a slap in the face for the OSCE and a slap
:04:11. > :04:13.in the face for the international community, and another show of
:04:14. > :04:16.Russian defiance in Crimea. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury,
:04:17. > :04:19.Danny Alexander, has strongly hinted that this month's Budget will
:04:20. > :04:23.include a rise in the personal tax allowance to ?10,500. He has been
:04:24. > :04:30.speaking at the Liberal Democrats' spring conference in New York. -- in
:04:31. > :04:38.York. From there, our Political Correspondent Vicki Young reports.
:04:39. > :04:42.Shame on you! Demonstrating against government cuts, the union said
:04:43. > :04:45.people are worse off as changes to benefits, but the Lib Dems insists
:04:46. > :04:49.they are putting money back in work diplomat gives. From next month,
:04:50. > :04:53.most will be able to earn ?10,000 before paying any income tax, and
:04:54. > :04:58.the party is desperate to claim the credit. This tax break was punished
:04:59. > :05:01.by the Liberal Democrats, but resisted by the Conservatives.
:05:02. > :05:06.Fought for by the Liberal Democrats, and people know it is being
:05:07. > :05:10.delivered by the Liberal Democrats. With the Budget approaching, there
:05:11. > :05:13.could be more treats to hand out . A further rise in the personal
:05:14. > :05:17.allowance is on the cards, so do staff at this chocolate shop think
:05:18. > :05:22.it will make a difference? Not with increasing prices and the cost of
:05:23. > :05:25.living and everything in general, it will not make much of a difference.
:05:26. > :05:29.In terms of everything that is going on, especially energy prices, I
:05:30. > :05:34.don't know if the consumer will feel a right impact as they are hoping.
:05:35. > :05:38.Fantastic. Yeah, a bit extra for me. Even the pounds add up and it
:05:39. > :05:44.would be great. For the future, the Lib Dems have more ambitious plans,
:05:45. > :05:48.announcing today that lifting the income tax threshold to ?12,500 will
:05:49. > :05:52.be a priority if there are coalition talks after the next election. With
:05:53. > :05:56.money so tight, there has been little in the way of giveaways to
:05:57. > :05:59.voters, so it is no surprise that there has been a huge battle within
:06:00. > :06:05.the coalition for ownership of this tax-cutting policy. The Lib Dems and
:06:06. > :06:07.the Tories want voters to thank them for the few extra pounds in their
:06:08. > :06:10.pocket. The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, has
:06:11. > :06:13.told the BBC that if his party wins the next election, Labour would
:06:14. > :06:16.bring in a new law making it illegal to abuse or discriminate against
:06:17. > :06:19.members of the armed forces, putting it on a par with hate crimes. Mr
:06:20. > :06:24.Miliband, who visited Afghanistan, also told British troops that the
:06:25. > :06:27.job there is not yet done. He said there would need to be a continuing
:06:28. > :06:33.commitment when combat operations cease at the end of the year.
:06:34. > :06:36.Britain has won its first medal at the Winter Paralympics in Sochi.
:06:37. > :06:39.Skier Jade Etherington, with her guide, Caroline Powell, took silver
:06:40. > :06:44.in the women's downhill for visually impaired athletes. It is Britain's
:06:45. > :06:50.first Winter Paralympic medal since 2006. From Sochi, Nick Hope reports.
:06:51. > :06:53.Jade Etherington and her guide, Caroline Powell, were only paired
:06:54. > :06:58.together last year, but their rise to the top of the sport has been
:06:59. > :07:01.outstanding. They won major World Cup honours for the first time in
:07:02. > :07:05.January. Success at the Paralympics was their next aim. Etherington, who
:07:06. > :07:10.suffers from glaucoma, only has 5% vision, but produced a superb run.
:07:11. > :07:13.Only four-time gold medallist Henrieta Farkasova, from Slovakia,
:07:14. > :07:16.could finish ahead. Excitement briefly turned to fear as
:07:17. > :07:20.Etherington lost control after crossing the line. Luckily, she
:07:21. > :07:22.wasn't hurt and was soon able to celebrate her momentous achievement,
:07:23. > :07:28.becoming the first British woman to win a Paralympic medal on the snow.
:07:29. > :07:32.I'm an official proud Paralympian now, so it's a great feeling, and
:07:33. > :07:38.good to get the flowers and just get into that movement. I'm really proud
:07:39. > :07:41.of me and Caroline working together today. An incredible achievement for
:07:42. > :07:45.Jade Etherington and her guide, Caroline Powell. They hope to bring
:07:46. > :07:48.that momentum now into their four other events, and potentially, it
:07:49. > :07:51.could be the catalyst for further success for Great Britain here in
:07:52. > :07:56.Sochi. Nick Hope, BBC News, at the Winter Paralympics in Russia.
:07:57. > :08:01.There is more throughout the evening on the BBC News Channel. We are back
:08:02. > :08:03.with the latest news at 10.10. Now on BBC One, time for the news where
:08:04. > :08:04.you are.