We track the latest updates regarding the missing Malaysia Airlines flight between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing.

29 April 9.40 am: Australian Exploration Company claims plane is in Bay of Bengal

An Australian marine exploration company has claimed that it has found the wreckage of the crashed Malaysian plane in the Bay of Bengal, 5,000 km away from the current search location in the Indian Ocean, according to a PTI report.

Adelaide-based GeoResonance said it had begun its own search for the missing flight MH370 on March 10 and that it has detected possible wreckage in the Bay of Bengal, 5000km away from the current search location, the Star newspaper reported.

GeoResonance's search covered 2,000,000 square kilometres of the possible crash zone, using images obtained from satellites and aircraft.

End of updates for 22 April

4.00 pm: Material on Australian shore examined in jet hunt

Unidentified material that has washed ashore in southwestern Australia is being examined for any link to the lost Malaysian plane, authorities said on Wednesday, reports Associated Press.

Police secured the material, washed ashore 10 kilometers (6 miles) east of Augusta in Western Australia state. The material has not been described. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is examining photographs to assess whether further investigation is needed and if the material is relevant to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

End of updates for 19 April

12.30 pm: Deep-sea drone diving to unprecedented levels

US Navy deep-sea drone is diving to unprecedented depths to scour a remote stretch of the Indian Ocean floor for a missing Malaysian jetliner, says a report from Reuters.

The Bluefin-21 and its "side scan" sonar has become the focal point of the search 2,000 km (1,200 miles) west of the Australian city of Perth, where authorities believe Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 hit the ocean after disappearing from radars on March 8 with 239 people on board.

End of updates for 17 April

3.40 pm: Search refocuses on drone scans of seafloor

A deep-sea drone completed its much-anticipated first full scan of the seabed in the remote Indian Ocean, the team looking for a missing Malaysian jetliner said on Thursday, as an air and surface search became less likely to yield results.

Footage from a US Navy deep-sea drone is fast becoming the most important tool for a multinational team searching for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared from radar screens on 8 March with 239 people aboard.

A sample taken from an oil slick in the same area, some 2,000 km (1,240 miles) west of the Australian city of Perth, is also being analysed. Authorities believe that is the most likely area where the missing jet hit the ocean after disappearing.

9.00 am: Robot submarine completes first successful 16-hour mission in third attempt

The robotic submarine Bluefin 21 has completed its first full 16-hour mission scanning the floor of the Indian Ocean for wreckage of the missing Malaysian airliner after two previous missions were cut short by technical problems and deep water, authorities said on Thursday, reports Associated Press.

The reports adds the submarine had covered 90 square kilometers (35 square miles) of the silt-covered sea bed off the west Australian coast in its first three missions, the search coordination center said on Thursday. While data collected by the sub from its latest mission, which ended overnight, was still being analysed, nothing of note had yet been discovered, the centre said.

End of updates for 16 April

1.17 pm: Robot submarine returns to water

A mini-submarine making its second dive in the hunt for Malaysian jet MH370 encountered a "technical difficulty" and resurfaced on Wednesday, officials said, after the first mission also aborted.

The Associated Press quoted Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) as saying "The Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, Bluefin-21, was forced to resurface this morning to rectify a technical issue." "Bluefin-21 was then redeployed and it is currently continuing its underwater search."

Data was downloaded from the unmanned vehicle while on the deck of the Australian vessel Ocean Shield, which has led the search for the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 that vanished on 8 March with 239 people aboard.

"Initial analysis of the data downloaded this morning indicates no significant detections," JACC said.

8.00 am: Robot submarine returns to water

A robotic submarine looking for the lost Malaysian jet continued its second seabed search on Wednesday. The US Navy's Bluefin 21 submarine began its second 20-hour underwater mission on Tuesday.

The first mission was cut short as the submarine encountered waters deeper than its prescribed safety limit.

End of updates for 15 April

8.30 am: Robotic submarine gets ready for second mission

The mini-sub hunting for Malaysian jet MH370 is preparing to make a second mission to the remote Indian Ocean seabed, reports AFP.

The first search mission was aborted as the Bluefin 21 encountered waters deeper than its operating limit. The unmanned submarine loaded with sonar was sent out to map the ocean floor from the Australian ship Ocean Shield on Monday night.

7.00 am: Search area too deep for submarine

According to an Associated Press report, the search area for the missing Malaysian jet has proved too deep for a robotic submarine which was hauled back to the surface of the Indian Ocean less than half way through its first seabed hunt for wreckage and the all-important black boxes.

Search crews sent the Bluefin 21 deep into the Indian Ocean on Monday. But the robotic submarine had to return in just six hours of its planned 16 hour mission, as the vehicle had exceeded its maximum depth limit of 15,000 feet

End of updates for 14 April

3.00 pm: An Oil slick has been detected in the Indian Ocean within the search area

Search crews will for the first time send a robotic submarine deep into the Indian Ocean on Monday to try to determine whether underwater signals detected by sound-locating equipment are from the missing Malaysian jet's black boxes, the leader of the search effort said.

Associated Press reported, the crew on board the Australian navy's Ocean Shield will launch the unmanned underwater vehicle Monday evening, said Angus Houston, the head of a joint agency coordinating the search off Australia's west coast. The Bluefin 21 autonomous sub can create a three-dimensional sonar map of the area to chart any debris on the seafloor.

The move comes after crews picked up a series of underwater sounds over the past two weeks that were consistent with an aircraft's black boxes, which contain flight data and cockpit voice recordings. The devices have beacons that emit "pings" so they can be more easily found, but the beacons' batteries last only about a month, and it has been more than a month since the plane vanished.

"We haven't had a single detection in six days, so I guess it's time to go under water," Houston said.

But Houston warned that while the signals are a promising lead, the public needs to be realistic about the challenges facing search crews, who are contending with an extremely remote, deep patch of ocean — an area he dubbed "new to man."

"I would caution you against raising hopes that the deployment of the autonomous underwater vehicle will result in the detection of the aircraft wreckage. It may not," Houston said. "However, this is the best lead we have, and it must be pursued vigorously. Again, I emphasize that this will be a slow and painstaking process."

1.15 pm: An Oil slick has been detected in the Indian Ocean within the search area

An oil slick has been detected in the Indian Ocean within the search area for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 but has yet to be analysed, the Australian leading the operation said Monday, reports AFP.

"I can report that (Australian ship) Ocean Shield detected an oil slick yesterday evening in her current search area," Angus Houston said.

12.30 pm: Most Malaysians believe that their government is hiding information on MH370

More than half of Malaysians believe their government is hiding information about missing flight MH370, according to survey results released by a news portal on Monday, says a report by Associated Press.

Fifty-four percent of more than 1,000 people surveyed by Malaysia's leading independent polling firm said the government was not being transparent about the passenger jet's disappearance, the Malaysian Insider reported.

10.00 am: Underwater vehicle to be deployed in search

Search crews will for the first time send a sub deep into the Indian Ocean to try to determine whether signals detected by sound-locating equipment are from the missing Malaysian plane's black boxes, the Australian head of the search said Monday, reports Associated Press.

Angus Houston said the crew on board the Ocean Shield will launch the underwater vehicle as soon as possible. The Bluefin 21 autonomous sub can create a sonar map of the area to chart any debris on the seafloor.

9.41 am: Mini-sub to deploy 'as soon as possible' in MH370 search, says official?

The sub is expected to help in the underwater search for the debris of the plane. But given the fading signals, locating the black box still remains a difficult task for the crew.

8.00 am: Missing Malaysia plane's black box batteries may have died

The hunt for the missing Malaysian airliner continued to focus Monday on a search for weakening radio signals from deep beneath the waves despite mounting evidence that the batteries in the plane's all-important black boxes may finally have died, says an AP report.

Following four strong underwater signals earlier this month, all has gone quiet in the hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777.

The search coordination center said early Monday that no new electronic pings have been detected since Tuesday.

End of updates for 12 April

2:30 pm: Australian PM says search for plane may take longer than expected

With no new underwater signals detected, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Saturday that the massive search for the Malaysian jet would likely continue "for a long time" as electronic transmissions from the dying black boxes were fading fast.

Abbott appeared to couch his comments from a day earlier while on a visit to China, where he met President Xi Jinping. He said Friday he was "very confident" signals heard by an Australian ship towing a US Navy device that detects flight recorder pings are coming from the Boeing 777.

He continued to express this belief on Saturday, but added that the job of finding the plane that disappeared March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing remains arduous.

11:30 pm: Did co-pilot make call from his mobile phone after flight vanished from radar?

The co-pilot of missing Malaysian airliner MH370 attempted to make a mid-flight call from his mobile phone just before the plane vanished from radar screens, a report said Saturday citing unnamed investigators.

The call ended abruptly possibly "because the aircraft was fast moving away from the (telecommunications) tower", The New Straits Times quoted a source as saying.

But the Malaysian daily also quoted another source saying that while Fariq Abdul Hamid's "line was reattached", there was no certainty that a call was made from the Boeing 777 that vanished on March 8.

The report -- titled a "desperate call for help" -- did not say who he was trying to contact.

Fariq and Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah have come under intense scrutiny after the plane mysteriously vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

The NST report said that Flight 370 flew low enough near Penang island on Malaysia's west coast -- after turning off course -- for a telecommunications tower to pick up the co-pilot's phone signal.

The phone line was "reattached" between the time the plane veered off course and blipped off the radar, the government-controlled paper quoted the second source as saying.

A 'reattachment' does not necessarily mean that a call was made. It can also be the result of the phone being switched on again."

Malaysia's transport ministry told AFP that it was examining the NST report and will issue a response.

11.00 am: Fading signals add to urgency around search operations

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott warned on Friday that signals picked up during the search in the remote southern Indian Ocean, believed to be "pings" from the black box recorders, were fading, reports Reuters.

The black box record batteries are likely to die out within a month. Batteries in the black box recorder are already past their normal 30-day life, making the search to find it on the murky sea bed all the more urgent.

Searchers plan to deploy a small unmanned "robot" known as an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle once they are confident of the location.



End of updates for 11 April

8.40 am: Confident that pings are from MH370, says Australia PM

Australia's prime minister says searchers hunting for the missing Malaysian jetliner are confident underwater signals that have been picked up are coming from the jet's black box.

Tony Abbott told reporters while on an official visit to China that Australian authorities are confident they know the location of the black box from the plane that disappeared without a trace on March 8 during a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing.

7.30 am: Fifth possible signal heard in search for MH370 jet

An air and sea hunt for the missing Malaysian jet resumed Friday in the same swath of the southern Indian Ocean where an underwater sensor made the fifth detection of a signal in recent days, raising hopes that searchers are closing in on what could be a flight recorder, according to an Associated Press report.

An Australian air force P-3 Orion, which has been dropping sonar buoys into the water near where four sounds were heard earlier, picked up a "possible signal" on Thursday that may be from a man-made source, said Angus Houston, who is coordinating the search for Flight 370 off Australia's west coast.

End of updates for 10 April

15.10 pm: Official says searchers detect underwater signal in hunt for missing Malaysian plane

Official says searchers detect underwater signal in hunt for missing Malaysian plane. An Australian official says a search crew hunting for the missing Malaysian jet has located a new possible underwater signal, reports Associated Press.

The search agency coordinating the search off Australia's west coast says an Australian navy aircraft on Thursday picked up a signal in the same area a ship first heard sounds consistent with an aircraft's black boxes earlier this week.

The aircraft dropped sound-locating buoys by parachute in a pattern near where the signals were last heard.

Angus Houston, who is heading up the search, said in a statement that the plane picked up a "possible signal" that may be from a man-made source.

7.50 am: Planes and ships hunting for the missing Malaysian jetliner zeroed in on a targeted patch of the Indian Ocean on Thursday, after a navy ship picked up underwater signals that are consistent with a plane's black box, reports Associated Press.

According to the report, Thursday's search zone was the smallest yet in the monthlong search for Flight 370 — 57,923 square kilometers (22,364 square miles) of ocean.

Angus Houston, who is coordinating the search off Australia's west coast, said Wednesday that equipment on the Australian vessel Ocean Shield had picked up two sounds from deep below the surface on Tuesday, and an analysis of two other sounds detected in the same general area on Saturday showed they were consistent with a plane's flight recorders, or "black boxes."

Two pings had been picked up on Tuesday.

End of updates from 9 April

4:30 pm: US ship withdraws from search for missing Malaysia jet

AFP reports a US naval ship that has been aiding the international search for a missing Malaysian airliner will be withdrawn from the effort, Pentagon officials said Monday.

The decision to take the USS Kidd off the search was taken because the search area was now so extensive that it was more efficient to look for the jet using surveillance aircraft, officials said.

The guided missile destroyer had joined the massive hunt last week and had shifted its focus west to the Andaman Sea on the request of the Malaysian government.

The Kidd, with a MH-60 helicopter on board, had completed a search of 15,000 square miles but "no debris or wreckage associated with an aircraft was found," it said.

At one point both the Kidd and another US destroyer were taking part in the search but now the US navy planned to rely on a P-8 Poseidon plane and a P-3 Orion aircraft for the effort, officials said.

"With the search area expanding into the southern Indian Ocean, long-range patrol aircraft such as the P-8A Poseidon and P-3C Orion are more suited to the current SAR (search and rescue) mission," the US Pacific Fleet said in a statement.

1.32 pm: How searchers are looking for the MH370 black box

Searchers looking for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane have discovered new signals consistent with those emitted by so-called black boxes in the Indian Ocean, but they do not want to send a submersible down yet to look for the plane. For now, they will continue to use the towed pinger locator to get a better fix on the location. Here's why:

The Australian navy vessel Ocean Shield picked up the signals using a US Navy device called a towed pinger locator. It's essentially a long cable with a listening device, or hydrophone, attached to the end. It's pulled behind the boat at a depth of 3 kilometers (1.9 miles).

The pinger locator is designed to detect signals at a range of 1.8 kilometers (1.2 miles), meaning it would need to be almost on top of the black boxes — the flight data and voice recorders — to detect them if they were on the ocean floor, which is 4.5 kilometers (3 miles) under the surface.

The first signal from the black boxes was picked up Saturday evening and lasted two hours and 20 minutes before it was lost as the ship moved forward. The ship then turned around and a few hours later picked up a second signal that lasted for 13 minutes. It picked up signals again on Tuesday.

The signals picked up twice on Tuesday lasted 5 and a half minutes and 7 minutes but they were weaker, indicating that the black boxes are running out of battery. They have a stated shelf-life of 30 days, but sometimes they last longer. The plane disappeared just over a month ago, on 8 March. The signals have given searchers a better idea of the location of the devices, which are now believed to be within a roughly 20-kilometer (12-mile) radius. Still, that is a 1,300-square -kilometer (500-square-mile) plot of the ocean floor, an area as wide as a large city.

___

Why not send an underwater craft?

When crews determine the best possible location, the next step will be to send down the US Navy's autonomous underwater vessel Bluefin 21, an unmanned submersible that can create a sonar map of the seafloor and any wreckage, as well as take photos.

But the sonar can scan only about 100 meters (330 feet). As for its ability to take photos, it can see with lights and cameras only a few meters away in a landscape that is completely dark.

So, even after the search area has been narrowed down, deploying the underwater vehicle now to find the black boxes would be the equivalent of looking for a desktop computer-sized object in a city the size of Los Angeles.

This means the Bluefin 21 will take six times longer to cover the same area than it does the towed pinger locator.

11.20 am: Ocean debris left by jet depends on angle, speed of aircraft

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.

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.

As far as the plane landing safely on water, the chances are very slim. According to Graham Edkins, a former Australian government senior air crash investigator, said it requires an almost unbelievable confluence of skill, conditions and luck.

More details here.

9.55 am: Details emerge on the two new pings that have been located

According to agency reports, one ping was detected on Tuesday afternoon and lasted five minutes, 25 seconds, while a second was picked up on Tuesday night and lasted seven minutes. The pings are a hopeful sign that ship could be found soon.

MH370 went missing on 8 March, nearly a month back with 239 people on board. The batteries on the ship's blackboxes will run out this month and thus it is crucial that the ship is found soon, if the investigators are to know what went wrong with the plane that caused it to crash.

8.30 am: Two more signals located

According to an AP alert, Australian official have said that the search equipment has relocated underwater signal in hunt for missing jet. More updates as they unfold.

A ship searching for the missing Malaysian jet has detected two more underwater signals, raising hopes the wreckage of the plane will be spotted soon, the Australian official in charge of the search said Wednesday, reports Associated Press.

Angus Houston, the head of a joint agency coordinating the search for the missing plane in the southern Indian Ocean, said that the Australian navy's Ocean Shield picked up the two signals in a sweep on Tuesday.

"I think we are looking in the right area but I am not prepared to confirm anything until such time someone lays eyes on the wreckage," he said.

The Ocean Shield first detected the sounds late Saturday and early Sunday before losing them, but managed to find them again on Tuesday, Houston said. The ship is equipped with a US Navy towed pinger locator that is designed to pick up signals from a plane's black boxes — the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder.

End of updates 9 April

10.00 am: Hunt for MH370 will be most expensive ever in aviation history

The hunt for missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 will cost millions of dollars, becoming the most expensive search in aviation history with 26 countries contributing planes, ships, submarines and satellites to the international effort, says a Reuters report.

A month into the search for the jet, estimates compiled by Reuters show that at least $44 million has already been spent on the deployment of military ships and aircraft in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea by Australia, China, the United States and Vietnam. The figure is based on defence force statistics on available hourly costs of various assets, estimates by defence analysts and costs reported by the Pentagon.

9.00 am: Ships hunting for more pings, but unable to reconfirm earlier signals

Search crews hunting for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet have failed to relocate faint sounds heard deep below the Indian Ocean that officials said were consistent with a plane's black boxes, the head of the search operation said Tuesday, reports Associated Press.

Angus Houston, the retired Australian air chief marshal who is heading the search operation far off Australia's west coast, said sound locating equipment on board the Ocean Shield has picked up no trace of the signals since they were first heard late Saturday and early Sunday.

Time is running out to find the devices, whose locator beacons have a battery life of about a month. Tuesday marks exactly one month since the plane vanished.

8.00 am: Search for MH370 moves underwater

A robotic search vehicle is likely to be sent deep into the Indian Ocean on Tuesday, to look for wreckage of a missing Malaysian jetliner on the sea floor, as officials say the chance of finding anything on the surface has dwindled, reports Reuters.

Angus Houston, head of the Australian agency coordinating the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, said the month-long hunt was at a critical stage given the black box recorder batteries were dying - or had died.

An Australian ship that picked up signals consistent with the beacons from aircraft black box recorders over the weekend had not registered any further pulses, Houston said.

End of updates for 7 April

9:45 am: Officials say signals detected consistent with black box signals

An Australian official overseeing the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane says underwater sounds picked up by equipment on an Australian navy ship are consistent with transmissions from black box recorders on a plane.

Angus Houston, the head of a joint agency coordinating the search in the southern Indian Ocean, calls it "very encouraging."

But he said Monday that it may take days to confirm whether signals picked up by the ship Ocean Shield are indeed from the flight recorders on Flight 370.

He says the position of the noise needs to be further refined, and then an underwater autonomous vehicle can be sent in to investigate.

7:00 am: Specialised British ship joins search efforts

A British navy ship with sophisticated sound-locating equipment arrived Monday in a patch of the southern Indian Ocean to determine whether underwater sounds picked up by a Chinese ship crew using a hand-held device came from the missing Malaysia Airlines black boxes.

Britain reported the HMS Echo had arrived in the new area. It will be in a race against time to determine what the noises are, because the battery-powered pingers that emit sounds from the black boxes are on the verge of dying out.

Meanwhile, the Australian navy ship Ocean Shield, which is carrying high-tech sound detectors from the U.S. Navy, was investigating a sound it picked up in another area about 555 kilometers (345 miles) away.

Australian authorities said once it had finished that investigation, it would head the new area to help the HMS Echo. Searchers on Monday were anticipating good weather, with nine military planes, three civilian planes and a total of 14 ships expected to search for Flight MH370, which vanished a month ago.

End of updates for 5 April

7.29 pm: Chinese vessels fail to find confirmed clues from missing jet

After detecting signals possibly from the black box of the missing Malaysian plane, China's search vessels failed to find any confirmed clues today to conclusively establish that the pings are from the MH370.

Vessels of China's ministry of transport searching for the missing passenger jet have searched a total of 136,000 square kilometers by midday today, Zhuo Li, an official with the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center, said.

10.30 am: ‘Pulse signals’ in MH370 search remain unverified

The head of the multinational search for the missing Malaysia airlines jet says that electronic pulses reportedly picked up by a Chinese ship are an encouraging sign but stresses they are not yet verified, reports Associated Press.

Retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston told reporters in Perth that two naval ships with high-technology equipment are being sent to the area where the signals were reported to try to confirm or rule out whether they were from the missing plane's flight recorders.

8.45 am: Chinese ship searching for MH370 detects signal

A Chinese patrol ship searching for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 detected a pulse signal with a frequency of 37.5 kHz per second in the south Indian Ocean on Saturday, state news agency Xinhua reported.

37.5 kHz per second is currently the international standard frequency for the underwater locator beacon on a plane's "black box".

However it is not clear whether the signal is connected to the missing MH370 flight.

End of updates for 4 April

10.20 am: 2 ships to start black box hunt for MH370

Crews searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet launched a targeted underwater hunt on Friday for the plane's black boxes along a stretch of remote ocean, with just days left before the devices' batteries are expected to run out.

The Australian navy ship Ocean Shield, which is dragging a towed pinger locator from the US Navy, and the British navy's HMS Echo, which has underwater search gear on board, will converge along a 240-kilometer (150-mile) track in a desolate patch of the southern Indian Ocean, said Angus Houston, the head of a joint agency coordinating the search.

End of updates for 3 April

8.40 am: Malaysia PM arrives in Australia as search for MH370 continues

Malaysia's prime minister on Thursday arrived at the Australian air force base serving as a hub for the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak met with his Australian counterpart, Tony Abbott, at the base near the west coast city of Perth, and received a briefing by Angus Houston.

9:45 am: Officials say signals detected consistent with black box signals

An Australian official overseeing the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane says underwater sounds picked up by equipment on an Australian navy ship are consistent with transmissions from black box recorders on a plane.

Angus Houston, the head of a joint agency coordinating the search in the southern Indian Ocean, calls it "very encouraging."

But he said Monday that it may take days to confirm whether signals picked up by the ship Ocean Shield are indeed from the flight recorders on Flight 370.

He says the position of the noise needs to be further refined, and then an underwater autonomous vehicle can be sent in to investigate.

7:00 am: Specialised British ship joins search efforts

A British navy ship with sophisticated sound-locating equipment arrived Monday in a patch of the southern Indian Ocean to determine whether underwater sounds picked up by a Chinese ship crew using a hand-held device came from the missing Malaysia Airlines black boxes.

Britain reported the HMS Echo had arrived in the new area. It will be in a race against time to determine what the noises are, because the battery-powered pingers that emit sounds from the black boxes are on the verge of dying out.

Meanwhile, the Australian navy ship Ocean Shield, which is carrying high-tech sound detectors from the U.S. Navy, was investigating a sound it picked up in another area about 555 kilometers (345 miles) away.

Australian authorities said once it had finished that investigation, it would head the new area to help the HMS Echo. Searchers on Monday were anticipating good weather, with nine military planes, three civilian planes and a total of 14 ships expected to search for Flight MH370, which vanished a month ago.

End of updates for 5 April

7.29 pm: Chinese vessels fail to find confirmed clues from missing jet

After detecting signals possibly from the black box of the missing Malaysian plane, China's search vessels failed to find any confirmed clues today to conclusively establish that the pings are from the MH370.

Vessels of China's ministry of transport searching for the missing passenger jet have searched a total of 136,000 square kilometers by midday today, Zhuo Li, an official with the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center, said.

10.30 am: ‘Pulse signals’ in MH370 search remain unverified

The head of the multinational search for the missing Malaysia airlines jet says that electronic pulses reportedly picked up by a Chinese ship are an encouraging sign but stresses they are not yet verified, reports Associated Press.

Retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston told reporters in Perth that two naval ships with high-technology equipment are being sent to the area where the signals were reported to try to confirm or rule out whether they were from the missing plane's flight recorders.

8.45 am: Chinese ship searching for MH370 detects signal

A Chinese patrol ship searching for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 detected a pulse signal with a frequency of 37.5 kHz per second in the south Indian Ocean on Saturday, state news agency Xinhua reported.

37.5 kHz per second is currently the international standard frequency for the underwater locator beacon on a plane's "black box".

However it is not clear whether the signal is connected to the missing MH370 flight.

End of updates for 4 April

10.20 am: 2 ships to start black box hunt for MH370

Crews searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet launched a targeted underwater hunt on Friday for the plane's black boxes along a stretch of remote ocean, with just days left before the devices' batteries are expected to run out.

The Australian navy ship Ocean Shield, which is dragging a towed pinger locator from the US Navy, and the British navy's HMS Echo, which has underwater search gear on board, will converge along a 240-kilometer (150-mile) track in a desolate patch of the southern Indian Ocean, said Angus Houston, the head of a joint agency coordinating the search.

End of updates for 3 April

8.40 am: Malaysia PM arrives in Australia as search for MH370 continues

Malaysia's prime minister on Thursday arrived at the Australian air force base serving as a hub for the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak met with his Australian counterpart, Tony Abbott, at the base near the west coast city of Perth, and received a briefing by Angus Houston, the head of a joint agency coordinating the search.

End of updates for 2 April

13.50 pm: Malaysia narrows criminal probe to crew of missing flight

Malaysia is focusing its criminal investigation on the cabin crew and pilots of a missing Malaysia Airlines plane, after clearing all 227 passengers of any involvement, the country's police chief was reported as saying on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

National police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said the passengers had been cleared of possible involvement in hijacking, sabotage or having personal or psychological problems that could have been connected to the flight's disappearance on March 8. "They have been cleared of the four," he was quoted as saying by state news agency Bernama.

Malaysian authorities have still not ruled out mechanical problems as causing the disappearance, but say evidence suggests the plane was deliberately diverted from its scheduled route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

10.40 am: Malaysia police chief warns mystery of Jet might not be solved

The investigation into what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 may take a long time and may never determine the cause of the tragedy, Malaysia's national police chief warned on Wednesday, reports Associated Press.

Khalid Abu Bakar said the criminal investigation was still focused on four areas — hijacking, sabotage and personal or psychological problems of those on board the plane.

"Investigations may go on and on and on. We have to clear every little thing," Khalid said. "At the end of the investigations, we may not even know the real cause. We may not even know the reason for this incident."

10.00 am: UK submarine joins hunt for MH370

Britain's Royal Navy submarine HMS Tireless arrived in the search area about 1,500 kilometres northwest of Perth this morning, according to media reports. The personal jet of Peter Jackson - Oscar-winning New Zealand movie director - is also being used in the hunt.

Up to 10 planes and nine ships will assist in today's search for the Boeing 777-200, a new Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre (JACC) here managing the search said in a statement today.

7.10 am: Malaysian authorities have once again bought out the theory that the missing flight MH370 was deliberately diverted, reports Sydney Herald. According to the report, Malaysian authorities "believe there was a “deliberate action” by someone on board the missing Malaysian airliner to divert it from its scheduled flight path."

“MH370’s movements were consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane,” Malaysia’s acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein said on Tuesday night, adds the report.

End of updates for 1 April

5.30 pm: Malaysia govt could sue newspapers over 'false media' reports

Malaysia's authoritarian government, said on Tuesday it would compile "false" media reports over the crisis and consider filing lawsuits, reports AFP.

Transport and Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said on his Twitter feed the country's attorney general had been instructed to "compile evidence and advise" on possible legal action.

Hishammuddin, who has run the government's near-daily briefings on the situation, has repeatedly denied various anonymously-sourced reports revealing details of Malaysia's investigation into the March 8 disappearance of MH370 with 239 people aboard.

He took particular aim on Monday against British tabloid the Daily Mail, which at the weekend quoted a "source close to the family" of pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah as saying police had learned he was emotionally unstable before the flight amid alleged marital trouble.

5.16 pm: Malaysia releases full transcript of of communications between the pilots of missing Flight MH370 and air traffic controllers

Malaysia releases full transcript of of communications of communications between the pilots of missing Flight MH370 and air traffic controllers, from preparations for takeoff to the last exchange of words in-flight on March 8, reports AFP.

Here is the full transcript of the exchange as it was released by Malaysia:

"MAS 370" refers to transmissions from the cockpit of the Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines plane, while "ATC" is Malaysian air traffic control. The transcript does not identify which of the two pilots was variously speaking.

12:25:53 (MAS 370) Delivery MAS 370, good morning

12:26:02 (ATC) MAS 370 standby and Malaysia Six is cleared to Frankfurt via AGOSA Alpha Departure six thousand feet squawk two one zero six [squawk refers to a transponder code assigned to a departing flight by air traffic controllers]

12:26:19 (ATC) ... MAS 370 request level

12:26:21 (MAS 370) MAS 370 we are ready requesting flight level three five zero to Beijing

12:26:39 (ATC) MAS 370 is cleared to Beijing via PIBOS A departure six thousand feet squawk two one five seven

12:26:45 (MAS 370) Beijing PIBOS A six thousand squawk two one five seven, MAS 370 thank you

12:26:53 (ATC) MAS 370, welcome over to Ground

12:26:55 (MAS 370) Good day

12:27:27 (MAS 370) Ground MAS 370 good morning, charlie one requesting push and start

12:27:34 (ATC) MAS 370 Lumpur Ground, morning, push back and start approved Runway 32 right exit via Sierra 4

12:27:40 (MAS 370) Push back and start approved 32 right exit via Sierra 4 POB 239 Mike Romeo Oscar

12:27:45 (ATC) Copied

12:32:13 (MAS 370) MAS 377 request taxi.

12:32:26 (ATC) MAS 37..... (garbled) ... standard route. Hold short Bravo

12:32:30 (MAS 370) Ground, MAS 370. You are unreadable. Say again.

12:32:38 (ATC) MAS 370 taxi to holding point Alfa 11 Runway 32 right via standard route. Hold short of Bravo.

12:32:42 (MAS 370) Alfa 11 standard route, hold short Bravo MAS 370.

12:35:53 (ATC) MAS 370 Tower

12:36:19 (ATC) (garbled) ... Tower ... (garbled)

(MAS 370) 1188 MAS 370, thank you

12:36:30 (MAS 370) Tower MAS 370, morning

12:36:38 (ATC) MAS 370, good morning. Lumpur Tower. Holding point... (garbled)... 10 32 Right

12:36:50 (MAS 370) Alfa 10 MAS 370

12:38:43 (ATC) 370 line up 32 Right Alfa 10.

(MAS 370) Line up 32 Right Alfa 10 MAS370.

12:40:38 (ATC) 370 32 Right, cleared for take-off. Good night.

(MAS 370) 32 Right, cleared for take-off MAS 370. Thank you, bye.

[The plane takes off at 12:41 am, and by 12:46 am passes from ground ATC to outbound radar control]

12:42:05 (MAS 370) Departure Malaysian Three Seven Zero

12:42:10 (ATC) Malaysian Three Seven Zero selamat pagi (good morning) identified. Climb flight level one eight zero cancel SID turn right direct to IGARI

12:42:48 (MAS 370) Okay level one eight zero direct IGARI Malaysian one err Three Seven Zero

12:42:52 (ATC) Malaysian Three Seven Zero contact Lumpur Radar One three two six, good night

(MAS 370) Night one three two six, Malaysian Three Seven Zero

12:46:51 (MAS 370) Lumpur Control, Malaysian Three Seven Zero

12:46:51 (ATC) Malaysian Three Seven Zero, Lumpur Radar, good morning. Climb flight level two five zero

12:46:54 (MAS 370) Morning, level two five zero, Malaysian Three Seven Zero

12:50:06 (ATC) Malaysian Three Seven Zero, climb flight level three five zero

12:50:09 (MAS 370) Flight level three five zero, Malaysian Three Seven Zero

01:01:14 (MAS 370) Malaysian Three Seven Zero, maintaining level three five zero

01:01:19 (ATC) Malaysian Three Seven Zero

[The last transmission by the plane's Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) -- which relays key information on the plane's mechanical condition every 30 minutes -- takes place at 1:07 am]

01:07:55 (MAS 370) Malaysian... Three Seven Zero maintaining level three five zero

01:08:00 (ATC) Malaysian Three Seven Zero

01:19:24 (ATC) Malaysian Three Seven Zero contact Ho Chi Minh 120 decimal 9, good night

01:19:29 (MAS 370) Good night, Malaysian Three Seven Zero

[The last transmission from the plane's communication transponder is at 1:21 am, and it vanishes from ATC radar at 1:30 am]

4.00 pm: Australia says search for MH370 could drag on

Australia, which is coordinating the search for the Boeing 777, cautioned that it "could drag on for a long time" and would be an arduous one.

3.43 pm: Malaysia releases MH370 cockpit transcript, says nothing abnormal

Malaysian authorities on Tuesday released the transcript of communications between the cockpit crew of missing Flight MH370 and air traffic controllers, saying the exchanges showed nothing untoward.

"There is no indication of anything abnormal in the transcript," a statement by Defence and Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.

The 43 separate transmissions over nearly 54 minutes are thick with air-traffic and navigational jargon and give no hint of trouble aboard the ill-fated plane, which disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 with 239 people aboard.

The transcript concludes with Malaysian air traffic control first bidding MH370 "good night", as it instructs the pilots next to contact controllers in Vietnam, over which the plane was due to fly.

The final entry from just after 1:19 am comes from one of the two MH370 pilots, who says "good night, Malaysian three seven zero".

The plane disappeared from radar shortly thereafter and is yet to be found, though Malaysia now believes it was deliberately diverted and flew on for hours to the Indian Ocean, where it is presumed to have crashed.

The transcript — and particularly the final words from MH370 — have been the subject of much speculation following earlier statements by authorities and the airline that the last transmission from the plane was a casual "All right, good night".

That apparent non-standard sign-off fuelled speculation that one of the pilots — either Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, or First Officer Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27 — diverted the plane on purpose.

Under pressure to clarify the matter, the government corrected the final words late on Monday but until now had not released a full transcript.

Tuesday's statement said the transcript was "initially held as part of the police investigation", but gave no other reason for the delay.

Malaysia Airlines had said previously that the last words were believed uttered by First Officer Fariq, but the statement said the ongoing investigation was yet to confirm that.

2.00 pm: Search for missing jet may take a while, says Australia

Australia warned Tuesday the hunt for missing Flight MH370 could be long and frustrating as a vessel equipped with a specialised "black box" locator raced against the clock to reach the Indian Ocean search area.

Despite an extensive multinational search southwest of Perth, no wreckage has been identified since the Malaysia Airlines plane vanished on March 8, with objects retrieved from the desolate seas turning out to be fishing gear or flotsam.

Retired Australian air chief marshal Angus Houston, who is heading a new coordination centre in Perth, said it was the most challenging search and rescue operation he had ever seen and cautioned about any quick fixes.

"I say that because the starting point whenever you do a search and rescue is the last known position of the vehicle or aircraft. In this particular case, the last known position was a long, long way from where the aircraft appears to have gone," he said.

Houston noted that it look more than 60 years to find HMAS Sydney, which was sunk in the Indian Ocean in 1941 by a German warship, and the search for MH370 is "not something that's necessarily going to be resolved in the next two weeks".

"This could drag on for a long time but I think at this stage that it's very important to pursue all the leads," he added, as 10 planes and nine ships, some with helicopters, resumed the search in worsening weather.

1.15 pm: Australia will deploy a modified Boeing 737 to act as a flying air traffic controller

Australia will deploy a modified Boeing 737 to act as a flying air traffic controller over the Indian Ocean to prevent a mid-air collision among the aircraft searching for the Malaysia Airlines jetliner that went missing over three weeks ago, an official said Tuesday, reports Associated Press.

An air force E-7A Wedgetail equipped with advanced radar will be deployed "in the near future" to monitor the increasingly crowded skies over the remote search zone, said Angus Houston, who heads the joint agency coordinating the multinational search effort.

1.05 pm: Malaysia tragedy highlights need for better tracking systems for aircrafts, says IATA

Malaysia's missing jet tragedy illustrates the needs to improve in-flight tracking of passenger aircraft, the International Air Travel Association (IATA) said on Tuesday, adding: "We cannot let another aircraft simply vanish."

"MH370 has highlighted the need to improve our tracking of aircraft in flight," Tony Tyler, head of the airline industry trade body, said in a statement. "In a world where our every move seems to be tracked, there is disbelief both that an aircraft could simply disappear and that the flight data and cockpit voice recorders are so difficult to recover."

Debris from the plane is yet to be recovered, after nearly three weeks since the plane went missing.

10:30 am: 11 aircraft and 9 ships part of search operations today

An Australian official heading the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight has said that the operation is the most challenging one he'd ever been a part of.

11 planes and 9 ships are part of the search operations today, Retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said.

He said the focus of the search was to find debris of the aircraft presently but admitted that could take a long time.

Houston said that the search operations are based on the data they have but said approximations were difficult since the altitude and speed of the aircraft weren't known.

9:00 am: Malaysia says last words from missing flight weren't 'All right, good night'

The last words from the cockpit of the missing Malaysian airliner were a standard "Good night Malaysian three seven zero", Malaysian authorities said, changing their account of the critical last communication from a more casual "All right, good night."

The correction almost four weeks after Flight MH370 vanished was made as Malaysian authorities face heavy criticism, particularly from China, for mismanaging the search and holding back information.

"Good night Malaysian three seven zero" would be a more formal, standard sign-off from the cockpit of the Boeing777, which was just leaving Malaysia-controlled air space on its route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

"We would like to confirm that the last conversation in the transcript between the air traffic controller and the cockpit is at 0119 (Malaysian Time) and is "Good night Malaysian three seven zero," the Department of Civil Aviation said in a statement late on Monday.

Minutes later its communications were cut off and it turned back across Malaysia and headed toward the Indian Ocean.

Malaysia's ambassador to China told Chinese families in Beijing as early as 12 March, four days after the flight went missing, that the last words had been "All right, good night".

The statement said authorities were still conducting "forensic investigation" to determine whether the last words from the cockpit were by the pilot or the co-pilot. Previously, Malaysia Airlines has said that the words were believed to have come from the co-pilot.

End of updates for 31 March

1.10 pm: Objects spotted before have nothing to do with MH370

A cluster of orange objects spotted by a search plane hunting for any trace of the missing Malaysia Airlines jet turned out to be nothing more than fishing equipment, Australian officials said.

Associated Press reported that Jesse Platts, a spokesman for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, said the objects had been analyzed and officials had confirmed "they have nothing to do with the missing flight."

7.20 am: Australian PM says search for jetliner will go on

Australia's prime minister says the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is "an extraordinarily difficult exercise" but that it will go on as long as possible, reports Associated Press.

Tony Abbott said on Monday that although no debris has been found in the southern Indian Ocean that can be linked to the plane missing for more than three weeks, the searchers are "well, well short" of any point where they would scale the hunt back.

Abbott says the best brains in the world are applying themselves to this task and adds: "If this mystery is solvable, we will solve it."

End of updates for 30 March

2.13 pm: Chinese relatives demand an apology from Malaysia government

Several dozen Chinese relatives of passengers on Flight 370 demanded that Malaysia apologize for its handling of the search for the missing plane and for the prime minister's statement saying it crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.

Holding up banners that read "We want evidence, truth, dignity" in Chinese, and "Hand us the murderer. Tell us the truth. Give us our relatives back" in English, the group staged a protest at a hotel near Kuala Lumpur just hours after flying in from Beijing.

Flight booking website eLong said it was suspending Malaysia Airlines flight sales until the relatives are satisfied with the government's response. Last Wednesday, Chinese touring agency CYTS said it would stop offering tours to the country because of safety concerns.

Even popular actress Zhang Ziyi spoke out. "Malaysian government, you have hurt the entire world ... You have misjudged the persistence in seeking truth by the world's people, including all the Chinese," she wrote on her microblog.

The protesters Sunday repeatedly chanted slogans in Chinese: "We want evidence! We want the truth! We want our relatives!"

Jiang Hui, the relatives' designated representative, said they wanted a government apology for what they see as missteps in the initial handling of the disaster as well as Prime Minister Najib Razak's statement that indicated the plane had crashed with no survivors. Jiang said the relatives felt the conclusion was announced without sufficient evidence.

"We also request that Malaysia Airlines and the Malaysian government apologize for making the conclusion on 24 March, without direct evidence or a sense of responsibility, that the plane was destroyed and people died," Jiang said.

He said the group wanted to meet airline and government officials, although he stopped short of saying that included Najib, as earlier proposed by some relatives.

Before the protest, Ong Ka Ting, the Malaysian prime minister's special envoy to China, went to the hotel to greet the relatives.

"I'm sure in Beijing they've already had a lot of discussions and we understand their feelings, and we know that definitely by coming over here there will be a lot more discussions and meetings," Ong said. "So we try our best to assist them."

Jiang said the relatives wanted the government to release information and data related to the investigation in a "prompt and comprehensive way." They also wanted the airline to set up meetings with representatives from Boeing, Rolls Royce and Inmarsat, saying the lack of interaction was troubling.

"It has been 22 days now and none of their people have shown up," he said, referring to the companies. "Could it be that there really are problems with the quality of their products? What are they worried about?"

12.13 pm: Australia hopeful that clues will help narrow search

Australia's prime minister said on Sunday that he was hopeful a clue would emerge soon to narrow the hunt for Flight 370, as more objects are pulled from the southern Indian Ocean and checked to see if they are part of the plane that went missing more than three weeks ago.

Associated Press reported that even though more ships are scouring the area off western Australia, none of the recovered items has been connected to the missing Malaysia Airlines plane.

In Sydney, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott described the "intensifying search effort" as positive because objects "have been recovered from the ocean."

The Australian Maritimes Safety Authority said 10 planes took part in the search Sunday, leaving in staggered times from the western city of Perth. Eight ships were on the scene, including the Australian navy supply ship HMAS Success, which is to store any wreckage found.

The ships are trying to locate and identify the objects sighted by aircraft over the past two days.

11.23 am: Chinese families head to Malaysia to meet top officials

Several dozen Chinese relatives of passengers on Flight 370 arrived in Malaysia on Sunday to demand to meet top officials for more information about what happened to the airliner that has been missing for more than three weeks.

Associated Press reported that 29 Chinese family members arrived in Kuala Lumpur after an overnight flight from Beijing, said Malaysia Airlines commercial director Hugh Dunleavy.

A man who gave only his surname, Xu, said in brief comments that the relatives want to meet officials "at the very highest levels."

In Beijing before they boarded the flight, one relative said they would demand to meet the prime minister and the defense minister, who is the chief spokesman for the government.

"We have questions that we would like to ask them in person," said Wang Chunjiang, whose younger brother, lawyer Wang Chunyong, was on Flight 370.

9.30 am: Black box detector to join search operations in Indian Ocean

A warship with an aircraft black box detector was set to depart Australia on Sunday to join the search for the missing Malaysian jetliner, a day after ships plucked objects from the Indian Ocean to determine whether they were related to the missing plane.

It will still take three-to-four days for the Australian navy ship, the Ocean Shield, to reach the search zone, an area roughly the size of Poland about 1,850 kms to the west of Australia. - IANS

8.40 am: 'Debris found in Indian Ocean not related to flight MH370'

Some objects scooped out of the ocean off Western Australia are not part of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, authorities have said.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority ( AMSA) has confirmed a Chinese ship retrieved objects from the southern Indian Ocean Saturday.

It's, however, believed that the items are not related to the flight and are more likely fishing objects or rubbish, TVNZ quoted AMSA as saying early on Sunday. -IANS

Updates for 29 March end

2.40 pm: No debris recovered for now, says Malaysia's Defence minister

No debris spotted in an area off the west coast of Australia has been recovered, a Malaysian minister involved in the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 said Saturday, adding he hoped for some news soon, reports Associated Press.

Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters near Kuala Lumpur after meeting several families of passengers on the plane that there was no new information on the objects, which could just be regular debris floating in the ocean, or could be from the missing plane.

"I've got to wait to get the reports on whether they have retrieved those objects .... Those will give us some indication," said Hishammuddin, who was accompanied by his wife and children as he visited the relatives at a hotel in Putrajaya, Malaysia.

A Chinese plane was reported to have spotted 3 objects in the search area. More details are awaited on that.

12.30 pm: China's state news agency says Chinese aircraft spots 3 objects in search area for missing jet

China's state news agency says Chinese aircraft spots 3 objects in search area for missing jet, reports Associated Press.

Xinhua News Agency said on Saturday that the Chinese military plane Ilyushin IL-76 sighted the three floating objects of white, red and orange colours respectively, from an altitude of 300 meters (yards).

10.45 am: Interpol has rejected Malaysia's claims on checking for stole passports

Interpol has rejected comments from a Malaysian minister that it takes too much time and is too difficult to check the international police agency's database to confirm if a passport has been stolen, says an Associated Press report.

The issue arose because two passengers used stolen passports to board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Initially it was believed that the stolen passports could have been used by terrorists.

"Malaysia's decision not to consult Interpol's Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database before allowing travelers to enter the country or board planes cannot be defended by falsely blaming technology or Interpol," said the agency, based in Lyon, France. "If there is any responsibility or blame for this failure, it rests solely with Malaysia's Immigration Department."

10.20 am: Ships still to recover, verify objects from sea as search operations for MH370 continue

Objects spotted floating in a new search area for debris from the missing Malaysian jetliner need to be recovered and inspected before they can be linked to the plane, Australian officials said on Saturday, reports Associated Press.

Planes from China and Australia were combing the newly targeted area off the west coast of Australia after several objects were spotted on Friday, including two rectangular items that were blue and gray, and ships on the scene will attempt to recover them, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said.

"The objects cannot be verified or discounted as being from MH370 until they are relocated and recovered by ships," the authority said in a statement. "It is not known how much flotsam, such as from fishing activities, is ordinarily there. At least one distinctive fishing object has been identified."

End of updates for 28 March

5:58 pm: Australia spots objects in the Indian Ocean

Australian authorities said a search plane had spotted objects in the new Indian Ocean search area where an international team is looking for wreckage from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, Reuters reported.

The Australian Maritime and Safety Authority (AMSA) said it was awaiting images from the Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion, which was on its way back to base.

The sightings would need to be confirmed by ship, which was not expected until Saturday, AMSA said in its official twitter feed.

9.19 am: Search for MH 370 shifts to new area

Australian search authorities said on Friday they were shifting the area of search for a Malaysian airliner missing for almost three weeks with 239 people on board due to a "new credible lead" from analysis of radar data provided by Malaysia.

The new information was based on analysis of radar data between the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca before radar contact was lost, AMSA said in a statement.

"As a result today's search will shift to an area 1,100 km (685 miles) to the northeast based on updated advice provided by the international investigation team in Malaysia."

Analysis indicated that the aircraft was traveling faster than previously estimated, resulting in increased fuel usage and reducing the possible distance the aircraft traveled south into the Indian Ocean, it said.

7.44 am: Search operations for Malaysian flight resumed

An air search of the remote southern Indian Ocean resumed on Friday, seeking to confirm if hundreds of objects spotted by satellites are debris from a Malaysian jetliner presumed to have crashed almost three weeks ago with the loss of all on board.

A Chinese Ilyushin IL-76 took off from Perth before dawn, heading 2,500 km (1,550 miles) southwest into the search area where high winds and icy weather had halted flights on Thursday.

From Reuters

End of updates from 28 March

4.50 pm: China pushes Malaysia to coordinate search

Financial Express quoted Reuters and Associated Press as saying that China is pushing Malaysia to coordinate the international search for missing MH370.

Special Zhang Yesui told Xinhua that China will also intensify its search efforts for the plane.

2.19 pm: Now Thailand satellite spots 300 floating objects in South Indian ocean

Thailand has spotted 300 floating objects in the southern Indian Ocean during a satellite search for the missing Malaysian airliner, its space agency said Thursday.

The objects, ranging from two to 15 metres (6.5 to 50 feet) in size, were scattered over an area about 2,700 kilometres southwest of Perth, Anond Snidvongs, executive director of the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency, told AFP.

12.17 pm: Ships to continue search, planes return

Due to unfavourable weather conditions, the planes have been ordered to return while the ships have been asked to continue with the search, reports The Straits Times. Bad weather is expected to disrupt search operations in the next 24 hours.

10.10 am: Search for MH370 cancelled again amid bad weather

Aircraft searches for a Malaysia jetliner presumed crashed in the southern Indian Ocean have been called off for Thursday due to bad weather, a US Navy officer told Reuters.

"The forecast in the area was calling for severe icing, severe turbulence and near zero visibility," said Lieutenant Commander Adam Schantz, the officer in charge of the U.S. Navy Poseidon P8 aircraft detachment.

"Anybody who's out there is coming home and all additional sorties from here are cancelled."

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority confirmed flights had been cancelled due to the weather.

9.23 am: Black box will stop emitting signals by 12 April

Equipment inside two nearly indestructible boxes aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines plane recorded critical information that would help investigators reconstruct what went wrong. The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder have beacons that are sending out "pings" which searchers could track back to the main wreckage. But the batteries run out in about two weeks.

Satellite images show debris floating in the southern Indian Ocean, but search crews still have not confirmed it is from the plane. If they can do that, searchers will calculate where the bulk of the plane may have come to rest on the sea floor — and then go to that area and start listening for the pings.

They're commonly called black boxes, but the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder are actually orange — so they can be more easily seen. The data recorder logs performance and other metrics, including speed, altitude and direction. In all, it can keep 1,000 different measurements, giving investigators a rich cache of information. Those measurements cover the 25 hours prior to a crash. The voice recorder captures two hours of sound from several microphones in the cockpit. It runs on a continuous loop, so audio from the critical moments during which the plane diverted west from its Malaysia-China route — about seven hours before it is believed to have crashed — have been erased.

Each recorder has its own beacon, bolted to the box's outside, which once activated by water emits a chirp every second. The chirp can't be heard by the naked ear — it requires special equipment to detect. A beacon's battery is designed to last 30 days. Once that month is up, the pings begin to fade in the same way that a flashlight with failing batteries begins to dim. Authorities believe the plane crashed 8 March. So the pingers would begin to fade around April 7, and could go silent around April 12.

The data and voice recorders are tough though. Honeywell Aerospace made the boxes in the missing Malaysia Airlines plane. They are engineered to survive a super-hot fire for an hour, stay intact during a violent impact, and withstand the tremendous pressure of being under 20,000 feet (more than 6,000 meters) of water (ocean depth in the search area averaged 10,000 to 15,000 feet (3,000 to 4,500 meters)), Honeywell spokesman Steve Brecken said. The flight data recorder should retain its information for at least two years.

7.50 am: US-based law firm to sue Malaysia Airlines, Boeing

A US-based law firm said it expects to represent families of more than half of the passengers on board the missing Malaysian Airlines flight in a lawsuit against the carriers and Boeing Co., alleging the plane had crashed due to mechanical failure.

Chicago-based Ribbeck Law has filed a petition for discovery against Boeing Co., manufacturer of the aircraft, and Malaysian Airlines, operator of the plane in a Cook County, Illinois Circuit Court. The petition is meant to secure evidence of possible design and manufacturing defects that may have contributed to the disaster, the law firm said. - Reuters

7.23 am: Ships, planes race to beat bad weather in search for MH370

Aircraft and ships scouring the southern Indian Ocean for wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 were racing to beat bad weather on Thursday and reach an area where new satellite images showed what could be a debris field.

The international search team has been bolstered to 11 military and civilian aircraft and five ships that will criss-cross the remote search site with weather conditions forecast to deteriorate later in the day. - Reuters

Updates for 26 March end

6:00 pm: Australia says no debris found by its planes yet

After another day of search, Australian aircraft searching for debris of the missing Malaysian jet has said that it has found no signs of debris yet.

The Staits Times quotes the last statement from an Australian pilot as saying that they found the weather was good but had no findings other than "mammal activity".

5.37 pm: French satellite finds possible debris field in South Indian ocean

A French satellite scanning the Indian Ocean for remnants of a missing jetliner found a possible plane debris field containing 122 objects, a top Malaysian official said Wednesday, calling it "the most credible lead that we have."

Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the objects were more than 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) southwest of Australia, in the area where a desperate, multinational hunt has been going on since other satellites detected possible jet debris.

Clouds obscured the latest satellite images, but dozens of objects could be seen in the gaps, ranging in length from one meter (yard) to 23 meters (25 yards). Hishammuddin said some of them "appeared to be bright, possibly indicating solid materials."

The images were taken Sunday and relayed by French-based Airbus Defence and Space, a division of Europe's Airbus Group; its businesses include the operation of satellites and satellite communications.

Various floating objects have been spotted by planes and satellites over the last week, including on Wednesday, when the Australian Maritime Safety Authority sent a tweet saying three more objects were seen. The authority said two objects seen from a civil aircraft appeared to be rope, and that a New Zealand military plane spotted a blue object.

None of the objects were seen on a second pass, a frustration that has been repeated several times in the hunt for Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, missing since March 8 with 239 people aboard. It remains uncertain whether any of the objects came from the plane; they could have come from a cargo ship or something else.

"If it is confirmed to be MH370, at least we can then we can move on to the next phase of deep sea surveillance search," Hishammuddin said.

3:10 pm: Malaysia says 122 objects of interest found in Indian Ocean

The Malaysian defence minister said that they had found 122 objects in the southern Indian Ocean, which were being investigated.

"With better weather conditions, planes are investigating further," he said.

Hishamuddin Hussein said that various objects had been detected by satellites and the investigation into what they were continued.

8.45 am: China appoints special envoy to press for details on MH370

China has appointed a special envoy to Kuala Lumpur to press for details about the fate of the missing Malaysian airliner, as family members of the passengers accuse the Malaysian government of lying about the flight's final hours, media reports said.

Deputy Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui would act as the special envoy and head for Kuala Lumpur as soon as possible to "learn about the situation" and "ask the Malaysian side to properly handle related issues", South China Morning Post reported Tuesday.

The crisis over Malaysia Airlines flight 370 topped the agenda of a central government meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang Tuesday in Beijing.

Two Chinese expert teams are already in Kuala Lumpur.

The General Office of the State Council has promised to continue to provide passengers' family members with medical treatment, psychological counseling and legal assistance, according to China Daily.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said Monday that based on analysis of satellite data the plane crashed into the southern Indian Ocean and there were no survivors.

However another deputy foreign minister, Xie Hangsheng, told Malaysia's ambassador to Beijing, Iskandar Sarudin, that China wanted the precise data that prompted Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to announce that the flight had "ended" in the southern Indian Ocean.

"We demand the Malaysian side make clear the specific basis on which they come to this judgment," Xie said.

7.32 am: Hunt for Flight 370 resumes in calmer seas

The search for the remains of Flight 370 began anew in remote waters of the Indian Ocean off western Australia in calmer seas, reports Associated Press.

Gale-force winds that forced an all-day delay Tuesday died down, allowing a total of 12 planes and two ships from the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand to resume the hunt for any pieces of the Malaysia Airlines jet.

The search zone based on the last satellite signals received from the Boeing 777, it was still estimated at 1.6 million square kilometers (622,000 square miles), an area bigger than Texas and Oklahoma combined.

On Sunday, Malaysia had announced that the flight had likely crashed in the Southern Indian Ocean. For Chinese relatives of passengers on board, who had been waiting for nearly three weeks, Malaysia's response hasn't been enough. Relatives took to protests outside the Malaysia embassy in Beijing, shouting, "Liars!."

End of updates for 25 March

4.30 pm: Investigators probe 'final ping' from flight MH370

Satellite data that confirmed a Malaysian jetliner missing for more than two weeks crashed in the Indian Ocean included a final electronic signal that is still being investigated, Malaysian acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said on Tuesday.

"There is evidence of a partial handshake between the aircraft and ground station at 0019 UTC (GMT)," Hishammuddin told a news conference. "At this time, this transmission is not understood and is subject to further ongoing work."

Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Sunday that groundbreaking satellite-data analysis by the British company Inmarsat had revealed that Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which vanished while flying to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on 8 March, had crashed thousands of miles away in the southern Indian Ocean.

Preliminary analysis of the satellite "pings" had only been able to place the plane's final position in one of two vast arcs stretching from the Caspian Sea to the southern Indian Ocean.

3.56 pm: How classroom physics and a British satellite helped locate MH370

Investigators are closer to solving an international aviation mystery thanks to a British communications satellite and classroom physics.

A masterful analysis of a handful of faint signals sent from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 to an Inmarsat satellite led officials to conclude that the Boeing 777 crashed in a remote part of the southern Indian Ocean, with all 239 lives likely lost. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak called the effort "a type of analysis never before used in this investigation of this sort."

More precise information about the plane's last position is helping authorities refine the search being undertaken by planes and ships in seas 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) southwest of Perth, Australia. Investigators had precious little information to examine otherwise because the transponder, identifying the jet to air traffic controllers, was deactivated about the same time the jet veered off course from its original destination, Beijing, early 8 March.

Even with other communications shut down, the plane automatically sent a brief signal — a "ping" or a "handshake" — every hour to an Inmarsat satellite. The pings did not show the jet's location, speed or heading, but an initial analysis showed the last ping came from a position along one of two vast arcs north and south from the Malaysian Peninsula.

A statement from Inmarsat said it was able to use "detailed analysis and modelling" of transmissions from the missing flight and "other known flights" to describe "the likely direction of flight of MH370." The company did not respond to repeated requests for comment from The Associated Press.

A company official told London's Daily Telegraph that engineers analyzed the pings by measuring the change in frequency related to the satellite's position, which helped them map the plane's movement. Inmarsat compared those findings to other aircraft that used a similar path and found "extraordinary matching" that allowed them to determine the plane had taken the southern route over the Indian Ocean, Chris McLaughlin, senior vice president of external affairs at Inmarsat, said.

Think of a horn being honked in a passing car. To the driver, the sound is constant. To an observer, the sound is high pitched as the car approaches and is lower after the car passes. That's because on approach, each successive sound wave is sent from a slightly closer position to the observer. The sound waves get compressed, resulting in a higher frequency. The opposite happens as the car moves away. It's called the Doppler effect for Austrian physicist Christian Doppler, who first put forward the theory in 1842.

The same effect applies to "pings" from the plane to the satellite orbiting in a fixed position, which would arrive at a higher frequency if the plane was moving toward the satellite and decrease in frequency when moving away.

"By analyzing that you can determine speed and direction," said Joseph Bermudez Jr., chief analytics officer and co-founder of AllSource Analysis, a commercial satellite intelligence firm. And by determining the area from which the last signal was sent, then estimating fuel left, it "could give you an approximate area of where the aircraft impacted."

Inmarsat sent its data to investigators days after the plane went missing. But it continued to run its own analysis to see if it could wring out any more clues.

The company's engineers were dealing with a "totally new area," Inmarsat's McLaughlin told the BBC. "This really was a bit of a shot in the dark." However, the latest information could only go so far in pinpointing the jet's location.

"We can't help you with any closer data," he said.

Satellite specialists were impressed by Inmarsat's analysis.

"They exploited a digital trail that was never intended for that use. It was just a shadow that somebody spotted and made use of," said David Cyganski, dean of engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

2.36 pm: What Malaysia Airlines is doing for relatives of MH370 passengers

Malaysia Airlines says it is providing comprehensive support for the families of the 239 people aboard Flight 370.

FOOD AND LODGING: Hotel, transportation, meals and other expenses have been provided for up to five family members per passenger since the flight disappeared March 8, and the airline intends to continue the support as long as families require it.

FINANCIAL HELP: The airline provided US$5,000 per passenger to the next of kin initially and will offer more payments as the search for the jetliner continues.

ROUND-THE-CLOCK CARE: It has assigned more than 700 caregivers — including two per family — to offer support and counseling to families on a 24-hour basis.

10.30 am: Malaysia government offers $5000 as compensation to family members

The Malaysian government has said that it has offered family members of those on board flight MH370 compensation of $5000 each, and is preparing to pay more. The relatives of passengers aboard the plane have already been put up in hotels at the expense of the airline as search efforts continued.

They added that it was not correct" to say families have been isolated during search for MH370 and that this was a "painful period" for the airline.

Both Malaysian airlines and the Malaysian government have come under massive criticism.

Family members of the missing passengers have complained bitterly about a lack of reliable information. Many have said they suspect they are not being told the whole truth — a not-uncommon mindset among ordinary Chinese accustomed to dealing with their own opaque and single-party communist state.

Deputy Foreign Minister Xie Hangsheng told Malaysia's ambassador to Beijing that China wanted to know what exactly led Malaysia to announce Monday night that the plane had been lost, China's Foreign Ministry said on its website Tuesday.

"We demand the Malaysian side to make clear the specific basis on which they come to this judgment," Xie was quoted as telling Datuk Iskandar Bin Sarudin.

10.26 am: Chinese relatives protest at Malaysia embassy

Furious over Malaysia's handling of the lost jetliner a day after the country said the passengers must be dead, Chinese relatives of the missing marched Tuesday to the Malaysia Embassy, where they threw plastic water bottles, tried to rush the gate and chanted, "Liars!"

The Chinese government, meanwhile, demanded that Malaysia turn over the satellite data it used to conclude that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was lost in the southern Indian Ocean with no survivors during a flight to Beijing.

Among the flight's 239 passengers, 153 were Chinese nationals, making the incident a highly emotional one for Beijing, and the government's demand reflected the desire among many Chinese relatives of passengers for more conclusive information on the plane's fate.

Nearly 100 relatives and their supporters marched to the embassy in the late morning, wearing white T-shirts that read "Let's pray for MH370" as they held banners and chanted.

"Tell the truth! Return our relatives!" they shouted. There was a heavy police presence at the embassy when the group arrived, and journalists were being kept away.

Family members of the missing passengers have complained bitterly about a lack of reliable information. Many have said they suspect they are not being told the whole truth — a not-uncommon mindset among ordinary Chinese accustomed to dealing with their own opaque and single-party communist state.

8.50 am: Angry Chinese relatives to march on Malaysian embassy

Angry relatives of Chinese passengers aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines plane denounced the Kuala Lumpur government and its national carrier as "executioners" on Tuesday and said they would march on the Malaysian Embassy.

Early in the morning, just hours after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said the plane had crashed in the Indian Ocean, an unidentified family member read out a statement at the Beijing hotel where many of the relatives of those on board were staying, denouncing the airline, the Malaysian government and military for "constantly trying to delay, hide and cover up the truth".

It was "an attempt to deceive the families of the passengers and an attempt to deceive the people of the world", said the statement, which was later posted on a Chinese microblog by the "Malaysia Airlines MH370 Family Committee".

In a later statement, the families said they would head to the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing on Tuesday morning to "protest, seek the truth and the return of their family members."

The families, in a statement, said they would "take all possible means" to pursue the "unforgivable guilt" of the airline, the Malaysian government and the military.

"These despicable acts have not only fooled and devastated physically and mentally the families of our 154 Chinese passengers, at the same time they have also misled and delayed the rescue operation, wasted a lot of manpower, material resources and lost the most precious time for the rescue efforts," the unidentified family member told reporters.

"If our 154 loved ones on board have lost their precious lives on the plane because of this, then Malaysia Airlines, the Malaysia government and the Malaysia military are the real executioners who have killed our loved ones."

Bad weather and rough seas on Tuesday forced the suspension of the search for any wreckage of the missing Malaysian jetliner that officials are now sure crashed in the remote Indian Ocean off Australia with the loss of all 239 people on board.

7.45 am: US sends search equipment to help locate MH370

The Pentagon has sent a black box locator and a robotic underwater vehicle, to Perth, Australia to help search for the debris of missing Malaysian plane in Indian Ocean.

While the locator, towed pinger could help locate the black box, the Bluefin-21 autonomous underwater vehicle would help find the wreckage of the Malaysian plane, that went missing about a fortnight ago while on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

"This afternoon, the towed pinger locater, as well as a Bluefin-21 autonomous underwater vehicle were flown out of JFK Airport, New York to Perth. They'll arrive sometime tomorrow," the Pentagon Press Secretary, Rear Admiral John Kirby, told reporters on Monday. - PTI

7.10 am: China asks Malaysia for proof that MH370 crashed into ocean

China's Deputy Foreign Minister Xie Hangsheng has reportedly asked Malaysia's Ambassador to China, Iskandar Bin Sarudin, to provide "detailed evidence" based on which they concluded that the plane has crashed, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

"We demand the Malaysian side to state the detailed evidence that leads them to this judgement as well as supply all the relevant information and evidence about the satellite data analysis," Xie said, according to a statement on the ministry's website, The Star Online reported.

Updates end for 24 March

8:15 pm: Relatives break down on hearing news about Flight MH370

Women shrieked and sobbed uncontrollably. Men and women held up their loved ones who were nearly collapsing. Their grief came pouring out after 17 days of waiting for some definitive word on the fate of their relatives aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

Relatives of passengers in Beijing had been called to a hotel near the airport to hear the announcement. Afterward, they filed out of a conference room in heart-wrenching grief.

Associated Press reported that one woman collapsed and fell on her knees, crying "My son! My son!"

8:00 pm: Malaysia Airlines releases statement, says search operations to continue

In a brief statement Malaysia Airlines has said that it fears missing flight MH370 has ended in the Indian Ocean and will continue search:

Malaysia Airlines deeply regrets that we have to assume that MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean. As you will hear in the next hour from Malaysia’s Prime Minister, new analysis of satellite data suggests the plane went down in the Southern Indian Ocean.

On behalf of all of us at Malaysia Airlines and all Malaysians, our prayers go out to all the loved ones of the 226 passengers and of our 13 friends and colleagues at this enormously painful time.

We know there are no words that we or anyone else can say which can ease your pain. We will continue to provide assistance and support to you, as we have done since MH370 first disappeared in the early hours of 8 March, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

The ongoing multinational search operation will continue, as we seek answers to the questions which remain. Alongside the search for MH370, there is an intensive investigation, which we hope will also provide answers.

We would like to assure you that Malaysia Airlines will continue to give you our full support throughout the difficult weeks and months ahead.

Once again, we humbly offer our sincere thoughts, prayers and condolences to everyone affected by this tragedy.

7: 30 pm: Malaysian PM says flight has crashed in southern Indian Ocean

The Malaysian Prime Minister has said that as per an analysis by a British satellite tracking they have evidence to indicate that the missing Malaysia Airlines flight flew towards the southern corridor of where search operations were being carried out.

He said that as per the data the last location was in the southern Indian Ocean and was far from any landing strip.

"I inform you with deep sadness and regret that according to this new data Flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean," Najib Razak said.

He said they would give more information tomorrow.

The Prime Minister said that they had shared this information out of respect for the families of the passengers.

"For them the past few weeks have been heartbreaking. I am sure this news has been harder still," Razak said.

He urged the media to give the relatives the space they needed at this difficult time.

However, he did not mention whether any debris had been found in the present search corridor.

7:15 pm:Malaysia Airlines says that MH370 has been lost

"We assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board survived,"Malaysia Airlines has said in a statement to the relatives of the passengers.

Sky News reports that the families of the passengers are to be flown to Australia only increasing the possibility that the debris of the flight has been found in the southern Indian Ocean.

6:30 pm: Malaysian PM to address press at 19:30 IST, debris found?

The Malaysian Prime Minister has said that he will address the press in some time which has prompted speculation that search and rescue attempts may have finally found something related to the missing flight MH370.

Australian channels are reporting that the families of the missing passengers have also been told to attend a screening of the press conference.

3:40 pm: Both pilots had adequate experience, say Malaysian authorities

At the daily press conference today, the Malaysian transport minister said that while it was focussed on search in the northern and southern corridors, its focus would shift to the southern Indian Ocean.

The Malaysian authorities clarified that there was no evidence of any distress signal that had been picked up from the missing jet by any satellite.

They also said that both pilots were adequately trained on operating the Boeing 777 aircraft. The airline clarified that its pilot was an examiner of other pilots training to use the aircraft and the co-pilot had adequate flying experience prior to the missing flight.

3:30 pm: Chinese and Australian planes identify possible debris from missing jet

Chinese and Australian planes on Monday spotted several objects in an area identified by multiple satellite images as containing possible debris from the missing Malaysian airliner, boosting hopes the frustrating search in the southern Indian Ocean could turn up more clues to the jet's fate.Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the crew on board an Australian P3 Orion had located two objects in the search zone — the first grey or green and circular, the second orange and rectangular.An Australian navy supply ship, the HMAS Success, was on the scene Monday night trying to locate and recover the objects, and Malaysia's Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the vessel could reach them within a few hours or by Tuesday morning.

2.25 pm: FBI to question pilot's wife amid suspicions of his role in a potential hijacking

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will be questioning the wife of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, who commanded the missing Malaysian airliner, amid growing suspicions that he may have hijacked the flight, IANS reported.

Faizah Khan, a mother of three, will face questioning in an investigation conducted by the FBI, the Daily Mirror reported on Monday.

Sources close to Shah have said that his personal life was quite complicated. His relations with his wife had deteriorated to the point where he was no longer in a relationship with her, despite living together with their children in the same house.

His unstable personal life and his support of an opposition political leader recently jailed in Malaysia, has brought him into prime focus.

The police are also examining the two-minute phone call that Captain Zaharie received from a mysterious woman who used a mobile number with a fake identity, before take-off 8 March.

Investigators are still trying to find clues in Captain Zaharie's flight simulator which was found at his residence by the Malaysian police. All the game logs in the personal flight simulator were deleted 3 February. He played three games on his simulator -- Flight Simulator X, Flight Simulator 9 and X Flight Simulator.

FBI agents are still investigating the simulator's hard disk.

2.05 pm: US Navy aircraft fails to find objects spotted by Chinese plane

Australian authorities said a US Navy P-8 Poseidon, the most advanced search aircraft in the world, had been unable to find objects spotted earlier on Monday by a Chinese aircraft hunting for clues to the missing Malaysia jet in the Indian Ocean.

"A US Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft was tasked to investigate reported object sightings by the Chinese aircraft made at 33,000 ft," an AMSA spokeswoman said in an emailed response to Reuters.

"The objects were spotted by the Chinese aircraft as it was heading back to Perth. Drift modelling was undertaken on the sighting. The P-8 was unable to relocate the reported objects."

10.45 am: Chinese plane spots suspicious white object in Indian Ocean

A Chinese plane on Monday spotted a white, square-shaped object in an area identified by satellite imagery as containing possible debris from the missing Malaysian airliner, reports Associated Press.

The crew aboard an IL-76 plane sighted the object in the southern Indian Ocean and reported the coordinates to the Australian command center, which is coordinating the multinational search, as well as the Chinese icebreaker Snow Dragon, which is en route to the area, China's Xinhua News Agency reported.

From 10,000 meters (33,000 feet), the spotters saw two larger floating objects and some smaller, white debris scattered over several square kilometers (miles), the report said. It gave no other details.

9.50 am: China says Chinese plane spots object in area where satellite images indicated possible debris

An Associated Press news alert has said that a Chinese plane has spotted an object in the area where satellite images indicated possible debris from MH370. The search area was expanded after images from a French satellite, which showed possible debris nearly 850 kilometers (530 miles) north of the previous search zone.

China's state news agency says a Chinese plane crew has spotted a white, square-shaped object in an area identified by satellite imagery as containing possible debris from the missing Malaysian airliner.

Xinhua News agency says the crew aboard the IL-76 plane spotted the object in the southern Indian Ocean search area on Monday.

8.20 am: Search area expanded after images from French satellite

Australian Maritime Safety Authority's rescue coordination center said the search area was expanded from 59,000 to 68,500 square kilometers (22,800-26,400 square miles), including a new separate area because of data provided by France on Sunday, reports the Associated Press. The latest search area based on French radar data was 850 kilometers (530 miles) north of the previous search zone, adds the report.

The US Pacific command has also added that it is sending a black box locator to the region. The Towed Pinger Locator has highly sensitive listening capability so that if the wreck site is located, it can hear the black box pinger down to a depth of about 20,000 feet (6,100 meters).

Sunday's search had revealed nothing new for the ongoing operations.

Flight 370 vanished March 8 with 239 people aboard while en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, setting off a multinational search that has turned up no confirmed pieces and nothing conclusive on what happened to the jet.

7.20 am: Bad weather to affect search operations

The search for MH370 is likely to take a hit today with forecasts predicting bad weather conditions in the Indian Ocean where at least 10 Chinese ships have joined operations to looking for the missing Malaysian jet.

Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss on Monday said that weather conditions in the area were not good and could hamper search operations to a large extent.

"It is a very difficult task. Today we expect the weather to deteriorate. Unfortunately forecasts ahead are not all that good," Mr. Truss said on Monday. "The search area is very large today, around 68,000 square kilometers (26,000 square miles). That's a lot of water to look for a tiny object," he told the Wall Street Journal.

Updates for 23 March end

4.15 pm: French satellites also spot 'potential' debris

French satellites have spotted "potential objects" in the southern search area for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet.

"This morning, Malaysia received new satellite images from the French authorities," Malaysia's transport ministry said in a statement. "Malaysia immediately relayed these images to the Australian rescue co-ordination centre."

The ministry did not give any other details on the satellite images.

This area is also thought to be close to an area of the Indian Ocean where Australia and China have also had satellites capture images of objects that could be debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which went missing March 8 with 239 people on board.

12.30 pm: Wooden pallet, other plane debris spotted in Indian ocean?

Planes and a ship scrambled Sunday to find a pallet and other debris in a remote patch of the southern Indian Ocean to determine whether the objects were from the Malaysia Airlines jet that has been missing for more than two weeks.

The pallet was spotted by a search plane Saturday, but has not been closely examined. Wooden pallets are commonly used in shipping, but can also be used on planes.

Mike Barton, chief of Australian Maritime Safety Authority's 's rescue coordination center, told reporters in Canberra, Australia, that the wooden pallet spotted by a civilian search aircraft was surrounded by several other nondescript objects, including what appeared to be strapping belts of different colors and lengths.

It was not immediately known if any pallets were used on Flight 370 that disappeared March 8 with 239 people on board.

A New Zealand Orion P3 plane tried to find it, but failed, Barton said.

"So, we've gone back to that area again today to try and re-find it," he said. A merchant ship also was sent to try to identify the material.

8.45 am: More planes have joined search after Chinese satellites are believed to have spotted images of possible debris from MH370

More planes were joining the search Sunday of a remote patch of the southern Indian Ocean after China released a satellite image showing a large object floating in the search zone, reports Associated Press. The Chinese satellite images are close to the location where Australia was also searching for the missing plane.

Currently the search area in the Indian Ocean is about 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) southwest of Perth, Australia. Australia's search did not reveal any object. Sunday's search involving eight aircraft has been split into two areas within the same proximity covering 59,000 square kilometers (22,800 square miles), reports Associated Press.

These areas have been determined by drift modelling, the AMSA said.

8.00 am: China investigating new images of possible, says Malaysia Minister

Chinese satellites have spotted new debris images close to the search area where Australia's search operation was also location. According to Malaysian Defence Minister and acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, "Chinese ships have been dispatched to the area. Beijing is expected to make an announcement in a few hours."

One of the objects was very large, measuring 22.5 metres (74 feet) by 13 metres (42 feet), the ministry said in a statement, correcting the minister's earlier statistics of 22 metres by 30 metres.

End of updates for 22 March

8.52 pm: British daily publishes final communication from MH 370

The final 54 minutes of communication between the pilots of the missing Malaysian plane and air traffic control has been published by a British newspaper, but Malaysia described it as inaccurate.

The Daily Telegraph published what it said was the transcript of communications between the pilots and Malaysian air control, although it appeared to throw little light on the reasons for the disappearance.

Department of Civil Aviation Director General Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said, "The transcript between the pilots and air traffic control with the investigation team and is being analysed, but it cannot be publicly released."

He said that the transcript of the final 54 minutes of communication did not "indicate anything abnormal". The transcript published by the Telegraph "is not accurate".

The Telegraph claimed that though the sequence of messages appear to be the routine ones, two potentially odd moments have been found.

Earlier, Defence and Transport Minister Hishammuddin Husein said transcript of the conversation was released yesterday to investigators.

4:30 pm: Suspicious object spotted by Chinese satellite was floating 120 kms from possible debris

A suspicious object spotted by a Chinese satellite was floating 120 km (72 miles) from possible debris announced by Australia in the search for a missing Malaysian jet, the official Xinhua news agency said, Reuters reported.

"The location of the suspicious object is along the southern corridor missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 might have taken," it said, adding the object was spotted on 18 March, two days after the satellite image announced by Australia.

4:02 pm: Norwegian firm that helped search for Air France jet says ready to help with MH3