Malaysia Airlines says it has lost contact with an aircraft carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members.

The airline says that the Boeing 777 departed from Kuala Lumpur on early Saturday morning local time and was expected in Beijing at 5:30 p.m. ET on Friday.

The airline said it lost contact with the plane about two hours into its flight.

“Malaysia Airlines is currently working with the authorities who have activated their Search and Rescue team to locate the aircraft,” the airline said in a statement posted to its Facebook page.

This is a breaking news story. We’ll update as soon as we have more.

Update at 12:28 a.m. ET

As the search continues, China’s Xinhua news agency said the airplane lost contact in Vietnam’s air space. An airline executive told CNN that the airliner’s last communication was over the South China Sea, between Malaysia and Vietnam.

China’s CCTV tweeted that China has sent two ships to the South China Sea for rescue operations.

Update at 10:36 p.m. ET. 4 Americans:

Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said during a televised press conference that four Americans, including an infant, were on flight MH370.

Yahya said the man piloting the plane was Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a 53-year-old Malaysian, who joined the airline in 1981.

Yahya said that that they were working to verify the authenticity of a report that claimed the aircraft had landed at Nanming in China.

“Our focus now is to work with the emergency responders and authorities and mobilize its full support,” he said.

Yahya also clarified that the passengers on the plane are from 14 different countries — 153 of them are Chinese nationals.

Update at 10:10 p.m. ET. Anomalies In Radar:

The industry publication The Aviation Herald has looked at some of radar information available and this is what they have to say:

“According to The Aviation Herald’s radar data the aircraft was last regularly seen at 17:22Z (01:22L) about half way between Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) at FL350 over the Gulf of Thailand about 260nm northnortheast of Kuala Lumpur 40 minutes into the flight, followed by anomalies in the radar data of the aircraft over the next minute (the anomalies may be related to the aircraft but could also be caused by the aircraft leaving the range of the receiver).

“Aviation sources in China report that radar data suggest a steep and sudden descent of the aircraft, during which the track of the aircraft changed from 024 degrees to 333 degrees. The aircraft was estimated to contact Ho Chi Minh Control Center (Vietnam) at 01:20L, but contact was never established.”

This matches with the reporting of the Chinese news agency Xinhua, which says contact and radar signal was lost near the Ho Chi Minh zone.

Update at 9:30 p.m. ET. Emergency Response Activated:

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi opened a pre-scheduled press conference by saying the news coming out of Kuala Lumpur is “very disturbing.”

Wang said that “the related departments have activated emergency response mechanism.”

Update at 8:55 p.m. ET. Notifying Next Of Kin:

In a new statement, Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said the airline is notifying the next of kin.

The passengers on the plane are from 14 different nationalities.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected passengers and crew and their family members,” Yahya said.

Boeing, meanwhile, tweeted that that they were monitoring reports.

“Our thoughts are with everyone on board,” Boeing said.

Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

A tense standoff Friday between pro-Russian troops and Ukrainian forces at a missile-defense base in Crimea is reportedly over without a shot being fired.

Russia’s Interfax news agency reported that a Russian military truck had smashed through the gate of the Ukrainian base in Sevastopol, the port city that is home to Russia’s Black Sea fleet.

Interfax, quoted by The Associated Press, says about 100 Ukrainian troops are stationed at the base and about 20 “attackers” entered, some throwing stun grenades, the report said.

The Ukrainians barricaded themselves inside one of their barracks, Interfax said.

The BBC says “the assailants and lorries reportedly left after negotiations.”

Reuters reports:

“Crimea’s pro-Russia premier, Sergei Aksyonov, was asked about the incident during a political chat show shown live on Ukrainian television and said all was calm at the military post.”

“Referring to the [armed attackers] as ‘self-defence units,’ he indicated the standoff was over, adding: ‘Now the self-defence units are surrounded by journalists. There are no attempts to attack.’”

“A Ukrainian military official told Reuters at the post that the armed group inside had not seized any [of the base's] weapons.”

“Russian forces have taken over some military installations and other buildings on the peninsula, where Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has a base, but both sides have held their fire.”

According to the BBC:

“Troops wearing Russian uniform without insignia have blockaded bases since taking control of Crimea last week.”

“Some military installations and other buildings in the peninsula have been taken over, but both sides have so far held their fire.”

Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

U.S. Border Patrol announced on Friday that it is changing its policy on using deadly force against moving vehicles and people who throw rocks.

The agency’s chief, Michael J. Fisher, sent a memorandum to employees in which he said the policy is designed to help agents avoid dangerous situations.

This is an about-face for the agency.

As we reported, an independent review of 67 cases involving deadly force, found that agents sometimes deliberately stepped in front of moving vehicles to justify shooting and also fired at people throwing rocks out of frustration from the across the Mexican border.

The panel recommended that the agency limit the use of force in those two situations, but the agency declined.

At the time, Fisher said those kinds of policies were “problematic” and could “potentially put Border Patrol agents in danger.”

Today, Fisher announced two changes:

– Agents should not discharge their weapons against a moving vehicle, unless it poses a deathly threat. For example, if a person is aiming the vehicle at an agent. The new policy also tells agents not to use their body to block a vehicle’s path, nor should they fire at a vehicle fleeing from agents.

– Agents should not fire at people throwing projectiles, unless they fear death or serious injury. Still, the new policy states, agents should avoid “placing themselves in positions where they have no alternative to using deadly force.” That means they should seek cover or put greater distance between them and the aggressors.

ACLU policy counsel Chris Rickerd, who has been following the issue, said the new guidance is a “restatement of existing policy, which is a shame because clearly existing policy isn’t working.”

“DHS must release the independent report commissioned from the respected Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) so the public can assess why Chief Fisher has rejected two of its central recommendations: that deadly force never be used on rock-throwers and people in vehicles,” Rickerd said in a statement. “The administration should also initiate an independent inquiry into all cases when CBP officials used deadly force over the last 5 years, so the public can understand why the nation’s largest law enforcement agency has been failing to follow best law enforcement practices in tactics, equipment, accountability, and training, with dozens of tragically fatal results.”

In the memo, Fisher said the agency is also developing an update to the “Use of Force Handbook.”

“It is anticipated that these initial steps will help reduce the likelihood of assaults against our agents,” Fisher wrote.

Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

A California lawmaker has proposed a measure that would prohibit SeaWorld San Diego from using orcas in its shows.

Richard Bloom, a Santa Monica Democrat, says the documentary Blackfish, which examines the 2010 death of a SeaWorld trainer who was killed by a captive orca, inspired him to push the bill.

Blackfish, which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, also highlights other incidents in which trainers were either hurt or had close calls with orcas, also known as killer whales. The filmmakers detail what they say are cramped living conditions for the marine mammals, the centerpiece of SeaWorld’s acrobatic shows.

“There is no justification for the continued captive display of orcas for entertainment purposes,” Bloom said Friday. “These beautiful creatures are much too large and far too intelligent to be confined in small, concrete tanks for their entire lives.”

SeaWorld Entertainment, the parent company that also runs parks in Orlando, Fla., and San Antonio, Texas, has called Blackfish “propaganda,” saying “the film conveys falsehoods, manipulates viewers emotionally and relies on questionable filmmaking techniques to create ‘facts’ that support its point of view.”

The company says Blackfish gives the false impression that conditions at the parks are harmful to whales and trainers, and also that SeaWorld has covered up information related to fatal 2010 training mishaps.

The New York Times reported last month that:

“Blackfish has become a rallying point for those who oppose the use of killer whales for entertainment in the SeaWorld parks, and it has drawn large audiences in theaters and on TV. But SeaWorld has defended its practices, mounting an aggressive pushback against the film.

“The company continued its counterattack with a complaint delivered … to the Labor Department. It accuses the official examining an orca’s 2010 fatal attack on a SeaWorld trainer of ethical violations, including leaking confidential documents to the makers of Blackfish.”

On Monday, The Associated Press said the film’s director, Gabriela Cowperthwaite, issued a statement to the news agency denying the Labor Department investigator ever provided information related to the investigation.

Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

His name is attached to a surgery that has saved many major league pitchers’ careers.

But Tommy John knows that’s an honor he came by thanks in large part to good luck.

“Fortunately for me, I was at the right place at the right time,” he told All Things Considered host Melissa Block on Friday. “I happened to have one of the greatest surgeons of all time being the surgeon for the Los Angeles Dodgers.”

That would be Dr. Frank Jobe, who died Thursday at the age of 88.

It was Sept. 25, 1974, when Jobe took a tendon from John’s forearm and used it to repair John’s left elbow. The Dodgers pitcher, a left-hander, had ruptured his medial collateral ligament — an injury that at the time meant the end for any pitcher’s major league career.

Jobe told him, John says, that the chances of his ever pitching again were “less than 5 percent.” But a year later, John was throwing again in an instructional league game. He would go on to pitch for 14 more seasons in the big leagues, compiling a career record of 288 wins to 231 losses. After the Dodgers, he pitched for the then-California Angels and the New York Yankees.

While he was lucky to have Jobe as his surgeon, John also believes the surgeon was lucky to have a stubborn athlete as a patient. John was more than willing to have the surgery and to do the rehabilitation work that followed.

As for his friend, anyone who met Jobe, says John, “would think he was just some mild-mannered person from Greensboro, N.C.”

Jobe would say, his most famous patient remembers, ” ‘I’m not a great surgeon, but I have the best patients in the world.’ ”

Much more from John’s conversation about Jobe is due on Friday’s edition of All Things Considered. Click here to find an NPR station that broadcasts or streams the show.

For much more about “Tommy John surgery,” a good place to start is this package of stories from the Los Angeles Times‘ Bleacher Report. In includes a video about “how the surgery is done.”

Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Credit-card rivals Visa and MasterCard said Friday they have formed an industry-wide group aimed at improving payment security in the wake of a number of breaches that compromised customers’ data.

“The recent high-profile breaches have served as a catalyst for much needed collaboration between the retail and financial services industry on the issue of payment security,” Visa President Ryan McInerney said in the statement.

According to Reuters:

“The new group, which will include banks, credit unions, retailers and industry trade groups, will initially focus on the adoption of the safer ‘EMV’ chip technology in the United States, MasterCard and Visa said on Friday.”

“EMV chip technology, already used in Europe and Asia, stores information on computer chips rather than on traditional magnetic strips. EMV stands for Europay, MasterCard and Visa, the companies that launched the technology.”

As we have reported in recent months, both Visa and MasterCard said in 2012 that they had experienced problems with third-party providers. High-profile customer data compromises occurred later at Target, Niemen Marcus, and JPMorgan.

The Wall Street Journal writes:

“The events have … reignited bickering between retailers and financial institutions, who have accused each other of dragging their feet on adopting technology that could limit the impact of data breaches.”

“‘Only through industry collaboration and cooperation will we address the real and immediate issue of security,’ Chris McWilton, president of North American Markets for MasterCard, said in a statement.”

NPR’s Elise Hu reported in January that the move away from magnetic stripe technology toward the EMV chips had reached a tipping point in recent months:

“Industry leaders know magnetic stripes are outdated and easily exploitable. The rest of the world moved on to a more secure, harder-to-hack payment system based on chip-enabled cards — chip and PIN. Chip-enabled cards are more secure because the data on the chip are hidden behind encryption. So even if criminals intercept what’s on it, they can’t reuse it.”

Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

If you’ve had a chance to visit the Sept. 11 memorials at ground zero in Manhattan, the Pentagon and western Pennsylvania — or perhaps have been to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. — then you have a sense of the powerful emotions that such places can stir up.

This week, the design was chosen for a memorial to the victims of the July 22, 2011, attacks in Norway that left 77 people dead and several hundred more wounded. Swedish artist Jonas Dahlberg’s vision for what’s being called a “memory wound” seems likely to join the list of such memorials that evoke strong feelings.

Dahlberg’s concept cuts a channel through Utoya Island, where 69 of the victims — most of them young people attending a political camp — were shot and killed by right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik.

The architecture site DesignBoom.com writes that in Dahlberg’s design:

“Visitors are guided along a wooden pathway through the forest, creating a contemplative journey to the site of the cut. A pathway traverses into a tunnel, leading within the rocky landscape directly to the dramatic edge of the void.

“At the border … [visitors] can see the flat vertical stone surface of the other side, where the names of those who died will be visibly inscribed into the terrain. The names will be close enough to read clearly yet ultimately out of reach, an acknowledgement of what is forever irreplaceable.”

TheJournal.ie adds that “in a touching addition, the landmass which is taken away to create the void will be moved to a second memorial site at the Government Quarter in Oslo. It will be used to create a path between two of the buildings there, with the names of the eight people killed in Breivik’s bomb there the same day inscribed along the edge.”

Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Being North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s deputy can be bad for your health, as the sudden execution last year of the young dictator’s No. 2 official has conclusively proven.

So, when Choe Ryong Hae, the senior Pyongyang official assumed to have stepped into the role, did not show up for several public events starting last month, speculation was rife that he’d met a similar fate as his predecessor, Kim’s uncle, Jang Song Thaek.

Jang and Choe had reportedly been hand-picked by Kim Jong Un’s father, the late Kim Jong Il, to ease his son’s transition to power.

On Tuesday, there were reports that South Korea was investigating the possibility that the 31-year-old Kim Jong Un had ordered Choe’s removal. The Week reported:

“There is growing speculation that the regime’s second most powerful man, Choe Ryong-hae, has been imprisoned and is undergoing interrogation under orders from the young dictator.”

“For the past month, Choe has failed to appear at a string of public events where he would normally be standing close to Kim, reports The Times. It is thought the pair might have clashed over the way Choe was running various state-owned businesses.”

But Reuters said on Friday that Choe “has reappeared in official television footage, belying reports he had fallen victim to a fresh purge in the isolated nation.”

According to the news agency:

“[Choe] was pictured close to Kim in pictures taken in January and February, smiling but sporting a limp. He was seen enthusiastically taking notes on a visit by Kim to various sites and then appeared at a firing drill on a beach.

“Choe is the influential head of the political wing of North Korea’s military and appears to have risen to become the second most powerful person in the country after the execution of [Jang] … last year.”

The North Korean monitoring blog 38 North describes Choe and Jang as rival “co-regents” to Kim. Alexandre Mansourov wrote in January:

“The guardianship system created by Kim Jong Il to ease his son’s way to power began to unravel in the wake of the ’7.15′ purge of the first guardian Ri Yong Ho in July 2012. The ’12.12′ execution of the second guardian Jang Song Thaek last December detonated its bedrock foundation, and as the signs of the third guardian Choe Ryong Hae’s declining influence begin to emerge in 2014, the system is entering the twilight zone.”

Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

This post has been updated.

The nation’s unemployment rate edged up to 6.7 percent in February from 6.6 percent the month before, but employers added more jobs than expected, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday.

According to BLS, the number of jobs on public and private payrolls grew by 175,000 last month — about 25,000 more than economists had expected.

That employment figure, not the jobless rate, is typically what economists focus more attention on after each month’s data are released. They had been expecting to hear that 150,000 or fewer jobs were added in February. The fact that the number was higher “could ease fears of an abrupt slowdown in economic growth,” Reuters writes.

There’s also a case to be made that the slight rise in the jobless rate was caused, at least in part, by a positive trend: BLS says the size of the civilian labor force grew by about 264,000 and that the number of people classified as “discouraged workers” declined to 755,000 from 837,000.

Those are signs that many Americans are now at least a bit more optimistic about the chances of finding work, and have re-entered the labor force. As they come back into the pool, though, the unemployment rate can edge up even as employers add jobs.

The news was released at 8:30 a.m. ET. We’ll have more from the report and reactions to it.

Update at 9:40 a.m. ET. Stocks Rise:

In the first 10 minutes or so after the start of trading in New York, stocks were up slightly. The Dow Jones industrial average, for instance, rose about 60 points — or about 0.3 percent.

Update at 9:25 a.m. ET. Where The Gains Were:

According to BLS:

– 162,000 of the 175,000 additional jobs were in the private sector.

– The leisure and hospitality industry increased employment by 25,000.

– Temporary help firms increased employment by 24,400 jobs.

– Construction firms, despite the harsh winter weather, added 15,000 jobs.

– Health care and “social assistance” firms added 14,700 jobs.

– Manufacturers added 6,000 jobs.

Update at 9:10 a.m. ET. Early Analyses:

– “Employers added more workers than projected in February, indicating the U.S. economy is starting to bounce back from a weather-induced setback.” (Bloomberg News)

– “The steady pace of hiring last month — it was the biggest increase in three months — suggests the economy has not slowed as much as a recent spate of indicators appear to indicate.” (MarketWatch)

Update at 9 a.m. ET. ‘Sigh Of Relief’:

The news “has people breathing a sigh of relief because it comes on the heels of two very disappointing [jobs] reports, for December and January,” NPR’s Chris Arnold tells our Newscast Desk.

What’s more, those disappointing numbers from December and January are now slightly less disappointing. The bureau reported Friday that it believes 129,000 jobs were added to payrolls in January, an upward revision from its earlier estimate of 113,000. Also, it now believes 84,000 jobs were added in December. That’s up from the previous estimate of 75,000.

Update at 8:55 a.m. ET. Stock Market Should Like It:

“This is clearly a report that works in favor of the stock market bulls: continued moderate growth that keeps the [Federal Reserve's] low-rate policies in place, tapering aside,” writes The Wall Street Journal‘s Tom Lauricella. “I suspect we’ll be writing ‘stocks hit a fresh record high’ an awful lot in coming weeks.”

Update at 8:45 a.m. ET. Why The Numbers Went In Different Directions:

This has happened before — better-than-expected job growth is accompanied by a rise in the unemployment rate. Once again, the explanations include:

– The fact that the two figures are produced by different surveys, one of employers and the other (for the jobless rate) of households.

– The possibility that both numbers were influenced by “good” news. Employers were optimistic enough about the outlook to add workers; and many Americans were optimistic enough about the outlook to start looking for work. But re-entering the workforce, those people increased the supply of available workers more than the boost in employment could absorb — thereby lifting the unemployment rate slightly.

Our original post previewed the report:

The latest news about job growth and the nation’s unemployment rate is due at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Economists expect to hear that while the jobless rate stayed at a five-year-low 6.6 percent last month, job growth was relatively weak.

As NPR’s John Ydstie reported on Morning Edition, this winter’s especially cold weather across much of the nation likely held down hiring — particularly in the construction industry. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is expected to say that about 150,000 jobs were added to payrolls in February.

That would be a modest uptick from January’s pace. In its initial report for that month, BLS said employers added only 113,000 jobs to payrolls. But 150,000 jobs is still a small gain in an economy that employs more than 145 million people.

We’ll be updating this post as news from the report comes in.

Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

One day after President Obama condemned steps taken by Crimea’s parliament to leave Ukraine and join the Russian Federation, Russian lawmakers are welcoming such a move by Crimean separatists.

“Russia’s parliament gave its defiant support Friday to Crimean lawmakers who want to see their region split from Ukraine and join Russia,” CNN reports from Moscow.

A delegation from Crimea’s parliament “was welcomed with applause” by the Russian parliament’s lower house Friday, and the speaker of the upper house said Russia supports whatever decision the people of Crimea make, CNN adds.

Friday’s news from Moscow underscored again how far apart the U.S. and Russian views of the crisis in Ukraine appear to be.

While it is part of Ukraine, Crimea is a largely autonomous region with its own parliament. The majority of its people are Russian-speaking. Russia maintains a large naval base on the Black Sea peninsula.

Since last month’s ouster of Russia-leaning Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, after several months of protests over alleged corruption and his decision to reject closer economic ties to the European Union, Crimea has been at the center of an international crisis.

Soldiers — who witnesses and reporters say are Russian troops but Russian officials insist are from local self-defense forces — have surrounded Ukrainian military posts in Crimea and have seized other strategic locations. No shots have been exchanged because Ukrainian troops have mostly stayed within their bases.

Obama and leaders from Europe have protested Russia’s actions. Putin has said Russia is seeking only to protect the interests of ethnic Russians.

On Thursday, as we reported, Crimea’s parliament voted to align with the Russian Federation and scheduled a March 16 public referendum on that issue. Ukraine’s interim prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, called the Crimean lawmakers’ action “an illegitimate decision” and said that “Crimea was, is and will be an integral part of Ukraine.”

Obama said Thursday that “the proposed referendum on the future of Crimea would violate the Ukrainian constitution and violate international law.” He also said the world is “well beyond the days when borders can be redrawn over the heads of democratic leaders.”

Putin and Obama talked for about an hour by telephone Thursday. According to the White House, “President Obama emphasized that Russia’s actions are in violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” He also, the White House says:

” … indicated that there is a way to resolve the situation diplomatically, which addresses the interests of Russia, the people of Ukraine, and the international community. As a part of that resolution, the governments of Ukraine and Russia would hold direct talks, facilitated by the international community; international monitors could ensure that the rights of all Ukrainians are protected, including ethnic Russians; Russian forces would return to their bases; and the international community would work together to support the Ukrainian people as they prepare for elections in May.”

According to Russia’s RIA Novosti, Putin told Obama “that Ukraine’s current government, brought to power by a revolution that ousted President Viktor Yanukovych last month, was illegitimate. He said that ‘Russia cannot ignore [Crimea's] appeals for help in this regard,’ but that it would act in full compliance with international law.”

Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.