M’sia widens search for missing plane

Malaysian authorities expanded their search for the missing jetliner westward toward India on Thursday, saying it may have flown for several hours after its last contact with the ground. That scenario would make finding the Boeing 777 a vastly more difficult task, and raises the possibility that searchers are currently looking in the wrong place for the plane and its 229 passengers and crew. In the latest in a series of false leads, planes were sent Thursday to search an area off the southern tip of Vietnam where Chinese satellite images published on a Chinese government website reportedly showed three suspected floating objects. They saw only ocean, according to a news agency.