1. a) How many passengers were on missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, which was traveling from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China?
b) How many of the passengers were Chinese?

2. How many countries/ships/aircraft were involved in the search as of Wednesday?

3. What have searchers found thus far, per Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein?

4. a) What assistance has the U.S. offered to the Malaysian government?
b) What has the NTSB announced they are doing to help the Malaysian authorities?

5. a) What is a transponder?
b) How could the plane have flown across Malaysia (as suggested by Malaysian authorities in para. 7) without being detected? (see para. 14)

6. Authorities haven't ruled out any of the possible causes for the planes disappearance. List the possible causes.

7. Malaysian Air Force Gen. Rodzali released a statement denying remarks attributed to him in a local media report saying that military radar had confirmed that aircraft flew west over and made it to the Malacca strait. The Associated Press contacted a high-level military official, who confirmed the remarks. Why do you think Gen. Rodzali made the statement and then denied making it?

8. What speculation is there about the confusion over whether the plane has been spotted flying away from its destination?

9. What do you think happened to Flight 370? Explain your answer.

(For an update on Flight 370's disappearance, go to: reuters.com)