Globe Trot: Leads dwindling in Flight 370 search

MALAYSIA: Today marks two weeks since the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. Winter weather is approaching in the south Indian Ocean, hampering search efforts in an area off the Australian coast where satellite imagery may have detected debris. With few apparent leads on what happened as the plane strayed far from its course, the flight simulator belonging to the pilot is on its way to an FBI lab in Quantico, Va., where technicians will attempt to recover deleted files that could hold clues.

UKRAINE: ESRI’s story map presents a good overview of the crisis in Crimea and a look at how Russian Ukraine is.

SOUTH SUDAN: Roko Taban, a church leader from Malakal, describes the flight of South Sudanese from attacks in the oil-rich areas of South Sudan despite a January ceasefire:

“We have lost everything—all our possessions. Many of our churches, homes and so on have been razed to the ground—and everything has been looted.”

SAUDI ARABIA: When President Barack Obama visits the Saudi kingdom next week, he will have a chance to put feet to his statement at the National Prayer Breakfast in February that “promoting religious freedom is a key objective of U.S. foreign policy.”

PARAGUAY: A cello made from an oil drum, a meat tenderizer and a gnocchi maker? Landfill Harmonic is a growing movement to musically train children in slums using instruments made of trash. Just listen. (HT author and speaker Darrow Miller.)