Good morning. Im frances rivera. One plane, 239 missing passengers and now 25 countries involved in a search and rescue operation. Officials now say flight 370 was diverted because of a deliberate action by someone on board. And now we know the final message came after a Communications System was shut down. All right, good night. Those haunting words calmly spoken to air Traffic Controllers and just this morning we learned that Malaysia Airlines believed those last words were from the planes pilot. Nbcs keir simmons is in kuala lumpur. Good morning, keir. Reporter this is a navy p3 orion on board advanced submarine detection sensors that can look even beneath the ocean. Today it is going to be flying over the indian ocean as the search for flight 370 is vastly expanded. It is now 25 countries involved in helping this search, and as well over the ocean, they are searching across 11 separate countries and incredible operation to try to establish what exactly happened. Meanwhile, the Investigation Continues back here in malaysia. Now the focus is increasingly on the pilot, zaharie shah and fariq hamid. Both their homes were searched over the weekend. Their friends tell us they were both honest, decent men and shocked they should be the subject of any kind of investigation. The authorities here are making clear that they are not just looking into the two pilots, that they are looking into the passengers, and the crew, but the news through the weekend that flight 370 was being determined to be controlled by someone has reset the focus of this investigation and opened up a whole new set of questions about what exactly happened. Back to you. Keir, thank you very much. Now, the frustration is mounting for the families of the 239 people still missing. One father telling nbc news he cannot sleep or eat. Nbcs Annabelle Roberts joins us live from london. This has been a long and excruciating wait. Reporter frances, good morning. Yes, youre right. These families are now into the tenth day of waiting. And they say that the slow drift of communication coming from malaysia is causing deep frustration and despair. You can see it boiling over at meetings between Airline Representatives and the family members. Of course, they are still clinging to the hope that their loved ones will come home, but some complain that theyre not really being kept informed properly by the airline, but theyre learning of developments in this investigation through the media. This is what they had to say. I find the lack of communication critical. I dont understand why they would want family members to be learning from the news and i think they have been quite lax in their ability to keep us up to date with what is happening. And i find it very poor. I know hes strong. Strong guy and smart guy. And he can survive things, you know . He can survive he can survive things. He can survive this. He can. He is surviving this. Reporter the news over the weekend that the search area has expanded really means that their wait sadly is likely far from over. Frances . So difficult. Thank you so much. There are new developments from a crisis in ukraine. This morning, crimeas parliament declared the region an independent state. This after crimean voters voted overwhelmingly to leave the country and join russia. There were huge celebrations in the streets. And soon russias parliament will start the process to ratify the vote. The United States calls the move illegal. Nbcs tracie potts is live in washington. Were all watching. What is next here, tracie . Reporter next, crimean lawmakers plan to fly to moscow to ask russia to formally adopt them as part of their country. And here in the United States, were waiting for a list of names. These are names from the Obama Administration, separate list may be coming today from the european union, of individuals that they want to impose sanctions on. Travel bans and freezing assets, trying to get at russia with economic pressures on some of its top officials while congress here on capitol hill weighs economic sanctions against the country as a whole. Meantime, the question remains is president putin going to push even further into russia, into the eastern region, where there has been a lot of pro russian demonstrations . Ukraine saying they dont recognize the outcome of this vote, along with europe, along with the United States. All right. Tracie potts reporting for us, we appreciate it. From one world hot spot to another, this morning north korea fired more than two dozen missiles. South korean Officials Say pyongyang launched 25 short range rockets. The missiles went about 45 miles off north koreas Eastern Shore before crashing into the sea of japan. It is an apparent continuation of protests against ongoing joint u. S. south Korean Military drills. The state Department Says it is aware of the launch and monitoring the developments. In venezuela, renewed anger at the government is boiling over. Demonstrators clashed with police over the weekend in some of the most violent protests to date. Antigovernment activists took their message to the streets beginning last month. Activists say theyre fed up with a rise in Violent Crime and shortages of basic needs like flour and cooking oil. So far more than two dozen people have died in the protests. And we are following breaking news this morning. The pentagon says u. S. Navy s. E. A. L. S seized control of commercial tanker morning glory. The operation happened late sunday southeast of cyprus in international waters. Morning glory is a stateless vessel seized earlier this month by three armed libyans. U. S. Forces boarded and took control of the tanker at the requests of the governments of libya and cyprus. No one was injured. The ship and the cargo of oil will sail back to libya under the supervision of u. S. Sailers. Turning now to the weather, strong storms tore across the south this weekend. Fast moving floodwaters trapped a dozen people at an alabama campsite. Crews managed to get everyone out okay, and the National Weather service is determining if a tornado did in fact bring down this department store. Several nearby homes and businesses were also damaged. Dylan dreyer is here with your st. Patricks day forecast. Is all that green going to be covered up with heavy coats . Unfortunately it is. So many areas across the country are dealing with some cold, it is really just the Western Plains that are enjoying some temperatures above average. But we do have this big storm system bringing snow to the Nations Capital and heavy rain down through florida. We also have some heavy rain and snow in the pacific northwest. But we are going to see things clear out eventually this morning. Parts of washington, d. C. Picked up about 7 to 9 inches of snow. We are measuring snow in feet, though, especially back through the higher elevations, back into washington state. And you can see heavier rain is making its way on shore. So we are going to see off and on showers with some pockets of heavier rain ending up with 1 to 2 inches of rainfall from seattle right down to the coast of oregon. And, again, the mountain snow will accumulate possibly as much as a foot to a foot and a half. Were looking at pretty Cool Temperatures right now, but it is going to warm up nicely today in denver. We should hit 70 degrees later on this afternoon. That will feel nice. Well keep an eye on potential for isolated flooding and some covered roadways because of all of the rain in the pacific northwest. So all the warm air right now is in the southwest. And some in the rockies too, but it doesnt last long. Denver will be back down to 47 tomorrow. Yikes. Dont need to keep those green flipflops out, at least for the time being. It would be nice. Dylan, thank you very much. On this day of green, the guinness may flow in new york city, but the company pulled the major sponsorship. Today of all days. A major minivan recall to tell you about. Plus, a daredevils heart pounding topsyturvy stunt, hundreds of feet above the ground. Youre watching early today. Hi. I just finished an energy audit of this building and started my own dog walking business. What did you do to deserve that thin mints flavor coffeemate . Its only one of the most delicious girl scout cookie flavors ever. I changed the printer ink. Really . Its actually tricky. Youre lucky i like your tie. Enjoy our caramel and coconut Girl Scout Cookies flavor. Now available in powder. Nestle. Good food, good life. And better is so easy withrning you cabenefiber. O Something Better for yourself. Fiber thats tastefree, gritfree and dissolves completely. So you can feel free to add it to anything. And feel better about doing it. Better it with benefiber. [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat . Campbells healthy request soup lets you hear it in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. [ mm. ] great taste. [ tapping ] sounds good. Campbells healthy request. Mm mm good. ® campbells healthy request. Save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Ould yep, Everybody Knows that. Well, did you know the ancient pyramids were actually a mistake . Uhoh. Geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Welcome back. The army is dropping Sexual Assault charges against Brigadier General Jeffrey Sinclair under a new plea agreement. Sinclair is expected to plead to lesser charges when his courtmartial resumes today at ft. Bragg. A new snl orc poll has rand paul with a slight edge over republican potential candidates for the 2016 president ial nomination. Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton leads democrats with 63 , while Vice President joe biden is a distant second. Boston and detroit were among the major cities that got an early jump on st. Patricks day with parades this weekend. The Chicago River was dyed green as they always do to mark the occasion. Meanwhile, todays parade in new york will be without a major sponsor. Guinness is pulling out because it bans lgbt families and organizations from participating. A british daredevil is living on the edge. Want to see how . Look at this. The 25yearold performed an extreme hand stand on the edge, there he goes, balance, balance. Thats the edge of a 40story building in shanghai. No harness, no safety net. Why would he do this, you ask . He said he wants to inspire the world. Time for business. Cnbcs bertha coombs. Good morning. Good morning, frances. More than two dozen state attorneys general have sent letters to big retailer includesing riteaid and walmart urging them to halt sales of tobacco products. This would follow a move by cvs caremark last month. They say it doesnt mention any potential legal action if they dont institute the ban. Honda will be sending out recall notices to 900,000 odyssey minivan owners. The reason, a potential gas leak. And that recall affects certain 2005 to 2010 odysseys. Verifone finds 75 want mobile payments, but less than half feel comfortable with using their phone to make small purchases such as a cup of coffee. I dont know. Im in the minority there. I actually like using my mobile app to pay for coffee. Back to you. Hard to deal with all that change. Bertha, thank you. Time to fill out the ncaa brackets. We have details ahead. If you think the competition is just on the hard court, think again. Early today is back in a moment. [bell rings] [prof. Burke] at farmers,we make you smarter about your insurance,because what you dont know can hurt you. What if you didnt know that Home Insurance can keep your stuff covered,even when its not at home . Or that collisions with wildlife on the road may not be covered. And what if you didnt know that you could be liable for any accidents on your property . The more you know,the better you can plan for whats ahead. Talk to farmers and get smarter about your insurance. We are farmers bum pa dum, bum bum bum bum the famed home of the oprah [ bubbles, baby giggling ] [ mom ] when were having this much fun, why quit . And new bounty has no quit in it either. Watch how one sheet of new bounty keeps working, while their two sheets just quit. New bounty. The noquit pickerupper. Still running in the morning . Yeah. Getting your vegetables every day . When i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] couldve had a v8. Two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories. This morning on today, the one and only Enrique Iglesias takes over the plaza with two backtoback performances from his new album sex and love. Time to get you up to date in sports. We have your number one seed for the big dance. 38 years in the making for the cavaliers, number six seed virginia against number seven duke. The cavaliers up by three when dukes parker, he sees the ball and goes coast to coast for a onehanded dunk. There it is. Virginia with a fourpoint lead. Senior joe harris drains a threepointer. Virginia takes it 7263, winning their first acc title since 1976. On to the big ten tournament, stunner, number two michigan states gary harris, a dunk right there. The spartens lead number eight michigan in first half. Michigan state upsets michigan winning the big ten title. Kentucky in the final minutes here. Johns dranz crucial threepointer to keep it close. With seconds left, here we go, young again for the win. Look, he slips. Florida wins 6160, taking the s. E. C. Title and getting their 26th straight victory. Here we go. Florida number one overall seed for the ncaa tournament representing the south. Virginia becomes the top seed for the east. Arizona is the top for the west with undefeated Wichita State topping the midwest. So how excited would you be if you were invited to the big dance . Selection sunday. Thats nc state wolf pack. They found out they made it after losing to duke in the acc semifinals. Their fate was questionable. Now theyll play xavier on tuesday. St. Joseph upset bcu, but the real struggle of the game, on the sidelines, thats the 4yearold grandson of the coach. Check out this little man. He mimicked his granddads gestures, folding his arms, pondering with his hand on his chin, and that tie that came down to his knees and the pocket square. Got to have the pocket square. And mascot madness. Video captured the mascots fighting on the sidelines. It got so bad that arena personnel had to come in and separate wolfy the sea wolf and damian the great dane. I dont know if it went so far. The nascar, a wet one for bristol after a nearly twohour rain delay, whit and Danica Patrick hit each other. Kevin harvick comes in fourth when a crash there left his car in flames. Good thing hes okay. In the end, it was carl edwards who earned first in that wild race. Still ahead here, rock band kiss speaks out on their hall of fame snub. Demi lovato slams lady gaga for glamorizing eating disorders. Details next. We really wanted to take a relaxing trip to florida. You know . Just to unwind. But we can only afford one trip this year, and his High School Reunion is coming up in seattle. Everyones going. Then we heard about hotwire. And realized we could actually afford to take both trips. [woman] see, when really nice hotels have unsold rooms, they use hotwire to fill them. So we got our 4star hotels for half price. I should have been voted most likely to travel. Hotwire hotwire. Com save big on car rentals too, from 11. 95 a day. The girls and i need. A new activity. [ giggles ] [ snaps finger ] [ wisest kid ] campbells tomato soup with grilled cheese. Perfect together. What should we do next . Im liking braids. [ gong ] mm mm good im liking braids. Its built to be as fast o as it is strongadvil. And fights pain at the site of inflammation. And made for people like paul, who believe nothing should stop you from achieving your goals. Not doubt. Not fear. And definitely not back and shoulder pain. Advil has the strength and speed to help you move past pain and make today yours. Advil. Make today yours. Advil is enabling volunteers to help others. Look for the coupon and learn more. Innovative cc cream from nice n easy. Our advanced treatment helps keep highlights and lowlights shiny and luminous. Cc cream, find it in every box of nice n easy. The most natural shade of you. And better is so easy withrning you cabenefiber. O Something Better for yourself. In every box of nice n easy. Fiber thats tastefree, gritfree and dissolves completely. So you can feel free to add it to anything. And feel better about doing it. Better it with benefiber. And started my own dog energy walking business. Lding what did you do to deserve that thin mints flavor coffeemate . Its only one of the most delicious girl scout cookie flavors ever. I changed the printer ink. Really . Its actually tricky. Youre lucky i like your tie. Enjoy our caramel and coconut Girl Scout Cookies flavor. Now available in powder. Nestle. Good food, good life. Good morning and welcome back. It is a little bit soggy for this st. Patricks day in parts of seattle. 40 degrees now. 42 in medford, oregon. 58 in los angeles where it is going to turn into another warm day today. It is going to be showery off and on with mountain snow in the pacific northwest. But it looks sunny and warm in the southwest. Temperatures in the 70s and 80s. Tomorrow, still hanging on to some showers in seattle. Gets up to 54. Phoenix should top out at 82. L. A. , looking for a high of 73 degrees, feeling good right about now. Got it. Dylan, thank you very much. Now to entertainment news. Mr. Peabody sherman was all bark and plenty of bite at the box office. The animated film grossed over 21 million this weekend trumping last weekends top film 300 rise of an empire. And the newly released need for speed. The 2014 rock and roll hall of fame induction ceremony will be bittersweet for the band kiss. The band is refusing to perform because hall officials would only induct the original members. Eric singer and tommy thayer. Front man paul stanley believes rules can be bent in the bands favor. Similar to the grateful dead when their songwriter Robert Hunter entered the hall without ever playing a note with the band. Demi lovato who has suffered from eating disorders slammed lady gaga for letting performance artist millie brown vomit on her in the south by southwest show. Sad, as if we didnt have enough people glamorizing eating disorders. Bottom line, it is not cool or artsy at all. Gaga responded and said sometimes things that are really strange can change the world. Wayne knight is back from the dead. The actor best known as the annoying character newman on the hit sitcom seinfeld tweeted i am alive and well. Media outlets reported hes dead. His twitter feed said, hes dead, hes dead, hes dead. Im frances rivera. This is early today. We hope it is your first stop of the day here on nbc. [ woman 1 ] why do i cook . Because an empty pan is a blank canvas. [ woman 2 ] to share a moment. [ woman 3 ] to travel the World Without leaving home. [ male announcer ] whatever the reason. Whatever the dish. Make it delicious with swanson. I takbecause you cant beatrning for zero heartburn. Woo hoo ish. [ male announcer ] prilosec otc is the number one doctor recommended frequent heartburn medicine for 8 straight years. One pill each morning. 24 hours. Zero heartburn. Leading the news this morning, in politico, open government studies secrecy up. An Associated Press analysis showed freedom of information requests were up from last year, but the Obama Administration censored some material or fully denied access to 36 of all requests. From nbclos angeles. Com, nypd gets a lamborghini gallardo. You can run, but you cant hide. Dont expect to see this police car in hot pursuit. The nontaxpayer funded car is only making public appearances on behalf of the lapd air support team. Also in the news this morning, incredible video of the moment an historic smokestack is demolished. Tenstory Island Station took just one second to be brought down. It sat along the Mississippi River in st. Paul, minnesota, and was even designated a historical heritage site. Now the land is being sold to developers. And what if you found out when you googled yourself, well, this guy here found himself on northern californias most wanted website. So christopher turned himself into police. He was wanted for discharging a gun at a party. As of friday, he was listed as a captured fugitive. A race in england shows chivalry may not be dead after all. Welcome to the seventh annual wife carrying race. The name speaks for itself. Men had to race through an Obstacle Course with hills and water features with their helmet clad partners on their back. The event is thought to have originated in viking time. The north american contest is happening in maine later in october. I got to look at pointers because, you know, some are upside down, some are right side up. I wonder what the better technique is. And the piggyback. Im sure there is a strategy to it. Time for a look ahead and a look back. President obama will welcome the Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas to the white house. The leaders will discuss the latest progress in Israeli Palestinian negotiations. On this day in 1992, a referendum to end apartheid in south africa was passed as reported by nbc nightly news. A yes vote in the referendum will clear the way for talks on a new constitution which will give blacks the vote. But today 26 million blacks stood on the sidelines as 3. 3 million whites decided their future. And a day we say happy birthday to reality tvs Rob Kardashian who turns 27. Rob lowe turns 50. And actor curt russell is 63. Im sure you put up the picture of rob lowe now and rob lowe in st. Elmos fire era, looks exactly the same. Thanks for watching early today. Have a great st. Patricks day. A house in the south bay goes up in flames overnight and firefighters make a startling discovery inside the burned out home. New details on the massive fire that reduced a San Francisco construction site to rubble. And a man is recovering this morning after he was hit by a tour bus in San Francisco. What witnesses say the driver of the bus did moments before the crash. A live look outside, you see the bay bridge, beautiful at 4 30. Its monday, march 17th, st. Patricks day, this is today in the bay. Good morning to you. Again 4 30. Im peggy bunker. Im laura garciacannon
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