Controllers. Those final words were all right. Good night. The hunt for flight 370 turns to the men in the cockpit. Investigators removing a flight simulator. Malaysian police say theyre investigating a flight engineer, one of the passengers aboard that plane. An earthquake struck California North of downtown los angeles. So far, no reports of any majormajo majorly damage. Some areas could see 10 inches. Like an april fools joke, right . Maybe well do of the snow. Delta 757 losing part of its wing while in the air from orlando to atlanta. Everyone is okay. Crimeans voted to become part of the russian federation. President obama said that the United States rejects the referendum result. Its corruption. Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country. The navy s. E. A. L. Rescue in the Mediterranean Sea took control of a tanker seas. A black man named oreo is back to safety after being stranded on a seaside cliff in california. All that. Were in it now. The most exciting time of the year. March madness. Top seats. Florida, arizona, Wichita State and virginia. Terrifying moment for a diver in the carribean, while spear fishing, a reef shark came out of nowhere. Once again, toronto mayor rob ford has been caught on video behaving strangely in public. Staggering, swearing. Just to clarify, you werent trig last night . Were you drinking last night . On cbs this morning. Phillip steven martelly imitates his granddad, 4 years old. Way too much hair to pull this off. What a cutie. And the grandson this mornings eyeopener is presented by toyota. This mornings eyeopener is presented by toyota. Lets go places. Captioning funded by cbs welcome to cbs this morning. Gayle king is off. Good morning, nora. Good morning to you, charlie. Breaking news. An earthquake struck Southern California a short time ago. Their preliminary magnitude reported at 4. 4. It was centered in the Santa Monica Mountains between encino and the San Fernando Valley in the westwood section of los angeles, home to ucla. The quake hit around 6 25 pacific time. Our los angeles station, kcbs, was an the air, live, with its morning news as it hit. Thats funny. It is funny. Whoa whoa. Earthquake. Big earthquake right now. Big earthquake. Thats really strong shaker right now. Wow. Seismologist with the u. S. Geological survey says its the largest quake in the Los Angeles Area since aftershocks from the north ridge earthquake 20 years ago. Our correspondent, carter evans, reports hard shaking, lasting 15 seconds or more. At this point, we do not have reports of damage or injuries. The International Effort to find the Malaysia Airlines jet enters a new phase this morning. The search area is much larger, with a focus on a southern curve, reaching to the indian ocean. 26 countries are now involved in the operation, all of them know the signs, now point to sabotage. Seth doan is in kuala lumpur, where investigators are looking very closely at the pilot and the co pilot. Seth, good morning. Reporter good morning. As that search is now under way in those newly designated northern and southern corridors, investigators here are focusing on who was on board. Today, Malaysia Airlines ceo revealed who spoke the last words from the cockpit on flight 370. An informal all right, good night. The initial investigation indicates it was the co pilot who basically spoke the last time. Reporter around the same time, another of the flights Communication Systems was apparently switched off. But officials could not confirm which came first. Police searched the home of the pilot over the weekend. They confiscated laptops and a flight simulator. When we tried to get close to the pilots home inside a gated community in kuala lumpur, we were stopped by security. Can we just come inside . Reporter police also searched the co pilots house. So far, authorities have not provided evidence implicating either pilot. This is the co pilot, fariq hamids house. We rang the doorbell, now answer. Neighbors tell us they have seen police cars and motorcycles here. They also tell us this was a relatively quiet family that kept to themselves. Neighbors told us the 27yearold went to a good school and had a father in government. Whats his reputation around here . Hes a nice boy. He goes quite often. Reporter flight 370 sent its last signal to a satellite at 8 11 00 a. M. , seven and a half hours after it took off. At that point, the plane was believed to be somewhere within an enormous arc or corridor, stretching from the caspian sea all the way to the southern indian ocean. Authorities have requested more satellite data from countries, including the u. S. And china, to help refine the search. As officials comb through that flight manifest, some people are of particular note. One person, a malaysian man, appears to have had experience as an airline engineer. Charlie, nora . Seth, thanks. Cbs news Senior Security contributor, mike morel, is with us, former deputy director. Good morning. Good morning. Other than the fact that the plane is missing and they cant find it, what is the most interesting thing for your experienced eye about this . Most interesting thing is that it really seems that somebody took control of this aircraft and flew it for some time after the Communication Systems were turned off. Does intelligence say its most likely one of the two pilots . It seems to me. Because if somebody tried to get access to the cockpit, it would seem to me that there would have been enough time for the pilots to have some sort of communication with the ground. That didnt happen. Okay. Then comes motive. The wall street journal today says some officials believe the plane may have been taken as part of a dry run for a future terrorist attack, testinging the ability to take a plane and hide it from radar and satellite. Is that a possibility . Its a possibility, but i dont think its likely you would do something of this magnitude as a test. If you were able to get control of an aircraft, you would use it immediately. So possible, but not likely. And second question. This new report this morning out of the news strait times saying this plane may have dropped below 5,000 feet or lower, using a lowflying technique known as terrain masking to avoid radar, which means it could have taken that northern route and flown over land and not have been detected. Im not an aviation expert, but the 777 pilots that ive talked with say that would be very difficult to do. So, again, possible but not likely. And as we look at this map of where that plane may have gone, assuming it is true it flew on for several more hours, the northern and the southern route, you think its highly unlikely it could have gone that northern route, because it would have flown over all of these countries and satellites like china and others would have detected it, right . A lot of defense radar in terms of china and india and u. S. And afghanistan. So, again, it is most most likely the southern route. When you look at this so far, are you surprised about the malaysians and what they havent done . No. In general, they are very, very cooperative. They were very, very cooperative with us on counterterrorism. They are very good. But there is a natural tendency in these situations to want to let everybody know you can do an investigation yourself. So a natural tendency to be a little reluctant to accept help. In addition, this is a very interesting neighborhood with a lot of disputed islands so the last thing you want to do is hand over defense information to your adversaries. About your radar capability. Exactly. So im not surprised at this point. And what about, is there any terror nexus between al qaeda and malaysia that we know of, that we have investigated in the past, that were concerned about . Malaysia was one of the places where al qaeda used to spend some time, but the malaysians largely have pushed al qaeda out. So right now, no. Let me turn to crimea. What are our options . I dont think our options are very good. I think the president in this kind of sanctions hes talking about in the kind of sanctions that the europeans are talking about are signalling that we want to deescalate this. So i think the ball is really in putins court in terms of what he does next. And the question is, is crimea for him, does he just want to hold on to that, or does he want to go further and take parts of eastern ukraine. Mike, thanks. More now on ukraine this morning. The United States and europe slashed sanctions on russian and ukraine officials after crimeas breakaway vote sunday. President obama warned russian president Vladimir Putin in a call sunday that the west would never recognize the result. And Vice President biden travels to europe today for meetings with nato allies. He will visit poland, which borders ukraine and nearby lithuania. He is also set to talk with the leaders of list tonya and lat a latvia. So far, this morning, the Dow Jones Industrial average is up sharply as investors watch the crisis unfold. Ahead of the election commission, 97 of voters support joining russia. Crimeas parliament declared the regions independence this morning. Elizabeth, good morning. Reporter while the diplomatic standoff International One is getting sharper, the thousands of cri crimeans who voted yesterday now believe they are firmly on the way. As soon as the tally was in the party started. Crimeas new Prime Minister said aloud what many in the crowd were feeling. Dear friends, he said, we are going home to russia. Voting on sunday was orderly, and the turnout heavy. The government said 83 of voters cast ballots. Most of them firmly convinced that a vote for russia was a vote for a better life. I think that people i expect it to be the majority toward a referendum. What it means is that people believe and they think that they would be with russia. Reporter in moscow, too, a huge demonstration on the weekend helped popular the idea of annexing the crimea is. For older russians, especially, it evokes the glory days of soviet might and the cold war. A popular anchor on state Television Even told his viewers last night russia is the only country in the world thats really able to turn the usa into radioactive ash. The one thing throwing some cold water on all this overheated emotion is the prospect of economic sanctions against russia, which will escalate from today. One thing thats already a sign that the currency markets are jittery is that the value of the ruble, the russian ruble, today hazard fallen to new lows. Charlie, nora . Elizabeth palmer, thank you. This morning the u. S. Navy confirms the s. E. A. L. S captured some southeast of cyprus. The ship was hijacked from a libyan port by three armed men earlier this month. It carrying oil owned by libya. That countrys government asked for u. S. Help. No one was hurt in the raid. The official start of spring just three days away, millions of americans from the midwest to the east coast are facing a final blast of winter this morning. Snow is piling up in virginia. We have a bus crash north of richmond this morning. At least four people are hurt. Parts of i95 are closed. It is also snowing heavily in Atlantic City, new jersey. Wyatt andrews is in washington, d. C. Where the Severe Weather is leading the government to close offices yet again. Wyatt, good morning. Reporter charlie and nora, good morning. Well, later on this week, d. C. Will feel like los angeles, with temperatures slated to be in the 60s by thursday. But right now in d. C. , it is 30 degrees. Theres about 5 to 6 inches of snow on the ground. And for the fourth time this season, a winter storm has shut down the federal government. The biggest problem came out in the suburbs surrounding washington, where 7 to 10 inches fell overnight, but another 1 to 2 inches in the forecast. That created a travel hazard for the tens of thousands of federal workers who commute into the district every day, and so the decision was made for this oneday shutdown. As for the d. C. Area airports, they are technically open and are functioning. But the Airlines Tell Us this morning that at least 400 flights have been cancelled in and out of d. C. Charlie and nora. Thanks, wyatt. This morning, the general accused in a high profile Sexual Assault case pleaded guilty to reduced charges. Sentencing should begin today. Bringing debt general jeffrey sinclaire is believed to be the highest ranking to face Court Martial for Sexual Assault. Jane crawford reports, the case is drawing scrutiny in the military. Good morning. Reporter good morning. Proceedings are under way this morning. The government dropping most of the charges that could have put general sinclaire in jail for life. Its vindication for the general, caught up not only in a legal but political firestorm. The highprofile case fell apart sunday when the government indicated it will drop all Sexual Assault charges against Brigadier General jeffrey sinclaire. Prosecutors instead will accept a plea deal with sinclaire, who has maintained his innocence since the allegations became public two years ago. The general pled guilty early they are month to adultery, after admitting to a threeyear affair with a junior officer. Hes expected to plead guilty monday to other lesser charges. Someone who was involved in the prosecution of this case called general sinclaire the poster child for Sexual Assault. Reporter richard chef is sinclaires lead attorney. He says his client was a victim of politics. We believe it was driven by the army needing to believe that they that an example had to be made of somebody, and they picked the wrong person. Reporter sinclaire was Court Martialed on allegations he forced the junior officer to perform oral sex and threatened to kill her and her family if she disclosed their affair. His lawyer said those claims were false. They challenged the accusers credibility and set highranking officers interfered with the case to make it look like the military was tough on Sexual Assault. The prosecution in Court Last Week defended the case, saying, one thing that is clear, there was no influence. Outside the courtroom, the legal battle has become the center of a political fight on capitol hill over how the military decides which Sexual Assault cases to prosecute. Last week, the Senate Passed legislation that would keep commanders from overturning convictions and would hold them to higher standards. Now, Senate Proceedings will start as soon as today. Sinclaires lawyers say he is should not get any jail time, they say. Those mistakes he made, hes acknowledged. Wouldnt even be a crime in civilian life. His defense team tells cbs news, he would agree to retire as lieutenant colonel. Thats two rungs below his current rate. And they say that would, charlie and nora, cost him more than 1 million in total retirement pay. Jan, thanks. The murder trial of blade runner oscar pistorius. Today there was testimony he had a great love for guns. A month before he killed his girlfriend, it was said he went into combat mode after hearing noise from a possible intruder in his home. It turned out to be a laundry machine. A scary sight for passengers abooshd a delta flight flying from orlando to atlanta. A panel came loose, exposing gears and wiring. Delta says it did not affect the planes ability to fly. The plane with 185 people landed safely. The wall street journal reports Adjustable Rate Mortgages are making a comeback, known as a. R. M. S beginning with low Interest Rates that can jump back. The loans were considered one of the main triggers of the housing crisis. Now banks say borrowers are using the loans for large mortgages. The Los Angeles Times says the cias chief of iran operations is suspended for workplace issues. Former Officials SayJonathan Bank was put on paid administrative leave after an internal investigation found he allegedly created an abusive and hostile work environment. The former Officials Say the Iran Division was in rebellion against bank. New york times says the mastermind of the 9 11 attacks says the soninlaw of Osama Bin Laden had nothing to do with al qaedas military operations. The statement was made by Khalid Sheikh mohamed, used in the trial of the soninlaw. His lawyers are scheduled to begin their defense in new york on charges he conspired to kill americans. And usa today says colon cancer rates dropped in the past decade for even over the age of 50. A report just out this morning by the American Cancer Society credits colonoscopies with helping the cancer rate fall 30 . And the Chicago Tribune says a murder suspect is in custody after a standoff with police for more than eight hours. Joseph Andrea Felton crashed, and police surrounded him. He is suspected of killing his wife. And its 7 19. Ahead on cbs this morning, the u. S. Navy team searching for flight 370 with its most ,vanced plane. Happy st. Patricks day. Its monday. We currently have it temperatures in the 50s. 56 degrees in san francisco, low 50s in the eastern part of our bay area. Vallejo now at 50. Its in the 40s in santa rosa. Later today much cooler than yesterday. You will feel the difference. Northwest winds 1020, 607