ur bill and it's yours to keep for as long as you'd like. ready to learn more? call for free information and your free gift. there's no obligation. breaking overnight america and its allies strike back in the middle east. targeting houthi rebels for their relentless attacks on

commercial shipping in the red sea. we're live in d.c. with what led to the latest escalation politics colliding with the courtroom from coast-to-coast. former president donald trump fighting back in his massive civil fraud trial in new york while hunter biden faces charges in california. and all of it happening just three days before the iowa caucuses trump still has a commanding lead over his gop contenders, but nikki haley is riding a wave of momentum. was your new year's resolution to get a better job look no further, the new list revealing the ten best places to work in 2024 and larry david's back, and things are looking pretty, pretty good. we have the first trailer from the final season of ""curb your enthusiasm." it's friday, and "early today" starts right now sg glad you're with us. i'm frances rivera the u.s. dramatically escalates

its involvement in the middle east these planes seen here in footage just released by u.s. central command conducting airstrikes against houthi targets inside yemen along with the uk and others. let's go live to drew petramoix. this is big, developing news what else do we know >> reporter: well, good morning, frances. both president biden and uk prime minister sunak confirmed the airstrike last night with mr. biden saying quote, at my direction, u.s. military forces together with the uk and with support from australia, bahrain, canada and the netherlands successfully conducted strikes against a number of targets in yemen used by houthi rebels to endanger freedom of navigation in one of the world ace's most a waterways. they control about a third of the country. they have recently enforced a radical blockade against merchant ships in the red sea demanding that israel g that is

istop attacks in gaza. just before the attack, a houthi leader said we don't want war with any party but a peace, a just peace and not the peace that america wants, because america wants to impose it and conquer the region, not only palestine. today, that same spokesman somising promising revenge, saying that the u.s. will soon realize it was the greatest folly in their history. they have disrupted vessels from many countries, not all of them tied to israel >> what that revenge will be is the big question drew, thank you. the al jazeera news channel says it quote strongly rejects the claim made bit israeli army that one of their employees

killed in an airstrike sunday had tlinks to a militant group. the network says israel has a well-known history of fabricating evidence israel has produced evidence they say proved the journalists were militants now to a dramatic day in court for donald trump the former president got five minutes to speak during closing arguments of his new york civil fraud trial. he accused the judge of having an agenda and repeated a lot of what he said outside the courtroom. >> this was a political witch-hunt for election interference but also for gifting etting som elected. they should pay me damages that's the way it should be. they should be paying me damages. >> there is no jury in this case the judge will determine the ultimate penalty, and he's expected to issue a decision by the end of the month meanwhile, the president's

son was in a courtroom in california hunter biden pleading not guilty nine tax-related charges >> reporter: hunter biden again in federal court, pleading not guilty to nine tax charges, three of them felonies that could land him in prison for 17 years if convicted prosecutors say biden willfully avoided paying $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2019, spending millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bill inside, biden answering brief questions from the judge who set a tentative june 20 trial date biden's legal team has argued hunter was dealing with addiction and has since paid his taxes back it comes after hunter biden's surprise appearance in congress showing up at a hearing where republicans were considering recommending contempt of congress charges against him >> ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed, what are you afraid of?

>> reporter: hunter biden refusing to comply with the subpoena for closed-door testimony saying he would only talk in public, leaving the hearing room after a few mince republicans calling it a pr stunt. >> he was not there to answer questions. this is the second time that hunter biden has displayed in real time the arrogance and entitlement that he's had his entire life. >> reporter: first lady jill biden said she was proud of the way her son has handled recovery and blasted republicans for showing naked selfies of hunter during a recent hearing. >> what they are doing to 00ster cruel. and i'm really proud of how hunter has rebuilt his life after addiction and, i think, you know, i love my son. and it's had, it's hurt my grandchildren. and that's what i'm so concerned about. >> reporter: and the full house is expected to vote to hold hunter biden in contempt of congress, possibly as soon as

next week. it had then be up to the department of f just physical to determine wjustice to determine whether he will be charged with a crime the former new jersey governor appeared to say haley doesn't have a chance in this race our garrett haake asked haley what she thought >> i don't have to convince people he's wrong, because nobody that crowd's asking me about that they see, politics is not personal for me. it is for the fellas, it's not for me >> the haley campaign could see a boost now that christie has dropped out. steve kornacki is the perfect person to break down the numbers for us >> all right, let's take a look at the contest that comes after iowa so much of iowa is about setting up the new hampshire primary we've seen polling in iowa we'll see what our final polling looks like in new hampshire, it's been looking different. we've had three knew o new ones.

nikki haley has significant support in new hampshire chris ch christie dropping out yesterday. why was he doing well in new hampshire, relatively speaking why is haley doing well in new hampshire? biggest simple reason is independent voters they can vote in the new hampshire primary, and they do they vote in new hampshire presidential primaries at levels you really don't see in other states and we have seen in polling that nikki haley is doing particularly well with independents, with non-republicans. with republican voters who don't like donald trump necessarily. chris christie, obviously, had been going hard after donald trump. his numbers with republican voters have been terrible in terms of favorability in terms of popularity. but independents in new hampshire it was a different story for christie for haley, she already, you

know, potentially is in good position in new hampshire to take a run at trump. you take christie out of the picture, polls have shown, christie's second-choice voters much likely to be with haley than anybody else. that could give her a fighting chance in new hampshire. let's say she pulls off the win in new hampshire the problem with haley is that the new hampshire republican electorate is just different than you snee ee in other states two-thirds of iowa caucus goers, evangelical, independents, about 20% of the iowa electorate, more than 40%, this is from 2016. this time around, there's no, there's really no competitive democratic primary in new hampshire. so independent voters who can choose between the democratic and republican primary primarie, much more likely to take the republican ballot. you put that mixtogether, you

look at the strength haley has had. new hampshire seems almost tta tailor made. subsequent states, even south carolina, they look demographically and ideologically a lot more like iowa and a lot less like new hampshire. she's got to prove she can make traction in a state thatl iowa. strong winds blew off part of the roof of an apartment collection in el paso, texas at least 12 units were impacted. thankfully no one was hurt out west, a second avalanche hit the palisades ski resort just one day after an avalanche killed kenneth kidd and injured two others meanwhile, two men were rescued after an idaho avalanche

this comes as another whether or not storm heading for the region let's bring in angie lassman, who's tracking multiple systems this morning >> good morning to you happy friday multiple systems that have left us with plenty of alerts across the country. all the colors on the map. we've got a tornado watch that's going to go a little farther through the morning. i wouldn't be surprised if we didn't see more of these throughout the day the potential for severe storms and not to mention heavy snow across the midwest and great lakes. here's how it moves through the next couple days, this as we go tru you through your friday. impossible travel at some points of the great lakes the flooding concern will be there for the next couple days, and even tomorrow it had still will still be blustery. 29 million people with the potential here

the hail, make sure you have a way to get those alerts. when it's all said and done sunday we could see upwards of a foot to a foot and a half across the great lake charleston to jacksonville showers and thunderstorms expected in orlando today. new orleans will head to 72 degrees. and that's a look at your forecast, frances, back to you >> angie, thank you. coming up, our first look at the final season of "curb your enthusiasm." but first, on the hunt for a new job? the best places to look in 2024. the best places to look in 2024. d with occasional bloating... ♪♪ [stomach noises] gas... or abdominal discomfort... help stop the frustration and start taking align every day.

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report after falling earlier in the day, all three major indeces clawed back to the flat line the investors await today's producer price index which tracks inflation across domestic industries like manufacturing and agriculture. all right, you're looking for a new job in glass door is o out with a list of the top firms. i don't see nbc news ranked what happened this time >> well, glass door has been ranking companies with at least 1,000 employees. they were rated on career opportunities, culture, compensation, work-life balance among other factors. glass door went through millions of employee reviews. tech, finance, and consulting on the top of the list. tech has been losing a little bit of the luster had year as less tech companies on the list

overall. let's look at the top ten. top is bain & company. en nvidia and number six with the fast food chain in-n-out burger and what have people been looking for? a supportive environment, competitive pay, career growth opportunities. positive employee experience is more important than ever to reach out to the best candidates >> all right, charlotte, thank you. we're all happyl happ happe her we wouldn't be here. we wldt her aah, it's a good day to cough. oh, no! bye, bye cough. later chest congestion. hello 12 hours of relief.

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we're going to move on >> patriots' coach bill belichick confirmed that he is parting ways with the team the legendary coach won six super bowls with new england and now two young football fans won't miss belichick. they went a bit too far in order to stay up late to watch a game. from our buffalo affiliate we have the story >> this one. this one >> reporter: if were you asked how much would you pay to watch a buffalo bills game, a thousand buc buck 2,000? well, this little guy here he swallowed a quarter while many pay thousands to travel, this 6-year-old paid 5 ce 225 cents and a trip to the hospital >> no quarters are allowed in the house anymore. he was supposed to be up in bed.

he came upstairs crying, said, money, don't be mad at me, but i swallowed a quarter. >> reporter: his mom stephanie says he couldn't watch the game because he had school monday >> well, at first it was like, was it really a quarter? how are you not choking? and i was thought, we should probably get x-rays, and they're like, you need to go to the hospital now >> reporter: it wasn't until monday morning when ryder had the quarter surgery removed. ryder bleeds the red and blue. his room is bills' themed. he has posters on his wall and an extensive card collection of players. who's your favorite football player >> in the bills? >> reporter: yeah. >> i really like james cook. >> reporter: so bills mafia, i'm not saying you have to swallow a quarter to show your love, but you do have to step your game up

balls because ryder is the real deal and after all, that little ryder still got to watch his beloved bills. >> now that he's good and it's all over with, we can joke about it >> our thanks for that report. okay, let's get one more check with angie with more on your wildcard weather forecast how are we looking, angie? >> there's three outdoor games that could be a little chilly, especially if you're headed to kansas city. wind chill values below zero that will be the coldest it will be steelers versus bills, 24 degrees. we'll deal with the heavy snow and we have tampa, the good spot showers, a couple thunderstorms, but temperatures in the upper 60s. i don't ink anybodthy stay right

there, more news on the way. new. the eyes of the world and yemen ye yemen