this morning on "early today," health care. worry as south africa's anti-apartheid hero, nelson mandela makes a hospital visit. kentucky collision, a out of control vehicle barrels into a restaurant. and web sensation, a gorilla that can walk upright, just like a human, becomes an internet celebrity. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good morning. welcome to our viewers across

the nation, including the pacific time zone. i'm lynn berry. today, we begin with an iconic leader. former south africa president and anti-apartheid hero nelson mandela has been released from the hospital in johannesburg. now nelson mandela has arrived behind me in johannesburg, south africa, after merely two days, 48 hours in the hospital. the doctor said he was sufrg suffering from acute respiratory illness and that he is responding well to treatment and he will receive home care at this house behind me. now, the south african -- many people have played down the severity of this, but have said he is 92 years old, and he is no longer a 19-year-old. a routine check-up for this is different than for a young person. the world press are surrounding the house. they've been flocking to the hospital in the last few days, as have well wishers. it's going to be a waiting game

at this point just to see how he is doing at this point, and we'll obviously wait for more reports. lynn. >> thanks so much. egyptians are billing it this as a day of rage against president mubarak's rule. reports say police fired rubber bullets and used tear gas and fire canons. yesterday violence escalated as the country's top democracy advocate, mohammed elbaraeqi returned to lead the protest movement. a cable obtained by wikileaks reveal american diplomats repeatedly questioned egypt on jailed dissidents and reports of torture, while mubarak warned towards president obama because his public approach was less confrontational of that than former president bush.

former white house chief of staff rahm emmanuel is back in the race. yesterday, the illinois supreme court unanimously restored him to the ballot in a blistering opinion in which most of the justices accused the state appeals court of brushing aside four previous cases dealing with residency issues when ruling against emanuel. emanuel took a congratulatory call from president obama after the ruling. early voting in the race starts on monday. nasa observed the annual day of remembrance yesterday honoring astronauts who lost their lives in the pursuit of american space exploration. flags flew at half-staff. three astronauts who died aport nasa's apollo 1 mission were among those honored along with the seven-member crew of the 1986 shuttle "challenger" disaster which happened 25 years ago today. now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. in kentucky, video of a dramatic

crash as a car raced past a red light and tore down power lines before slamming into the front of a fast food stop. the crash injured three people. including the driver, who was arrested. it will take three to four weeks to repair the restaurant. in texas, a police officer ended up on the other side of the law for excessive force. surveillance video shows the officer arguing with a high school student who was detained for fighting and then repeatedly macing the teen. the officer has been hit with several charges and authorities continue to investigate. in massachusetts, heavy snow brought down the roof of a garage, trapping two men for three hours. firefighters dug through the snow and shredded steel until they were able to find the men and successfully pull them to safety. and finally, also in massachusetts, a wild turkey may have some issues with the u.s. postal service. a mail carrier was on his daily rounds when he apparently ruffled the feathers of a local resident.

the bird chased and lunged a few times at the carrier's mail truck before scurrying off into the woods. whoa. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. bill the beef? >> let the bird in. >> he is a wild turkey. get your shotgun. it will be fun. >> have to watch that wild turkey. i have learned that lesson, bill. let's talk about your weekend weather. good morning, everybody. we have a cold front that's knocking on the door with a move on this morning in washington state. let's get a break on light shower activity. ju too much. tlaz much bigger storm behind it that will bring wet weather for the upcoming weekend. here's the setup. here's high pressure that's been providing much of the west coast with just gorgeous weather conditions. i mean, it's going to be beautiful today from denver to salt lake city all the way down to southern california and into arizona. as far as the radar goes, it's not a lot of precipitation with this cold front.

i know it's in the forecast. i do expect showers to move on shore by day break and then by midday it will spread over the region. do have the umbrella handy, but it's not a lot of rain. just here and there, hit and miss. the cold front will go through. temperatures right now not bad. we're both freezing in a lot of the big cities. 49 in phoenix. s 53 in l.a., and how warm and sunny will it be in sunny california? not quite as warm as yesterday. we'll call it low 70s for san diego to vegas into the phoenix area. there are showers up there on friday. unfortunately, i think we'll have more wet weather coming into the weekend. that's a look washington state. today highs in the 40s to low 50s. well, lynn, i mentioned that wet weather for the weekend. i'll tell you who is going to get it coming up. >> bill, thanks so much.

also coming up, unemployment picks up. netflix, and is capitalism at the girl scouts doing with your favorite cookie? early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, sir anthony hopkins takes another stab at scaring you to death on the big screen. >> coming up, the knicks turn down the heat. tiger is back on the links, and the best part of the aussie open is in the tennis. you're watching "early today."

good morning, and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. he@e are some of your top headlines this morning. texas police say an american missionary was shot in the head and killed in northern mexico wednesday, possibly because drug cartels wanted her pickup truck. the gunmen opened fire after her husband refused to stop at an illegal road block. meanwhile, the police chief and all 38 officers in a town in

northern mexico have quit, following a series of gang attacks, including decaptation of two of their leagues. comedian jon stewart has joined a foundation building a 9/11 memorial in new york. the host of "the daily "show" has been a vocal advocate of the first responders health care bill. hoping to end skepticism over president obama's birthplace and raise some money for a state government with a projected budget deficit exceeding $800 million over the next two years, five democrats in the hawaiian legislature want to pass a law that would make president obama's birth records public for a fee of $100 per copy. and meet the latest sensation at a wild animal park in england and now on the internet. a silver back gorilla who walks upright like a human. zookeepers say it seems to run many the family since the gorilla's father used to do it when his hands were full. >> and now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 11,989 after

adding four points yesterday. the s&p inched up two points. the nasdaq rose 15. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei dropped 118 points while in hong kong, the hang seng fell 162. disappointing news on unemployment thursday. still couldn't keep wall street from hitting over two-year closing highs. the dow, which hasn't closed above 12,000 since june 2008 got close, but failed for a second day. the s&p 500 also flirted with closing over its psychological barrier. 1,300 points, a mark it hasn't reached since august 2008. first time unemployment rose more than expected last week to the highest level since late october with economists blaming, what else? the snow for forcing layoffs in some parts of the country. in earnings, caterpillar rose after fourth quarter profits quadrupled. on strong global demand for mining and construction

equipment. netflix led the nasdaq, jumping a whooping 15% on its subscribing base rising over 20 million customers. disappointing results on blue chips like procter & gamble kept the dow's gains in check.ç p&g rising commodity prices are pinching profits and fell almost 3%. at&t dropped 2% after reporting new wireless contracts fell to the lowest level in more than five years. microsoft surprised with better than expected profit, but concern over the weakness of overall computer sales kept shares flat. amazon.com missed targets in the fourth quarter, sending stocks tumbling nearly 9%. elsewhere, the u.s. and japan received sharp warnings from the imf and ratings agencies thursday to tackle their huge budget deficits. standard & poors cut japan's credit rating for the first time since 2002. and finally, even the girl scouts have a bottom line. due to poor sales, the girl

scouts are giving the axe to thank you berry munch and dolche cookies. do not mess with thin mints. then you'll be in trouble. tiger's first round of the year and the latest tennis news from down under. plus, dwyane wade and lebron james hook up on the now familiar miami alley-oop. the knicks beating them wasn't so familiar. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. finally, a nice quiet weekend with no major winter storms. your forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports, last night a star-studded crowd in new york may have come to see the heat's lebron james, but as an added bonus, they got to see the knicks win. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. on wednesday, amare stoudamire told reporters that no one is afraid of the miami heat, and last night, the knicks proved it. to madison square garden. dwyane wade wore glasses to help with his recent migraines. miami upped the entire game until the fourth. galanari caught fire down the stretch in a pair of three-pointers to give the heat the lead. mario chalmers for the tie and

that's not going to get it done. knicks rally to beat the heat, 93-88. golf tiger woods made a debut at the pine. if this shot on 12 is any indication of how tiger will fare this season, he's going to do pretty well. he's dropped the approach a couple of feet from the pin. tapped in for bird and finished with a round of 69. tielg tiger is out five of the lead. in the aussie open, federer lost to novak djokovic. it's the herred time since 2003 that federer elizabeth hold my of the power major titles. the top seeds are out, but at least the post-match interviews are good. after advancing to the titles li now has asked a couple of questions on center court. >> of course, because i didn't have a good outing the last time. like this. mom apparently has never played tennis because she gets too nervous.ç

do you think she might come over for the final on saturday? >> no. i think she prefers staying at home. i asked her many times, i say, please, come with me. no, no, i have my life. i didn't want to come with you. >> all right. that will do it. that's your early look at sports on "early today." have a terrific weekend. i'm fred roggin. the latest charlie sheen saga, is it medical or mental? your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, with much of the nation suffering through what to do with all that snow, we'll introduce you to some students who just had fun with it. you're watching "early today."

welcome back. here's a look at your forecast. weak storm come through the morgan stanley. just showers today. have that umbrella with you. showers, want in the forecastçt least for friday for central california. we're dry through the desert areas all the way from arizona bank into the beautiful southern california. on saturday more of the same thing. still some shower activity there m northwest. clouds should be increasing on the coastal areas of california during the day, and a little bit of temperatures take a hit behind that cold front. temperatures only in the 60s on saturday, so that's a look for a little bit cooler weather.

well, as far as your -- well, here's what's happening -- kenv nez muse 10 elko, nevada. cowboys at the northeastern mav nav museum. that's your pacific event of the day. that guy looks cold. >> yeah, like all of us. >> rough being a cowboy. >> all right, bill. thanks so much. here's an early look at the headlines and entertainment. when it comes to playing spooky roles, anthony hopkins has a strong resume. this weekend, he is expected to take the number one spot at the box office playing the priest in the horror film "the rite." expected to profit from the famous oscar bump, "the king's speech" will battle it out at around second place with $10 million. "the mechanic" is expected to give the king a run for its money targeted to earn about $10 million. finally, we know for a fact

charlie sheen was rushed to a hospital thursday morning. tmz quotes sources saying he's being treated for a hiatal hernia. but he held a 36-hour party that featured a suitcase of cocaine and several women, including a porn star prior to a report 911 call made by sheen's neighbors which happen to be real housewives of beverly hills stars dr. paul necife and wife, adrian. >> a suitcase, lynn? >> i know. >> what do you carry in your suitcase? >> sleeping aids. that's about as exciting as it gets in the berry household. >> they're all legal. >> exactly. all natural. zoirchlgts a few college co-eds took a crash course in snowball making. they attempted to break the record for the world's biggest snowball. the current record is 21 feet, three inches.

the unofficial measurement of the u mass snowball is 21 and 4 1/2 inches chshgs gives them a snow ball's chance in entering the guinness book of world records. that may not be a world record, but -- >> i have that in my front yard, lynn. that's no record. >> rookies, bill. >> my car looks like a giantç snow ball. if i have any plans of going anywhere this weekend, they were just squashed. >> yes. >> and i -- people on the west coast really just don't understand. they're in los angeles and southern california. >> they understand. they're loving every second of it. >> and they're laughing. that's probably true. i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

it looks like the leaning power of pisa has some competition. a 15th century church, an iconic landmark in the czech republic described with human skulls and bones has begun to lean and sink into the ground. it's built on a cemetery and is estimated to contain remains of 40 to 70,000 people. engineers are currently trying to save the shaky structure. this takes dancing to the beat of your own drum to a whole new level. a dance club in austria offers wireless headphones so customers can choose the music they want to dance to. it's part of the new silent disco trend. different genres of music are played on different frequencies so you can dance with a partner

if you tune into the same station. well, that grand mystery of a stranded piano in florida has been solved. a 16-year-old came forward saying he and his buddies burnt the instrument and ditched it as a stunt for a college application video. the piano wasn't the only thing up a creek. officials warned he could face felony dumping charges if it wasn't cleared away, which was taken care of yesterday. bill, i was hoping it was a little more mysterious like a shipwreck and it came ashore. no, just a teen doing something probably not so bright. >> and you know what the dumb part is? someone else took credit and they were so upset about it that they came out and then they were in trouble. >> let's keep it clean and no teens will get in trouble. time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. in washington, nbc news chief foreign affairs correspondent and msnbc host andrea mitchell mod indicates a panel marking the 30th anniversary of 52 americans held captive during

the iran hostage crisis. the plan is expected to provide military services with three months to train their forces on the new law that will allow gays to serve openly in the military. and happy birthday to hawkeye, actor alan alda turns 75 today. all day long, you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and others as they break on msnbc. and tonight be sure to watch brian williams with nbc "nightly news." and, finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. picking up the pieces, the ç nation cleans up after the latest winter jab and another storm is looming. and a "today" exclusive, mary kay latorno, the teacher jailed for having sex with her student becomes a grandmother. now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

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