like two pieces of original recipe. your choice of sides, biscuit and a medium drink. 5 for 5 bucks every day. today tastes so good. good morning. flight fears. sc good morning. flight fears. scores of older model 737s are grounded after the fuselage of one passenger jet rips open in midflight. what triggered the terrifying incident? what you need to know before heading to the airport. private pain. the shocking new report about kate middleton's secret torment with revelations that the princess bride was bullied at school. and bombs away. >> who here has tried crack? >> charlie sheen's road tour gets off to a rocky start with the actor's on stage antics

drawing boos from the crowd and demands for their money back. today is sunday, april 3rd, 2011. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good morning. welcome to "today" on a sunday. i'm lester holt. >> i'm jenna wolf. and i didn't watch the whole show. i watched that little clip, and it made me cringe. that was really uncomfortable. >> people were walking out. there were thumbs down and saying we want our money back, booing. money back. he called it a moment of truth. it was actually panned by the audience. folks, as you see here, there is the kind of reviews. a bad opening night for charlie sheen. we're going to find out what happened, and if the tour will continue. sdmri wasn't sure what the show was going to be about. actually, nobody knows. nobody knows. >> and there are a number of legs continuing on this tour. who knows exactly. we'll see what's up with that.

on a much more serious note, president obama is expected to make it official this week that he is running for re-election, and it comes as the threat of a government shutdown grows. david gregory joining us from washington with the latest on that. >> we're also keeping an eye on the weather. there's a major storm system sweeping across the country. could bring very dangerous weather to millions. janice will be with us to tell us what you can expect. >> you know it's going to snow right throughout summer. you got that, right? >> we're good in july. plus, simply irresistible. check this out. how cute is this little girl? she's a baby koala, the first at the san francisco zoo in a decade. we're going to spend some time with her and her mom a little later this morning. she's up. she's having her morning coffee. she's excited. >> i learned today what most people probably know. you call a baby koala, a joey. >> i didn't know that. >> that makes two of us. sdmrimplgts with i want to start with the terrifying moments that left a gaping hole in a jet's future lauj as investigators search for a cause. the airline isn't taking any

chances. it's grounded dozens of that particular model of 737. nbc's tom costello reports. >> reporter: investigators on the ground in yuma, arizona, looking over the 737 that made an emergency landing late friday after a five foot hole ripped open midflight. passengers describe a loud bang, then a rush of air, escaping from the cabin. >> and, bam, i mean, just incredible noise and then while you're trying to process what just happened, then oxygen masks come down. >> not everyone was getting their mask on. some were having problems. some people were passing out. it was not good. >> reporter: flight a12 had just reached cruising altitude when suddenly that large section of the aircraft skin ripped open right over the passengers' heads. with the plane losing oxygen, the pilot quickly descended from 34,000 feet down to 11,000. then made an emergency landing at a military base in yuma. >> i thought we were going down. i really did.

just seemed like we were dropping pretty fast. >> reporter: airline veterans are applauding the pilot's quick action. >> this is a true inflight emergency. this is not something that is so routine we just pass it off. there are certain things that have to be done. without panic what needed to be done very quickly. >> reporter: the plane involved, a 15-year-old 737 300. another southwest plane, the same model, had a hole open up in the roof nearly two years ago at 30,000 feet forcing an emergency landing in west virginia. that led to several faa airworthyness directives. airlines were ordered to inspect 737s for signs of metal fatigue. two years ago the faa fined southwest $7.5 million for failing to conduct timely crack inspections on its 737 fleet. we talked to the ntsb on the scene. >> we will be looking at everything. right now we are here to look at this accident, and if we find issues related to this accident that can be applied to the rest of the fleet, we will make that

point known. >> reporter: and metal fatigue has led to tragedy. in 2005 an airways plane crashed on takeoff from miami when its wing ripped off. 20 people were killed. in 1988 the top of an aloha airlines plane tore off in flight. a flight attendant was sucked out of the plane to her death. i'm tom costello for nbc news, washington. is this close call a warning sign for all major airlines? greg, a normer ntsb investigator. it's good to have you on. >> good morning, lester. >> southwest turn their airplanes around very quickly. they get them back in the air again for a lot of hops. tell me how repeated cycles affect the airplane, the structure of the airplane. >> well, when you look at a repeated cycle, as you speak of, what we're talking about is the takeoff, the inflight and, of course, the landing, and every time you have this particular event, you have that fuselage pressurizing and depressurizing, so the fuselage is actually

expand and contracting, which works the metal, and that leads to metal fatigue. >> right. when we talk about it, the questions of the airplane being mpd, i'm guessing it's not the crack that you would walk around and see. they would have to strip the airplane down. how often is that that these airplanes get a top to bottom inspection for these kind of cracks? >> they're on a regular may notance schedule. there are various types of checks. there are routine checks, a checks, b checks, and then you have the more heavy checks, or what they call the c and b checks. during all of these inspectings, various parts of the airplane, the paint is stripped off, the metal is checked either by nondestructive testing methods with heavy current or ultrasound or heavy inspection. what the investigator is going to be looking at is to try and determine if, in fact, these cracks were from metal fatigue or the cycling fatigue or were they induced by the inspection process or painting.

>> i know boeing has been making 737s into the late 1960s. this was a mid-model, and they're making a newer generation right now. for those older ones, this particular model, southwest has taken some of them out of service. will all airlines have to take another look? is this going to be yet another wake-up call for the industry about aging aircraft? >> oh, i think what the lessons learned from this particular event will be spread throughout the industry. still operating these types of airplanes. especially if it's found that it's this damage, if you will, that led to the failure of the fuselage section was induced by an mpgs. you have to remember that during these inspections, especially the visual inspections, you have to strip the paint. have you to clean the skin material. if it's on a lap joint where it looks like this particular failure occurred, you have to scrape some of the bonding ph.d.y off there to really examine it, and if the mechanics accidentally induce damage, that could have led to this particular event. >> greg, i can't let you get

away without talking about what the passengers were going through. the pilot quickly put that plane into an emergency descent. had he not done that and if folks had not gotten the masks on, what's the worst case in the cabin? >> well, worst case scenario, lester, the big thing here is timely use of consciousness. at 36,000 feet is anywhere from a matter of five to seven to ten section all the way up to 30 seconds. that's why the flight crew had to get on 100% oxygen immediately so that they could maintain their functionality and they get that airplane down to below 14,000 feet into a breathable atmosphere because the passenger oxygen masks are not pressurized. they just provide a flow of oxygen versus the flight crews who have pressure breathing. it was critical for them to get that airplane down below 14,000, 15,000 feet to a breathable atmosphere for the passengers. >> well, the whole thing is very troubling. we all hope to get to the bottom

of it. greg, good to have you here. thanks so much. >> you're welcome.ç now here's jenna. >> lester, thanks. now to politics and what is shaping up to be a critical week in washington. congress has been deadlocked on approving a federal budget, and now lawmakers have until friday to reach a deal or trigger a government shutdown. for more david gregory, moderator of "meet the press." >> good morning. >> the president called the house speaker john boehner and harry reid and pressured both of them to do whatever it takes to get something done to avoid a government shutdown. any shot we're going to see a compromise before the end of the week? >> i do think that there's essential a shock. congressman boehner would like to focus on the fight over the budget. he needs to get a sense of whether this tea party caucus is going to go along with a deal. on the democratic side there's a concern over some of the spending mechanisms here that would deny the spending on some things that the democrats care bshgs like health care or

planned parenthood. there are some definite battle lines. here you see the president just trying to push this to a deal, and the ultimate argument is, look, there's better economic news with jobless numbers. let's not threaten this recovery by even threatening a government shutdown. >> let's talk about that jobless number. the unemployment rate is lower than it's been in the last two years. democrats say, see, we can't shut the government down right now. it's going to affect the economic momentum. republicans, on the other hand, are saying it's the out of control spending, which is the reason why we're going to stand still on this. are both sides sort of setting the other one up in case this does happen? >> oh, there's no question. i mean, this is the fight of 2012. the theory of the case for republicans is stewardship of the economy, getting government spending under control, getting government regulation under control as a way to free up more hiring in the private sector, but there is more hiring in the private sector that's going on right now, and the president has been trying to pressure big companies, small companies to do that, and that's going to be the big argument for the re-election

campaign, which is are things turning around? the hole is so big. you saw 14 million people who were out of work. so many americans who have been out of work for a long time. those permanently unemployed. those are really the battle lines that we'll see in 2012. >> you mentioned the re-election campaign on monday. the president is planning on filing his paperwork for re-election. that means he can start fundraising right away, start making a little bit of money. no one on the republican side has officially entered the race yet. that going to put some sort of pressure on the republicans as far as the money game is concerned? >> you know, it's very hard to beat an incumbent president. that's the reality. particularly for democrats, if you look over the last 100 years, only jimmy carter is the one that failed to win re-election. the president will have a lot of money at his disposal. he will have the so-called rose garden strategy, which is to use all the power of it is income beensy. what he doesn't have yet are things out of his control, which is where is the unemployment rate going to be? he can try to have some focus

and he can try to take advantage of a field on the republican side that hasn't taken shape yet and really kind of drill home his message. >> david gregory. david, thank you. >> thanks. once again, here's lester. >> jaen, thanks. we're following dangerous weather making its way across the country. the nationals game delayed because of hail. the wild weather reeking havoc in a lot of places. that followed a brutal end to the week's storm that brought more than a foot of snow in parts of janice is here to tell us what to expect. >> we have chance of severe weather across a central portion of the country today. springs time is the time of year that we see this scenario. it's starting to get warmer now from the gulf coast. we had record highs yesterday and hot air is going to be moving north today. contrasting that with the cold air that's moving in behind it and a fast jet stream. all those things in place, all those ingredients will start the atmosphere to turn and will have the threat of severe weather over parts of the midwest today

and then tomorrow a slight risk of that with isolated tornadoes existing from little rock to atlanta to knoxville, and back up to cincinnati too. we're going to be watch this for a couple of days, and it could be very dangerous. back to you. >> all right. we'll get the full national forecast for you in just a moment. thank you very much. >> thomas roberts is city news desk now with more of today's top story. good morning. >> good morning to you. hi, lester. good morning, everyone. we begin in japan where engineers at the crippled power plant battle to control a leak that is sending radioactive water into the ocean. this as they make a grim discovery. nbc's lee cowan is in tokyo with the latest for us. lee, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, tom. the bodies of these first two workers known to have actually died in the tsunami at that nuclear power plant have been found. they were found in one of the reactor buildings. both were in their 20s. we're told their bodies had to be decontaminated before they were turned over to their relatives. as for that leak of radioactive water into the ocean, not good news on that front either. engineers have been trying feverishly over the last 24 hours to plug that leak.

they've tried concrete and using saw dust and newspaper to plug up pipes that are feeding that leaking vessel. this didn't work either. it looks like, once again, it's back to the drawing board tomorrow. >> lee coan in tokyo. lee, thank you. a top libyan rebel official says the opposition to long-time leader muammar qadhafi hopes to install a parliamentary democracy in the country. the national provisional council official says i guess so las vegas, air strike, and better organization will eventually force qadhafi out. meanwhile, nato is investigating claims that a coalition air strike killed 13 rebel soldiers back at home who else to address a high school civics group other than rod blagojevich, the impeached illinois governor that told hundreds of students on saturday that politics is disillusioning profession full of cynical people. still, he urged them to stay interested in politics for the future of their country. zirchlgts yesterday we told you about the family of butler basketball star matt howard who couldn't afford the trip to the

final four, but in a modern day it's a wonderful life their community came together and provided all the money to send that big family to houston. their hard work paid off because butler is now going to the championship game after beating bcu. virginia fans so upset, police had to break out riot gear after the loss. butler will face the uconn huskeys who beat the kentucky wildcats. finally, take a look at this one. two bald eagles and their three eggs. 80 feet high in a tree. well, it's become the latest internet sensation. the raptor resource project in iowa has set up two cameras spying on the nest waiting for the eggs to hatch. over 100,000 people have logged on hoping to catch the eagle excitement. we'll keep you posted on that. that is the news. now we're going to send it back over to lester and jenna, and janna, butler or uconn, since we're waiting on the eagles? anybody? >> wouldn't it be great to see butler win this?

i just think it would be so fantastic. it would just continue this whole story book. >> they beat the wildcats. i'm not a big fan of uconn right now because i thought the kentucky wildcats were going to take it all the way. >> i'm just a big fan of the underdog. >> we're on eagle watch. >> janice is back with a check of the weather. hey, janice. >> it's going to be nice here in new york. ai we're waking up to a cooler start with 30s around gilroy and parts of the north bay this morning, 40s elsewhere. notice we'll get more sunshine today as high pressure builds in. this will lead to slightly warmer temperatures, 65 san francisco, low 70s in parts of the south bay today turning even warmer tomorrow. midweek, some cooling and a chance of showers rolling back in on thursday. and right around 76 in atlanta. now here's lester. >> january irks thanks.

a british newspaper this morning is reporting that kate middleton is now the bullying. nbc's pierce simmons is live in london. >> many young women suffer bullying many their teenage years. it's a real issue for parents. we know kate and william are asking wedding gifts to donate it an anti-bullying charity. now perhaps we know why. the front page of the news of the world today says 13-year-old kate was bullied by a group of girls to a really horrible extent. theyioned her and picked on her so much she had to leave her school. the revelations are in a new book, and they suggest that kate was too nice to hit back. of course, the real nice thing about this story is that in the end she has come out on top, and that surely will give stress to many young women. >> success is always the best revenge. thanks very much. up next on "today" live from detroit, it's charlie sheen and opening night, and it didn't go the way he hoped. we'll have a live report.

tell you more after this. llergi, don't suffer waiting for your pills to kick in. add alaway. for fast eye itch relief that works in minutes and lasts up to 12 hours. only alaway comes from bausch & lomb. for fast eye itch relief, add alaway. charlie sheen has taken his charlie sheen is taking his rantsz on the road, kicking his tour off with a show in detroit that wasn't winning last night. jeff rossen was there and joins us live from outside of the theater in detroit. jeff, good morning. >> hey, jenna, good morning. a lot of people were hyped up about this, but at the end of the day the critics and the fans are panning it. charlie sheen himself was basically booed off the stage.

he left early, never to be heard from again. the lights came on. everyone seemed confused. look at the headlines, jenna. the detroit free press, not winning in detroit. mostly -- i was inside the show. charlie sat on stage on a park bench. he sat in a director's chair. he stood behind a podium where he talked about warlocks and trolls. he also made some cracks about detroit that didn't go over so well. take a listen. >> who here has tried crack? all right. forget that. who is smoking crack right now? i don't do crack anymore, but i'm just saying -- i'm just saying. sometimes if you do crack, i think i'm in the right place. right or wrong? right or wrong? no? okay. my bad. >> you suck!

[ booing ] >> tough crowd here in detroit. in fact, those boos went on and on and on. i'll tell you, the energy inside the theater when charlie sheen first came out, these are people that paid anywhere from $20 to $150 to see him. they were excited. within minutes this crowd had turned on him. i think people were expecting more. i don't know what they were expecting. in fact, when you ask people what do you want him to do, they didn't seem to have an answer, but they say they didn't get it. a lot of people left early, but when the show ended for good, charlie never even came out to say good-bye to them. people were angry outside. >> i would say. i was a little speechless watching your report. i can imagine what they all had to say. jeff rossen, thank you so much. e we'r rck abaht tigerftk, a'r we're back right after this. th.

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still to come still to come on "today" she's the new kid in town. the coault allah at the san francisco zoo. >> plus, it's my dream come true. lester and i hit the gym together for one long, tough, beautiful workout. who survived? who didn't? we'll show you. nobody was hurt in the filming of this. after these mess amgz. the plan we worked on for your retirement makes sense. just stay on track. what is...

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good morning to you. take a live look at hp pavilion in san jose, and the streets are looking nice and dry. the palm trees not swaying in the wind. we are expecting a bit warmer today. i'm kris sanchez along with meteorologist rob mayeda. we look forward to the forecast because we still have gardening to do. >> today is a good day for it, warmer than yesterday. it was cold in san jose. highs in the 60s. right now 40s and 30s outside. napa and gilroy, you've dropped off this morning, 39 degrees, clear sky, light winds this morning, temperatures running

chilly. as the sun comes up we'll see a lot of sunshine today, rain way off to the knot, high pressure starting to build in this afternoon so temperatures not too bad, near 70 in san jose, mid-60 san francisco, and tomorrow, numbers probably in the upper 70s in a few spots. this is the roller coaster time of year, the supper 70s, then a dive down, temperatures cooling off, best chance for showers thursday. then hopefully some all-important clearing for the giants' official home-opener coming up on friday. we should see clearing and 70s once again as we head towards next weekend. >> sounds like perfect baseball weather. thank you very much, rob. more flight delays at bay area airports as southwest airlines works to make sure it does not have a repeat of friday's emergency landing. this weekend, hundreds of people crammed into airport terminals trying to change their travel plans. at least 300 flights were canceled yesterday, and there is a possibility of hundreds more today. so far now, 18 southwest departures and 13 scheduled

arrivals out of oakland international are canceled. several flights are also delayed out of sfo and mineta an hoes international. southwest is grounding 79 planes after an emergency landing on friday. that flight just reached a cruising altitude after departing phoenix bound for sacramento when suddenly a three-foot section of the aircraft's roof ripped open over the passengers' heads. with the plane losing oxygen, the pilot descended quickly to 11,000 feet and made an emergency landing at a military base in yuma, arizona. no one was injured. this is not the first time this particular model of airplane has had holes open up during flight. in fact, a new report released today shows that eight craft were found and repaired just last year on southwest's planes. coming up, other emergencies in the air. some you may remember, a few you might not have heard about though they happened very recently. and new this morning, a man and a woman are recovering from

injuries this morning after an overnight shooting in san francisco. san francisco police say both people were shot at the intersection of washington and polk around 3:15 this morning. the woman is expected to survive, but so far no word on the condition of the man. police say they are looking for two suspects. coming up at 7:00 on "today in the bay," a weekend play date turns dangerous. kids trapped inside a bounce house as it blows away over a busy street. and two bodies, one dead end. a contact in a cold case 30 years in the making. those stories and another look at the forecast coming up in 30 minutes.

we're back on this sunday morning, april 3rd, 2011. wow. what a beautiful crowd. looking at 60 degrees here in new york today, which is a major welcome after a long winter. that's why everybody showed up on this gorgeous sunday morning. >> look at this crowd. >> it's a great crowd. a really nice crowd. i am jenna wolfe alongside lester holt and still to come in this half hour, we're talking about the sensational trial of italy's prime minister bu berlusconi.

>> paying an underage girl for sex and wild parties with scantily clad women at his villa. his lawyers are asking dozens of witnesses to testify for him. on that witness list one name stands out, george clooney, the actor. we'll find the latest on this story in a moment. >> as if there wasn't enough press to the trial as it is. a very special and adorable guest. a baby koala. little girl. newest addition to the san francisco zoo. the baby and mom are doing just fine. both will join us in a moment. really, really cute. wait till you see them. the story you have been looking forward to. >> i have been looking forward to this story. >> this is kind of a long story. we both like to work out. you are an accomplished trainer and, anyway, we ended up training together. this is jenna's workout. >> it is. i call it cardio, cavs and complaining. he complained very little. besides almost hurling himself out the window for oxygen. it was a really wonderful and

quality hour well spent. >> quality time. >> i don't know what to say, it was probably a compliment. >> we'll share that with you. we want to talk about the weather right now. >> actually much nicer here right now. janice, are we jinxing it by saying that? >> i am glad to see lester standing after all of that. it looks like a great day here and a huge crowd and some girls from richmond, virginia. hi, girls. they're so cute. but this crowd is tremendous because we have spring break going on here in new york. let's check the weather and see what's happening. moderate risk of severe weather. watch out around kansas city, st. joseph, missouri. you can see tornadoes this afternoon and severe weather across parts of the midwest. here's what you can expect in the sierras today. no problems, showers a little breezy and turning warmer monday before more snow drops across the country late tuesday.

bay area, sunshine today, temperatures should climb a little higher than yesterday, near 70, san jose, 60s for san francisco, near 70 in oakland. tomorrow expect the warmest day of the week, mid to upper 70s outside before things cool off and showers return wednesday into thursday. and, now, here's jenna. >> janice, thanks. italy's prime minister is colorful and controversial, but is he also a criminal? this week the country's leader stands trial over a sex scandal that is making headlines worldwide and could bring an oscar winner to the stand. ♪ >> reporter: it is set to be a sensation, a trial that mixes politics with alleged prostitution. at its center, a teenage girl nicknamed ruby the heart stealer. claims involving her and the italian prime minister may root him from office and take his

freedom. it's alleged he slept with when she was just 17 and took part in wild sex parties, pictures seized from computers and cameras belonging to female party guests adding to the scandal. witnesses may include hollywood star george clooney. he could be called. it seems odd, clooney said last week. i only met berlusconi once and that was an attempt to get aid into darfur. world famous soccer star could take the stand to reject allegations that he met ruby. 33 women are set to be linked to the italian prime minister, who continues to make light of the claim. i'm 75 years old he recently joked. even if i am a bit naughty, it seems too much. if found guilty he could be sentenced to 15 years in jail. he's already appeared in court over separate allegations of corruption, but it's his

appearance on wednesday that will have the world's media watching. the start of a case that could take months. the final act in a scandal that has rocked italian politics and may well end the prime minister's career. nbc news, london. some pretty shocking allegations. paul cowan joins us this morning with some insight. >> good morning. >> it looks like the prime minister has nine lives, but, obviously, more than that. he pulled through every time. does the prosecution have a strong enough case to really go after him hard this time? >> this is an amazing case. i mean, when the italians throw a sex scandal, it's on steroids or maybe in this case viagra because he's 74 years of age. a judge looked at this case originally when it was presented by the prosecutors and this judge found the case to be so strong that he ordered something that is very rarely invoked in italy, and that is called a trial, which means the case went immediately to trial.

no preliminary hearing, no preliminary discovery. so, prosecutors think they have a strong berlusconi's defense attorneys say, absolutely not. it's a horrible case. >> what is prosecuted in italy and what could be prosecuted here in the united states and the difference between the two? >> he is being prosecuted for two things. one, abuse of official power because he tried to get this supposedly underage girl who is known as ruby the heartbreaker, released from custody. police custody. the second aspect of it is that he slept with her for money when she was underage? she was 17 years of age. in america, that is statutory rape. there is a defense in italy if you think the girl looks older than 17, that's a possible defense. not available in the united states. >> if you, paul, were on the defense team, how would you defend the prime minister? >> berlusconi said this is a politically motivated prosecution. he said he is the most prosec e prosecuted man in history. he faced 105 criminal probes and

2,500 hearings and he spent $400 million on defense lawyers. and never been convicted once. he says this was concocted by his political enemies in milan. >> it's political. i have to ask you about george clooney because his name has come into this whole case and it's just buzzing everywhere. how is he involved and could he make a difference one way or another? >> the wince list tness list ine is so bibizarre. they added 42 more women to the list yesterday. then they add george clooney. clooney has been added because the young girl that allegedly 17-year-old girl says that she saw clooney at one of the parties at his villa and clooney never attended a party at berlusconi's villa. they're trying to use clooney to show she's a liar.

there's a second thing going on. they're going to show that clooney has a lot of big parties at his villa, probably invites a lot of beautiful women and nobody prosecutes george clooney. why are they picking on poor prime minister burerlusconi? >> very interesting one. up next, wait until you see the new baby koalas. she was born at the san francisco zoo and she's adorable. she's coming up right after these messages. ♪ [ male announcer ] our 16 fresh-picked oranges have a new home. tropicana pure premium now comes in a clear bottle

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this morning a new addition is drawing plenty of attention add the san francisco zoo. for the first time in over ten years, the zoo is home to a baby koala. she and her mom join us this morning along with zookeeper heather. heather, good morning. thanks for being with us. >> good morning, thank you. >> i learned in preparing for this interview that we call a baby koala a joey. is that correct? >> that is correct. >> how big a deal, the first time in ten years. how big a deal is it to have a new koala? >> it's great for the zoo. like you said, it's been over ten years. a great ambassador specie for australia and we're very fortunate. >> we understand they're born but then they crawl into a pouch. when did you guys realize this koala was expecting? >> well, we bred her last june and we did a pouch check in early december and that's when we found the baby in the pouch.

>> we should know the mom is zachary. the baby will continue to cling to mom for how long? >> baby will stay with mom for up to a year and a half. she's still nursing, she's starting to eat some leaves on her own now. she will continue to nurse for about a year and then in a year and a shand a half she'll be do with mom. she is nursing half the time and eating eucalyptus the other half of the time. >> is it difficult to get them to bred in captivity? >> not so much we get the recommendation and i went ahead and bred them last june and within a month the baby was born. >> they are so adorable to look at. i think people look at them and the word bear comes out of our mouth and i think we all know by now they're marsupials but they look so cuddly. how gentle a creature is a

koala? >> their personalities vary from animal to animal. this mom is very mellow, very sweet. she's excellent to work with and a great mom. they're very sweet. they do have long claws and they do have some sharp teeth but in general if you're handling them nicely, they're very sweet. >> native to australia, as we noted. and they are on the endangered list, is that correct? >> yes. they're listed as threatened. >> what is their natural enemy? >> right here at the zoo we worry about possums, in the wild, there's not much to worry about. they spend all their times up in the trees and people are the greatest cause of their decline right now. burning of forests to make way for more people. >> is this joey on display? can the public see it at the zoo? >> she is. they're both on display in the window exhibit for everyone to see every day from 11:00 to 4:00 p.m. >> are you going to name her? >> we are.

we are going to have our zoo fest auction next month at the zooand that's where she'll get her new name. >> heather, thanks so much for coming on and sharing the story. the new joey koala, we appreciate it. >> thank you very much. >> all right. and now here's jenna. >> lester, thanks. this morning dressing for every occasion. for women looking to find the right trend for their special event this spring, look no further from the designs from christian soriano. his fashions have graced the carpets. we get to have him join us this morning for the perfect looks for our next big event. christian, good morning. thank you for being with us. >> thank you for having me. >> are you exhausted? the last three years since you won project runway must be a whirlwind for you. >> it's busy. it was really fun at the beginning and now a serious business but we still get to play and do fun things and it's been great and gone by really

quickly. >> you had an opportunity to stop and smell some of the roses along the way? >> great, fun experiences and got to work with amazing people and it has gone quickly, but i guess that's what is exciting about fashion. everything is changing and everything is new and exciting and fun. >> let's start bringing out some models because i want to talk to you about what is coming up here. the first model we have here is lee and lee is all about prints. are prints basically anyone can get away with and wear? >> for me, i think prints and fabric and texture are what i think almost every designer showed for last spring. for me, i like the idea of showing these prints because they're fresh and exciting. i don't think every woman can wear prints head to toe but for me mixing the textures and the fabrications and that's what i love about it. >> i have to say, is this more of a work outfit or going out outfit? >> what is great about this, a chic and sophisticated look you can throw on a blazer and it is fun and sexy with the material

that you can glam this up. she is wearing a tall, sexy shoe that makes it more evening. >> and we should mention real quick that you do more than just use prints in wardrobe. we have some sponges here. >> i mean the whole idea was for me when i'm designing a collection, i'm designing the print idea. and i did this little collaboration with this 3mocelo sponges. >> next up we have laura. tell us about laura. not the royal wedding dress, but definitely a dress you could wear to the wedding. >> this dress is a collaboration and what's great about this dress, it is a stretch satin which looks amazing and great so for so many different body types rb as well. i love this dress because i think it's fun, it's fresh, it's exciting and i love jewel tone colors and i think they look great on a lot of skin-to-skin

tones. it can go from spring and also transition right into fall. you will have this for a longer period of time. >> thank you so much, laura. next up we have mandy. come on out. for a date night mandy is modeling this look. >> what is great with mandy. that is her own dress that she had at home and i wanted to pair it showing how you can bring texture and print and accessories to bring up her look. that bag and shoe both available payless. we did the same print as we did on the blouse and bringing that design and fashion to all. >> and you can mix a couple of the crazier looks like the bag and the jewelry with other different dresses, as well. >> exactly. that bag is great for any evening look and those shoes you can throw on with jeans or a beach little moo moo. >> mandy, thank you so much. lee and laura, come out, as well. you looking forward to the spring, christian? >> i am. i'm excited. definitely ready for the new york weather to be nice. >> we'd like you to dress us for that, as well.

thank you so much, as always, you do wonderful work. just ahead, my dream come true. lester and i hit the gym. we'll see who is left standing. it wasn't lester. first, these messages.have a i am gonna ace this checkup.lg my vet thinks my insides are in mint condition. [ female announcer ] vets agree, a healthy checkup starts inside. our breakthrough iams premium protection formula is developed with vets with cutting edge ingredients for the lifelong health of your pet. [ dog ] healthy inside and out. come on, up high! [ female announcer ] iams premium protection. our most advanced iams nutrition. ever. [ dog ] i am an iams dog. ♪ woof. ♪ hello. [ female announcer ] glasses in about an hour. lenscrafters.

well, we talked about it before. a lot of us like to stay in shape and get to the gym as often as we can. i hit that point, i wanted to kick up my workout a little bit and why hire a trainer when i have jenna. >> that's a very good question. no, the truth is, lester is in great shape and you came into this in great shape, but your workout had gotten stale. i decided to have fun with you and work things out a little bit and give lester a complete

workout makeover. >> come on! hold it. >> this had to be some kind of nightmare. >> actually, a dream come true for me. >> i can't believe i actually asked for this. >> i can't believe he actually asked for this. so, how did we get here? >> i work a lot of days and a lot of hours and one thing that keeps me sistcentered and keeps energetic is getting to the gym. i feel like the exercise routine is a little stale and i'm not seeing the kind of improvement i'm used to seeing. >> what i do in my spare time which has always been a passion for me, working out. i take it to the next level and i started working with people, training them. nice, come on. find the balance. it brings me an incredible sense of fulfillment and i get to try new things and really turned into sort of a second job almost. >> she's killing me. >> on the ground?

this is right before the show she starts telling me about various exercises. >> he was telling me how he was going to take a spin class. i said, you know what, lester. do this. in your plank, you're going to come up and down. he said, i can do it. i work out. >> there i am on my belly just off of the set. >> he starts doing it and he's like this is kind of hard. i'll try it this week. i decided, i will train lester. >> she will move me to the next step and make them even harder. >> trust me when i tell you, he can school me in politics so i can school him in the gym. >> i can't believe we're doing this. >> believe it, lester. you're going to give me your trust for one hour. >> okay. >> sunday i'm back in charge. >> as always.

>> eight, come on, eight. come on, lester. so, you can't give up because then i'm left hanging. sort of forces you to finish off the set. >> sort of like those ad libs at 8:30. >> exactly like that. you are not sagging. you are in a nice position. once you're in that nice position. so easy. good, keep going. right there. you're right there. come on, lester. come on! your hands are loose and your feet are pushing you. yes, run it! yes. nine more. nine. >> wow. >> how do you feel? >> i'm challenged. >> we should work out at least one day a week. >> are you kidding me? >> come on, two. we're going to go on -- oh, my

gosh. so, am i not allowed to do this on sundays if i run into a tricky situation. >> no. >> don't let them hit the ground. come on, straighten them. come on, three. two. >> you get the first two stories sunday. >> wait, can i do "nightly"? >> okay. >> that was something else. >> did you have fun? >> i did have fun. i actually tried it the other day. the beauty, the beauty of what you showed me, except for the weights, everything could be done anywhere. >> that's the goal. we travel so often, that we don't want to have to rely on a gym. >> i did that in my apartment the other day. it wasn't the same holding on to your ankles and slapping your hands, but a good workout and i felt challenged.

>> a new respect for me? good i was challenged. we didn't talk about the food. >> no, take it away. not allowed, lester. not allowed. not allowed, lester. not allowed. >> we'll be right back. [ whispering ] shhhh... did you hear that? it sounded like the chocobeast. the what? half man, half beast. he'll stop at nothing to sink his fangs into people who steal other people's chocolate temptations. you guys have nothing to worry about, right? aaah! [ all scream ] nice job, chocobeast! thank you. [ male announcer ] six indulgent layered desserts, at 150 calories or less. new temptations. it's the first jell-o that's just for adults. [ male announcer ] our 16 fresh-picked oranges have a new home.

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let's go back to washington now and check in with david gregory to find out what is coming up on "meet the press." >> where will the fight in libya lead? at home the standoff of the government risks a government shutdown this week. dick durbin and republican congressman mike rogers plus our political roundtable all coming up on "meet the press." >> thank you so much. janice huff, thank you very much.

next week on "today" we'll go visit the maverick. >> i'll see you later on, if i can on nbc "nightly news." take care.