have a great night. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ this morning on "early today," the race continues. after mitt romney's super tuesday win, his rivals vow to fight as the nomination battle heads to the bible belt. could diabetes and cholesterol lowering drugs soon be available over the counter? and disruptive force. the largest solar storm in five years is sent hurling toward earth. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the pacific time zone.

i'm lynn berry. today we begin with a campaign coen in drum. gop presidential candidates swing south today where newt gingrich locked in his only win on super tuesday in georgia. well, now some of rick santorum supporters want beginning hitch out to consolidate the conservative vote against moderate rival mitt romney. brian moore is in washington with more on this. good morning. >> good morning. he is vulnerable as the race heads to the south. newt gingrich and rick santorum are both going to try to utilize the southern strategy to try to take romney out. newt gingrich will be on home turf talking about gas prices, an issue he hopes will finally kick start his campaign. he took a poke at president obama saying if you want algae, vote for the president. if you want $2.50 a gallon gas, vote for newt gingrich. but rick santorum supporters are urging gingrich to get out of the way. yes, he won his home state of

georgia and south carolina, but santorum argues if this is a two-person race, he's the person who can beat romney and take on the president in the fall. but mitt romney is the frontrunner right now, even though his vulnerability was pointed out with his super tuesday win in ohio. right now his campaign says it would take an act of god for one of the other candidates to reach the magic number of 1,144 delegates. >> brian, thank you so much. president obama has asked the pentagon to review american military options for dealing with the crisis in syria. still the president and his defense secretary are resisting calls for u.s. intervention but leaving economic actions are the best way to president ask the president to give up power. francis coast reports. >> reporter: as violence continues in syria, obama officials are pushing back

against demands for u.s. military involvement. speaking before the armed services committee, defense secretary leon panetta said there's no simple solution to what's going on in syria. >> we all wish there was a clear and unambiguous way forward to directly influence the events in syria, that unfortunately is not the case. that is not an excuse, that is reality. >> reporter: senator john mccain who has called for u.s. air strikes in syria fired back. >> how many additional civilian lives would have to be lost in order to convince you that the military measures of this kind that we are proposing necessary to end the killing and forced to lead power, how many more have to die? 10,000 more? 20,000 more? how many more? >> reporter: the united nations estimates more than 7,500 civilians have died so far. and the uprising against syria's president. the u.n. humanitarian chief was

allowed to enter a homs district after a deadly four-week siege. government forces took control of the district last thursday after rebel forces abandoned the area. it was sealed for six days and activists accuse the government of using the time to hide evidence of atrocities committed there. francis coe, nbc news. here is a look at some of the other stories making news early today in america. in louisiana, surveillance video captured a thief breaking into a pharmacy and stealing 9,000 pills inless than a minute. the burglar filled a garbage bag with nearly $5,000 worth of prescription drugs, including oxycontin and morphine and oxycodone. he remains on the loose. an explosion in cincinnati sent fire shooting up into the street in front of a bus. at least three man hole covers were sent flying from the blast caused by an underground electrical line. thankfully, nobody was hurt. also in ohio, a school bus driver is now facing charges. police say video shows the

driver going into the middle of the bus and restraining a 9-year-old boy so a girl could hit him. the driver, who has already quit her job, apparently thought the boy had been teasing the girl. and, finally, a minnesota couple won't have much trouble remembering their kids' birthday. that's because for the third time in a row, mom gave birth on march 5th like she did two times over the last four years. the parents say they never planned to have any of the kid born on the same day. thankfully their two older kids have learned the value of sharing. that will come in handy, especially when they have to share the cake and all of that. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here is meteorologist bill karins with a look at the forecast. >> big, bang, boom, the birthdays are all over with. it's like shopping for christmas, it's done. poor kids. good morning, everyone. we have had beautiful weather the last day or two on the west coast as the windy, stormy

weather headed into the middle of the country. it will be a nice weather pattern today, too. notice the latest big storm off the west coast is not heading onshore, at least not yet. it's heading up to alaska, that's dragging the area of high pressure straight overhead and leaving us with nice weather. we are protected by high pressure, two of them, one over the northern plains and one over california. now we are on the mild side of the area of warm weather for southern california. today will be a very beautiful afternoon from san diego to palm springs all the way to greater los angeles and even areas near san francisco will be pretty nice. we are not quite as chilly this morning. 50 in vegas. still a little cool in medford. definitely chilly in nevada. in the interior northwest, we are on the cold side. this afternoon with sunshine, 00%, 100% sunshine, 81 in l.a. not bad in the northwest, o.

you know the warm, sunny patterns won't last forever. we have rain coming tomorrow. >> all right, bill, thank you so much. coming up, high hopes for jobs. a new thicker ipad, and the world's youngest self-made female billionaire? you're early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, indications that things are mellowing out between brad and angelina and jennifer aniston? coming up, peyton says good-bye. a buzzer beater by the mvp and what in the world has happened to the lakers? you're watching "early today."

good morning. welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry. here are some of your top headlines this morning. the associated press reports a satellite image of an iranian military facility showing heavy

equipment appearing to clean up radioactive traces by tests left by a nuclear weapon equipment. that analysis was made by experts from the international atomic energy agency. and new drugs will be announced to treat diabetes and cholesterol and high blood pressure. it would make the drugs available over the counter and should reduce health care costs. she'll be companied by her husband, prince phillip, and her grandson prince phillip's wife katherine. the effects of the largest solar storm in five years hit the earth today. airlines had to reroute flights and may disrupt satellite networks, gps services and

utility grids. now here is an "early" look at one of your top health headlines on msnbc.com. a new treatment for deadly skin cancer might be a major turning point in cancer medicine. it involves a drug that triggers the body's own immune system to take on melanoma. when doctors added radiation treatment all of the tumors disappeared. tests will see if it can work on other melanoma patients and others with kidney and lung cancers. for more information on this and other health stories, check out the health page at msnbc.com. >> announcer: early today health is brought to you by vagisil wash, the confident clean. now here is an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,837, after adding 78 points yesterday. the s&p was up nine points. the nasdaq gained 25. taking a look at overseas trading this morning. in tokyo, the nikkei surged 192 points. while in hong kong, the hang seng spiked 272. some reassurance on the jobs

front helped stocks bounce back from their biggest dive this year. ironically, a slowdown in worker productivity fueled hopes of increase highering on the horizon. ahead of tomorrow's monthly jobs report, investors were encouraged by estimates, private employers added 216,000 workers last month. banks got a boost from a "wall street journal" report saying fed officials are considering a new type of bond-buying programs. the treasury is unloading $6 billion in aig stock to help reduce its stake in the bailed out insurer. pandora's after the bell beating continued resulting in a loss of more than a fifth of its market value. american eagle outfitters shot up 6% after sewing up a healthy quarter. toyota is recalling nearly 700,000 u.s. autos due to a range of problems. the "wall street journal" reports the justice department is threatening to sue five of the nation's largest book

publishers and apple over an alleged scheme to raise the price of ebooks. ceo tim cook unveiled apple's updated ipad which is not called an ipad 3, by the way. the new ipad is thicker and heavier due to a larger battery to power the high-res retina display. it goes on sale next month. mexican tycoon carlos lim retained his top spot on the billionaire list. bill gates and warren buffett second and third respectively. one new face on the list, 41-year-old sarah blakley. thanks to spanx, she is the youngest self-made female billionaire and ladies everywhere thank her. coming up, two last-second nba thrillers. the world's greatest soccer

player goes goal crazy. anden emotional day for peyton manning. plus, last night, the woeful washington wizards slammed hollywood's heroes. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. as we head towards the weekend, a beautiful warm weather is going to come to an end. with it some rain. 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, the nba's los angeles lakers blew a 21-point lead and lost to one of the league's worst teams. here is fred roggin with an early look at all of your sports headlines. good morning. after beating the heat on sunday, it appeared the lakers were once again an elite team in the nba. wait a minute, not so fast. back-to-back losses to the pistons and wizards have basketball fans scratching their heads. here we go to washington. wizards looked like the worst team in the east in the first half. nick young on the fast break. look at this. whoa! toss the ball over the backboard. the lakers were up by 21 but then the wheels fell off. the wizards put together 28-4 run and in the blink of an eye they were down and then out. wizards ninth win of the year 106-101. another shocking outcome in philadelphia. not a huge surprise that the sixers beat the celts but how they did it. led from start-to-finish and won by a staggering 32.

sixers won it 103-71. from a blowout to a buzzer-beater. chicago and milwaukee tied at 104. derrick rose with the ball and this is why he is the mvp. step-back jumper and that is your ball game. bulls win it 106-104. to new jersey, final seconds clippers up two on the nets. jordan farmar said forget the tie i'm going for the win and he drained the three with less than a second to play. nets beat the clips 101-100. soccer. amazing night on the pitch for barcelona's messy. became the first player ever to score five goals in a champions league game. you'll likely never see a performance quite like that. barcelona won big, 7-1. as expected the colts released peyton manning and an emotional farewell for the mvp quarterback. >> i've been blessed to play here. i've been blessed to play in the nfl. as i go, i go with just a few words left to say. i truly have enjoyed being your quarterback.

>> the end of an era in indianapolis but the sight of a new one somewhere else. >> that is your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. coming up, whitney's will. snooki's announcement and justin bieber's mom makes her own deal. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus, it's the rock that is rocking southern california. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today" on this thursday morning. another beautiful day out there today, chilly to start but plenty of sunshine. no weather issues whatsoever. we are sneaking a little bit of the warmth up into the northwest. 61 in portland. same for you all the way through washington state. southern california, actually on the warm side. unfortunately, it looks like rain coming into the northwest on friday as temperatures, of course with the clouds, are a little cooler. well, if you're watching us on khnl-nbc 8 news in honolulu, hawaii, discover the beauty and enjoyment with japanese flower arranging. that's splendors of ikebana on display in honolulu hale. >> thank you, bill. here is an early look at this morning's headlines in entertainment. whitney houston has left her wealth and possessions to her daughter. in a will written in 1993 a month before she gave birth, houston specifies her, quote,

surviving children will receive everything. bobbi k christina was her only child. elsewhere. key anna reeves has a third script is finished and says it's pretty good. it's been 21 years since the last excellent adventure. can you believe that? "jersey shores" snooki has confirmed she is pregnant and she did it where the "new york post" said she would. the big bucks, "us weekly" magazine. justin bieber's mom is cashing in. patty, who gave birth to the pop star when she was only 18, just got a book deal to tell all about being the biebs' mom. a major sob between angelina jolie and jennifer aniston. aniston responded by sending jolie flowers and a note saying

how well directed the movie was. if you believe that? i have something else to show you. >> i'm blown away by the biebs thing. i didn't believe his mom was so young. he could be my son. >> don't think about that. don't get your head around that, it could be traumatizing. this comes to us from nbc 4 news in los angeles, where in nearby long beach there was a big par fir a real rock star. thousands turned out to celebrate the arrival of the 340-ton boulder. the super stone is on a very slow journey from a southern california rock quarry to the los angeles california museum of art. boulder watchers came to have pictures taken and listen to music that had the word "rock" in the title. get it? a truck will deliver the piece of earth to its new home this saturday. i'm lynn berry. this is "early today," your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

talk about reeling in the big one. a new zealand fisherman caught what may be the largest tuna ever weighing in at 739 pounds, if sold that monster fish is worth almost 400,000 bucks. even more amazing, he hooked the fish from his small 20-foot boat. but this anger is hoping his wife will let him mount the monster size fish on their wall instead of taking the cash. >> cash. >> i would take the cash, too. and this famed vampire woman is covered in tattoos and

piercings and has fangs and horns. she's terrifying looking but still cares for four children and runs a successful business. she said her body modifications are an expression of freedom felt after an abusive first marriage. in china, one couple got the wedding of their dreams 50 years in the making. after having to defer their wedding half a century ago, the couple was offered a chance to capture that special moment. look at them. dressed in a wedding gown and tux, the couple celebrated their golden wedding anniversary with a photo shoot. the pictures were followed by a proper ceremony surrounded by family and friends. don't you love that? they look adorable. >> instead of a 50-year wedding anniversary, the wedding. >> the wedding. perfect. sounds brilliant to me. time to take a look at the stories we will follow throughout the day here on nbc. it is international women's day. observances began in the early 1900 and continue strongly with

250 events registered across america and 1,500 worldwide. the southern poverty law center will release a report showing a substantial growth of extremist organizations over the past year. the report will include a state-by-state list of groups and the center's website will include an interactive map with names and locations of over 1,000 hate groups across the country. nbc news anchor lester holt turns 53. all day long, stay on top of the latest developments and those stories and others as they break on msnbc. tonight, watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." finally, here's a look at what is coming up later this morning on the "today" show. msnbc joe scarborough weighs in on whether mitt romney's rivals can exploit his weaknesses in the bible belt as the gop nomination fight heads to kansas, alabama and mississippi. actor wilmer talks about his role in the new nbc thriller "awake." keep it on this station for

news, sports, and more. i'm lynn berry. thank you for watching "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc