we're going to use a hostile reactivateor for when people are too negative. had a very good run today. i'm jim cramer, see you tomorrow! "today," long range dud. north korea successfully launches its widely condemned rocket. stroke of luck. police recover a stolen masterpiece worth over $100 million. and road range, what caused an angry customer to destroy an and road range, what caused an angry customer to destroy an auto dealership in moscow? captions paid for by nbc-universal television >> announcer: this is early today for friday april 13th, 2012. hello and good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation including the pacific time zone.

i'm lynn berry. today we begin with failure to launch. north korea's controversial long range rocket broke up into pieces over the yellow sea two minutes after it left the launch pad. the white house called it a defiant move and provocative action that violates regional security and international law. the u.n. security council will meet today to consider additional sanctions against north korea. richard engel filed this report from pyongyang shortly after the failed launch. >> reporter: this is an enormous embarrassment for the north korean government. officials have not made any kind of comment at all. they have assembled journalists in this country, about 100 reporters brought into north korea. we were expecting to see a live video feed of this launch. instead we were told by officials in washington and reports from south korea and japan that not only had the launch taken place but that it had failed. >> translator: this flying

object flew for about one minute before seemingly falling into the yellow sea. >> reporter: we are told we will get some sort of comment from the north korean government, but officials we've been talking to seem to know as little as we do. we actually informed the government minders who we are with that the launch had taken place. he shrugged his shoulders, ran out of the room. so how north korea explains this away, what it tells its own people will be critical in the historic narrative of this country. but a major embarrassment. this is something that north korea is now going to have to tell its people that it was a failure. richard engel, nbc news, pyongyang. according to a new poll when it comes to the fatal shooting of unarmed teen trayvon martin, americans are deeply divided by race. the reuters poll says 91% of african-americans say martin was unjustly killed. only 35% of whites thought so. anyway, the man who shot trayvon

martin, george zimmerman and yesterday for the first time in a florida courtroom. nbc's jay gray has more. >> reporter: in handcuffs and a jailhouse pant suit george zimmerman stood before the judge for three minutes showing no emotion and only responding when the judge outlined second degree murder charge and his rights in the case. the hearing amounted to little more than a legal formality but did provide insight into the prosecution's state. a probable cause affidavit saps trayvon martin was profiled and zimmerman confronted martin and a struggle ensued. the meeting between martin's mother and investigators where she listened to the 911 recording from the night her son was killed. >> he kept yelling help. >> identified the voice crying for help as trayvon martin's voice. >> we didn't a little all the evidence we have but some evidence with probable cause.

>> not guilty entered, arraignment for the 29th. >> reporter: after pushing more than an month for zimmerman's arrest, an effort that sparked a national firestorm, martin's mother is relieved it will play out in a courtroom and not rallies and protests that define this case. >> we want him to be held accountable for what he's done. >> reporter: the next step in the process a formal arraignment hearing for jay gray. nbc news, sanford, florida. the wife of a presidential candidate ann romney had an unlikely person speaking up for her. said the wrong thing when she spoke up for the economy because she, quote, hasn't worked a day in her life. president obama said that's not something he agrees with and added, quote, there's no tougher job than being a mom. here is a look at some other stories making news in america.

a freakish storm dumped piles of hail on the texas panhandle leaving some areas buried under four to five feet of ice pellets. it caused floodings, shut down highways and officials used snowplows to clear the roads no injuries reported, though. phones rang off the hook and socialial media excitement over what could have been a meteor shower in the midwest. witnesses reported seeing a bright greenish object streak across the sky. sightings were reported in iowa, illinois and michigan as well as indiana. researchers in wisconsin have a fish tale folks will be talking about for years to come. they were conducting a survey when they hauled in a monstrous sturgeon, over 85 feet long, weighs 240 pounds. it is believed to be 125 years old. it was tagged and returned back to the river. and finally it was a day at

the races for spaulding university students. the kentucky school held the 40th annual running of the rodents. this year's race was a blowout with viva rat vegas taking the crown. very cute. now for a look at your national and regional weather here is nbc meteorologist bill karen with your forecast. good morning, bill. >> good morning. the last day of the rain in california. it's been likeeehr t or four days in a row. hr's an unusual sentence. i should save that on tape. we are watching rain in san francisco, even heavy stuff to concord. san jose a little break but showers will return shortly. up in sacramento a steady light rain from stockton to modesto north. higher elevation, the very highest elevations are getting a little snow out of this. this is the last day of this pesky storm system, finally on the move. just about to come on shore here in northern portions of california. it's eventually going to dip over the four corner region

tomorrow. this tornado cause an outbreak in the central plains on saturday. as bad as it is in california, it will be worse saturday night in oklahoma and kansas. high pressure should build in behind the storm. we'll warm things up and give you sunshine to dry things out. a little cool in the northwest this morning. your friday forecast not bad around seattle and portland. as the rain moves through around san fran arizona we may get wet weather in spots. we don't usually get a lot. maybe even uma. as ugly as it is this morning, the weekend still looks nice. >> there we go. all right, bill. thanks so much. coming up, google grabs attention, a court rules on lunchtime, and a breakup in the world of candy. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead.

plus the biggest winner at the box office this weekend will be a movie you can't even see. we'll explain. the heat and bulls need og, new york rangers are a broadway smash. you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to today. i'm lynn berry and here is some of your top headlines this morning. a fire burned early friday at a modesto county apartment where a suspect was holed up following the shooting death of a civilian and a deputy trying to deliver a conviction notice. the condition of the suspect is not known. meanwhile in new hampshire, another standoff has ended. authorities say they found the bodies of a gunman and an unidentified woman who had been holed up after a drug bust, both dead from gunshot wound. the man allegedly shot and killed the town's police chief just days from his scheduled

retirement after 26 years in law enforcement. the state of florida executed serial killer david allen gore by lethal injection. after 28 years on death row, he admitted to killing four women and two teenager girls in the 1980s. a stolen painting has been recovered in a vehicle in serbia. the boy in the red vest was stolen from a small museum in switzerland in 2008 and it's worth more than $109 million. and a security camera showed a moment of showroom rage as a russian doctor in moscow drove his loaner car into a nissan dealership smashing all the cars on display. police say he snapped because he had to wait 20 minutes to pick up his car. now he faces up to five years in prison. now here is an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens 12,986 after zooming 181 points yesterday,

s&p 500 climbed 18 points, nasdaq rose 39. overseas trading, tokyo the nikkei edged up 113 points. in hong kong the hang seng just 373. three days of gains may not qualify as a streak but investors are hoping it will lead to one. projections of a soft landing for china's economy sparked a soft rally while copper and gold shot up six. traders mostly ignored an unexpected jump in new weekly unemployment claims. hewlett-packard surged 7% on its jump in quarterly pc shipments. but the big news of the day came after the bell when google blew past quarterly earning expectations and announced a two-for-one stock split. after the bell dow chemical rose after a early report. redbox shot up 10% after

doubling quarterly profit expectations. barnes & noble up 6%. meanwhile apple said charges it was a co-conspirator in that ebook price fixing scheme against amazon are, quote, simply not true. a personal conduct investigation into best buy's former chief apparently centers around whether he misused company funds during an alleged relationship with a 29-year-old female employee. california's supreme court ruled unanimously thursday that employers are not obligated to make workers take their legally mandated lunch breaks. and say it ain't so. a divorce in candy land. that's right? fruity candy pals mike and ike are calling it quits in an ad campaign to draw in younger customers. coming up, chicago bulls, the heat, boston breaks down the

caps and the saints keep the head coaching job in house. plus broadway blues beat up on ottawa in game one of their stanley cup playoff matchup. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. the weekend forecast is all about severe storms in the midwest. that's coming up. you're watching "early today."

if you're just waking up, this is "early today." in sports the players for eight nhl teams had to work overtime last night in the stanley cup playoffs. here is nbc's mario solis with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> good morning to you. what's better than one overtime playoff game? how about three. let's begin with defending champions bruins hosting the caps. scoreless after 60 minutes. so onto overtime when chris kelly ends it, skates across the blue line and fires a rocket. bruins shut out capitals to win game one 1-0 in overtime. how about double time in st. louis. rips a one-timer for the win. his second goal of the game is the difference. sharks take game one 3-2 in double overtime. phoenix blackhawks down a goal with 15 seconds in regulation,

putt to brent, kicks it up to his stick and forces the equalizer. celebration is short-lived as the shot from the point, coyotes win a wild one 3-2 in overtime. to new york where the rangers made quick work of the senators. captain ryan callahan gives the blue shirts a 1-0 lead in the first. in the second watch marion do his thing. calm, cool, and collected. waits for the goalie to go down and picks his spot. rangers win easily 4-2. nfl how is this for a coaching kara sell. joe vitt interim while sean payton serves a essential. vitt suspended first six games of the season so aaron chromer will fill in for vitt. forget the bounty situation this coaching situation is giving me a headaches. two of the best scenes in nba go to overtime, bulls and heat. chicago down three in the final seconds of regulation. watson dials long distance, ties the game and forces ot.

kyle from somewhere near michigan avenue got it. miami scores just two points in ot. bulls win it 96-86. that's your look at sports on "early today." i'm mario solis. the president weighs in once again on kanye west but this time a little nicer. your early morning entertainment headlines ahead. coming up. proof the sport of skateboarding has gone to the dogs. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today" on friday morning. storms moving through california with a lot of rain from the valley, sacramento to stockton. san francisco in the rain along with san jose. eventually this will work its way down the coastline into the greater los angeles area a little later this morning. hopefully i think it should be mostly after the rush hour. as far as the rest of the weekend goes, start to push that storm through las vegas on saturday. by sunday everyone is looking very nice. overall west coast thumbs-up this weekend. if you're watching us on king 5 news in seattle, washington, explore wildlife habitat joining zoo keepers, spring fling at woodland park zoo. that's your pacific event of the day. >> bill, thanks so much. an early look at headlines and entertainment. no one is going to knock "hunger

games" off the box office top list. the horror entry "cabin in the woods" which sat on the shelf for years getting great reviews. experts say it won't get better than $15 million. "three stooges" may have done better with the big names. this new old slap stick should earn $10 to $15 million. despite a great trailer space thriller "lockout" hasn't generated much buzz. only going to earn $6to $8 million. so "the hunger games" will remain number one with $18 to $20 million. this weekend's biggest winner, though, will actually be overseas. "battleship" which opens here next month is expected to post numbers. remember president obama calling conjay west a jackass. when reminded of that he said,

he is a jackass but he's tale talent talented. aren't there other issues to talk to him about. >> his initial reaction was jackass and he stuck with it. one dog is hitting the streets to show off a cool trick you have to see to believe. we'll show you. he has been skateboarding since five-month-old. he's adorable. instead of playing fetch his owner put him on board. now he can't keep him off of it. on his own he turns the blacktop into his own personal stage. his skateboarding has become quite the phenom there. i'm lynn berry, this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. blan

blan. at least mt. etna showing off power again, this time during the day. europe's most powerful volcano erupted yesterday for the third time this month belching out ash and blood red lava. so far authorities haven't issued danger warnings to nearby residents. during recent eruptions due to the lava's slow speed only minor damages reported. now is your chance to own one of the most iconic images in art history, for a hefty price. the famed painting "the scream" on display at sutherby's where

it's expected to sell for $80 million. it features a hand painted poem by the artist himself on the frame. one couple in china got a very big surprise when welcoming the latest to their family. the new bundle of joy was a whopping 12 pounds. that is double the size of the normal newborn. the appetite is big, eating every two hours and wails in protest. >> i like to say babies like that are drinking whale milk. >> or eating burgers. some stories we'll follow throughout the day on nbc. the 141th annual rifle meeting will kick off in st. louis, missouri. speakers include presidential candidate newt gingrich and mitt

romney along with former rival rick santorum. the meeting, which runs through sunday, features over 500 exhibits, seminars and special events. in washington transportation security administration will demonstrate the newest boarding pass and id authentication technology. the new high-tech passes are designed to identify altered or fraudulent documents at security checkpoints. singer al green turns 66. all day long you can stay on top of the very latest developments and those stories and others as they break on msnbc. tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." finally here is a look at what's coming up later on the "today" show. a screen writer who worked with mel gibson speaks out against what he believes was anti-semitic behavior against the actor. get an exclusive look at the life of robert duval when cameras take you inside his horse farm retreat. keep it on this channel for news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry, thanks for

watching "early today." it's the first stop of the day today on your nbc station. it's the first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one.