good friday morning. coming up on "early today," new direction. the search for the missing malaysia jet shifts to the north after what's being called a credible lead. also this morning, blade runner defense. a startling development in the oscar pistorius case. and showdown, president obama prepares for a contentious meeting with the saudi king today. plus, important new research on autism. free coffee at mcdonald's. and the ncaa bracket busting upsets just keep on coming. it is friday, march 28th. "early today" starts right now. and good friday morning to

you. i'm craig melvin. we begin with a big change in the hunt for that missing malaysian airliner. the search area has now shifted 680 miles to the northeast after new analysis of some radar data. nbc's ian williams is following the latest for us from perth, australia. ian, will this shift make the search any easier? >> reporter: craig, i should tell you first that we just heard from the australian authorities who were overseeing this. the new zealand aircraft, an orion, had spotted what they call objects out in that new search area. it should be landing back here in perth soon, carrying photographs and the amas, the australian authorities say that ships are on their way to examine this further, although those ships which are being diverted from the old search area won't be in the new search area probably until the end of tomorrow. so that's kind of an initial encouraging sign, though that

said, oceanic experts are warning in this new search area, that is probably more trash than there was in the old area. but certainly, they say, the new area is closer to mainland australia, 400 miles closer, which means it takes less time for aircraft to reach there. also, the weather generally is a little bit better, though it is still a very big area. but this initial sighting is encouraging and remains to be seen precisely what it is they have spotted, craig. >> ian williams with new information from perth. ian, thank you. back home, search efforts continue in washington state. we also have new images showing the mudslide's aftermath. this morning, the death toll has risen to 17 with the latest confirmed victim a 4-month-old baby girl. researchers, searchers, i should say rath, will resume their work at sunrise with the fear of finding more bodies. nbc's jennifer bjorklund has the

latest. >> reporter: in here is where the neighborhood basically deposited. >> reporter: the destruction happened within seconds, an unimaginable force turning a small community into a mass of muss, broken trees and homes, twisted metal. seven kids saw a wall of mud rushing toward them, stopping just short of their home. >> i saw this huge mud wave just come up to the house and like a tidal wave and just crush it. >> reporter: urban search and rescue specialists are using forensic digging techniques. slow going, tedious. >> basically goi ing inch by in through here and looking. the machine picks up small bites of material, sets it to the side, people through the material, look where the machine pulled out the material, if the machine is okay, they go back and pull more material. >> reporter: when remains are found, a pause. >> it gets quiet for a few minutes. you can almost hear a pin drop out there. you see seasoned veterans in this business, they start to

tear up. >> reporter: the owner of the stump bar and grill says everyone can't get out and search, but everyone can do something. they're collecting money. >> a lot of them are regulars. one of them was a really close family to us. and we just want to help. >> reporter: the boy scouts are helping. small comfort in the face of enormous tragedy. jennifer bjorklund, nbc news, arlington, washington. now to the oscar pistorius murder trial and what was supposed to be the first day of defense's case and possibly testimony from pistorius himself. but there is now a hang-up. and a delay in the trial. nbc's mike taibbi is live for us outside the courthouse in pretoria, south africa. mike, what happened? >> reporter: craig, this has to do with the differences, some would say, the peculiarities in the south african justice system.

this is a judge trial, not a jury strtrial. the judge is assisted by two assesso assessors. the judge announced that one of the assessors was ill and a delay was agreed to until at least april 7th. pistorius is the only person who knows the true story of what happened on that valentine's day morning last year. and he's only talked about it, it was a tragic accident, thought he was shooting an intruder and not his girlfriend. the other side saying no it was a deliberate shooting after a protracted, heated argument. the prosecution has to prove it and pistorius will begin his defense no earlier than april 7th. craig? >> mike taibbi for us in south africa. thank you. back here, time is winding down to sign up for health insurance under the law that has become as known as obamacare. this morning, the white house is touting a major milestone.

more than 6 million americans have signed up for plans under the affordable care act. that is a far cry from october's 106,000 and it meets a key goal set by the administration. last year the congressional budget office estimated 7 million customers would have enrolled by now. for most users, the open enrollment period will end monday. president obama is continuing his trip overseas today in saudi arabia where he hopes to mend fences with king abdullah. nbc white house correspondent peter alexander joins us now from rome where president obama met with pope francis. peter, good morning to you. contra >> reporter: good morning. it was a historic visit lasting nearly 50 minutes. president obama expressing his great admiration for the pope. he said the two discussed a variety of topics. among them, their shared interest in eliminating income inequality. and president obama said the topics that they are more divided on, social issues like

contraception, abortion, did not come up in their conversation. now, president obama will head to saudi arabia, the final stop of this four country trip, to visit today with king abdullah. he's the king of saudi arabia, of course, america's largest arab ally in that region. among the most significant topics they'll focus on, iran and syria. for one, the saudis want the u.s. to provide more military assistance to the syrian rebels. and on the topic of iran, there is concern within saudi arabia that the u.s.' new contact, new cooperation with iran, an effort to negotiate over its nuclear weapons capabilities has somehow undercut the u.s.' relationship with saudi arabia. those will be two of the topics the president focuses on before he heads home tomorrow. craig? >> peter alexander for us in rome, thank you. turning to the weather now, meteorologist bill karins is here with a weekend forecast. friends out in the northwest, not going to get a lot of help from mother nature this weekend. >> no. won't stop raining.

and some areas we need it, we'll get it eventually. looks like in northern and central california. but in the northwest, enough already. this march has been ridiculous. today, one of the wettest marches ever in many areas. and we are watching more rain from portland, north to seattle. this radar will look similar to yesterday morning and snow at the highest of elevations. this big storm is just sitting there, spinning, you see it underneath the s in satellite. it is going to slowly head down towards northern california this weekend. it is going to continue to put a lot of moisture into the region. so as far as the forecast is going to go, the rainfall totals will be the highest on saturday in northern california. that yellow is up to two inches of rain and when we start to get some of the mountainous areas, we'll see some snow. this is through sunday morning. as we go through the day on sun sunday, we could see one to two feet in the mountains of california. that great. we need to build up snow pack. we didn't do it all winter long.

>> not all bad. we need better weather in washington state, the rescue efforts and cleanup there. but we'll take it in california. >> lots of rain all over the map. >> it is. it is april. april, spring rain. >> april showers, may flowers. bill karins, thank you. good weekend to you as well. an alert for anyone looking forward to happy hour tonight. details on that straight ahead. >> are you buying? >> for you, absolutely, sir. absolutely. also, russians and americans, they embrace in space at least as the soyuz stops with the international space station. [ female announcer ] women just know when something is right. they know a perfect match. from shoes to friends to romance. and now to razors.

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i can't believe your mom has a mom cave! today i have new campbell's chunky spicy chicken quesadilla soup. she gives me chunky before every game. i'm very souperstitious. haha, that's a good one! haha! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right. and better is so easy withrning you cabenefiber.o something better for yourself. [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. fiber that's taste-free, grit-free and dissolves completely. so you can feel free to add it to anything. and feel better about doing it. better it with benefiber. welcome back to this friday.

a new report from the centers of disease control and prevention says the number of children diagnosed with autism is on the rise. one in 68 children in the u.s. suffers from that disorder now. that's a 30% increase from 2012. cdc officials believe the rise in numbers could be because doctors are getting better at identifying autism. after a slight delay due to a technical bug, the spacecraft successfully docked with the international space station on thursday. an internal investigation into the lane closures that stalled traffic on the george washington bridge last september cleared governor chris christie of any wrongdoing. diane sawyer talked to christie about that scandal. >> things were first reported, i said this can't possibly be true because who would do something like that? sometimes people do inexplicably stupid things.

that makes it hard as the guy in charge. none of it made any sense to me. to some extent still does not. the austin police department confirmed a fourth victim in the south by southwest car crash died thursday from his injuries. the driver of the vehicle that drove through the crowd has been charged with capital murder. and the man dubbed france's spider-man wowed onlookers when he climbed a 500 foot tower in paris, without a harness. after successfully scaling that building, he was arrested by police. later released without being charged. time to get down to business on a friday morning. stocks are down for the fourth time in the past five days with the nasdaq at a six-week low. mars opened a new state of the art 500,000 square foot chocolate plant in topeka, kansas. that plant created 200 new jobs and will bring a temporary m&m world to downtown topeka. and happy hour beware.

there is a major lime shortage and it is causing prices to skyrocket. this austin restaurant pays about 35 bucks for a case of 100 limes. now the same case costs almost 100 bucks. the united states imports about 98% of our limes from mexico. right now, supply is down. mcdonald's giving away free coffee during breakfast hour starting monday through april 13th. all part of a mccafe promotional event. and just ahead here, johnny football wows them. the sixers set a record. and the hard court heats up as the ncaa takes off in the sweet 16. ♪ ♪ ♪ ben! ♪ [ train whistle blows ]

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all right, let's get the latest in sports now. the elite eight is halfway there. as the brackets just keep on busting. number one arizona, late rally, edged them over a feisty san diego state to advance. san diego led 32-28 at the half. then in the second, there he is, arizona's t.j. mcconnell laying it up, putting the wildcats on top. san diego kept fighting. they nail the three to keep it tight. arizona prevails. 17-64. ucla did not make it easy for overall number one florida.

in the second half, the bruins norman powell sprinting down the court to keep it close. later, though, florida, hustling in the paint for two. there it is, right there. the gators take it from there. the elite eight for their fourth straight year. dayton, the big surprise in the tournament so far, with an upset win over stanford. 82-72. they advance to the elite eight for their first time since 1984. and check this out, they definitely celebrated like it has been 30 years since they made it to the elite eight, the streets of downtown dayton went off. and wisconsin celebrated their victory against the baylor bears 69-52. they celebrated with a dance. and who better to shake it for the badgers than green bay packers quarterback aaron rodgers. he joined the post game dancing, the huddle as well. tonight, virginia against michigan state.

iowa state and uconn. tennessee versus michigan. and here's the one that everyone is going to be watching, kentucky challenging last year's national champs, louisville. in professional basketball, the 76ers a record-setting game against houston last night. they lost 120-98 and with that loss, they tied the all time losing streak record. they dropped 26 straight now. johnny manziel starring in his pro day. the heisman winner impressive as he threw the 65 passes to six receivers. 75 officials from 30 teams in attendance. even former president george h.w. bush and wife barbara were there watching the johnny football show. just ahead, fleetwood mac is back. plus zac efron gets punched in the face. and joan rivers returning to the tonight show, 25 years after being banned. [ male announcer ] let the rich robust flavor

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ergens? eww! eww! [ moderator ] how would you deal with them? umm... ninjas. [ male announcer ] no need for ninjas. reduce up to 95% of inanimate allergens becoming airborne from fabrics with new, dermatologist tested, febreze allergen reducer. and better is so easy withrning, you cabenefiber.o something better for yourself. fiber that's taste-free, grit-free and dissolves completely. so you can feel free to add it to anything. and feel better about doing it. better it with benefiber. welcome back. as you head through the weekend, this big storm cranking south here over alaska and british columbia coastline is going to head into the west. and it has got a plume of moisture that is taking and transporting it over the top of northern california. already we have rain out there this morning for your drive up by 5. that will continue on and off throughout the day. saturday, moisture gets more

concentrated, we'll watch the areas in california. maybe the mountains can pick up one to two feet in the central sierra. that's where we could use it. >> thank you, sir. arnold swarchwarzenegger's latest action flick is no match for a film of biblical proportions. "noah" hits the theaters this weekend. and brings a flood of controversy with it. how many liberties did they take with the original story? either way, controversy equals ticket sales. expect it to finish first. with close to $40 million. arnold's r-rated "sabotage" is hoping to make the top three. on the "today" show, christine mcvie has announced she'll rejoin fleetwood mac. she's going to hit the road with them when they tour later this year. after running out of gas in a sketchy part of los angeles, zac efron was reportedly hit in the mouth by a homeless person. tmz reports he threw a bottle out of his car causing a group of transients to attack him and his bodyguard.

last year, he broke his jaw after a fall and entered rehab for -- >> what percentage of the real story you think we're hearing? >> exactly. "the tonight show" ban of joan rivers has been lifted. >> i have a photo of you. this is you and -- right in this same studio. 1965. >> second night that i was on. and i had been working eight years in greenwich village. and nothing. and he said, god bless him, you're going to be a star. changed my life. look how good. my legs look good. the breasts are in the right place. >> i'm craig melvin. this is "early today." we hope it is your first stop of the day on nbc. check it out. i can't believe your mom has a mom cave! today i have new campbell's

chunky spicy chicken quesadilla soup. she gives me chunky before every game. i'm very souperstitious. haha, that's a good one! haha! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right. wears off. [ female announcer ] stop searching and start repairing. eucerin professional repair moisturizes while actually repairing very dry skin. the end of trial and error has arrived. try a free sample at eucerinus.com. i takbecause you can't beatrning for zero heartburn. woo hoo! [ male announcer ] prilosec otc is the number one doctor recommended frequent heartburn medicine for 8 straight years. one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn.

leading the news on nbc news.com, welcome to america. displaced sochi pups get new life. those down and out doggies made famous during the olympics started arriving here in america. the washington post, in italy, gay catholics feel the francis effect. no doctrine has changed, his approach in style compelled thousands of gay men and lesbians to feel optimistic and closer to the catholic church. that's from the washington post. recapping our top stories, a big change in the search for the missing malaysian airliner. the crash area has shifted some 680 miles to the northeast. this after some new analysis of radar data.

it has been three weeks since the boeing 777 vanished with 239 people on board. new images show the aftermath of the washington mudslide. this morning, the death toll has risen to 17 with the latest confirmed victim a 4-month-old baby girl. searchers will resume their work at sunrise there. and a new high for obamacare. the white house says more than 6 million people have now signed up for coverage under the health care law. open enrollment for most americans ends monday. and this next piece of video is dedicated to those who just can't stand one more second of winter. it is still cold across much of this country, so students in northern michigan are trying to jump start spring. by burning an effigy of childhood favorite frosty the snowman. no word yet if the burn had any -- >> that's a good job. >> no, no. kids just like to burn stuff. but when people get desperate,

they'll try to burn just about everything. time for a look ahead and a look back. the third batch of documents from president bill clinton's white house records will be released. the national archives will release 2500 pages from the clinton presidential library to the public. so far, about 8,000 pages of records have been released. and on this day in 1990, bill karins, president george h.w. bush awards the late jesse owens the congressional gold medal, a decade after his death. the track and field star made history in 1936 olympics in berlin. he won four gold medals in the nazi german era. owens died in 1980. happy birthday on this friday to lady gaga. she turns 28 today. actor vince vaughn is 44 today. and country star and actress reba mcentire, 59 today. keep it right here for more news, more weather, more sports as well. i'm craig melvin. thank you so much for watching

"early today." have a great weekend.

good morning to you. it's 4:30, also friday and i'm scott mcgrew. >> you can say that again. >> it's also friday. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. lot to get to. let's get to the friday forecast with meteorologist christina loren. >> better stop doing my happy dance, i'm on camera now. it's still early on a friday morning, i can tell you right now look at what's coming our way as we head throughout the weekend. we're talking about really heavy rainfall totals and we've got more on the way through next week so a lot to talk about this morning. i want to make sure you bring that umbrella. i'll time the system. there are three more on the way. time them