hard hit. the death toll rises from the punishing line of tornados that struck the nation's mid-section. glacial meltdown. cameras are rolling as a massive ice wall collapses in argentina. and last man standing. a river of lava evicts the one remaining resident of a community in hawaii. good morning, everyone. i'm lynn berry. those stories are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. and we begin this morning with the strike zone. a daunting task of cleanup and recovery awaits many midwest and southwest residents this morning. at least 39 people lost their lives in the recent rash of

devastating tornados. this includes an indiana toddler that was found alive in a field on saturday. nbc's jay gray reports. >> reporter: this morning across tornado alley, battered communities are preparing for anything but a normal monday. the message seems a bit obvious. like so much here, henryville high school has been torn apart. there are, though, other signs of survival. some life brings the steady rhythm of crews looking to pull away and pile up what they can. others sifting through the rubble by hand to find anything they might be able to save. evidence of their lives before the storm. >> she's probably 70. and she lost everything except what we can pull out. >> reporter: more than three dozen families already know they won't find any help or hope in this debris. they lost loved ones in the storm. one of those, 15-month-old angel babcock. first responders found her fighting for her life in this

field. her mom, dad, brothers, already dead. yesterday, angel passed away after being pulled from life support. her grandfather showed his emotions. >> my pastor is going in with me. we were going to pray there. and i'm going to tell that little girl that -- i'm going to tell her that it's time for her to meet her mommy and daddy. >> while those left behind now fight through their overwhelming grief as they face the difficult struggle to survive. jay gray, nbc news, henryville, indiana. well, tomorrow is super tuesday. with 424 delegates at stake in 11 states, a new national nbc news wall street journal poll shows the can combative primary season has taken a toll on the republican party. 40% of all adults say the long republican nominating process has given them a less favorable impression of the party.

70% of respondents described the gop using negative comments, including unenthusiastic, painful, poor choices, and depressed. president obama's approval rating is up to 50%, his highest mark since the death of osama bin laden. in a general election matchup, president obama leads his close et competitor by 50% to 45%. and the latest nbc news/maris poll in ohio the biggest prize on tuesday, rick santorum leads mitt romney by two points. msnbc is the place for all your super tuesday results. don't miss a minute of live special coverage beginning with way too early and "morning joe". it will continue late into the night right here on msnbc, the place for politics. all right. elsewhere, president obama beats with israeli prime minister benjamin net enya hue saying if necessary the u.s. would not hesitate to attack iran to keep it from developing a nuclear

bomb. the president spoke at apac vowing to defend israel. nbc's brian mooar has the story. >> reporter: speaking to a powerful pro-israel group one day before a critical meeting with israel's prime minister, president obama sent a forceful message on iran. >> iran's leaders should understand i do not have a policy of containment. i have a policy to prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. president obama and israeli prime minister benjamin net enya hue are at odds from keeping iran from developing a nuclear weapon. iran refuses to abandon what it calls a peaceful program. israel says it can't wait and is threatening a military strike. president obama says military action is an option but asks for israel's trust and patience. >> now is not the time for bluster.

now is the time to let our increased pressure set in. >> reporter: in washington a showdown with israel over the showdown with iran. brian mooar, nbc news, washington. here's your "first look" at some of the other news going on around america today. in colorado, chilling video shows an armed robber storming into a pizza parlor, ordering the owner to hand over cash at gunpoint. police think the same man is responsible for 10 other robberies >> construction workers in kansas blew up a pair of bridges above a highway overpass this weekend. it took just seconds for the section to come down. crews poured dirt on interstate 435 ahead of time to make sure it wasn't damaged by any debris. in hawaii, paradise lost. floeing lava meant the end of a house for the last resident in a neighborhood on the south side of hawaii's big island. but it wasn't without warning.

the home owner knew the end would one day come after the molten rock began pouring out nearly 30 years ago. it's that time of year again to yell mush! the iditarod is off and running in alaska. 66 teams powered by hundreds of man's best friends kicked things off with a symbolic start to the race in anchorage. it will be a very real trek of more than 1,000 miles the next eight days. all right. now for a look at your national weather, we turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins. good morning to you, bill. the voice is back as well. both of us are here. i'm sure you are thrilled. when lynn can't speak this is like christmas for bill karins. your moment in the spotlight. take it away. >> it was great. good morning, everyone. dealing with the tornados last week. what a week it was. two tornado outbreaks.

one the end of february and then the big one. we're still waiting for the official number of tornados. the all time recorded number is 74, the most we ever had in one outbreak. right now the numbers are looking senior like 79. a big log of all of this stuff, combing through all the evidence. right now there's 43 confirmed from the national weather service. if the number is 79 is true, it will be one of the biggest ever. we have had deadlier march outbreaks. all the red triangles are where all the tornados are with this outbreak. most were in kentucky and the ohio river and indiana and ohio. what are we dealing with today? the areas that dealt with the tornados, like henryville, now two inches of snow on the ground. temperatures got cold after the tornado went through. west liberty, kentucky with snow

right now. it is now over west virginia. it will head into virginia. again, only an inch or two. just enough to make the roads slippery. it's cold in the northern plains. minneapolis, 18, chicago, all through new england. this may be the last cold shot for some areas of the country. we have a good warmup this week. as we start off cold, by the middle of the week, high pressure pushes off the coast and a nice warm flow comes out of the deep south where all the eastern half of the country, the northern plains will remain on the cool side. keep that in mind today. it will be one of the chillier days of the week. 36 in chicago. cold in boston too. minneapolis. but here's the warmth beginning from dallas to san antonio. today a high of 36. then you jump to 54 on tuesday. so that warm air will arrive on the east coast, lynn. it looks like we have to wait until wednesday and thursday. could be some beautiful weather. >> looks like it. bill, thanks so much. wall street eyes jobs numbers.

new united airlines has a bumpy takeoff. and rush limbaugh loses yet another advertiser. your billions headlines are straight ahead. kobe gets his revenge. tiger roars back with the best of his career, but was it enough to win? you're watching "first look" on msnbc. emily's just starting out... and on a budget. like a ramen noodle- every-night budget. she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach. until she heard about the value plan.

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welcome back to "first look". i'm lynn berry. vladimir putin will become president of russia again. he got 60% of the vote to return the office he previously held. he'll serve another six-year term. an explosion at an arms storage depot in the republic of congo killed six people. the shock wave shattered windows in a three-mile radius. amateur video captured an avalanche rolling through a ski

resort in france. the snow trapped dozens of skiers. no injuries were reported. in argentina, dramatic video of huge chunks of a massive ice wall on a glacier collapsed on sunday. large pieces fell into the water from the glacier, which covers 97 square miles near the southern tip of south america. . and in sweden, pippa middleton competed in a 56-mile cross country ski marathon. they claimed she hadn't done much cross country skiing before and finished the event in seven hours. it provides free hungry breakfast foods to schools in engla england. the dow opens at 12,977 after losing two points on friday. the s&p lost four points. nasdaq was down 12. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo,

the nikkei fell 78 points, while hong kong, the hang seng dropped 296. in wall straoerbgts all-important monthly jobs figures due out friday could keep were some investors on the sidelines. expectations are high for february's jobs report after weekly claims data has steadily improved for nearly two months. traders will have an eye on the price of oil, which bubbled up over $110 a barrel at one point last week. crude traded around $107 this morning. after a year-long drilling moratorium, the "new york times" reports bp and other oil companies are stepping up exploration and production in the gulf. this as bp announced friday it expects to pay $7.8 billion to settle a wide range of disaster-related claims. . meanwhile, chrysler and g.m. will announce production of the first pickup trucks powered by natural gas this week. however, g.m. is pausing production of its plug-in hybrid

volt for five weeks due to slow sales. over the weekend, united airlines angered thousands of customers when technical glitches during its merger caused widespread problems. aig is selling $6 billion in shares of asian life insurer aia to help repay its u.s. bailout. proflowers.com is the seventh advertiser to drop conservative radio host rush limbaugh despite his apology for derogatory comments to a law student. cigar-related sales in cuba are on fire apparently. six hand man humidors sold for just under a billion bucks >> celtics rally in overtime. a record game for the mets. a new top dog in the world of golf. plus, the masked avenger strikes again. your "first look" at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc.

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welcome back to "first look". i'm lynn berry. in sports, yesterday's top nba matchup was no match at all as kobe bryant and the lakers easily extinguished the red-hot miami heat. here's nbc's mario solis. hi there. good morning. when bryant broke his nose last month, he knew he had a chance against the heat. but the lakers simply outplayed

them. kobe bryant wasting no time getting back at flash and the heat. 18 points in the first quarter. lakers ahead by a dozen at the half. miami without chris bosh and the laker bigs taking advantage dominating down low. if the seven-footers were not scoring, the masked mambo was. 93-83. rondo has been the subject of trade talks but if he keeps playing the way he is there's no way the celtics will get rid of him. 18 points, 20 times, and career-high 17 rebounds against the knicks. to the fourth quarter. boston down three in the final seconds. paul pierce delivers. ties the game. forces overtime. then the celtics pull away for good. rondo to ray allen. boston wins, 105 to 101 in o.t. williams put on a show against the bobcats scoring 57 points. that's right. 57. he was the perfect 21 for 21 at the charity.

new jersey wins 104-101. nascar denny hamlin led for 61 laps and took the checkered flag in his 18th career sprint cup win. tiger woods has never done this. shot a 62 for the best final round of his career. he rallied nine strokes back but it just wasn't enough. rory mcilroy took the classic by two strokes and is now the number one golfer in the world. there's your "first look" at sports. i'm mario solis. >> here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with your weather channel forecast. good morning, lynn. happy to say no tornado outbreaks. we need a break after the incredible week last week. don't forget what happened on wednesday. southern portions of illinois, fatalities and a strong tornado outbreak. we're more back into a winter-like pattern at least the beginning of the week. windchill in buffalo is zero.

walt of the big cities in the 20s. it's definitely the hat, the gloves, the winter coat. we're going to warm it up as we go throughout this week. today we'll try to get sunshine in here. a chilly day. especially areas with snow on the ground. your highs in the 30s throughout the great lakes and northern new england. light snow heading over the areas that got hit by the tornados. i know areas of southern indiana, northern kentucky, one to two inches of snow has fallen. this isn't a fun morning. temperatures are cold. snow on the ground. and you have the cleanup still from that tornado outpwraefpblgt this is heading for areas of virginia. as far as the forecast goes for today, once we get rid of the batch of snow during the daytime hours it's going to be a nice afternoon. temperatures are going to warm up today, in the rockies, southern portions of texas. as we go towards tomorrow, the warmth begins to spread. 71 in kansas city. it will start to feel warm again, lynn. this time we're not going to do

it with thunderstorms. we're going to keep the pattern pretty quiet much of this week. >> bill, thanks so much. coming up this weekend's box office champ had the biggest opening of the year so far. plus, the mysterious naked photos twist in the latest celebrity phone hacks. your "first look" at entertainment is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. ♪

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well, england's prince harry is enjoying some fun in the sun in the bahamas. he is not on vacation. he is working on the second stop of a trip marking his grandmother's queen elizabeth's

"jubilee "jubilee!". >> reporter: off to the dancing in belize it was time for the more formal duties of the royal. there's a strong military theme to his tour of the bahamas. he's joining a naval security exercise the island's defense forces. the prince was in the tropical dress uniform of the blues and royals when he went to church in the capital nassau. it was a service to mark the queen's "jubilee!". she is head of state here. the bahamas is one of her remaining 15 overseas realms. prince harry unveiled a portrait of his grandmother at a photographic exhibition celebrating her reign. >> i stand before you with a deep sense of pride of being asked to convey to you a message

of good wishes from the queen on the occasion of her diamond jubilee. the bahamas holds a special place in her imagine industry's hearts. >> and he brought good news from home. he told the general that the duke was enjoying what he called a new spurt of life after his christmas heart operation. >> tough job but somebody's got to do it. all right. time for your "first look" at entertainment news. there was only one surprise at the box office this weekend, the dollar signs taken in by the winner. the 3d animated film dr. seuss the lorax took in a much higher than expected 70 million bucks. that's a lot of cash. it scored the biggest box office debut. it was the biggest ever opening topping the 55 million made by how the grinch stole christmas. and the r-rated teen party

comedy project x with just under $21 million. and the year's best picture oscar winner "the artist" jumped 34% making almost $4 million in 10th place. christina hendrix, one of the latest celebrity phone hacking victims confirms several personal shots were stolen but she insists one shot on the web allegedly showing her naked is a fake. interestingly, the sources tell tmz, the other victim olivia munn said the same thing. one said to show her nude is a fake. people take a lot of pictures of themselves and keep them on their phones. hopefully they're all clothed. >> how do you prove that they're fakes? >> right. just don't take naked pictures of yourself. how is that, everyone? that's the lesson for today. i'm lynn berry. this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned. way too ear"way too early with geist" starts right now.

a day ahead of super tuesday where voters in 10 states will decides the fates of the republican presidential candidates. new polling shows an air-tight race in ohio and all the contenders falling behind president obama. the question is, will romney be, as rick santorum suggested over the weekend, another bob doll mod rot. president obama will meet with israeli prime minister netanyahu to talk about iran and its nuclear program. there is, "too much loose talk with war with iran". putin is brought to tears after four years as prime minister. the question; did putin really say later he wasn't crying but that the strong wind made him