common ground, the president and his likely opponent agree on one issue. the u.s. coast guard scuttles an japanese ghost ship. stunning video shows a massive dust devil swirling across the red planet. good morning, i'm lynn berry. those stories and more straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc and this morning we're going to begin with jobs and politics as president obama signed a new law he hopes will "help put americans back to work," his republican rivals were polishing their pitch to american voters and planning their next steps in the race for the white house.

nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington with more on that. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: let's start in d.c. where the president signed that small business jobs act yesterday which he says will do a couple of things for businesses. first of all, helps start-ups get more money from different sources but also helps businesses go public and that the president says will help them expand and hire more workers. they worked on this jointly with republicans. republicans say their next pitch will be a small business tax break. they're hoping to get the white house to back that. meantime, on the campaign trail, mitt romney says if he were a member at augusta, he would open the club up to women. that has become an issue recently. the president agrees, according to the white house, that his personal opinion, the white house spokesman says, is that augusta should be -- the home of the masters should be open to women, as well. and finally, rick santorum meeting with conservatives to try to figure out what to do to help his ailing campaign. that meeting happened on thursday and included some

discussion of whether or not they should pressure newt gingrich to drop out. lynn? >> all right. tracie potts there for us in washington. tracie, thanks. over weeks of issues such as contraceptive and funding for planned parent hood, the chairman of the republican national committee scoffed at the notion that his party is waging a so-called war on women. and that drew a fiery reaction last night on "the ed show" from maxine waters. she spoke with ed. take a listen. >> there is a war on women. there's been a lot of discussion about the ryan budget and what they have tried to do to deny contraception to women, but it's more than that. it goes to many places in this budget, whether you're talking about child care or head start or food stamps, you will see that there's definitely a war on women, but let me just tell you this, ed, i remember when winnie

mandela said when we were fighting against the inconsciousable apartheid in south africa, she said, now that you have touched the women, you have struck a rock and this is what is happening in this campaign. the polls are showing that women are coming to the forefront, that they're speaking up, that they're creating a platform. they now understand who the enemy is, and why they can't get the kind of support that women deserve in all of these areas. >> each night veteran talk host ed schultz and his guests debate the most important issues affecting american. watch "the ed show" weeknights 8:00 eastern on msnbc, the place for politics. meanwhile, the obama administration responded to an unusual request by a republican-appointed appeals court judge while attorney general eric holder assured the judge that president obama respects the supreme court's power to rule on the constitutionality of the nation's laws. he also pointed out that the

judges have traditionally granted deference to acts of congress, presuming its laws comply with the constitution. in a direct and unusual challenge, judge jerry smith took issue with comments the president made earlier this week asking for clarification as to whether the president questioned the high court's power to invalidate acts of congress. the u.s. coast guard sank that ghost ship traveling across the pacific ocean after last year's tsunami in japan. the 164-foot-long vessel caught on fire after coast guard guns fired on it off the coast of alaska. the coast guard said they sank the ship because it posed an imminent threat to navigation in busy shipping lanes of the pacific. yesterday as the head coach of the nfl's new orleans saints and other team officials appealed harsh league penalties levied against them for the team's bounty system, there was shocking new evidence surfaced of saints players being encouraged to injure others. an audio recording of former saints defensive coordinator gregg williams was released by a

documentary filmmaker. in a profanity-laced pregame speech, williams specifically encourages players to target the knee of one player who suffered a recent injury and the head of another who recently suffered a concussion. williams, now the st. louis rams defensive coordinator, has been suspended indefinitely by the league and is not appealing. well, here's your "first look" of other news making headlines in america. in new hampshire video shows a man attacking and robbing a woman, snatching her purse outside a walmart. the suspect should never have been on the streets to begin with because he was mistakenly released from prison last friday. how might that happen? since then police think he was involved in at least three robberies before being recaptured. in st. louis, an underground steam pipe burst, sending a scalding cloud shooting into the air. the heat was so intense, it caused the pavement to crumble.

it also left downtown buildings without heat. there's no word on why it happened. and i bet this only happens in hollywood at least next door in beverly hills. a pair of hikers got lost and they called for help. it turns out, there was no damage. they happened to wander into the backyard of movie director tyler perry. and finally in kentucky, the search is on for the bride who's missing her wedding dress. it was found on a farm a few days after last month's devastating tornado. it was still on the hanger, actually. the man who discovered it thought it might be a curtain. he then realized it was the real deal. he's gotten in touch with the woman who's trying to help people find their belongings lost in the twister. now for a look at your national and regional weather we turn to nbc meteorologist bill karins. good morning. >> good morning. one of those weird fridays where some are working, some don't. it's a mixed breed out there.

if you are getting ready to go to school or work, we'll update you on the forecast. strong storms rolling through yesterday. we had about 111 reports of severe weather. we only had two weak tornadoes reported right along the border of arkansas and tennessee. actually we did pretty well considering we had a pretty good threat throughout much of the southeast. we didn't have all that much severe weather. so it's good when it underperforms instead of like what happened in dallas where it was much worse than expected. now, here's what we're dealing with this morning. the lightning strikes are off the coast, pretty much done with the thunderstorms. just some cooler, right rain across much of north carolina. of course, the augusta, the masters ongoing this morning at sunrise, looks like showers are around augusta but those will clear out during the day and should get all the golf in during the afternoon. also, montana, very cruel day in montana from monsula and this is i fula full-fledged one.

difficult and cruel as we head into easter weekend. northwards in new england, just like yesterday morning, you definitely need the winter coat so as far as going home today, should be a beautiful good friday across so many areas with lots of sunshine out there. the southeast, the mid-atlantic, all the way through the north, the only problem spot, some showers in the northwest and that snow there in areas of montana. but, lynn, the weekend forecast shaping up to be a beauty, those details coming up. >> thanks so much. also coming up, expectations on jobs. warm weather equals sunny sales. and a run on encyclopedias? your early morning business headlines straight ahead. the inland playoff picture gets clearer. the magic self-destruct and the longest opening day baseball

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look." i'm lynn berry and some of the top stories making news. more than 2,000 syrian refugees flooded across the border into turkey claiming government forces are bombarding at least a dozen northern towns and villages. france's foreign minister was the latest to express doubt about a u.n.-sponsored peace plan saying he thought president assad was "cheating us." viktor bout, the russian known as the merchant of death, was sentenced to 25 years in prison yesterday in new york. he was convicted of trying to sell weapons to u.s. agents posing as colombian guerillas. a small town in wyoming has been sold at auction to a pair of vietnamese businessmen for $900,000. the town of buford has a gas station, a three-bedroom house and some other buildings on ten acres of land. england's queen elizabeth handed out what's called maundy

money to some of her subjects including a coin marking her 60 years on the throne. buckingham palace says the holy week tradition dates all the back to the 13th century. nasa has released amazing images of this gigantic dust storm on the planet mars. a camera in orbit around the red planet captured the dust devil with a plume that goes up 12 miles into the light atmosphere of mars. in south africa, conservationists are fighting a des is separate battle against poachers with almost two rhinos a day being killed for their horns. itn reports from a reserve where vets try to save one rhino that just lost its horn to poachers. >> reporter: the race is for survival. tandy needs to be immobilizes so a vet fires a tranquilizers.

around her animals flee. the rhino, prized bit poachers. the vets approach tandy carefully and try to treat the wound left by her attackers one month ago. an extraordinary operation to save just one animal. with everyone hoping for some good news in the war against the poachers. >> people are desperate to see something going right and some positive news and some glimmer of hope we can actually do something that saves one and i think what has come through so strongly over the last month is how important every single animal is to us. >> reporter: with 160 killed in south africa in 2012, this is already proven to be the rhino's worst year. its natural weapon is now worth more than its weight in gold. tandy's horn is almost certainly on the way to the far east now where it's said to have medicinal values.

that myth and the brutal trade that it spawned not only her life but the future of her entire species. tandy wanders back into the wild reshaped but alive. she's likely to survive. hundreds more are certain to die this year and next. this mighty creature is vulnerable. itv news, karika park, south africa. now here's your first look at how wall street finished up the day after trade on thursday. the dow closed at 13,060 after losing 14 points yesterday. the s&p was down a fraction. the nasdaq was up 12. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei lost 79 points. while in hong kong the hang seng fell 1 7. the markets close today for the good friday and passover holidays, so investors will have to wait until monday to react to the latest jobs report. when the labor department releases the march data,

economists are expecting that the economy added more than 200,000 jobs last month. the unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 8.3%. facebook has decided to be listed on the tech-heavy nasdaq for its initial public offering under the stock symbol fb. samsung, the world's top technology company, reports booming sales of its galaxy smartphone as it posted a record quarterly profit of $5.5 billion. the warm weather was good for retailers with sales at the gap up 8% last month and target sales increasing more than 7%. as jcpenney stores try to turn its business around, the company is laying off 900 workers in texas and pennsylvania. odwalla is recalling its chocolate protein monster beverage because four customers with peanut allergies experienced severe reactions even though it's not supposed to

contain peanuts. after encyclopedia britannica said it was stopping its print production, almost all of the latest editions have been sold. robotic technology is being used to automatically transport and park vehicles in very tight spaces in germany. we could use this in new york. car town features storage towers that hold 800 vehicles. and a lot of people are actually just turning out to take a ride themselves or watch the machinery move the cars around. coming up, the opening round of the masters. the magic squabble and lose and two more stanley cup playoff spots are set. plus the longest opening day baseball game in major league history. your first look at sports is straight ahead. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. ♪ you are my sunshine, my only sunshine ♪

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n irregular heartbeat havputs you at 5 times calgreater risk of stroke. don't wait. go to afibstroke.com for a free discussion guide to help you talk to your doctor about reducing your risk. that's afibstroke.com. good morning, welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. in sports spring is here. in sport, spring is here and baseball is officially back. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. >> good morning. spring is in the air and of course that means baseball. with the first pitching of the season. roy halladay kept the pirates guessing for eight, allowed two hits and struck out five. phillies won it 1-0 in pittsburgh. late inning heroics in detroit. tigers and red sox, top of the ninth. austin jackson poked a single past third and down the line for the game winner. tigers won 3-2. cubs haven't won a world series in 104 years and this is not the way they want to start a new season. tied with the nationals in this the ninth, ian desmond slapped

an rbi single to right, in came the go-ahead run, nats won 2-1 in wrigley. how about some extra innings? blue jays rallied in the ninth against the indians. encarnacion scored a pair with a double off the wall, 4-4. then in the 16th, j.p. arencibia put toronto on top for good. blue jays won the longest opening day game in history 7-4 in 16 innings. golf's lee westwood leads the first round of the masters. tiger woods is five strokes back. nba, derrick rose sat out his 12th straight game. luol deng led a balanced attack against the celts. celtic has a win. the magic are falling apart right before our eyes. yesterday afternoon head coach stan van gundy told reporters dwight howard wanted him fired. then the magic were torched by the knicks. new york won 96-80. the magic are reeling. they've dropped five in a row. hoc, the capitals know all about

firing their coach. they made a midseason change. alex ovechkin scored his 37th of the year. washington clinched a playoff berth. despite the loss, panthers are also in. their first playoff appearance in 12 years. that's your first look at sports. have a terrific weekend. i'm fred roggin. now for another look at the weather here is nbc meteorologist bill karins. everyone wanting to know what that easter egg hunt weather is going to be like. jacket on the kids? >> no, this looks fantastic. maybe a little coat or something but we're watching cold temperatures this morning. this will be the case the next couple of mornings. the mornings will be chilly but when the sun goes to work, a beautiful afternoon. sunshine across the board. 50s in new england. temperatures in the upper 50s a lot of the big cities. a typical beautiful april day. the middle of the country where the warmer air is from dallas northward. minneapolis, snowstorm unfortunately there in montana. talked about that earlier, maybe

a shower or storm down in miami but it won't rain all day. your weekend forecast because saturday looks nice on the eastern seaboard. we will have showers in the middle of the country, not going to be a rainout. afternoon thunderstorms especially west texas and a little bit of wet weather will arrive on easter sunday. oregon and washington, light rain, scattered storm in texas. middle of the country looks fantastic for easter sunday. i don't think too many will get washed out for easter sunday. i give it an "a." >> you are don't give those out often. >> more like a "c" plus. >> i knew that was coming. it's inevitable. especially on a friday. a new entertainment power couple. plus, 13 years after "american pie" will interest in their reunion knock "the hunger games" off their box office perch. your first look at entertainment is ahead.

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welcome back, everyone. time for entertainment news. the experts are divided over what's shaping up to be quite a contest at the box office this weekend. the two-time defending champ "the hunger games" has the edge with the experts picking it to finish number one once again with somewhere between $25 million and $30 million. maybe this weekend i will manage to get a ticket. the opener "american reunion" is the fourth offering from the franchise that started with "american pie." the last of these raunchy comedies opened nine years ago with $33 million and some experts see it finishing in the $20 million to

$25 million range, others have it over $30 million to finish on top. i don't know if it's happening. 15 years after its original opening "titanic 3d" could battle for the top spot once again if the others falter. it's expected to take in $20 million to $25 million. finally, new couple alert. blogs are burning over kanye west and kim kardashian going on public dates together in new york city. first they went to the movies on wednesday night. then they had lunch on thursday. perhaps not coincidentally though there's a new single out that came out yesterday. west admits he fell for kardashian long ago. you' ar >> you're insinuating that stars do something for sales? >> what do you mean? what pr stunt? >> she'll be on the "today" show. >> stay tuned. willie geist is next.

another strange day in the republican race for president as rick santorum meets with conservative leaders about his future. mitt romney a man with a pair of harvard degrees bashes president obama for his harvard mind-set and the chairman of the rnc has the word caterpillars trending on twitter while denying the party has a woman problem. the question is, do republican caterpillars have a chance to turn into beautiful butterflies by november? we shall see. incredible pictures this morning out of syria as government tanks and helicopters shell civilian neighborhoods. just a matter of hours after president assad agreed to a u.n.-brokered cease-fire. the question is, now what for the international community? and tiger woods stumbles at the end of his first round at the masters, but not as badly as the guy who had the lead and put an 8 on the board on the 18th hole. the question is, should a professional golfer really be playing augusta like i would? it's "way too early" for this.