long-range dud. north korea unsuccessfully launches its rocket. serbian police recover a stolen masterpiece worth over $100 million. and road rage. what caused an angry customer to destroy an auto dealership in moscow? good morning, everyone. i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. we begin this morning with failure to launch. north korea's controversial long-range rocket broke up into pieces over the yellow sea less than two minutes after it left the launchpad. the u.n. security council will

meet today to consider additional sanctions against north korea. nbc's 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 in to 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 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 and 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, americans are deeply divided by race over the shooting of trayvon martin. a poll shows 91% of african-americans say martin was unjustly killed. only 35% of whites thought so. trayvon martin's shooter, george zimmerman, appeared in court in florida for the first time to face charges. nbc's jay gray has more. >> reporter: in handcuffs and a jailhouse jumpsuit, george zimmerman stood before the judge for less than three minutes, showing no emotion. >> yes, sir. >> reporter: only responding as the judge outlined the second-degree murder charge and his rights in the case. >> yes, sir. >> reporter: the hearing

amounted to little more than a legal formality, but did provide a bit of insight into the prosecution's case. a probable cause affidavit shows that state investigators believe trayvon martin, a 17-year-old african american, was profiled by george zimmerman and that zimmerman confronted martin and a struggle ensued. court documents also outline a meeting between martin's mother and investigators where she listened to the 911 recording to the night her son was killed. >> so you think he's yelling help? >> yes. >> reporter: and identified the voice crying for help as trayvon martin's voice. >> all the evidence we have, but some of the evidence will establish probable cause. >> not guilty plea was entered. we have arraignment on the 29 >> reporter: after pushing for zimmerman's arrest, an effort that sparked a national firestorm, parents are relieved it will play out in the courtroom and not rallies and protests that to this point have

defined the case. >> we just want to -- him to be held accountable for what he has done. >> the next step in the process, formal arraignment hearing set for the end of may. jay gray, nbc news, sanford, florida. elsewhere, the wife of republican presidential candidate ann romney h an unlikely defender speaking up for her yesterday, president obama. the president said a democratic consultant said the wrong thing when she suggested ann romney isn't qualified to discuss the economy because she "has not worked a day in her life." mr. obama said that is not something he agrees with and the president added "there's no tougher job than being a mom." in the wake of recent controversial positions on women issues, last night on the ed show, vice president joe biden told ed he thinks mitt romney and the republicans face an uphill battle when it comes to regaining the trust of female voters. >> this guy talking about women, these guys talking about women?

this guy -- these guys have a social policy on contraception that takes you back to the '50s? when asked the question do you think the legislation passed mandating that your son and daughter doing the same work will have to get the exact same pay, the ledbetter law, they couldn't answer. >> so the war on women is real? >> i think the war on women is real. i never predict what people are going to do. all i'm saying is i think the case that we can make, barack's polici policies, our past, our expectations, our dreams for women contrasted with the republican agenda, as it has been and continues to be relative to women, i don't think it's a close call. i think women will make that judgment. lean forward with "the ed show" weeknights at 8:00 eastern on msnbc.

here is your "first look" at some of the other news going on around america today. a freakish storm dumped piles of hail on the texas panhandle leaving some areas buried under four to five feet of ice pellets. the waist-high accumulation caused flooding, shut down highways and forced officials to use snowplows to clear the roads. no injuries have been reported. phones rang off the hook and social media websites were buzzing with excitement over what could have been a meteor shower in the midwest. witnesses in wisconsin reported seeing a bright greenish object streak across the sky. sightings were also reported in illinois and wisconsin. researchers in wisconsin have a fish tale folks will be talking about years to come. they were conducting a survey on wolf river when they hauled in a monstrous sturgeon. the fish is over 87.5 inches long and weighs over 240 pounds.

it's believed to be 125 years old. it was tagged and returned back to the river. it was a day at races for spalding 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. finally in salt lake city, decker has been skateboarding since he was five months old. instead of playing fetch, his owner put him on a board and now they can't keep him off. his daily skateboarding has turned him into quite the phenom. now for a look at your national weather, we turn to bill karins. he has your weather channel forecast. the weekend forecast so good for so many and so dangerous for many others. here's what we're dealing with. the biggest weather story will be in the midwest this is april. you expect tornado outbreaks. this will be one of those weekends that we will see,

especially saturday, a tornado outbreak. not just the regular garden variety, the potential for those strong tornadoes. the ones with winds 150 to 200 miles per hour that could be life-threatening and deadly. already have a high risk issue out here for areas of northern portions of oklahoma, from oklahoma city northwards up to the wichita area. then back to the north through central kansas. it's kind of rare. we only get a couple of these high risk every year, maybe three or four. this is something to be closely watched saturday afternoon. i know the storm chasers from all over the midwest are heading to the region. we'll have good accountability on where the tornadoes are on the ground come saturday afternoon and evening. this area of red goes up to omaha. that's moderate risk of severe weather. so you're not out of the woods a chance from omaha, kansas city and wichita falls. that's for saturday, so make sure your family has safety plans in case a tornado heads to your town.

this morning, rainfall across missouri with storms is a damp morning in the midwest. the storm that will cause the issues is out here now in california it will travel across the west during the day today. that troublesome storm will be out here saturday into the central plains. everyone on the east coast a buflt d beautiful day today. we also have storms today, just the garden variety from oklahoma, joplin and wichita. friday forecast, beautiful weather arrives for new england. mid-atlantic. high pressure moves in, sunshine today. temperatures will get into the mid 60s. atlanta, a little warmer. florida on the toasty side. there's the storms in the middle of the country. lynn, it's really as we go through saturday, if you live in that area of the country, you go through this drill now and then, but make sure you have your

family plans in case a tornado comes your way. >> thank you, bill. google grabs attention, a court rules on lunch time and a break-up in the world of candy? your "first look" at the business headlines is straight ahead. the heat and bulls need o.t. there were three overtime games in the stanley cup playoffs and the new york rangers are a broadway smash. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. what's the matter?

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welcome back to "first look." i'm lynn berry. a white house spokesman yesterday told syrian president bashar al assad to "stop killing your people." syrian opposition forces called for more protests today to test the day-old cease-fire in syria. there's a standoff between police in new hampshire and a gunman who opened fire during a drug bust. the town's police chief was shot and killed days away from his scheduled retirement after 26 years in law enforcement. in another standoff, this

one across the country, a fire burned early friday at a modesto, california apartment where a suspect was holed up following the shooting deaths of a civilian and a deputy. the condition of the suspect is not known. the state of florida executed serial killer david allen gore by lethal injection last night after 28 years on death row. he admitted to killing four women and two teenage girls in the 1980s. a stolen painting by paul cezanne was recovered in a vehicle in serbia. "the boy in the red vest" was stolen from a small museum in switzerland in 2008 and is 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 in 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. well, now he faces a five-year prison sentence. probably not too smart there. here's your "first look" at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow opens at 12,986 after zooming 181 points. the s&p 500 climbed 18 points. the nasdaq rose 39. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei nudged up 113 points. while in hong kong, the hang seng jumped 373. two 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 an s&p rally that sent u.s. steel up 7.5%. copper and gold shot up 6. traders unexpected jump in new weekly unemployment claims. pull let packard had a jump in

pc shipments. and google passed quarterly expectations after an announced two for one stroke split. dow chemical rose after a healthy earnings report. red box owner shot up as much as 14% in late trade after doubling quarterly profit expectations. dar barnes and noble tumbled 6%. apple said charges it was a co-conspirator in an e-book price fixing scheme are not true. a personal conduct investigation in best buy's former chief centers around whether he misused company funds during an alleged relationship with a 29-year-old female employee. california's supreme court ruled unanimously on thursday that employers are not obligated to make workers take their legally-mandated lunch breaks.

and say it ain't so. a divorce in candyland? that's right. fruity candy pals mike and ike are calling it quits in a new ad campaign designed to draw in younger customers. coming up the bulls, the heat, boston breaks down the caps, and the saints keep the head coaching job in-house. plus the broadway blues beat up on ottawa in game one of their stanley cup playoff match-up. your "first look" at sports is straight ahead. pop in the drum of any machine... ♪ ...to wash any size load. ♪ it dissolves in any temperature, even cold. tide pods. a powerful three-in-one detergent that cleans, brightens, and fights stains. so all your looks pop. ♪ pop in. stand out.

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welcome back to "first look," i'm lynn berry. in sports, the players for eight nhl teams had to work overtime last night in the stanley cup playoffs. here's mario solis. good morning to you. what's better than one overtime playoff game? how about three. let's begin with the bruins hosting the caps. scoreless, and chris kelly ends it firing a rocket. bruins win game one, 1-0 in o.t. overtime in boston. how about double o.t. in st. louis. ryan clowe feeds ryan havlat and he rips the one-timer for the win. to phoenix, blackhawks down a goal with 15 seconds in regulation. the puck comes to brent seabrook, he kicks it up to the

stick and forces o.t. the celebration is short-lived, hansel tips in the shot from the point. coyotes win a wild win 3-2 in overtime. to new york, the rangers made quick work of the senators. ryan callahan gives the blue-shirts a lead in the first. calm, cool, collected waits for the goalie to go down and picks the spot. rangers win easily 4-2. nfl, how is this for a coaching carrousel? the saints have named joe vitt the interim coach while sean payton serves suspension. vitt is also suspended the first six games of the season, so aar aaron kromer will fill in for vitt. this coaching situation is giving me a headache. not to be out done by the nhl, two of the best teams in the nba also go to overtime. bulls and heat. chicago down three in the final seconds. cj watson dials long distance, ties the game, forces ot. kyle corver from michigan

avenue, got it. miami scores two points in ot, bulls win it 96-86. that is your "first look" at sports, i'm mario solit. now for another look at the weather, here is nbc meteorologist bill karins, he has your lovely east coast weather channel forecast but we don't want to be biased. >> not at all. you don't want to be biased to your backyard where it will be 80 degrees on sunday. >> i'll happy. >> i know. rough week up in new england. a lot of people saw small hail with those showers yesterday afternoon. today we are getting rid of that. not perfectly sunny in northern new england but better than the last couple of days. temperatures warming up. into the 60s today in boston. everywhere in new england. 65 in philadelphia, beautiful in d.c. chilly around buffalo and everywhere else. the warmth is building in the southeast. drought conditions are getting worse. all the stormy weather will be in the middle of the country. today severe storms in hooklaho.

as we go into saturday this is well-advertised, everybody is trying to get the heads up as far in advance as possible. tornado outbreak oklahoma, kansas, oklahoma city area to wichita, kansas, to topeka and up to oklahoma, that's where we will be chasing tornadoes. the west dries out after a wet day today, you should improve on saturday. your sunday forecast, keeping all the stormy weather in the middle of the nation with severe thunderstorms near chicago and possibly down again in areas of texas. east coast, no weather concerns. midwest, possibly life-threatening. >> bill, thank you very much. coming up, the president weighs in once again on kanye west, this time a bit nicer. and the biggest winner at the box office this weekend, will it be a movie that you can't even see? we'll explain. your "first look" at entertainment is straight ahead. over the south pacific in 1943. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance

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welcome back to "first look." let's get some entertainment news, shall we? experts say no one will knock off the "the hunger games" at the box office. the horror entry "cabin in the woods" which sat on the shelf three years is getting great reviews. but it sat on the shelf for three years, so probably not a good sign. experts say it won't do better than $15 million. "the three stooges" may have worked better with originally names like sean penn and benicio deltoro, but it should earn 10 million to $15 million. the space thriller "lock out" will only earn six to eight million. "the hunger games" will remain

number one with 18 to 20 million. >> just go see it already. >> i know. i know. i'll report back one day. >> this weekend's biggest winner will actually be overseas. "battleship," which opens here next month, is expected to post blockbuster numbers. remember president obama called kanye west a jacsass in 2009 after his on-stage ambush of taylor swift at the mtv music awards? bill, you remember that? >> i called him worse. >> when reminded in that in an interview in "the atlantic" he replied, he is a jackass but he's talented. >> i agree with you, there, too. >> i asked if i could say jackass on tv and apparently i am. stay tuned, "way too early" with willie geist starts right now.

after days of fanfare, north korea's controversial rocket launch ends in spectacular failure, dealing an embarrassing blow to the country's new dictator. the question is will the reclusive government now attempt something more outrageous to save face? the state of florida lays out its case against george zimmerman, the man accused of murdering trayvon martin in what he claims was self-defense. the question is will florida's stand your ground law also end up on trial? and in sports, at ripe old age of 49, baseball's oldest pitcher goes up against a man half his age. the question is could jamie moyer throw his way into the record books? come on, ya'all, it's "way too early" for this. good morning. i'm jonathan capehart in for willie geist this is "way too early," the show open to all ages. i'm glad you're up with us this morning watching on