first, ann is off today, hoda kotb is at the news desk with the headlines.ood morning. >>> good morning, everybody. president obama is looking for a new director of national intelligence, this after rejecting dennis blair's last-minute attempt to save his job after months of conflicts with other intelligence leaders. blair announced his resignation on thursday. >>> today secretary of state hillary clinton said north korea must face consequences for sinking a south korean ship in march that killed 46 sailors. south korea's president held an emergency meeting this morning to weigh possibly sanctions against the north which threaten to retaliate with military action. >>> bp now concedes that the oil leak in the gulf of mexico is larger than its original estimate of 5,000 barrels a day. on thursday, the obama administration sent a stern letter to the oil giant calling for all information on the leak to be made public. >>> another emotional reunion today in tehran between three american hikers and their moms. the hikers have denied charges they were spying when t

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hoda kotb is at the news desk with a check of the morning's top stories. >>> good morning, everybody. we begin here today with a major shakeup in washington. president obama is replacing his head of national intelligence, dennis blair. nbc's chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell is in washington. andrea, good morning, and why are they changing this critical post right now? >> hoda, the timing of course is terrible. you've got terror threats, a nuclear challenge from iran. two wars. but the president rejected blair's last-minute attempt to save his job. there were months of conflicts that he had with months of intelligence leaders. blair lost key backing on the hill this week after a devastating senate report came out about the christmas bomber got all the way to detroit before being caught blaming blair's agencies. officials tell me cia director leon panetta has told the white house he does not want blair's job. the leading candidate now is general james clapper, he heads the intelligence at the pentagon. the bigger problem is that the post-9/11 reorganization that reate

the news begins at >>> in nbc news, this is "today" with kathie lee gifford and hoda kotb, live fromjoying some time with her family. joining me is mr. donnie deutsche. >> hey, girlfriend. >> look at you on nbc. >> look at me on nbc, let's just leave it at that. >> how does it feel? >> it feels great. we are friends. people don't know about you -- this is the nicest woman on the planet. i have to say this -- you didn't know i was going to say this. >> no, i did not. >> i want the audience to know what you see is what you get. this is the most delicious woman around. >> isn't that sweet? >> just telling it like it is. >> donnie has stuff going on in his life, too. you're newly single, right? >> boom, right there. yes, i am single now, dating, enjoying myself. i'm shy and i have trouble meeting ladies, so anybody out there -- i'm just single. but i have a dad and i have three girls and that's the best part. >> you've kind of started the facebook. >> once in a while i pop on there. >> no, you do. >> yes, i do. >> why do you go on facebook? >> just because i'm a technology guy and like t